I did just want to pop-in and mention that I have read MOTH and have implemented some of those ideas and really liked them. We just couldn't stay on board with the switching every 30 minutes thing at our house. We do enjoy short lessons, but we actually do more of a flow-chart schedule here at our house.
So, while we do start on time every day, we flow from subject to subject in order rather than on the clock. I am watchful not to let a subject go way too long, but we do pick up where we left off after returning from appointments, recess, lunch, etc. We do strive for forward motion every day, otherwise we can really dawdle at our house.
I also try to make sure that we have our day in 3 chunks. In this way, chunk 1 must be completed by recess (and I try not to have recess get too late or it makes my whole day run behind); chunk 2 should be completed by lunch (even if we need to move lunch later to accomplish this); and chunk 3 gets finished after lunch.
I schedule almost all of my formal teaching in chunks 1 and 2. Chunk 3 is usually reserved for fairly independent tasks for my kiddos. I am not as watchful on how long it takes my kiddos to finish chunk 3, so if they want to dawdle some there, I'm not pushing them. In this way, I really only have to gear up for the morning and am mostly done by lunch with my teaching. Then, I'm just helping and guiding, which I can do easily while watching my toddler.
Blessings,
Carrie