Will I ever have a
schedule that works that I can stick to?
Probably not, as things are always changing; the kids needs, my needs, our goals, etc. But I can keep trying, right?! Since the
over scheduling and then
freaking out episodes of the fall... we've had
no schedule at all! a very relaxed schedule as far as "school" type stuff. We have our classes and outings on the calendar, but when we're home (which was suddenly in abundance over the holiday season) I have found that we've been getting nothing done! Okay, I know there's lots of
learning going on just through play, and educational toys and materials abound in our house,
but...
By the time I drink my coffee, check my email, get us some breakfast, run around picking up this and that, oh, it's time for lunch already?, before I know it "Daddy is home!!", i.e. time to play with him and no more (if there was any) focused work. And not nearly enough reading, math, science, etc., went on during the day. Not to mention accomplishing anything myself; cleaning, writing, art... Needless to say, it's time for a little more structure. Not a ton, but enough for me to be motivated to get up earlier and have a plan of some things to accomplish each day or at least each week.
Do you use a curriculum? So far, we do not. We have a mix of materials, much of which we borrow from the library and the DLC (our local homeschool resource center), usually we do unit studies (pick a topic to focus on and fit each subject into that area of interest). I try to fit a little of each subject, reading, math, science, etc., in each week. Some weeks are more focused on history, some on science, and so forth.
I started
writing down my goals for Monkey that I'd like him to learn by summer (aka: the end of Kindergarten) and what I want us to do more of and less of. Both kids were bouncing around me being so loud I was not having an easy time thinking! Then I realized, why am
I doing this alone?! It's
his (Monkey's) schedule! So I sat down with him and he was happy to be part of the planning process! He told me what he would like to learn and with a few suggestions from me, how he would like to go about learning some of these things. Such as reading; we decided together that because he enjoys playing
Reading Eggs (an online game) he will play it a few hours each week, of course we'll practice in many other ways as well.
He made a
list of things he'd like to learn about (
unit studies):
Insects
Arctic Animals
Nocturnal Animals
African Animals (can you tell he loves animals?)
African People (culture)
Oceans
We will use this as a guideline of what subject we'll study next. We usually stick to one for about two weeks. Sometimes longer if he's really into it, otherwise, we switch when the library books are due.
We wrote out what we both
want more of:
Science experiments
Board games (math games *wink*)
Reading practice
Writing practice (he would like a pen pal from Africa. He has a sudden interest in Africa, not sure where that came from, but great!)
Story time at the library
Start our day with God (reading out of our kids devotional, a Bible verse, & a prayer; really starts us all off in a better mood each day. We need to get back to what's really important!)
Earning stars (star (reward) chart)
Baking
Art
Learning to read music...
(the list goes on)
and less of:
TV (Ok, this is what
I want less of, it's been on every morning longer and longer, and needs to stop! But he was on board once I told him we'd have time for other things without TV. I asked what show he couldn't live without, so we agreed, no TV in the morning and he could watch Wild Kratts in the afternoons.)
I find he's a lot like me; if I say "No", there's automatic resistance. If we talk about why and he understands my reasons, even if he still disagrees, there's respect there and he will consent.
Take-out dinners (my idea again, we're spending way too much and not eating enough healthy food all because I can't seem to think about dinner until we're all too tired and hungry to think! I just need a meal plan and Monkey is going to help me plan what to make for dinners and maybe even try some new foods, we used to do this and it worked great!)
I wrote down
things I need to do (the dreaded New Years resolutions; I'm a bit late getting to this, but never too late to start, right?):
Do not turn on TV in the morning (there goes my quiet coffee/email hour)
Use the
Star Chart again (
reward chart)
Create a dinner menu (again)
Write down list of what kids are learning/activities they're doing as they happen throughout the day (This really helps me feel accomplished since I can hardly remember what we did yesterday, let alone all month, and keeps me from feeling like we didn't learn enough!)
Get Monkey a Pen Pal
Label music notes on Monkey's keyboard
(Hardest of all:) Keep the table clear so we can eat meals there!
(It's my office, studio, craft, and school table, and catcher of mail, newspapers, who knows what all, till I have time to go through it! Very hard to keep clear!)
Then I made a
list of what we generally do each day of the week, because I must just like lists:
Mon- cleaning day (we all work together on the larger cleaning projects, like the kitchen and bathrooms), karate
Tues- park/hike, History Class
Wed- Home, unless planned Field Trip or Farm Class Day. Awanas (kids club) in the evening
Thurs- Kindergarten class, karate
Fri- Home, unless planned Field Trip
And Monkey and I
together made a general outline of what we would like a day at home to look like:
Breakfast/ devotional
Reading time: choose one: workbook, play Reading Eggs, or flashcards (sight words)
Project on current unit study subject
Play outside
Lunch while mom reads a story
Math/science project or game
Reading Eggs
Play
I tried to keep it all simple and manageable so I will actually
do it! We officially got started earlier this month, and so far, so good! Of course, I'm still very flexible, the schedule is just a suggestion, so I don't stress over it. The hardest part is making myself get up earlier so I can get a little work done before the kids are up.
The best, main
stress reliever for me, has been
writing down what we're doing (mainly what Monkey is doing and learning as he's the school aged one) in a notebook
throughout the day as it happens. Just a quick note: he rode his bike, he drew a pic, built with Legos, read this book... By the end of each week, even just one day, there's so much learning that I would never remember we did! Some days I didn't write anything, as I was too busy to worry about it, other days are a few lines long, and some days are a whole page full! Now I won't have to wrack my brain for what we did the last month come time to talk to his teacher, but even just for myself, I love being able to see that we really do and learn so much all the time!
