Oh, the whistle has me laughing!
Not a bad idea - that could be heard over just about any noise - and our house can get a little loud!
We do start at the same time every day. I'm a stickler on this because starting late means getting done late, no matter how I try to make up time, and that throws off our whole day. I do have all of them start with something independent, so I can get myself together too.
After that, we stick to the order of the schedule more than the time. I have become careful about not going off on big bunny trails as I'm homeschooling more dc. Carrie has been careful about keeping each of the boxes to about the same time increments. So, Storytime, for example, will usually take about "x" amount of minutes, etc. This makes things soooooo much easier than other guides I've used when I could suddenly be hit with a real time stealer all of a sudden.
It's helped me to help the older age learn to use the guide. Then, if I'm finishing with the little one, the older one can look at what comes next and get everything ready to go. Occasionally, they have to be patient and wait a tad for me, but not too often. Patience is a virtue, right? I've found this is much easier than to have them go on to something else because then when I finish with little one, older one is in the middle of the something else and does not want to stop and go back to the other thing he was in the middle of. Clear as mud?!?
Initially, I give each child a folder with the time, the name of the box, and the location of where they are supposed to be on a one page sheet in a clear plastic sleeve they can check off. They like this, and I like it teaches them the order of the day, so they are not constantly asking, "What's next?" And, they do have the dawning that it is 10:00 and they are half an hour behind, which = getting done later. This helps them manage time better. Here's an example of the one I used for Bigger Hearts:
After about a month of using the checkoff, they don't need it anymore, and I don't make them check it off anymore. HTH!
O.k., so I don't have a whistle - but I do have a close second... the timer! The timer is my friend. I love the timer because it teaches them that this is about what 15 minutes feels like, this is about with 30 minutes feels like, etc. They don't get this at first. 15 minutes seems like 5 minutes to them, and they need to get a better concept of the passage of time. Twirling through the kitchen, staring at the bird out the window, and daydreaming about the snack they're going to have can take 15 minutes of time, and they don't have a clue it even passed! So, the timer counting down is a nice reminder time is indeed passing, and when it rings I will indeed be coming to see what has gotten done. It keeps ME on track too. I think, "I've got about 20 minutes to do this, so that phone is just going to have to ring, and they'll have to leave a message". I try to have the team effort approach to this rather than an angry disciplining tone. Like, "We've got 10 minutes left. We can do this, no problem! Let's do it!"
One last thing I've learned, the more routine things are the fewer questions and the less time is stolen by those questions. For example, we ALWAYS did reading on the couch last year. Wyatt always did grammar at the dining room table. The boys always played with the toddler down in the basement until I called them up (again, a good idea to have the timer set, or I could be in la-la land with the child I'm working with). We even always had cereal for breakfast on Mondays and Tuesdays, Poptarts for Wed., etc. All of this really helps cut down on discussing every minute little detail. We're more spontaneous in the afternoons, but during school, we are all about getting down to business, while still enjoying it to the fullest.
I hope something here helps!
In Christ,
Julie
