Sunday, August 21, 2011

Our Schedule (so far)

Not Back to School Blog Hop

We were planning on starting our school year on September 5, to give more time for prep. and all that. But I figured I had all the curriculum, and we were probably as ready as we'd ever be. So this last week we started school!

Here is the basic schedule for our day. But we're pretty relaxed about things, so if we need to adjust times it's not a big deal.
Kids get up between 6:3- and 7:30. We have breakfast, get dressed, make beds and brush teeth.

8:30--Start of the school day with handwriting. For the most part it's pretty simple and hopefully as we get into the year a little more, the boys shouldn't need our help quite so much with it.  At this point, dd *A* is playing with dollies or something.

9:00--Each boy does a few math pages. So far they've been doing pretty good with this, and I am finding out more about each one's learning styles. *DS2* you just show him the page, he tries to figure it out by himself and once you explain what to do, he's off! *DS1* is so smart, he could probably read the directions himself and do it, but gets very easily distracted. He needs someone with him every step of the way, keeping him focused and praising his efforts. If I were to just put the sheet in front of him and explain the directions and expect him to complete it...we'd still be waiting for him to finish at lunch time.
**After they finish their math pages, we have a break. The kids can play with legos or toys upstairs. This is my time with *DD1* also. We have read books, put blocks in the shape sorter, played with little matching tiles, etc. She loves attention of any kind.

10:00--Bible. On Mondays we read our bible story and lesson. While I'm reading, the boys are coloring the coloring sheet that goes with the lesson. *DD1* also has a little wipe-off book she can color in. The following days have activities and games that reinforce the main point of the lesson. This is one of their favorite classes so far, which is exciting.
11:00--We have either science or geography. This is a very relaxed class. For science this week we did a few pages in a dinosaur sticker/learning book. The boys LOVED it. We also have one about animals that we'll be using. We'll be learning about our bodies (muscles, bones, organs, etc.), and also doing some very basic, introductory sex ed.
For geography we'll be using our Little Passports as a base and learning about the country for each month. This month's country is Brazil, so we'll be looking up books about Brazil at the library, maybe color the country's flag, and make a recipe familiar to that country.
**This is where *DS2*'s day ends, since he's just in kindergarten. He was given a set of BOB books for his birthday that we started on, and he is SO excited that he can read the book by himself. He has a great phonics base from preschool that is proving to be a huge asset this year.

1:45--The 2 younger kids go down for a nap after lunch, and *DS1* has 3 "English" classes left.
First we work on spelling, which he is loving right now. He loves segmenting words and has breezed through the first 4 lessons in one week.
Next is language/grammer, which is focusing on nouns right now. This is a pretty simple class, and he likes that there is no writing to do in this class. :)
Finally is writing class. He has been learning what makes up a complete sentence...capital letter at beginning, period at the end. This is a bit tough for *DS1* since he loves to write everything in capital letters, but it's been good practice for him.

Then we're on to dinner at 5, baths, pjs, stories and winding down for the night. I shoot to have the kids in bed around 7pm.

So, this is our day so far. The formal learning part of our homeschooling. We also figure that every moment of every day is a chance for learning, so we'll be throwing in tidbits of knowledge where ever we can.
The kids have been having fun so far, loving that they can play in the backyard on recess, and be in the comfort of their own home. I love this part of homeschooling for them, although it is harder to complete my to-do list each day.

I love to see *T* loving to read.

3 comments:

  1. Love it! My oldest is the same way...so easily distracted.

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  2. Oh! I hear you on the distractible kid! My oldest is that way with his math, especially. He gets it, no problems, but he'll take an hour to do a worksheet if I leave him with it. :sigh:

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  3. Thanks for sharing! I am trying to get caught up on reading about everyone's day. :)

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