Need major scheduling help please!!!

[DragonFaerie]

Hi, everyone. I'm a long time lurker and I have only posted once or twice. But now I'm in desperate need of scheduling help. I'm homeschooling two kiddos, one in 2nd grade (DS7) and one in 3rd (DD8). They both do workbooks for their core subjects (language arts and math, writing and vocabulary for my DD, Explode the Code and Time and Money for DS) in addition to spelling and copywork for handwriting. Then we have the subjects we do together: literature (read-alouds, worksheets, narrations), history and science (both using Usborne books and curriculums I've put together) and religious studies.

 

I was doing history, science and religious studies once per week. But I'm thinking we need twice a week for science as I just can't seem to get it done in one lesson. But that's not my biggest problem, by far.

 

My daughter is a competitive gymnast who trains 16 hours per week. She is at the gym Mondays-Fridays from 9 am until noon or 12:30. Then my son has just started year-round swim team and he is at the pool from 1 pm until 1:45 MWF. He also has speech therapy from 2 pm to 2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

 

So, DS does most of his core work and his reading with me either at the gym or at home while DD is at practice (we live 35 minutes from the gym and 45 minutes from the pool so we don't come home on MWF). DD does some of her work at the pool, in the car, and while DS is at speech but that's not enough time for her. Also, we don't get home until 2:30 or 2:45 every day. My oldest son (PS- 10th) comes home at 3:30 and it's usually hard to get my younger kids to stay on track much after that. Then my oldest has his activites in the evenings, in addition to all of them going to church on Wednesday nights. And weekends are supposed to be family time, errands, etc.

 

So with this kind of schedule, how in the world am I going to get everything done??? I read literature to them during breakfast. But after all the running around, we still have the literature assignments to do in addition to history/religion/science and getting my DD finished with her work.

 

We started homeschooling so they could get a better, more thorough education while still being able to dedicate themselves to their chosen activities. Now I'm not sure how I can manage that. Please help!!!

[StephanieZ]

I'd imagine that dedicating oneself to a serious competitive sport would necessitate giving up some other things. . . free time, social activities, and/or non-essential school subjects. HS'ing does free up some time, but it is easy to lose the extra time by inadvertently allowing other things to seep in to the schooling time. . .

 

You'll be the one to choose what have to give, but something will. :(

 

My dc are serious musicians. It takes a lot of time. On an individual basis, we make choices as to what else has to "give". I chose to drop Latin and formal Logic last year for my olders. Those were my choices. We also school on weekends/evenings when needed to make-up for missing daytime schooling due to major music events, etc.

 

General tip: Once you have a schedule in place for schooling, be fanatical in protecting it. That means saying no to playdates, not chatting with the other mom at the gym when you are supposed to be reading to your son, not stopping at the store on your way home, etc, etc. . . It is *painful* and hard, but you have to be very disciplined if you want to fit in a lot of schooling alongside your other commitments.

 

In general, I think your options are to either school well into the evenings and/or school on the weekends (guessing that this will be hard with competitions/etc) and/or streamline their studies. I'd think year-round schooling with minimal breaks would be helpful. . .

 

I found that I needed to put a year-long schedule in Excel for all subjects with weekly milestones. . . and hold fast to that schedule come heck or highwater. If we're behind, then we stay home for the weekend to catch up. . . or read the books in the evening. . . etc When I did not do this, it was much, much too easy to let weeks/months slip away and get impossibly behind.

[Oakblossoms]

Print out a schedule and fill in the times you are gone and traveling. something like the three column would work well.

 

Then figure out when you need to get up or like to get up. You will probably want to do one for each day. That way you can really see it all for that day.

 

It's ok for your children to have sports as their priorities. But, many young athletes find they have to make time outside of a normal school time. So, Saturday mornings you might need to rotate Science and History lessons. You could do two hours and knock out a lot of stuff.

 

Listen to books on CD like SOTW and great classics.

 

Use programs on the computer when possible.

 

My husband and I were both students at one time, while homeschooling our children. We had a lot to coordinate. We had to give up some things. But, it was important to keep homeschooling.

[Evergreen State Sue]

You said your dd is a competitive gymnast at age 8. My guess is there are other competitive gymnasts at that age. How do they do it? I've heard of gymnast much older who get up at 5 a.m. to work it all in, but unless your dd is willing to work that early, that seems unreasonable given her age. A private tutor?

 

If you use M-F to do activities when the rest of the school world is doing their studies, then I think you have to use the weekend to fill in.

 

My kids are able to do evening activities twice a week, but I think they are only able to do that because we don't have the homework school kids have. When I've talked to moms with their kids in a traditional school, they limit their children out once a week before it starts affecting their school (maybe a church group and a sport on the weekend at the most).

 

We're all given the same 24/7 week. Have you mapped out your week by time to see where you have holes to get work done and include some down time? I will say that when we are out during the day and come home anytime after 2 p.m., it is very hard to get my kids to do more school work. Just traveling is exhausting and your commutes are long.

 

You might have to choose between a thorough education and competitive sports. I hope you can find a good balance for your family that makes mama not go crazy!

[DragonFaerie]

Thanks. Mama is already crazy! LOL

 

Getting schoolwork done with DS is not a problem. There is almost no one at the gym when we're there so he and I get lots of good one-on-one time (which he desperately needs). My DD is very good at working independently and she is usually able to get all her work done. The biggest problem I'm having is how to fit in the "together" subjects.

 

Your replies have all helped and I've been re-working our schedule as we "speak." Literature isn't too difficult. The read-alouds work great during breakfast (I just get up earlier so I can have everything done and ready to go before they get up). And I can have DS do his lit assignments with the rest of his work. That would leave DD to do hers independently but that's okay with her (DS slows her down; LOL). I've scheduled heavier core subject days on Mondays and Wednesdays and deliberately kept Tuesdays and Thursdays lighter so we can do history and science. Fridays are generally "catch-all" days for them to make up whatever they didn't finish on the other days (surprisingly enough, DD is usually finished while DS still has work to do). I think if I just insist on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for history and science, the rest will work out the way we have it. I wonder if something like giving them a little break when we get home on Tues and Thurs would be helpful or if it would make it harder to rein them back in to work.

[tennismomkelly]

I can relate to your situation. My DS trains for his sport from 12-4pm M-F. Plus, we travel a lot for tournaments so our schedule is very hectic. We usually start our school day around 6am. This was a huge adjustment for me. I'm not a morning person! But, I knew that I had to make some changes to accommodate DS's training schedule. Honestly, the biggest thing that has helped us was moving to a year-round loop schedule. It has really taken away some of the stress on those days when we only have an hour or two to get our schoolwork done. Plus, we're making sure that all of the subjects are being covered. We also do school in the car. For example, my DS watches the LFC DVD. My little ones get a kick out of the chanting but doze off during the grammar lecture. :tongue_smilie: I'm still trying to figure out ways to make our days smoother. At least I know that I'm not the only one juggling a crazy schedule. :)

 

Good luck!! :grouphug:

[Deb in NZ]

I wouldn't plan to have "together" subjects with your time commitments. You can have them studying the same topics for history & science, but it doesn't have to be at the same time each week. Read literature read-alouds at breakfast, if it works for you. Choose individual history books at their own level for them to read independently. The SL catalog is good for that. By using SOTW cds you could listen to the chapter in the car on the way to gym/swim. Then have them narrate orally back to you. Any mapwork / written narrations could be part of their individual assignments. Projects / science labs could be for after returning home or weekends. Science at that age could be library books / dvds / science labs / nature walks / etc. Even the science workbooks that are at B&N or Borders would be fine for that age. By age 12 I would want to have my dc working through a more demanding program for science, but if you've taught them how to work independently, most homeschool science curriculums can be done without a lot of help from you.

 

My boys are serious athletes as well. Ds#1 is a competitive gymnast & ds#2 is a serious hockey player. Both boys are very involved in Scouts & sailing as well. School can work around these commitments, but what we give up first is the day-to-day socializing (i.e. playing with friends "after school") Our socializing is mainly around our activities.

 

JMHO,

[DragonFaerie]

Really? I would love to not have to do a formal science program (and I didn't last year for 1st and 2nd). Last year for DD's 2nd grade, I just got a big workbook about animals and she did several pages at a time. Then about ever other week, she did a "report" where she chose an animal and looked it up in an animal encyclopedia and wrote a paragraph about it. Now DS is in 2nd grade but he is not at the educational level that DD was at his age. However, he might do okay with a similar plan if I helped him. Do you really think that's enough, though? Can formal science really wait until 5th or 6th grade?

[Deb in NZ]

Look at the SL Discover & Do dvds. They have 5 levels so far (K,1,2,3,4) & the one I have (level 3) is great! The SL science could easily be done one day a week (maybe saturday morning) SL levels cover a range of ages. K is fine for ages 5-7. 1 is for ages 6-8. 2 is for ages 7-9. 3 is for ages 8-10. & 4 is for ages 9-11. Look at using the SL Science K for your ds & having your dd read books on the topics at her level or do a report once a month on a topic studied or make a lab book on the labs.

 

We did unit study style science when my dc were little. We took nature walks, took part in the occasional science day with our HS group, & watched many dvds on science topics. When they were age 12-13 they began Apologia's General Science. Ds#2 is on module 12 of Gen. Sci. & really enjoying it. Last year he read through the CLP Nature readers 1-5 & "unschooled" the reast of science. My other dc followed similar paths. Dd is now finishing up her first year of her Marine Biology degree & ds#1 is studying mechanical engineering at polytech.

 

Keep science fun & interest led in the early years. Focus the best hours of your schooling on the 3Rs, giving the tools they need to succeed in the later years.

 

JMHO,

[DragonFaerie]

Wow! You guys are wonderful! You've definitely given me some ideas for how to make this work. I got out DD's Animal book from last year and DS wanted to know if he could take it and finish it "just for fun!" Then DD, of course, said no, that SHE wants to finish it. (We only homeschooled for half of last year so there is quite a bit left of the book.) HA! Maybe I've found my science solution after all. I'm thinking I'll let DD finish her book and then start on The Complete Book of Science Grades 3-4. Meanwhile, DS can get his own Complete Book of Animals for this year. I can follow that up with The Complete Book of Dinosaurs or The Complete Book of Our Solar System (of course, DD is really interested in the Solar System so she may want that book; lol).

 

Oh, and I was able to speak with the speech therapist and change DS's schedule from TTh to MW after swimming. That gets us home earlier on TTh so we have time to still do history and religion together.

 

Yay! I think I may have this mess figured out! Woo hoo! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!