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I've been spending hours pouring over the different schedules on the schedule thread and finally put something together similar to Carrie and Julie's schedules. In the past I have tried to do things like this, but then would get "off" by 15 mins., or so and then scurrying to know what to do now. Eventually, I would get so "behind" that I'd have to give up. So, I'm asking the question here before we start this again, to see if there are any answers. Worded a different way, what if my schedule is this?

10:30 Read about Hist. & rotating box
11:00 Dictation (Preparing)
11:05 Poetry, Grammar (Preparing)
11:20 Spelling or Grammar (Beyond)
11:35 Math
12:00 Writing
12:30 Dictation and Grammar (RTR)
12:55 Spelling (other Beyond child)
1:05 Lunch

What if our Hist. discussion time is great and it goes a bit later. Then I've missed dictation. I'm 5 mins. behind - Dictation at 11:05 now? Say my little one needs some redirected during Dictation, so it takes me 10 mins. Now it is 11:15 and I'm starting Poetry and Grammar. Sometimes my kids will have extra "brainstorming" on Poetry Titles and then my son does not understand the Grammar lesson, so I have to slow way down and try to teach it a different way. Let's say it takes 25 mins. for these two subjects this day. So now I'm starting Spelling/Grammar at 11:40. At this point, I'm really messed up. Do I just skip the Spelling/Grammar slot and do it later in the afternoon sometime? Do I try to "cram" everything into less time? Do I try to keep going as is and then break for Lunch at 1:25 p.m.? Those of you that are successful using a schedule like this, can you please tell me what you do? Thanks.

Basically if I get behind I assess my schedule and see why I got behind. Sometimes I have to shift things and push things out to get done on a weekend day. Other times, I just keep lunch at a specific time and we break at that time and pick up where we left off after lunch. I try to actually build slack into my schedule. I work from home so sometimes I do have to abandon the schedule all together .... AACCKKKKKK ... but we survive. I don't add anything in with HOD so I find my kids just get more breaks earlier rather than later. And if we have to do school when dad comes home, oh well. My husband will help if I need him to help also but we haven't needed it lately. The one thing thought I do prefer my husband to do is the Bible box. So my husband does my oldest bible box with her and it is hit or miss lately with the youngers if he does it. But if we get behind, I will do my best to stay calm and keep working.

I know that cramming things in does not work for us because it causes so much stress on everyone. Don't know how your kids respond to rushing, but for us, it does not work.

So, after several years of struggling with this, I finally settled in to a loose time schedule. I leave extra time and after about six weeks in to the guide, I reevaluate. If we are regularly going over or finishing early in one area, then I need to make adjustments to our schedule. I wait about six weeks before evaluating because in the beginning of a guide EVERYTHING takes us longer. I try to keep everything in the order planned and in the time, but some days, we just get really interesting discussions. OH, and LUNCH is always the same time because hungry kids make grumpy kids in my house.

Nealewill wrote:But if we get behind, I will do my best to stay calm and keep working.

Great advice!! Truly wish someone had given that to me when I started this homeschooling journey...especially the calm part.

4Hispraise wrote:I know that cramming things in does not work for us because it causes so much stress on everyone. Don't know how your kids respond to rushing, but for us, it does not work.

I heartily agree! I just spent 2 days working out a new schedule (it looks wonderful on paper ) It is hard for me to make it all work with so many children still at home, schooling. The only place I can do it successfully is on paper I usually do not get everything done that I planned and sometimes get discouraged, but then I remind myself (multiple times, every-single-day) to just keep moving forward. Even if things don't go as planned, they always go better if I have a plan. Sometimes I feel like Dori in "Finding Nemo." "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." Hang in there! You are not alone.

It seems like we get "behind" almost every day. One thing I do now is I have longer blocks to work with a specific child. For good or bad, my Preparing child has almost all of her T and S boxes that she needs help with in one block first thing in the day. Very short and unrelated things like dictation I squeeze in whenever, right before or after lunch or something, but in general it is one long block with each child. Now, that won't always solve it if you do get delayed with someone, or have a discipline issue, or another child needing some interaction unexpectedly or whatever. You just can't always plan for those types of things. When I had a by-the-minute schedule I had at least 10-15 minutes of flex time through each 3-4 hours or so. There was a break and if for some reason we over-ran our time on something that would just eat up the break. Another thing I had to do at one point was motivate my oldest for her independent time was give her a reward she really wanted if she got it done quickly AND well. She would get 15 minutes of computer time while she was waiting on me to finish with her sister if she got done first. Or she would love free reading time too, because she doesn't get that until school is done usually.

My philosophy was to go ahead and break for lunch when it was scheduled and then try to make up for whatever might have gotten missed after lunch. Again eating into free time or time for other things that the child may have/need if possible.

I make a schedule (and would be lost without it), but I don't schedule in times for that very reason. I have side-by-side blocks listing what each child is doing in each block. If my one-on-one time goes a little long with child A, child B just has a longer recess or, in the case of the older child, might actually get a recess because he is usually doing independent work. We start early (around 8 - 8:30am) so I am usually good just going with lunch when we are done, whatever time that happens to be. I try to have a quick snack ready in case someone gets hungry. If lunch were an issue, we would just continue after lunch (which would be a real incentive not to dawdle in our house because my boys are used to being done with school and free after lunch). For us, this method is stress free because A) we are on a schedule and our schooltime is not chaotic and disorganized
B) we are under no time constraint to get done in 5 minutes

I would also add that I have followed Carrie's advice over the years and just do what the guide says without any extra or prolonging. Now, if my child has questions that is fine, I will answer them, but I don't drag it out at all.

I would take your schedule and do things in that order, but break for lunch at a certain time and either pick up the list at that point to finish or start with those items the next day (so the same things aren't getting skipped every day).

I do this. I make a schedule of the order of events and the time for lunch. We do our best, but with 7 children still at home and a business we own, life is not always predictable. If you are calm and peaceful and work hard during the time God blesses you with, what more can you ask? (No, I do not always attain this! But, it is my goal to grow toward.) The Bible promises us that the sweetness of lips increases learning. It is hard to be sweet if we are plowing through school.

We make a schedule allowing extra time, then follow it more like a routine. As we get farther along we get a little faster thereby taking less time. Mid-year I reevaluate and make any changes needed. Always adding more time into schedule/routine than expected.
It just gives them an extra break or two, or allows them to start on another subject sooner. Depends on what we need to get done besides school.