ElizaG Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 It's taken me a year to adjust to the idea, but I'm ready to go "full EFL." Over the weekend, I was planning to start on Monday, but got stuck on making the basic schedule. It's such a simple method, I thought it would take maybe 15 minutes to slot everything in. LOL. I've been getting up a bit before 6:00 AM, so that's not a problem. And the actual teaching time is reasonable. But with four children in the prime time of ages 3 through 9, there are a lot of little things to keep track of. And that's not even including observation lessons. Do we schedule these? It seems necessary around here, so I don't forget anyone. Maybe Managers of Their Homes would help. IDK. I looked into it when I just had toddlers, and it seemed pointless, because it was written to help with the challenges of a larger family with diverse activities. Now that I'm in that situation, I've discovered EFL's books, which are mainly about starting on the right track with little ones. Evidently I'm destined to figure this out backwards! If you're in the same boat, or even if you're not, maybe we can share ideas. (It would probably help if I could locate the sample schedules from her books and articles. :tongue_smilie:) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. A Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Following with interest. My brain is too hazy at the moment to come up with anything to contribute, but I'm hoping to be able to come back and look at ideas here more closely after the baby fog clears :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 sorry... I saw the word lynch in the title and thought a lynching was planned. So glad it is a planner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 ElizaG or someone else who is on here more regularly, could you start a private EFL social group? I'd do it myself, but I'm not online often enough to be a good admin. But, there are some things I want to discuss and really don't feel comfortable doing so on the main board. I'd love to be able to get some specific feedback on some things from you ladies but the main boards are too public. Is there a pretty-please icon? There have been some incidents in which supposedly private social groups were showing up in web searches. Even though I think those specific problems have been fixed, I'd be hesitant to post anything there that I wouldn't post on the main boards. Still, I've set one up with maximum security settings, and we'll see how it goes. If you've been taking part in these threads and would like to join the group, PM me for an invitation (if you don't have one already). :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostintheCosmos Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Congratulations on the new baby, Mrs. A! I'm pretty awful at keeping to a schedule consistently, so you'll get no help from me. I do ok when I have some external structure to adhere to, so I try to take advantage of such things (letting the seasons dictate when we play outside/get the laundry started so it can dry on the line/wake up and go to sleep), but when all is open possibility and I have to be the one to impose structure....ugh. I have this idea that further simplifying our environment would help with this, but I don't know. More on the planning front: I did work up a draft of a language arts record-keeping document recently, so we'll see how that works out. I haven't tried scheduling observation lessons, but just have been doing a combination of preparing myself a little on some very general topic (in the spring it was flowers, now it's leaves) and then responding to any "hey, mom, look at this!" with "oh, neat, tell me as much as you can about it." This morning it was some kind of giant gross fly. :ack2: One thing that has quickly become clear to me is that my kids need more vocabulary to accurately describe things, and honestly, I do, too - the idea did cross my mind of working the nomenclature from a standard Montessori sensorial album into our observation lessons. I'm not at all sure how exactly I would do that, though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Just to clarify: I've set up the social group to be a small, limited thing, for those who are using (or figuring out how to use) a substantial amount of EFL's advice in their home schools, to talk about specific questions they'd prefer not to bring up in these threads. Aside from the privacy issues, I'm just not capable of keeping up with anything bigger. We can still keep the discussions going on the General board, as before. Those who are newcomers, wondering what it's all about, have more of an academic interest in her ideas, etc. are welcome to join in here. :001_smile: ETA Clarification #2: Ella Frances Lynch didn't write a planner or a scheduling method, so if you've come here looking for that, sorry! It's more the opposite; I'm trying to write my own schedule to use with her approach to homeschooling (which is described in several other threads from this year and last, usually with her name in the title). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 This might seem off the wall, but I read the pope's new encyclical last week -- yes, the whole thing, I am sleep deprived -- and if you set aside the most specific and controversial parts (which is all the media seems to care about), and read the other bazillion or so pages of general principles, it's really what we've been discussing in the EFL threads. "No" to a cluttered environment, shoddy and superficial efforts, consumerism, profiteering, over-reliance on technology, being rushed, trying to control everything, or just giving up on the task. "Yes" to the beauty of nature, personal relationships, the work habit, the preferential option for the poor, simplifying, taking care, being with one another in the moment, and taking things one step at a time, even if our progress seems small and our backsliding frequent. Doing a few things, but doing them well. Having fewer things, but using them well, and not letting them use us. No looking for a magical method or standardized system to save us from ourselves. Just our families, homes, and communities as they are; a few classic books to share in the wealth of our culture; and good old ora et labora. I am trying to keep this in mind. Maybe we don't need a full-day schedule after all? Or maybe the reason I can't write one is that I'm not yet ready for one. "I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to fit?" -- Thoreau, Walden Probably the answer is just to write down the prayers and poetry selections for each child, set aside a full hour in the morning, and go for it. And the other blanks will fill themselves in. :001_smile: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostintheCosmos Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 That is a lovely reflection, Eliza, and articulates so much of what appeals to me about EFL (and Pope Francis, for that matter!) - thank you! I was thinking about this thread some more, and why it is I've had slightly more success with implementing general routines rather than more detailed schedules, even though, in theory, I've always thought a detailed schedule would help reduce the decision fatigue that seems to drag me down every day. I wonder if it's because, at least in the way I tried to implement both, a routine is really about becoming habituated to a certain ordering of time (changing the clothes-wearer) whereas a schedule is (at least for me) more about adhering to an external structure (sewing new clothes). Not sure if that makes sense, I'm sleep deprived, too. :wacko: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 Well, I did what I described, and it went okay. We certainly didn't run out of things to do. I didn't even get to my eldest. Of the other four, two did fine (they just need to speak up a little), and two were... challenging. The youngest refused to cooperate at all, turned to shrieking, and had to be dismissed to sit quietly until she calmed down. Then she wandered off when I was working with one of the others, and I didn't notice. I'm going to have to call her back for a re-do. In one of EFL's newspaper articles, she gives a bunch of advice and exhortations, then ends abruptly with the line, "The first day is the hardest." How true this is. And if you stop and start again, as I've been doing, there are a lot of first days. :tongue_smilie: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.