Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Schedules

A friend of mine, Roan, wrote about her homeschool schedules on her blog, so I thought I would do the same.
Raeley
The curriculum I use for Raeley, my highschooler, has a daily/weekly chart for her, so she knows what she is to do each day. She is independent, so I grade her work once a week (or at least a couple times a month!)

The Boys
I have a checklist with the boys, but I find that it works better if I go over with them what they are to do, then they leave to go work on their assignment, then I look over it. When I was using checklists, I would look at their checklists, not at their work, and would forget to grade their school work! They sometimes ask to go back to the checklist, but what I do is write down what they are to do independently after we finish all of our together work, and they check it off after they do it. The next day at the beginning of school, I review that hand written list with the boys together and look over their work then if I didn't get to it the day before.

Cameron
I would like to make a checklist with photos for Cameron, and that is somewhere on my to do list. I have a checklist for her, but it doesn't really mean a whole lot to her because reading is still a chore for her.
Roan, any ideas on checklists for the young ones? What do you do for Leah?

My checklists are basic, with days of the week across the top and assignments down the side. I also have one for myself that is daily with all the subjects I would like for them to do broken up by time. I use it if I find we are not finishing our work in a timely manner.

Something New
I have started something new this week. Usually I have several issues with work I have to deal with in the morning, waiting for me in my inbox. Here is our new morning routine:
6 am wake up
6:30-7:30 work out at the gym
7:45 - cook breakfast (high protein right after a hard work out)
8 am wake up kids, they eat, tidy up or do a quick chore. get dressed
9 am school starts
Here's what's new:
They do independent reading, memory work, and computer school -like typing lessons for about an hour while I shoot off emails, make phone calls, tie up a few loose ends (or like this morning -blog) or even do laundry. It gives my husband and my staff a chance to get a hold of me on something time sensitive without disrupting our school.
We start school together by no later than 10 am. Now they have my undivided attention until school is out. So far so good, I'll keep you updated.
Another benefit is that I have a sleepy head who just can't wake up easily. This helps him not drag quite so bad and it gives them a chance to read -which later in the day they are pretty good at finding excuses NOT to read independently.

2 comments:

Roan said...

Leah does not have a checklist because like you said, she is a non reader. She only has 3 things, and they are all done with me....
1. phonics
2. math
3. Sonlight reading (me to her)
I need to add having her read aloud to me every day, because she is at the stage where she needs to read aloud every day.

I am going to consider doing like you in having independent work follow breakfast and chores...then come together for Bible and read aloud time, followed by my taking turns helping the children. I have to sit with Leah, Clay for a couple of different sessions (IEW, spelling, science, and just to go over his independent work), and I sit with Olivia twice--once for algebra, and now once for literature. I guess I am going to have to read her reading assignments so I can make sure she is answering the questions correctly....I am learning as I go with this one.
Do they have a hard time stopping to come together after working independently?
I could use that extra hour for laundry, emails, phone calls, supper prep, and could probably even do Leah's Sonlight reading during that time....
I may try that tomorrow!
Our first day did not go well today.
Thanks for the great ideas. I love sharing and learning!

Roan said...

one more thing....are you having your high school children complete a course in MS history? I am making one up...kind of like a unit study. We will begin as soon as our books come in from Amazon. I am going to have all 4 school-aged kids participate.