School is taking all day…

Tia,

Yes, I do think that is typical.  It certainly doesn’t look like you’re overloading anyone and it looks like you’re allowing plenty of time for each subject so that you can be relaxed rather than rushing from one thing to the next.  I often have to remind myself that the teachers in a CM school were dealing with kids all on the same level and didn’t have any babies or toddlers running around, laundry to move from washer to dryer, lunch to prepare, etc.  It does make for an awfully full day for mom, even though the kids are getting plenty of downtime as you pointed out.  Are you okay with it taking all day?  Or were you looking for ways to cut it down?

I only have one suggestion.  It doesn’t look like you’ve scheduled any downtime for yourself during the day.  In our house, that is essential.  If I don’t have an hour to myself in the afternoon, I am really not a pleasant person to be around.  Every day from 1:30 to 2:30, everyone has to have quiet time in their rooms.  I can’t stress enough how much this helps around here.  It gives us all a chance to rejuvenate for the late afternoon and evening.  

I’ve got older children and my 11 year old is doing a fair bit on his own this year.  I am wondering if you couldn’t save yourself some time by working through all subjects with one child before moving on to the other.  That’s what we do.  We spend between 30-45 mins per day on one-on-one studies.  For example, my 3rd grader will do his PLL lesson (usuallly orally), copywork and some reading aloud (him to me) within 15 -20 mins tops.  Then we do math.  Once I’m comfortable that he has it, he finishes his page on his own while I move on to the next child.  We don’t do every subject every day, (my 3rd grader: Cursive 2x week, PLL 3x; Copywork daily; reading aloud is Science, History or Lit depending on the day/week.  We are using MUS and I rarely teach a math lesson to each of my children more than once or twice a week) so that helps some, and I’ve found too many transitions just take too much time.

Tia – My kids are the same age as yours, 8, 6, 4 and then I have a 2 year old.  We haven’t started our full schedule for this year, but here’s some things I did last year that might help to shorten your schedule.  I’m not sure what math program you use, but we use MUS and so because both of my olders are learning math facts right now, every lesson is pretty much the same in terms of concepts – just different numbers.  So I have them do math at the same time as my 4 year old.  I work with her on the Primer – it seriously takes all of 5 to 10 minutes for her and I’m available if the older ones have questions, but most of the time I just have to remind them to get out the blocks or give them some prompts with the story problems.

Also, I spent 30 minutes with my four year old and then had my older girls each spend 15 or 20 minutes with her, and that left me time to work with the other older one on handwriting or grammar.  We also cut out a morning snack.  I had it scheduled in at the beginning of the year and it was too distracting, so I’d tell them to eat up at breakfast and then made them go to lunch.  Once we’d gone a few days without having a snack their stomachs stopped insisting on one.  On the days where someone is really hungry, I’ll let them grab a banana or apple if they finish a subject early during that mid-morning time.

Not sure what flash cards you’re doing with your 6 year old, but could you have your four year old do them with the 6 year old.  My 4 year old knows all her numbers so if they were addition facts she could easily hold up the card and know if the 6 year old said the right answer.  We also use the computer for math drill AND map drill.  Both programs are free and self-checking.  My 8 year old learned all her states AND capitals in 2 or 3 months – now she knows most of the countries in Africa. 

And finally, I don’t do read alouds for literature.  We get audio books from the library and listen to them in the car.  I MAY start another one that I read to them at bedtime or perhaps have them do a handicraft while I do a read-aloud.

I’m a little nervous about this years schedule as it’s pretty tight with a 2 year old that may not be napping in the morning like she did last year.  But right now I still have everything slated to be finished by noon – with the exception of my 8 year old practicing piano.

I hope that’s encouraging to you, it may not be if your curriculum requires more parental involvement than mine…. if that’s the case – just ignore me! 

Blessings,

Rebekah

You’ve gotten great advice.  One thing was thinking of was somehow shortening the math time. We use Math-U-See and I generally just work w/a kid on the new concept day…we watch the video together and I get them started on the first few problems. They generally do most of the rest on their own and I’m available for qu. 

Maybe reading aloud or audio books during breakfast or lunch?  Or this might not be possible w/your curriculums, but maybe doing history 3x/week and science 2x/week might help the schedule a bit? Or read alound at bedtime w/dad? Just my .02:) Blessings, Gina

Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think children this young need History, Science and Nature Study every day. I think you could easily rotate them or do History and Science each twice a week and Nature Study once a week. The only subjects I would cover daily would be Bible, LA, Reading, and Math.