Below you'll see how I structure our subjects and how my time is scheduled with the boys. Again, we DO NOT follow this to a 't' everyday. This is more our anchor when we find ourselves adrift in a sea of daily distractions. When push comes to shove, I always do some reading, some writing and some math at least 4 days a week. Everything else is gravy in my book. Teach the kids to read and write as these are the tools they need to learn anything. Teach them math to cope with life. Skills first, content second. I also have one day a week for fun stuff, and that usually falls on the day I work at a homeschool book store.
I plan a 'routine' instead of a schedule. We start after morning tasks (dressed, breakfast, dishes, pets fed, etc.) We follow a 'this comes after this' routine, and we try to get down to biz by 9-ish am.
Here is how I hope to motivate the kids to get their chores and school done.....I helped them come up with their own lists that they keep on their own clipboard. (this is an older one, but I'll be revising them asap).
I really hate being a nag, so the colorful check-off list in their own writing helped.
Ok, so here's what goes on for a whole ding dang day....the times are what we shoot for, but very rarely do we keep to this. Again, more a 'this then that then that....' routine. Also, Wednesdays we are at Gym & Swim and Lego club from 9-3, so we only do reading and piano those days.
8:00 Breadfast and chores
9:00 Math (T4L)
9:45 Language Arts (T4L)
10:15 Character Study and Spanish with Mom
10:30 History and Read Aloud with Mom
11:15 Social Studies (T4L)
Noon Lunch then Piano (15 minutes per kid)
1:00 Science
2:00 Silent assigned reading
3:00 FREE!
That's it. I'm sure it will get tweaked as the year moves on....which is a big reason why I start slowly, adding a subject or two every week, then stagger subjects during the regular school year. It helps us avoid the monotony a bit, and keeps things doable. We've streamlined quite a bit, and with Time 4 Learning, my teaching and grading time has disappeared. I'm hoping it will bring a nice rhythm to our school year, without a frazzled mama and frustrated kids by Christmas!
