Step 3: Daily School Schedule 2018-19

This third post in a series explains why and how I schedule our school days.

N.B. This schedule works beautifully when I am well. I should write an entirely separate blog post for what I do when I'm most sick with pregnancy (by which I mean, most of the nine months) or when I am newly postpartum (by which I mean, at least six months of utter craziness).

While I still yearn for a vision of children sitting about the (neat and clean) house, in a quiet atmosphere, pursuing many of their own academic interests and completing their subjects in an order that is perfectly suited to their own tastes on any given day . . . I now realize that is just a dream for us! 

I am now juggling six children, whom I cannot possibly supervise in direct eyesight simultaneously all day. I am juggling outside obligations where we have to be somewhere at a certain time (lessons in music, tennis, dance, online classes, altar serving and boys' programs, choir, and hybrid homeschool classes). I am juggling the fact that we have "only" two school computers and "only" two pianos (in separate rooms)--and I feel exceedingly blessed to have those!--so if three or four children save their computer work or piano work till the end of the day, and then all need the same work station, now the school day is going to drag on for hours more.

Or we will have a "hard stop" to the end of the day, needing to get to an appointment or class, and then numerous assignments do not get completed, leading to an end-of-year with a third of various textbooks incomplete. 

We now must be very organized with every minute of our time if we have any hope of completing our work.

Let me introduce my friend, the Post-It Note!

I used to be able to schedule our time simply on the computer screen, but the last two years, I've actually had to cover the dining room table with colored Post-It Notes to achieve this process.

For homeschooling mothers who are starting to feel like they are drowning, I recommend the Titus2 Management book series. (I do not recommend all their child-training practices, but neither do I reject them all.)

I first read Managers of Their Homes, I believe when I had three children, and that helped me put more necessary order in our day. That was also the period of time when a much more experienced mother rescued me (and my emotional equilibrium) by explaining that Quiet Time after lunch was necessary for everyone and I had to do what it would take to teach the children to stay quietly in their rooms and to coordinate the baby/toddler's nap during that time.

I believe I was postpartum, crying in bed with my fourth baby, when I read Managers of Their Chores and Managers of Their Schools. This revolutionized my home (for the better).

This Post-It Note process also ensures that I do not over-schedule my students with far more than they can complete in the time allotted, a mistake I made a couple of years ago and had to rectify mid-year. I get into big trouble if I have only some vague idea that "I'd like my child to do composition this year," without a notion of the time required. I should know, "Composition will take 20 minutes daily to complete one lesson per week." Or, "I'm able to devote 20 minutes three times weekly to Composition, and we will do that much, chugging along until one lesson is complete, and move on to the next lesson."

I am little different than a full-time working mother! 

We homeschooling mothers would do well to respect what we are doing as much as we would respect a woman running her home and also walking into a classroom every day, having created her lesson plans, and teaching those kids. Do I respect what I'm doing? Am I awake, dressed, fed, and ready with lesson plans for each day?

I work all day as a teacher running a school, and I do it while bringing along my baby, toddler, and preschooler to work! Can you imagine the chaos in a school classroom if the teacher brought along her wee ones? I recognize my own weaknesses and failings, so now I choose to mitigate the resulting toddler chaos: I need to have a plan in place for how to occupy those wee ones and keep them in as close of supervision as possible.

• Where are my kids age five and younger at all times?
• What am I occupying them with?
• Am I keeping them fed?
• Have I given them potty checks before I'm deeply involved in a teaching task?
• Am I changing their scenery often enough?
• Have I given them room for physical movement to get out the wiggles?

I need to start my professional work day at a certain time, which means calculating:

• How long will it take us to complete our work?
• How much margin do I need to build into each work block? (I can't actually do 30 minutes of work in 30 minutes due to transition time, discipline matters, bathroom visits, etc.)
• Therefore, working backward, when do we need to start our day?

I need to focus on my professional tasks if I want them to be completed. Am I being careful not to allow too many distractions to sneak in?

• Am I cleaning the kitchen or switching laundry during precious moments that could be spent supervising school? (A weakness of mine!)
• Am I checking my phone or computer too often? (A weakness of mine!)
• Am I scheduling appointments that are not absolutely necessary during school time?
• It's one thing purposefully to interrupt/distract from school with a call to the doctor (unavoidable) or by cooking a meal for a new mother (act of charity, involve the kids), but I admit, I'm seeking out the nonsense distractions that eat away at my day.

When am I going to do all the other necessary duties of my life? If I'm carving out "professional work time" for school, then I want to make sure I've noted in my routine times for other necessaries.

• Prayer
• Cooking
• Eating
• Exercise
• Showering/Dressing
• Laundry
• Daily family chores to keep the house neat
• Major cleaning (weekly? one zone per day?)
• Recreation
• Going to bed at a reasonable hour

First, I laid out colored Post-It Notes to show times of day, each child and myself, and what each child is doing when. Then I left it on the dining table for days and kept looking at it to find errors, like scheduling myself to be in two places at once, or forgetting an entire subject for a child.

Then I transferred the schedule to a Word document for each child. The Word document for each child actually shows Monday through Friday because there is some variability among the days based on outside lessons.

However, this year I am seeking as much routine as is possible. I am at the maximum number of children I will have before having any children old/mature enough to babysit siblings. Right now, every single outing means my loading up six children to go with me . . . which means I've withdrawn our family from our local CCE program and our parish co-op, and I'm trying to stay home and have routine as much as possible.

Within even two years, maybe three, I should start to have BABYSITTERS AT HOME, and my entire world will change.

This year, my children's morning routines should be almost identical five days per week, with more variability in the afternoons. I've worked intentionally to create this continuity. (Tell God your plans and he laughs, right?)

Joseph (Kindergarten)

For a child this young, I want as much routine as possible: the more he can know exactly what to expect next, the more the routine reduces need for discipline. Also, I want a lot of breaks in his schedule and time for physical movement.

• 6:30 alarm
• 7:00 breakfast
• 7:30 free play time or exercise (encourage playing outside during good weather)
• 8:00 Holy Reading with Mama
• 8:30 Watch video (science or saint story) 
• (require potty check of all little ones here before we go to Bonus Room, far away from bathroom)
• 9:00 Kindergarten for one hour (What I call my "Golden Hour," and what I try to make sure occurs for my Kindergartener, even if everything else falls apart)
• 10:00 History read-aloud during snack time
• (require potty check of all little ones here)
• 10:30 Free play in boys' bedroom (Duplos, Lincoln logs, soldiers, listen to CD: catechism, Bible story, or literature), with Mama teaching a subject in the adjoining bedroom (near enough to supervise)
• 11:30 Piano practice
• 12:00 Lunch (and recess--outdoors, if possible)
• 1:00 Quiet time for 1.5 hours (Legos, another opportunity to listen to an educational CD)

Margaret (2nd grade)

My second grader also has a lot of routine, with almost no changes. This is also her year to become mostly independent (75%?) with her own education, by the end of the year, so I want her to have the focused time to grow in that area.

• 6:30 alarm
• 7:00 breakfast
• 7:30 exercise
• 8:00 Religion
• 8:30 Mon.-Thurs.: Spelling and Music Theory / Fridays: Grammar
• 9:00 Math
• 9:30 Independent subjects
• 10:00 History
• 10:30 Violin with her sister helping her
• 11:30 Babysitting 1- and 3-year-olds while Mama prepares lunch
• 12:00 Lunch
• 1:00 Quiet Time (or finishing up any independent subjects)

Mary (4th grade)

Has some variance because of enrollment in a once-monthly online class and a once-weekly online class.

General goal schedule:

• 6:30 alarm
• 7:00  breakfast
• 7:30 exercise
• 8:00 Religion
• 8:30 Mon.-Thurs.: Spelling and Music Theory / Fridays: Grammar
• 9:00 Violin
• 10:00 History
• 10:30 Help sister with violin
• 11:00 Piano
• 12:00 Lunch
• Afternoon: two hours of Math, Latin, Composition

John (6th grade)

Has the most variance because of enrollment in a hybrid homeschool program on Mondays and Fridays, and some activities that meet weekly or twice weekly.

General goal schedule:

• 6:30 alarm
• 7:00 breakfast
• 7:30 exercise
• 8:00 Religion
• 8:30 Spelling and Music Theory
• 9:00 Math
• 9:30 Piano
• 10:30 Daily meeting with Mama (review middle school work, ask questions, get guidance)
• 11:00 Latin
• 12:00 Lunch
• Afternoon: several hours of History, Composition, Grammar, Science . . . should be completed by 3:00 or 4:00.

Obviously, life will throw me curve balls! 

We will get sick for two weeks straight, or experience a crisis, or the toddler will clog the toilet with toys, or someone will fall out of a tree and be rushed to the ER . . . but I, personally, find that when I need to step out of the routine, I feel much calmer when I know how to simply step back into the routine whenever I am able to resume.

It works for me.