I am such a routine-type person and I love schedules but getting ours in place hasn't been as easy as I imagined. It takes discipline to keep it in place and sometimes things happen. Sometimes the little ones are ready for school and sometimes everyone is dilly-dallying, including mommy.
Last week I re-worked our schedule to start with Bible (from Adventures) first thing in the morning. This way I include Caroline and it's a great start to our day. Once we finish our lesson we move into the morning circle time and the little ones join us (on most days). So here is what we've been working on:
7:30 Breakfast with devotional
8:00 Bible at the school table (Calista/Caroline)
8:15 All girls get dressed / morning chores
8:30 Circle time (prayer, flag, calendar, 100 chart)
8:45 MFW Kindergarten w/ Caroline and twins - Calista workboxes (independent work)
10:00 Snack/break for Caroline - start working with Calista on Adventures
10:20 Caroline returns to complete workboxes and any of the other Kinder Daily Activities
11:00 Continue Adventures with Calista - Caroline activity with Courtney/Claire (or play)
11:45 Lunch prep, lunch and clean up
12:30 Free play Caroline/Courtney/Claire - work with Calista
1:00 Nap time for Courtney and Claire - craft or activity with Calista and Caroline (most days)
The hard part is where I let Caroline have a break after snack. It's really hard to pull her back most days because she wants to play with Courtney and Claire. I do want her to have a lot of play time but the schedule doesn't always go as timed and sometimes she has work to complete.
Preparation is also key. If I'm not totally prepared in the morning then it throws off our day. I need to have back up plans for Courtney and Claire and really think the day through. I'm also completely behind in laundry because I'm jumping from child to child all day (still potty training the twins) so I'm finding no time to stick to my housekeeping plan. Oh, and they are always hungry. The twins start asking for lunch at 9:30!
So, I'm going to take a deep breath and just pray more about our schedule. I think I get hung up because I want something predictable and that's not totally possible with four individual little girlies. :)
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4 comments:
I know, I know, I know!!! I am having the same problems across the board. I am on Plan "C"... and I am not following it. I was... then, the flu and I just can't seem to do it all. I am trying hard to let play happen and life and remember that in a year it is going to get easier and my little ones are going to be a bit easier to handle. I actually have a neighbor that has homeschooled her 5 kids.. 4 are grown now (lawyers and such)... her youngest daughter is 11 YO. She did not start formally teaching her until about 9 YO !!! I know scares me... but I know this girl and she is smart. By "formally teaching her", I mean, teaching her to read, etc. I know ... gasp... she reads mega novels now!! Apparently, it did not damage her at all. The daughter was kind of compalaining a bit to me that she kind of wished her mom would have taught her Latin a bit sooner than now (11), so she would be at the same level as a her friends... but come on, she is learning Latin. The mom is always telling me, "They learn in spite of your ability to teach them. Stop worrying!" Anyway, so when I am really struggling I let my kids play while I stress in my head! LOL! I will never get this moment back.... make sense?
I have had to do some doubling up on days to get through our week. Not that I would do this all the time, but it is surprisingly easier in some ways to double up on MFW Adventures or on the Activity portion of MFK Kindergarten.
We double up sometimes too - maybe even once a week. I'm thinking of revising our schedule a little bit too. We have the same issue after breaks. Once the kids have some freedom, it's hard to round them back up.
I really like your schedule in starting the younger ones first. Kindergarten takes us about an hour to complete but she is almost always up for more. So I have supplemental material for her and she joins us for Bible & science with ECC. She's also been know to recite poems that her big sister is learning! Too cute!
About the girl who was not formally taught until she was 9. I've read that some countries don't teach reading at all until age 9 and those kids are way more advanced than American kids. If I recall the names of the books about that, I'll post them.
And don't worry about sticking to a schedule every single day. Life happens and we must be flexible! Kids learn a lot from playing, so don't stress too much over it! You're doing great!
Hi Isabel,
Thank you for your comments on my blog! You had asked if I was using MFW 1st for both of my girls. I am using it for my 1st grader and letting my preschooler do the activities as she wants to, but I leave it up to her. If she would rather work with pattern blocks or color, that's fine with me since she is only 4. I plan to repeat MFW K & 1st for her in the next two years (and then she doesn't have a choice!) : ).
Hi,
I'm not sure if this will help at all, but I usually pick a box about half way down and put a snack in it. This keeps them motivated, and they eat their snack while they work on that box, I try to make it their reading box, but that doesn't always work for my 2nd grader as she does a lot of reading at night with Daddy. But she can do snack and work on a spelling worksheet at the same time, so its like a faux-break! LOL!
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