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Do you script/plan your “breaks” and play time?
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Trying to find the balance between having a relaxed day, but also not too much freedom where too many breaks are taken in our school day. Right now we school from 8am to 4pm but that’s because we take big breaks between all our subjects.
Did CM write about schedules and time? What do you allow in your breaks during school time? Do you have set hours of the day that is school time? Do you tell your kids what to do during a break between subjects, like listen to audio book or play with legos? Or do you give them free time of their own choosing?
I think I have been giving too much unstructured breaks that it distracts from our learning day and adds confusion to my kids of when is rest and when is school while we are at home. Then it seems as if I have to wrestle them away from playtime and back into the school mindset whenever I do the next subject of the day. I was thinking a more sctrict and structured school day might help??
Maybe this is one of the habits I need to teach my kids that CM talked about? If so what habit would it be exactly?
I think that you have some good insights about how things are working at your house.
At our house, we work first and then play. We start at 10 am, lunch from 12 to 1 pm, sometimes longer, and finish around 3 or 4 pm. Lunch is our break. After schoolwork is snack and free time. I give them ideas if they say they don’t know what to do, otherwise they know the house rules for what is allowed.
We figured this out by trial and error. A break during school didn’t work for us.
One of my sons needs to play first, before he can do schoolwork. He watches the toddler in the mornings, and does his schoolwork in the afternoons.
You got this!
I plan larger breaks. We have a few hours of free time in the afternoon, before dinner. We also have an hour at lunch, so when they finish eating and clear the table, they have 30 minutes or so. After dinner is free time, except for 20-30 minutes before bed when we have a family reading and devotion time. We take a couple 10-15 minute breaks during lessons, but I don’t like planning them ahead. We take them when I sense my kids need a break or when my preschooler needs a few minutes with me. It works out.
We don’t have a strictly timed schedule, but I try to estimate how many subjects we can fit in before lunch and how many after. Sometimes I move things around or we skip a subject or two if we run short on time or get a late start.
We try to school work done before lunch so the afternoon is free. Our days usually look something like this:
Breakfast, clean up kitchen, dress, grooming.
School for oldest, free play for my other kids, or read with me because my oldest can work independently.
Lunch (sometime between 12 and 12:30l, clean up from lunch.
Free time. If the house is really bad we do some extra cleaning in this time. Otherwise, it’s free time. Now that it’s warmer, we’ve started going on hikes/nature walks again. 🙂
Dinner, clean up.
Free time/play with Daddy.
Read scriptures, get ready for bed, read-aloud, bedtime.
We have a morning session of school, then they all go outside until lunch (this allows the toddler time to play outside with the older kids since she naps all afternoon). Then right after lunch we go right into after lunch school items, which is followed by free time/rest time, snack with one more school thing (hymn study, board game, poetry teatime or free writing) then more outside time until dinner. My oldest (10yo), does school 830-1030, then sometimes a bit more chores if he didn’t finish them earlier, then after lunch he does piano practice (15-20min), writing (10min), and then has free time. I have a list of “free time activities” that my older 2 can choose from (10 and 8), including handwork, puzzles, writing, drawing, etc. My 6yo plays in her room during this time as if we let her out to have free time, she would talk us all to death! Eventually I hope to get her there.
I know we don’t spend as long doing formal school as others do, but my kids make good use of their free time following their interests, and it works for us. I have worked a lot on the balance! They are learning every day and enjoying what they do.
For us (and really for me) I much prefer to have school finished by lunch (usually 11:30) which allows for free time and play in the afternoon. So we don’t take too many breaks during school, just get those focused lessons completed and then move on to free time. I really dislike dragging out school, wamt to be done and have my free time too 🙂
As for free time I do not structure it. They know what they have available and do all sorts of things. Play games, build with glue gun and craft sticks, go outside, build with play dough… Sometimes I will suggest we go for a walk or play a game all together, and other times I let them work on their own masterly inactivity skills 🙂
Thanks for sharing and all of your replies. I also found the free ebook about “Masterly Inactivity” and read that. It was helpful. A question… what sort of boundaries do you put in place for your kids to have masterly inactivity?
I’m bumping this to see if anyone has thoughts/ideas on masterly inactivity. It sounds like we have similar struggles. My neighbor is actually teaching my girls this year (she has a small group of homeschoolers for whom she serves as a tutor). We just needed a reset. There have been positives and negatives about the year, but I think my girls have learned to work more independently and that school time is school time. I’m hoping to have this carry over to them being back home after this school year is over. If they got up and started playing, it took forever to get them to stop (they’d oftentimes have very creative play going on so could also be hard to convince myself they needed to stop). If I allowed am unstructured break, they’d be near impossible to get back to work. I think I am the largest part of the problem bc I can be wishy-washy in my thoughts- “Maybe the creative play is better right now. They can do school later.”, “Ugghhh! I’m tired (don’t feel well, etc). Maybe we should hold off, so I don’t get irritated.”, “Well, it can’t hurt to watch this educational show. We’ll get on track after.” & on these lines of thought go. I also have 2 very persistent girls and one who is great at arguing/debating things, so I struggle between not getting into the “debate” (i.e. letting them do what they’ve asked) & getting into the debate (not that I debate it truly, but I say no and they keep on until I get angry- yell & dole out consequences, which is again a me issue bc I need to just give the consequence as soon as they try to engage the debate or persist). Mine are almost 12yo and almost 9yo. So, I’d love to have a clear plan for myself and for them, especially for those days I don’t feel well (migraines typically). I think if there was no debate to be had…the plan is the plan and other things are not an option…we’d all do better. We did a technology fast, and they just knew there wasn’t any technology so there was very little asking, debating, or arguing to do what was off limits.
I am in no way an expert or even a CM purist/expert 🙂 but from what I have read and been learning, I don’t get the impression that CM was a “relaxed-do-school-whenever” educator. I get the impression that she had a schedule, a pretty set schedule of short, focused work, and within that schedule school was completed. Upon completion of school that is when “free time” came up for all the extra things. A mix of schedule and freedom. And I might have it totally wrong too as I have no read all her writings (just starting to work though them), just learning as I go.
I am a big fan of schedule for school. When it is school time, we do school. There is no wandering off to play or dawdling because I want to have my free time too, LOL. The kids have simple coloring books with their school books, if they need help but are waiting for me, they can color while they wait, but they don’t wonder off to play during school time.
Now my 1st grader’s school is going to go much faster than my 6th grader so when he is done with all his work, he will play quietly as the older kids finish school. He does not sit there the entire time just waiting, but they don’t leave school things until their school is done. That said… I stay with them. I do not wander off either. It took “training” for me too 🙂 I don’t do cook a meal, clean the house, write emails… during school time. I am trying to do my best to lead by example (not always successful but I am working on it). I want them to understand that with focused attention and doing their best the first time things will go smoother and there is more time to do what they really want to do.
When it comes to free time and “Masterly Inactivity” I think it will look different for every family and child, same as our school day will look different than others. For my kids Masterly Inactivity is learning how to be creative and play on their own with out entertainment, but really just looking around and using what they find be creative. For the past two weeks my kids have been working on a play that they came up with. We have a very simple house, but they are finding props and all sorts of things, on their own, to create their play scenery and props. It is a lot of fun, but yes can get messy at times, which is fine as long as they keep it contained. For us that is Masterly Inactivity, at least at the ages they are at.
I know for our family it really starts with me. If I am with it,focused, prepared and ready for the day the kids do so much better. But if I am distracted and not staying with them they will be distracted and have a harder time. I remind myself that HSing is really like a job. When I worked my employer would not have been happy if I had just wondered off during the day or spent time browsing online or emailing… my employer wanted me to be focused and do the best I could. I need to treat HSing in the same way because that is what my kids need. They are almost like my customer and I am there to serve and help them succeed and I don’t do that well when I am not present in body and mind.
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