Schedule

[mountains27]

I need a little help and ideas for making some sort of organized plan for our home school. This is my first year HSing my 6 and 7 yo (1st and 2nd grade) and we need a type of schedule that doesnt go by days or certain times but some how organizes all the different subjects and keeps track of the amount of time we spend on each...if that makes any sense!

The trouble is I am a single mom who works fulltime and my work schudule is all over the place and changes week to week. I usually work nights but the days and time is always different and hard to make a typical scheduel like- Monday 8am-9am: math. Not sure if anyone else has a schedule similar to what I am trying to make and could share a glimpse of it or can maybe point me in the direction of a template somewhere online I can check out.

I'm just having trouble picturing what I might need but know I do want some kind of better organization then we have now which has mostly been "OK we have 1 hour to do HSing lets do um...math then a page of spelling I guess...??"

If anyone can give any ideas I'd be much appreciative :)

[rwjx2khsmj]

I used a checklist for my kids at that age. When all the boxes were checked we knew we were finished for the day. 

[Mandy in TN]

Rather than specific times or amounts of time, can you do file folders? When everything in the file folder is complete, then you have completed five days of school?

 

Or- you could just have a laminated sheet that is filled with a grid where each cell equals one lesson. Type the number of lessons for number times you feel that subject should be taught in a week. So, perhaps you have four cells that say spelling, two cells that say history, two that say science, etc. Use a dry erase maker to check off things as you go. When all the cells are checked off, you have completed five days of work.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[Year Round Mom]

If you have a bulletin board and index cards, you could label index cards with a subject/time expected, like DC1's Math - 30 min, or your work hours, like Mom's work - 5 hours. Down one side of the bulletin board you could staple index cards with times, 7:00am, 7:30am, 8am, etc. Then daily you could pin the subject/work cards next to the corresponding hour for the day. It'd probably have to be made with either small index cards (cut them in half?) or a veeerrrry large bulletin board :)

[melbotoast]

I have a simple chart I made in Excel. It has all the subjects across the top and dates down the side. I use that to mark which subjects we do each day. Some I just check off, and some I write in what page numbers we did. It helps me see at a glance which subjects we've been slacking on lately. 

[dragonflyer]

Have you looked into all of the descriptions of loop scheduling on the boards?

You make a list something like:

20 min Math

15 min Spelling

15 min Reading

20 min Science

20 min Math

15 min Spelling

15 min Reading

20 min History

 

The general idea is that you put things that need frequent attention (like Math and Reading) very often in the list and things that can be done in chunks less often in the list.  You can make your loop go for the whole week, or for just one day, but anytime you sit down to do school you start where you left off last time and work until you are out of time.  When you reach the end of the loop, start over at the top.

[mountains27]

Thank you! These are all great ideas and just what I needed to get my mind moving in the scheduling direction :) Going to work on it today. We already started into some HSing shortly after they finished K and 1st grade in PS this past Spring but it's mostly been my chance to test the waters and find curriculum. so the real fun starts probably in the next week or so as soon as I get this scheudle under control! :)