Fitting It All In

As promised in my previous post about our curriculum plans for 2011-2012, I'm going to share the routine we've had for a few months and that we'll keep as long as it keeps working!  Flexibility is really the key, afterall!

I've tried and tried in the past to do a "by the clock" schedule, but that only makes for a stressed out mommy, which makes for stressed out and sad kids.  So instead, we just have "hard stops" - specific things that happen at a specific time... the rest just flows in between those stops!

Our day starts at 7:30, which is when all the kids get up (actually, my day starts around 5:15 - I use those extra two hours to exercise, shower, and get into the Word).  Everyone does their basic before-breakfast duties (beds made, teeth brushed, dogs taken care of, etc.) and we sit down for breakfast.  We do our Memory Verse practice, prayer time, and Bible work during breakfast, which gets our day off on a good start!

After breakfast there are some chores to be done, and then we settle into "school".  Depending on how breakfast went, it might be anywhere from 8:15 or even almost 9 by this time... like I said, we're flexible!  To start school time, I always begin with my littles and their preschool work.  While I'm sitting and reading stories to those guys, Isaac will begin the subjects he does on the computer, and Ezra starts his independent work.

After we've read some stories together, I get a few minutes of one-on-one time with each of my younger set.  Joel will get his computer time, while Nate and I work on his Explode the Code book.  Judah wanders between watching Joel on the computer and hanging out at the table with us, or playing with toys in the living room during this time.  Then Nate gets computer time, while Joel and I do handwriting, math and a reading lesson together.  The bigger boys are still working on their independent work while this is going on.  And Judah is still wandering and playing, or starting to create chaos and havoc, depending on the kind of day he's having... (if I can see that it's a chaos and havoc kind of day, I do some tomato staking before things get out of control, and he becomes my sidekick until his brothers are free to play.)

Once I've finished up with the littles, the bigger boys have usually finished their independent work, so it's their turn for one-on-one work with me.  I start with Isaac, while Ezra gets his turn at computer work.  I do spelling and writing with Isaac, and then he is free for the rest of the morning until lunch time!  Then Ezra does spelling, writing, and handwriting with me, and he is free, as well!  By this time, it is usually somewhere between 10:30-11:30ish. 

Of course, while all of the above was all happening, I also took a 15 minute (or so) break at some time to put Rachel down for a nap... she's not on a set schedule, so it just happens whenever she's needing it.  The kids are all used to it by now, so it doesn't disrupt things too badly.  She usually needs 2-3 naps a day and nurses every 2-3 hours, so I just fit those things in when they're needed and life continues on. 

Lunch happens at 12:30, and then Nathan and Judah take a nap from 1-3.  During this nap time is when the 3 oldest boys and I get down to more intense work - I'll use this time for History, Science, and Read-Alouds.  I used to try to do these things when the little ones were awake, but it was just too difficult and I always felt like I was rushing through to just GET IT DONE!  But now there's less stress, fidgeting, and interruption, and we're enjoying it much, much more.  These three subjects can take anywhere from an hour to the full two hours, depending on how much conversation we have, or if there are any science experiments to be done.

3:15 is afternoon snack time, and 3:30 is when afternoon chores start.  Usually during afternoon chores, I'll take 15 or so minutes to go over all the independent work the big boys did that morning, and correct it. 

(My sweet husband has saved my sanity and blessed me with a lot more needed time by offering to be the one that goes over all their work with them, in the evenings after the little ones have gone to bed.  Can I just share my relief at what a wonderful lifesaver this has been for me?!  I love that man!  He really enjoys being in touch with what they're learning, seeing their successes, and coaching them through their struggles - he just hates actually correcting the work.  So I do that part, leaving careful notes about anything I think needs to be brought up.)

Once afternoon chores are done, they are free once again.  Dinner is at 7, followed by family devotions, then bedtime for littles and Daddy time for the big kids.  By 9 or 9:30, the big kids head off to bed, and Michael and I get an hour or two to ourselves... and then to bed I go!  My goal is to get into bed by 10 or 10:30 every night.  I hit that maybe once or twice a week!  More realistically, it is 11 or later by the time my light goes out.

That's our day in a snapshot!


The biggest thing I've learned in the past 5 years of homeschooling is that I just have to be flexible.  I know I've said that word a lot!  But, it's true.  And if anyone reading this knows me, you understand that flexibility does NOT come naturally to me.  I'm a typical type-A, controlling person who likes structure and predictability!  Almost to OCD proportions!  But the Lord has really done a work on me and I've learned that I cannot possibly control a home with 7 other people in it.  Manage it with wisdom, yes.  Control, no!  So if things don't go as "planned"... I just take a deep breath, and move on to the next thing. The world has not ended yet when things haven't gone as planned, so... I'm learning that it is OK! 

Plus, (most importantly, I think), flexibility gives me the room to deal with the actual important things in life, such as comforting and encouraging a frustrated child, teaching brothers to love eachother, spending time enjoying a little one's artwork or a big one's silly antics, and disciplining with patience and consistency rather than frazzled frustration.  And of course, snuggling and nursing my sweet baby girl! 

The routine I just outlined above is probably the best one we've had in almost all of our homeschooling.  I think the combination of the routine, having older children, using the curriculum we're using, plus just having a few years of homeschooling under my belt - all of these things have really melded together well to make our homeschooling days flow into "real life" and not a burden, but a joy!  Not every day is picture-perfect, of course... but I find that, overall, the days flow with a reasonable smoothness that we all appreciate.

Gearing Up! (or, The Post with Lots of Links)

It's been 6 weeks since Rachel joined our family, and almost 2 months since we've done any formal school routine. Talk about a long pre-spring break! So, next week, we dive back in to "real life" and get started back on track. I'm a little nervous, but don't have huge expectations, as we're out of practice and and have newborn thrown into the mix!

Over the past few weeks, I've been doing more organizational things to help prepare. I reorganized our school stuff, revamped the chore lists, and am spending this week doing the "great seasonal clothes swap" so that we're ready for spring (and summer)! It feels good to be getting all of that done so that I'll be able to focus more fully on school.

I played around with our school routine and bought a few new curriculum items that will hopefully enhance or improve some subjects. Here's what I hope for our basic day to look like:

We'll start with Bible around the breakfast table. We'll pray, read some scripture, practice our memory verse, and perhaps learn or practice a hymn! We're still using the Bible schedule provided in Sonlight's Core 3 Instructor's Guide, and will be using Hymns for a Child's Heart to learn some songs.

After breakfast, the kids will do a few morning chores, and then we'll all sit down together to read History (also Sonlight Core 3 - we have about 16 weeks left). After History, the bigger kids will go ahead and start their independent work, while I spend time with the littles reading some preschool stories (from Sonlight P 3/4 and P 4/5) and doing some fun activities. After we've read some stories, I'm going to do some one-on-one work with Joel (6) - mostly math (Math-U-See Primer) and reading, while Nathan spends some time on Reading Kingdom.

The bigger boys' independent work consists of Rod and Staff English and Reading, Math-U-See (Gamma and Delta), a Quiet Times for Kids Bible study, handwriting, and reading their Core 3 Readers. This can take them sometimes an hour or more, but that gives me lots of time with the littles!

After they're done, we'll take a mid-morning break until after lunch. This will let them have some time to play outside, or, if needed, we could run some errands or do a project - depending on how much time there is available! I gave up trying to do a "by-the-clock" schedule a few years ago, and instead just "do the next thing", stopping for important things like lunch and naps!

After lunch, Nathan and Judah take a 2 hour nap, so that is prime time to get some more focused work done. We'll do some Science (Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology), and then I'll go over the bigger boys' independent work with them. Joel will be working on Reading Kingdom while I do that, and also just spending time entertaining himself quietly - a good skill to learn!

Along with going over the bigger boys' work, I'm also incorporating All About Spelling with each of them (yes, we switched spelling curriculum again! I'm hoping we see good results with AAS, I've heard nothing but great things!), as well as Writing Tales (a review for this is coming soon! So far, it's a keeper!). Ezra is also switching to Handwriting Without Tears after his former handwriting program was, well, reducing him to tears! That also requires some focused one-on-one instruction from me, so that will happen during naps, too.

After naps there's afternoon chores, and then the kids are free to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening!

On Fridays, there is no independent work at all, so we'll just have the basic Bible, History, and Science - leaving Fridays to be nice and open to whatever we want to do - field trips, nature hikes, library visits, science projects, fun things like that! I'm really looking forward to our new Friday plan - it's nice to have a set day to do school things that are more adventurous!

The plans look so nice and easy on paper! I'm hoping that they'll be able to flow at least somewhat like what I've written out... like I said, I'm keeping my expectations low to avoid disappointment or frustration ;-) Starting fresh is a nice way to fend off the mid-year doldrums that can pop up, and I'm ready and excited to jump back in to school! Hopefully, if you ask me in three weeks how it's going... I'll still have the same excitement!

Not Back to School Blog Hop - A Day in the Life

This week's theme for Heart of the Matter Online's Not Back to School Blog Hop is called "A Day in the Life" I get to give you a glimpse into what an "ordinary" day of my life looks like!

6:27 am - I roll over, look at clock, realize I need to get up so I can fit a shower into my day before anyone else needs me

6:40 - Actually get out of bed for said shower

7:10 - Sure enough, Judah (17 months) is up and chattering already (even though he didn't go to bed until around 9 last night... why can't this boy sleep in?!) Oh well, just means there's an early nap on the horizon!

He always starts his today with a banana and a smile! Today there's an added bonus of an airplane, too!

7:20-7:30 - More sleepy stragglers are making their way to the bathroom. Breakfast isn't until 8, so they all retreat back to their rooms for now. I start putting breakfast together - today its something easy, just bagels with some scrambled eggs.

7:50 - As I prepare breakfast, I have to move paint cans, rollers, and trays out of the kitchen. I even discover a roller wrapped in plastic in my fridge! Michael has spent the past few nights up until 2 am, busy painting various rooms of the house. I'm making an extra strong cup of coffee for him this morning - I don't know how he does it! The house is looking great, though - we've lived here for 3 years without much color on the walls, so its a huge improvement!

8:10 - The house is buzzing! Breakfast, followed by some chores is the typical start to our day.

Something is particularly funny this morning!

8:30 - Chaos is threatening to take over. So it goes when you have 6 people going different directions, doing different things, and a baby wanting to join in with everyone! Its just the normal hustle and bustle for us... it will settle down as soon as we get school started (hopefully!)

8:35 - I print out and edit a story Isaac (9) is working on. He takes the corrected page and gets started working on his final draft. We're waiting for one person to finish their chores (its always the same one... we have a dawdler in the family ;-)

8:45 - Aforementioned dawdler has finished his chores and is now playing "Hachiko" with his brothers. An argument soon breaks out because everyone wants to be the dog, and no one wants to be the owner that dies, go figure. They decide to change the game to "Homeward Bound" and everyone is happy again. I take this small break to go downstairs and spend a few minutes chatting with Michael. I love having a husband who works from home!

8:55 - It's time for us all to gather on the couch for Bible... off to round up the troops!

9:30 - Bible is done - both older boys have memorized Psalm 8 completely, yay!! They all get a snack while I put Judah down for that early nap I mentioned a few hours ago. That takes all of 6 minutes (I read a short story and sing a song), but by the time I come back out, I have to separate arguing brothers and work on "conflict resolution skills", such as, no pulling hair just because someone takes your blocks. And, no taking blocks just because you're mad about something somebody said. Guilty parties have apologized and offered forgiveness to eachother.

9:50 - Back to the grindstone, on to History!

10:15 - Big boys get settled in to do their independent work (Math, English, Reading, and Handwriting) while the little ones and I snuggle down for some fun storytime!

Ezra and Isaac hard at work

Ezra takes a break to sharpen his pencil

Hi Isaac!

10:50 - Preschool time is over and I'm correcting the work the big boys did. The kids have free time from now until lunch. Hooray! I love being able to take a good sized break halfway through the day. The rest of school will happen this afternoon while Nathan (3) naps.

11:00 - Judah is awake, and joins in the fun with his brothers. He is transitioning between 2 to 1 nap a day, but today he will have 2, since he woke so early from this one. I have to be really flexible with his nap times!

(I think they're devising a plan on how to conquer and rebuild the world)

12:30 pm - Two people are crying, its definitely time for lunch!! We're having left-over Lentil soup, yum! (and no worries, both criers are a-ok now!)

1:00 - Everyone has been sent outside to burn off some silliness and enjoy the sunshine! I am taking advantage of the time and catching a quick cat-nap (the pregnancy fatigue still lingers, at times).

1:35 - Everyone is back in and taking a quick shower - 4 boys + 90 degrees + dirt = stinky!

2:00 - Nathan is taking his nap and I start one-on-one time with Joel (5). We're halfway through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons! The older boys are doing their math - they couldn't do it earlier because Michael was on an important conference call and the TV is downstairs where he is! Judah is climbing on us and keeping himself occupied by playing with things he shouldn't touch. Which is also keeping me busy.


3:05 - Judah's down for his second nap, and I'm done with Joel's work. No melt-downs (on his part or mine!) today, so I call it a success. Reading lessons can be challenging for all involved ;-) I'm off to correct the older boys' math work.

3:35 - We're sitting down to read Walk the World's Rim, our Read-Aloud for the first few weeks of Core 3. The boys love it! They play quietly with blocks while I read, and I make sure they really listened by asking them some questions when I'm done. They did!

4:00 - Nathan's about to get up and we're all going to have a snack. Then comes our afternoon chores - these are the bulk of our chores and usually take an hour or so. The kids have "zones" that they work in, while I check off my Motivated Moms list for the day. For a little while, anyway, we enjoy some peace that a clean house can provide. It is usually not the same by bedtime, but such is life with 5 kids under 10, I think!

4:15 - I had to return a phone call to a friend, so my chores are put on hold for a minute. The boys continue with theirs while I go into my bedroom to be able to talk in relative peace and quiet.

5:15 - We're still working on chores. Normally by this point, I'd be getting dinner started, but tonight Michael made plans with friends of ours to go out to eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant! Yum!! That is definitely NOT part of our typical day! If today were more typical, I'd make dinner and we'd eat sometime between 6-7. Michael is reading through a chapter of Luke each night with us, then he and the kids usually do some dad/boy things (ie. Nerf sword fighting, hiking up Stone Mountain, working on a house project, etc).

5:30 - We're loading up the car and heading off to dinner! We're excited to see some friends we haven't seen in over a month.

9:30 - We finished dinner and everyone has come back to our house for some ice cream!

It's important to have a good variety available!

12:10 am - Our friends just said good-bye for the night (isn't it great when you can have such fun fellowship with people that you literally don't notice the time?!) and we are all heading to bed. This, again, is not typical ;-) Typical looks likes bedtime for the younger set at 8:30, the older two between 9-9:30, and then for Michael and I around 10/10:30. So tomorrow will be a later start on things, for sure. But, that's the beauty of homeschooling - flexibility!

Thanks for spending the day with us! Be sure to check out other homeschoolers' days at the Not Back to School Blog Hop!

Nathan waves good-bye to everyone!

Our Updated Schedule

Now that we've been back to full-time homeschooling for a few weeks, I've ironed out some kinks in our daily routine. To refresh your memories, here's the... slightly over-ambitious schedule I posted before the school year got started. Yes, let's all have a big hearty laugh together at the innocent, hopeful confidence I had, just a mere 2 months ago!

Every time I read it, I get so inspired by Managers of Their Homes (MOTH), try to piece every little detail of our days together, and then realize the same thing - while I LOVE the method of MOTH, and the structure a schedule provides, an extremely detailed "every minute filled" schedule just does not work for us. So I've been tweaking, and things are going much more smoothly and relaxed as we find our rhythm.

On another blog I read (I forget where, I apologize), this style was referred to as "Hard Stops". Certain things have to or just do happen at certain times of the day, such as meals, naps, etc. After putting those things into a set structure, everything else just sort of "flows" around them. For us, we just follow the general order of things, and whatever we accomplish is what we accomplish.

Some days go wonderfully, and alot gets done. Other days, there are interruptions everywhere, but we just pick up where we left off and "do the next thing". No worries about what gets missed, we'll just get it done another day. Its much less frantic and hectic, and much more peaceful!

My "hard stops" include school starting at 9am, lunch around 12:30pm, Nathan's nap from 1-3 pm, and dinner at 6:30 pm. And honestly, even those "hard stops" aren't terribly set in stone. ;-)

Here's how a basic day looks for us now:

In the morning, my current goal is to myself out of bed before 7:30. Judah went on a long sleep strike that has left me in a deficit. Not to mention the fact that it is darker and colder, which are all perfect conditions to stay in bed as long as possible! However, once I finally get some rest, I would like to resume waking earlier again.

8 am - Kids up, do their before breakfast routine
Breakfast
After breakfast chores
9 am - School begins!

Here's what our school routine looks like. Its not timed, because different subjects take different amounts of time on different days. So its just an "order of service" we follow:

• Bible, all of us together
• Geography (from ECC), all of us together
• Read-Aloud, all of us together
• Usually by this time we're ready for a snack and Judah takes a nap
  
• Isaac, Ezra, and Joel spend some time on handwriting - the two oldest copy their memory verse while Joel just works on tracing and writing whatever letter we're working on that week. While they do that, I spend some one-on-one preschool time with Nate.
• I have one-on-one time with Joel (we're working on Explode the Code, Book B!) and the big boys either do more of their independent work, or have time with Nate (they alternate turns)
• I then get Joel and Nate together to do some preschool Bible stories and coloring pages, while Isaac and Ezra work on independent work some more
• Joel and Nate get some playtime together, and I do spelling with Isaac and Ezra (they are loving Sequential Spelling, by the way! They think its alot of fun, and after only 5 lessons, I'm already seeing improvement!)
• The kids are released from school work while I check the independent work and make lunch - its usually around noon by now.
  

After lunch, Nate goes down for a nap (and if I'm lucky, Judah naps around this time, too) and we get back to work, sans little people ;-) Our afternoon school time consists of:

• Big-kid read aloud (longer chapter books)
• Science
• My one-on-one time with Isaac and Ezra, when we go over independent work. While I'm with one, the other is doing a preschool activity with Joel. Then we switch!

Then they're free until naptime is over, around 3ish. Everyone has a snack, does afternoon chores, and then our time is devoted to spending time with Michael, preparing dinner, and winding down the day!

I find this routine so much easier than trying to cram a huge variety of activities in the day for everyone. While there are things that aren't being done that I would ideally like to have time for (for example, currently, Music and Spanish are off the list), it was just too stressful on everyone trying to squeeze everything in. Two of my main goals were to have one on one with each boy, as well as letting them have one on one time with eachother, and that is being accomplished.

I also happen to think that young boys need as much, if not more, time to run and play and explore, as time spent in "academics". So we have much more of that in this current schedule, and we're loving it.

How's the new school year going for everyone else? Any major changes since you started out this year?

Its Almost Time...

Remember back when I said we were taking a month off of homeschooling for a summer break? Well... a month has turned into an entire summer in the blink of an eye! I've decided that we'll be starting back up with full time homeschooling after Labor Day (remember those old days when Public School used to do that?).

In preparation, I've been busy finalizing our schedule, and I'm excited to say its complete! Our week has some variations - Wednesdays we go for a Nature Walk, and Fridays we go to the Library and don't do as much "academics" but have Art and leave time open for things like cooking, extra projects and other things that might pop up. Here's a preview of each day (M/T/Th, Wed, Fri):



If you want to see it in "real time", you can check it out on Google Docs here!

A few notes about it, however. First, Judah is not really on a tight schedule like this. I just fit in the average day with him (nursing every 2-3 hours, napping every 2 hours or so) just to see how everything else would fall in to place around it. Thankfully, nursing is easily mobile, and he naps well in my Ergo, so even if we're on the go during a time to eat or sleep, he'll be just fine!

Also, I'm not strict about the times. Actually, the only thing that really happens on time is my wake-up (ummm... most days...) breakfast, lunch, and (sometimes) dinner. Everything else flows as best it can, and we roll with whatever each day holds in store for us. Again, the times are just a basic guideline to make sure I'm able to fit in what Michael and I have decided to be important.

It feels good to have a plan for how I'd like our days to flow, and also know I'll be able to fit in all of my priorities, plus a few extra!

Another thing I've gotten in place for our year is Activity Bags for the Littles. I organized a swap with some other awesome homeschooling mamas and now have a nice collection of fun, educational activities for Joel and Nathan to do independently, or with the help of an older sibling! They're really excited about them, as am I!

In doing the Activity Bag swap, I came across a website they recommend, and am in looove! Discount School Supplies has things I've always wanted, but didn't know where to get, as well as things I've never thought of but now am sure I can't live without, lol! Where has this been all my life?! ;-) Its nice to find a resource for bulk school items at a good price. Hooray!

One final exciting preparation is that Michael and I have agreed to change our basement into the homeschool area. Its going to have couches and bookshelves for all the reading we do, a table for seatwork, a preschool area, and an arts and crafts area. The computer will be moved down there as well. The best part? The only thing I'll have to spend money on is a few lamps (right now the lighting is hideous, buzzing fluorescent lights)! I was inspired by so many of the pictures from the "Not-Back-to-School" Blog Hop on Homeschool rooms and got creative in my thinking. I've been so worried about storage space and then the thought came to me - I have an entire set of kitchen cabinets in my garage! Those can be set up just in the basement for some free, functional, and decent looking storage! Another hooray! Once I get things set up, I'll be sure to post pictures. It will be a process and I doubt it will be all the way finished before we're ready to start, but I'm excited about the challenge!

Phew! See what happens when I don't blog as frequently? I've got alot to say when I finally come back! We're excited to get started on our new year!!!

How to Make a Schedule, Part 2

Continuing from my earlier post, How to Make a Schedule, Part 1, now comes the time to arrange everyone's goals and responsibilities into a workable routine or time frame!

As I mentioned, this is the most challenging part for me, but also the most enjoyable. I've always enjoyed math and numbers, logic puzzles, working to figure out conclusions and so on, so this fits right in. I've sort of developed my own style for this, and its nothing special. Terri Maxwell from titus2.com suggests actually cutting out each goal/responsibility for each person into color-specific tabs of paper and physically rearranging them on a large schedule grid. This is an excellent method for those who are visual and also need to be able to physically manipulate things. I never actually followed that exact method, but the idea was a wonderful springboard for what would work for me. Instead a physical paper grid, I make an Excel sheet, with each person's name across the top, and time increments in 15 minutes down the side. Here's an example:


First, I plug in the most concrete details - sleeping and eating times. The rest of the day is worked around those things. Then I think about what are the biggest priorities. Time with the Lord, chores, and Michael coming home from work top the list, so they get worked in first and foremost. Then, I look over the list of goals and responsibilities we made up during our schedule chat, I line up what things can go together - for example, chores get done at the same time for everyone, I read aloud to everyone at the same time, we all go for our walk together. Certain activities can be "paired" - such as the older children doing quiet reading while I nurse the baby for a nap. For the most part, I pair as much of our day as possible. I include everyone in school activities whenever possible, for one, because it keeps all of the children close to me, and also because I have learned that the littles pick up on a lot, just by being there and listening in (see my post "The Littles" for an example!)

Once everything is paired up as much as possible, I deal with the individual things. Each of the boy's English/Reading needs to be done one-on-one, since they are on different levels. During my one-on-one time with the one, the other three are having "play time" together. Both Isaac and Ezra are responsible enough to manage playing with Joel and Nathan quietly in a nearby room or out on the porch or deck. Any emergencies, of course, are handled by me ;-)

As I go through plugging in our daily responsibilities, there are some that don't always fit on the schedule for that particular season of life. This is why prioritizing is so important, so you know that at least the minimum of your priorities are being attended to. For us, things like extra curricular activities and outside lessons aren't something that fits very well for us yet. Occasionally, yes, but several times a week just doesn't work, because two of my four still need 2 hour naps, which take up a lot of the day. As they grow, depending on how many more littles we're blessed with, this will change. That is an important part of scheduling, and being a mom and homeschooler in general - realizing that *everything* is not always possible, and even at times when it is, not always beneficial. There are seasons in life, and the things that you might have to sacrifice now may become available in a later season! So definitely be in prayer about what your family's priorities are!

Once I've plugged everything into the Excel sheet, I play with formatting just to have it easy to read and visually appealing - if its too cluttered or complicated, no one wants to even look at it, much less follow it! Here's an example of our current schedule - I have it printed and hanging on our corkboard (which is where we also post the chore lists) for everyone to see!


Then, once all is said and done... we begin! A new routine does require an adjustment period, but once everyone gets the hang of it, its easy to figure out what's working and what isn't. After a week or two, everyone will start to fall into the pattern of things, and the structure the day takes on begins to bring about freedom! I find schedules help me to use my time so much more efficiently, and accomplish much more than I do without one.

Finally, I'd like to say that a schedule is a fluid thing. It is not an oppressive tyrant, restricting you from any freedom. It needs to work for you, not you for it. And as your situations change, the schedule will need to be tweaked, as well. Priorities change depending on the season of life (pregnant, having a newborn, potty training, etc) so be sure to adjust as needed! Keep a feel out for when things just don't seem to be flowing well, and be sure to pray and discuss with your husband when or if changes need to be made! Also keep in mind that without self-discipline, a schedule is just a piece of paper. They don't work unless you use them! ;-)

How to Make a Schedule, Part 1

I've noticed that one of the biggest things homeschooling moms (and moms in general) struggle with is making a schedule. This is one area where I feel blessed to be reasonably skilled, so I thought I would share some pointers! First, I highly recommend a few resources - Managers of Their Homes by Terri Maxwell, was a major influence in my learning how to schedule. Second, the CD "24 Hours is All You Get" by Susan Bradrick is also very helpful, as well as encouraging.

First and foremost, I will say that your schedule needs to be in submission to the Lord, and your husband. So pray and discuss with your husband as your proceed. My husband hates scheduling discussions, but he understands that, as head of the home, it is imperative for his input and direction to be applied, and, thankfully, is willing to take some time to talk things over with me. This was an area I struggled in submitting to him, but the Lord is faithfully helping me turn this over more!

When we sit down to discuss, our first step is writing out what our goals for each family member is. What are necessities? Priorities? What are things that might be nice but don't take precedent? Don't forget to write down the obvious, like meals, naps, chores, and play/exercise time! They all take up part of the day, too.

Then, we figure out the amount of time needed for each thing. Should it be done daily? Weekly? Every other day? How long should it take? How long could it realistically take? I also look at the general flow of a typical day for us and see where things are struggling or going really well, and take note of those.

The part I find the most challenging, but also the most fun, is rearranging these lists into time slots that form a schedule. Let me take a minute to also say that there is a wide variety of "scheduling". Some do a minute-by-minute strictly timed schedule. Some do more of a basic routine of "first this, then this..." without any time constraints. Some fall in between.

I personally fall in between - using time as a guide to limit certain activities (math, for example, will only go 20 minutes, no matter how much or little we've accomplished), a set wake-up time to get our day started smoothly, and set naptimes as well. Of course, there are areas for wiggle room - if naps start 15 minutes late, its not the end of the world! And if Isaac's English lesson takes 10 minutes instead of 15-20, we just move on from there - that extra time won tends to be easily gobbled by other activities anyway.

So don't feel like you have to set the timer for every activity, but also don't feel like you're too rigid if you do! Let the Lord, your husband, and your personal lifestyle lead you in what ways you need to work the schedule most suitable for your family.

I will end on that note and continue with the actual arranging of things in a second post in the near future. :-)

Our New Routine

Just for Kathy ;-), here is the new schedule Michael and I worked out together. We officially start getting on track again June 2nd :-) Also, while all of these have times attached to them, we don't follow the clock that strictly - its more for me to figure out how long things can take and where meals and naptimes can fit in.

5am-6am I wake up, work out, and shower (this is all assuming I actually get up then!)
6-6:30 my quiet time with the Lord
6:30-6:45 check email, brief computer time
6:45-7 make Michael's breakfast (if he's working at the office that day) and get ready for boys to wake up
7:15-7:30 boys wake up, start their before breakfast chores (brushing teeth, making beds, etc)
7:30-8 Breakfast
8-8:15 Morning Chores
8:15-9:45 Errands or Nature Walk (Michael suggested we now do this first thing since it gets so hot in the day, and also doesn't break up our schoolwork)
9:50-10 Snack
"School" Starts!
10-10:20 Bible from Adventures in MFW
10:20-10:35 Handwriting/Preschool with Joel
10:35-10:55 Ezra English (Isaac plays with Joel and Nathan)
10:55-11:15 Isaac English (Ezra plays with Joel and Nathan)
11:15-11:35 I read aloud to everyone, short children's stories
11:25-11:55 Science/Art/Music/Projects (whichever is planned for the day)
12-12:30 Lunch
12:30-12:45 Isaac, Ezra and Joel read quietly while Nathan goes down for a nap
12:45 Joel naps
12:45-1:15 Isaac, Ezra and I have quiet time to spend with the Lord individually
1:15-1:30 I read a chapter from a chapter book aloud to Isaac and Ezra
1:30-1:45 History
1:45-2:05 Math/Spanish
2:05-2:25 Spanish/Math (the boys rotate)
2:25-2:50 (Joel and Nathan are usually starting to wake up) Isaac and Ezra practice instruments
3-3:15 Afternoon snack and Bible from MFW 1st
"School" ends for the day!
3:15-3:45 Afternoon chores
4-6 Time with Daddy (go to park, etc)
6-6:30 Finish dinner prep
6:30-7:15 Dinner
7:15-7:30 Nighttime chores
7:30-8 Family Devotions
8 Bedtime
9 Lights out

Phew! My goal is to be in bed myself by 10 or 10:30 each night. After the boys go to bed, I finish my chores and Michael and I do some bible study using "Balancing the Sword". Its a full day, but we also try to keep it flexible and open to the Lord's leading. The beauty of homeschooling is that our time is available for His use, so if something comes up and our plans need to be dropped to help someone else, we are able to without concern!

Fridays are much lighter for us. Our morning outing is to the library, and when we get home, we cover only Bible, Handwriting, Science, Art Study, and Reading Aloud. The rest of the day is spent preparing for Sabbath (I make Challah and do some deeper cleaning) and then some rest, relaxation, and fun!