Our Big Public School Decision (Sigh!!!!!)

Posted on January 15, 2009 by angela

Following upon a LOT of thought, prayer and discussion, dh and I have decided we will be transitioning out of homeschooling.  Though we haven’t decided exactly when.  With Calvino’s violin lesson and class, the Hobbit’s odd work schedule, and one car, it would be simplest just to finish the year as is.  If I can make it that long!  Some days this seems long indeed–other days I feel tugged at heart to have all my kids stay home for good!  But deep down I have this feeling that putting Calvino in school is just right–right for him, and right for me.  Emotions can make it all so very confusing, but the sense of “rightness” persists, and I am trusting that.

The two biggest deciding factors in this decision are: 1. Our excellent experience (so far) with the school system in this small town, and 2. What I have learned about my personal abilities, interests, and limitations, as a mom and “teacher”, combined with my waning passion and energy in getting the homeschool thing done in a faithful way. 

Things are better overall when we stick to a “relaxed homeschooler/not-quite-unschooling” model.  The problem is, if one plans to put one’s kids in public school, they CAN fall very behind, which causes hardship for them.  So since we’ve made this decision we’ve been focusing lots on math and writing (math he does fine, writing is . . . . potentially a big problem), alongside with our normal read-aloud time.  My routine before was to (always!) read aloud, do a few projects and the like, and “let the rest happen.”  That worked ok with my older one, who was a natural academic.  My second son is a different story.  I’m not sure he WOULD have learned to read well without all the extra help he had last Spring at school (at the time, he was almost 9 years old).  I’ve learned that some kids really DO need someone to sit down with them and help them learn, one baby-step at a time.  I’ve learned that sometimes learning to read requires hard, day-by-day work, and doesn’t “just come naturally”.  And I’m very, very thankful for those teachers and volunteers who sat with my son and give him the time and help he needed.  Calvino is reading WELL now.  He even sometimes picks up a book on his own and reads for pleasure.  He thrived with all the extra help and support at the local school, and did way more work for his teacher (without protesting!) than he’ll do for me (with a lot of protesting!).  It could be that he was still young enough to want to please his teacher.  It could be that he is a bit “conformist” at heart, wanting to fit in, to be like the other kids, and to do the socially correct thing.  All I know is, it was working pretty darned well.  So, was I crazy to bring him home again???

The reason I brought him home (other than the fact that these homeschool dreams die HARD):  I felt like I hardly saw him.  He raced in the door, I made him stuff something with protein in his mouth, then he raced back out to play with his friends (we live in a GREAT neighborhood here, with lots of kids and families and wholesome friends).  He was called in for dinner, and then the only hour we had together was spent wrestling over homework (which he actually did much more willingly than he does his limited school for me!).  I felt that this was all a bit sad, and that he was a bit young to be so seldom at home.  Friends suggested that I could have time with him at home after school, but I just felt too sympathetic.  (Or weak-willed?  But after spending all day at a desk, what kid wouldn’t want to play outside??  And being a CM-influenced mom, I believe “outside” is probably the best place for a kid to be.).  I also lamented the fact that he was missing all the good literature–the Robert Louis Stevenson and the Little House on the Prairie and the D’Aulaire’s Norse Myths and Children’s Homer and Old Yeller and ETC.  (If you are a homeschooling living-book lover and advocate, you know exactly what I mean!)  Schools, well-intentioned though they may be, simply do not have time for this most wonderful of stuff.  Schools are all about SKILLS and ASSESSMENTS (she says with a contempt-filled, somewhat snobby sneer . . .).  I thought we would still have time for these excellent read-alouds when he was in school but–alas–we really didn’t.  School and related activities and events sort of take over a family’s schedule, and that’s a big, big sacrifice to make.  And yes, this tugs very much at my heart.  I DO intend to be way more intentional and stubborn about keeping a read-aloud going once he is in school (we are in the middle of LOTR–which is itself highly motivating!).  But I know it isn’t easy.

Another factor in our decision:  In the past I have underestimated the importance of the social aspect of life.  I can groan about it, and I can wish it was not the way it is, but to a kids’ mind, going to school is all about having friends and ”fitting in”–it is maybe 90% social, and 10% academic.  But in some ways, this is sorta the way LIFE is.  Our social skills, the impressions one makes on other people, and the like tend to have more import than one’s grades or storehouses of knowledge when it comes to applying for jobs, and other practical objects we desire.  We eventually put our older son in school because he turned into a teenager and began to spend WAY too much time moping in his room, cultivating a bad attitude.  Social opportunities and doors of learning abound to the self-motivated homeschooler, but to one who is intimidated, unwilling, and lacks the basic social skills, their world can become smaller and smaller if they are not “forced out of the house” in some way.  There is a developmental change that happens here, I believe in both Montessori schools and Waldorf schools this is recognized–kids become ready to move outward, they become less home-centered.  My emerging-teen needed structure to his time, he needed real accountability for his work, he needed . . . positive occupation, and I was no longer up for providing all of that–especially when it so often ended up coming down to a clash of wills.  Now that he is in school he is simply–happier.  I HATE admitting this, but it is simply true.

One has to work fairly hard as a homeschooler to provide social opportunities for the kids that occur somewhat naturally at school.  Some would say, but a public school environment is bad socialization!  And I used to think this, too.  Now I think, it totally depends on the school, on the individual teachers, on the parents and neighborhoods, on the particular community.  I have been thrilled with the friends my older son has made at school.  They are polite and respectful, they have wonderful parents, they seem . . . a whole lot nicer than my son, actually, but maybe home is his place to “unload” and I do not always see the best of him (which can, ahem, sometimes be said of me as an adult!).  Our experiences with the school have been almost universally positive, and I have been totally surprised by this.  Dh and I both remember our school years as pretty much negative experience, but then we did not have parents who really tracked with us, or processed/talked through things with us.  Our parents, being from a very different generation, perhaps assumed that school was a fairly wholesome, trustworthy place.  I make no such assumptions.  And now, in this particular time and place, when that turns out to be true (NOT that I will start taking it for granted, I will be very much tracking with my kids whether they are in school or out!), I am surprised-bordering-on-shocked.  But I am so grateful.  It means I do not have to try and do—-everything anymore.

Don’t get me wrong.  I have the heart of a mother.  I am willing to do everything and more, if necessary.  When we lived in an overseas location, based upon the experiences of several friends, I never would have put my kids in the local, or even the private, schools.  But here–I’m just relieved.  And worn out.  And–free for the first time in years to think in some new directions.

Which is kind of exciting and kind of sad and kind of just wierd.  Homeschooling WAS my dream, my “ideal”.  I’ve read ALL the books (at least up until a few years ago, when the publishing of books exploded and my zeal began to wane).  THAT was the life I wanted, the kind of mother I wanted to be.  And maybe, the kind of childhood I wanted to have had–(though this train of thought can get a little wierd, too).  It was a revelation to me to learn that:  I really CAN’T do it all–I have some real limitations, and it doesn’t do my children any good to completely wear myself out trying.  To learn that, as a perfect-perfect ”ideal” is truly NOT attainable, maybe the public school is in fact GOOD ENOUGH, or even, God forbid, the BEST option for our particular family at this time.

I’m still trying to get used to the idea.

And I’m not even thinking about child #3, who is 3 1/2 years old, and a GIRL.  A year or so ago, when putting the boys in school after last Christmas, I mentioned to my dh, “Maybe our daughter will never be homeschooled.”  He replied, “Over my dead body.”  But here we are in a big ole’ paradigm shift.  We’ll see how we feel in another year or so.  

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Toward Unschooling

Posted on November 10, 2008 by angela

As the weeks go by (we’re on week 11 now!), we move more and more toward an unschooling lifestyle.  I notice I have to fight my own tendancies toward distraction/dissipation (as in, the entire day went by and I accomplished none of my personal goals), and just plain ole’ laziness (not to mention the same in my kids!).  But apart from these ”checks”, having freedom to learn and pursue personal projects and interests is so wonderful, and Cal is a “natural unschooler”–he is great and coming up with creative pursuits and keeping himself busy!

He DOES miss school friends, however.  This is a bit of a difficulty.  They all come home on the bus at 3:30 and at that point he is usually able to run out and play with someone.  IMO this is enough of a social life for a 9 year old (not to mention soccer, violin, 4-H, friends from church, visits with cousins, etc. etc.)  Cal does not always agree.  But I have noticed that since he has been home, Cal and 3 year old sister Lydia have truly become BUDDIES—and this is one of the things I most appreciate about homeschooling!  They spend many hours playing imaginative games together, and that wasn’t true last year when he was in school.  I think when kids come home from a long day of school, they can be maxxed out and ready to decompress–they’ve spent all day with their age-mates, and younger siblings become “a bother”. 

HOWEVER, despite the general unschooling trend, there are a few things, based on his personal needs, that I feel need to happen regularly.

Spelling:  We’re doing good with writing.  Cal has a writing journal, and he writes so much more when he can work on his own projects or stories, vs. something I assign, but occasionally I do ask him to write something, such as “describe one thing you noticed when we visited the science museum”, or etc.  In any case the only way to learn to write is—to write, so we make sure this happens most days.

But his spelling is so terrible!!  And at his age (9), it doesn’t seem right to let that go, as the words can be fixed in his mind the wrong way.  So I have been making lists of words taken from his own writing for him to study and be quizzed on.  Still, I am wondering if something like using the Calvert spelling cd or some kind of similar spelling drill would help as well??

Reading:  Cal is one who needs regular practice in reading.  Mostly he reads to himself, but occasionally we have him read aloud to us as a “check” re. how things are going–he’s doing great, but it’s a “use it or lose it” thing so sometimes I have him go upstairs and have some quiet reading time–especially when sibling relations around here get a little tense and he is ready for a break anyway!  These usually turn into a positive time rather than a punishment.

Violin:  The violin requires a lot, and it is nice to be homeschooling now as we can put a lot more focus into it.  Cal is taking the “Suzuki challenge” of practicing EVERY day for 100 days in a row.  His group class/orchestra once a week is very challenging for him as he is “catching up from behind” (most of the kids started much younger–Cal began, on his own initiative, just last year).  So he really needs to practice every day, and many times this does require me to “make” him go do it.  This is more because of distraction than anything else, he does, in the end, want to practice, and usually does so willingly.

Math:  Cal is pretty quick at math and really resents the “sit down and do these two pages” approach, however I do feel it is important that he knows HOW to do “pencil and paper math.”  Our state requires testing every year, and in this testing kids must really show their work.  He is great at doing things in his head, but that just isn’t quite enough (I won’t go into my personal opinion on these matters, I just figure it’s one of those realities we’ve gotta work with–and really, whether we like it or not, life is full of such things!).  So 2 or 3 times a week we make sure the paper and pencil math happens.  I am using MCP math as our workbook, and I use the chapter tests at the end to see how well he knows certain skills, and select what pages he needs for practice.  I do like using our book as a “resource” this way, vs. feeling like we must complete every page, whether the practice is needed or not!  We also try to play math related games regularly, like Yahtzee or S’math (which I just bought.  It’s is great for both calculations and thinking skills!). 

The above I am considering our “must do” list.  As for our “want to do” list:  We are wandering our way through early American history.  This is a very informal study, and Cal is hinting that he is more interested in medieval knights, but we are not doing this in a burdensome way–we’ve been listening to some great stories on tape in the car, reading aloud the D’Aulaire books, drawing some pictures and a few maps (he likes the maps!), doing informal narration, etc.  This is a mommy-initiated study as I just felt like by age 10 or so, a kid ought to know a bit re. the history of his own country.  But maybe we’ll try to wrap this around Thanksgiving, having gained a general sense of history up through the Revolutionary War, and then move on.  We can go back to it later.

Other than this we are reading aloud LOTR per Cal’s request (I made my other son wait until he was 10, but Cal begged!  These are my all-time-favorite books, so I guess I was easy to persuade!), listening to “Martin the Warrior” by Brian Jacques on tape, still finishing up “Jason and the Argonauts” by Charles Kingsley, we finished “Paddle to the Sea”, and we are reading from “Classic Poetry” by Michael Rosen every week.  It’s amazing how much Cal likes the poetry, he is really connecting with it, and spontaneously wrote a very thoughtful little poem the other day.  Most of these readings were selected by me, but Cal is enjoying them all and asks for “one more chapter” on them all.  Most days, we have “tea and read-aloud” time.  If he does not like a particular book chosen, we can change it!  Such as, in science . . . . 

Here we need to make a change.  For 4-H Cal signed up for a “general introduction to science” project, so we’ll probably spring from this.  He will need to develop a project and I’m thinking it should be experiment-oriented:  Probably something like “do an experiment, take a photo, and write them all up in a book/presentation for the fair”.  We WERE reading through “Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day” for science—Initially Cal enjoyed this, and I loved it, and felt like I was learning so much.  But Cal is fundamentally a “hands-on” kid, and the amount of reading was not agreeing with him.  (I DO highly recommend this book though!  I thought it was fascinating, much more detailed and interesting than most elementary textbooks!)  So, time for plan B.  That book was one of the only things I bought for this year, my “splurge”.  But at least I can probably sell it for what I bought it for (xmas money!!).  Now that we have joined the science museum and visit regularly, it’s like having a huge, wonderful science classroom at our disposal, with loads of books set out for every topic, and just so much hands-on stuff explore!  Between regular museum visits and 4-H we should be pretty well covered for science.

Besides all of the above Cal has expressed interest in PHOTOGRAPHY (will probably become another 4-H project, he might just be getting a camera for xmas . . .), SEWING (he completed two projects with a bit of help!), and KNITTING (he might not complete this one.  But, the skill has been introduced!).  We’ve spent time exploring WATERCOLOR PAINTING, and Cal spends lots of time taking care of his bunny and the dog, and is interested in adding a frog, fish, rat or lizard (any or all of the above!) to the menagerie.  He loves the live animals at the science museum.  It is always the first section he visits, and he’s made some keen observations on animal behaivor.

So it’s busy times around here and our biggest challenge is —— ATTITUDE.  Probably the most difficult subject, and most important life-skill, of all.  He seems to have some new difficulties and perhaps this is because of what Waldorf people call “the nine-year change”.  My teacher-mother calls it “the neurotic nines.  I’m trying to keep a positive (rather than despairing!) outlook, and address things as they come up calmly every day.  But let’s just say my own attitude is an “area of study” as well, and I’m trying to overcome some old, old habits of mind, and learn and grow in this area, and “cultivate PEACE”, both inside and out!  Nothing like homeschooling to provide plenty of challenge–!

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6 week evaluation

Posted on October 7, 2008 by angela

I can’t believe we are on week 6 already!!!

The past two weeks did not include a large amount of sit-at-the-table school.  During week 4 we all took turns being sick.  Then last week we rather spontaneously spent a few days at a cabin which belongs to our friends on Lake Coeur d’Alene–something we had meant to do all summer, but it never fit in.  Dh said, “let’s just go for it”–so Tuesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon, we did!  The weather was incredibly warm and beautiful.  The boys spent lots of time swimming, we played a lot of board games, and we made s’mores over a wood-stove fire.  I took the dog for a few looooonnnnng walks, and spent 15 minutes watching the two largest beavers I have ever seen swimming together around an old broken-down dock.   It was fun, and definately worth it–since school started we have been so busy, it’s a real challenge to stay connected with each other, and this really needed to happen–especially with our 13 year old.  Sometimes God’s timing is just right!  Some of the games we played were even educational:  Masterpiece for art, Boggle for spelling, and Balderdash, which requires quite a bit of writing–I was impressed that Calvin kept up quite well!  Both boys have also done quite a bit of free reading during the past few weeks.

Calvin’s violin has become more demanding this year, yet he is learning so much!  The instruction is just wonderful, I am so impressed!  It is nice that with homeschooling, we can give more time and attention to our practices.  Enjoyment of classical music, understanding of counting and rhythm, the discipline of regular practice, the experience of playing in a real orchestra with the sound swelling out all around you, the feeling of accomplishment when he masters a new song–I can’t help but believe that all these things add so much to his life and education.   Calvin is also involved in soccer, which means 2 practices a week plus games.  This Saturday during his game he took the ball all the way down the field, and scored the team’s only goal!  The kids on the team are all our neighbors, and it’s a great way for him to be social, get some physical activity, and to experience being on a team.  I can see that both of these activities are very positive things in his life.  We’re just not used to being this busy, and I can’t say I like the business–I am glad the soccer is only a 6 week commitment.

Despite the busy-ness we have managed to keep up with Calvin’s weekly reading list.  Calvin has also been doing a lot of writing on his own initiative, and has finished four episodes/mini-books featuring Racky the spider.  I typed these into books, and Calvin spent two hours one afternoon printing, stapling together, and illustrating the books himself in order to give them away to grandparents and friends.  Really this is much better than the Language Arts curriculum I purchased!  We use a composition-notebook writing journal, and I tell him that he can think of his own things to write about, or I will use our Language Arts workbook–lately he’s been choosing his own projects every time.  The $20 spent on the workbook seems to serve more as a motivating factor for him to do his own work–or a threat??  At least I didn’t spend a whole lot on it.  I have also drawn some spelling words for him to practice from his writing.  In the heat of inspiration while composing a story, his spelling seems to slide straight down the tubes.  But he has been improving in remembering a few mechanics, like capitalizing the first word of a sentence, and using periods.  It’s always a bit delicate knowing how much to “correct”, and how much to leave it be and simply praise–he is getting to the age where he can handle a bit more of the editing when I do it carefully.

We also purchased a family pass to our small science museum, the Palouse Science Center in Pullman.  So far we’ve been twice.  We love it!  I resisted going for a long time, since we’ve been to some of the big museums like the Exploratorium in SF and the one in Seattle, as well as a few in Europe.  I was afraid the boys would be unimpressed.  But what the museum lacks in size and expensive equipment, it makes up for in thoughtfulness, and a super friendly, available staff.  The place is totally uncrowded–it’s almost like having a huge, wonderful science classroom all to ourselves!  There are tons of displays on different topics, with pillows and chairs and lots of books available to read about those topics (with all this, who needs elementary science curriculum?).  There’s a big “pet room”, which I can tell will definately be a favorite feature.  Both times we have been there while the pets get their daily feeding.  There are turtles, frogs, salamanders and lizards, a tarantula, some cool big bugs, rats, a guinea pig, birds, fish, and the boys’ favorite, a huge black snake.  The woman who takes care of the pets is happy to let the kids watch, touch when possible, answer questions and share details, etc!  Today we were the private audience to the rarely-seen weekly feeding of the big rat snake.  We got to watch the snake eat a live mouse, first biting it, then squeezing its coils all around it, then swallowing it bit by bit.  Since Calvin has owned his own little garter snake, he already knows quite a bit about snakes, and asked some great questions.  Also the snake had just molted, and the huge skin was on display for the kids to touch.  Education at its finest!

One thing that DIDN’T happen–I intended this year to incorporate some festivals into our days.  I don’t know why this continually proves difficult for me.  I had written down Michaelmas, Johnny Appleseed’s birthday, and St. Francis’s Day on the schedule, and even obtained the pertinent books from the library.  But when each day arrived, it proved to be a hectic and inconvienent one, and the celebration passed without us honoring it in even the simplest ways.  I believe these days seemed to fall on Fridays.  Meanwhile, our church hosted “spiritual retreats” on two weekends in a row (one for women, followed by one for men), and dh and I both attended and were very involved in these, being on staff at the church–!  Looking back with frustration and regret doesn’t do any good, I’ll just have to try to get them the next time around.  Or face the fact that these unfamiliar celebrations just aren’t my thing???  In any case I hope the weeks ahead are characterized by an increase of calm, unhurried time at home to focus on ”school” (verses squeezing things in here and there!).  The colder weather might just help.  The weather is supposed to turn downright icy in the next few days, and I’m ready for a bit of “cozy in the home”–though I need to get my garden cleaned up, too! 

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Week 3 evaluation: Structure vs. Unstructure

Posted on September 20, 2008 by angela

We finished our 3rd week of homeschooling Calvin.  And here I am, back to the same old familiar internal war of structuring his learning, vs. a more laissez-faire approach.

This seems to be a Jekyl and Hyde thing with me.  There is a side of my personality that loves structure.  I love planning (maybe “dreaming” is more accurate, but it often gets written on a slip of paper somewhere . . . much like the grocery lists I write out that never seem to make it to the store with me!)  I love scouting and looking for books, and exploring new topics.  But when it comes to follow-through, it can easily become a “fall-through” instead.

There are days when I DO stick to the plan.  We finish everything and I check it all off, and that feels very good at the end of the day, and very satisfying at the end of a week!

Then there are other days–like yesterday.  My Friday morning chore is to catch up with bill-paying, banking and other computer tasks.  Yesterday things got a little complicated and took twice as long as I expected.  Once I was finally done and ready to “do school”, Lyddie and Calvin were playing sooooooooo well together–who wants to interrupt when that happens?  Besides, we were all getting hungry.  “School” never happened, but quite a bit of learning did.  We decided to forget the books and go to the park for nature study (did I mention it was a truly beautiful day?).  The kids were a bit distracted, but we did pluck several seed pods off different trees, and several “baby trees” from the bases of the big trees, and compare them.  Then Cal got inspired to write a creative story about a little spider who travels on a maple seed-pod into the world unknown, carried by the wind–what a great idea!  But, being totally unprepared, we had no paper or pens.  He ran home to get a notebook and a pencil (we live a block and half away, and no one here ever locks their house), and when he got back he sat and wrote a while while Lyddie and I laid on our backs and looked up at the trees.  Then we walked to the library where the kids played Magic School Bus games on the computer very nicely, taking turns, and I actually sat and read a book for myself for an hour!  What a nice afternoon!  Days like this make me wonder if I should attempt to structure things at all–or just go with the flow.

But I can tell you from experience that without a little discipline instilled, a wonderful story like the spider who ventures forth on a maple seed will never be finished–just forgotten about.  Not that one has to finish every project or marvelous idea, but you see what I mean.  And the things written on a schedule, when they are the right things, have introduced ideas and expanded our minds in wonderful ways, as well as trained the children in necessary skills.  Inspired by the reading-aloud of Charles Kingsley’s “Heroes”, yesterday morning I also found Calvin looking up Ancient Greece in our Usbourne Illustrated World History book (which happened to be sitting on the floor, because it was used to prop up a friends’ laptop for a slideshow the previous night–O happy coincidences!)  This learning thing is such a balance.  The structure, when sensitively planned, seems to feed the free exploration, and vice versa.

What seems to work best for me, though, is to have “structured days”, when things go according to plan, and “unstructured days”, when, for one reason or another, the plan gets ditched, and I relax and let the learning happen in a more casual way.  The plan is purposefully very rich, but far from overloaded as to quantity of content–because it was written after several years of dealing with my own personality.  We are generally managing to check everything off at the end of the week, the stuff just tends to happen in a very different order than it was planned.  As described in another post, in the plan there is quite a bit of room for spontaneous learning, as well as for mom’s varying energy levels and bursts of inspiration.  We all must learn to work with ourselves.  Maybe I’m finally achieving a good and harmonious balance–though experienced moms know this “balance” must be adjusted constantly, depending on the ages and stages of our kids, and the varying factors that crop up to become part of our lives.  But we women are the great artists of finding, and sustaining, this balance in our families, with our inborn sensitivity the the needs of those around us, and to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit within us.  Lord, just let me keep this tender, listening heart . . . !  And so I end this rather haphazard week–when school happened about half the time, and yet somehow everything important got done–in a general sense encouraged, with thanks to the God who is enabling me to find my way!

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Book Review: The Heroes, by Charles Kingsley

Posted on September 18, 2008 by angela

This book is sooooooooo good!!!  As per the Ambleside curriculum weekly schedules, I had this book broken down into small portions and paced out through the year.  But Calvin is asking for it EVERY DAY.  Hey, we can be flexible!  We finished the story of ”Perseus” today.  The book is written in a high, heroic tone–the plot, adventuresome and noble–the language is advanced and lively but it flows–one gets caught up in the reading (and the listening!).  These are the stories that have captured imaginations for centuries.  When immersed in the literature and culture of our too often banal modern times, one forgets how good good writing can be.

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Friday Art Time

Posted on September 12, 2008 by angela

For Art this year, I am trying something different.  We have a short read-aloud session on Friday (poetry, plus whatever subject needs finished), then we get out the art supplies and–create!  There is no a structured lesson.  Actually I got the idea from Amanda Soule’s book, The Creative Family, in which she describes a family drawing time.  My son is loving it.  I’ve always loved art and spent my childhood drawing, but as a busy mom I never make time to play with it.  Our “picture study” in the past never came off well, but this is becoming the highlight of the week!  On the morning of I ask Cal what he wants to do do (drawing, painting, or modeling), then we get out our stuff, and play!  For drawing or painting we might hunt for a picture in a book to draw from (each individual can choose what he/she likes).  Sometimes I also play classical music during this time.  Today we made little scupley creations.  So far it is working well for BOTH of us!

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Our living and learning schedule

Posted on September 10, 2008 by angela

Over the years we’ve tried various daily schedules to fit in all the learning, homemaking, personal goals, and other things the kids and I need to do–and over the years these schedules have become more and more loose!  Still, I’ve found I need some rails to run on–goals to meet–in order to feel good about our days, and get anything done.  So here’s what I’ve come up for this year, so far it’s working pretty well:

Early am:  “Breakfast and Bible” with Daddy:  Simon heads off to school bus by 7:45, Calvin and Lydia generally eat later.  I wake up when I wake up, have my coffee, read my Bible and maybe do some other reading, or read aloud to Lyddie Rose.  DH and I try to talk and pray a bit together before he leaves.  Then I get dressed.  I’m not a real fast mover in the morning!

9-10 am:  CHORETIME:  Mondays I sort and start the laundry–Tuesdays and Thursdays are “home blessing days”, when I do the housework–prioritizing whatever needs done the most, but I hit the bathroom, dusting and floors weekly–Fridays are computer, mail and pay-the-bills day, and Wednesdays are FREE!  I find I need to keep some sponteneity in this morning chores schedule, so I don’t get too bored and rebel against all of it!!  This “loose but structured” approach is working really well for me, and I have the Wednesday to work with if something unexpected or exciting comes up during the week.

10-12 am:  SCHOOLTIME:  This is our Read-Aloud and Project time.  Generally we read a thing or two aloud, then draw a picture or map or do a bit of writing or a science project–whatever–based on the reading.  Except for Tuesdays, when Cal has his violin lesson and we go to the library or sometimes do something in town.  To end this morning session and before free time begins, Calvin practices his violin.

12-2 pm:  LUNCH and FREETIME:  I set out lunch for the kids.  Sometimes I eat with them, other times I eat before or after and start dinner.  In any case I finalize what we are having for dinner, set out meat to thaw, etc.  (This little discipline has helped me a lot, I must say!)  During his free time Cal plays with his friend down the street when he can, or works on crafts, plays, or occasionally watches a video.  I try to take a break in here, once in a blue moon I even take a nap!  Other times I diddle on the computer, flip through magazines, work in the garden, or whatever I feel like.  I am much happier with our days–and so are the kids–when we have this unstructured time in the middle!

2-3:30 pm:  TABLETIME:  Cal does his handwriting, language lessons, and math.  Lydia does her “ABC” main lesson book if she feels like it (a big blank book, I draw a capital and lower case letter at the top, then we think of words that start with that letter, draw pics for them, and she colors them).  At least once per week I combine the math time with a simple game (I love the book “Games for Math” by Peggy Kaye).  Those are the times when I see the lightbulbs flick on for Calvin, and they make math feel more like fun than just drudgery, but he also needs to do a page or two of practice from his math book most days.  We either do a page or two from Queen homeschooling’s “Language Lessons for the Elementary Child”, or he can choose to write something.  Spelling words are taken from his writing and practiced over a few days (no tests though).  Theoretically, Tabletime should last about an hour, but it totally depends on Cal’s attitude, and can stretch to two hours or more.  However, it is very motivating that big brother and most of his friends from the neighborhood come back at 3:30!

3:30-6:00:  SNACK, then FREE/FLEXIBLE TIME:  As said, 13 year old Simon arrives home at 3:30 and is generally HUNGRY!  Monday afternoons Calvin has Suzuki group class/orchestra, other days he might have sports practice, sometimes we decide to go to the library/grocery store, but if he can he goes immediately outside to play with neighborhood friends.  We live in a wonderful neighborhood for this!  Of course I have to deal with dinner around 5/5:30.

About 6:30:  Dinner, then evening activities . . .

And that’s pretty much our week.  I’m only formally homeschooling one right now, though my oldest was always very independant, so if he was home things would look about the same.  One of the best things I’m doing this year is writing my plans in pencil, in a standard teacher’s book from the office store, vs. typing them in little pre-set boxes on the computer.  We still get things done, but I can erase and move things around as needed during the week, and that makes me feel less pressured, and more happy!  When we finish an item I highlight it, and it’s nice too to look over the week and see all that we accomplished (this vs. having no written schedule at all–I’ve tried that approach, too).  I guess this is a happy medium for me, “flexible/structured”, I’ve sorta learned to trick my spontaneous nature into a structure where I can still feel somewhat free, but I actually get things done . . . as to specific homeschooling philosophy, I’ve learned that “whatever works” is often the best! 

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