Getting it all in...

[kentuckymommy]

Hi Ladies,

I am adding Classical style education into our electic/ Charlotte Mason mix this year. As I am planning my year to be and book lists I thought that perhaps I would ask other moms how much the 'do'in a day, a week, a year...I have 5 little ones~ 9,7,5,2.5, and 3 months...the amount the WTM encourages is too much right now and we plan to use these three approaches to aid not enslave us. Does anyone care to share ideas, schedules, plans, or experience? If there is a thread already, please share!:thumbup: :bigear::party:

[Samiam]

WTM does seem to be an almost impossible program to implement 100% completely and stay sane, especially if you have many children. The best thing for you to remember is that you control the curriculum, so take what you can from WTM and leave the rest for later to gradually add in.

 

It looks like 3 out the five children won't really be doing much schoolwork, except maybe the 5 year old is just getting into it. The 9 year old should be on his/her way to starting to do somethings indepenedently in the next year, with Mom in the background, versus doing the actual teaching.

 

Here's my thoughts if I had your brood:

1. Enlist the older children to take turns entertaining the younger children while you school the others. IE, 9 year old plays with littles for 30 minutes while you work with 7 year old. Then 7 year old does the same while you work with 9 year old.

2. Consider schooling year round, as this gives your brain a much larger window to have the work completed in...you won't feel as much stress if you get behind.

3. Schoolwork doesn't just have to be on Mon-Friday...Sat and Sun work too...unless religious reasons prevent Sunday work. But I like to take advantage of when DH is home entertaining my littles so we often do work on Sat a.m. when we have nothing else going on. Not a full load like Mon-Fri, but we might do one or two of the subjects that I really need uninterrupted, quiet time with the older child. I am talking maybe an hour or so. But that is so much better for us then trying to stress if we didn't get something done because of the littles creating havoc for us.

4. Take days off whenever YOU need it. You have alot going on with the littles, and you should either schedule a regular "play day", ie park day, or just make sure you do it often enough that both you and the children don't get burnt out trying to keep on the WTM schedule.

5. Stagger when you start subjects. Since we school year round, we start some new subjects in the fall, when we officially start our new grade level, but then we start new things in January.....by then we are usually almost done with a few subjects, so the load balances out, but we do complete EVERYTHING I have chosen for that grade level.

[diaperjoys]

We only have 4 kiddos, but I thought I'd chime in anyway. We have a 5yo transitioning into 1st grade, a 4yo beginning kindergarten, a busy 3yo who very much wants to be involved, and a 16mo who is newly skilled at taking the house apart.

 

We do Bible all together as soon as chores are done, laundry is started, and the kitchen is reasonably clean. Then I work with the 5yo and the 4yo at the table, going back and forth between them. The 3yo has "carpet time" with a tub of toys in the adjoining room, and the baby toddles around, and if needed I pull the portacrib right next to me and she plays there for awhile.

 

Then we break for a snack and a romp outside.

 

After snack I work with the 5yo and the 3yo at the table, and the 4yo has carpet time.

 

This has been our routine for most of the year, and it works for us. This last quarter has been harder, though. The weather is getting nicer and the 5yo would really rather be playing. He somehow confused spring break with the beginning of summer break, and was startled to learn that we had another 8 weeks of school before summer. (my husband is a teacher at a private school, so we usually follow that schedule)

 

So we're trying something new; I'm trying to give the 5yo a couple pages that he can do independently, and assigning it earlier in the day, while I'm still giving the littles their baths. If he can knock that out earlier, then we've completed everything by snack time, leaving a large chunk of the day open for free play, which we all enjoy.

[Mallory]

Since my kids are very similar ages (minus your 5 yo), I'll give it a shot!

 

If we start early enough then the littles are okay playing around on the floor for the first 30 min. or so. Then for the next couple of hours we do lots of switching off with one of the big kids playing with the 3yo. This is when we do the 3 R's as well as memory work, spanish, and map work. That's our morning.

 

History and Science (and other readings) we fit in later. They all do pretty good with read alouds.

 

Science experaments or history projects we do only when the 3yo is somewhere else, the baby isn't such a problem. Sometimes that is nap time, but he is really almost done with naps so often it is at 7:00 at night when he is already in bed, or on Sat. or Sun. when Dad can help.

 

I only plan a 4 day week. They each (the two bigger boys) have a weekly schedule that we mark off what has been done each day. They do subjects in what ever order they want. We try to do lots of history and science and some drawing on that extra day, but many times it is more to catch up.

 

I also plan, at the most, an hour per grade, plus reading. The schedules in TWTM are only there because the publisher really wanted them, not the authors. But even following them the second grade schedule has

1 hr. math

30 min. spell/write

30 min. read/notebook page

1 hr. free reading

 

Then it has

1hr. history/science

couple more hours a week for art and music - These last two things are going to be done with all the kids together at your kids ages probably. And if you are leaning towards CM, then those first things might be quite a bit shorter anyway.