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Doing school only four days each week???
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We have been on a year round schedule for the last 6 years, simply because with having babies, nursing, and sickness, we had to school year round to make any progress.
Now, I am past the little baby/nursing stage, but we are involved with a co op one day each week. I also have to use an entire day to do grocery shopping because we live in a rural area and “going to town” just takes that long with five children in tow!
So, that leaves me four days of school, one day for shopping, one day for house cleaning, and the Lord’s day.
How do you rearrange things to “get it all done” when you only have four days? And then if there are doctor appointments, there are even less days for actual school work! It seems that school is always being displaced, yet I can’t think through how to switch things up or be more intentional about this needed priority.
I have health issues that leave me with little energy, so there are times, like today, that I just don’t have anything left to give to school, so some things get left. Today that was the literature reading and the new science book my two youngest and I were going to start reading.
I try not to be bothered by what doesn’t get accomplished, but honestly, when I look at the big picture, it starts to feel overwhelming because it seems like we will never be where we should be. It feels like we just fall farther and farther behind, yet I cannot see where to cut, where to add, where to draw the line.We have a 5 day schedule and school year-round and take off when we need to. But day 5 is a lighter school day because it is also town day (whenever we need to go somewhere; Dr, co-op, shopping,etc.) Some books are different this day. We normally use CLE math, but use Life of Fred this day. You could use any more independent math supplement this day. SCM Business math done once every 4 or 5 days. Or Mathtacular DVD, extra practice sheets, computer game, etc. Copywork or LA is usually the same still. They take their science or whatever independent books with them to read in the van, waiting room, etc. We listen to a history audio book in the van (SOTW 2 now). We have done literature too. LibriVox is free downloads. And we listen to classical music in the van. So they have a different day than the other three. It is shorter and a welcomed change in the week. But our day 5 could be any day, not just Friday. It is the basics this day mostly.
How about switching some things out every term?
Maybe do Poetry Study for your first term (or quarter or whatever) and then Composer Study for your 2nd term, Artist study for the 3rd…..or something like that.
You could skip reading aloud a literature book and listen to one instead – in the car. We’ve done this many times and it’s amazing how those little 10-15 min. car trips add up to a whole book. We’ve also substituted a Your Story Hour or Adventure in Odyssey audio for various history readings.
This year, we’re watching on YouTube the Cathedral and Castle movies, instead of reading the books.
I know how you feel! This year has been a whole year of playing catchup…(search “lice” on this forum and you’ll see why!) We got off to a rough start. And I finally decided that I just needed to pare down to basics everyday and fit in the feast as I could.
I also started gradually asking my children to do more chores, to free me up to work individually with whoever needs me. And, I’m requiring my girls to do one math lesson plus work ahead every day, so that on days when we can’t do school, we’re at least not so far behind.
Best wishes! And a *hug*.
Thank you, ladies, for your responses and your encouragement. I think I have only used this forum for these types of “help me, I don’t think I can do this” posts. :/
I have been praying that the Lord would just lead me to a peaceful place in regards to our schooling. I have math and sciences set in place. Language arts is finally falling into place as well. History is “behind” but we just keep moving forward. I have found that I can fit in a few of the extra “feast” subjects here and there. I’m looking for ways that schooling is taking place where I don’t recognize it. Those times that my children are pulling out how to draw books, or making all kinds of things out of paper or blocks. Just good old fashion creativity!
I’ve been using our car time for memory work, hymns, Scripture songs, etc. Up until a few weeks ago, audio books weren’t an option, but I’m hoping to incorporate that as well soon.
I think more than anything, I just need to keep hearing that our schedule doesn’t have to fit some mold, that our school can be done our way, etc, etc…again and again!
I appreciate this forum so much in this regard. It’s helped me to come back to principles that I know are right for us and find a settled rest in the face of all the choices and ideas out there that I am bombarded with too often.
Anyway, thank you so much again for encouraging me during another down time! 🙂
Hi! I have 5children too and even though I do not have health issues that I know about, I get tired after a day of going out. I’m in the same boat where we go to homeschool outing once a week and I have to go to the store on Mondays. I’m a pastors wife so we have people over a few nights a week. It can be very overwhelming. I changed my schedule to look like this and it helps a lot.
I try not to go anywhere until noon. If I have to, I do evening school or Saturday school. Sometimes sunday afternoon i get my kids aloud reading in.
700housework/laundry
800 shower/get kids up/make beds
845 breakfast/aloud reading
915-1000
Mon. History
Tues. Science
Wed. Geography/Bible
Thurs fine arts1000
*Spelling Wisdom/Using
Language Well
*Cursive
*CopyworkBreak 15 minutes
1100 Math
1145 lunch
afternoon or evening
Grade level student Reading
hope this helps!?
We school 4 days a week. If you actually do the math that means 180 days takes 45 weeks. But I look at it as if I plan 45 weeks and we miss here and there it’s no different than being absent for public school. Or days spent only test prepping. It is something like only 90-100 actual days are for learning in the public schools so I go with its ok for us to miss a day here and there.
Something that has helped me: I schedule 36-40 weeks of school to get done in 42-45 weeks. That means if we miss literature on day it’s ok.
as for feast subjects, next year I’ve decided I’m going to just put that all in the organizer as one subjects in a rotation: artist, composer, hymn, folk, poetry…that way we just do which ever ones turn it is that day. I find that thirsdays are the most likely to get skipped so our composer kept getting missed but artist on Mondays was not. I think that this will fix that problem.
I hope this help and gives you some new ideas.
We started of with a 4 day week, but it wasn’t working for us. I now do light school on Fridays & Saturdays to make up for it. We at least get to math plus any readings or activities we didn’t get to during the week.
On my “errand day”, we still manage to get in a few hours of school. We have piano right after lunch and they can work on their read alouds while the others are taking their lesson. We go to the library during the lesson (in two “shifts”). I drop two kids at piano teacher’s house, then take three kids to the library. Then I switch kids and repeat. Other days I complete my shopping errands during this time and we go to the library after the lesson. Sometimes I get shopping done in the evenings or on the weekends.
For doctor & dentist appointments, I avoid morning time slots! If we hold off until early afternoon, we have time to fit in a full school day (as long as we keep everything moving or stick to the basics), get lunch, and get everyone out the door on time. When I have appointments in the afternoon, I try to start school 30-60 minutes early. We usually start at 10:00, so this isn’t hard to do.
When we lived farther from town, I would do some “car schooling” with books on CD, composer study recordings, and books in the car. DH is a pastor and would often visit with shut-ins or members in the hospitals on these trips, so we’d read in the car while he visited.
Another thing we’ve done is to ignore the traditional times for school. Two nights ago we did math at 8:30 p.m. Other days we are doing school at 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Sometimes when we get interrupted, that seems to be the best plan. We also start school at 10:00 most days, which gives us plenty of time in the morning for breakfast, kitchen clean-up, and laundry.
My DS just turned 2 and I’ve been hoping to get to some preschool activities. I pulled out my Before Five in a Row book and have been organizing some other preschool materials for him. I decided I’m going to keep these in the kitchen/dining room area. There are so many times where I’m keeping an eye on lunch or dinner, but can easily read him a quick story or get out an activity for him to work on. Since preschool is something that gets pushed aside, I think this will be an effective plan!
I think with homeschooling, it’s a good idea to think-outside-the-box. How can I make things run more smoothly for my family. Am I doing this just because that’s how it’s always been done?
I hope this gives you some ideas! I’m constantly tweaking our schedule to make it more efficient.
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