Linz1084 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Hi ladies! Currently, my oldest is only 4.5. So, I know everything can be relaxed, but I still have things I want to be doing with him. We are doing AAR, HWOT, and I plan to start some math with him soon. However, I've had a REALLY hard time sticking to a schedule. Our life until now has been filled with play dates, and morning meetings for me (church), and that is the only time I can get out of the house since I have a little who naps every afternoon. Ideally, we would do the three R's in the morning, but I haven't been strict about this. Since we are home in the afternoons, this is when I most often do school... but I really dislike school starting at 2. Everyone is kind of crank and the kids just want to play outside (per our "normal" until now). Many days, the kids run outside after lunch and they are enjoying free play so much, I don't want to interrupt that. Haha. I very much value imaginative play at this age.... but anyway, I'm rambling. As I'm looking forward to K next year, I know we'll slowly need to get more organized. I guess I'm wondering how you made the transition from fitting school in and letting interest lead, to making school the priority of the mornings, especially if you have other littles at home. Do you just stop the play dates or say you'll meet for/after lunch instead? Many of his friends are starting all-day-every-day school, so before long this won't be an issue I suppose. Anyway... just looking for feedback on how you made this transition. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I think it happened like you said: organically. The other kids go to school or else they homeschool in the morning as well so invitations drop off. There was a thread recently where a classical homeschooler was friends with unschoolers and the unschoolers liked to schedule a lot of things during the morning. She was advised to either work around their schedule or to start saying no to some events. Everyone is different. People used to tell me that the kids would get more independent as they got older, but it didn't pan out that way for me. They're not more independent and I spent a full 6 hours schooling them each day. In order for us not to have to school in the evening (which would be DEATH for all of us), I just have to say No to anything that comes along that's not clearly meeting our educational goals. Now, until about 5th grade, most of the field trips and play dates could be somewhat "educational". Yes, even playdates for that social time or recess time kids need. This means, it won't be too big of an issue for a number of years. You'll most likely still get through the work you want to do and do field trips and such. So, if you have curriculum and you are going to do school for 180 days (that's the requirment in PA, but your state may not have requirements), divy up about how far you'd need to get through each day/week/or month to be done the curric in 160 days. Give yourself 20 days for unexpected trips or play dates. Or! You can do like Ellie used to do and have 4 days of school and 1 day of outside activities alloted each week. There are lots of ways to handle this. Some people school all year long so that they can take days off whenever they want because they have an extra 8 or 9 weeks during the summer to do school. (I always wanted to do that, but the day my kids heard about "summer vacation" from their friends in school was the day that idea died a quick death.) For me, this year, I've become like the 3 headed dog guarding the underworld. We Do School during School Hours and nothing, no nothing will get in our way! But that's because my oldest is in 8th grade. So, we've built up to our Fortress Hours of School over 8 or so years. The younger the kids were, the more relaxed I was about school hours and school days. I'll tell you, though, sticking to this firm schedule has led to a lot of peace in our home. No scrambling to get work done later, or trying to double up lessons because we aren't getting our work done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 3rd grade has really taken up more of our day than any other grade prior. Before this year we could do park days or I could join a bible study that met once a week. Now we get too "behind" if we do random stuff during the week. So, I just make it a point to start school in the morning at 8:30and...We just do it. I'm not a terribly organized person, but I just decided we will start school then, and we do. Since that is when school starts, and it runs at least until lunch, I don't make commitments with friends and such then. Sometimes the doc or the dentist. Enjoy the flexibility while it lasts! If I had one k'er in school, I'd still be doing a lot more mom refreshment as I could. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abba12 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I think the focus shifts once your children are old enough to do afternoon/evening/weekend social events instead of morning ones. I am DONE after lunch, for various reasons including medical, so if it doesn't happen in the morning it just doesn't happen. But a lot of mummy and me, toddler, playgroup type stuff is in the mornings and a lot of mums of pre-schoolers try to arrange playdates in the mornings. This year, I decided what days we would do school (DH works an untypical week, so our school week is Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat) and what days were for other activities (Homeschool playgroup, shopping day and library are all on Thursday). And we just started saying no. There's a playgroup I'm curious about in town but it's on a friday morning, so we don't go. But we now go to Little Athletics on a friday night, and I'm thinking of going to a park day group which is in the afternoon once a week. Because I have an unusual school week, we are free for social events on mondays as well, which helps. I am flexible and do make exceptions, we had a friend over yesterday morning, but I never book out more than one morning a week, and in the instance of my friend yesterday, I invited her to come at 10 instead of 9, and did a half-day of school before she arrived. You just have to hit a point where you start saying no and redirecting. My friends know I can do monday, or thursday morning on non-playgroup weeks. They know I am free in the afternoons and as their children get older they are tending towards coming after the babies nap instead of before lunch. But I initiated it and was the first to suggest it, because people were simply in the habit of making morning plans and it never occured to them that afternoons might work better for everyone. And we just had to change our focus on social events/extracurriculars and make the decision that, aside from homeschool playgroup, we just wouldn't consider morning groups anymore, and would look closer at afternoon/evening opportunities. It was a little sad, but I needed the dicipline and routine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeking Squirrels Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I suppose we made that transition this year for second grade. Last year we did school regularly, but it was more along the lines of "fitting it in". My best friend's child is younger so wasn't in school yet and we could still do play dates. Plus I babysat my cousin's 4 kids at her house once every other week. So we did school in the morning some days, afternoon some days, during nap when my little would take one....just whenever it worked. And if we wanted to take off a day to go play, we did. And if she was maxed after a babysitting day, I didn't even try. As long as we stayed mostly on track and progressing I was okay with it. This year we do school in the morning 4 days a week and she has co op one day. We aim for starting by 8:30/9:00, but realistically it's often 10. We finish by lunch except art once a week. I'm really working hard to keep those morning hours reserved for school. I plan for appointments and errands in the afternoon or on her co op day. When my friend's child has a day off or early out, we plan ahead and make sure we start school early so we can meet them for a lunch time playdate, but school is still prioritized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Slowly, over time. K-2nd, we could ditch "school" for a field trip or playdate really any time and did. We also often did all our school in the morning before activities. 3rd-4th, that got harder and I always felt like one was suffering. 5th-6th, I feel like it clearly does. Here's a post I wrote about this a couple of years ago (eek... this post was fourth grade and now we're in sixth!)... Things are more independent now, but they also take more time. I don't assume everyone will take the path we did, but I do think no matter what you do, it will change. https://farrarwilliams.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/how-things-have-changed/ 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 It has just happened here, when ds was 3-5 or so we did weekly trips to the library story time and lunch with daddy at work with park time afterwards and at around 4 we started some co-op activities on Friday. Sometime after 5 or so I had to cut back on the library time as our involvement with the hs group increased and it was just too much stress for me(especially with more little ones coming along too). We kept with a 4 day week though, now this year and last we have been transitioning to 5 day weeks but not all the time(although I suspect that we probably will at some point). Days get a bit longer and a bit longer, no need to force it, it will happen. K with one kid just doesn't take very long at all and you can really do it anyway you want, quite easily. You might want to pick a certain time and stick with it but you can make it work other ways. I've always had 9 as our official start time but these days we often start earlier and a fair amount of time in the past year or so we were more likely to be schooling later because my sleep was crappy). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 About first grade ...I wanted to qualify that by saying that when other kids got to first grade, they were all in school all day, and had a little homework and even my homeschool friends felt compelled to spend at least some portion of every day "doing school" .... But we felt like we could take off whenever we wanted, had plenty of time, and felt unrushed and joined in on and and every field trip and play date until about 3rd grade. I think when my oldest got to 3rd grade, school took a longer time and I really felt at that time it needed to be a priority for his sake. It would be unfair to try to constantly complete work on the fly, haphazard, catching up, etc. So at that point we definitely stuck to a real schedule of sorts and planned days off for good reasons, not just whenever we wanted. So,...I think for those that say 3rd grade, that is a good estimate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 We don't ;) I have an only child and this is our first grade year. We fit math, handwriting, Spanish, and some chosen project into each school day. Science, history, art, and grammar are done frequently but not daily. That takes little enough time in reality that we still go to park days, play dates, daytime gymnastics and dance, and lots of field trips. We do a bit more academics this year than last, and did a bit more for kindy than pre-k, and I'm sure we'll do a bit more next year than this year. But I'll hold onto those free times and outside activities as long as I can because I know someday down the line all those years of "a bit more" will eventually add up to a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I agree with those that said the transition just kind of happens. My oldest two are less than a year apart and the younger of the two is academically at least a year ahead of his same age grade level, so the two of them have kind of walked through this hand in hand. Slowly, as their peers went off to school, or began more formal homeschooling at home, the play dates kind of dropped off/changed. I would say last year was a real transition year for us. The oldest two were 2nd/3rd grade ish...the middle boy (second youngest) was 1st grade, and the youngest was K. There was not much time left in a day, after meeting everybody's academic needs. This year, with all four schooling full-time, the days are definitely packed. We have transitioned to a four day week to help counter the burn-out factor, and that has helped quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Slowly, over time. K-2nd, we could ditch "school" for a field trip or playdate really any time and did. We also often did all our school in the morning before activities. 3rd-4th, that got harder and I always felt like one was suffering. 5th-6th, I feel like it clearly does. Here's a post I wrote about this a couple of years ago (eek... this post was fourth grade and now we're in sixth!)... Things are more independent now, but they also take more time. I don't assume everyone will take the path we did, but I do think no matter what you do, it will change. https://farrarwilliams.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/how-things-have-changed/ Exactly this. K-2 anything and everything felt educational so we often were out and about. 3rd -4th grade (especially 4th) the workload started to be too much to do just in the morning and if we did a non-educational field trip, I resented the lost school time. Now in 5th/6th, we just cannot lose the time. The cost benefit is too high and our work at home is too valuable to skip unless is it a very special opportunity that doesn't come around often. Playdates, parties, and social time can be scheduled afterschool or on weekends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara.I Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 It did happen organically, we'd spend a bit more time. We'd do more days per week... But yes, third grade. Things might have gone better if I'd been a bit more scheduled about history/science before this too. Oh well. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Hi ladies! Currently, my oldest is only 4.5. So, I know everything can be relaxed, but I still have things I want to be doing with him. We are doing AAR, HWOT, and I plan to start some math with him soon. However, I've had a REALLY hard time sticking to a schedule. Our life until now has been filled with play dates, and morning meetings for me (church), and that is the only time I can get out of the house since I have a little who naps every afternoon. Ideally, we would do the three R's in the morning, but I haven't been strict about this. Since we are home in the afternoons, this is when I most often do school... but I really dislike school starting at 2. Everyone is kind of crank and the kids just want to play outside (per our "normal" until now). Many days, the kids run outside after lunch and they are enjoying free play so much, I don't want to interrupt that. Haha. I very much value imaginative play at this age.... but anyway, I'm rambling. As I'm looking forward to K next year, I know we'll slowly need to get more organized. I guess I'm wondering how you made the transition from fitting school in and letting interest lead, to making school the priority of the mornings, especially if you have other littles at home. Do you just stop the play dates or say you'll meet for/after lunch instead? Many of his friends are starting all-day-every-day school, so before long this won't be an issue I suppose. Anyway... just looking for feedback on how you made this transition. :-) Our life never revolved around "school." :-) There were things we did that were more school-like, and we generally emphasized those gradually. Dds were 9 and 12 before I really scheduled every day Just Like School...and that only lasted for a few months, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonbon Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Slowly, over time. K-2nd, we could ditch "school" for a field trip or playdate really any time and did. We also often did all our school in the morning before activities. 3rd-4th, that got harder and I always felt like one was suffering. 5th-6th, I feel like it clearly does. Here's a post I wrote about this a couple of years ago (eek... this post was fourth grade and now we're in sixth!)... Things are more independent now, but they also take more time. I don't assume everyone will take the path we did, but I do think no matter what you do, it will change. https://farrarwilliams.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/how-things-have-changed/ I enjoyed this post. Seems like homeschooling follows the course of many things in life: highs, lows, and unexpected turns--both easy and hard, joyful and sad. In our third year here and I appreciate the view from someone further along the path. Realistic. Thanks! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Slowly, over time. K-2nd, we could ditch "school" for a field trip or playdate really any time and did. We also often did all our school in the morning before activities. 3rd-4th, that got harder and I always felt like one was suffering. 5th-6th, I feel like it clearly does. This was pretty much my experience as well. Then you get to high school and "chained to the desk" becomes a reality. Almost. Still working on balance with my 9th grader. But all of you with young elementary children, absolutely positively enjoy the flexibility that homeschooling provides to you now. It does lessen as the children advance, and it is a beautiful thing to take an afternoon or a day or a week and just explore without worrying about books and curriculum and keeping up. Schoolwork will take up your days all too soon, don't let it do so any earlier than necessary. I should also note that we have been involved in a co-op for as long as we've been homeschooling, which means our school week has always only been 4 days. Only in high school have we not been able to squeeze the work into 4 days rather than 5. By high school the extra day gets squeezed into the weekend as "homework." But such is life! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 My oldest is in 3rd, and I definitely feel the need to be pretty consistent this year. I try to protect our school time as much as I can, but am not yet totally refusing invitations that occur during school time. I try to pick and choose though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 My oldest is preK as well and we finish the three Rs by 7:30 each morning, so schooling has not been in conflict with other engagements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 We just work around my kids weekdays outside classes. So if kids have music lessons at 3pm, work is completed before leaving the house. If kids have a 9am science class, we do the rest of schoolwork after lunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Generally speaking we didn't do much in the way of academics until 1st and then 1st and 2nd were fairly flexible. By 3rd it was structured and school was only interrupted during school hours if something really major came along. I'm done in the afternoon and I have never allowed my life to revolve around school. School is the first part of our day and then the afternoons and evenings are not about school unless my husband is teaching the older kids advanced math and science. That's a season of our homeschooling and not something I'm involved in. I plan and prepare school for the year in the summer, so I don't plan on weekends, evenings or breaks during the school year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 We started making 4 out of 5 mornings devoted to school in Kindergarten with my DD, but that was partly because of life circumstances - new baby/toddler/next pregnancy taking a lot of time and/or sucking my energy when she was in K-2nd. With distractions, we were "cramming two hours into 4†so to speak. ;-). Then when we got past that, her schoolwork started taking a bit more time anyway, and I had to add in oldest DS who was eager to learn to read and do math as soon as he turned 5. Had it not been for those factors, we probably could have been more flexible at least during K/1st and maybe up into 2nd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapper4life Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 But all of you with young elementary children, absolutely positively enjoy the flexibility that homeschooling provides to you now. It does lessen as the children advance, and it is a beautiful thing to take an afternoon or a day or a week and just explore without worrying about books and curriculum and keeping up. Schoolwork will take up your days all too soon, don't let it do so any earlier than necessary./quote/ Yes! Yes! Yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 Now that my oldest is in 5th grade, we have (long) daily lists of work that needs to get done. But we still are careful to make time for our priorities. That may involve working late one evening so we can go somewhere the next day. In earlier grades (up until 4th) I just had a list of what needed to be done. We started, and then weren't done with the school year until our work was done. Some things were daily necessities (math, reading instruction) but most weren't. Don't make it harder than you have to earlier than you have to. We live in a place where there are few homeschoolers, so play dates during school time isn't an issue. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 We didn't even do kindergarten. My dd started in first, and she wasn't harmed by it. My kids are in 7th and 8th grades, and our life still doesn't revolve around school. It revolves around hockey. :lol: The best advice I can give you is that if you plan to do more than hour a day with a kindergartner, you're doing too much. School is just like life ... it works best if you have a regular routine, but that doesn't mean life has to come to a screeching halt to accommodate school. Don't be a slave to a school schedule, especially not with a kid so young. This is the first year that I have had to tell my kids, "No, we can't do that, we need to get school done." That's because my dd is already working on high school credits. So I guess what I'm trying to say is ... you don't have to wake up one day with a plan and a schedule and go. You'll evolve into it. Don't worry about it. Too many people worry too much when their kids are too young. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 You can stay very pleasure/choice driven until 2nd grade without a problem. Most places that offer daytime/preschool classes will be open to homeschoolers continuing when they're that young. My ds is newly 7, and he continues in the preschool swim classes in the daytime because he fits in there socially/emotionally. Honestly, what you're talking about is more YOUR needs than his. You can be honest about that, kwim? A dc doesn't need much formal school for several years yet and can do lots of inquisitive learning with you. However YOU are feeling the need for structure, having a hard time making yourself get started, etc. And you know part of that is that he doesn't need much. He's K4. Without disabilities or SN, he probably would max out at 1 hour a day from you. You're probably actually BORED. Your life is now too complex to go to your previous mom things, but you don't really fit in the homeschool social groups to have some you time. You'll figure it out. I'm just saying you don't have to make *his* life more schoolish just because *you* are bored. Get a hobby. Schedule a new moms time for yourself. Sign them up for some cool daytime classes so you can have the structure you're wanting. My ds is entropy in action, so I use our activities out and about to give us structure. I can show him the choice cards (we use visual schedules here) and say we have *1 hour* to do some things, let's pick 2. And we have cards that say leisure time, etc., so if he has other things on his mind, then I can set it up as a first/then kind of situation and say first my choice (math), then your choice (leisure time). But he's still learning that we make choices and don't waste our time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 This was pretty much my experience as well. Then you get to high school and "chained to the desk" becomes a reality. Almost. Still working on balance with my 9th grader. But all of you with young elementary children, absolutely positively enjoy the flexibility that homeschooling provides to you now. It does lessen as the children advance, and it is a beautiful thing to take an afternoon or a day or a week and just explore without worrying about books and curriculum and keeping up. Schoolwork will take up your days all too soon, don't let it do so any earlier than necessary. I should also note that we have been involved in a co-op for as long as we've been homeschooling, which means our school week has always only been 4 days. Only in high school have we not been able to squeeze the work into 4 days rather than 5. By high school the extra day gets squeezed into the weekend as "homework." But such is life! Yes! Especially to the bolded. I think people tried to tell me to relax when my kids were younger, but I didn't have ears to hear. I so much miss those leisurely days at the park with nowhere in particular that I had to be. I don't miss having multiple kids in diapers and running after toddlers to keep them out of the street, but there are things to treasure about having little kids if you can open your eyes to your blessings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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