Do I need to change my thinking about our schedule?

[Flowergirl159]

I just need to talk this out, and see how I can possibly make it work. This is what our day looks like, but we don't seem to be getting everything done. I have been tweaking our schedule for most of this year, and last weekend, I was able to put together one that I thought would work. So we have had one week with this. And to be honest, I did not want to get the day started on any of the days other than Monday. So we had quite relaxed, slow mornings most days. We were out two of the afternoons, which doesn't happen every week, and we also had one whole day out too with our co-op (that doesn't happen regularly either). So perhaps I need to give myself some slack and realise that this was a busy week and not every week will be like this.

 

We start with Circle Time in the morning after breakfast and chores are done. Here is when we do Bible, Memory Work, history, and supposedly all the other fun things spread out over the week i.e. composer, artist, Apologia, French, some readings from classics.

 

 

If we didn't sleep in and dawdle through the above, then by 9am, we would be ready to begin Maths, LA and Core readings. Here is where my problem is though. Is it possible to fit in those three items for three children, all before lunch? My ideal schedule would say yes, but in reality it doesn't seem to happen.

 

 

Here is how long I need to spend with DD9:

Singapore Math teaching concepts - 15mins

All About Spelling - 15mins

Reader - 5/10mins

Grammar - 5m

Read Aloud from Core D - 1hr

Check other work - 5m

Total - 1hr 45m

 

 

DD7:

Singapore Math teaching concepts - 15mins

All About Spelling - 15mins

Reader - 5/10mins

Grammar (FLL) - 5m

Writing With Ease - 5/10m

Read Aloud from Core B - 30m

Check other work - 5m

Total - 1hr 30m

 

 

DD5:

Phonics and Reading Instruction - 20m

Maths - 5m

Read Aloud from Core P4/5 - 30m?

Total - less than 1hr

Even though her needed teaching time from me is less than 1hr, she actually needs more mummy time than that. To play games with her and be interested in the things she is doing, she is still young

 

 

All up its just over 4hrs of teaching time that I am trying to squeeze into a 3hr slot.

 

 

So looking at it like this, I can't really see how to get it all done by lunch *sigh* which is what I was hoping for.

 

 

At lunch we cover poetry, and a classics read aloud. Then we spend an hour or so together on a science experiment, doing Art Work or Nature Study, you know those fun things that are good to do weekly.

 

 

Then we all go our separate ways for an hour of quiet reading.

 

 

Perhaps I could spend a half hour with DD9 here, at 3pm, before she has free time. This would take us up to 3:30pm and school would be done for the day. Or should I suck it up and realise that its okay to still spend another hour here schooling whoever didn't get finished during the morning block?

[Aiden]

I assume these are all Sonlight cores?

 

I'm wondering a couple of things here ...

 

(1) Are you doing extra history readings, or is the history that you do during Circle time the only history you do? If you're doing separate  history + all of the SL readings, you're doubling up on history, which is not necessary. Unless you're pulling out the SL history readings to do during circle time, or you're skipping the history readings in SL, you're doing twice as much history as you really need to do.

 

(2) Would it be possible to combine children into one core? They aren't spread out too far age-wise ... it theoretically would be possible to combine DD9 and DS7, or DS7 and DD5, into one core, so you're doing 2 cores instead of 3. That may not be possible because of characteristics unique to your kids, but in most cases, it should be possible to combine children who are only 2 years apart, especially since you already have them doing separate LA. This would save you some time and maybe allow you to get it all done in the morning.

 

My other thought ...

 

Rather than doing "fun," extra stuff (like music, art, French, Apologia--though I'm not sure science would be considered an extra) first thing when the kids are fresh, and then feeling crunched for time for the basics (math, LA), why not do the essentials first? Have circle time, but make it Bible, memory work, maybe history. Then move straight into individual essentials--math, LA, phonics for the youngest. See how much time you have left in the morning. Have another circle time for whatever extra you're going to do that day, including science readings and maybe history. Or if there isn't enough time to do it comfortably before lunch and you don't want to rush it, save it for after lunch. Or if it really isn't essential, and you don't want to do it after lunch, just don't do it. This way your best, most focused, least rushed time is saved for the subjects that really require that, with other subjects getting the less optimal time.

 

Clarify what is truly essential, and give that your and your children's most alert, least rushed times. If you're going to rush through anything, make sure it is not the stuff that's foundational--math, phonics/reading for the youngest, grammar/writing for the older ones.

 

Just my $0.02. :) Good luck.

[TheAttachedMama]

We start with Circle Time in the morning after breakfast and chores are done. Here is when we do Bible, Memory Work, history, and supposedly all the other fun things spread out over the week i.e. composer, artist, Apologia, French, some readings from classics.

 

 

If we didn't sleep in and dawdle through the above, then by 9am, we would be ready to begin Maths, LA and Core readings. Here is where my problem is though. Is it possible to fit in those three items for three children, all before lunch? My ideal schedule would say yes, but in reality it doesn't seem to happen.

 

 

 

My advice is to better prioritize your subjects for each child.  Academically, what are THE most important subjects that you need to get done each day?  I know everything is important, but what subjects can you not afford to fall behind on for each child?   Also, what are your biggest priorities for the year with each child? 

 

I would actually take your schedule above and list everything out (even the fun stuff) and rate everything with a priority status.  (Pick a # 1 subject, pick a #2 subject, etc. etc.)  Then I would actually write down your main goals for each child.  This way you are more aware of them and your academic priorities. 

 

Chores are important.  And Circle time sounds really fun.  BUT, if you start your day off with history, read aloud, french, composer study and memory work---and then run out of time for reading and math....what happens?  Nothing good.    So what I would do is come up with a schedule that knocks the top priority subjects out first.  Start earlier in the day if you have to.  Then just get those top priority things done and checked off.  While you are working with one child, assign things for the other children to do independently.  (Perhaps they do their chores then.  Perhaps they are assigned doing something with the 5 year old.  Or silent reading, etc.)  THEN, when and if you get your priority subjects knocked out,  move on to the rest of the fun stuff you have planned.   (Maybe save circle time for after lunch....or after the other school is finished.) 

 

Another thing to think about is ALL of the cores you have going on there in your content subjects.  I am a former sonlight user, so when I look at your list I am thinking...."Man!  No wonder she isn't getting it all done!"   The thing to consider is that these books (and cores even!) appeal to a wide range of ages.   I would personally try to streamline your content subjects a bit.   Your kids are not spread all that far apart in ages.  So I really think you might be able to better streamline your content subjects.

 

For example:  for read alouds, I would pick TWO books each day and read them to everyone.  Start with one that will appeal to a slightly younger audience.  (One that the 5 & 7 year old will like to listen to.  For example "Milly Molly Mandy" or "Mr. Popper's Penguins")  THEN, read one that might appeal to a slightly older audience.  (Perhaps something from Core D or Core C.  OR...better yet, just allow the 9 year old to listen to Mr. Popper's Penguins.  She will enjoy that too!) 

 

For history, I would just want to study ONE historic time period per year.  Read a core book, then add in any age appropriate books from the library each day.  That may mean you aren't checking EVERYTHING off from EVERY core...but they will be getting a nice history study.  You currently have world cultures going on in preschool, world history going on in first grade, and then american history going on with your 9 year old.  That is a lot!   And I can't really see a justification for it.  (Maybe there is one, but that is just one way I can see to add some efficiency into your day.) 

 

For bible, figure out a way to do that as a family.   Etc. etc. 

 

-----

for the practicalities of getting the priority subjects done before school....make a three column list and figure out a way to best use yourself as a resource.  Figure out what you want each child doing while you are working with one child. 

 

For example, you may start your day off working with your 5 year old in phonics.  While you do that, your 7 & 9 year old may be doing any number of things from that list.  (They could do their chores THEN instead of together before school starts. They could do a math page.  They might do some silent reading or  writing, etc. etc.)  After that perhaps you move on with the 7 year old.  The 5 year old and the 9 year old would then be working on something.  You might have the 9 year old read a picture book or play a game with the 5 year old.  Or you might have the 9 year old help train the 5 year old in some new chore, etc. etc.)  After that, time to give the 9 year old some attention while the 7 year old and 5 year old work together on something. 

 

another practical consideration is the idea of a make up day.   No matter how well you plan and how efficeient you are, there are going to be busy weeks when you can't get everything done.  Instead of letting those weeks be your downfall, PLAN FOR THEM!   We plan a 4 day per week schedule.  If I don't get everything done, the 5th day becomes a make up day.  We also only do school for 5 weeks at a time year round.  If I fall behind, I have that 6th week as a make up week. 

[kristi26]

My first thought on your schedule: Do you HAVE to be the one reading to DD9 for an hour? Can you start her reading by reading, say 10 minutes, and then leaving her to it while you work with the others, checking in on her here and there to make sure she isn't fake reading (seriously, both of my older boys have attempted this, lol). It would encourage some independence and responsibility for her own education. :)

 

Next thought: It looks like you're doing Sonlight.  Can you combine into one core? I can't imagine trying to finish all of the reading for several cores! Your babies seem to be close-ish in age, so it may work.

 

HTH!

[G5052]

My first thought on your schedule: Do you HAVE to be the one reading to DD9 for an hour? Can you start her reading by reading, say 10 minutes, and then leaving her to it while you work with the others, checking in on her here and there to make sure she isn't fake reading (seriously, both of my older boys have attempted this, lol). It would encourage some independence and responsibility for her own education. :)

 

Next thought: It looks like you're doing Sonlight.  Can you combine into one core? I can't imagine trying to finish all of the reading for several cores! Your babies seem to be close-ish in age, so it may work.

 

HTH!

 

I always combined mine into one core.  Even if it is a little above their heads, they can listen.  My friend who introduced me to Sonlight and had six children never did more than two cores at a time.  She's down to her youngest now, so she had 20+ years with Sonlight.  We used it for PK-6th.

 

I also sometimes read to them at lunch, and we did some via audio books in the van.  I basically ditched the schedule for the book we were listening to until we were done, and then picked another one.  I also sometimes had them listen at home while I did quiet things in the area.

[FO4UR]

I combine the kids in their read alouds.  (I do not do any boxed currics for that though.  I simply choose a bunch of books for the semester and we read through them together.)  

 

 

When my kids were 9, 7, and 6 our schedule looked like....

 

45min with 7yo

 

20min with both 7yo and 9yo

 

Hour with 9yo

 

Together time - history or science or literature & SNACK

 

45min with 6yo

Hour with 9yo

 

 

Lunch

 

 

Co-op or nature walk or more reading aloud or just play outside...or play educational games.

 

 

Dinner

 

More read alouds before bed.

 

 

 

During their time with me, I prioritized math & spelling & learning to read if they weren't reading already.  If time got away from us, I looped things for only that child, so as not to mess up the day/week for everyone.  It was imperfect, but we all survived and learned.  It was hard for 6yo b/c he had a lot of time that was unstructured.  Mostly he played well, but in hind sight I might give him more direct instruction for drawing or coloring at the table.  7yo would have benefited from more structure too. 

 

 

It was easier to juggle everyone when we moved to things that are open-and-go & do-the-next-thing.  I had to pare seatwork down to THE basics.  *I* wanted to keep those read alouds UNschool-ish so that the kids would always look forward to them.  Our read aloud time is a BREAK from school and real life.  Keeping a schedule like Sonlight would have been the death of me. :svengo: 

 

 

That's a sample of how another family with similar aged kids has done it.  I hope that helps you look at your own with fresh eyes, NOT that mine is to be imitated (There are plenty of problems with mine.  LOL).  I would advise making that priority list as mentioned above and starting your schedule there.   Keep your morning circle time.  Just...maybe be willing to break it up and do some of it after lunch.  Can you combine more?  Do you have 2 kids that are close in skills?  I combined my 2 oldest in grammar/English b/c the oldest struggles and the younger is advanced, and grammar repeats every year anyway.   Combine, combine, combine!

 

 

 

[mommymonster]

If you all eat breakfast together, can you start circle time or reading time then? I use breakfast as science time -- I do a bit of reading, and then get an experiment started while the boys are eating. They are young enough that I don't worry about them doing a write-up. 

 

Also, I'd try to combine reading times, just to make life easier for you. 

[MerryAtHope]

A few thoughts:

 

1, Early on, I moved our "literature" read-aloud to bedtime. That freed up a considerable amount of time in the morning. Bonus--the kids don't think of lit. read-alouds as school, and we often did extra books because we read on weekends and in the summer etc... And extra bonus--because they didn't think of it as school, when they had an evening activity, we could still make up the reading another night.

 

2, Agree with others to get going on the skill-oriented subjects first, or at least earlier (in a time frame that makes you sure to get those done in the morning.)

 

3, Consider doing two, shorter circle times. Start your day with Bible, go into skill subjects, and do the other circle time at or after lunch. If they are fun things, it will feel like a reward for working in the morning. 

 

4, Consider whether any 2 of your 3 could be combined in a core, rather than 3 separate cores. (Mine were 2 years apart, and we combined SL cores for years, and also science--expanded circle time if you will!)

 

[IsabelC]

No, you can't fit 4 hours teaching time into a 3 hours time slot. Most people need 4.5-5 hours of time to do 4 hours of teaching, because you lose time on all manner of things: redirecting a child who is loud, misbehaving or off-track while you're teaching a sibling, grabbing your books and other essentials (even if you're super organized and have everything set out ready, you still need to put one thing down and grab the next), random water / bathroom / stretch breaks, ringing phone (you might refuse to answer it during 'school' but don't tell me you don't stop for 3 seconds and think 'I wonder who that is'!), answering questions (or telling the child her question isn't relevant and you won't answer it now), telling children what they are doing next, taking 3 extra minutes to explain a concept differently because a child unexpectedly found it tricky, and so on and so forth. 

 

Agreeing with suggestions already posted: combine your kids as much as you possibly can, then prioritize and decide what must be done each day and what can be let go if you have a less productive day sometimes. Make the 3 Rs non-negotiable (and perhaps the Bible, if that is important for your family) and then allocate extra time according to your priorities and preferences. Eg for the 5yo I would focus on reading as the number one priority (side benefit: the sooner and better she reads, the sooner and better she can do schoolwork by herself and amuse herself quietly!). Do a little math if you have time (if not, she can unschool it with cooking, adding up groups of her toys or whatever). Core read aloud, I wouldn't even attempt this - she can listen in with 7yo sister instead of doing a separate core.

 

Also, you don't have to do everything all at once. Eg you might choose to work on art appreciation for half the year and music appreciation the other half, or alternate nature study with astronomy, or even leave French until they are all reading English with confidence.

[texasmama]

As others have said, you suffer from too many SL cores.  With these ages, your schooling should not take up that much time or be so difficult to schedule.  My advice is to combine the olders into one core and to drop the core for the younger.  That is what I did last year, and it worked so nicely.  :)  Also, you are adding SOTW in as an extra.  I would drop that.  (It is scheduled into some of the SL Cores so it will come around.)

 

Also, as someone else said, move the literature read aloud to before bedtime.  I did this and gave it to dh, who read to my boys before bed for years.

[Ausmumof3]

Chiming in to agree... There is no way I could do three sonlight cores! I don't even fully do two. My dd who is just five benefits from many of the read alouds in the core B schedule so although we have p 4/5 I often don't do all the read alouds. When we have free time I will read a few ch at once.

[Critterfixer]

For those of us who don't use Sonlight, could you explain the reason the "cores" are so time consuming? 

Not that it would be strange to spend an hour or so reading aloud, but if I had to read aloud for two hours a day, every day, I'd be hoarse.

[Walking-Iris]

I think you're trying to separate the children out too much as well. 

 

I would have all three of them listening to the same read aloud, same history, same science activities, same art, same music, same nature study. Whenever I can I combine and keep the kids together, usually giving my oldest more work, I do it.  

 

I also agree that doing the basics first is probably best. We try to get the math and lang arts out of the way and leave our afternoons free for activities, read alouds, and so on.

 

 

[HappyClassical]

As others have mentioned, combine the read Alouds and move the high priority subjects front and center - math is probably the best way to start the day and puts kids in an academic mindset. We use time in the car for listening to books, music we may be learning about, and for SOTW: I don't read it. We also have DVD players in the car, so the kids will start watching some of the bJU Spanish lessons in there too. We are activity heavy so I have to maximize our time traveling. I mention this because thinking about all your minutes (even the ones on the way to other places) can free up time in your schedule.

 

We eat simple breakfasts and I read Bible during that time. My husband handles devotions at night before bed. Crafty type projects can be done during lunch with simple finger foods.

 

I use a MOTH schedule and it has helped keep my days on track and ensure I have things for each child to be doing through your the day even though no day ever works out exactly as scheduled.

 

Also, don't be afraid to pair up and older child with a younger one. If your 9 yo has assigned reading time, they can read to the youngest giving you 1-on-1 time with the middle child.

 

My DD6 has been spending 10 minutes a day practicing math facts with my son. That's enough time for me to mostly prep lunch. The DD6 or DD4 feeds the baby his oatmeal while I make their breakfast.

 

Realizing that we are all a little team and I don't have to do every single thing has been a blessing for us. You will find your groove - don't worry.

[Incognito]

For those of us who don't use Sonlight, could you explain the reason the "cores" are so time consuming? 

Not that it would be strange to spend an hour or so reading aloud, but if I had to read aloud for two hours a day, every day, I'd be hoarse.

 

Each core has a set of read alouds (and other things) so if you do a bunch of cores at once, you are doing a full curriculum worth of read aloud chapter books for each kid individually (so that is a LOT of reading aloud).

[Coco_Clark]

I agree with everyone else and if one more voice saying "combine those kids!" helps at all here it is.

 

I do not use Sonlight but I know two families that do and they both combine their 4-5 children into 2 cores.

 

We combine everything that isn't a skill (math, writing, phonics) and I plan to continue to do so for as long as possible.  I know a family of teens to toddlers that STILL combine morning read aloud.  The olders just have "extra books" and the youngers get to leave halfway through.  

 

[kagmypts]

If one thing jumps out at me, it is that you spend 2 hours every day reading aloud to your kids.  That makes me exhausted just thinking about that!  I would find a way to significantly reduce that time, and as many posters have already suggested, I would combine SL Cores.  Good luck!

 

We played around with our "gathering time" routine a few times this past year.  We finally ended up breaking it up into two distinct times.  We started our morning with prayer, Bible, and poetry.. around 10-15 minutes total.  It allowed us to ease into our school day, and the kids could check off three boxes before the day really began.  ;-)  It gave them a sense of accomplishment before we hit our core subjects.  After 90 minutes or so, the kids got tired of writing, and we took another break.  During this break, the kids ate a quick snack if they wanted one, and we finished up circle time while they relaxed.  As soon as that was over, they were refreshed and could give me another 30 to 45 minutes of work.  By then, we were done with our 3 Rs and even our science/history readings on super productive days.  We then took a very leisurely lunch break, and we completed our school day  after that.  I would say that we had no written work after lunch on 95% off our days.  Most of the time I was reading to them.

[mhaddon]

I have 9,7,5,4 year olds. I am doing the US history core next year and combining all of them together. The 4 year old will still have some of the preK core books read to her by her big brother in the evening. I do all reading later in the day as well, they love those bedtime readings. We combine a lot. My 9 year old struggled in math for a while so I just combined his younger brother in so they are now learning all new math concepts together.  If they are close on anything I combine to help save my sanity. Also for a few years we stepped away from a lot of the very hands on mom curriculums. We will add a few back in, but for a few years we were in only the essentials mode and nothing that was too time intensive.