Our Homeschool Schedule

I thought I'd post a blog entry about our homeschool schedule ... for those who may be interested.  All of us have our own binders.  The above photo shows what the first page in our binders looks like.  I've broken down our subjects and scheduled them on different days if we don't study them everyday of the week.  This just basically helps me to keep track of what we study each day.  And, by now, I have it all memorized.  So, really it just helped me in the first few weeks when everything was still so new.

This is the second page in each of my children's binders.  On the right page is the current week, and the on the left page is the week after.  These schedules let them know exactly what they are studying each day of the week in each subject.  So, this is their plan.

These are my pages in my binder of my "master" plan.  I have everyone's assignments in here ... color coded, of course.  One week spans two pages because I am specific as to what my expectations are for each lesson.  I know this is probably way too much work and really OCD, but I know that if I don't have a clue what we are doing, it doesn't get done.

These are the "white boards" that were atop the children's cart during the first week and half of school.  I finally asked Jon to hang them for me because I was just not getting around to it.  What I've done here on these boards is not my initial plan for using them, but it really facilitates what I need at the moment.

The children were constantly running around with their heads cut off (so to speak) not knowing what they needed to do next.  Even though I had their plans for them in their binders ... well laid out and specific.  And, when they all took a break at the same time, I had to go track them down and ask them to return to the schoolroom to finish their work.  Kate went an entire day and only finished her spelling.  

So, I decided to use the same technique that Eliza's kindergarten teacher used: stations.  Each of the children starts at the top of their circle and moves through one station at a time until they get to the end.  This is similar to the workbox system, but, again, without the numbers.  My children don't have to move anything on their boards, unless they want to (there is a magnet they can move around from subject to subject so they know where they are at in their schedule).  This has also helped me to know what they still need to accomplish, and who I am helping.  It's taken me a while to find the "perfect" schedule for everyone (I've learned that Andrew needs to do spelling and reading first, then math; and Kate has to do math first, then her workbooks and reading; etc.).  But, now that I have it, I can just swap out the subjects that rotate between the days and we're set for the next day.

This picture shows better where the boards are located in the room.  Andrew's and Adam's are on the wall right by their carts (I wanted to put them above, but they wouldn't have been able to reach them to move their magnets), and Eliza's and Kate's are on the wall next to the window.

So far, I love it!  I love that my children are in charge of their studies and know what they need to do ... then do it on their own without my nagging!  It has been wonderful!