At present our family is adjusting our homeschool schedule and rhythm. Due to a change in our circumstances we are currently seeking a new rhythm that will help us succeed in the years ahead.
This year I have taken on a part time position as an Assistant Social Media Manager, Nathaniel and I are learning to work around a new A.S.D. (Aspergers) diagnoses and to complicate things Paul works on a nine day rotating roster that might soon be changing.
Homeschool rhythms and schedules are unique to every family. It is determined by many factors including the size of your family, number of children being home schooled, ages of the children and legal requirements of the country and state you live in. Other factors that influence your chosen rhythm are your personality, learning and teaching styles, extra curricular activities, goals and the specific needs of your family. It is a foolish thing to try and mimic the methods of other homeschool families.
Remember a schedule needs to grow and change with your family. Your children are growing, changing and maturing. What is working well today might not work so well in six months time. Take regular time to reevaluate your schedule and tweak it to suit your family.
As mentioned before we are trying to implement a Charlotte Mason approach in our home education model. Charlotte has this to say: "Every lesson must have its own time, and no other time in this world is there for it. The sense of the preciousness of time, of the irreparable loss when a ten minutes' lesson is thrown away must be brought home." - Charlotte Mason Companion page 93
Scripture too has some sage advice about schedules:
- But all things should be done decently and in order. [1 Corinthians 14:40]
- To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven [Ecclesiastes 3:1]
Our Morning
Loom bands have reappeared in our home this week and it doesn't matter where I go I'm finding little elastic bands. This is what the dinning room table looked like this morning
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| Loom bands have returned. |
When we returned home I needed to phone Jane in the USA as she was really unwell last night and I was very worried about her. Please add her to your prayer lists.
My Mom then rang and we touched base on a few things while Nathaniel ate breakfast. We then used our new favourite App for school Netflix.
We watched:
Horrible Histories Series One Episode Two (sample on YouTube) We learned more horrible history. Some of the things we learned were:
- The Paroah had extended family executed in order to protect themselves on the throne
- Stoneage Man preserved skulls of relatives
- Francis Bacon established the scientific method and freezing chickens
- Banana's were first sold in Britain in 1663
- Carrier Pigeon Mary of Exeter was awarded a medal in the second WW
- They used urine to clean clothes in the Middle Ages.
We had also borrowed some DVD's and so we covered history, biography and science
- The Jim Elliot Story from The Torchlighters series (YouTube sample).
- Wilderness Discoveries DVD Vol 1 Sand, Snakes and Screeching Birds. I am very impressed with this DVD and their approach to teaching about nature from a biblical perspective.
- This afternoon we tackled math. Nathaniel is currently working on a math recovery program with A+ Interactive Math {Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan} He is finding this a little bit of a challenge so I will be shifting math to the second thing on our schedule from tomorrow.
- We went to my sisters place for a visit and some help with a recipe for Trim Healthy Mama. I'm wanting to make Skinny Chocolate and her version tastes divine but mine did not work out. So she made me a batch. It was also an opportunity to get some fellowship in with her children as it's currently school holidays in Vic Australia.
- Next stop was the library in order to find resources for a new review product Nathaniel and I are working on: Knights & Nobles {Once a Week Unit Study} We are looking forward to starting this on Friday.
- We squeezed in some shopping and then it was time to collect Paul from the zoo.
- We rang my parents in law in South Africa. We so appreciate being able to connect with family in real time. When we first migrated here 19 years ago all we had was snail mail. Now we can use the internet and see their faces and talk it's made such a positive difference being able to connect with our family around the world.
- Paul attended a men's dinner at our church.
- I did some social media work from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.
- Timothy cooked dinner and watched Bolt with Nathaniel
- 8:30 Nathaniel went to bed
- 9:30 - 11 pm I spent some time blogging.
The Schoolhouse Review Crew are running an Instagram Challenge and invite you to join in the fun. Be sure to tag your photographs #TOSReviewCrew.
You can follow our day to day adventures on Instagram via ChareenR
What are your thougths on Homeschool Rhythms ? Remember that once you have structured your plan and have embarked upon your new adventure be aware that you will need to make regular small course corrections to stay on track. The winds of time, health, seasons, understanding and interruptions will blow. On occasion the storms of life may blow you off track so it is imperative to take some regular time to course correct and refocus and move forward.
Blessings until Tomorrow
Chareen
Other posts in this series
You bring out some great points about schedules! I can't emphasize enough to new homeschoolers (or old ones) that you have to find your own normal when it comes to scheduling. For me, it's less schedule and more routine. we need to stick to a routine. But my routine would probably drive others nuts. LOL
ReplyDeleteI often don't mention it on my blog, but we actually have a basic schedule for each day ourselves. It's still a little flexible, but yes, definitely a basic routine that we need to follow. I find it is quite necessary to get things on task and done.
ReplyDeleteHorrible Histories have been an awesome favourite here with my girls. They LOVE them!
I think it's so important to remember that schedules should change and fluctuate over time- as kids get older, as you're learning new skills, as you adjust to changes in the family. And I like that as homeschoolers we have the freedom to change things as we need- like moving math to an earlier part of the day. :-)
ReplyDelete