As we enter our 4th year of homeschooling, I have
a pretty good idea of what works for us and what doesn’t. I am extremely Type A and would prefer to
have every second of every day scheduled out and planned. I’ve learned over the years, however, that
having that mentality doesn’t seem to work well with reality since life with
many children is unpredictable at best!
We start our year in the summer and have been in school for
about 6 weeks. Our basic schedule
rotates around a simple morning routine on 4 days a week – eat breakfast, get
dressed, do tablework. For us, tablework
consists of handwriting, math, grammar, spelling, and catechism. This usually takes about 1-2 hours for both
children. Then we generally take a
play/snack break and then read from our morning basket for about an hour. Our morning basket consists of literature
selections for each child, books related to the things they are learning in our
various co-op classes, bible, saint of the day readings, and fun books from the
library. We are still trying to figure
out a time to add in Gabrielle. She is
officially PreK this year and is begging to learn how to read, do math, etc. like
her older siblings. So far, we have been
giving her little worksheets and projects to do while the older kids work. Last week we had a morning when the older
kids picked up their free-read chapter books right after breakfast and I had
about 30 minutes to work 1 on 1 with Gabrielle.
I might continue trying this out at least a few days a week. Also, depending on the weather, we have been
walking across the street to the park to play for a bit either before we start
school or after we finish.
This year, we are doing all of our non-table subjects
through co-ops. It makes it easier on me
to spread the subjects out to other teachers rather than just having it all on
my shoulders. We are continuing with
Robotics and Toastmasters (on alternating Monday afternoons) with our Jr. FLL
Team. As a group, we also decided to do
a few other classes together, so we are also doing history, art appreciation,
and science together this semester (on Thursday afternoons). Next semester we will continue with history
but switch to music appreciation and life skills (sewing, cooking, etc.) We are also continuing with our co-op through
our church, which is on Wendesdays rather than Fridays this year. Gabrielle is doing Five in a Row with her
PreK/K class, and the older two are studying science, STEM, and U.S. Geography
in the Fall (N.M. Geography/History in the Spring). In addition, the kids begin music classes
this year on Saturdays. Michaela is
taking Piano, Rafael Guitar, and Gabrielle a beginning music class. The two older are also continuing with the
children’s choir at church on Wednesday afternoons and Homeschool PE will be on
T/Th starting next month.
It sounds terribly busy, but it is actually quite relaxing
to be home all morning and get out a bit most afternoons. And more than anything, it is what seems to
work well for our family.
Here is what our schedule looks like. Other than classes/co-ops, our times are not
exact. We go with the flow and change as
needed.
Thanks for reading!
