Schedule question...

[AspieMel]

For those of you who have HSed the youngins.. What was your typical day like? Did you cram in every subject in small increments, or spread it all out? Take longer breaks or get it all done in a few hours then have the rest of the day to play? Would love some advice on what you did and why :bigear:

[2cents]

One of the reasons I schedule in advance is so that we have a pre-planned amount of work for the week and have the peace of mind knowing that it will be finished by the end of the school year. Every week I look at that plan and split up the weeks lessons into 5 days. That way the girls have a finite amount of work for the day and they know exactly what needs to be accomplished. We get up early and the girls check off their work as they complete it. We've never had set times for subjects. My system encourages them to work efficiently so that they finish in time to have free time. But the work is graded as they go along so there is no room for rushed, sloppy work either. Our work is a combo of independent and work that we do together and we usually do the together work first. My girls are middle school age and we usually take a breakfast break and another small break. The day starts around 7:30 and ends around 1-1:30. For younger children, breaks are a good thing since it is harder for them to sit still for long periods. The breaks help them run off energy and get ready to focus again. You can use a plan-ahead system for any age. It is just about having a year plan that breaks things up into manageable units. Hope this helps! :)

[AspieMel]

Very much, thank you :)

[Mommee & Baba]

One of the reasons I schedule in advance is so that we have a pre-planned amount of work for the week and have the peace of mind knowing that it will be finished by the end of the school year. Every week I look at that plan and split up the weeks lessons into 5 days. That way the girls have a finite amount of work for the day and they know exactly what needs to be accomplished. We get up early and the girls check off their work as they complete it. We've never had set times for subjects. My system encourages them to work efficiently so that they finish in time to have free time. But the work is graded as they go along so there is no room for rushed, sloppy work either. Our work is a combo of independent and work that we do together and we usually do the together work first. My girls are middle school age and we usually take a breakfast break and another small break. The day starts around 7:30 and ends around 1-1:30. For younger children, breaks are a good thing since it is harder for them to sit still for long periods. The breaks help them run off energy and get ready to focus again. You can use a plan-ahead system for any age. It is just about having a year plan that breaks things up into manageable units. Hope this helps! :)

 

Sounds like us.

 

This year we're going to be working hard with using the workbox system. Allowing the kids to see when a break is nearing and to see their progression and when school is over for the day. I like the idea of doing all together work first. Getting it out of the way and allowing the rest of the school day to be in their court. I do have a small child that isn't school-aged that helped flip flop our schedule lastyear and I had no backfall and no real firm plan so somedays would have to come to a hault because I wasn't prepared. This year I'm going in full force with workboxes, a year planned in my scheduler AND the years lessons in my desk drawer so we KNOW where we stand and how much more we have to complete for the year! I learned my lesson last year with having a baby and trying to HS two kids...WAKE up CALL big time :p:bigear:

 

Oh and as for breaks. I give my 5 and 7 yr old 2 breaks through out the course of their school day. Lunch and Snacks are not counted as they are to be seated during those times...BUT the other 2 breaks are free play for the alloted amount of time. Sometimes it's 15min and sometimes it's 30min.

 

Our school day wasn't really set in stone for starting time lastyear. I felt the kids could rise whenever and then eat and begin school. This year it's going to be a BIT different. Because for my 2nd grader we're adding 3 additional subjects to this years course of study she needs to be rising shortly after my dh leaves for work which is 7am. One of the joyous things I commented about hs'ing was the kids could get up when they were well rested. This year I will have them in bed around 7:30pm. Since it's been taking them nearly an hour and half to nod off finally. They will be up at 7:30am on school days. Starting our school work at 8am. Lastyear majority of our school days didn't begin until 9am-9:30am and even sometimes 10am! I am shooting for 8:30am at the latest for starting this year!

Edited June 29, 2010 by mamaofblessings

[krisandpaula]

My answer is yes. :tongue_smilie: We are still new to hs'ing, but my ds (6) and dd (4) seem to enjoy it more when we mix it up during the week. On days that we have activites with our Homeschool group, we get up and get 'er done! I let them know the night before that we will need to finish everything before we can head out to the park, gym, whatever. On days where I know we will likely be home all day, I break it up over the course of the day so that they have several play breaks. So far, it seems to be working. The days haven't really started to run together and I haven't heard "not again mom!" from anyone. :001_smile: For us, that equals a good fit!

[Disney Dreaming]

We work for about 2 hrs, then dd gets a snack and I read one of our read aloud books for about 20 minutes. Then we work for another hour to hour and a half and then she gets PE/recess(usually Wii Sports). We then do lunch and finish our day after lunch. Sometimes I allow about an hour for lunch, after she finishes eating she can watch TV for about 30 minutes and just relax.

[Verity]

I started classically homeschooling both my older boys last year (5th and 2nd grade). The prior year I used a computer based homeschool curriculum when I pulled my then-4th grader out in a rescue type operation.

 

I plan everything out weekly, showing the days and subjects but not organized by time. I print each student a chart (using Microsoft Word to make it) and put the chart and any copies of work pages in a notebook for the boys. This serves two purposes: the kids can see exactly what I expect from them for the day and week and also this serves as my log for our tracking. As we complete each section I have the boys check it off on their log.

 

As for how we break up our days...we didn't start school until 9am most days, sometimes later this year. Before that we had a good breakfast, got dressed, did some household chores and the boys had some time to play in their rooms. I bill this laid back morning as one reason that homeschooling is better than the rush!rush!rush! of catching a bus to public school!

 

We usually do two or three subjects (two hard and one easy) that they do mostly together then I have a planned 20-30 minute break for both boys. The older walks the dog while my middle son would swing or play (outdoors when possible). I use that time to catch up on a bit of housework and take a breather if I can. After the break usually they settle down to doing their "independent" work - meaning that they aren't sharing lessons. I usually pull in the younger son to do either his grammar/writing/Latin, and then switch back and forth between the older and younger. We break for lunch around 12:30-1 and usually the younger son is done with his assignments other than reading by that time. The older son frequently has another hour or two of work we do together in addition to reading.

 

My older son is an Aspie (I noticed in your signature that we have that in common) so I would recommend scheduling your work in a way that respects his limits. He may need more frequent mental breaks - be sure to intersperse fine motor activities with his academic subjects. He will also probably thrive with having a consistent, written schedule so that he knows what to expect and will be more prepared. Of course, YMMV! :D

Edited June 29, 2010 by Verity

[krisandpaula]

I bill this laid back morning as one reason that homeschooling is better than the rush!rush!rush! of catching a bus to public school!

 

 

 

:iagree:

[cottagechick]

My schedule is posted here.

 

Through the years, I've tried lots of ways to 'do school', and this plan makes the most sense and works the best for our family. My older son needs lots of hand-holding, and is doing more difficult work, so he gets more of my time.

 

I also do skill subjects individually, and content (history, science) together.

[Joyofsixreboot]

We try to keep book work to before lunch so that afternoons can be for 'unschooling' interests or co-op things. Typically (this was last year for my 3rd and K who will do more this year) we get started about 8:30.

We do math, LA and reading for 1.5 hrs, break for snack and movement for 20 min or so and finish up history and science by 11:30-11:45 and have lunch. After lunch ds will work on Spanish or Latin, dd will play puzzles or educational games, they'll go outside or we'll go to Spanish or PE co-op. I'm anticipating moving rising 4th graders reading to after lunch this year to give him more math and grammar time in the morning but he should still be done by about 1pm I think. We do tend to shortish lessons especially K-3 ala CM.

[AspieMel]

My older son is an Aspie (I noticed in your signature that we have that in common) so I would recommend scheduling your work in a way that respects his limits. He may need more frequent mental breaks - be sure to intersperse fine motor activities with his academic subjects. He will also probably thrive with having a consistent, written schedule so that he knows what to expect and will be more prepared. Of course, YMMV! :D

 

Connor and I are very much alike (I'm also an Aspie!) so there will be some scheduling to work out that we both can handle.. biggest issue will be keeping him calm when he needs help, and keeping me calm when the "routine" falls apart :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Thanks for all the input, I'm going to re-read through it all and work up on a plan for us :)