A lovely blog reader recently emailed me with a question. I thought one or two of you might be interested in my answer, so I’m posting it here.
Q: I am curious what your schedule has looked like this year. You had a sketch back at the beginning of the year. I feel like I am constantly losing to the clock. There just never seems to be enough time. I am not a stickler to 20 minutes here or we have to be at the desks at this time. But am wondering if I need to be. Writing and Science seem to get left out, and Math and workbooks seem to take center stage. Open for suggestions…
A: You're singing my song. We've had very little routine this year. I have an idea of what I want to get done each week. Doing the weekly report on my blog at the end of each week has really helped me keep on track. Classical Conversations was a God-send this year. Other than that, I just fly by the seat of my pants, unfortunately. I'd really like to have a solid routine, but... the boys are chaotic, I'm undisciplined, the baby's schedule is all over the place, and my hubby has been in and out of the house all day every day for the last 6 months (unemployed/self employed).
It helps to have everything handy in our living room. At the beginning of the week I try to grab all the books we will need and stack them by theme (literature, fine arts, science, history, miscellaneous library books). I put bookmarks in the encyclopedia-type books so I can immediately find the pages. All our school-related videos go in a stack on top of the tv cabinet. I have a holder with all our school-related CDs on top of the cabinet as well (CC memory work, poetry memory work, Bible memory songs, hymns, geography songs, Latin songs...). The desk behind the couch holds all our other books.
There is absolutely no order to what we do each day. Does that surprise you? :) I grab one thing at a time and we just do it. If there is something we haven't gotten to in the past day or two, I try to start with that. When I have to get up to deal with the 4 yo or baby, I hand a book (science, history, whatever) to the other boys and say, 'Read this until I come back.' If I leave them to do anything independently other than reading (such as following along with the Latin CD), it is usually chaos when I return to the room. So they do A LOT of reading. And videos. Math used to be a huge struggle (couldn't get uninterrupted focus time). We just started using Teaching Textbooks on the computer, and a miracle has occurred. I now have to ask them to *please stop doing math* so we can work on something else.
I TRY to buckle down and be really focused as soon as Lola goes down for a nap, but she hasn't been sleeping all that well recently so I can't count on any length of time for that. When we go somewhere in the car (which isn't very often these days!), I grab the CD folder and just rotate through the CDs for as long as we are driving.
So, you see, I'm not the person to ask. {wry grin} But we've been making progress, and that's the important thing. Russ goes back to work this next week, and I'm praying Lola settles down into a routine soon. I'm guessing we'll find our rhythm...about the time summer starts.
9 comments:
We do a LOT of our homeschooling in the car--Story of the World audiobooks, foreign language CDs, science songs, documentaries on DVD, not to mention workbooks and activity books and writing projects, etc.
I would love to know what CDs you use for memory work.. Bible, geography, Latin, any others you have that you like. I finally have a little money for those kinds of things and I'm overwhelmed at the selection.
Heidi - this has been my life for the last 6 months. And I'm not even adding a baby to the mix yet - but pregnant has been e.x.h.a.u.s.t.i.n.g..
We love Teaching Textbooks. It has saved my bacon. I'm working on the rest of it....
Brieana~ I'll post my list of CDs within a few days for you.
Faith~ Oh, girl. Being pregnant last year was SO TOUGH. I didn't do well at. all. I was afraid it would be worse with a newborn in the house, but other than the first month (when everyone was really sick) it has been easier having a baby than being pregnant. Hang in there. It can't last forever. :) But I sympathize. I really do. And you've had even more things going on in your life this past year. You are an amazing woman.
Heidi, I think you are amazingly organized, to have all those well chosen books so handy and ready to give out. Too organized could easily be too rigid and not flexible. We think you are amazing in all you get done!!!! Grandma (and Grandpa too )he loves your blog and always gets to it before I do because he has his computer on from early
Girl, I am so glad you shared this, because whenever I read your lists, I think to myself, oh dear. We don't do half of all that! Organized or not, you still manage to get a lot packed into one week (and their brains), not to mention the time and foresight it must require to request all those books and videos from the library!
I was just wondering if you just go to Classical Conversations weekly but do your own thing curriculum-wise; or do you follow the recommended curriculum for CC? I will be jumping into homeschooling next year and love the idea of the weekly CC group, but I am not sure that I want to completely follow their program and was wondering if it was even possible to attend the group if you weren't using their whole plan? I would love to know if you can find a moment to share.
Thank you!
Cathy~ I definitely do my own thing during the week. :) I love CC and I love making connections and adding context during the week when it fits in with what I want to be doing, but I also feel free to NOT do so. For Foundations there is no weekly curriculum. During class the memory work is introduced and the projects (science and art) are completed, but there is nothing to follow at home other than memory work review and preparing presentations (public speaking) for each week. Sometimes the tutors have sent home optional activities. Or there are lists on the online community to help you coordinate studies to the memory work (such as corresponding chapters in Story of the World), but it is completely up to the parent during the week at home. Essentials (the afternoon class for 4-6th grade) is a little more involved. I believe there are weekly language arts assignments to do at home. Which is partly why we aren't participating in that at this time. And the Challenge level for grades 7-12 are full programs with assignments to complete at home during the week. I wouldn't participate in Challenge if that wasn't going to be the bulk of my child's study. I hope that answers your question. Let me know if you need me to clarify anything. I have sleep-deprived brain. :)
Thank you for answering my questions. You made perfect sense. I will be starting with a 4th and 7th grader, so that helps me to better make some decisions!
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