Homeschooling mama needs guidance~schedule issues

[mamamoon]

Hello there, I have been homeschooling 2 years, I have a second grader.

I am a loose well trained minder, charlotte mason homeschooler, that dabbles in Montessori.

 

I think I have been doing OK. She is am amazing reader, and does well in most subjects. This is my problem though, for the life of me, I can't stick to a schedule. I have created so many, and they never work. Basically, we sit down, do a few pages of singapore math, do a page or two out of FLL, do SOTW, maybe a journal entry, or extra copywork assignment, or some poetry. After working about 2 or 2 and a half hours, then we go get my other daughter from Montessori, and in the afternoons we have classes, nature study, read alouds, etc. Pouff~day gone.

 

What I would love is to be able to work in Spanish, Latin, Art, Science, more free choice work, such as montessori manipulatives, educational games.......but I feel I don't have the time, because I need to get to the important subjects. We are not even doing spelling this year, but I am not too worried about it right now.

As it is we are behind in SOTW, and science (have R.E.A.L science, and have barely done 10 lessons this year). We do these subjects, but we are nowhere where we should be according to WTM.

I am not really upset with myself, i just feel like I have such a bright child, and I feel like I want to give her more.

 

I can't really figure out if a magical schedule would help me, or if keeping my kindergartener home instead of running her back and forth to her school is really the issue that is affecting our time.

 

I really appreciate any advice~thanks in advance.

lisa

:confused:

[mcconnellboys]

Well, it's probably not what you want to hear, LOL, but I find year after year that if we don't get up early and start about 8, so that we get a lot done by lunch time, then we tend to fall behind in the things I want to get accomplished. We've always added in tons of things out of the house in the afternoons, even though that's when I have history and science scheduled. So if we don't have extra reading time in the a.m., we just can't stay on track with those studies.

 

I've also found that using every minute (because, after all, most of my class periods are only about 20 minutes in length during the younger years - and that's every one way trip in town around here, so lots of class periods can get eaten up when running around town) keeps us on track for getting through all our classes.

 

Now, my boys have always read in the car, so they have always done that whenever we're running from place to place and so get their reading time in that way. They also sometimes even have done written work in the car. But I know a lot of kids can't do this.

 

When my younger son was in the elementary grades, I put a ton of stuff on tape for him that he could listen and respond to, etc. while I was driving. But that does take extra time in the evening, etc. for you to get those tapes prepared.

 

Another thing I've done that might be helpful to you is find great literature that we want to read on tape and let mine listen to it in the car as we're running to and from things (I'm thinking of you taking your younger child back and forth to school, for instance). We have the Music Masters series and other good world music for kids, like Putamayo stuff, LadySmith Black Mambasa, etc. and we listen to those in the car. Instant music appreciation!

 

In past, we've listened to geography songs or math facts drills set to music, etc. You could do spelling this way, too. You could make your own tapes for it....

 

We've done lots of language work in the car! Listening to our tapes, repeating and trying to converse, pointing out things we see as we drive (in that other language), etc.

 

So I just try to keep mine going on something constantly during school time, even if I need to do something else myself (like shower and get dressed, LOL). We'll go over several things and I'll make the assignments and then have always just asked them to work on it while I get ready, leaving any questions until I get back (they have always just put a star by any problem they have a question on, etc.).

 

I know yours are younger. When I still had both boys at home and needed to work with my older son, I had several things that my younger could do on his own. I found a series of Bible verses set to music on tape that he could learn. I also had a Bible stories computer disc that he could play with. I had various percussion instruments out for him to play along with his Wee Sing or other music tapes, CD's, etc. I would let him make up his math stories for early Saxon math and then act them out for me (like a puppet show, using his stuffed animals) when I got back. I would leave him to do his copywork or other handwriting assignment for the day, perhaps a cross-word puzzle or some such that went along with something we were studying, perhaps a coloring picture to complete, etc., and then show me when I returned. And I also had computer programs for Spanish which he could work on.

 

Anyway, I hope this gives you some usable ideas for things you might be able to incorporate into your own school day,

[mamamoon]

great ideas, i do use the sotw cd's in the car. that saves a bunch of time.

[ElizabethB]

We do Spanish 3 days a week, history 2 days a week, spelling, grammar, handwriting, and geography 1 day a week, and also art 1 day a week (sometimes, it's on Friday, if she doesn't want to do it, she doesn't have to, we do lighter days on Friday.)

 

The things we do daily are math and Bible reading and/or Bible memorization.

 

You could do the audio SOTW a few days and as part of sit down school some days.

 

I'm not a big schedule person myself, but we have a quick one now that just lists which subjects we do which days.

 

I personally get more done when we're not driving around places.

[mamamoon]

thanks~that is what i have trouble doing. trying to get to those subjects that are just once a week, like art, science etc. it is like i am too worried about skipping the LA, or math to make room. and even if the schedule is written and sitting next to me, it never works.:001_unsure:

 

i really would like to get this figured out before we start 3rd grade, don't want to go into another year flying by the seat of my pants, and not hitting all these subjects.

[lmrich]

For your schedule - get in the habit of doing one or two of your "extras" everyday. For example - know that at 11:00 is an arts time - music or art every single day or at 12:00 you do science or history. OR do music for one semester and then art for the next. I read somewhere it takes 30 days to make a new habit, so make it a goal for 30 days and then it should be easier.

 

I agree with the poster who said to use the time in the car wisely. We listen to books all the time in the car. I would not "count" that time as literature.

[mamamoon]

oh, i like that idea. thanks~

any suggestions on actual form that has worked for anyone?