How to Manage Your Time in Homeschool and School at Home

Well, we are about to start a new week of school, and I thought I’d give you a glimpse into what goes on here, especially on Mondays!

 

We keep a little later schedule than we used to.  Daddy works four days a week at his job, and he doesn’t come home until after 7 most nights, and some nights are later.  He does have Fridays off, so that helps make up for the long four days.  He leaves by 8:00 am, so the days are long without him.  The biggest change to time with Daddy that came with our move to the new house was that we are no longer close enough to Daddy’s work for him to come home for lunch every day.  We started out trying to keep an earlier schedule, both for the children getting to bed, and for rising in the mornings, but then they didn’t get to spend much time with Dad on those four days, and most of it was spent chasing them back to bed – not a fun way for Dad to spend his evening!  So, we’ve moved bedtimes, and rise and shine times later.  That’s probably more than you wanted to know, but it helps explain our rationale for letting our children sleep until 8 am! 

 

(I used to think it was bad to let my children sleep later than 7, after all the kids that go to ‘real’ school have to get up much earlier than that!  What would my parent’s think?!   Etc, etc.!  Well, the Lord has given me peace about wrapping our schedule around Daddy’s, and we are doing much better in many areas because of it!) 

 

Back to Monday – Well, the children wake at 8, we have breakfast at 8:30, and are starting with our Bible time by 9:30.  This is the start of our time together, and we move right into school after Bible time.  We do whatever we are doing together – for the last week, we have been working on memorizing a poem for Columbus day and we haven’t gotten it all memorized yet, so we are going to continue that this week.  I also like to do a picture study on Monday, so we will do that next.  We have some pictures related to Columbus, so we are going to continue that this week.  (I’ll tell you more about those next time!)  Then we separate for a bit, and I work with the youngest students and we do phonics and math together, as well as handwriting and copywork.  The older students begin their stuff they can do on their own – which is surprisingly much!  My 6^th grader is doing everything else on his own, I just come in for help when he needs it, and I keep up with reading his work and checking on his math scores (they are on the computer!).  The same happens with my 9^th grader.  She comes to me with questions, and I am guiding her assignments, but she is really taking charge of her education.  Not all days are easy for her, but it’s neat to watch her get her own rhythm with her learning.  She will have great study habits! 

 

After we are off on our own for awhile, we will sometimes come back together for art, nature study, music or composer study, or review what we are working on memorizing.  The youngest students are done with their work by 11:00 or so most days, so they play or watch a video (sometimes educational!) while the older ones work elsewhere in the house.  (What a blessing this house has been!  We actually have room to spread out!)  We eat lunch at 1:00, and we are done with school for the day.  My 9^th grader usually has something she needs to finish up, and she’ll do that during quiet time in the afternoon – which we all have for at least one hour!  Then we spend the afternoon pursuing other interests, doing chores, playing outside, and I’m also working at making sure we all work together on supper preparations.  This is new for me, and it is working out very well!  We eat supper at 6 pm or so, and our evenings are spent pretty much together as a family, until the youngest are in bed at 9:00. 

 

Ok, I just read this over, and it sounds like all our days are peaches and cream.  Really, this is the ideal schedule I have on paper.  We haven’t done a full day just like the schedule says, ever, in the five years or more I’ve been using a schedule, but we still benefit from having a schedule!  We have done at least part of the schedule every day, and all parts have been done as the schedule says, just not all on one day!  There are always interruptions, Dr. appointments, unplanned errands, discipline issues that arise, and little ones just don’t know how to read a schedule!  But the schedule keeps me grounded, and when I am unsure what to do next, I look at the schedule, and we jump in where we are! 

 

Our schedule is shorter on Wednesdays, as we leave for AWANA at 6, so everything needs to run a little earlier that day.  Friday is the day for planned errands, so the mornings are spent at the library, and a run to a store, usually.  Friday afternoon is for piano for two of our girls, and so Daddy and the others spend that time together working outside, usually. 

 

This schedule has seemed to suit us for now, and I’m sure circumstances will change, and our schedule will change with them.  The key has been for me to not feel like the schedule runs my life and I have to try to keep up with it, but the schedule serves the purpose of taking the decision making burden off of my shoulders.  It gives me an easy guide when I can’t figure out what to do next.  I just look at the clock, then at the schedule, and I jump in at the current time.  This also helps the children not have to pester me with the question “What do I do now?”  They can look at the schedule for themselves and know what to do!  I am looking forward to when they can ALL read the schedule!

 

Well, this was a long post, but I hope it gives you some ideas about how to set your schedule with enough structure to guide your day, but enough flex to keep you from getting stressed out!

 

I would love to hear from you about your schedules!  Share what you do that works, and warn about things that don’t work at all for families!  We are moms, and we have so much to do, and we have taken on the education of our children on top of everything else.  This is a monumental task, but it can be done, with the Lord’s help, and with our firm commitment to do the best we can.  Our children will reap the rewards!