Emmy Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 yes I realize it's only Thursday but we school 4 days. :) It actually went pretty well - here's how I handled juggling school for 3, preschool for 1, and twin babies. - I bought an alarm clock for my boys and told them they had to get up at 7. This was huge for me. I have always been an advocate of letting them sleep until they wake and then we start school. One of the biggest advantages of homeschooling and yada yada. Anyway, this helped. A lot. - I set up a schedule for when we do what subjects. This was huger for me. I've always been into "do the next thing" and just going with the flow. But the schedule takes away my angst when 10yo stares at the wall for 15 minutes during math. If he doesn't finish math in his math time slot, he has to finish later in the day. That helped even more. - we started all together with a little bible time and prayer request time. My kids loved sitting together for 15 minutes before we all split up. This morning we did it at the kitchen table because I was feeding the babies in their high chairs and it still worked out ok. I think the only thing that didn't really get done *well* is phonics instruction with my 6yo. I know that's kind of a biggie to not get done (LOL) but I scheduled it at a time when I wasn't able to work with him without distractions - so I need to tweak that. And he did do his explode the code, we just didn't get to work together. Anyway - here's the schedule we used. I'm sure it will all go to pot when the girlies give up their morning nap but for the time being it worked so well. It probably also helped that I went to bed at 9pm every night. :D (exhausted!) 7:00 alarm wakes up boys 7:30 breakfast 8:00 chores 8:30 bible/prayer time together (15 min.) then memory work (15 min.) 9:00 - 9:45 math 9:45 -10:00 spelling 10:00 - 10:30 grammar 10:30 - 11:30 history 11:30 writing 12:00 - 1:00 lunch break 1:00 - 1:30 logic 1:30 - 2:00 independent reading (assigned from mom) 2:00 was supposed to be art....but only the 6yo & 4yo did it So, it's not perfect, I didn't do any music or composer study or artist study or fancy schmancy stuff but we did pretty well and the kids got all their lessons done for the week. Just wanted to share! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 We started off gently--only 3 subjects. We'll add more next week, and I hope it will go as well or better than this week did. I expect it will go a bit better because I've staggered the girls' schedules so that I can work with each one for a bit on the start of an assignment and then hand off the rest to be completed independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in IN Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 That's awesome, Emmy! You have some great ideas for making things flow well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 Thanks girls! I was just so proud at how smoothly it went; I've had SO much negativity from people IRL about trying to school this year with the twins added to our family. It was so refreshing for it to go well. If only we could all do art.....lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Yeah for you!!!! That is so great that you started the year out on such a great note. It will really help set the tone. Hey, just a thought, can you do art on Sat. a.m. while baby girls sleep? Or you could do what I have done occasionally. Give them a big roll of paper, washable markers, pastels, a big book of wonderful paintings, put the 10 year old in charge and go take a nap with the babies! WooHoo, art gets done and you get some sleep.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KellyinPA Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Emmy, I think you are amazing! Getting school accomplished with 6 children, 10 and under, including twin babies is awesome, art or no art:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetobeme Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I've had SO much negativity from people IRL about trying to school this year with the twins added to our family. It was so refreshing for it to go well. you go, girl! i remember being pregnant with my twins and "only" having three olders (7,5,3 yo) and people asking if i was gonna put the kids in school now/finally. i am proud of you! my twins are now 10 and everyone is doing well and can read and do math and tests well and. . .i will NEVER be as organized as you are! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 Emmy, I think you are amazing! Getting school accomplished with 6 children, 10 and under, including twin babies is awesome, art or no art:001_smile: Well the amusing thing about art is that anyone giving me negativity about homeschooling could care less about art. :p It's only my own guilt....I just want them to enjoy and experience art while they are young. But it's one of the tougher subjects to get to when mommy is exhausted. :) you go, girl! i remember being pregnant with my twins and "only" having three olders (7,5,3 yo) and people asking if i was gonna put the kids in school now/finally. i am proud of you! my twins are now 10 and everyone is doing well and can read and do math and tests well and. . .i will NEVER be as organized as you are! :001_smile: I'm not terribly organized, really. If you see my sig line you'll see I've moved to very "do it yourself" curricula for the time being and sometimes I do think it's to the detriment of my boys (for example my oldest did better with FLL than GWG). But it allows us to forge ahead and it does encourage independence. and it's only a "season", right? Thanks for all the encouragement. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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