Flowergirl159 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Looks like I will need to change our routine to only doing school work on three full days each week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Tuesday, we have piano practice in the morning so we may be able to do a little there while other siblings are doing piano. Then Tuesday afternoons is our errands and shopping. Thursday mornings we are out, and Thursday afternoons we are busy with a homeschooling co-op. What would your schedule look like? I have 3 children ages 9, 7 and 5. I currently need to spend time with all of them at different levels for teaching. Most mornings we should be still able to have our group morning basket time before we leave the house. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iona Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Plan on longer days Monday, Wednesday and Friday, doubling up on what makes sense. Even breaking it up with two sessions, not all in one chunk. And/or schedule some math and reading in the evenings on Tuesday and Thursday. You could also have Saturday as a spillover day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I don't think math or beginning phonics should be doubled. They both really need to be done daily (and I am of the opinion that reading should be practiced 7 days a week when they're first learning). I would make sure a phonics lesson is done with the 5 yo when the bigs are at piano. I'd also find a way to get a math lesson in for the 7 and 9 year old 5 days a week without doubling up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonia Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I agree with FriedClams - find a way to do math, reading/phonics daily but the other subjects could easily be done just 3 days a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 If it were impossible to do math, reading, and penmanship AT ALL on Tuesday/Thursday I'd use Saturday/Sunday for catchup on those subjects. I think, though, that you ought to be able to get something in on Tuesday while others are practicing -- I'd still use Saturday for catchup from Thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Well honestly, I would not be willing to have such a schedule. 3 days a weeks is not enough academic work for us. The length of days you would need for those three days would be developmentally inappropriate for most kids that age and though you may be doing the hours, it would be too much concentrated on too few days, I would at least shoot for math and reading every day, and then you can probably work everything else out in the other 3. But if it were me, I would try to change the schedule to at least have a couple of hours every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I would not shove school out of the way for grocery shopping and errands. Do those on the weekend or in the evening. Three days a week is not not sufficient to master and retain skills, and as your oldest gets older, 3 days will not be enough to master sufficient content. Imo, if you take on the responsibility of educating your children, you must prioritize it over routine household responsibilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 For several years, we only did Official School Stuff two days a week, on Monday and Tuesday. One year, we did KONOS two days a week, and English/math the other two days. It worked for us. Both dds began taking classes at the community college when they were 14. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Your 7 and 5 year old's work can be done in 3 days and whatever leftover can always be done in Christmas break, spring break, and summer holidays. Not sure what you want to cover with your 9 year old. My 9 year old going to be 5th grader would be going for a two day class (LA, Math, Science, History) per week this fall. So we will do a lighter load of math and language arts on weekends as well as that would take 2hrs total per day leaving him plenty of time for play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I would not commit myself to two full days out of the house with a 9yo, not on a regular basis; three days of work might be sufficient for now, but as the kids get older, they will need more than three days of work. Or you'll need to plan on the school year taking longer, maybe schooling year-round. I personally would probably drop the co-op, unless it could provide some of the academics for me. Our co-op provides PE, health, fire safety, PA history, and other little subjects like that that are necessary for the portfolios, so it takes something off of my plate. It also meets just once a month. For a weekly co-op, I would expect that it would cover all of my history or science or something. We routinely are gone one full a day week every week; the children have their martial arts lessons one morning, and we do our errands that day as well. However, we don't need to leave until about 10:15, so we have a couple of hours beforehand where we can do some work. This year, I have scheduled that time to be for art, music, geography, Shakespeare, plus individual literature and math (they may be lighter than other days). My children will make use of the car time for reading or math as well, since we'll have 40 minutes each way in the car, and/or we'll listen to literature audio books. In your situation, I would definitely plan on working with whichever child is not currently in piano lessons. When two of my children were in speech therapy, one appointment after the other, the children who were waiting were doing schoolwork. I just planned that it would be work that was easy to bring along. If you decide to keep your entire schedule as is, I would probably plan for skill work at least four, if not five, of the days, and fun stuff/content subjects on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I'd make Saturday a school day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Why don't you move your errands and shopping to Monday, Wednesday or Friday which would mean you could school for the morning on that day and school in the afternoon on the Tuesday (Tuesday would be almost a full day if you could fit in some work during piano practice) instead of writing off an entire day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 We do 3 days of my planned school a week for part of the school year, but the reason we are out is for math & reading groups (sometimes we have a guest speaker in science too) and co-op with science classes and Greek/Roman mythology this year. I don't mind doing less on those days because we are out for academic reasons. I agree with the others that the music lessons add a lot of value and could be considered school and co-op probably fits this description as well, but I would consider shifting your shopping/errand time to late afternoon or evening/weekends. It the Thurs morning commitment academic? If not, maybe consider whether that is worth giving up precious school time as well particularly for your 9 y.o. You may want to go year-round or do more school on the weekends if you really want to keep those morning commitments out of the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicmommy Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Would it work to school year round? Just plan on doing school three days a week all year long expect time off in December and a month in the spring or summer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Even if you never took any time off, 3 days a week is only 156 school days a year. That's really low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSmomof2 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I would not shove school out of the way for grocery shopping and errands. Do those on the weekend or in the evening. Three days a week is not not sufficient to master and retain skills, and as your oldest gets older, 3 days will not be enough to master sufficient content. Imo, if you take on the responsibility of educating your children, you must prioritize it over routine household responsibilities. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Some subjects, like science and history/social studies, probably could be done 3 days per week. Just take your curriculum and divide it up into 36 weeks, then cover one week's worth of material in your 3-day week. I don't think you could cover language arts, reading, or math adequately in 3 days for a 9 year old. I would try to work out at least a 4-day week for that child. If your 5 or 7 year olds are learning to read, they probably need more than 3 days per week of reading as well. We have always, up until this year, done a 4-day week. This year my rising 7th grader's workload is just too heavy to squeeze it in to 4 days, so he will do grammar, science, literature, and history on Fridays. Everything else is still scheduled for 4 days. In order to have a 4-day week, however, we begin some subjects (like math, grammar, writing) in June or July each year, and condense others (like spelling) so that we do 5 days' worth of work in 4 days. It has worked for us up until this point, but we will be transitioning to a 5-day week now that we've reached the middle of middle school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherGoose Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I tried this when I had a first grader and a 3 year old. The first grader went to a coop on Tuesdays, and then we were distracted with taking the 3 yo to preschool on Thursdays. I tried to do work on that day but it was difficult. It was OK, since she was so young, but I learned not to do it in the future. This year we are doing coop on Tuesdays, but otherwise I will try my best to be home every other morning till after lunch. Now I'll have a 3rd grader and a Ker. I have stopped trying to do activities like piano in the morning "because we can" and have moved them to the afternoon. It may work for some but not for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I have this dilemma this year. For the past year and a half or so, dc have been getting piano lessons from my MIL on Fridays, and they stay for most of the day. I really like this, as this is my "day off." On Thursdays we have co-op in the afternoon. Previously we haven't needed to do any school work on Thursday mornings, but as they get older, and especially for dd10, as she's going to be in 5th grade this year, we will need to, or do some after co-op, or on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. M-Wed. is for school work at home. Sat. mornings they have rollerskating--private lesson & a class (they could eventually get into competition-level skating--there are regional meets, regional championships, and national championships for various skills--figures, artistic skating, dance, etc). So somehow this year we need to go from 3 solid days/week to fitting in a bit more here & there. This summer we started year-round schooling, although with a light load at first, and now for the last couple of weeks we've added in a bit more, but not the full load--we haven't gotten back to science, history, or Latin yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 We do three full days with two light days (like you, we are largely out of the house 2 days a week) We do math every morning. And every morning we do morning reading with a rotation of geography, saints, Aesop, music, and art. Music can be done largely in the car, though, and Aesop takes all of 5 minutes (read, narrate, discuss) so those are on our "out" days. The whole kit and kaboodle starts at 7:30am with math, and we are out the door at 9:00am. And every afternoon/evening they must read to me for 15-20 minutes, and my independent reader does another 30 to himself. On our three days home we add in phonics/spelling/copywork/grammar and history 2x a week/science 1x. Its not ideal, but it IS completely doable. I'd like to get to a point where we have 1 out of the house day, but I'm not sure if and when it will happen for us. I am confident I can still homeschool, even if I were to have three days indefinitely. Even more options are: -move your reading basket to the evening to give you more time in the morning for reading and math (the most important subjects to get in every day) -utilize audio books while you drive around running errands -use time at the piano instructors for easily on the go subjects -school on Saturday or Sunday or even both to add another full day (many, many families school 4 days a week)-school "fun stuff" like science and art on Saturday to lighten the load -start assigning evening or weekend homework for independent subjects (all the public school students survive doing work in their "off" time) -run errands on the weekend or evening, like most working families -school year round Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiMi 4under3 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I wouldn't use the weekend for spillover like others have mentioned, because I'd make it an official school day. So the schedule would be Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat. I'd use all 7 evenings for spillover, instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnaj Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 This year we are going to have 3 full days (M,W,F), and two "light" days- Tuesday will be Classical Conversations, so not "light" but different, and Thursday my son will be going from 9-12 for a few classes at an enrichment program (PE, critical thinking, and literature based art) + we will have OT and language therapy as well- I will do individual subjects with the kids while the other is in therapy. If we have anything we didn't get done during the week, we will most likely do it at some point on the weekend, whenever we have time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowergirl159 Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 Thanks so much everyone :) I have really enjoyed reading all your replies and I have reconsidered a couple of things. I see the importance of covering math, reading and handwriting 5 days a week. Today we had piano so I trialled taking math drills/flashcards, McGuffey reader (they each have one that they read to me daily), their handwriting program, and for DD5 her sight word cards. Most of this was accomplished during piano lessons :) So I see how can do these few things 4 days a week, yay. If we are organised i.e. the girls went to sleep early enough the night before, then we are ready at the table at 7:30. Prior to 7:30am we are all dressed and have our basic chores completed, including breakfast out of the way. Then at 7:30am we do our group work: Bible, memory work, read alouds - this includes our history, science, artist, composer. So at 8:30am we move onto maths. Currently, I spend 15minutes with DD9 teaching her maths, then she goes to work on her own in her maths workbook, then I do the same with DD7, then DD5. So by 9:15am, all maths is complete (DD5 doesn't work on maths on her own, her maths is all completed with me within that 15mins). This will be our mornings 4 days a week .Thursdays we have to leave at 8:30am (our maths time). Both DD5 and DD7 are probably ahead of ps peers in math, DD9 probably on target or a bit ahead too. So I am not too concerned with only 4 days at this stage, I could always do Saturday maths if I feel we need to push through a little more. I am thinking that on Thursday, and possibly Tuesdays, DD7 and DD9 can complete a maths drills worksheet while in the car. So in this plan we would cover: Bible - together Memory Work - together Artist - together Composer - together Apologia - Astronomy SOTW1 - together Maths Math Drills McGuffey Reader Handwriting Sight words for DD5 So then 3 days a week we would cover: DD5 - reading lessons DD7 - FLL, WWE, AAS - these are easy to do a weeks worth in three days DD9 - AAS, Easy Grammar, Writing Strands Also have an allocated 1 hour of quiet reading in the afternoons Supposedly alternate these three on MWF afternoons: Drawing Lesson Nature study Handiwork These things tend to get dropped if we are feeling too tired and need to relax and chill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 For the 9 year old, I would school math and LA on Saturday. Four days is doable imo. You could also just plan to school year round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I would do maths first on Thursday and do group work in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbcooker Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Thanks so much everyone :) I have really enjoyed reading all your replies and I have reconsidered a couple of things. I see the importance of covering math, reading and handwriting 5 days a week. Today we had piano so I trialled taking math drills/flashcards, McGuffey reader (they each have one that they read to me daily), their handwriting program, and for DD5 her sight word cards. Most of this was accomplished during piano lessons :) So I see how can do these few things 4 days a week, yay. If we are organised i.e. the girls went to sleep early enough the night before, then we are ready at the table at 7:30. Prior to 7:30am we are all dressed and have our basic chores completed, including breakfast out of the way. Then at 7:30am we do our group work: Bible, memory work, read alouds - this includes our history, science, artist, composer. So at 8:30am we move onto maths. Currently, I spend 15minutes with DD9 teaching her maths, then she goes to work on her own in her maths workbook, then I do the same with DD7, then DD5. So by 9:15am, all maths is complete (DD5 doesn't work on maths on her own, her maths is all completed with me within that 15mins). This will be our mornings 4 days a week .Thursdays we have to leave at 8:30am (our maths time). Both DD5 and DD7 are probably ahead of ps peers in math, DD9 probably on target or a bit ahead too. So I am not too concerned with only 4 days at this stage, I could always do Saturday maths if I feel we need to push through a little more. I am thinking that on Thursday, and possibly Tuesdays, DD7 and DD9 can complete a maths drills worksheet while in the car. So in this plan we would cover: Bible - together Memory Work - together Artist - together Composer - together Apologia - Astronomy SOTW1 - together Maths Math Drills McGuffey Reader Handwriting Sight words for DD5 So then 3 days a week we would cover: DD5 - reading lessons DD7 - FLL, WWE, AAS - these are easy to do a weeks worth in three days DD9 - AAS, Easy Grammar, Writing Strands Also have an allocated 1 hour of quiet reading in the afternoons Supposedly alternate these three on MWF afternoons: Drawing Lesson Nature study Handiwork These things tend to get dropped if we are feeling too tired and need to relax and chill! Sounds like you have a plan! Figure out how to make this plan work consistently (like loading your crock pot the night before, and figuring out how to get the kids to fall asleep on time and how to get you in bed on time thus up on time). Run with this plan. It sounds good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I would do maths first on Thursday and do group work in the car. The group work doesn't sound like things that can be done in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 That sounds wonderful, you got this! Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish in the morning "before the day begins"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 The group work doesn't sound like things that can be done in the car. Not all but you could listen (either to audio or one of the kids reading) and discuss it. I guess what I really meant if your older can do either group work or maths them giving priority to maths would mean you could call Thursday OK if she did some sort of writing at piano and some reading at bed time. Apart from those everything else can be done in 3 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3girls Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I'd just make sure that math, reading and handwriting got done on Tuesday and Thursday in the evening. For the youngers that should equate to about an hour and maybe, an hour and half for the 9 year old. That's totally doable. I am a realtor so I have to work afternoons. We do school from 9am-12pm then again from 6pm-8pm (ish). Flexibilty is one of the benefits of homeschool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 We're out of the house two week days (Mondays at CC and Fridays at a drop-off enrichment program). Both add immeasurable value to our week and really break-up the at-home work nicely. During the 24-weeks of CC we typically do some evening/weekend work to accomplish everything and we continue working well into the summer. We also make good use of car time. It seems to work well for our family. It sounds like you have a solid plan that will meet everyone's needs. I say forge ahead and tweak if necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 You really won't know until you try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebacabunch Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Math and any early reading instruction really need 5 days a week. I have had schedules like you and just fit stuff in. We do some carschooling. I also teach one kiddo while another is doing an activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyc78 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 We do a full school day 3 days a week- by full I mean Bible, math, reading, language arts, Readalouds, memory work and history/geography/science where it fits (3-4 hours total); 1 day a week we do co-op and extracurriculars and 1 day I leave open for errands, field trips, special projects, catch up work and travel. Lots of times that 5th day ends up being a break day. I think little kids need down time and I'm not sure I agree that math and reading has to be done every single day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowergirl159 Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate you taking the time to write your thoughts :) Now that I have a new mindset about how to get to it all done, I don't feel like we will be falling behind, we will just keep moving forward steadily :) It will probably take a few weeks to really know how it is going to work. Now to answer a few questions that came up 180 days of school - Where we live, we don't have a set number of days to do school each year. We just have curriculum to get through, and outcomes to achieve :) Also, any days that we are learning, whether its life skills for groceries, visiting the library or helping out others in need, they are all considered educational activities. My problem originally was in finding a way to get the curriculum done :) Car schooling - we usually use that for their assigned quiet reading, or free reading (often my DD7 will spend our car trips reading to DD5, I sometimes use that time to chat with DD9), we have had many great discussions in the car, so our car trips are rarely quiet :) and sometimes, I just need to think - that's when I will ask them to read a chapter quietly. I would like to use audio books at some point (we don't have a cd player in our car) but when we have tried before, someone has something to say and then part of the story is missed. I would much rather use our car time for chatting and read alouds for home. :) Oh and we also do lots of singing in the car ;) PM school - Doing school in the afternoons on Tuesday or evenings Tuesdays/Thursdays wouldn't work for us. Maybe as a one off for one subject but not regularly. Whenever I have tried that they have been too tired. Hubby gets home about 6pm so that's when we do dinner then bedtime routine to get the girls in bed by 7ish for our bedtime readings which can take between 20 and 50 mins. If they go to bed any later, its difficult to get them up early enough to get the day started :) 5 days for Maths and Reading - The school we are registered with are very happy with our achievements so far as my older two are ahead of their public schooled peers in maths and reading (like I said above) so we will just keep working along as we always have in those areas. (my younger one hasn't been assessed yet but I know that she is already ahead too). The girls used to be heavily involved in dancing up until 6 months ago, so we only had limited time to do school then too. But they were younger and so schooling wasn't as important then. Now with my oldest being in 4th grade, we are only half way through our year over here in our country, and my middle being in 2nd grade, school work takes a high priority :) I have not always tried to do maths and reading every day, but most days my girls choose to read anyway even if its not scheduled. With my oldest I am now trying to fit in maths each day, even its only review and drills. I hope I have answered everyone's questions. Thanks again, I am so thankful for all of your help. For now, I can truly see how to accomplish this :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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