Getting organized...any tips?

[MamaPajama]

This Spring I've been struggling to get through school every day while dealing with a toddler who no longer takes a nap. I feel like I have to choose between doing school, housework and having outdoor time with the kids, and most days outdoor time gets thrown out the window because I just can't do it all. (Side note, the two "big kids" are able to play in our backyard with minimal supervision, but aren't allowed out front without me). We're currently using MFWK, and I have been doing all of our subjects in one sitting because it usually doesn't take very long (maybe 1 1/2 hours?), but the more antsy the baby gets, the less my son pays attention, and therefore the longer school takes. It's gotten hairy and definitely no fun! A friend of mine somehow has a system where all of her kids are done with school by noon so they have the rest of the day to do whatever they need or want to do. I love that idea, but I don't know how to make it work for us.

Next year I plan on doing Beyond with my son and Little Hands with both of my girls (mainly with my 4 year old, but including the little one as much as we can). I have to say, just the way that the manuals are set up (per the sample images on the site) with the different boxes on each page right there in front of you all in one place, I can already tell it will be easier for me to mentally organize than it is with MFW. Does anyone have any advice on how I can physically organize our school things to make it easy to do school in half hour sittings instead of one long sitting? The way I have things now I have to get pretty much everything out to do just one subject and it gets pretty messy. I'd hate to do that several times per day. I thought about using one of those plastic drawer towers to separate different materials, or each child's things. Would file folders help? Binders? ANY advice is welcome!

Oh, and just in case anyone is wondering, we already have toys/puzzles/games for my youngest that are only for school time, but those things can only entertain for so long.

[jenntracy]

I don't know if i can be of much help.

i have, since about January had my DD who just turned 5 try to play or at least keep an eye on the 2yrold (Feb).Sometimes they would watch PBS or a dvd. My son and i would go in his room and try to knock out most of everything he or I had to read; storytime, history reading, bible study, his reading,sometimes the rhymetime (in LHFHG). the other things we could do out in the room with the girls and we would do any extra science usually at her naptime.

the toddler has lots of things available to her, but always wants to do what the big kids are doing. My son totally gets distracted and so do i when interrupted.

Now in the last month i have actually changed things. i do LHTH with my 5yrold first (on the last unit). it doesn't take long and she can do it even with the toddler around. Sometimes the toddler does things with us and sometimes she just kinda hangs out. I jsut seemed to not get my daughter's lessons done before and they take a half hour at most.my son will sometimes do math and handwriting while i am doing LHTH with the younger.

i have found this to work really well. Now the two younger have had my attention first and then i work with my son while they are usually content to play or watch dvd. At 18 months old this would not have worked with my family, but now that the youngest is 2yrs old , it makes a big difference. Today i was so excited when we were done by 11:30am and we didn't get started til about 9:15am. we had time to go outside, which i feel is important, but like you, have had to cut it out if we run out of time.

HOpe that is encouraging. i totally understand how certain toys can keep a child entertained for only so long. My youngest is VERY independent.

JEnn D.

[MamaPajama]

Ha ha! Did I mention I'll also be having a baby in September? No wonder people think homeschoolers are crazy!

Thanks so much for the input! I'm really hoping that between now and the Fall my little one will be easier to handle and/or entertain during school time.

[countrymom]

I recently discovered something that has made things so much easier for me. Although many have said you don't really need boxes the way HOD is laid out, I recently bought one of those plastic file drawers on wheels with 7 drawers (I wanted 8 but couldn't find one). I have labeled each drawer and put the books for that subject in it. Each day after school I go through and put tags in the appropriate pages and get out any supplies needed for each subject and put them in the drawer. For me that includes paper, crayons, whatever, because we don't have a great set-up. This has been huge for me. I just open the drawer and do the box in the book. In a situation where you might not do all of the boxes in one setting I can see the added benefit. It has made my schooling so much easier, I am so happy with it. We also have our oldest work on handwriting while the youngest is doing LHTH. I don't know if that helps, it can be hard with the little ones. I actually usually do most of schooling with my oldest after the youngest goes to bed, which obviously might not work for everyone, but given we are only in LHFHG it has worked quite well.

[MamaPajama]

I recently discovered something that has made things so much easier for me. Although many have said you don't really need boxes the way HOD is laid out, I recently bought one of those plastic file drawers on wheels with 7 drawers (I wanted 8 but couldn't find one). I have labeled each drawer and put the books for that subject in it. Each day after school I go through and put tags in the appropriate pages and get out any supplies needed for each subject and put them in the drawer. For me that includes paper, crayons, whatever, because we don't have a great set-up. This has been huge for me. I just open the drawer and do the box in the book. In a situation where you might not do all of the boxes in one setting I can see the added benefit. It has made my schooling so much easier, I am so happy with it. We also have our oldest work on handwriting while the youngest is doing LHTH. I don't know if that helps, it can be hard with the little ones. I actually usually do most of schooling with my oldest after the youngest goes to bed, which obviously might not work for everyone, but given we are only in LHFHG it has worked quite well.

That's kind of what I was thinking...the boxes. It seems like it would be so much more convenient. Thanks!

[Mom2Monkeys]

I have 3 guides going with 3 kids, plus a 5month old. I have been going through just what you described! Now, I've found something that works! (for us anyway!)

First, we have breakfast and I do a couple of the readings and the hymn from Bigger while we eat. Then we do Wii Fit together.
My 3yo has his school box. I have all his LHTH books in it, the masking tape, and some crayons. I do school with him first.

For my DS6 in LHFHG and my DD8 in BHFHG, I got each a bin with wheels. Each child's box has my guide and all the school books we use now, a pencil, and basic art supplies. DD also has her binder which holds her science experiment pages, science notebook, history notebook, dictation pages, and loose leaf paper. These are all divided with tabs.
When it's school time, we just wheel their box out and it follows us as we change rooms. If we need something we don't use regularly, it's simple to just go grab it. I've got all the other books boxed on the shelf by guide. So the books we aren't using for our current guide goes in it's box until we need it. When we finish one, it goes into the box and the new one comes out.

I'm in the midst of spring cleaning and reorganizing, but this method has been great for us so far. Hopefully, as I organize more, it will be even easier! I got so tired of sending each child to get this book or that one as we moved box to box...now things go much smoothly with everything right there. If I knew how, I'd post my schedule (which has times, but is more of just a routine).

HTH!

[moedertje]

What a blessing to have a little one on the way! It does make life a bit more interesting, but the Lord will give you the grace...
Here is a link from the past on scheduling, hopefully you can find some help in there with having a couple doing school, a toddler tagging along and one on the way!
Success....

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093&st=0&sk=t&sd=a ... +schedules

There are also some great ones on work and file box systems, but the one I had in mind in particular I can not locate at the moment. Maybe someone else will be able to chime in. I use the 7 drawer system, but that is only enough for my "Bigger" stuff.....LHTH and soon in the winter LHFHG will need their own 7 file drawer to keep things organized, so some other systems might work better in the long run.

[ninipelley]

so good to meet other moms whose lives are SOO crazy at home
I have a 6 yr, 4 yr, 18 mth old, and a 4 mth old as well...
and it's CRAZY...
ANY help or suggestions on that topic is so welcoming to us
love this message board