The road to success is always under construction.

This was our first week of our second year of homeschooling.  I have to tell you guys, it has been AMAZING.  I know it is just the first week, but I'm thrilled with our new schedule (and I'm sure that is going to blow up in my face for bragging about it).

I'm the type of person who wants to work on one thing, until I'm completely done and then move on.  Last year, I was trying to push the kids to "get done, get done" and trying to convince them to multitask and read during breakfast or practice math facts during lunch.  We were all stressed and angry and we staggered across the finish line in May, beaten and bloody.  

This year, I've decided to be much more intentional with our schedule.  I've always known that homeschool doesn't need (and probably won't) to take as long as a public school day, but I felt really rushed that we HAD to get done sooner.  I created a Google calendar and blocked out our school hours.  I've scheduled breakfast time, lunch time, a study hall, and assigned periods to all of our subjects. 

I decided that the kids should get up at different times, to prevent a bottle neck in the bathroom and kitchen each morning.  This kicks the day off without the sibling squabbles that have plagued us in the past. 

I've also blocked off an hour of time for morning activities, including breakfast, dressing, pet care, etc.  They can chose to take that entire time and eat a leisurely breakfast or watch TV before school or whatever or they can chose to get right to work and get on with their day.  I don't say a single word to them about school until the scheduled start time.  That also gives me time to work one on one in subjects that require it, while the other is eating breakfast.

I've scheduled each subject for 45 minutes.  If the kids get done with something early, they have the option to take the rest of that time as free time or move on to the next subject.  Spelling is a particularly good example of this, because I've scheduled it for 45 minutes but it hasn't taken more than 15 yet.  So far, they've been choosing to move on to the next subject and get done, but if they don't that's fine too.  

The other thing I've done is schedule an actual lunch break.  For 1 hour, they can do what they want (no electronics), except for 10 minutes, that I made them go outside and do something that isn't sitting on their butt in front of a screen, I've been calling it "recess".  I don't ask them to do other things or try to work during that time.  They can take their time and cook their meals, eat a reasonable pace, and spend the rest of the hour relaxing, if they want. 

At the end of the day, they have a study hall time, where they watch  CNN Student News and do 30 minutes of free reading.  They can use the rest of the hour to continue reading, complete subjects that didn't get done earlier or do an art project or study (spelling words, math facts, upcoming tests). Basically, it is quiet time and takes the place of "homework time" from public school. 

Their days start at either 8 or 9 and if they decide to take all the free time, our day would end around 4.  It is a long day, but includes a lot of down time, if they want or need it.  Because they've been choosing to keep working, our day has been ending around 12:30. That is about when I'm happy ending and gives us plenty of time for afternoon activities and classes.  

I know when I started looking at scheduling our days, I read dozens of blogs and none of them had a schedule.  They all talked about the "flow of the day" or their "routine" but nothing that said "here is our schedule" so I'm saying "here is our schedule, for your inspiration". Homeschooling doesn't have to be "school at home" but I need a solid schedule I can count on and my kids do so much better with clear expectations for their time.  This puts them in charge of how much or how little they get done, in a time frame I am comfortable with. It is the illusion of choice, like when they were toddlers and I'd tell them they could wear either outfit A or outfit B!

MT's Tuesday/Thursday schedule looks like this:

8-9 Breakfast

9-9:45 Spelling

9:45-10:30 Science 

10:30-11:15 Social Studies

11:30-12:30 Writing

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:15 Math

2:15-3:15 Study Hall

Monday/Wednesday/Friday switches French and Reading for Science and Social Studies.

WF's Tuesday/Thursday schedule looks like this:

9-10 Breakfast

10:00-10:45 Spelling

10:45-11:30 Science 

11:30-12:30 Writing

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:15 Math

2:15-3 Social Studies

3-4 Study Hall

Monday/Wednesday/Friday also switches French and Reading for Science and Social Studies.  

So far, everything has gotten done, with no fussing or fighting.  The kids are in charge of their time and I'm not constantly rushing them to hurry and get finished.  I've said several times that they have the choice to keep working or take a break, so they are reminded that I'm not the one forcing the issue.  

Meeting with the teacher

I emailed TB's teacher the other day because I had some questions about his report card. At the end of the first quarter, he was a level 6 in reading. At the end of second quarter he was an 8. I emailed to ask what that meant, where he should be, etc. When I dropped him off the next day, I got told "it is time we had a meeting about his reading. Don't worry, it isn't all bad" Um, ok, seriously not confidence inspiring because that seems to indicate that it is mostly bad. I had my meeting yesterday after school.

First she told me that the end of second quarter benchmark is a level 10 and he is an 8. However, he is 93% accurate at level 8, so he isn't grossly behind. His word test score was 16/20 for knowing sight words. His writing vocab (they give them words to write in 10 minutes) was 41 (43 is grade level) and his dictation (copying sentences) is 28/37. Nothing, in my mind, is tragically low. A little behind, sure and obviously we don't want him to fall further behind but nothing to freak out over, like her "don't worry it isn't ALL bad" suggested. She told me this morning that he qualified for reading recovery so he will go a few days a week to work one on one with a reading teacher, who will help him get back on track. He did RR last year with a different teacher and it was great for him. He did something (I thought it was RR but apparently it was reading support or something and was small groups, not one on one) with one of the teachers (who was a first grade teachers and the one he most desperately wanted for this year) and that is the best part of his day. He just adores her and I have a feeling he will be sad when he finds out he won't be seeing her anymore.

The other stuff she wanted to talk about was the fact that he doesn't stay focused in class. Ok, first? 7 year old boy. Anyone that has met this child knows there is no keeping him still. Second? The classroom is so cluttered and there is so much stuff everywhere that during our meeting, I felt my attention roaming. I'm an adult and it was a topic that I cared about and I STILL couldn't maintain focus because there was so much stuff (and there weren't even any kids in the room, it was just stuff), how can they expect 7 year olds to manage it? She mentioned that she was having him evaluated by the school's OT for his cutting (apparently, he doesn't cut well, looks like it was done by a 7 YEAR OLD to me, but what I know, my training ends at 5) and for his inability to sit still. Apparently, they have these rubber air filled pillows that the slightest wiggle makes kids feel like they are moving alot so they don't have to move as much to get the wiggle sensation. That keeps them in their chair and less fidgity. After the evaluation, I will talk to the OT and see what she recommends. I'm all for helping him but OT slaps a special ed label on him and I'm opposed to lables. We'll see.

The final issue was partly his lack of focus and partly his reading. He isn't doing his work in class. He doesn't want to do it, he can't read it to understand how to do it, so he just isn't doing it. He says that no one will help him when he doesn't understand things and I told him that if he doesn't understand, he is better off not doing it, than learning it wrong (because the stuff he gets wrong, doesn't get corrected, they just hand it in and it comes home in the folder so the kid has no feedback about is and isn't working). It seems like he has taken my suggestion to the extreme and isn't doing any work. She is going to be sending home the things he doesn't finish as homework. My issue with that is I feel 99% of the paper he touches in a given is just crappy busy work and I wouldn't make him do it. I've decided to pick and choose what I will make him do. Handwriting practice sheets, reading and math all get done (mostly, some of the writing stuff is just garbage) other stuff, I really look at to see if it is something that I see value in. His "daily sheets"? They are nothing more than a ploy to give the kids something to do in the morning when they first come in while they wait for the rest of the class and for everyone to get organized and settled. And I refuse to force him to do busy work at home. He is plenty without it, thanks.

Out of all of this came a new afternoon schedule. The rest of our day is fairly well schedule, why not those 2 hours in the afternoon? From now on, we play at school for about 20 minutes (if at all possible, weather will sometimes impede this), then we come home and have a snack and watch TV until 3. At 3 pm, all electronics get shut off (yes even the adult's, which nearly killed RF this afternoon) and we have homework/reading time. TB can do his work and read his books. MT can either look at books quitely or I can read to her (I may throw in puzzles or quite drawing for something else for her to do) and I can read my book. At 3:30, it is chore time. We all get up and clean something. Even though MT doesn't have chores she has to do everyday, there is always some mess she made that she can pick up during that time. TB can do whatever his "chore of the day" is and I never lack for things to clean, unfortunately. At 4, we can do something else (actually, if they get done with the chores earlier, then we do things earlier). Today we went in the backyard and played in the snow. I built a sad little snowman and we had a snowball fight. Other days we will go to playgroup or FCC or parks (if spring would ever come) or whatever. Something active and unstructered is going to be the name of the game. That is going to force me to drag my butt out of the house every afternoon but I'll deal with it.