Daily rhythm with just one kid

[jillian]

So I have an only. I teach part time usually a 10-1150am class (and another evening class). What does your schedule look like? I see all of these "planning" threads and talking about color coding, and how to organize with multiple kids but I've got one. Do you have a blog you like for this topic? Thread here? Ideas?

[jillian]

Glad I'm not the only one.

[Aurelia]

Ours is pretty simple, I have a weekly list with what needs to be done, and most things are checked off as they are finished each day. Very basically, it's like this:

 

Math (5 lessons) 

Grammar (4 lessons)

Spelling (5 days - may not get through a whole lesson each day)

Writing (4 lessons)

Free Reading (minimum 30 minutes daily)

Literature (2-3 chapters, plus activities)

Science (1 lesson, may take 2 or 3 days)

History (2 chapters)

Music Practice (5 days)

Music Theory (2 days)

Memory Review (geography, Classical Conversations, poetry) (5 days)

 

I actually schedule out what chapters of the books should be read each week, to keep on track, but other than that, that's all we do. I also get less push-back from DD this way, since she can see what to expect in black and white. 

[Pen]

I have 1 son now age 11.

 

We use a "do the next thing" approach, with time allotments per subject and whatever gets done in that time is what gets done--the amount of time is decided according to need/emphasis/interests. Increasingly he is responsible for his own schedule, but we go over it and discuss what seems reasonable. Increasingly he is able to work on many subjects on his own, and he can set his own times for those. Ones that need more of my attention need to be when I am able to help. I will sometimes announce when I am able to help, and when I will then not be able to help, and allow him to choose if he wants me or wants to work alone.

 

We are a bit off of schedule due to holidays but generally right now the schedule is:

math 1 hour (usually at 9AM, but sometimes at other times), writing (etc.) 1 hour, required and with my oversight. History, science, German, current events, art, music, etc. as interest him, the rest of the school day, flexibly scheduled. His apparently favorite subject is history and he devotes a lot of time to that in an unschool type of way--for example he spent several hours this morning on history/science even though it is not a school day. We school year round with heavier and lighter periods according to need, health, weather, etc.

 

Math has occasionally been shorter or longer than 1 hour but most exactly that often (5 days per week) from when we first started homeschool in second grade, or half that in the summers. Reading once upon a time took up a huge part of the day (3 hours) when he was having trouble with it, but now is not officially counted as "school"--and writing took its place as a new emphasis area.  History/Science used to be 1 hour per day unless an experiment required more time, but now are more flexible as he seems to do them unbidden--they have been scheduled together as one hour of either or both since they often seem to overlap in the way we have done them. Music appreciation sometimes overlaps with other things by playing music during chores for example. Language had been languishing, but then he suddenly decided he wanted to pursue several languages and it was done over the "holiday" as a choice, going back and reviewing his Duolingo German and planning to add on another language shortly.

 

He and a neighbor friend, also an only child who also has been homeschooled in past though this year is doing a charter program from home, often play together for at least an hour in the afternoons usually after school, at least for my son, is done for the day. But sometimes if weather seems to indicate, they will go out in the middle of the day to play and then do more school later.  I gather that the friend more often does school after play time than my son does. The friend's charter also requires a PE log, and the two of them often do that together as biking in the middle of the day. My son needs to be very active and otherwise also breaks up his seatwork with shooting baskets and playing with his dog and also doing active chores. "Seatwork" may be a misnomer since my son does very little work in anything like a conventional seat. He has done work up a tree, while on a swing, in an easy chair, on the floor, far more often than sitting at a desk.

 

We have used audiovisual materials to enhance learning--starting when it was needed due to reading problems, and then continued because my son is still fairly strongly auditory in his learning style. I might well give my child something to watch or listen to on tape if I had something like a class to teach and the child were not yet able to work independently on a more active subject during that time. We have materials that can travel with us in car or to appointments to try not to waste such time also.

[jillian]

Yeah we are do the next thing too

[Pen]

Yeah we are do the next thing too

 

Is anything actually not working for you right now the way you are doing it? For us, "do the next thing" has worked wonderfully with just some tweaking of amount of time per subject or narrowing in to fewer or expanding out to more subjects , or changing subjects or materials, as necessary for 4 years now. I see the posts about color coding and breaking up books into units or making year long lesson plans and so on and so forth and pretty much just ignore all that as not applicable to us, in an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" way.

[leeannpal]

I have an only, and we are going to start a weekly checklist schedule. I make out daily lesson plans to follow, but I do  a week at a time. We have a checklist with the weekly information on it that she can check off when she is finished. That way, if she wants to do 2 science lessons in one day, she can. We also are doing a 4 day week and plan to homeschool year round. As far as what we do daily, we do Bible, math, reading and science daily. She loves science, so that was at her request. We do grammar, writing, spelling, history,geography, computer coding and foreign language 2x a week. Once a week we do art/crafts, and music, She has to do some sort of physical activity everyday too.

[Penguin]

I only have one at home. I use time allotments for each subject, but math is the only subject that I strictly time.

 

Monday through Thursday are highly predictable:

 

We are together for the morning, spending the time in the kitchen/family room.

Morning work

Math (1 hour). I set the timer.

Literature. He reads and I do what I need to do in the kitchen.

Writing. Sometimes independent. Sometimes not.

A mashup of grammar, vocab and spelling. Most of it is oral, so we do this together.

 

After lunch, DS goes up to the loft and works independently on science and/or history. Eventually, I join him in the loft and we go over/ discuss what he worked on.

 

The last segment of the day is given to foreign languages and piano practice.

 

Fridays are for: art, music, movies, independent study and anything else that has been feeling neglected. And a math hour.

 

He has a weekly checklist, because he has requested one. But it is not very detailed.

[TianXiaXueXiao]

I have two kids with a large age gap so I'm only really hsing with my oldest. She has a list of assignments for each day which she usually completes in the following order starting between 9 and 10 am:

Math

History

Biology

Grammar

Latin

Spelling

Dictation/Copywork

Catechism

Reading

Piano

Extra curriculars

 

We also just do the next thing. :)

[Pen]

We also have a not very detailed checklist which covers chores and other activities in addition to schoolwork. It allows ds to look and see what needs to be done/me to see what has been done without constant reminders.

[tjdan]

I'm homeschooling an only, as well.  Ds is 7, but mostly doing 5-6th grade work.  We have a detailed schedule printed out for each week (done my me), so he knows exactly what needs to be done each day, and can be checked off.  We start with the most challenging subjects each day, since he's an early bird and at his best in the morning.  And yes, we start early (0730-0800).  After each subject, he gets a "play break" of at least 15 minutes, sometimes more if he needs it.  This helps keep him focused and on task when it is time to work.  And even when the subject is only 5-10 minutes long, he still gets the break (like spelling-he's a very good speller and we use A Reason for Spelling, very short work!).  Through the course of the week we cover History/Social Studies and Language arts + science 5 days (using Trail Guide to Learning Paths of Settlement), Math 5 days (Math in Focus 5A), Spanish 3 days, Typing 2 days (Mickey Typing Adventure), Spelling 5 days, and additional Science at least 3 days (RSO Chemistry right now).  Most days all the subjects except Chemistry are done by lunch.  Chemistry is after lunch and another big play break, because it's "fun" and easy for him.  He also goes to a Charter school 2 days a week and does more science, spanish, music, art, etc.  So some of our lessons are longer or shorter than  others because of the time at school.  But regardless, we have a schedule, check items off, and he knows exactly what needs to be done.  If he gets ahead or behind, he knows what we need to do.  And often we do get ahead because he wants to keep going- so then he gets time off later in the week as a bonus.  No color coding, no alternating kids, plenty of time to do our lessons, go to swimming lessons, play golf, be on the soccer team, go to Cub Scouts...  You're not the only one!  Although sometimes I sure feel like it!  And sometimes we throw out the schedule and go to the zoo instead- we just make it up later  :drool:

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

DD13 is my only, and our day always starts with math, at first because it took the longest, but now because it's her favorite, and it's just habit.  We have a spreadsheet to check off, and I keep a general log, but the exact order can vary a bit from day to day.  Friday tends to be lighter, and we'll sometimes do Friday's stuff on another day if there's an appointment or some other anticipated interruption.

 

The biggest change this year is a significant leap in the amount of work she does independently.

[jillian]

Is anything actually not working for you right now the way you are doing it? For us, "do the next thing" has worked wonderfully with just some tweaking of amount of time per subject or narrowing in to fewer or expanding out to more subjects , or changing subjects or materials, as necessary for 4 years now. I see the posts about color coding and breaking up books into units or making year long lesson plans and so on and so forth and pretty much just ignore all that as not applicable to us, in an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" way.

 

She only wants to do the next thing on some subjects, she could do science all day long and will do her handwriting (cursive)/copywork all day long. i am a hidden organized person but it doesn't come out well

[DragonFaerie]

The time allotment thing doesn't work here as DS is an excellent procrastinator and time-waster.  So, I make up a weekly checklist broken down into days for him so he can see what is expected for the week.

[Pen]

She only wants to do the next thing on some subjects, she could do science all day long and will do her handwriting (cursive)/copywork all day long. i am a hidden organized person but it doesn't come out well

 

If me: I'd  let her do something like her copywork while you have to teach. Then (or before if that works)  I'd have her do whatever you deem the most important must do subjects as early as you can, working along with her (math, say, would be our must-do that my ds often does not want to do), then let her have at it with science for a reward for getting the must-do stuff done.  And you can get a lot of other subjects into science, such as history of science, reading and writing about science and so on.  I'd also limit the must-do as much as possible so that, for example, if she can be getting in some other useful information or spelling or grammar through the copywork she likes, I'd try to get it done that way and not as a separate subject that gets balked at. You can also get in a good bit of content area learning via films and talking about it.

 

I don't know her age but if working on cursive I'd guess young, so an hour of math, copywork with if possible a bit of content or spelling or some such incorporated in it, and whatever science she wants to do for the rest of school may be a full program.

[Berta]

I'm down to homeschooling my last :(

 

We use a modified workbox system. All her work is in a rolling set of small drawers. She does her math first (takes the longest) then can choose what ever subjects she wants. She also has her own student log and she will check off as she goes along. We started two years ago with the workboxes and it works very well for us.

[almondbutterandjelly]

I make a daily checklist of assignments.  I star the ones that I expect her to do independently.  So it looks something like this:

* Reading - 30 minutes (usually done while eating breakfast)

  Math - Singapore text pp. 100-101 wkbk pp. 148-149

  Life of Fred - Chapter 16

  Writing with Ease Week 5 Day 1

  Oral Language Exercises 14.1

  Adventures of Genius Boy and Grammar Girl p. 116

*Language Smarts pp. 285-286

*Behold and See Science wkbk p. 22

  Literature - Canterbury Tales pp. 60-   Chaucer Coloring p. 28

*Comprehension Plus p. 84

*Spelling - List 10 study

  History - SOTW Chapter 20 and coloring page

*Timeline cards (memorizing events and dates with CC timeline cards)

*Maps Charts Graphs pp. 22-23

*Abeka Science Constellation Chart A study

  Story of Science Chapter 5

  French - Study alphabet a-h

*Venn Perplexors p. 20

*SmartArt p. 48 top section

*Health - AG Feelings Book pp. 102-104

*Bible - Do next page (Notgrass Draw to Learn Proverbs)

*Computer - Microworks - Step 4

*Aha Science - Next

 

That's what we do.  This way if I need to do something or go shower or whatnot, she has things she can complete by herself. 

 

[MooCow]

I use file folders. One for each week with post its separating subjects that are numbered. He sees what he needs to learn, and I stay on track.

 

I also have a one page master calendar for the school year that I plotted the lessons on so we finish on time.

[jillian]

Our rhythm is usually:

Get up when we get up. Usually between 7-8 if I'm not teaching a course

Have breakfast and do quick clean ups (dishes, sweep, etc)

School for 1-2 hours depending on what is all going on that day

Lunch and quiet time

Clean up and start dinner

 

Somewhere in there we play outside too. Sometimes it is before school, sometimes it is after school and sometimes it's when dad gets home

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Ideally our days look like this:

 

Morning round 7-9

Morning subjects 9-12

Lunch and tidy 12-1

Afternoon subjects 1-3

Tea 3-3:30

Late afternoon subjects 3:30-5:30 or 6:00

Dinner 5:30 or 6:00