WFMW: Schedule, Even if it's Hard

Now that we're "officially" homeschooling, it's been sort of a kick in the rear to realize all the ways that not having a routine is slowing us down. It's something I'm going to work on. REALLY work on. (We are possibly the least scheduled family I know.) We made some progress this week, in one area, and I thought I'd share it for this week's WFMW tip. I made L this little pictorial chart for his new morning chores.

Poorly cropped to remove the little man's name.

The deal is that he has to complete them before he can eat breakfast. (No, I'm not depriving him of food, they should take at most, 10-15 minutes to complete.) Although he typically has to be reminded several times that he needs to get his chores done, he is doing them, for the most part cheerfully. This means that I have a few minutes to actually get breakfast on the table without him brow beating me about how he's "Thirty ten hungry." (Translation-really hungry.) It also means that after breakfast, he's ready for school, which is pretty awesome. You know what else? He's pretty proud of himself after he gets it all finished.
This scheduling-and-following-through-with-it thing doesn't come naturally to me, but it's working.
For more WFMW posts, check out http://www.wearethatfamily.com/.

A Year of Unit Studies

I've already posted about our proposed weekly schedule for next year. We're going to do workbooks for things like math and reading. (L actually likes workbooks. A lot.)
For the science/social studies aspect of things, we're going to be doing a series of pretty traditional unit studies. That's actually what we did this year, except next year, I'm hoping to guide things a little more, instead of having him just randomly tell me what he wants to do.
I've worked out a general schedule for the year, covering roughly nine months worth of one month long studies. If something drags on a little longer, that's fine too. I'm just trying to come up with a basic skeleton for the year. We don't do well when we wing it.
Some of the themes are based of feedback L has given me about what he wants to learn about. Others are things I think he'll enjoy, or needs to learn about. It occurs to me that I may possibly come up with a month or two worth of alternate plans, just to allow for the possibility that he just isn't into something. It goes without saying that if something just isn't working out for us, we'll move on to something else.
Most of the themes aren't necessarily linked to the calendar, so we can also switch them around a bit, if interest or other circumstances dictate.



So for the most part, in no particular order, we'll be studying

Space
astronauts
sun and moon
planets
stars

Community Helpers
firemen
policemen
mail carriers
doctors and nurses

Fall and Halloween
apples
leaves
pumpkins
bats

Food and Nutrition
Dairy
Fruits and Vegetables
Protein
Grains

Birds
owls
blue jays
chickens
penguins

Transportation
boats and trains
planes and helicopters
bicycles
cars and trucks

Zoo animals
monkeys
snakes
lions and tigers
elephants

My body
staying healthy
major organs
five senses
staying safe

Gardening
seeds
bugs
plants
worms

That's the plan, as of now. Are you planning for next year yet?

Next Year's Kindergarten Schedule

I've been giving a lot of thought to next year's schedule.
Ideologically, I consider us middle of the road homeschoolers. We aren't unschoolers, but we are school at home-ers either. I've done some reading on message boards, and so on, about what people's kindergarten schedule looks like. Some people don't even start with formal academic instruction until the child is 6 or 7. Others do virtually a full day of work with their 5 year old.

My goal next year is 1 to 1 1/2 hours of sit down work a day.

Our tentative schedule looks like this:
(As everyone knows, it could change at any time, but here's the as of now.)

Monday:
read aloud (Bible and theme related books)
handwriting practice
Spanish

Tuesday:
read aloud (Bible and theme related books)
phonics/reading instruction
art

Wednesday:
read aloud (Bible and theme related books)
math
fine motor practice

Thursday:
read aloud (Bible and theme related books)
history
bible related project

Friday:
read aloud (Bible and theme related books)
science
art

My hope for next year is to continue laying down the foundation for a lifelong love of learning, while still giving L plenty of time to just be a little boy and play. (At this age, I still think think that's his most important "job".)

End of the Year Wrap Up

The last few weeks have been spent doing "Pokemon School," as per L's request. We've done a ton of reading, a few art projects, (like the Pokemon collages shown in these pictures,) and played some Pokemon games. In truth though, the last couple of weeks have been pretty unstructured.



We've been working outside in the garden, and just goofing around more. Since we've been pretty casual about scheduling this year, I hadn't really set a "last day of school." I figured we'd just sort of work until we fizzled out.

I think we're there.

I'm going to spend the next couple of months diligently trying to plan as much as possible for next year. Things go 100% smoother around here when I have lessons and materials totally planned out in advance. While I'm not required to provide any specific documentation re: homeschooling here, I'm nonetheless going to try to stick to a regular old Monday through Friday schedule next year, excepting illness or emergencies. (This year we've done "school" any time of day, and on any day of the week, according to what was convenient.) My plan is to start school early, at the beginning of August, and then basically take the month December off to enjoy the holidays.