Do you school according to a schedule?

[Reefgazer]

Do you school according to a schedule? I am not talking about the differences between schooling and unschooling here. I mean, do you set down a schedule for the year (or month, or week) and stick to it? Or do you set down a schedule for the year and Chip away at the lessons at a fairly leisurely pace? We keep to a schedule, which is killing us, time-wise. So I'm wondering if it would be better just to chip away at my schedule and get done what I can done and call it good. I have a high school DD and a middle school DS.

[Arcadia]

For outsourced classes, my kids have to follow the predetermined course schedules. For subjects we do at home I have a certain set of goals but they are not cast in stone. I only need to keep details (materials used) for foreign language and math for my 7th grader though so it is quite easy for me.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Yes, we have a schedule esp. for middle and high school.  I make a weekly schedule of work due.  My teen is responsible for deciding how to parcel that out through the week.  If we did not have a schedule esp. at the high school level then we would not get through the course material necessary for what I think is a commonly accepted level for a high school class on the transcript.  I'm a bit more flexible for middle school unless it is a high school level class. 

[Guest]

I only have a 9th grader (haven't graduated one yet- and youngest are too little to need much of a schedule) and we are now more of the chip away and just do the next thing. Strict schedules didn't work for us. We go year round though, which helps. But it's given us a buffer for when we do need to slow down on a subject, because in spite of not having a strict schedule we are still usually "ahead". I think that's part of the advantage of homeschooling, to not be on the public school schedule of seven periods a day, five days a week, 9 months a year. I exploit that to its fullest. Of course we still have to work around outsourced classes which are on that traditional schedule in most cases. But honestly, because we outsource a decent amount breaks never line up anyway. I fit them in where we need them and when we can, and it works for us. I know many do, but I just don't function well on strict schedules and neither does dd's brain with the classes she's taken at the moment. I would burn out on homeschooling high school quickly and she would probably drown. We do a lot of block scheduling and things like that on get 'er done subjects and I use summers for things I want more concentration on. Sometimes she's ahead in biology, sometimes she's behind in Latin if something doesn't make sense. I can't shedule that type of thing. We take as long as it takes and then do the next thing. There is always a next thing. We then simply roll into the next book or the next course or whatever...... Anyway, that's longer than I meant but it's how we do it.

[2_girls_mommy]

We are chippers, lol. Although I have a strict schedule for the day to day (with flexibility of course.) My kids know what order to do their work in and at what times throughout the day. But "writing" in the writing hour comes from many sources. If they have an assignment to write a speech for a co-op class, I may have them write it at that time. If there aren't any outside assignments I have a writing program we work through. Sometimes I am working on journaling or creative writing with them when I see the need. I use that time to accomplish the specific goals I have at the time.  Some subjects are easy to get through and have a pretty straightforward pace. We planned logic for the first semester. We finished the course by watching very carefully the weeks and lessons and making sure we stuck to it. There were weeks that things came up or that we needed an extra week, but I had built some time into the schedule. And of course outside courses have a strict schedule. But with the rest we meet goals, we chip away. We do the subject in the time I allot for a day, but what gets in done in that hour varies. I have a vague plan, but things happen. I haven't taught each new grade before and don't have experience with what works in a school year like a teacher who teaches 8th grade history each year. That teacher has experience with how much can reasonably get done around the testing dates, vacations, and such with that textbook.  As a homeschooler, it's all new every year. I do year round for some things, and my kids reach the goals I set out, but maybe it takes a bit longer than I thought or maybe they don't finish the whole text while still getting most of it done before moving on to the next.  I do teach a couple of co-op classes. I know how much we can get done in the year, and even it is chipping away in that class. They have to complete the work on their own to finish the entire text. I have so many weeks to get the bulk of the info into them, and that is all I can do. So that is up to each family how they do that. 

Edited March 2, 2017 by 2_girls_mommy

[73349]

I have a spot I want to reach for each subject by the end of each week. It's not a demanding schedule (we can do it in ~2 hours a day) nor really strict (I trim and/or reschedule if I feel the need), but I can see if we're lagging and push a little to get caught up when we have the opportunity. 

 

We school year-round with few breaks, and the breaks are often for travel or day camps or grandparents' visits, so I can't just say, "We'll finish the ________ book in the summer." Summer is spoken for.

[tdbates78]

Yes, I'm way too focused on our schedule! I started homeschooling at the beginning of January and we want to keep our options open as far as potentially putting them back in public school so it's important to us that they stay on par with their grade level. My husband was very nervous about homeschooling.  He feels much more comfortable if we keep a schedule to make sure we are hitting the main subjects, and I'm entirely too type-A not to have boxes to check ;).

 

I'm hoping that once I get a firm handle on this homeschooling momma thing I will feel comfortable enough to ease up a little. We do make time for fun homeschooling events (scheduled in advance, of course!). On Tuesday morning we saw a local performance of The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. With our tight schedule we are usually done within 2.5 hours so we have time to go to the library, out to lunch, walks, playground visits, etc.

Edited March 2, 2017 by tdbates78

[Miss Tick]

I wrote up a schedule for every day taking into account weekly commitments, keeping math and writing in the morning when we are most productive, making sure our foreign languages are separated by at least one subject, dividing my time between my olders and my younger, etc. Then I had to go back and put some approximate times next to the subjects so that it stayed realistic. Then we just work each day with the schedule as a guide, but not a task master. I like to be "done" with everything by the end of May, then the things we do in the summer make me feel ahead.

[Critterfixer]

Yes, we have a schedule. I do try to make sure I keep flexibility in mind when I make it each week.

 

ETA: I should also add that I make a quarterly master plan that I use to help plan out the week. And also that I am very careful not to overbook the schedule. It's very easy to do that if you aren't careful.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Critterfixer

[Ausmumof3]

I'm a switcher... I flit between scheduled mode and do the next thing mode. When I schedule stuff we get through work but it often feels rushed, stressful and lacking depth. When we take a more leisurely approach we get better quality learning to happen but often don't get through the content. To be honest I feel that the issue is with universal expectations of what children should be doing not tallying with normal child development.

[SebastianCat]

We were much more relaxed when my kids were younger, but as they've gotten into high school and middle school we stick to a schedule much more.  

 

For my high schooler in many areas, and for my middle schooler in some areas, I give them a deadline for certain assignments rather than a day-by-day list of what they need to accomplish, so they can take ownership of projects and papers like they'll need to do in college and in the workforce in a few years.   

[Job121]

I do have schedules- by grade level, by year, by month and by day. It might sounds rigid, but after many years it became a habit for everyone. When I started homeschooling, I made a daily schedule down to hour by hour. It didn't work out well (you schedule one hour for math worksheets for your DC and learn that he/ she can amazingly spend one hour for one very simple math question :closedeyes: ). 

 

On Sunday evening, I make schedules for next week  for my 2nd grader and 7th grader. My 9th grader and 12th grader make their own schedule. I encourage them to finish their school early so they can have some free time for reading books, listening music, etc. 

 

Besides, our state has a mandatory school hours or days. Scheduling helps me keep track of my students' school hours. When I wrote my DS's transcript, I was glad that I kept all those schedules.

[abba12]

We're using the crate system or whatever you want to call it. I have 34 weeks worth of folders for each child (because I am allowing space for field trips and stuff in the other two weeks). However, we school year round, and my focus this year is on doing the next thing and being ok with being imperfect, rather than trying to keep up and then becoming paralyzed with anxiety when we fail, missing days or even a week because we hadn't finished the previous weeks work, or calling a day off because I didn't feel like i could do a perfect day, and half-way wasn't good enough. 

 

So, I have 34 weeks of tablework school planned, but excluding the christmas/summer break (southern hemisphere)  we have 46 weeks to do it in, and I am also prepared to skip the last 4-6 folders at the end of the year, and just move on to the next books, if need be (most of my main programs finish or hit end-of-year review by week 30). And a week doesn't mean a week, it's just a block of work, so we're halfway through a school week right now but beginning a new folder today. 

 

Also, Math is not included in these folders, they are seperate and definitely a 'just keep chipping' subject. Eldest has a half hour of math time, sometimes that will mean doing half a lesson, sometimes it will mean doing three, I don't much care and I don't obsess about it, Eldest is ahead in math slightly, but has begun to slow down, but looking ahead I suspect she will speed back up in a few units time, it all balances out. 

 

So I guess you could call it a hybrid, a relaxed schedule that still gives me an end goal but some flexibility in how we get there. 

Edited March 3, 2017 by abba12

[MerryAtHope]

Yes and no!

 

My "schedule" for high school is an hour per day per credit, for roughly 170-180 days. That doesn't include 1-on-1 tutoring time that I do daily with my kids (usually about 20-30 minutes going over any material we need to go over, and then rotating discussion times for various subjects--I try to hit history twice a week, lit twice a week, science as topics come up, give feedback on writing assignments etc...)

 

It also doesn't include read-alouds, which I continue through high school. 

 

I don't make up a "daily schedule" other than this though. I do make up a yearly schedule for each subject though. That might be a basic goal (like 1 math lesson per day with X days wiggle room if we need to spend extra time on concepts, or what lessons we can drop if need be to solidify concepts, etc...). Or it might be a list of books that I hope we'll read, and the approximate week I think we'll get to that book (for literature or history). I keep a list of "optional" books in case we get ahead of schedule or want to swap something out last minute, and I sometimes asterisk books that I don't want to miss--so if we get behind and I want to cross something off the list, I don't cross off one of those books.

 

You can see some examples of what I do in my Teacher Binder.

 

I really like schooling this way. The daily time frame keeps us on target as far as putting in the time needed to make something worth a credit for high school, but the yearly lists/goals make it easy for me to reassess and drop or add things as needed (without the guilt and pressure of a daily schedule). If I change something up, I can just write it on my list--no big deal. 

 

In junior high, I do the same thing but some of those class times are more like 45 minutes for us (depends on what it is). 

 

The most stressful homeschool year I had was one where I tried to keep to an exact daily schedule that I had planned out in advance--oy! I said never again, LOL! It did look pretty on paper though...

 

 

[Loowit]

We have a routine that we follow daily and a plan for each week of what material to get through.  We start each morning at the same time, when we tried other ways we didn't get stuff done.  I put a binder together at the beginning of the school year that is my general guide for where we need to be to finish in a timely manner for a summer break.  I make up weekly sheets for the kids with their assignments for each day on them.  I type them up on the weekend so that I can adjust my yearly schedule to fit with what actually got done due to interruptions like illness, appointments, and such.  They can do more than one day's worth but not less.  Most weeks youngest works ahead so he can have a three day weekend.

[Garga]

100% scheduler here!  

 

But to each her own.  I'm just not the sort of person who can get things done without a schedule.  Each year I plan out how many chapters we'd have to cover in each book each week.  Each week I look over the chapters for that week (to see if we need supplies for a science lab, for example), and each night I create a little schedule for the next day.  The daily schedule is scheduled to the literal minute.  :)  We live by the timer.

 

It works for us.  It doesn't mean it'll work for you.  As long as the work is getting done, you can tinker with how to get it done.

[lllll]

nm

Edited March 9, 2017 by --Kathy--

[theelfqueen]

I have a schedule ... as in this lesson on this day with a few catch up days built in if we get behind (and planned lighter days and such) ... but I don't schedule their day specifically (they get a list of assignments and do them in the order of their choosing). Because of custody schedules we can't do year round styles... there are certain longer periods that Muppet Boy needs to go to his dad's and they have scout camp and stuff...

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[MinivanMom]

Yes, we have a schedule. I'm pretty flexible about it with my younger children, but I follow it strictly with my middle schoolers. 

[regentrude]

No.

I have an idea what I want to cover in a year, but usually have too many resources, books, GC courses to do it all.

In middle school, my kids got to pick what they work on for how long, I have an eye on balance, and they are pretty much free to use their (mandated) school hours for educational pursuits. In math we get as far as we get.

In high school, there are a few restrictions, as I need to make sure what they do can honestly earn a credit - but even then, I have no set schedule.

This worked very well. 

 

I made a few attempts to create schedules - and they all failed because the kid was working ahead from the first week on and I had to constantly adjust the syllabus. 

Edited March 3, 2017 by regentrude

[SparklyUnicorn]

We school year round, but I have no set schedule.  We take off as needed/wanted.  I loosely have an idea of what I'd like to get through for the year, but heavy emphasis on "loosely". 

 

It's not difficult to manage 2 students though.  I suppose if I had more I might need to get more organized about it.

 

I am required to file a lot of paperwork with details as part of the regs.  They don't ask for a schedule, but it does guide me somewhat.

 

 

[2_girls_mommy]

Yes and no!

 

My "schedule" for high school is an hour per day per credit, for roughly 170-180 days. That doesn't include 1-on-1 tutoring time that I do daily with my kids (usually about 20-30 minutes going over any material we need to go over, and then rotating discussion times for various subjects--I try to hit history twice a week, lit twice a week, science as topics come up, give feedback on writing assignments etc...)

 

It also doesn't include read-alouds, which I continue through high school. 

 

I don't make up a "daily schedule" other than this though. I do make up a yearly schedule for each subject though. That might be a basic goal (like 1 math lesson per day with X days wiggle room if we need to spend extra time on concepts, or what lessons we can drop if need be to solidify concepts, etc...). Or it might be a list of books that I hope we'll read, and the approximate week I think we'll get to that book (for literature or history). I keep a list of "optional" books in case we get ahead of schedule or want to swap something out last minute, and I sometimes asterisk books that I don't want to miss--so if we get behind and I want to cross something off the list, I don't cross off one of those books.

 

You can see some examples of what I do in my Teacher Binder.

 

I really like schooling this way. The daily time frame keeps us on target as far as putting in the time needed to make something worth a credit for high school, but the yearly lists/goals make it easy for me to reassess and drop or add things as needed (without the guilt and pressure of a daily schedule). If I change something up, I can just write it on my list--no big deal. 

 

In junior high, I do the same thing but some of those class times are more like 45 minutes for us (depends on what it is). 

 

The most stressful homeschool year I had was one where I tried to keep to an exact daily schedule that I had planned out in advance--oy! I said never again, LOL! It did look pretty on paper though...

This is so much like how I do, but I wasn't as good at explaining it. :) 

[PeterPan]

Given that you're talking high school, I would continue to kick their butts. When you make a transcript, you're actually wanting to mark units (time spent), not credits (material covered). Now there can be an absurdity to it, but the point is that if the amount of work you had hoped to get done can't reasonably get done (your syllabus) in the reasonable amount of time, then you're going to trim the work and focus on time spent. Happens in school all the time. Chapters get dropped, etc.

 

What I would not do is drop consistency. If things are a little tight because they have extra-currics, etc., I would be flexible but still keep up the pressure. Dr. Carol Reynolds had a talk about this, about slowly ramping up the heat, and I really think it's good. Maybe not everything their first year, but definitely keeping it up. It's definitely not good for them to have every deadline flex, because life won't be like that. We want to slowly build up their ability to juggle.

 

So that's a really equivocal answer I guess. You're not saying you want to stop working. It sounds like you're saying you're working but the mountain isn't decreasing quickly enough. At some point, it's ok to go back to that idea of units vs. credits and keep it sane. 

[Mrs Twain]

Yes, I have a list of lessons that need to be done each day so that we can complete all of our subjects during the school year.

 

I know some people who have been the chipper-types. They are happy with their lifestyles until their child has to take a standardized test and achieve a certain grade level score. They look for some way around the requirement because their kids are not at grade level due to the chipping method.

 

Not all chipper people's kids are below grade level, but that way of doing school will increase chances of kids gettig behind.

[Targhee]

I have a general plan for the year, curricula carved into lessons, but I only set the schedule for a week at a time. At the time I move lessons into their weekly schedules I sometimes add things (like a video clip) or take things out. Also, no particular order of things during the day. I do sometimes have to move them along when they're spending a lot of time on one subject and still have a lot of other things to do.

[Julie Smith]

We pretty much have a check list. Every day you have to check off the various subjects when completed. You are allowed to get ahead, and even behind. But if you get to far behind you start loosing privileges, such as computer time.

[Peaceful Isle]

I schedule my ninth grader , but with the younger ones, we just plug away.

[mom31257]

Dh is a school teacher, so we basically follow his schedule. I start a little later than him because he goes back the last week of July. I wait until mid-August.

Within that calendar scheduling, I do try to be flexible for life stuff. 

 

Co-op, which meets every other week, determines some subjects, though. That goes Aug-Nov, and Jan-April. I have an overall plan for the year. Then, I sit down after each co-op and plan the next two weeks. Outside classes and those for high school credit take priority this year. Of course it will all be for credit next year. 

 

Each night I make a daily list of what he has to do the next day. 

 

 

[thessa516]

I'm a scheduler. I utilize the crate system and we try to stay on schedule as much as possible. Sometimes, I move a subject out of the rotation and just start chipping away at it. This year it was writing. We were on schedule for over half the year, and then we hit some writing assignments that (I felt) needed longer than one day to complete.

[Reefgazer]

So do you "chip away as you can" with high schoolers?  I'm trying to see what that might look like in our house and how I would determine if we accomplished enough in that day.  I also have to figure out if this will work with DS, who is a dawdler.  Today, he accomplished one thing after co-op (after I told him to get on his math, Latin, and English corrections because I only had one hour to donate to that today).  That one thing was eating an ice cream cone.  No kidding.  After I sent him upstairs to finish his corrections, he came down after 40 minutes and told me that is what he had gotten done.

 

No.

I have an idea what I want to cover in a year, but usually have too many resources, books, GC courses to do it all.

In middle school, my kids got to pick what they work on for how long, I have an eye on balance, and they are pretty much free to use their (mandated) school hours for educational pursuits. In math we get as far as we get.

In high school, there are a few restrictions, as I need to make sure what they do can honestly earn a credit - but even then, I have no set schedule.

This worked very well. 

 

I made a few attempts to create schedules - and they all failed because the kid was working ahead from the first week on and I had to constantly adjust the syllabus. 

 

Edited March 9, 2017 by reefgazer

[Reefgazer]

Getting behind at least grade level is what I am afraid of with the chipper method.  That's why I was asking if anyone had done it successfully and what measures they put in place to avoid being behind.

Yes, I have a list of lessons that need to be done each day so that we can complete all of our subjects during the school year.

I know some people who have been the chipper-types. They are happy with their lifestyles until their child has to take a standardized test and achieve a certain grade level score. They look for some way around the requirement because their kids are not at grade level due to the chipping method.

Not all chipper people's kids are below grade level, but that way of doing school will increase chances of kids gettig behind.

 

[regentrude]

So do you "chip away as you can" with high schoolers?  I'm trying to see what that might look like in our house and how I would determine if we accomplished enough in that day.  I also have to figure out if this will work with DS, who is a dawdler.  Today, he accomplished one thing after co-op (after I told him to get on his math, Latin, and English corrections because I only had one hour to donate to that today).  That one thing was eating an ice cream cone.  No kidding.  After I sent him upstairs to finish his corrections, he came down after 40 minutes and told me that is what he had gotten done.

 

In 9th and 10th grade, I set an amount of time for school. They worked on whatever they worked on, with the exception of math for DS which had to be done daily (DD preferred to work in longer binges).

School started at 8, lunch break from 12 to 1, school ended at 3. Six hours time on task, what got done got done. Six hours is sufficient for six credits. We did school light over the summer (year round math; lots of art/music/pe in the summer which we covered without traditional courses)

If a kid wastes the time and cannot accomplish anything, he loses the privilege of unsupervised work.

 

[regentrude]

Getting behind at least grade level is what I am afraid of with the chipper method.  That's why I was asking if anyone had done it successfully and what measures they put in place to avoid being behind.

 

What does "grade level" even mean??? There is no standard what has to be covered in a certain grade. high schools vary dramatically.

 

What we did for history/literature was completely removed from anything they do in public school. No comparison whatsoever. If instead of 100 GC Ancient history lectures DS had just listened to 80, he would still have had a much richer educational experience than working through a ps text. If from the books I had planned to read they only read half, that would still have been way more than they would have read in ps.

 

The one measurable thing would have been math, but since mine both covered AoPS Intro to algebra before 9th grade, that was not really an issue. In math, I insist on continuous work. What gets done gets done, and if the book takes longer than a school year, so be it - it is not a race. I rather have thorough conceptual understanding. The math education they get at home is far better than what they would have gotten in ps.

 

So, aside from math, I could not even define what it means to be "behind". A large percentages of high school students never cover any physics in high school , so it is impossible to be "behind" when you have even any kind of physics course. Foreign language is not required in our state, so learning any foreign language at any level is still ahead of the curve.

I am not saying that I set my educational standards like this; I am just saying that I find it hard to define "behind".

Edited March 9, 2017 by regentrude

[regentrude]

Yes, I have a list of lessons that need to be done each day so that we can complete all of our subjects during the school year.

I know some people who have been the chipper-types. They are happy with their lifestyles until their child has to take a standardized test and achieve a certain grade level score. They look for some way around the requirement because their kids are not at grade level due to the chipping method.

Not all chipper people's kids are below grade level, but that way of doing school will increase chances of kids gettig behind.

 

If I require time on task, stuff gets done. I did not find that this increases the chance of getting behind. What does "completing all of our subjects" in a year even mean? Who decides what subjects, and what material to select for the year? Some external curriculum company? Why would what they choose to cover be relevant to my school?

 

I have a pile of resources we could be using to learn stuff. That pile is way too big to be "finished". Letting kids pick which things they enjoy and giving them freedom to structure their day and follow rabbit trails and explore areas of interest has not caused them to be behind or underachieve on standardized tests (on the contrary). It has caused them to remain excited about learning, to take ownership of their education, to see learning as a continuing process.

Not working through prescribed curriculum with daily "lessons" also removes the illusion of being "done" when the book is finished. Learning is not "done". We may have spent the time we had decided to devote to school - but there are still plenty of books and lectures and math problems left. I am raising life long learners.

 

I am very happy with this lifestyle. I am also very happy with my kids' outstanding academic achievements.

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by regentrude

[Arcadia]

I also have to figure out if this will work with DS, who is a dawdler.

  

Getting behind at least grade level is what I am afraid of with the chipper method.  That's why I was asking if anyone had done it successfully and what measures they put in place to avoid being behind.

My dawdler/easily distracted 6th grade DS11 has a daily minimum checklist. Everyday he does at least

one thinkwell chemistry unit (slower than thinkwell's suggested schedule),

two hours of math (because of snacks and toilet breaks),

two hours of reading (mix of assigned by my husband and whatever he wants to read which is Harry Potter series at the moment)

30mins of programming

 

His weekly minimum is for Chinese and German as determined by his teachers since they give out weekly homework.

 

He doesn't have a schedule for biology and physics.

 

7th grade DS12 is a chipper who happen to be a good test taker. I do have some targets mentally but he has always been on track without me nagging. I only have to nag him for piano and PE. He loves to sing but not in a choir or musicals or voice lessons. We do evaluate how much work got done before Christmas break and before Spring (April) break so that we aren't complacent.

 

I do use the UC a-g requirements as a gauge for my boys even though they are not interested in state universities. We just chip at the requirements instead of doing detailed planning for them. My kids are already set on using SAT biology subject test to meet the high school biology requirement/checkbox, everything else is flexible.

[zibby3]

We pretty much have a check list. Every day you have to check off the various subjects when completed. You are allowed to get ahead, and even behind. But if you get to far behind you start loosing privileges, such as computer time.

 

This is pretty much what we do, too. I do have end-of-year goals and if we have not reached those goals we will likely finish up in the summer (that might be a couple of subjects for us). I'm new to homeschooling, though, but this seems to work so far.