heartofdakota.com

I'm so excited because I have finally come up with a schedule that works for both of my oldest kiddos. Even though we started school two weeks ago, our schedule got messed up when we first decided to switch DS from Beyond to Little Hearts, and then he got very ill (landing him in the ER Monday night for dehydration). We were back up and running this morning and it feels great! So we are now finally on schedule to finish Unit 1 of both Little Hearts and Little Hands on Saturday! Whew!

I have found what works best for him is to start with math and phonics to get them out of the way. Those are the two subjects he struggles with most; not because they are too challenging, but because he has a tendency to drift off. After those subjects I try to schedule the next several boxes so that there is a good mix of fun and concentration. The last two things we tackle are Storytime and the Rhyme in Motion (though I should mention we didn't do the RIM today because I felt it was too soon in his recovery). DS gets too worked up when we do too much action in the beginning of the day. When we save that for last, it gives him something to look forward to, and gives him a chance to "shake his sillies out" (as they say in Yo Gabba Gabba) at the end. I did decide to try to include my DD in Storytime, and to my delight she is following right along. And since Little Hands doesn't require a lot of concentration, she gets her sillies out with her brother's Rhyme in Motion, and then we tackle her school time while he goes off to play.

Being an organizer by nature, I LOVE that this is all coming together so nicely.

I am so happy for you!!!

That's great!! I'm glad to hear your ds is feeling better too. It's such a blessing that we can be flexible with homeschooling. You never know what will come up! Blessings to you and your family.

acts29stl wrote:That's great!! I'm glad to hear your ds is feeling better too. It's such a blessing that we can be flexible with homeschooling. You never know what will come up! Blessings to you and your family.

I was just thinking about that. Had he been in traditional school he would have missed almost a week. So glad I can pace things to fit our life.

Way to go, MamaPajama! It's so easy to throw our hands up in the air when adversity comes knocking, but you just relied on the Lord and worked your way through it. I hope your little one is feeling better now. Working with a schedule, paying attention to what's working and what needs tweaking, and moving some things around as needed the first few weeks or so really goes a long way to making the entire rest of the year go smoother. With little ones (i.e. babies and toddlers), it always seems like their things need to be slightly adjusted mid-year for me too, but usually that's without much change needed for the olders. I'm so happy for you that you've found a schedule that works for your family!!! Also, it was nice you shared how you figured out which things to put first and how to move things around, as these are the type of changes often needed that other moms (like me )can glean wisdom from as they put together their homeschooling days too.

In Christ,
Julie