Strategies for chopped-up days?

[JennyD]

 

 

I'd love to get some ideas about how to plan for a homeschool year involving a time-consuming outside class. 

 

This past year my (always homeschooled) DS9 has been taking a daily 90-minute language immersion class at a local private school.  This setup was sort of an experiment on both sides, but it's worked out very well for everyone.  We're delighted with the quality of instruction for this particular subject and DS is learning an astounding amount.

 

My chief concern before we started all of this was that it would just interfere too much with the rest of our homeschooling.  And indeed, the daily class is a major logistical hassle that unquestionably breaks up our homeschool day.  However, all in all, I'm reasonably satisfied with how we've managed and we feel that on balance, it's very much worth continuing with the outside class.

 

But now we're upping the ante again: DS9 will be continuing with this arrangement next year (fifth grade) and my DS7 will be joining the second grade under the same very part-time arrangement.    I won't find out the exact schedule until midsummer, but the chances that their classes will be at the same time is pretty much nil, and DS's class will actually be broken into two 45-minute classes than may or may not be consecutive. 

 

So the upshot is that we are going to have a very choppy schedule and I need to figure out how to plan our homeschooling for the year.  In the past, I haven't really been much of a planner, but I think I need to reconsider that.  In particular, I want to rethink how we do content subjects.  I feel like those have been getting short shrift, possibly because I think of those as 'snuggle on the couch and read' subjects and well, if we're not sitting on the couch much they tend not to get done.   

 

I'm also not entirely happy with the drill sergeant-esque mode I seem to slide into sometimes.  My kids work a lot more happily when they have some control over their school work – e.g., the order in which they do their subjects.  But when our schedule gets tight, that isn't always possible. I'm not quite sure that more planning is the solution here, but DS9 is surprisingly (to me) good at managing his own time and I think he'd be quite enthusiastic about some kind of weekly checklist or assignment book. 

 

Finding space to homeschool when one child is in class is not a problem – I can use the school library or go to the public library nearby.  Fortunately, my 4yo, who gets dragged along for all of this, is pretty easygoing.  And we homeschool year-round, so I'm okay just leaving some things for the summer months when we have lots of time. 

 

Anyway, does anyone have experience to share about homeschooling around this kind of schedule?  Any thoughts on what sort of planning system or organizational strategies might work especially well in these circumstances? 

 

Thanks.

 

[happypamama]

I have to say: wow, that arrangement sounds fabulous!

 

If you're doing this class daily, then you're going to have to convey to the children that library time absolutely means They Must Work. It sounds very handy that you will be able to give each of them some dedicated one on one time while the other brother is in class, and little brother is playing quietly. I think checklists will be your best friends -- a list for each of them with stuff to work on while you're out, and stuff to work on at home. You may also need to spill over into weekends sometimes.

[JennyD]

I have to say: wow, that arrangement sounds fabulous!

 

If you're doing this class daily, then you're going to have to convey to the children that library time absolutely means They Must Work. It sounds very handy that you will be able to give each of them some dedicated one on one time while the other brother is in class, and little brother is playing quietly. I think checklists will be your best friends -- a list for each of them with stuff to work on while you're out, and stuff to work on at home. You may also need to spill over into weekends sometimes.

 

 

We feel pretty lucky to be able to make this whole setup work.   We still have no interest in sending the kids full-time but this part-time thing has been great.  

 

The idea of checklists with separate section for things to be done at home/at the library is terrific -- I had not thought of that!  We already work at the library sometimes so I'm not too worried that they won't focus while we're out.  Well, at least their focus is no worse when we're out than it is at home!  :banghead:   

 

I just keep looking ahead and thinking, yikes, I am going to really have to be a lot planned out than I've needed to be so far.  I guess I'm also going to have to get my materials organized in a way that we can cart them around.  The principal actually offered me space to store my books at the school if I need to, but I'm probably going to want to just keep everything together.  

[kbutton]

You might consider more e-books and/or inexpensive second copies of some of your books, depending on what your resources are and how portable they are. 

 

I would think that you'll need to make a clear line between home subjects and library subjects in order to not be physically losing stuff or lugging more around than you need to.

 

Good luck. That would exhaust me, but it sounds like there are several positives about this for your family over and above the logistical hassle.

[Miss Tick]

I would start by separating out "things that can be done away from the house" like spelling, grammar and history, with things that are "easier at home" perhaps science and math? Then, Ice you know the exact schedule, you can plan it which things you carry on what days.

 

Another thing to consider, can you do science, say, Saturday morning altogether? In return you could designate a busy weekday for minimal school and errands.

[JennyD]

You might consider more e-books and/or inexpensive second copies of some of your books,

 

 

That's a really good idea.  E-books had not occurred to me -- we never use them, but maybe we should move in that direction.  

[kiwik]

if you are going to spend a lot of time in the car maybe audio books or lectures on CD would use the time well.

[JennyD]

I would start by separating out "things that can be done away from the house" like spelling, grammar and history, with things that are "easier at home" perhaps science and math? Then, Ice you know the exact schedule, you can plan it which things you carry on what days.

 

Another thing to consider, can you do science, say, Saturday morning altogether? In return you could designate a busy weekday for minimal school and errands.

 

 

Great suggestions, thanks!  I'll have to think about which subjects might be easier to do at home than others.  

 

I'm hesitant to make a weekend day into an official 'school day,' but this past year DH has actually been working one-on-one with DS9 on programming on Sunday mornings.   It's been a really nice experience for them both, and I'm thinking of switching that off with DS7 this coming year.  

 

We already go year-round with school, but I'm definitely thinking that I need to be a bit more intentional with how we use the December and summer breaks.  I'm planning to do a poetry study this coming summer, for example, and I'd like to do at least one big science-y type project all together.  

[JennyD]

if you are going to spend a lot of time in the car maybe audio books or lectures on CD would use the time well.

 

 

Fortunately, the school is only about 15 minutes away, so not too much commuting time.  We've been doing a lot of audio books in the car during the back-and-forth, though, and I'm a total convert to the form.  

[happypamama]

Ebooks definitely make things easier to tote around! You could consider a tablet and stylus for math and such too, but we found that just bringing a notebook isn't much more effort. But having multiple copies of things has been helpful for out of,the house schooling.

 

We school four days a week because one day a week is our errand and martial arts class day; with a 45 minute drive, there's not much of the day left. We school ear round and spill into weekends when necessary.

[Reefgazer]

Oh, I could have written your post, right down to being a drill sargent when the I'm under time-pressure.  We have extremely disjointed schedules because DD and DS each have soccer practice 2X a week (different days, of course) and Saturday, both kids participate in two (half day) co-ops each week, each child has scouts, each child horseback rides, DD attends church youth group, and DD has outside-the-house French tutoring 2X per week.  Oh, and I work part time at night.  I have found the following things help: 

 

1.  A list of exactly what the accomplishments have to be during the day (not necessarily a strict schedule with specific times, but a list).  I live and die by that list.  The deal is the core subjects must get done, or something extracurricular gives.

 

2.  Accepting that the school day will be in chunks but try to keep the chunks "related".  For example, English and writing are done together and before co-op, and math and foreign language are done after co-op.  We use co-op for the stuff I have no interest or ability to teach, like art and music.

 

3.  Scheduling science and history on days we don't have obligations, so that it gets its own day with plenty of attention.

 

4.  Sometimes we do science or history on weekends.

 

5.  It also helps that I've worked to get my kids really independent, so that I can work with one who needs assistance while the other works on their own, thus maximizing the use of all of our time.

 

6.  Proper sleep is a must for me, otherwise I'm a raging rhymes with witch and turn evil drill-sargent-y real fast.

[JennyD]

 

6.  Proper sleep is a must for me, otherwise I'm a raging rhymes with witch and turn evil drill-sargent-y real fast.

 

 

Oh, I wouldn't know anything about that, nuh-uh, not me, no sirree Bob... :tongue_smilie:

 

Actually, my problem is that I've discovered that the two most important things I can do to stay sane and make our days go smoothly are: (1)get enough sleep, and (2) get up at 4:30 am to write and go to the gym before we begin our days, so I'm not constantly trying to squeeze writing time into the day itself.  I have yet to figure out how to get #1 AND #2.

 

I like the idea of 'chunking' our subjects as well.  Putting that on the list of things to think about!

[Meriwether]

We have piano lessons one morning each week. Each kid has one half hour lesson. Since the lessons are back-to-back, the kids read their literature books when it isn't their turn. Sometimes, they take along independent work as well.