We will have a new baby in the house and I want a bare-bones plan

[rookie]

for K, 2nd, and 4th.

 

Please share the bare minimum that I would HAVE to do with a ds in K, a ds in 2nd, and a dd in 4th in order to be able to call it an education.

 

Both the 2nd and 4th graders are strong readers.

 

We school year round and they are "starting" these grades over the summer.

 

Thanks.

[Celia]

I have no idea (mine are young), but I just wanted to say congratulations for your new one to come!

[Chris in VA]

Math.

Read books about history, take narrations and do grammar.

Read aloud.

 

That's it, in my book.

Make sure they see the sun or at least the sky every day, eat good food and get plenty of sleep.

Turn off the TV.

Let them hold the baby.

 

There ya go.

 

"The baby IS the lesson." CM

[Susan in TX]

I always took considerable time off of school with each of my pregnancies: about 3 months at the beginning and then another 4-6 weeks at the end. I have 9 kids, all spaced about 2 years apart (except for the last two), so you can see that they missed a lot of schooling growing up, but it didn't hurt them one bit.

 

One of the reasons why I schooled year-round was so that I could take time off for morning sickness and new babies without guilt. So I would say that you really don't need to do anything formal for school for at least a few weeks. Just make sure your kids have books to read and maybe some educational TV shows.

 

Bare bones for me would be math and lots of free reading, as long as kids were at grade level. With my son who is behind, I'd do English and spelling as well.

 

Susan in TX

[Mommyfaithe]

Math.

Read books about history, take narrations and do grammar.

Read aloud.

 

That's it, in my book.

Make sure they see the sun or at least the sky every day, eat good food and get plenty of sleep.

Turn off the TV.

Let them hold the baby.

 

There ya go.

 

"The baby IS the lesson." CM

 

:iagree:

 

It was so nice to school with a new baby! Nurse and read-aloud. Hold sleeping baby and read aloud. Pass snuggly baby around and read aloud. Watch some cool movies and snuggle. Do some math every day. Save your energy for the year after when you have a toddler and older ones to school. That's when it gets really interesting!:lol:

 

Faithe

 

ETA: CONGRATULATIONS on your new little one. so exciting~!

[Annie Laurie]

We'll have a new baby too, and my kids will be high school, 4th grade, 3rd grade, and 1st.

 

In your position, I wouldn't worry about the Ker at all. I would make sure to read to him everyday though, which would be easy enough while holding baby- just have him pick a picture book and bring it to you.

 

My 1st grader is doing SL Core 1, WWE, FLL, SWO, and RightStart math. But I'm staggering things to make my week easier- WWE 3 x week, FLL/SWO the other 2 days, RS and SL will be the most involved things, but SL is all scheduled for me and is just reading aloud, so I'll do that while baby nurses or sleeps. He is young enough that I think we can keep RS to 15 minutes or so a day. It makes this particular child a lot happier if he has some time with me before I start with the other kids for the day.

 

We have worked on more independence this year with my middle two kids. So with baby here, they can do CLE LA, math facts review, review our current poem, and their reader while I'm busy. They just bring their finished things to me and I look them over real quick. Our most involved things are SL Core 3, RightStart math,WWE, and soon, Latin for Children. But SL is reading so I can sit and hold baby, and Latin will be put on hold if need be. So our "musts" each day, are reader, CLE, WWE, and math. They can do two of those independently and WWE takes 10 minutes, so we can fit in math while baby's asleep.

 

I don't plan to do bare bones, but maybe I'm in for a surprise! We school year round so I'm not worried about fussy days where we get nothing done, we school through the summer and usually take off around the holidays when our baby is due anyway. And then I figure we'll be bored soon and want more routine again, and I think schooling with a sleepy newborn is much easier than schooling with a mobile baby/toddler who is into everything.

[mommylawyer]

Speaking from recent experience (I have a 5 month old, along with kids who are 3, 5, and 7)...

 

If you have strong readers, have them do a lot of independent reading to go along with history/science. I have recently started my 7 y.o. on giving oral presentations and simple book reports on what she's been reading for history. (That way, I can check her grammar and spelling, I know if she's understanding and retaining what she's read, and we get some free entertainment!)

 

I always do our history, science, and religion readings during meals - they're all together and quiet (because they're chewing). If you've got to do individual instruction, just have the other kids busy doing something. I've done A LOT of school with the baby in my lap, or in a swing or bouncer nearby.

 

You'll learn to adapt! Good luck and CONGRATULATIONS!

[LindaOz]

:iagree:

 

It was so nice to school with a new baby! Nurse and read-aloud. Hold sleeping baby and read aloud. Pass snuggly baby around and read aloud.

 

We have a newborn atm and we call this time 'read-and-feed' - I read aloud, baby feeds, others listen. Too easy!!!!

 

We are actually getting quite a lot of schoolwork done. My baby sleeps for long periods in the morning and early afternoon so we use this time. It will get trickier when she is older, I guess.:)

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

We are going to have a new baby in October and I will have 3rd, 1st, and K4. We are actually doing Classical Conversations. My mom offered to take the boys as often as I want her to, so I could have that quiet time with baby each week. This is what I'm thinking about scheduling for the fall:

 

Classical Conversations (3 hrs (one morning) per week for 12 weeks): Memory work: Bible, math (skip counting), English grammar, Latin, history/timeline, geography, and science. Oral presentation. Fine arts project. Science project. Then social time during lunch.

 

Daily (4 days a week):

 

*Review all Classical Conversations memory work, using CD, timeline cards, and science cards. (20 minutes)

 

*Sing hymn (Levi play piano), review Bible memory work (God Our Provider CD), and Bible reading. (30 minutes)

 

*Handwriting workbooks. (15 minutes)

 

*Spelling. (20 minutes)

 

*Math worksheet/review/DVD (such as MathTacular) (45 minutes)

 

*History reading corresponding with CC timeline cards or Science reading/DVD. (30 minutes)

 

*Expand on any of our memory work if needed. Geography, fine arts, etc. (15 minutes)

 

*Independent Reading/Quiet Time. (60+ minutes)

 

*Piano Practice.

 

Levi and Luke will have daily checklists for their work, which can mostly be done independently if needed. I hope to have both math worksheets and handwriting workbooks on the table when the boys wake up, so they can start in right away (Russ can get them going if I'm not up yet.)

 

Math is a teacher-intensive subject for us, so I plan on doing a lot of review (which my son would benefit from) during this time, rather than teach new concepts. I usually write up copy work for my oldest or do dictation, but I purchased the HWT cursive workbooks specifically for the fall so it would be independent work. Spelling, unfortunately will still require my help. Those will be our must-get-accomplished tasks along with CC memory review with CD (easy). The rest is gravy for a couple months. My boys are also strong readers and they read a huge variety (science, history, biography, fiction, etc.) and for longer than 1 hour a day, so I know they will be just fine. We'll probably do quite a bit of playing it by ear. :)

 

We'll take it even easier Thanksgiving-Christmas (no CC classes, bare bones math and handwriting) with LOTS of Christmas celebrating and reading, then pick up the pace in January.

[Holly]

We had a baby last fall, and I schooled as much as possible last summer and took much of the fall off (a few weeks before she was born and a few after). I tried to cover the 3Rs each day...the rest was as I could fit it in. :blush: It was very disorganized and chaotic.

 

This year, I have a plan! We're using HOD and everything is simple and planned out for the year. :D I'm combining my older two with Beyond and my oldest is using Bigger for her 3Rs. There are 34 weeks of plans and I think it will be nice to see how many weeks are left in our year...Hopefully that will keep me on track! We will have a toddler though, so it should be an interesting year! :lol:

[rookie]

Thank you all for the advice.

Baby is about two weeks away and I am in that "GOTTA GET IT DONE" phase. From the sound of it, I should get a bunch of picture books for my K.

[Tracy]

I can't speak to your older kids, but we just finished K here. And if I needed a bare bones plan for K, I would do FIAR with maybe a little copywork thrown in if the dc is already writing. For math, I would just make sure the child could count, which you don't need a math program for. For alphabet and phonics, I would give them plenty of time with starfall.com and let them watch SuperWhy.

 

I ordinarily would not recommend FIAR as a stand-alone program, but in a pinch, it is enough.

[LoveBaby]

Math.

Read books about history, take narrations and do grammar.

Read aloud.

 

That's it, in my book.

Make sure they see the sun or at least the sky every day, eat good food and get plenty of sleep.

Turn off the TV.

Let them hold the baby.

 

There ya go.

 

"The baby IS the lesson." CM

 

 

:iagree:

 

 

Especially the K'er!!! It won't hurt to have another year of lots of read-alouds and time out of doors.

 

Congrats on the new babe, mama!! We just added #5 to the family in March. We've taken a break from lessons and spent lots of time reading, math and now that it is nice, being outside!

Edited June 5, 2010 by LoveBaby

[dragons in the flower bed]

I would focus on the 4th & 2nd grader, making sure they both progress in math and that the 4th grade is writing regularly. I'd get math software or subscriptions as well as a workbook based program like Singapore as well as math readers so that even if they weren't getting a lot of talking about math from me, they would be getting multiple input and random reinforcement. I'm not sure what I'd for writing. Writing Strands is self-directed. I guess IEW has some lectures directly aimed at the children. Rod and Staff just has to be graded, not taught.

[Aludlam]

You know, this would be a great time to do a little human anatomy. We don't have a little baby anymore (our youngest is 3), but my kids were fascinated with how the human body changes from infancy. If I had an itty bitty, I would read a human body book to the bigs and then let them compare their body part to the baby. (ie. let them gently feel the soft spot, fingers, toes, etc, etc). Loving the baby and learning.... my kind of school.

 

congratulations!

 

Angela

[Amber in AUS]

My focus would be math & LA for the first 3 months unschooling the rest with plenty of library books. Then i would look at adding in science and history again unschooling the balance probably for another 3 months. With the plan being that by the time the baby is 1yo you are back to a full schedule. That is if you want absolute bare bones.

 

I'm still working on what my plan will be for when our #4 arrives around Christmas :)

[PeterPan]

Put on audio books each day for an hour and get them to write something (handwriting or a narration). Do a math lesson. Done. Everything else is educational play (science kits like Snap Circuits, that type thing). If you really feel compelled, get some science videos from the library. But really and truly, write something, do some math, and get some content and language into them via audio books. Beyond that the educational play, enriched freetime, however you want to think of it. We did that for about the first 6 months when my baby was born, and nothing happened. The world won't fall apart if you just stop schooling and enjoy your baby, but you might fall apart if you don't allow yourself that luxury. :)

[Lovedtodeath]

for K, 2nd, and 4th.

 

Please share the bare minimum that I would HAVE to do with a ds in K, a ds in 2nd, and a dd in 4th in order to be able to call it an education.

 

Both the 2nd and 4th graders are strong readers.

 

We school year round and they are "starting" these grades over the summer.

 

Thanks.

Similar to Oh Elizabeth... the three Rs.

 

K-- Phonics, learning numbers and picture books.

 

2nd and 4th...

1. reading, writing and literature: will be covered by Writing With Ease

2. Math.

3. Spelling: Something independent like Phonetic Zoo, Rod and Staff or SWO or Megawords

Edited June 6, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[artchristie]

I've been looking into Workboxes for my 4th grader since I have my hubby and my father in law in my care (both are disabled). I am modifying that system to fit our needs but I think the book is a good read. You could modify it to fit your needs as well. http://www.workboxsystem.com/ I plan to implement this when we come back from vacation mid June. We also school year round and I have therefore lightened our daily schedule to:

Mon/Wed: Math/History

Tue/Thurs: Lang/Science

Fri: Cleaning day

Mon-Fri: Reading (alone and aloud), Bible, and Memorization work

 

We are also doing "left overs" once a month (a suggestion of a friend of mine) to pick up anything that we have not had time for or to work on anything where there is a struggle. Nothing else is scheduled that week so we have a respite of sorts.

 

For the Ker I agree focus on reading together and counting.

 

Maybe you could find math facts on cd or grammar on cd if you want for the kids ready for that. We used this one http://www.audiomemory.com/math.php for math facts. We also use timezattack (free software) http://www.bigbrainz.com/Download.html for multiplication practice and www.bigiqkids.com for spelling practice, math facts, states practice, etc. so I am not spending my time drilling spelling words or math facts. Computer time for her cuts about an hour out of my homeschool day and she is still learning.

 

Great advice from the other posters. I like the idea of schooling while baby sleeps. We only have one child now but dealing with 2 disabled men takes up lots of time. Also I have baby sat an infant and homeschooled my nephew (who was under my care at that time, now age 10) and my daughter while caring for my father in law. So it can be done.

 

Congrats on the new baby!

[tucenbubbi]

Congratulations on your baby!

 

When we had little ones in the house, I was (and still am) so thankful for CLE! It was such great curriculum for busy mom-teachers. First grade definitely takes more teacher involvement, but the rest of the grades are set up that the student can do most of the work independently. It is wonderful to tell the children that it's time for school and away they go, knowing just what needs to be done.