A New Approach

We started another school year at the start of August.  I was ready to start back up after almost 3 full months off.  I could tell the girls also were ready for some structure.  After the first 2 1/2 very rough weeks I started researching other ways to do this thing.  I couldn't handle Ryan's tears much longer.  After reading a great Blog "Confessions of a Homeschooler" I made some changes.  Instead of plugging through our subjects throughout the day with some short and some long breaks I decided to fill those breaks with 15 min activities. It was hard to get them back to the school room.   I also decided that we would have a set school time each day.  Monday, Thurs, and Fri would be from 8:30am-12pm. Tues and Wed would be from 1-4:30pm. because of morning commitments those days.  This schedule would help prevent school on and off until dinner.  If we do not get through that days schedule we stop and do it the next day.  With our new schedule we may end up doing a longer school year, but I'm okay with that in order to keep some sanity!  Each day I wake the girls up at 7:30am they eat breakfast and then do their morning jobs.  On morning school days all 4 kids participate in Calendar Time, singing, and praying! By far the best thing I have implemented.  After that the girls go to their desk and find their schedule for the day.  After they complete each task they color in the rectangle so they see their progress.  They love seeing what activities are on their schedule that day.  Many times they work hard to get to something they really want to do.  This new approach has made school so much better in our house at least for this year (:  It is also easier to add Caleb into the mix now too. He likes being included in many of the activities and I can sneak a few learning pages in there too (:  Here is an example of Bekah's next schedule.

Monday	9/9/2013	Tuesday	9/10/2013	Wednesday	9/11/2013	Thursday	9/12/2013	Friday	9/13/2013
Bekah		Bekah		Bekah		Bekah		Bekah
Calendar Time		Calendar Time		Calendar Time		Spelling		Calendar Time
Writing		Social Studies		Cat in Hat Science		Art		Writing
Art		Social Studies Craft		Science Craft		Reading		Art
Reading		Spelling		Spelling		Snack		Reading
Shape Patterns		Snack		Snack		Phonics		Snack
Phonics		Phonics		Reading		Math Card Game		Phonics
Make a Puppet		Painting		Money Store (Dime)		Math		Banana Bread
Math		Reading		Math		Maze Book		Math
Letter Tiles Spelling		Math Balance & Dice		Noodle Craft		Bible		Noodle Craft
Spelling		Math		Phonics		Math Box		Spelling
Gym Time		Gym Time		Gym Time		Spanish		Gym Time
Bible		Bible		Bible				Bible
Do a Puzzle		Make a Butterfly		Letter B Dot Page				Letter B Page
Spanish		Writing		Spanis				States