Weekly thoughts scheduled out, any opinions?

[Trivium Academy]

This is for 3rd grade and my preschooler is in there too but not written out, when dd8 is independently working, ds4 and I will be doing something else.

 

The items in purple are things I can easily cut from our day. We will not do Simply Spelling (SS) before we finish ETC books 7 & 8 so for a while SS will not be a factor at all on Fridays.

 

I put the approximate times on the left column only, and of course things in the afternoon would not happen unless the previous items have been done.

 

 

 

I modified it after thinking about some of your helpful comments. Keeping our Fridays short will be possible and I figured out we could do PLL only 2x a week and still finish it within her 3rd grade year. We've been doing it 4 days a week now and although she enjoys it, I'm sure she'll appreciate having more reading time.

 

 

Errands, piano lessons (don't know when, moving next month so we'll find a new teacher) and ds4's preschool time is not accounted for.

 

Also, is there any other resources for handicrafts that are similar to Keepers at Home? I want to consider different resources before picking one. I wrote more about all of this at my blog but this is the gist of it.

http://triviumacademy.blogspot.com/2008/05/our-days-what-and-when.html

[rafiki]

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[Faithr]

What exactly is a flow chart? I'm having trouble picturing it. I've always had trouble with the MOTH style. Makes me anxious and overwhelmed!

 

BUT, Jessica, I think your chart looks great. Sigh, it's so nice when everything looks so tidy and complete! Sadly, mine never seems to tranlate that way in reality.

[Faithr]

Oh and I am also working on figuring out handicrafts for my 2nd grader to be. She must be kept busy or she gets into real mischief and naughty behaviors. My very, very loose plan so far is to try to have something different every day:

 

Monday - Art lesson

Tuesday - some kind of craft or handiwork based on something we're learning

Wednesday - more of what we did on Tuesday

Thursday - baking (also 2x a month she'll be in a girls club that does little craft projects)

Friday - co-op

[Nestof3]

Wow -- you are always so nice and detailed! :001_smile:

 

May I just ask a question? When you say 2-hours/free time, does this mean that in one day, your children only get 2 hours of non-school, eating, cleaning time?

 

I just thought I'd ask because this seems so little, and I've found that my boys get so creative with more free time. I guess that's one thing I like about homeschooling -- more free time to explore their own interests.

[Trivium Academy]

No, the handicrafts and art are because I know it will be fun for the kids- dd has requested these items in particular. The two hours are free time outside without me or having play time at a friend's house. With this layout, I'm just dedicating time to my children's creativity instead of allowing 5 hours free play which is what they have now which involves a lot of fighting and mischief more so than creativity. T

 

he kids will be outside more than not during the day unless weather is not optimal. The main thing is that tv will be eliminated altogether from our week, I didn't mention that. Once we figure out dh's new work schedule we'll add family game night and hopefully a dh-led devotion once a week.

[Another Lynn]

My first thought was not to lose the read aloud time, but then I realized you have literature read alouds at bedtime. If you are looking for things to cut.... I would consider informal logic and maybe one more day of science since you're doing such a great job with nature study? Also perhaps, you might not do tea time every day?

 

I'm only mentioning these things if you WANT to cut something. Otherwise I think it looks very logical.

 

But honestly, I'm a poor judge of such things until I actually try it! The other thing you could do (as I've seen advised here many times) is to start with some of the subjects and gradually add the others in. That might give you a feel for when it starts to feel like too much (IF it starts to feel like too much!)

 

Sorry, no help with handicrafts here. We haven't been very successful in that department (my oldest two are boys, for one reason). But my oldest ds loves to make beaded bracelets with elastic thread. Really fun and creative and easy. Just go to Michaels, pick out elastic thread, some pretty beads, some plain ones to help make a pattern, maybe a plastic box for storing beads, and go for it.

[Pam in MA]

I'm a big schedule-maker myself and I've found that the things that are scheduled at the beginning of the day always get done and the things at the end frequently get dropped. I had always scheduled with the subjects (the "do-most-days" stuff) in the same order every day. This year we tried shuffling things every day: math always gets done in the morning (but sometimes first, sometimes right before lunch) and I rotate everything else around so that each day is different. It's made it more interesting for us, and also I've found we've done much better getting all the things done. HTH!

[Novafan]

Jessica,

 

I just love how organized you are. Seriously, could you come and help me out here? ;)

 

Truthfully, I am close to making a tentative schedule for my 3rd grader as well. My schedule will look quite different than yours though because of the way my DS works. The 15-minute increments are what jump out at me as a problem (for US, not necessarily for you guys). My son goes into a very deep concentration when he's working on something and works much better when he does one subject for a longer period of time. I could never jump him around that often at this stage of the game. But that's really the only thing that sticks out to me, and that's just because it wouldn't work for us. Obviously you know how your children work and what flows best for them.

 

I think you have a GREAT plan and I love how you have identified what can be dropped when need be. I'm currently prioritizing our work as well and I'm finding this task to be very helpful.

 

Is there a link for this Keepers at Home stuff? I'd love to take a look at it. Also, what program do you use to make your charts? I like the look of them. :)

[Trivium Academy]

Otherwise I think it looks very logical.

 

 

That's what I was looking for, an indication of being too idealistic or if I was being reasonable with our time. I know there will be days that math takes 1 hour instead of 30 min, but those are the days that the afternoon activities will be eliminated.

 

Of course this stuff isn't set in stone, it's just scheduling out all that I *want* to do with the kids. I haven't been this hands-on and was hoping to hear from others who do this, I'm tomato-staking my littlest one and that requires dedication and commitment.

 

Anyways, thank you for your thoughts we'll see how it plays out from here. I really appreciate the feedback, this stuff glazes dh over completely. lol.

[Hannah]

Jessica,

 

Does your daughter mind having every day the same?

Mine doesn't and gets a real sense of ownership in having a say in which subjects follow onto which. We start with bible, take out the days subjects (the books are in seperate magazine holders) and she chooses in what sequence she wants to complete the work.

We're very much do-the-next-page homeschoolers, so its pretty easy to move through the subjects (I work out how many pages per subject we should complete in a day at the start of the year). She knows that the "basics" - maths and language arts - are the most important and often chooses to do them first so she can linger on something else that interests her.

We're moving towards her having a say in how her whole week is structured now. If she then chooses to complete all math for the week on Monday, it will be her choice.

 

Do you do the SOTW activity guide projects? They count as crafts here.

 

I'm not familiar with Keepers of the Home. We pick up kits at the local craft store quite regularly and dd has got into beading lately.

[Tami]

I think you're schedule looks great! I know many, many kids who do best with structure over hours and hours of free time. Do what works for YOUR kids. I like that you have some free time, hopefully for yourself too, scheduled in.

 

If it were me, I wouldn't do PLL every day, so that would be the first thing on the chopping block. Science would be my next thing. Another idea would be to do 2 days of PLL and 3 days of science in the same time slot.

 

You are organized as usual! Way to go.

[rafiki]

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[Trivium Academy]

I'm going to allow her some leeway with the morning subjects, Bible, math and Latin but after that it will be, what's next on the list. We switched around this year, each day being a different sequence and really enjoyed it but with ds4 joining the mix- I need some predictable structure with him which means dd too b/c when she's doing independent work, I'll be with ds4.

 

My main goal this year with ds4 is to provide him a strong sense of structure, for him to be eager to do an activity because he knows it's time for it. Whatever he does academically will be great but I'm not expecting much from him, I want his heart and eagerness to listen to be built upon. He has a very structured bedtime routine and he's very vocal if something doesn't happen. He's physically ahead of his age but maturity wise he's a little behind.

[Trivium Academy]

http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/

 

See and dd7 has the attitude, "when can we move on to the next thing?" except for when there is art or science involved then she could take a long time. In history what keeps her interested is doing projects and mapwork although she's starting to synthesize information better.

[Trivium Academy]

Great point Tami about PLL and science, PLL will get more heavier the further we get into it. I'll keep that in mind. I was hoping you would chime in, you've been a wonderful example to learn from. :)

[frogpond1]

and it keeps your time schedule a little looser and easier to manage. For example, you could chunk TOG with read aloud. Poetry could drop in with language and ETC. I think your schedule is fine, but sometimes if the kids see things in groupings then they can take breaks between groupings if they finish up early etc. If you get breaks between each individual subject you'll spend all day bringing kids back together. You may want to do poetry 1X a week for a longer period and then just put the poem you are memorizing into your short memory work segment each day as you go into grammar etc.

 

Think simplicity of organizing so you don't have to watch the clock too much. Take your schedule and make a simple spread sheet checklist. Then you don't have to follow the times exactly, but you can be sure you've completed what you wanted. Looks great.

[Stacy in NJ]

I think you're doing alot of subjects every day. Latin, PLL, French, logic; all of these everyday. Although she's not spending alot of time on each subject, you're covering them all in the morning. Honestly, I think I would thin it out a little buy alternating some subjects.

 

Just some thoughts:001_smile:

[Audrey]

This is just me, but I would get rid of all the purple boxes you marked on Friday. Keep the Read-aloud Mon-Thurs. that you marked purple, though.

 

I've found, as my ds gets older (he's gr. 3 right now), that having a lighter, more flexible Friday has been a real life-saver sometimes. It allows for the hiccups of life that occur during the week to be less interruptive. I can use the freedom of the Friday to either spend more creative or outdoor time, or we can use it to catch up when needed.

[mcconnellboys]

I think this sounds great! I think Waldorf uses a lot of handicrafts, but I'm not quite sure where to look for info on that.

[NorCalMom]

Jessica,

 

I just love how organized you are. Seriously, could you come and help me out here? ;)

 

 

 

:iagree: I really wouldn't be surprised if I see a book on the shelves one day with your name on it. :)

[5wolfcubs]

I think it looks great, too! Reading your schedules always makes me feel happy & hopeful. My suggestion would be walking Jack everyday -- either w/ your nature walks or perhaps before tea time...since you just ate at 12:30. I love the title "Lunch with Composer." What about a morning snack? During poetry maybe? Or have morning snack/movement break and poetry in the afternoon w/ tea time?

[Trivium Academy]

I just modified it, the snack can be done without devoting any time to it on the schedule :) It would be during poetry b/c I doubt she'll take 15 minutes to do it other than on the days she illustrates or copies the poem. I plan on reading a composer biography each quarter and during lunch I will play the composer's music and read a little of their biography. The kids aren't old enough to really listen to the Vox Music Masters yet- dd is not the best audio learner.

 

Movement break...oh that reminds me! Yoga! I'm not sure we'll have afternoon tea every day, maybe I can alternate it with exercise. Yes, I know walking the dog is exercise but we love our exercise videos and lately we haven't been doing them. Once dd is able to take over the dinner clean-up I intend on taking a walk with Jack after dinner by myself. Hey, I can dream...