Ummmm... how about not. How about I have tried to schedule, I have tweaked and changed. I have made complete new ones and than overhauled the whole system. I have implemented and planned with military precision. I have failed and dropped to the depths of planning "H*LL", I know you know that place. I have done it all, I have tried it all.... I have failed too many times. I hate failing. I hate having to "try something new" I hate coming back and saying here is what I am going to try... because it SHOUTS TO THE NATIONS... FAILURE. It doesnt shout, "hey looks at this well organized machine, who has it mostly together and because of her organization she is completely on top of every situation."
IT SHOUTS.... "FAILURE".
Anybody feel that way? Anybody with me yet?
But.. yes there is a but.
I know I should have a schedule, I know that I am a child of an organized God and I am made in HIS IMAGE. I know that as flibbertigibbet as I can be, I SHOULD be organized and can be. I have the mind of Christ. I can do this.
So I will implement another. I will try something else? I will go another route, hoping and praying that this one sticks. Or at least that I stick with it long enough to see if it works for us. That is the crux of the matter, truly! It is not generally the routine that doesnt work, it is me that doesnt work the routine! It is my fault. I am to blame ( this is where the failure part comes in, just in case you couldnt tell)
okay so enough blubbering about failing.. onto the new schedule.
Since our cable is now a thing of the past... I am hoping to spend some of that used time for other things. I said hope! Since I cannot wake up and literally turn on Fox news, I can get up and make breakfast every morning without having to run to the TV to yell at Harry Reid for the billionth time! No really I dont do that all the time, and I do make breakfast most mornings but I do sometimes get sucked in by Fox News and now that wont be a problem. :)
I will to use lunch time which was sitting down with the kids everyday, then hubby started coming home and he would turn on Fox news and we would sit in our room with our lunch and the kids would sit at the table. Now, not to be mean I am with kids like 24/7 and I really enjoyed this time with my hubby because it was adult time and we talked and discussed. It has been very pleasant! But now it will be we all sit at the table and I hope to implement some school time into this, not everyday but some days. If I have lunch ready when hubby gets here than I have about 35 good minutes with him. We could eat and play a game or do some school work with Dad.. Like I said not everyday but most days.
The 4:00 slump? Does anyone else get the 3-5 o'clock slump? I know some people must because there are commercials about it. My slump generally means quiet time for the kids, which is much needed. For me it means sitting in my room watching the Barefoot contessa and folding clothes. Both necessary in my book. But now no Barefoot contessa! So I think it is the time of the day I am going to get out. This slump time will now be my running errands time. The library, post office, dry cleaners, grocery store for quick runs etc. I understand that it should be earlier so things are less crowded but my past history TELLS me that I rarely get school done very well during the slump if I have taken off the morning for errands. So I will stay true to what I know and simply schedule school around the slump! The errands will get me out of the house, it will get my errands done and I am more likely to stop at the park if I am already out and about.
Dinner, I will implement as many healthy crock pot meals as humanly possible, or at least put the casseroles together in the morning to pop in the oven come dinner time. I do better in the morning and when I realize that it is 9:00 and we are dressed, breakfast done, kitchen almost clean and dinner is already "made", I just want to break into song! So I am hoping to have more of those days!
I am going to limit my outside commitments, this year I have AHG, Bay shore support group, field trips, book club and other outside classes. I will not do this next year... I have pretty much officially decided NO AGH next year... Bay shore will be limited to one field trip a month and pretty much not participating for any other day minus parties, I will limit field trips to mostly things we are specifically studying and a few special activities but be more conscious in my planning and how often or close together they are. I do believe in hands on so I will NEVER cut field trips but I will simply make sure that I am really getting something out of it and make sure that I am not leaving the house too often. Matt will continue boy scouts but that is at night and does not affect my school time for the most part. I want the kids in a church activity- like awanas so that will take a priority, but again it is at night. Bookclub is still a priority with me, so I am still thinking on that!
We will be volunteering more as a family- which we have stepped up this year too but I want to do even more. This will however take time and I want to be careful of it not always replacing school work but doing it as a family in the evening or weekends also.
7:30 wake up family
8:00 breakfast
8:30 clean up (kids) make dinner, prepare for day (me)--- Daddy leave for work
9:00 start school -preparation/ memorization work/ grade math
9:30 kids seatwork (math, explode the code, spelling- if new teaching for each is not needed)
10:00- switch off time
2 kids go do chores for 10 minutes, I get 10 minutes one on one time with each
student going over seatwork, then we will switch. I might need more time for this but
we can tweak it.
10:30 break
11:00 history or science depends on day history MWF and science TT
11:30 me go start lunch, kids finish up any work on their own and work on seatwork if needed
12:00 lunch Dave home- game or school talk at table
12:30 clean up break
1:00 book club reading, read alouds etc.
1:30 writing/ handwriting/ Emily's Learning language arts thru literature
2:00 Bible
2:30 finish up any thing not done
3:00 errands if needed/ quiet time/ park time
5:00 get home/ finish quiet time or prep for evening activity if needed or next day
5:30 laundry/ clean up/ dinner prep
6:00 eat dinner
6:30 clean up/ begin baths
8:30 kids bed time
I have to work on schedules for when I am gone all day like for ahg, it isnt working well for me this year, but I cant simply drop out mid year or at least I dont want to! I will bring the kids school work with me that they can do on their own as much as possible, we can car school for some thing by using cd or doing reading in the drive time. I dont know what else to do but the kids are going to have to get the basics done at a different time or we might have to simply quit. I am still working this out though. I know everybody who does anything has this problem so please LET ME HAVE IT IN THE COMMENTS... what on earth do you do.
4 comments:
It's just hard!!! I think most of us have the same struggle. I know that when my feet hit the floor running in the morning all things just seem to go better,.... but that is not always what I feel like doing. Mostly, never these days. I think we have to be flexible to that, too. I think we have it in our head that we have to make them do "x" amount everyday and really they will learn so much more than a public schooler will just because they have our one on one individual time. Remember that when the schedule is making you feel like a failure. You aren't failing just by not meeting an impossible schedule. We just have to keep working on it. I have a much older friend that has four grown homeschooled kids and she says that she always battled with being more structured until she dealt with God on that issue and realized that part of who He made HER to be was that more "random" personality.
We do just about nothing. We have one play date a week which has almost taken the place of gym day BUT when it gets pretty outside we WILL be going to parks so that is 2 afternoons a week for playing/friends/social which is fine b/c we don't have any kids in our neighborhood.
We did one field trip a month in the fall but haven't been on any lately b/c of money or the lack thereof.
We go to the library once a week.
We do book club but that's only like 2 times a month if we are lucky. :)
NOW, I know I said we don't do much and then listed all that but do you see that almost none of it is bound by commitment? I mean, if we need to skip or miss we can. We haven't invested money in most of that and it's just flexible. Someone's kid is sick or their husband is off work? No play date. Too busy at home? No library--renew online.
I think the key is not tying ourselves up in too much commitment as in people depending on us and us only. (I'm preaching to you now!):)
BUT, we have karate one night a week and church one night a week and that running plus the daily running plus the errands gets to be too much. I NEED to be home more than that. I almost have it where we are out of the house on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Wednesdays only on book club day. That gives us 2 or 3 days a week at home. Minus errands.
One day, when S's truck dies this will all be a non-issue b/c we won't have a car. Problem solved.
I feel your pain on this one. Last year we were "over-scheduled". I just couldn't seem to get a groove in school, or a routine that reliably worked for us. This year, we quit all activities except dance one day a week. I have to say, we now are able to do the school we need to do. We have a comfortable routine that works. The down side to it is that I feel more plugged in at home, but less plugged in to the homeschooling community. Maybe you really can't have it all, and you really do have to choose? I dunno. I am kinda hoping that eventually I could have both, but so far, it seems like I have had to make a choice.
We are gone three days a week (only part of the day on Mon & Tues) but so far it's working out. I make sure the kids have their readers in the car so they can get that done, and we also take math. While Grace is in Girl Scouts I have one on one time with the boys for math. I have one on one with her when we get home. On Tues, I have one on one with the younger two while Grant is in band, then have the one on one with him when we get home. This seems to work. I put the kids to schoolwork while I'm in the kitchen b/c the dining table is close and we can talk back and forth if they have questions. I save their independent work for them to do in the afternoons while I'm finishing up chores. Like you said, you just have to keep revisiting your schedule as your needs change. Don't feel like you've failed, as your family grows and changes, so will your routine. It doesn't mean you've failed if it has to change - it means you're succeeding at meeting the needs of each of your children in whatever way necessary!
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