Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Routines (Homeschool Memoirs #3)

We keep a Mon. - Thurs. routine at Psalm One School. Friday is our errand/dance day, so we are out most of the day. We used to work library time into our errand day, but the almost-two-year-old brother throws a damper on that. He is not much fun at the library. So we save the library for an evening or weekend where Daddy can watch him at home. That will get better eventually.

Our routine is basically this:
9:30 am: Prayer/Bible Time - we take prayer requests, read our selection from the Day-by-Day Kids' Bible, and discuss the lessons in it. Sometimes we do an activity.

10:00 am: History - we work on projects from our unit study and I read the kids from our read-aloud book.

11:00 am: They have all their other assignments which do not require 100% of my time. I go back and forth as they need help with math, language arts, reading, piano, instrument practice, etc. They can also use this extra time for finishing up any history projects that are still open.

Junior(7) usually finishes around 12:00 or 12:30. Peanut (9) takes about an hour longer.

In the afternoon, we work on science projects (on certain days of the week.)

When they finish school work, they have a list of chores and things that have to be done each day. This list has everything from special chores to brushing teeth. We used to have a short list that had to be completed before we started school. That doesn't work for our family, because we start the school day with prayer and Bible reading. If one person is slow about getting their bed made, it puts us all behind. So now we start school no matter where people are on their list of chores.

The list of chores has to be completed before any fun stuff. No computer time, TV time or playing with friends until everything is done. If we are saving science for later in the day, we don't count it toward the "school work" that has to be done. Sometimes it has to be saved for later because of the little one's naptime, etc.

The chore list is in effect almost every day, even if we are not doing formal school. It gets done on Fridays, Saturdays, holidays, every day but Sunday.

Prayer Request: Our prayer and goal for the year is to have God's peace over us all, and limit the fighting and contention between my older two. "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" Psalm 133:1

6 comments:

  1. isn't it nice when they no longer require 100% of our tiime and we can breathe or even have a cup of tea between refereeing.

    Science Projects are my personal favorite.

    **I just joined the HSBA theme thing. this is fun

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  2. Looks like a great balance even with little ones! We have our share of contention too. If frustrates me. I pray and pray for peace and loving kindness toward one another.

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  3. Enjoyed your blog! It's always great seeing how other folks manage their homeschool.

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  4. We also tend to do our science projects in the afternoon. I love now that my daughter doesn't need me to sit by her the entire time. Certain subjects I can get up and stretch and do a few chores. :) I hear you on the two year old in the library! You're right....it will get better. Have a wonderful school year!!

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  5. Sounds like you have your day well planned out.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting. Have a great week. =)

    Elaine

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  6. Thanks for stopping by. I love the background on your blog!

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