When we started our homeschooling journey a couple
years ago, we pretty much did papers everyday. Not many, because he was in
Kindergarten, but we had some paperwork every day. While working on writing it
was very important to me that he did it daily. Now that we’re past some of that
we’ve revised our schedule.
Another reason we block schedule is that my son hates …despises …er loathes paperwork. I mean with a
passion!! It was fit throwing, meltdown city and drama every. single. day.
Seriously! So, it got me thinking…maybe we should try to do a block schedule of
sorts and see if that helps.
So, here’s how we structure our Block Schedule.
Monday, Wednesday & Friday – Reading. All kinds of reading. That means reading
from our text books (Science, History & Bible), reading on his own,
read-alouds – anything that pertains to reading, we do on these days. This can
take us anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half depending on his
cooperation and what we’re discussing that day. Some days he has a lot to add and talk about and some days
he doesn’t. I usually let him dictate that aspect of his schooling.
Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday – Paperwork. This includes Spelling, Handwriting,
Geography and Math. He usually has no more than 6 papers on these days. Then,
we’ll play some fun, educational games to reinforce one of these subjects.
Sometimes we even do flash cards, which he actually likes! So, it’s not all
easy-peasy.
Now, you may be wondering why we do school on
Saturdays. Well, right now we’re playing catch-up on our school days. We
normally take most of December off and then with my Dad’s illness and death it
pretty much shot January and most of February. Under normal circumstances we do
not school on Saturdays.
However…with the crazy work schedule The Hubster has
we might think about keeping it this way. The Hubster gets off work at 7am Wednesday morning (he works overnights, Fri-Tue) and
doesn’t return to work until Friday night. So, other than his sleep on
Wednesday, we see him most of those two days. We usually take “field trips” on
Thursdays when Daddy is with us.
I’m toying with the idea of taking all Thursdays off
next school year (which begins in June) and having those free for Daddy-days,
yard work, field trips, etc. And, if we do that, we’ll probably do some
paperwork on Saturdays. It’s not much work to do and it does help keep him on a
routine, which seems to work well for him and truth be told…me too!
Trying to read several pages a day in Science,
History and Bible plus doing all the
paperwork was just overload for him. And honestly, by the time we finished with
all the drama and meltdowns it was a rush to try and finish his work.
Another reason I like our Block Scheduling is because
it frees up more time for me to devote to the Middles for their school time.
Come back next week to see how I plan to transition from schooling only 1 kiddo
to 3!!!!
What tips do you have for homeschooling a wide range
of ages? Feel free to share your tips in the comments below or leave a link to
your post where you share tips and ideas on homeschooling!!
My new blog site is up
and semi-running, just working out some technicalities. It will officially
become my only site on Sunday, May 6th. So be sure to visit me over there this
week and subscribe via email, "Like" my facebook page and just browse
around. I will double post here and there this week just to give everyone a
chance to transition over! Thanks for your support!!! And let me know what you
think of the new site! See ya over there!!
Blessings,
Annette
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4 comments:
I'm really enjoying all your homeschooling posts!! One of the joys of homeschooling is the flexibility with the schedule!
Oh, and I love the new blog; who did your design? I'm thinking of redoing mine.
Great ideas! We have schooled on Saturdays in the past, we've schooled in the cool of the evenings in the summer. We school year round most years and now are on a schedule where we school 3 weeks on, 1 week off and every other week in the summer. It really keeps me from burning out after 23 years of homeschooling!
We've never "technically" schooled more than 6 at at time, but we do all but our math and language arts together - that's how I've managed to get it all done with several.
Sarah - thanks so much!! I'm enjoying actually writing it all out in hopes that it helps those out there that might be "on the fence" about homeschooling. I want them to know they can do it!! And, I did the design myself!!! I had a friend who helped me set up the site in Wordpress (I have my own domain though), but I did the background and all the buttons! I was so thrilled with it!! I've learned so much!
Kate - Thank you so much for all your encouragement. Its so nice to hear from someone who's homeschooled for many years and still enjoys it! I'm sure our schedule will change as we do throughout the years. Thanks for your tips too!! They're so great! When the kids hit Kindergarten, we will do Bible, History & Science together because of the curriculum we use. So, that should take off some of the pressure.
Annette...I love that you have figured out how to make it work for your family. Our schooling schedule has changed over the years to fit our different seasons. As for homeschooling more than one child, I tried to find some subjects we could do together like science or history. Subjects like Math and Writing were done at each child's level of learning and individually. Thank you for sharing at WJIM.
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