Saturday, August 11, 2007

Master Schedule

I did it! Despite my fears, I made a master schedule. As mentioned in the last post, I really hesitated doing this because of my tendency to want to follow it to the letter. But I am determined to use this schedule as a tool and not allow it to become a noose. (Thanks for that wording and insight, Trivium!) Lots will change in this schedule I am sure, but at least it is somewhere to start.

5:00am - Crazy wake up time, I know. Honestly, it's the only way I can see fitting running back into my life again. This summer I have been so entrenched in research and planning for first grade I have put running on the back burner. I need to make it a priority again. I love to run; I need to run. All those happy hormones (aka. endorphins) are truly addictive. Plus I just signed up to run the Houston Marathon on January 18th.

6:00 am - I have decided to try waking Thatch at 6:00 each day to start school - a full hour before his brothers get up. Thatcher is like me, an early bird, and the second his eyes pop open he is ready to go. When I mentioned this to him, he loved the idea of having mommy to himself for an entire hour before the little ones were up!

7:00 am - Our "Morning Routine" includes the basics: make beds, get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast and clean up. I am also so excited about our "Family Huddle." In September we will start working through Leading Little Ones to God with dh each morning. We'll also include a morning circle time where we pray for each other and our day.

8:00 am - Math is Thatcher's favorite subject, and because we have to do some subjects while the little ones are awake, I chose math for this block. He has the best chance of staying focused - even with brothers all around! I will need to be creative getting the younger ones involved in something when we do flash cards and other math memory work.

9:00 am - This is when I will choose reading material for Thatcher to work through on his own. He will read for 20-30 minutes and we will record all finished books in a simple reading log (date, title of book, author, favorite thing about this book).

10:00 am - Once Beckett goes down for his am nap, we'll have a little more freedom - even if it only lasts 90 minutes! We'll work on our presentation book for the week as well as read a section of whichever chapter book we are working on at the time. We will use the remainder of this block to catch up on any work not completed earlier that morning, for outside playtime (once the weather cools down) and for me to make lunch.

12:00 - Lunch

1:00 - I am still waiting for Homeschool Buyers Co-op to announce the deal they have been working on with United Streaming so we can start foreign language. On non-United Streaming days we will review and learn more through songs, games and videos.

2:00 - I need to blog about roomtime; it's a great thing! My boys play independently in their rooms for 30-40 minutes each day. They look forward to it and even ask for it some days! During this time I will still have the baby but I will try to get as much picking up and cleaning accomplished as I am able - and still have a little fun time for just the two of us!

2:30 - Once the little ones are asleep, we will conclude our school day with history or science.

4:00 & 5:00 Dinner preparation and eating

6:00 - "Family Time" is nothing official or even planned out - just time to hang out, rest and be silly together.

7:00 - During this block, one thing I want to try is to complete Thacher's read-a-loud. Previously, I read to him from 8:00-8:30. The new goal is that all evening chores are done - run dishwasher, fill coffeepot, floor swept and mopped, cabinets wiped down and read-a-loud completed - before we put the boys down at 8:00. That will give me one hour to spend time with dh, plan, or just read a great book before I go to sleep.

8:00 - Bedtime, glorious bedtime!

9:00 - I wish I was one of those people who didn't require much sleep. Unfortunately, I am a person who requires a lot of sleep - eight hours will do but nine is optimal. It is imperative I am in bed at 9:00 if I am to get up at 5:00 to run.

*** Other notes -
  • I deliberately blocked more time than Thatcher will need for many subjects. I have learned that, for now, he works better in 30 minute spurts with lots of physical activity and play in between. As soon as work is completed and gone over with Mommy, he will be able to play for the remainder of that time slot.
  • I "prepare" dinner all day long. Anytime I have five to ten minutes I head to the kitchen to chop veggies, prepare sides that can be reheated, set out all ingredients I will need for the main dish, make a sauce and so on. That way when it comes time to actually cook dinner I can usually have everything on the table in less than 30 minutes.
  • I may switch the 8:00 and 9:00 blocks so he doesn't have so much reading all crammed together. We'll see how it works.
  • For now, I do all my house cleaning and laundry on Fridays. Once the little ones get a little older and more independent, my plan is to change this. I would love to do one load of laundry a day but right now it just isn't happening. I don't know if I will ever change cleaning my entire house at once though - I just love having everything clean, even if it only lasts ten minutes!
  • I just caught a mistake on the schedule: for the 2:30 block it should say M, T - history and W, Th - science.
Okay, Monday we'll put all this into play and see how it works. Yipee!

5 comments:

my5wolfcubs said...

I really appreciate you typing all this out! I can relate to parenting/teaching a distractable child who has lots of siblings! Last year I bought 2 desks at IKEA so my girls could have a quiet place to work undisturbed without being climbed on or otherwise interrupted. That has been very helpful. Looking forward to reading more as your year goes on!
Lee

Lisa~ said...

I know just what you mean about crazy wake time! I have to do the same thing.... or things just won’t get done.....

It’s a great schedule! I need mine! I don’t always follow it to a T.... life happens.... but I need mine as a basic guide for my day.... keeps me on track!

I look forward to more posts!

Great Job mom!

Lisawa

Anonymous said...

What program did you use to type out your master schedule? I want a schedule just like yours! : )

Maria

Jennefer said...

Maria

I am so excited to say that I used Excel for the very first time. Dh had to teach me how, but I did it (mostly) by myself! Yea!

I can email you the template if you would like - you can tweak it to fit your own needs!

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.