When we first began homeschooling, and almost every day since, I have wished that I could canvass a broad cross-section of homeschooling families to see how they accomplish the epic goals I read about in their various blogs or discuss with them in person these lofty ideals I know we all share for our children. Everyone has different criteria for what constitutes a “successful” school year and varying methods on how to achieve this success. I don’t believe it’s a nod to my reality TV enjoyment as much as it is my desire to compile a REAL list of resources, tricks, tips, tools for our schooling experience. What better way than to incorporate the “tried and true” from all those BTDT (been there, done that) moms??
At some point over the past 6 months I have let go of my “butterfly paci” obsession and while I continue to wrest myself away from the mythical unicorn that IS the perfect curriculum, we have managed to settle into what I would now call “a routine;” a routine which is hopefully leading us to the conclusion of our first successful year of homeschooling 3 children. Now, because I’ve been so curious, and because it makes me think that maybe others are curious too, I’m blogging about how we spend our days – the regular ones, rather than the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-unscheduled-chaos ones!
Hopefully it will shed some light on the scheduling questions I’ve had several people ask me since we began this journey. Many are besic things like,”When do you ever find time to exercise or get your haircut?” Some are more comments of their own concerns like, “I don’t know how I could ever teach all of my kids that many subjects!” The truth is – there is no perfect system except for the one that continues to grow and change along with you and your kids! I’m fortunate to have a supportive “principal” who is able to work from home on occasion so yes, I do get to go out for a cup of coffee with my Mom every now and again, or get my hair cut without taking the kids along too. However, we generally speaking run all our errands together, as a posse! Going into this year, I thought it might be chaotic and lead to increased stress, but it has instead provided opportunities for my kids to grow in their approach to things that are less favorable than playing video games (the grocery store perhaps??), and also for them to see a little more of the ‘inner workings’ of running our household!
Keep in mind as you read this – a year ago we had nothing. None of this. It wasn’t even an idea in my head. As parents, we had never, ever considered that homeschooling was a good fit for our children unless there were some extenuating circumstances (and there weren’t)! Yes, I missed them when they spent their days in their previous school, but I always felt peaceful, like they were in the right place, at the right time.
Until suddenly I didn’t.
I felt like they needed to be home . . . and here we are. Not even a year from that initial coffee conversation with my husband that turned our family lifestyle upside-down in all the best ways.
(*NOTE: I’m guessing this will be a marathon-style post. Feel free to walk away and come back with a large cup of coffee!)
9 am – Let’s get this party started!
I present this time to you not as the time I wake-up (I wish!!) or the time at which school begins, but as the time when, failing to see all my smiling students at our kitchen table with pencils in hand, I send out the search parties to the bathrooms and not-so-far reaches of our home universe.
Typically, the morning begins a little earlier – breakfast with Daddy around 7:30 while I get a quick shower, caffeinate myself for the day ahead, and read my Bible.
After breakfast, the kids complete their chores for the day – they each have daily chore chart with their assignments for the week (we started this BH – Before Homeschooling – and it continues to serve us well in this season). Teeth brushed, hair brushed, beds made, PJs away (unless it’s Friday – which is our ‘PJ Day’), then gather up school books/binders/supplies and sit down to get started.
By 8:30 most of them are close to being at the table. My small boy is almost always ready first – unless he’s been goofing off in the bathroom or taking an inordinately long time to empty the trash.
[Those "credit cards" on the little white board above represent our current classroom reward system. Reworked from our previous school, this idea reinforces GOOD behavior with rewards rather than just punishing BAD behavior - because we have our OWN system for THAT! In their binder, each student has a list of things that will earn them "dots" for the day - the most important ones being to actually show up on time and WORK! Once they all complete a card, there is a collective "credit card" party reward outing. We've done things like a trip to Baskin-Robbins for ice-cream and a Redbox movie rental, or a matinee at the movie theater on $5 day, followed by Krispy Kreme doughnuts. All during "regular school hours" which, of course, makes it all the more appealing!
Individual "dot rewards" show up in their personal school pockets on the day that they complete a dot card. These are similar to "treasure box" toys (only nicer LOL) - small Lego sets, packets of sidewalk chalk, Polly Pocket sets, yo-yos etc. I've found that everyone works really hard for their "dot" each day and looks forward to celebrating when they all complete a full card!]
9 am – 10:30 am – Work like you want your free time!
This time is generally our prime work time. Starting with what we call “seat work” – a throw-back to our previous school, it’s basically a “catch-all” name for work the kids do independently. It includes writing out spelling words, reviewing/writing their weekly Bible verse, handwriting practice, Daily Grams (for the girls), Math facts and Phonics charts written out (for the boy). During the Christmas season we enjoyed putting on a quiet CD of carols during this initial work time. Sometimes I’ll put on a favorite praise/worship CD just depending on how intense the work seems to be that morning.
At some point during “seat work” I finish up my morning routine and we’ll officially start the day with prayer/pledges (when I remember – oops!)/Scripture memory. By having them get started at their own pace, we eliminated the “hurry up and wait” syndrome where one is ready to roll and another is dragging his/her heels. I find it all evens out in the wash by “recess.”
I spend this morning time floating between a quick email check, fixing my own breakfast (not possible B.C. – before coffee), grading the daily work, and giving feedback on things like cursive, spelling activities etc. The girls frequently move through their seat work in as little as 30 minutes and move on with their grammar lessons and then their math (which is the ‘meat’ of their morning). I don’t answer the phone during these work hours – unless it’s my husband. Although I might check messages if I have time and I can often reply to texts because they are quieter and don’t require immediate attention like a phone call.
I try to grade everything in the order I receive it on the kitchen bar – and give feedback/corrections immediately so that they may be completed before the student moves on to the next lesson. Our workbooks are relatively quick and easy to grade – at some point I know this routine will evolve, but for now, this is working well. Everyone currently likes to work at the kitchen table. I like it too (as long as they aren’t being too ridiculous for long stretches of time!) because it’s easier for me to keep an eye on the work and grade things quickly. Notable exceptions are tests (in their rooms, at a desk) or journaling (which also seems to be better completed alone).
Sometimes my little guy will finish everything before recess – by “everything” I mean all of his assigned ’seat work’, math lesson, phonics worksheet, and language arts worksheets.
If it’s a banner day, he will also complete some or all of his extra assignments for the week. In addition to the ‘basics’, all of them complete 1 x French lesson, 1 x typing/keyboarding lesson, 1 x tutorial/testing session on World Geography, a journal entry, and a Scholastic News report. He then selects a book from our shelf or from his current, extensive library stash, logs the title and other information in his ‘Reading Log’, and spends the rest of the morning doing “free reading” or other quiet “centers” which include independent games like Lincoln logs, Lego, puzzles etc although currently he’s most often found engrossed in a variety of books about extreme weather. Seriously. Nothing can compete for his attention these days like a good book filled with facts about tornadoes or hurricanes!
(*NOTE: I’ve included links to some of our curriculum choices here for my own posterity, but also because I am always curious about what people are using for learning tools, so I figure others are too! If I get around to it, I might do a separate blog about our curriculum selection for the 2011 – 12 school year at some point.)
10:30 am – 10:45 am – “Recess” (or some variation thereof?)
We try to take a mid-morning snack break sometime in here. It isn’t a perfect scenario every day – sometimes everyone magically reaches a good stopping point at 10:25, and other days my 2nd grader has burned through all his worksheets before his 6th grade sister has even cracked open her math book and it’s pushing 11 am! Either way, whether it’s a snack + 15 minutes of running around the yard, or just few minutes spent nibbling on a granola bar while sorting through which textbook is next in the line-up, this mental-health break is good for everyone (including the teacher)! Some days they figure out how to stage, costume, direct, film, and edit an entire Pirate movie during recess (although admittedly, that’s typically reserved for after lunch).
11 am – 12:30 pm – the ‘Tween Hours
Our day continues with everyone working at their own pace until at least 2 out of the 3 are finished with the bulk of their daily assignments – typically, 6th grade math just flat-out takes longer, so our oldest might have to finish up her mixed practice math set once we’ve completed our “group work.” I call these the ‘Tween Hours because they fall between recess and lunch. Often we have finite deadlines that make this time fly by (like co-op classes or piano lessons). On those days, we really need to get moving with our group lessons in order to make it to lunch and our activities on time!
I realized very quickly (like, before we actually started this gig) that there was no way for me to effectively teach all 3 of our kids individual science and history lessons without experiencing some SERIOUS mental whip-lash (she blogs it so well, I don’t need to reinvent it!). What I discovered in my research, is that typically multi-age homeschool families combine lessons for kids within 3 -4 grade levels for these subjects. Ahh yes, more wisdom in God’s timing with our kids all less than 4 years apart! LOL
Depending on the day, we will typically read a few pages of our Science text (the kids “take notes” in their Science Notebooks). Sometimes there are experiments (minimal or involved) that go along with our chapter. Whenever possible we do these experiments but if they require ingredients or things we don’t have on hand, I skip them but discuss the concept. The text has an average of 1-2 small experiments to choose from each day. We might pick 2 or 3 for the entire chapter, and I plan ahead to be sure we have everything we need handy. Some of our favorites have been the most simple! Below is the braille alphabet we made using glue! GLUE! Whoever would’ve thought of that? It was messy, fun, and educational. Everyone enjoyed going over the letters the next day and seeing if they could guess which letter was which.
For History, we either read a new chapter (the kids color a corresponding color sheet while I read – it keeps hands busy and often generates great talking points after the chapter), complete the map activities that accompany it, or do some group review in preparation for a chapter test. There are also art activities that sometimes go along with our history lessons and we try to work those in as often as possible but it’s more like once a week rather than daily.
My thought on the group work time is that we find ourselves on the very edge of THIS situation. In a few short years, we won’t likely be able to combine our sciences – or at least, not with our oldest. So, my current plan is to milk this experience for all that it’s worth! Because I am acutely aware of the very real possibility that she might not *always* want to do color pages and listen to me reading aloud from our history text when she’s in high school. Maybe.
Lunch
Lunch seems to encompass any time from the end of our science/history time until the dishes are stacked in the dishwasher and the table is cleared. In the event that we have to be somewhere, this is the time to gather up our things and scramble out the door. In the event that all the work for the day is not yet completed, well, the ones who need to do the completing must finish it before moving on to free play. Everyone breaks for lunch though. Daddy comes home most days – we try to steal a few moments to enjoy a quiet homemade latte and some mid-day conversation while the kids make lunches/clean-up/run around the yard. No, I’m not that mom making gourmet hot lunches for my kids even though we homeschool. Yes, they do get left-overs if we have them. Grilled cheese or Annie’s Ravioli are also popular treats on the menu from time to time, but our staples are fresh fruit, whatever sandwiches they choose to make and some kind of crunchy snack like pretzels or cheezits.
1:30 pm – until (and a word about Extra-curriculars!)
Other than Piano and our Co-op classes (the girls take drama and the boy takes Lego. Yes. Lego.) most of our activities are of the “after-school” variety, meaning they begin when kids in traditional schools finish their school day. We change up our sports routine each season, but the constant elements include the dance classes we commit to each Fall. We work around those selections, and this year have managed to pack in swim team, basketball, baseball/softball, and soccer – although not all at once, thank goodness! I learned very quickly that it is just as easy (if not easier) to over-schedule yourself when homeschooling. I bought into the misconception that just because we had “all this free time,” we should fill it! When my husband and our bank account disagreed, we pared it back and all of us are the happier for it!
I also go to the gym in the afternoons – as often as the activities allow but not less than 3 x a week (a good week, when all the planets align, it might be 4 x). It was an adjustment because I was used to going right after dropping the kids at school, but surprisingly not as difficult as I’d thought it would be. The kids have made friends at the gym and look forward to hanging out with them if it isn’t their day to be at dance, baseball or whatever. I get an hour to re-energize myself and focus on something other than education, children, or cleaning! It’s a good thing for all of us.
So what do we do until then? Play. We spend almost every afternoon either completing the “fun stuff” like art/history videos/science experiments etc OR playing. We go for walks, we make cups of tea and sit down to play a game. The girls have been teaching themselves to hand-sew barbie clothes from scraps of material salvaged from my sewing drawers. The boy taught himself how to set up the “advanced” level of his electronic Star Wars Battleship boardgame last week. He played against the ‘computer’ for over an hour. He was so excited to discover how to deploy multiple rounds of munition at once! The kids dress-up and run around the yard. They ride bikes. They rake up the leaves and then jump in them. Over and over. They hold Wii bowling marathons. We visit the library. We run errands to the grocery store. We bake. We prep dinner. We finish up any household chores and then relax. We read (alone or aloud). A LOT.
Quite simply, we live life.
This is the part of my day that makes up for any of the headaches I might have lamented during the ‘tween hours or our mid-morning work. It’s the part of the day I was envisioning when I was wishing for my children to have their ‘childhood back’ last spring.
Homeschooling has taken what was previously my most difficult part of the day and made it into the sweetest.
And if anyone could have predicted that a year ago, well, I probably wouldn’t have believed them anyway!
Filed under: Day to Day, Homeschooling, Random Thoughts, Stuff we love!, The Chicken Fried South by kelly on February 12th, 2012 | No Comments »
somewhere . . . but instead I’m scouring the internet and homeschool blogs for the various curriculum ‘unicorns’ (by subject) I’ve daydreamed about since February! Yes, the elusive, perfect way to teach, well . . . everything! You know, the ONLY way in the vast educational galaxy that will guarantee my children a spot at Harvard (or college of their choice), perfect SAT and ACT scores, ensure a lifetime of personal and professional happiness, and and and? What? It doesn’t exist?! Wash your mouth out! (I still have 3 months to figure that out on my own! Or attempt to avoid an internet coma trying . . .)
setting a course for 
Now I need to step away from the internet, not from fear of failure, but from sheer overload of the “good ideas” flooding my inbox, my mailbox, and my blog roll . . . but not for long, because I’m sure I’ll need to update my spreadsheet again soon!
