Spring School Planning: The Last Push

I find spring an invigorating time to do school planning. CCE is over for the year, freeing up our Fridays. Our routine should now settle down for a couple of months of steady school before taking time off for the new baby's incorporation into our family.

I will share some changes I've made or am hoping to make. Please pray for us as on Monday we get back to school after two weeks' off!

Thank you to Confessions of a Homeschooler for all the schedule templates I have used this year.

Mama's Schedule: Spring 2017

How Mama Got Her Nap Back

When the toddler combined two naps into one, perhaps six months ago, I began a campaign to re-train my four-year-old to do Quiet Time after lunch. Joseph had long ago dropped napping entirely, but once I had Thomas taking one long nap right after lunch, I wanted to teach Joseph how to stay in his room quietly for one to two hours.

This campaign took a couple of months and my committing to laying down with Joseph on his bed. I discovered quite by accident that if he lay still for 15 minutes (because he was snuggling with me), he would fall asleep for a real nap, after not napping for more than a year! This made for a much happier, calmer boy for the afternoon and evening than the one I'd been dealing with.

After a while, I no longer even had to lay with Joseph. He is now completely accustomed to Quiet Time right after lunch and no longer fights me daily like he did those first months. I read him one story--a fifteen minutes with me that he treasures--turn on his Bible CD (Truth & Life Dramatized Audio Bible), and leave: he naps most days, or he plays quietly.

This allows me to get off my feet for 60-90 minutes. I have been preparing for this point in pregnancy and here we are: I can teach school only for the mornings and must get off my feet by truly laying down to rest. Then I do not resume teaching school in the afternoons, but do housework most days and start cooking dinner by 4:00.

This has required training the older kids to do assigned work during Quiet Time (instead of just playing, which leads to fighting, which leads to Mama having to get up). I used to teach important subjects after lunch, so I moved all those subjects to the morning. I've been requiring the top three kids to read assigned literature for 30 minutes after lunch, which they've been doing for a month now. We're almost done having tussles about this new part of the routine!

Starting this week, Stage 2 of the older kids' new routine is that I expect them to complete their independent desk work after the half hour of reading. I want to remain in my own Quiet Time while the second and fourth grader do their independent work (which would take only one hour if they actually focused). I anticipate a lot of training for this new part of the routine.

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
6:00-7:00	Exercise	Exercise	Exercise	Exercise	Exercise
10 mins. minimum	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal
	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
8:30am	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket
9:00am	Teaching Kindergarten	Teaching Kindergarten	Teaching Kindergarten	Teaching Kindergarten	Teaching Kindergarten
9:30am	Cont.	Cont.	Cont.	Cont.	Cont.
10:00am	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History
10:30am
11:00am				Latin: oral drill with John	Giving Latin quiz
11:30am	Mama: IEW Composition	Mama: IEW Composition	Mama: Fix-It Grammar	Mama: BF Geography
12:00pm	Lunch	Lunch 12:30 ETD	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1:00pm	Quiet Time	1:00-1:50 P.E. at YMCA	Quiet Time	Quiet Time	Quiet Time
1:30pm	Cont.	Cont.	Cont.	Cont.	Cont.
2:00pm
2:30pm
3:00pm

The Fourth Grader's Schedule: Spring 2017

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
10 mins. minimum	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal
	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
8:30am	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket
9:00am	Piano practice (45)	Piano Lesson (30)	Piano practice (45)	Piano practice (45)	Piano practice (45)
9:30am	Cont.		Cont.	Cont.	Cont.
10:00am	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History
10:30am	Latin: DVD lesson	Latin: 2 worksheets	Latin: 2 worksheets	Latin: oral drill with Mama	Latin: quiz with Mama
11:00am	Math: TT	Math: TT	Math: TT	Math: TT	Math: TT
11:30am	Mama: IEW Composition	Mama: IEW Composition	Mama: Fix-It Grammar	Mama: BF Geography

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
12:00pm	Lunch/Outside	Lunch 12:30 ETD	Lunch/Outside	Lunch/Outside	Lunch/Outside
1:00pm	Reading literature (30)	1:00-1:50 P.E. at YMCA	Reading literature (30)	Reading literature (30)	Reading literature (30)
1:30pm	Introibo (5) Balt. Cat. (5) Spelling Math facts	Cont.	Introibo (5) Balt. Cat. (5) Spelling Math facts	Introibo (5) Balt. Cat. (5) Spelling Math facts	Introibo (5) Balt. Cat. (5) Spelling Math facts
2:00pm	Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry (10) Read science (10)		Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry (10) Read science (10)	Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry (10) Read science (10)	Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry (10) Read science (10)
2:30pm				2:30 ETD
3:00pm				3:30-5:00 Scottish Dance

The Second Grader's Schedule: Spring 2017

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
10 mins. minimum	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal
	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
8:30am	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket
9:00am	Violin practice (45)	8:45: Violin practice (45)	Violin practice (45)	Violin practice (45)	Violin practice (45)
9:30am	Cont.	Piano Lesson (30)	Cont.	Cont.	Cont.
10:00am	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History
10:30am	Math: TT	Math: TT	Math: TT	Math: TT	Math: TT
10:45am	Piano practice (45)		Piano practice (45)	Piano practice (45)	Piano practice (45)
11:30am	Mama: IEW Composition	Mama: IEW Composition	Mama: Fix-It Grammar	Mama: BF Geography

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
12:00pm	Lunch/Outside	Lunch 12:30 ETD	Lunch/Outside	Lunch/Outside	Lunch/Outside
1:00pm	Reading literature (30)	1:00-1:50 P.E. at YMCA	Reading literature (30)	Reading literature (30)	Reading literature (30)
1:30pm	Balt. Cat. (5) Religion 2 (5) Spelling Math facts	Cont.	Balt. Cat. (5) Religion 2 (5) Spelling Math facts	Balt. Cat. (5) Religion 2 (5) Spelling Math facts	Balt. Cat. with Mama (5) Religion 2 (5) Spelling Math facts
2:00pm	Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry (10) Read science (10)		Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry (10) Read science (10)	Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry (10) Read science (10)	Grammar sentence (5) Penmanship sentence (5) Recite poetry to Mama (10) Read science (10)
2:30pm				2:30 ETD
3:00pm				3:30-5:00 Scottish Dance

Kindergartner's Schedule: Spring 2017

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
10 mins. minimum	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal	Holy reading 5-point prayer Journal
	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
8:30am	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket	Morning Basket
9:00am	Kindergarten with Mama	Kindergarten with Mama	Kindergarten with Mama	Kindergarten with Mama	Kindergarten with Mama
9:30am	Kindergarten with Mama	Kindergarten with Mama	Kindergarten with mama	Kindergarten with Mama	Kindergarten with Mama
10:00am	Snack History	Piano Lesson (30)	Snack History	Snack History	Snack History
10:30am	Piano practice		Piano practice	Piano practice	Piano practice
11:00am
11:30am				Mama: BF Geography
12:00pm	Lunch/Outside	Lunch 12:30 ETD		Lunch/Outside	Lunch/Outside
1:00pm	Reading literature (30)	1:00-1:50 P.E. at YMCA	Reading literature (30)	Reading literature (30)	Reading literature (30)
1:30pm		Cont.
2:00pm
2:30pm				2:30 ETD
3:00pm				3:30-5:00 Scottish Dance

Kindergarten Subjects

Rotate Through What We Can Do in One Hour

Phonics

Spelling

Math: Right Start lesson

Math: drill

Penmanship sentence

Bible Story

Piano practice (~20 mins.)

Read literature (30 mins. During Quiet Time)