Life is so much easier with a routine that works. One of the first things I did in August was develop a schedule for school. But it kept not working. I've been playing with it since school started and I think we've finally found what works! Roughly, we need 5 hours of math, 5 hours of language arts, 2 hours of science, 3 hours of history, 1.5 hours of art, and 1.5 hours of music/week. So originally I divided them up: history and art mwf, science and music tth and pe on Fridays. Transition time was the hardest and we kept getting behind which would frustrate everyone because we want to be DONE at 3:00!
So the l;ast 2 weeks we've done a block schedule and it has been fantastic!!
I firmly believe you have to do math and language arts (which includes reading, handwriting, and grammar) every day. It's the daily practice that makes it stick. So we do those in the morning after breakfast. Then we take a break for lunch and recess and get some chores done. Afterwards we do 2 science lessons on Monday, art on Tuesdays, 2 history lessons on Wednesday, 1 history lesson Thursday + special interest study, and music & pe on Fridays. It has made all the difference. It's so much easier to just keep going with what your doing (especially with art and science!). The day seems less hectic when you only have to think about 3 classes instead of 4 or 5.
Also, we learned about a fun site: ldd.lego.com. It's virtual Lego's and we're playing with them to duplicate Roman architecture. It's fairly easy to make an aqueduct. I'm hoping he might tackle the pantheon...but we'll see. Anyway, it's on the list of things he can do once all his school work is done and those incentives really help a lot.
I'm still playing around with each child's schedule, trying to make sure my girls get enough mom time and the chores still get done. It's not easy. And I have less and less time for the internet, which is a good thing. I don't really miss facebook, but I do miss reading all my favorite blogs as often as I used to.
PS-it snowed today. The coop stays fairly warm, but I'm so worried about my chickens freezing! :(Labels: homeschooling