queenligoo Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Hi i posted an introduction and background story a few moments ago and i wondered what peoples thoughts were on routine and scheduling? So far after taking our daughter out at the age of 4 we have let her learn mostly through living. Every day life has minute by minute opportunities to learn in anything we do such as cooking cleaning etc..half a cap of this goes in and I need 2 and a half potatoes in cooking etc. Science, Math and English i have found can be brought in with every day living and i feel now she is 7 it should be covered a lot more. I have got together using various curriculum styles and picked out what is suited age wise and level wise to my daughter. The only problem I seem to be having is getting it in order as a time table, a schedule or a loop schedule. And i am really struggling. I'm not sure I am explaining it right, here is an example of my struggle.. I like to write. I ALWAYS have this problem with writing ( no matter whether if it is a story, a passage or a letter-any type of writing) I never know where to begin. I have the ideas etc but the beginning I always struggle to begin. I always have done. What does everyone find to work for them? i'm leaning to the 'loop schedule' to see how I go and I have just printed off a freebie from 'Plan your year' Any suggestions? And thank you very much x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Learning through living works really really well til about 3rd grade if you are intentional about it. I have found what worked for me has changed with my child. When my kids were your daughter's age, we had a routine (not a schedule built on time). In other words, we had an order of things that worked but weren't tied down by times. But I also wasn't tied to the assignment either. If we were working on math and my kids were in "the zone" we might go longer than a day when math was a struggle, in which case I would require a certain amount and then we would put it away for the next day. As far as a loop schedule goes, personally I have found that some things work better to be daily (math and reading) and some could be looped (content areas like history and science). I also did year around school (with breaks as we needed them) for many years so trying to cram everything into 36 weeks (or however many) wasn't an issue for me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 Welcome to the board! My kids are older and my memory shaky, so can't really say what we did. But just wanted to bump this up so that others would respond. 🙂 Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 I've used an index card system to make sure that we keep up with what I've planned. I decide how many days each week that I want to do each thing on my list and write it on a card. If I want for my 5th grader to do their math workbook 4 days, then I write 'math' on 4 cards. I'm as specific as I need to be - this year we do a science workbook 2 days and a simple experiment 2 days, so I have 2 cards that name the workbook and 2 days for 'science experiment'. Some things are done once in a week, and others 2, 3, or 4 times (we do co-op on the 5th day). Then the kids and I sort out the cards and, after the first week or 2, settle into a routine that can easily be revised as life changes by just moving the cards around. In the past I've used a pocket folder, but this year I got a little index card box that's divided into days. We mostly use it for keeping up with traditional school subjects, but you could use it for anything that you want to be intentional about - music lessons, cooking together, physical activity, hands-on projects. You an always decide to skip something in a given week, but if it got to be routine, I'd take a look at those cards and see what we weren't doing and try to figure out why - is it not as important as I thought? Do we hate the book or method and need to revisit our choice? Are we overscheduled in some way? Good luck sorting this out. It took a couple of years to find a good groove, which had to adjust when younger started school, and since next year my older will be starting high school and my younger will be starting middle I'll have to shift things again. Ack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenligoo Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 On 9/6/2019 at 7:50 PM, lewelma said: Welcome to the board! My kids are older and my memory shaky, so can't really say what we did. But just wanted to bump this up so that others would respond. 🙂 Ruth in NZ thank you very much for your replies, i did write an introduction post but no one responded lol xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenligoo Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 On 9/6/2019 at 8:31 PM, ClemsonDana said: I've used an index card system to make sure that we keep up with what I've planned. I decide how many days each week that I want to do each thing on my list and write it on a card. If I want for my 5th grader to do their math workbook 4 days, then I write 'math' on 4 cards. I'm as specific as I need to be - this year we do a science workbook 2 days and a simple experiment 2 days, so I have 2 cards that name the workbook and 2 days for 'science experiment'. Some things are done once in a week, and others 2, 3, or 4 times (we do co-op on the 5th day). Then the kids and I sort out the cards and, after the first week or 2, settle into a routine that can easily be revised as life changes by just moving the cards around. In the past I've used a pocket folder, but this year I got a little index card box that's divided into days. We mostly use it for keeping up with traditional school subjects, but you could use it for anything that you want to be intentional about - music lessons, cooking together, physical activity, hands-on projects. You an always decide to skip something in a given week, but if it got to be routine, I'd take a look at those cards and see what we weren't doing and try to figure out why - is it not as important as I thought? Do we hate the book or method and need to revisit our choice? Are we overscheduled in some way? Good luck sorting this out. It took a couple of years to find a good groove, which had to adjust when younger started school, and since next year my older will be starting high school and my younger will be starting middle I'll have to shift things again. Ack! yeh this is exactly what i am struggling with, getting my groove 😄 it is quite daunting, i have wasted a lot of time and resources (OOPS) trying to work out'set a time table of some sorts but it hasnt worked. i am hoping i will find something that works for us soon :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wathe Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 (edited) We have a routine rather than a schedule. Seat work (skill) subjects start after breakfast. Do the hardest one first. Take a "recess" when attention starts to fade, then back at it until we're done for the day. Which at age 7 was a maximum 2 hours of table work, very often less. After 2 hours, we are done, whether or not everything that was planned is complete. The next day, start each subject where we left off. Slow and steady wins the race, and all that. I used materials that made it easy to "do the next thing" without a fixed schedule - writing with ease, first language lessons, math-u-see. Content subjects were done much more loosely and much more child directed and learning by living style- listening to science podcasts, Story of the World audio in the car or while playing legos, and reading picture books at bedtime was about as structured as history and science ever got. The kids did (and still do) a lot of spontaneous free play extension of history topics and scienc-y tinkering without any prodding from adults, which I count as a win. Long stretches of unstructured time are definitely still "educational" at this age. Mine are now 10 and 11. I still follow the same general formula with a little more rigor with respect to the seat work and a lot more confidence to go "off-script" with respect to curriculum, or make up my own assignments based on a Well Trained Mind type framework. Edited September 8, 2019 by wathe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 We like routine here. Some things are a loop, some are not. Every day we start with math. It doesn't matter if we finish a lesson. We work until we need a break or a lesson is finished, whichever comes first. Language arts we do a lesson's worth. Same with the rest of the core subjects, really, because they fit in neatly. If not, we'd work until a break is needed. I have noticed that even with a steady curriculum, some days are fast and some need a bit more time to grasp the subject. It's easy to do both - work by time AND work by content, alternating as needed. 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.