6:30am Adults' Bible study at dining table with Jeff
7:00am Kids get up. Dress kids.
7:15am Have a shower while Jeff feeds kids breakfast, then put on first load of washing
7:30am Jeff leads Circle Time (Bible story/Song/Prayer/Memory Verses) and I take over when he needs to leave
7:45am Directed Play*
8:15am Read Aloud
9:00am Get out school materials while kids have Individual Play Time
9:30am Big kids: Reading and Writing lessons / Little kids: Watch Playschool on TV
10:00am Morning tea, then Morning chores while kids play outside, if there's time go for a walk/bike ride with kids
11:30am Lunch
12:00noon Read Aloud / Sam begins his nap
12:30pm Quiet Directed Play* / Abigail begins her nap
1:00pm Maths
1:20pm Science
1:40pm Class Time (Alphabet and Counting recitations, Dolsch word list flash card drills, Map identification for Continents & Aust'n States)
[Anna can stay for as much of the Ma/Sc/CT as she feels like, then begin her next activity whenever she gets overwhelmed]
2:00pm Mummy Time / Big Kids: Quiet Time alone, looking at books, resting or quiet free play eg dolls or Duplo.
3:00pm Folding / Big kids: Watch Playschool on TV
3:30pm (Little kids up from naps) Craft, perhaps based on Playschool ideas, as researched prior on website.
4:00pm Tidy house and prep dinner / Kids afternoon tea, then free play outside
5:00pm Bath kids
5:30pm-ish Mummy Time / Kids play with Daddy
6:00pm Dinner
6:30pm Ongoing Read Aloud
7:00pm Jeff put kids to bed one at a time while I continue to read to others
Then: Evening chores, evening activities
9:30pm Adults' Bed time (except Mon and Wed - TV time)
* One evening a week (or perhaps Wed afternoons during Mummy Time) I will be planning out the week ahead of time. At this time I will be choosing which activities to do with the kids for Directed Play.
I've used some CM ideas in making this (short lessons, including lots of read aloud time) as well as things I learnt when I trained as a Children's leader for BSF (such as alternating physical activities with mental ones), common sense (working out when I could do my housekeeping chores alongside the kids' activities) and of course suggestions from my husband (compulsory Mummy Time during the little ones' naptime, having us both sit down together to do our daily Bible study, regularly scheduling craft time). I have high hopes for this schedule, but of course a schedule is only as good as the woman who follows it!
On Wednesdays we'll be going to BSF in the morning and so we'll just be getting ready and leaving straight after breakfast, with no Circle Time. We'll have lunch with Jeff as we did in first semester and be home in time for Mummy Time. We won't do Reading/ Writing/ Maths/ Science/ Class Time on Wednesdays, because the program at BSF involves listening and speaking skills and large and small movement, so they get their "school" time then. Once we get home, however, we'll be back to the rest of a regular day.
Friday, 18 July 2008
Semester 2 Schedule
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5 comments:
I'm curious: What is your seasonal schedule? That is, how are your school semesters organized and when does the school year begin and end? We go mid-August to early May, a nine month school year with brief holiday breaks at Christmas and in March.
Looks like you have a good plan for semester 2. I suppose that many of the classical method resources are perhaps too American to be of use to you (Veritas Press; or my favorite, Tapestry of Grace; etc.). Are there some similar resources that are more Australian or British-based? It sounds like you are crafting your own mix of curriculum right now and, of course, primary grades are more focused on reading/writing/math skills.
Nice to see you posting again! Glad you enjoyed your break...
Mrs. Edwards
Ooh! A compliment. I'm glad you missed me.
Since you asked, I will endeavour to post our year schedule separately.
You are right about the American focus of many resources, especially those to do with history. I have looked into ToG - a friend uses it - but in the later years it becomes unsuitable. For the "grammar" years (early primary) I have finally decided to use Story of the World 1-4 and then spend a year on Australian history in (Joshua's) grade 5 using a resource developed by an Australian classical home edder, Linda, of Adnil Press, (Link in my LH side bar) called "Australia... the wide brown land for me".
~ Sharon
Have you allowed any time in your schedule for the kids to do chores, and you training them in this area? It takes some one-on-one time at first, but it is surprising at how well they can learn to complete simple cleaning/tidying tasks. You might want to consider having the older two help you sort and fold the laundry as a starting point. Working together makes it more fun and you can help them learn how to fold various items as you go.
This is what all my children - who can walk! - are currently capable of doing to reasonable standard, to give you an idea. They don't each necessarily do all of these things every day, but it is what I have somehow managed to train them in!
Daniel (6.5) make bed, set/clear table, wipe table and placemats, unpack and load dishwasher, dry simple dishes, clean bathroom mirror and sink, sort and fold laundry (just learnt to '2 person' fold sheets), sweep floors, use the dustbuster.
Hannah (5) make bed, set/clear table, wipe table and placemats, unpack and partially load dishwasher, dry simple dishes, sort and fold laundry (just learnt to '2 person' fold sheets), sweep floors, use the dustbuster.
Elizabeth (3) make bed, set/clear table, wipe table and placemats, unpack dishwasher, sort and fold laundry.
Sarah (21 months) make bed with help, set/clear table with some help, help unpack dishwasher.
We will be working at including 3 'job' times in our schedule during the rest of the year. They are becoming quite diligent in the mornings, we just need to train in some other areas for afternoons and before dinner. We'll see how it goes!
Bec :-)
Looks like a good plan! I just finished up our daily plan for this year, to include our 5yo dd who will be in K. I am nervous about this as she required intense 1 on 1 time and gets frustrated VERY easily.
I am trying to keep the lessons short but not sure how to do this with Math (usually at least 45 mins) and Story of the World (seems to take to long in a sitting). Your idea about having many small pieces of Read Aloud time is great - I think I will rethink our schedule in that way (I had it blocked out in one block - if this length of reading puts ME to sleep, then it must be too long for them as well, right?) and break it up throughout the day.
I have liked SOTW and will use is again this year. You can do lots of activities with it and read lots of extra books, or do the minimum reading and coloring sheets depending on your time. I do have to add Biblical history separately, however.
Keep up the good planning work!
Andrea
Aah Rebecca, you know me so well! Of course I forgot chores. Well, actually they already do some of these but I didn't write them in the plan. At the moment everyone cleans up their own dishes from the table (rubbish to the bin, crockery and cutlery to the sink). I could definitely teach Josh to wipe down the table while Anna washes the cutlery and melamine kids crockery though. I am also teaching them to sweep with the dustpan and little broom under the table (I know it's carpet but the vacuum's too heavy to get out for every little crumb). I could be a lot more systematic about getting them to set the table. Maybe I need to have a look at your chore pack on Wednesday?
They're also all responsible for putting their own dirty clothes in the washbasket/ washing machine. Joshua dresses himself from clothes left on the end of his bed and so does Abi sometimes. Anna likes the attention of having me there to hand her each item before she puts it on, otherwise she dithers. Sam - well, he lifts up his feet while he hands me his socks and shoes, does that count?
I have tried to allow enough time within the schedule to focus on getting the kids to take responsibility for getting out their own school and play materials and putting them away again, but today was pretty hectic and the kids are a bit shell-shocked at having a structured day again. I think my major task for the first few weeks will be getting them to approach their tasks with a positive attitude. "School" just requires so much more from them than "holidays" - but then they've been whingy as a result of lack of structure over the hols anyway.
So thanks for the reminder. I think I'll talk to Jeff about what chores we should assign the bigger ones to do and when, because they could definitely handle more focus in this area of life skills.
~ Sharon
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