I want to start a schedule - help

[mamamindy]

We're going from routine to schedule, in hopes that this will help all of us (mostly me!) to focus!  I need some help!

 

• I have DS5, just working on phonics, and some R&S pre-k books. 
• DD7yo using mom-dependent spelling, math, and FLL2.  The rest (copywork, math practice) she can do on her own.  Pretty much. ;)
• DD8.5yo does spelling with 7yo (and me), math with me, and needs to work on dictation with me.  She can do her English, and math practice on her own.
• I also have DD3yo &DD1yo.

 

We have breakfast and read the Bible together regularly at 8am.  Sometime after chores, when I can gather them up again, we have been semi-successful with my big girls alternating play with the little girls while I work with DS and they work on their independent items when one is with little girls.  Then I lose them.  We've decided this is a good time for a walk/outside play. ;)

 

After lunch my little ones nap or read quietly. This is when I try to bust out the mom-dependent lessons for my big girls: math, spelling, and grammar.

 

I just KNOW we could accomplish more read alouds and History/Science if I was more productive with our time and could let go of some desire of control...  There IS time in there...but with a 1 & 3yo, it is hard.  I've thought about moving bedtime up a bit so I could read aloud to my big girls once the littles are asleep, but they like to draw pictures/narrate, etc.  But it's BEDTIME, ykwim?  And I hate that I can't ever get to these things.

 

My girls do read a lot.  And they don't watch tv or play computer games.  (Not that those things are terrible, we just don't.)  I think they should be doing more though.  And when I collect a basket of quality library books for them to read, they usually do, but there is no order to it.  It really drives my type-A self batty.

[MomOfABunch]

My 3 littles are the same ages as your 3 littles. I agree, it can be tough. I often feel like I'm so busy, but I didn't actually get much done! Following for ideas....

[MinivanMom]

If I were you, I wouldn't let the big kids leave the table after breakfast. Is your backyard fenced and safe? I would just send the two little girls out the back door to play after breakfast and plunge in with the older three. You could have the older girls doing their independent work while you work with ds. I would just finish whatever you can with ds before the little girls start knocking on the door to come back in. Some days you may get further than other days depending on how long they're willing to play on their own.

 

I would break for chores when the little ones come back in. You can do the chores and then get the little kids involved in some kind of play before you start parent-intensive work with the oldest two. I would be working really hard on training the youngest three to play well together, but if they're not ready for that then you could continue to trade off working with one dd while the other plays with the little girls.

 

I think the easiest solution to the reading is to split it up. You could do science and history reading first thing during naptime/quiet time, so then the girls naturally come to the table afterward to draw pictures and narrate before doing whatever seatwork they have left. Then you can do just the literature readings at bedtime.

 

For the record, I think you are accomplishing a lot right now. It's easy to fall into the trap of always feeling like you should be doing more. You have a lot of small children; they will get older, and it will get easier.

[cindydanleo]

....listening. I too have a hard time and I only have two kids. My 4 year old hates that I take up so much of my 8 year olds time with school. He is constantly interrupting. I try to do things with him but he just wants to play. Ugh...so frustrating.

[mamamindy]

Thank you, MinivanMom.  I appreciate your suggestions so much!  Unfortunately I cannot safely let the 1 & 3yo outside.  I'm afraid the 3yo would let the baby out of the fence...or something.  BUT, I can organize a safe play area inside. 

 

Today, we still didn't get to the teacher-intensive stuff until the littles were napping, but we managed some History reading and notebooking.  Baby steps.  Thank you again. :)

[BooksandBoys]

Thank you, MinivanMom. I appreciate your suggestions so much! Unfortunately I cannot safely let the 1 & 3yo outside. I'm afraid the 3yo would let the baby out of the fence...or something. BUT, I can organize a safe play area inside.

 

Today, we still didn't get to the teacher-intensive stuff until the littles were napping, but we managed some History reading and notebooking. Baby steps. Thank you again. :)

Is there a way to lock your fence, perhaps with a padlock through the latch or a light chain around the gate? One of ours is an escape artist with boundless energy, so outdoor time is both essential and requiring of creative locking mechanisms. Being able to send the littles outside while I school just inside the sliding glass door is a life saver.

[mamamindy]

Is there a way to lock your fence, perhaps with a padlock through the latch or a light chain around the gate? One of ours is an escape artist with boundless energy, so outdoor time is both essential and requiring of creative locking mechanisms. Being able to send the littles outside while I school just inside the sliding glass door is a life saver.

I am going to have DH work on that this weekend.  We moved here from the country when my second youngest was past that age and I haven't really had to deal with this before.  Also, we have a play gym outside that I'm nervous for her to play on without me/big kid....  It would be a lot of work to make it more toddler-friendly.  DH is not up for that.  :glare:

[ZeeMommy]

How about audio books that everyone can listen to while doing chores or while you're trying to focus on someone or something else?  Science videos might be good too - again, something that all the children might enjoy while you catch a little downtime. 

 

Sounds like everyone manages to get something done and some free time, and know what to expect when.  Maybe you don't have to change anything?  There was a homeschooling book I read that suggested (sorry, can't remember the title) having a "rut to run in", a routine where everyone knows what to expect, but if there's an interruption you deal with it and then move on to the next thing you would normally do.

[Squawky Acres]

My children are almost exactly the same age as yours (7, 6, 5, 3, 1), so I understand the frustration.  I can also see how much more we are getting done now that my baby is a toddler and the older ones are capable of more independence -- so I believe it can only get better, please someone tell me if I am correct?

 

Would moving chores to the afternoon work for you?  This is similar to MinivanMom's suggestion to not let the older two leave the table after breakfast.  We became more productive once we moved chores to the afternoon rather than getting sidetracked from school after breakfast.  We do our Bible time while sitting at the breakfast table, and then I get the two older children started on some independent work (Xtramath, copywork, handwriting, math review, Spelling Workout) to give me time to clean up the breakfast dishes.  After that, we do our Saxon math lesson (teaching my DD7 and accelerated DS6 together, and sometimes DD5, who likes to be included), FLL, memory work review and some read-alouds (history, science, Aesop's Fables or a children's Shakespeare story, living math books).  The younger boys can listen in, and I often throw in a few picture books for them.  Often, they wander out together to the playroom.  I do have a fenced-in back yard, but my rule is that one of the older children needs to be out with them.  My 16-month-old will stay in his pack and play stuffed with really fun toys for a 30-minute period.

 

If the little boys are playing nicely, we then try to pack in the "with mom" work (AAS, WWE, reading, handwriting and math for the 5-year-old) -- I will work one-on-one with each of the older three while the other two complete their independent work and then run off to play.  By this time, it is usually time to prepare lunch and the children go outside.  Longer literature read-alouds and violin are done every day.  I rotate Science, History and Art.  If the boys are not easily entertained that morning, the "with mom" work has to wait until the youngest naps, and the Science/History/Art may not happen.  I am all right with this at the moment, as we read a lot in these subjects in the morning, and the children are constantly doing art in their free time.  We listen to SOTW in the car (in addition to trying to do in the right way, slowly, at home), and I also get literature audio books to play in the car.

 

We are not so great with a chore system.  Theoretically, they happen before I prepare dinner.  Often, I am too tired to supervise the children in their work and they do not happen.  I end up cleaning after bedtime.

 

 

[nwmama]

A couple of things that have helped me...

 

I've moved a lot towards audio, like SOTW on audio so we can listen in the car. We do a lot of memory work for math, history, geography, science, and English. Plus we'll listen to music in the car, everything from classical to jazz to country and talk about what the kids like or don't like and what they think about it. I've also invested in an Audible membership so the kids can listen to book without me having to read them because I just don't always have the time.

 

I've honed down a couple of our subjects. For science we don't use a curriculum and probably won't until middle school. Instead we talk about the things the kids ask questions about and figure out the answers. And we live near a big city so we have a zoo and science museum that we have memberships too and go to once or twice a month. And, like I said, we do science memory work. It means we don't have a subject we have to sit down and do every day but the kids love science and are constantly asking questions. For spelling, I just use spelling lists, I get mine from Natural Speller, and they copy and say the words from that list each day. At the end of the week they have a test.

 

We also do math and reading all year round, usually on Saturdays too. Even though it sounds like a lot more work it has actually made things easier for all of us. It means I don't stress if one day math is just going over multiplication songs in the car, we will still get through 3 math programs in the year. And it helps us keep a schedule in the summer so I don't burn out.

[mamamindy]

Thank you, everyone, for the great suggestions. :)

 

 

If I were you, I wouldn't let the big kids leave the table after breakfast. Is your backyard fenced and safe? I would just send the two little girls out the back door to play after breakfast and plunge in with the older three. You could have the older girls doing their independent work while you work with ds. I would just finish whatever you can with ds before the little girls start knocking on the door to come back in. Some days you may get further than other days depending on how long they're willing to play on their own.

 

I would break for chores when the little ones come back in. You can do the chores and then get the little kids involved in some kind of play before you start parent-intensive work with the oldest two. I would be working really hard on training the youngest three to play well together, but if they're not ready for that then you could continue to trade off working with one dd while the other plays with the little girls.

 

I think the easiest solution to the reading is to split it up. You could do science and history reading first thing during naptime/quiet time, so then the girls naturally come to the table afterward to draw pictures and narrate before doing whatever seatwork they have left. Then you can do just the literature readings at bedtime.

 

For the record, I think you are accomplishing a lot right now. It's easy to fall into the trap of always feeling like you should be doing more. You have a lot of small children; they will get older, and it will get easier.

This simple change today made a world of difference for us.  I hadn't realized how much momentum we were losing - and how sidetracked I could become! - by doing our chores before schoolwork.  Mostly I was up/down the stairs trying to supervise everyone, and seeing just one more thing that needed to be done.  I really feel like I should've known this about myself - that there WILL ALWAYS BE ONE MORE THING!  Now I'm committed to doing those things the night before, and keep our morning simple.  Thank you so much for pushing me in that direction. :D

 

 

 

This morning we were done with everything except for science read aloud and math lessons by 11am!!!!!  That is just unheard of around here.  And I've got laryngitis, so we were successful even while I whispered to my delightful (however noisy) children.

 

Today we utilized the audio books and ODD reading aloud due to me losing my voice.  We used to be big audio-in-the-car-people when we lived in the country but now we rarely leave the house in the car, and when we do it's to church 1.5miles away.  I agree that is a great way to spend car time.

 

I think part of our success was me pulling out a fun new/old (had been stowed away for some time) toy for my littles to play with while we did our mom-intensive subjects.  I would *really like* to have a stash of fun things to excite them for each lesson time.  Perhaps Christmas toys will add to that stash.

 

Thanks again for the advice!

[nwmama]

Isn't a smooth homeschool morning a beautiful thing?

 

:hurray: