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Schedules...how organized are you?


Gamom3
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I am wondering if anyone here is very organized with your lessons, that you have everything written on a schedule and follow it to a T?

Do you do flashcards at a certain time?

Math, History, Science, etc. at a certain time? If you are not finished with them do you finish or come back to them after things are done?

 

I want to get on a schedule. I want to do flashcards and such. I want dc to have a routine and know what needs to be done and when.

I have tried this but seem to drop it after while.

I want to be finished with lessons by 2pm. If anything is left, then they need to do it as homework..but they normally are still needing me to help them, so we don't get up from the table until 4pm or even later!!

 

I am wanting to try this now, so I can get an idea for next year.

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Yes, I'm pretty scheduled. I make my master plan evilgrin0039.gif during the summer for all subjects and then tweak it as we go through the year.

 

We have a morning review for some flashcard type items (Math, presidents), but for languages we use flash cards during that subject time. I don't try to end by a certain time, they keep going until they're done. Sometimes I'll cut their day short if I have scheduled poorly or if something suddenly comes up.

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I plan out my daily work a couple of weeks at a time (because I use a lot of library books that I only get for 3 weeks). I plan a 4 day week, but that might not mean 4 consecutive days, I just try to get in 4 out of 7. But today (Monday) we finished a lesson plan page, so tomorrow we'll start a new "week" (on Tuesday).

 

We don't always do school at the same time, but I do try to get it all done in one sitting or things get missed. Every night, I put the next day's books & worksheets in a box, and put the box on the dining room table. We just work through the box in whatever order the kids want, and when it is empty, school is done. I do make sure any messy art projects or science experiments are last, because the kids will usually wander off during cleanup.

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I am a very scheduled person by nature, but I am married to a man who likes to do things on a spur of the moment. I have learned to be scheduled, but flexable. This has worked in the marriage and in homeschool. I use Homeschool Tracker to plan out the entire year. I am already working on next years schedule. However, day to day things can change. I might have Math scheduled before Grammar, but I am more than willing to switch things around. Now I only have 1 that I am schooling so I can be rather flexable. I do however watch my two grandkids 3 mornings a week. So on these days I must be flexable. I give my daughter things that she can do without me in the mornings and in the afternoon after the kids have gone home we do the subjects that need my input. We have even gotten up early to get Math done before the kids come, so that we can leave for tennis as soon as they go home. I've even been know to do school on Saturday (to my daughters dismay) because of unexpected plans during the week. I might be flexable, but I like to get everything done that I plan. I am not so scheduled that I won't change something that isn't working. We just stopped Geography for the rest of the year, because my daughter found it boring and said she really wasn't learning anything from it. On thing I like about Homeschool Tracker is that they make it easy to reschedule and adjust your schedule.

Janis in DE

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Yes, I have a schedule, and yes, we follow it. I have to schedule flashcard time, or it just doesn't get done. I let our schedule slide a bit this year which led to some bad habits and attitudes. As a homeschooling family, we just work better on a known routine; things get done and everyone is happy. With a schedule, my boys know what to expect, and they know that if they keep on track, playtime will soon arrive. Of course, we do have appointments, illness, let's go to the park, etc. interruptions, but for the most part, we stay on track.

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I do NOT have a schedule that looks like this:

 

8 - 9: Math

9-10: Language

10-11: Science

11-12: History

etc

 

My schedule DOES look like this:

 

Monday - Friday

8:30/9:00 - 12: 00 = morning work period

My children chose how they get their daily work done in that period. They chose a 10-15 minute snack break some time in there as well. The only thing that would alter this would be a field trip. Required daily work=

Phonics/reading comp.

Spelling

Math

Grammar/Writing

Penmanship

 

Required 2-3 times weekly (but more if they want and time permits)=

History work

Science work

Geometry work

 

Our afternoons are "scheduled" with library trips (twice a week), art/creative time, cooking, instrument practice (daily), and art/music/workshops outside of the home, as well as outside time, free swim time @ the YMCA, and nature hikes.

 

My kids MUST work in the morning or nothing "academic" will get done. They work VERY hard in that 3 to 3.5 hour morning work period and accomplish the "core" work that needs to be done. History and Science can and do pop back up in the afternoons if I see that they have the attention span to experience some more learning. We also tend to do read-aloud's and silent reading in the late afternoon, at a time when I'd be otherwise tempted to turn the TV on.

 

I let them chose how they accomplish their work each morning because if I dictate the order in which it should happen, they protest (in the form of lollygagging, poor attitudes, sluggishness, tears). For whatever reason, they are MUCH more motivated to work when they can chose the order each day, so I refuse to schedule how our mornings go.

 

Edited to say that *I* am very scheduled with my planning of their work. I have to have everything prepared for them each week so that the work can flow properly.

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Our schedule is on my blog (under 'Our Typical Day').

I have factored in a ten minute 'buffer' zone for subjects to extend if they are not done.

If they don't look like they are getting done ten or twenty minutes towards the end of a period then I come and help things along a bit. The only thing that might become homework is extra fact memorizing. The children are very diligent at this and don't think of it as a 'punishment'. They seem to understand it is to help them next time. This sort of thing is done in their free time.

Our mornings are fairly rigid.

Our afternoons are more loose than my schedule looks. They have to be because it takes so long to walk to the swimming pool. We also sometimes have to pop to the shops. Our science is generally an open-ended task. we like to take extra time to do experiments, activities and read relevant material.

We go on excursions very frequently too.

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We're extremely organized. I plan curriculum a year and a half in advance-then break it up into weekly spreadsheets and then those are used to make the weekly schedule. Everything is logged on the computer and all the completed work is filed. My plans and schedules keep me sane and I never second guess if we are doing or accomplishing enough. :D

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but I don't always rigidly follow it. I have a spreadsheet that shows me our theoretical day, what times we will do each subject, all outside activities, chore time, reading time, etc.

 

But in reality, I rarely stick to the time frame on the spreadsheet. I do try to accomplish all lessons that are scheduled for the day, but sometimes that slips too.

 

I actually feel guilty about this, and often promise myself that I am going to be more strict and structured, but I guess it doesn't come naturally to me.

Michelle T

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Yes, I love making schedules and use them for a guide not as a rule.

 

We use Circle time as our framwork and for February it looks like this:

 

Circle up (we have a special verse that I use to start it)

 

Rhythmic drill--we toss or roll a ball and work on math facts and counting or anything that is chanted.

 

Seasonal poem for the month (by the end of the month the poem is memorized)

 

Weather report from my oldest dd

 

Math poem that leads to

Math exploration/teaching time ( I use my Singapore math text, manipulatives and stories to teach about new topics and explore math)

 

A movement verse (we get up and stretch)

 

Phonics/Spelling rule introduction 1 to 2 days a week and the other days are for flashcard review of phonograms/rules learned.

 

A story on Mondays that we will use in composition later in the week.

 

We move to the table at this time.

 

My youngest does Earlybird math while my oldest does copywork

 

Singapore Math workbook for my oldest

 

Form Drawing on Mondays/Tues she composes a summary of the story read on Monday/Wed & Thurs she illustrates the summary and then the next week copies the sentences she composed as copywork

 

Minimus Latin--a short lesson each day, flash card review on days when there is no new words introduced.

 

Creative time--We do a weekly topic. This week we are painting, two weeks ago we felted, next week we will do science with magnets.

 

At bedtime we read about math, science, history, fun and literary books.

 

I do have our months scheduled out and pretty much have 3rd/1st grade all ready to go. I like doing units for each month so that we are working on similiar things during the course of a month. Like in Math right now my oldest is doing addition and subtraction strategies with rods while my younger child is learning about addition and subtraction. We don't always line up but it is nice when we do.

 

Good luck on your schedule. A word of advice--take the best from all of us and leave the rest. Don't let yourself get stressed because things get off. If it is important you can do the next week if not you can come back to it another time. :)

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I have a schedule, but I consider it a work in progress.

 

Right now, we have a pretty loose schedule, but it's based on concrete subjects.

 

Every day, we do math. My oldest does math first. I fold in the other girls. Then, we do language arts. If my second is bored, I have her do some free reading or piano practice in the morning. If my oldest needs additional work, then she does Torah reading and/or Hebrew. I also try to get either Latin or Outlining or Lightning Lit in for my oldest before lunch.

 

After lunch is history time. It is at this time that I read to the youngers, do FLL and/or narrations. I do discussion for lit and history with my oldest and second dd's. Sometimes, if I am busy with my oldest, my second will do Writing Tales. Other things they will do are music practice and typing.

 

On Fridays, we do history experiments in the morning after math. The girls also like to do Draw Squad on Fridays. I try to do more "fun" things if we have a five day week. If we don't have a five day week, then we often move things forward into the next week.

 

I have a kind of rhythm that is working right now. I have a checklist of subjects for each girl that I want to touch on for the week. Some things have five boxes to check while others have two or three. There are weeks when there are no boxes checked, even though they are on the list.

 

For most subjects, we just do the next thing. For history and geography, we are using TOG, so I make up a master plan for the TOG week and then the girls put their assignments into their planners or notebooks. I check with them every day to ensure that they have done the things I want them to do. Eventually, I will check with them once a week to ensure that they have completed their work.

 

This probably only makes sense to me. LOL

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If you're not a scheduler but still want the routine and organization, the easiest thing is to chose materials that are very "do the next thing"... You make up for your weaknesses with the materials you chose. I like to mix things up a lot too, but when things are very consecutive (do the next page of math, do the next page in the lit guide, next section of SG), and when I know the basic subjects I want to get done, then I get those done. Everything else (flashcards, etc.) fills in when I have time. I'd suggest EASING INTO your schedule or routine. Pick a couple things you'd really like to get done consistently, put them on a sheet of paper, and do them. Then, when you get those 3 things done for a month and it's habit, then add in another thing. Your schedule doesn't have to include EVERYTHING.

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you can see our current schedule here on my blog. We stay fairly close to the time scheduled, but it's not like we set a timer and switch to the next subject when it goes off.

 

Every subject has a certain amount of time. If everyone finishes early, we generally move on to the next subject early. If only one person finishes early, then they generally get to take a break until everyone else is ready to move on.

 

I do expect assignments to be finished in the time given because I try to be very careful when I make the assignments to be sure they can be finished in the allotted time. Any work not done will be finished in the next period of free time (although this doesn't happen very often anymore).

 

I would suggest to start that you set up an order in which things get done with a couple of benchmark times. When we started out new schedule in January, the benchmarks were 8:00 to start school, 10:00 to start history, and 12:00 (12:30 at the latest) for lunch. This gave us the flexibility to let math run an extra 10 minutes if needed and we just shortened the one on one time scheduled after math to make up the time. It also gave the girls time to learn the new routine without feeling pressured to complete xyz in xx minutes. After a few weeks we run fairly close to the scheduled times.

 

HTH

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people who answer these kinds of questions are the people who *love* schedules and organizing, etc.... (Me, for example). So, I think if you don't naturally love scheduling, start small. Make a daily checklist of all the subjects you want to cover and check them off as you go. I have a harder time with schedules that include time blocks because we tend to be a bit more flexible, but I have found as the kids get older I am trying to set aside certain time blocks for certain subjects.

 

Take baby steps and play with what works best for your family. Everyone is different and think of it as a continual tweaking process. We are starting a new unit in history this time and I'm doing some major tweaking of our schedule. We'll see how it goes.

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I have detailed daily plans with Sonlight that we follow. For the subjects that I don't use Sonlight, I make my own detailed lesson plans. I have the detailed plans done before we begin the year. As for weekly, I put the subjects into blocks and schedule the blocks during the week around our outside classes. In the morning I lay out the books I need and we work through the stack.

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I do have a schedule but it is not a timed one. I guess you would call it more of a routine. We start our day with Bible reading, circle time and then ds works on his reading and writing while dd does her copywork and her vocab work. Our morning flows together like this. My kids know what happens next. It may not get done at the same time every day, but they know and are comfortable with the routine.

 

Julia

mom of 3 (8,7,5)

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Guest janainaz

Our days are like this:

 

We do school 4 days per week. My son chooses his day off, most of the time.

 

We start school around 9ish. Most days we are done by lunch, but because I have a 3 year old, some days we take breaks, play games, we clean, go to the park, watch a movie, etc., We just enjoy each other and I've totally chilled out with the clock-watch schedule. I tried it and I became stressed out and mean :( We have a basic guideline of what must be done daily. We are organized in a relaxed kind of way.

 

In detail, this is what we cover:

 

We do History, Math, Spelling, Reading, Language (FLL3), Copywork and Dictation every day. Science is typically done once a week.

 

History (SOTW) is broken down into about 40 chapters. We cover at 1 chapter a week (with the exception of very "light" chapters and then we will cover 2 chapters). Somehow, we have them all covered in about 36 weeks. Our week consists of the book reading(s), narrations, map work, additional history/literature books I have from the library on that chapter. We spread out that work over the week - it's effortless. I plan projects when they seem fun or meaningful.

 

Spelling (SWO) - we do one lesson a week broken down as follows: One day of "workbook work", one day of writing the words in sentences, one of an oral test (that weeks words and random "trouble" words from previous lessons) and one day of a written test of that weeks list words. Missed words are written 5x and tested on weekly until mastered.

 

Language (FLL3) - one lesson a day X 4 days a week

 

Reading - we do about an hour of a read-aloud together (we'll make a tent and read in there or laying in the bed, cuddled on the sofa - whatever! We switch back and forth reading) and my son does 30 minutes in his own book by himself, usually when he gets wild and needs some chill time.

 

A narration is done one day a week on any book of his choice

 

Math - 1 lesson day, 4 days per week, review of flash cards daily before a timed math fact drill.

 

Dictation and copywork - Copywork is a sentence of my choosing and it's done in cursive. Dictation is a sentence of my choosing, done in print, written neatly and punctuated and spelling properly.

 

Science (God's Design) - done 1 day a week

 

 

We do subjects in any order. It just depends on what my son wants to start with. I let him have control in this area. He does his chores when I ask him and there are days we don't do school in the morning and do errands or take a bike-ride to the park (I have a 3-year old). I know what my goal is to cover in a year's period of time. I don't have lesson plans, I don't write things out in a notebook, I don't spend endless hours planning. I file my son's work neatly in his notebooks and am never behind. There are days where we don't get to certain subjects (very very rarely), but I just tack that lesson on to the following day. 99% of the time our work for that day is done and it's pretty stress free.

 

When my other son starts with school, we will have more of a set schedule, but for now, I'm trying to relax.

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This year, I made a master schedule, mostly to make sure I used the variety of curriculum that I have. For example, I have many different types of math manipulatives and a handful of different handwriting practice exercises. I like having a master plan, but if I don't get every single thing done, I don't stress about it.

 

This year is our pre-k year, so I am not very concerned about getting through a particular program. However, when we start first grade, I think I will continue having a master plan and also implement a log that records what we have accomplished in each subject area every day instead of what we had hoped to accomplish. I will use less detailed quarterly/semester plans for that.

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Our daily timetable is in my siggy. For most subjects, within those time blocks, we just do the next thing. I have at the back of my mind how much I want to get done in each subject in a year. I spreadsheet history in advance, but not as a day-by-day endeavour - instead it just lays out the order in which we need to do things.

 

The time blocks are a little bit flexible - if the boys are in the middle of something creative, we'll over-run - but they give us a framework.

 

Laura

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I have slowly become more organized and more scheduled. In the first few years I think you can get away with being less scheduled, but I found that as mine get older, I get more nervous if I do not have some established routines. This year my son actually told my husband that he was enjoying school more because "mom seems a lot more organized this year" - this coming from an 8 yo!

I have used MOTH to help me create a plan, but we are far from sticking to a strict time schedule, especially with a nursing newborn in the house, but we do follow a certain order for subjects, and I plan out our assignments about 4 weeks at a time, then weekly plan out a daily schedule for the upcoming week. We never accomplish it all, which is why I never plan details more than a few weeks ahead - it just makes me feel like a failure!

 

If I knew how to attach a file I would attach my schedule, but it says my doc is too large, and I do not know how to compress a file!

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I schedule out my year to help me keep with the program. I started out homeschooling with a 4 year old, 2 year old and an infant. As soon we sat down with a lesson, someone would need a diaper change, used my lipstick to draw nice pictures on the bathroom floor, or need to be nursed. The constant interuptions were frustrating to me. I started writing out my plan on a spread sheet to help keep me on track.

 

Now that I have a 13 year old, 11 year old, 9 year old and 6 year old, I use the schedules to keep my kids on track. We don't follow them to a T, but rather use them as a guide. We don't get to every project or every lesson that I have planned, but I know we are covering all the essentials in order to get finished school by the end of May.

 

Our basic day looks like this:

7:30-8:30: Eat breakfast and do chores

8:30-12:00 main subjects (math, grammar or Latin, history or science, Spelling or writing.

1:00-1:30 Read a-loud time

1:30-3:30 finish school we didn't get to in the morning, instrument practice, art or projects (history, science or nature journaling).

There are days when we go to 4:00 or 4:30, but usually we get finished around 3:30.

 

I hope this helps you!

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I must have a schedule. If you don't know where you are going, how will you get there? ;)

 

But I don't have it planned out by time. Instead it is more of a list by priority, which gives it flexibility that I need. Not as much as I used to, but it still works better for us. That means whether we get up at 7 or 9 we just start at the beginning and work down the list taking breaks for lunch when we are ready then coming back to the list.

 

Here is another post where I have my schedule. Obviously this is just hs. I have a series of items I do before starting hs, and a series I do after. If I am pressed for time I might have to cut hs short. I can't cut the after hs activities because they are dinner related. :D

 

Heather

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Until a couple of months ago, I just had a list of each thing that needed to be done, and we would just pick what we wanted to do next. Things were getting done but it didn't feel good - it felt unorganized and the kids never really knew what to expect. So now we do certain things in a certain order. Each subject is alloted 50 minutes, allowing for a ten minute break in between subjects. We don't often use the entire 50 minutes, but if we do, we put the subject away and pick it back up tomorrow. Here is our routine:

 

Hour one: Bible, memory work, breakfast, chores

Hour two: Math

Hour three: Latin

Hour four: Language arts (spelling, grammar and/or writing depending on the day and child)

Hour five: Lunch and literature (read aloud and discussion)

Hour six: History or science

Some days we have Hour seven: art or music appreciation, special project (right now we are building a model Medieval Castle), personal dictionary work

 

The kids do their assigned personal literature reading on their own time, often in the evening after dinner.

 

Things seem so much more organized this way. We try to start by 9, but don't really follow the clock, except to keep us fresh by not going over the 50 minute mark - which rarely happens.

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My boys are young but our day looks like this:

 

9:00 AM Circle Time:

Bible or Character Story w/color sheet

Recitation: scripture, poetry

Reading Practice for 6 yr old

 

10:00 AM Read Aloud 1:

I read aloud for 40-45 mins, DS narrates

 

11:00 AM Table Time 1:

Copywork, Phonics, Lang Lessons

Recorder Lesson

 

1:00 PM Read Aloud 2:

same as above

 

2:00 PM Table Time 2:

Informal/Manipulative/Games Math

Free Art

 

8:00 PM Bedtime Bible:

Read to boys from Rod and Staff Bible Readers

 

*between the hours listed is 'free time', we do house keeping, laundry, read, computer, errands, animal chores....whatever needs doing! :D

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I write it up on Saturday night. I do it like this:

 

7:00-7:15 AM Wake up and read Bible

7:15-8:00 AM Make bed

8:00-8:30 AM Breakfast/chores

8:30-8:40 AM Morning ceremonies, Spanish song, hymns, poems

8:40-9:15 AM Math: older A Beka Reader: younger

9:15-10:00 AM Story of the World: older Math: younger

10:00-10:15 AM Vocabulary Vines:older Fifty Famous Stories: younger

10:15-10:45 AM Latina Christiana I: older Beginning Geography: younger

10:45AM-11:15 AM Grammar: Older Read Bible Primer and do grammar:younger

11:15-11:30 AM Plutarch: older Christian Liberty's Nature Reader: younger

11:30-12:00 PM Copywork for both

 

This is not in stone. Sometime we go longer. This would be a Monday and a Tuesday schedule. Wednesdays and Thursdays are very different because we don't do history, but science instead on those days.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

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We do a lesson of math a day, have certain days for writing, do 2 weeks Shurley then 2 weeks of IEW,

I work with my dc in the morning on phonics, math, and any writing/English; then they complete the rest after. This gives me most of the afternoon to anser questions and for other tasks.

Or morning looks something like this:

7:3--8 Fruit and review/memorize AWANA verses

8 Prayer Journals

8:15 Listen to Bible chapters on CD while mom cooks eggs and sausage or something like this.

8:30 Eat again

8:45 Take turns narrating the Bible chapters. Reveiw memory work...usually poem we are working on

9:15ish.....I begin phonics ( I am currently working with 3 dc at different seperately, will do Shurley also here)

noon Math with younger 2...my 7 yo listens to 6you lesson then I do hers.

12:45......Lunch

While I am working with one, the other dc have drill sheets, handwriting, and reading to do. My oldest will do his Latin and Saxon, writing and other stuff while waiting his turn.

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I found I needed to put a schedule in place so that my dc didn't all need me at the same time or want the computer at the same time. I divided up our day into 45 minute blocks & the order is not negotiable. We aim to begin at 9:00, but if life happens we just begin with block 1 & 45 minutes later we move onto block 2, etc. 9:00-noon each dc covers English (= Mom-time), Math, Science, & Languages (Latin + their chosen modern language). After lunch is geography, literature, & music practice. We used this timetable Oct-Dec (our term 4) & found it took a lot of stress out of our day & we accomplished more.

 

Blessings,

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