Last year, life got really difficult just a few weeks into the school year. Having a plan of what to do was helpful in getting going again, but this year I wanted things to be even simpler. The longer I homeschool the more relaxed I become.
The girls wake up (read: are not allowed to leave their room) at 7:30. They have a Good Morning board that helps them keep on track in the mornings. We don't start school til around 9am and go until 2 if we get stuck down a rabbit hole. Some days we're done by noon.
This year I wanted to have a rhythm to our days with some loose structure. Having a rigid schedule doesn't work for us. My girls would lose interest after 20 mins of sitting in the same spot. I wanted to bust through everything and get it done, but my girls were dragging their feet. I couldn't figure out why. Didn't they want to hurry up and finish?
Then my girl Charlotte Mason gave me the answer. I needed to vary the subjects so different areas of the brain were being used. Thanks, Charlotte.
Keeping this in mind, I created a kind of loop that created variety, breathing room, and kept us moving:
- reading time
- table top
- computer work
And then added the subjects that fit into the loop and moved us around our home so we wouldn't sit in the same place for two lessons in a row. Monday to Thursday look something like this:
- Family worship
- Spelling
- Math (on the computer)
- Read Aloud
- Grammar
- Handwriting
- Lunch
- Quiet reading
- History/Geography/Science
- Brave Writer
Keeping lessons short and simple, no more than 20 mins and no extra busy work, is key for us. Our days go by quickly with variety and moving to different areas of our home. My children have been enjoying school this year and are sometimes surprised when I say we're done for the day.
Friday is a more relaxed day. We get creative with art, do some light table work like handwriting, snuggle up for our read aloud, and go for a nature walk. This will change when we head back to Florida and we join our co-op again. We miss them so!
How do your days look? Do they change every year? Every semester? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants?
No comments:
Post a Comment