HELP Schedule!!

[mrsrandolph]

HELP ME!!

I worked up a GREAT schedule for my 4 kiddos. But it is KILLING us! Things never get done in the allotted time, kids feels rushed and so do I.

I have an 11 and 10 year old in Preparing. But my 10 year old has some special learning needs, so his level of independence is not where it "should" be, requiring more time of me. These 2 have separate math, spelling (I do AAS) and dictation.

I have an 8 year old in LHFHG who has her own math and phonics program.

Then I have a 6 year old who is going to probably start LHFHG and has his own math and phonics program.

I also do DITHOR with my 10 and 11 year olds.

I CAN'T cram it all in!!!

So, in practicality what it looks like is that every other day, the 11 and 10 year olds get everything but math, spelling, and dictation.

The younger 2 get everything but math.

Then, every other day, The older 2 get spelling, dictation, and math, and the younger 2 get math.

So, we're essentially going half speed, and I don't want to be. We already school year round because I teach art one day a week.

Help??

[MelInKansas]

It sounds like you have a LOT going on with all your kiddos! I'm sorry to hear the schedule is not working for you at all. What are some of the things that you find to be taking long(er) than scheduled? Is your oldest able to be independent in Preparing on the things they are supposed to be?

You said your 8YO and 6YO have "their own math and phonics" so I am guessing these are not the HOD recommendations but something else. Can you elaborate on this? Do you think that is what is making your time so much longer?

I know that we are really burned out right now. We just stopped, and will pick up again right after Christmas. This time of year is really busy and I just don't want it to feel hectic. I am involving my kids in projects, we are doing things around the house, we are spending time with friends, trying to get some exercise, and I am calling this "learning through life." Okay, it's not getting us further through our guides, but I am okay with that for the next couple of weeks. Then we will see, we might still be Preparing 1/2 speed or I may try to push it up to full-speed, it depends on whether I have my energy back for it or not.

[mrsrandolph]

We use All About Reading which is fabulous and not time intensive. What I meant is that they don't do it together as they are on 2 different levels.

We use Saxon math. Math takes about 20-25 min per child for olders and 15-20 min for youngers. But...there are 4 levels of math in our house. Sigh.

It is just a LOT to have 4 kids in what adds up to practically 4 different grades...

[Samuel'sMommy]

I don't have any suggestions as I only have one child. But I can tell you are stressed and I will definitely be praying for you and your family. I'm sure some of these other ladies will be able to offer some great advice!

[MelInKansas]

Right, I understand. With everyone at a different level, you are doing 4X work at least in their reading, math, maybe handwriting or English. No matter what you do, you will have that because they each need to be working on those skills at their own level.

Still, with your read-aloud time combined for Preparing with the oldest two, and the fact that LHFHG most of it takes very little time to get done (I assume) are you supplementing anywhere else? How long would you say it takes you to get through Preparing for example, adding in the stuff you do with each of those kids individually? How much time does it take YOU, not how much does it take with them doing their independent work unless you have to help them with it often. Just curious. I am just starting Preparing so I don't have a good idea of how long it will take me, but I think the guideline is about 4 hours of work (so if you take breaks, etc, then longer).

I remember you saying once that you didn't like having a minute-by-minute schedule. Is that part of the problem? Does the schedule just make it really tedious and too much pressure for you? Is there any way you can use your schedule but take the time frames out of it and would that make it any better, or is it still taking way too long?

Would taking a longer mid-day break and viewing it as perhaps two 3 hour blocks of time help? Or if they don't finish independent work in the first 3 hours, they have to do it during free time or something?

I am working on a plan for something where we do the same amount of time each day, so if something takes a long time (at least if it's not the child's fault that it took a long time) then you still finish at the same time and just pick up and finish the rest of the work the next day. Would something like that work for you?

[Nealewill]

Here are a few things I plan to do as my kids get older (and I have 3 right now at different levels in the 3rs):

As each child begins DITHOR - I plan to have each child reading the same genre. This way I can teach the concept (more or less) at the same time. So my beginning kickoff can be the same for the first day of that genre. And then my teach lesson will at times line up. I am also not afraid to emergency lesson plan either.

As for math, with Saxon I think thee is a lot of review built in? So I would schedule each one's teaching back to back and then once you do their teaching, they can start their worksheet while you start teaching the next child. (So you are teaching one, then that person moves to working independently close by while you begin teaching the next).

For spelling - I can't remember but are you doing both All About Spelling and dictation? I would pick one only and stick with it. It might not save tons of time but it would save some time. I couldn't tell if your older kids were doing both or not but what if you had the olders read their dictation to each other and do it together while you worked on the dictation for the youngers. I don't know if your kids could do that or not but that might help.

For reading - I have my youngers read in the evening when dad comes home if I didn't get to it during the day. I also will have them read to me while I make breakfast or lunch too. I don't listen to my oldest read as much as I probably should but I try to listen to her once a week. If you are having the olders read out loud to you, then I would also recommend having your husband help listen too.

As for history and science, I would just keep trying to get them more and more independent. That is going to be time challenge. Preparing is written for kids to be more independent and there is no way I could get my day done if my oldest wasn't independent with her stuff. I do still help her but she is required to do her stuff alone. If she doesn't get it done, then it carries over to the next day. I don't know about the "rules for school" at your house. But I am not afraid to do school on the weekends or in the evening when my husband comes home. He is helpful when I need him and I am not afraid to use him.

Praying for you though in getting your day done and scheduled well.

Daneale

[mom23]

One thing I'm trying this year-and so far really like it-is to run our guides for about 6 weeks and then have a "reading unit", running a modified DITHOR, for 2 weeks (we also go year round.) During our reading units, I'm trying to get the kids through a genre in that 2 week time frame, so I'm picking my favorite activities, and they're reading at a slightly faster pace. I also have them reading for fun during the other weeks, so occasionally they will start reading a book for DITHOR activities a few days before the reading unit begins if they need extra time to get through it. Our reading units also include Math, Grammar, and Dictation. This frees up our guide weeks because we don't have to get to the DITHOR activities, and, if something urgent comes up we can skip Math, Grammar, or Dictation for a day because we'll make it up in those reading weeks.

I've also moved our Storytime out of "school hours" and scheduled it for bedtime. So far, I'm not liking that move because I never get to it at bedtime! Need to take a new look at that in January, but I know something like that works for other families.

When I ran Preparing it really helped us to set up a type of workbox system. I broke our schedule in to blocks of time and then filled a plastic shoe box with all the corresponding books needed for each block of time. I would sit down the night before and write on post it notes a brief description of the assignment (i.e. what pages to read in CHOW, or what to copy, etc.)-my dd could look in the manual for more specifics, but a brief note stuck on the cover of her book would help her get started with that subject. The boxes helped us keep on track with the schedule because I was working with my younger kids on something that should take a comparable amount of time as something in her Independent box, and when we finished could give her a warning to wrap it up in the next couple of minutes. While I was working with my dd on "T" boxes, I'd leave a fun box for the boys-some blocks, or coloring books, or a note to play a computer game so their time was somewhat structured while I was occupied with their sister. It also worked really well to train my dd in her independent skills. It gave her a nice visual so she (and I) could see at a glance where she was in her day, and her post it notes would remind her what boxes to read in the guide so that everything got done. Hmm...maybe I need to take a fresh look at re-incorporating this in our day as the New Year rolls around, as well.

There are a few things I've tried, but I'm also watching this thread to get advice! Seems like as our family grows and changes our school needs change as well, and it's a race for me to keep up with modifying things to meet our current needs! Happy scheduling to you, and hope that you're able to find something that makes your days easier.