How do you schedule your high school day? I am going to have 1 hs, 1 ms and 1 elem.

[lori in tx]

and I am wondering how you do it? I will need to work with my middle schooler (ms) with math we are playing catch up and will need to work with him on english, same with my elementary. My hs will not some direction. Do you schedule a meeting with them each day to go over their subjects? We do history together, TOG and normally work on it for about an hour and half after lunch.

 

Do you have a daily schedule to show me? or a planning sheet?

thanks

lori in tx who is real nervous about next year

[Kendall]

My high schooler hasn't needed much help from me this year and he is fine with talking about things in the evening. Ideally I would have a regularly scheduled discussion/teaching time, but there just wasn't time in my day this year. He does come occasionally to get math help. I just interrupt what I am doing with one of the 6 others and help him. Sometimes it is really crazy when 4 of them need intense math help at once, but thankfully they usually need it on different days. Last year I had 30 minutes scheduled in the afternoon for each of my oldest 3. We went over papers, discussed, taught new things, whatever was needed. Maybe with 3 to teach you could carve out 45 min or an hour for each?

 

I let my high schooler plan his schedule with certain restrictions (piano is open at these times, don't do math while I'm napping, etc.). My 2nd son will need more direction next year when he is in 9th, so I will input more on his schedule and will have to have to have a time slot alone with him each day.

 

Maybe you wouldn't need to do this, but my oldest two understand that teaching the new math lesson (if needed) will usually have to happen in the evening. There just aren't enough hours during the school day for me to do everything individually that needs to happen. All this just to say be flexible and look for out-of- the-box times if necessary.

 

I'm not sure my schedule will help much, but in the morning I work with the 2nd graders and down, my 5th grader is in the room the first hour and I stop and help him with grammar and math as needed. My 8th grader gets a lot of math help during that hour as well. Then both of them work on their own in another room while I finish (or start!) the younger ones. After my nap(35 weeks pregnant so this is a necessity!) I have 30 minutes 'alone' with the 5th and then with the 8th grader. I read to all of them at the end of the school day.

 

What they need and how much I find hard to predict ahead of time each year so I leave wiggle room if possible.

 

My much less than 2 cents worth,

Kendall

[Brindee]

My oldest needs schedules. So we devised piano practice times between all three of my kids so they wouldn't clash, and went from there. He does GREAT with schedules, and I mean schedules down to the minute! That worked well for him, and the other two fell into step with it.

 

He is at school this year, so for the other two (age just turned 11 and age 14), I've lightened up. I make a weekly schedule list of what curriculum they need to get done: Monday this, Tuseday that, etc., and they just find what they want to do and cross it off AFTER I have checked it. This has worked great for them, and it's sooo much easier on me (and them) not to have to try to stick with a minute by minute schedule!

 

Once I got the template made up with which classes they were doing and saved on Word, it was easy to go in and plug in each weeks lessons!

 

If they have any questions, they just come ask and I spend time with them.

[Nan in Mass]

I'm only homeschooling two of mine. The older one needed my help more with his more complicated stuff, and the younger one was mostly doing Kingfisher, lots of library books, and a few workbooks for things like spelling and drawing. I worked with him on writing and math while the older one was doing more independent stuff, and then he worked on his own while I sat with the older one. Latin, music, and science we did together. As soon as I could, I included the younger one in with the older one, so now we do great books, science, music, and Latin together and they each do their own math and writing programs. My older one needs me to explain things, and my younger one, because the programs he's doing are a bit too old for him, also needs me to explain more. As the younger one has gotten older, too, I've needed to do more and more with him because although he does great with a high level input source, his output deteriorates a lot if I don't work with him. And the older one needs me to drive him back and forth to CC. So my days this year looked like this: Everyone start working at 7. I put laundry in and deal with the pets while the children do language tapes. Then the younger one does piano and French reading while I do math with the older one. Then we all do Latin, music, physics, and great books together. In the afternoon, the older one does writing by himself and the younger one does math and writing with me. This wouldn't work for most people, but I have a high ability to ignore the housework and I'm homeschooling my two youngest children. It also helps that my older one is slower and my younger one is quicker, so it is actually possible to combine them even though they are 4 years apart. I could set them up to work more independently, but then I wouldn't be able to help them when they got stuck because I either don't remember or don't know the material. If I work with them, we are all happier. Besides, it is more friendly this way. We like all working together. It is less boring. If I had to include an elementary school child, I would have the child read lots of library books and do independent work while I worked with the older one, and then I'd sit with him in the evening while the older ones are at gymnastics and we would go over lessons, do the oral part, and get him set up to do some independent work the next morning. That is what I did when I had one in middle school and one in elementary school, except that I didn't do it in the evening. With three spread like that, I think I'd have to work in the evening.

This probably is not very helpful. Hopefully someone with a family configuration like yours will answer.

-Nan

[Gwen in VA]

Schedule? What's a schedule?

 

Seriously, I work with my younger dd (6th grade) first thing in the morning and then am available for whoever/whatever for the rest of the morning. After lunch I do read-alouds to my younger two (6th and 8th) and go over any "together work" with both of them. Then I am generally available until 2 or 3, when I announce that if you didn't ask your questions you're about to run out of time.......

 

My kids are pretty self-motivated, so it works. I guess I take the "unscheduling" approach.

 

(This post was probably massively unhelpful....I guess I am posting just to show that sometimes having no schedules does work.....) I hope this post is n't too annoying! :001_huh:

[mom2abcd]

Schedule? What's a schedule?

 

Seriously, I work with my younger dd (6th grade) first thing in the morning and then am available for whoever/whatever for the rest of the morning. After lunch I do read-alouds to my younger two (6th and 8th) and go over any "together work" with both of them. Then I am generally available until 2 or 3, when I announce that if you didn't ask your questions you're about to run out of time.......

 

My kids are pretty self-motivated, so it works. I guess I take the "unscheduling" approach.

 

(This post was probably massively unhelpful....I guess I am posting just to show that sometimes having no schedules does work.....) I hope this post is n't too annoying! :001_huh:

 

Your post was very helpful to me!! We have been taking that approach, too, and it's good to know it will work even during high school:o)

[gardenschooler]

Last year, I had a 9th, 7th, and 2nd grader. I worked with the oldest first, because she was an early bird, and she could also do more independently. We'd have another hour or so in the afternoons a few times a week to do history or science, but we did most of her math/writing/lit together first thing in the morning. We found we were much more efficient before everyone else woke up.

 

That way, she could then go finish her independent work undisturbed, and I could rotate the others. Oldest two did science & Latin together in the afternoons, with just a little time from me.

 

It was still crazy, and my days were long. If you can rearrange your kids according to which ones are good to go very early, and which ones still have stamina late in the afternoon, that helps. I couldn't get it down to a short day, but I tried to condense my teaching time to be in one long block, instead of broken up through the day.

[gardenschooler]

Here's a rough schedule of what we did, if that helps. It's a little foggy to me now, and I only have dd#2 and #3 home this year, so everything's different. I haven't found that has given me any extra time in the day, though!

 

Ok, so last year, with dd#1 in 9th, dd#2 in 7th, and dd#3 in 2nd: for the most part we started around 8, but sometimes 7:30:

 

about 45 min: Algebra w/dd#1

 

about 30 min: Lit/Writing/etc. - any teaching needed for LA for dd#1

dd#2 doing any independent LA/Lit

dd#3 would start the day with her own ideas for what

she wanted to draw/write, I'd sneak in some copywork

 

about 45 min: dd#1 off to do her math/LA

Pre-Algebra w/dd#2

dd#3 still insisting she's busy with her little project

 

 

about 45 min: dd#1 continues her math/LA

dd#2 does her math

start w/dd#3 - reading, LA

(*my dd#3 not fond of math, so we don't start with it)

 

about 30 min: dd#1 is finishing up her math/LA, then will do history

dd#2 Lit/Writing/etc. teaching

dd#3 nearby, doing something semi-independent

or just drawing/doing some kind of writing, runs off

to play

 

about 45 min: dd#1 finishing up all history, any extra little things

dd#2 working on her LA

do math w/dd#3

 

Lunch and break for an hour - by now it's around 11:30/12

 

about 45 min: dd#1 & 2 - science together independently

dd#3 - either history or science w/me

 

about 45 min: dd#1 & 2 - Latin together independently

dd#3 - a little Latin, read a little more, maybe a

SOTW project, some other LA, finishing up

 

about 45 min: dd#2 History (she could do this in the early morning if she got up early, while dd#1 had her time w/me).

 

 

For history, and science with my older ones, I'd try to review with them after they finished each thing, but sometimes we skipped Latin in order to have time in the afternoon to review their history or science in detail (usually only at the end of a module or unit). I did spend time reviewing their Latin with them every day. By then, they were deliriously silly, and I vowed to do Latin in the mornings this year! :D

 

I also had days where I didn't have to teach one of the older ones math, if they had chapter reviews or tests. It would have been nice if those could have fallen on days when we did reviews for history or science. Of course, they didn't. :tongue_smilie:

 

We had to do a lot of our reading at night (both read alouds for the younger, and independent reading for the olders) because there just aren't enough hours in the day.

 

Somehow we made it through, but I always felt like I was shortchanging everyone. It worked out pretty well, though, if I made mental notes of which child I had spent time with reviewing things with, and how much, and tried to keep it all sort of balanced.

 

It would have been easier if things fell on a regular schedule - for example, I knew our Apologia study guide would fall every other Thursday, so I would plan some time to go over that with them, but I also needed time to go over dd#1's BJU science (I had her do both for 9th - Physical), and that didn't follow the neat, 2 week pattern. Neither did math or English, but Latin and history were easier to get on a set pattern.

 

I thrive on structure, can you tell? :D

[Miss Marple]

I have the same situation. This year, my 9th would get up and begin work on his own (usually biology or history), one younger boy would begin working on ALEKS, and I would work with the other younger boy. While both younger ones are doing similar things, they are at different levels in all but history and science. I have a weekly sheet on which I list the younger boys' assignments (math, science, history, spelling, vocab, grammar, typing, map work, Latin, etc.). While one is working on ALEKS, I may be giving a spelling test to the other. While one is typing, I may be helping with the other with math.

 

My high schooler really does most of his work on his own. I'm only there for help when needed. I do feel like a ping-pong ball when I'm working with the other 2 boys, though. But most of the subjects where I teach/help the younger boys are finished up by lunchtime. After lunch, they do their assigned reading, I help the 9th grader and clean up the house, do laundry, and plan for supper.

[AngieW in Texas]

This year I've had a 9th grader, 7th grader, and 4th grader.

 

Here's the way our days go.

 

Each week I type up an assignment sheet for each of my kids.

 

My 9th grader sleeps late (she's a night owl), so I start school with just my two younger girls. My 4th grader is dyslexic, so she needs me to be with her for nearly everything she does.

 

At 9am, my 4th grader does her silent reading for 30 minutes. While she's reading, I work with my 7th grader. I read her science to her and go over anything she may need me for. Sometimes I end up spending 45 minutes with my 7th grader, but it's usually closer to 30 minutes.

 

Then I work with my 4th grader for the next 45 minutes or so while my 7th grader works on her own and my 9th grader continues to sleep.

 

I wake up my 9th grader and we all have toast and take a break for a little while. My 9th grader goes to her room and works on her stuff while I read the readaloud to my 4th and 7th graders (they're both studying world cultures). Afterwards, I give my 4th grader about 15 minutes of work to do on her own while my 7th grader works independently and I work with my 9th grader for the next hour or so. My 4th grader gets a break until I'm done with the 9th grader.

 

Then I work with my 4th grader for about an hour while my other girls work on their own and then we break for lunch.

 

After lunch, I help my 7th grader with anything she's gotten confused by and then work with my 4th grader for another hour or so. My 9th grader continues working on her own.

 

Then I read history to my 4th and 7th graders. My 4th grader is done at that point, and my 7th grader often is as well. If my 9th grader needs help with anything, this is when she gets it.