Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Three Weeks Later...

Here we are into our third week of the school year and things are rolling relatively smoothly. Or as smoothly as can be possible when you consider the little things that happen everyday to mess up "the schedule." I always enjoy hearing what other homeschool families days look like and I'd like to remember what we were doing at this stage. This year, so far, feels like the most "do-able!" Everyone is really growing up! I can have them, for the most part, help themselves to breakfast and lunch. Some of them can make a simple meal almost completely without help (like spaghetti or pancakes), they are helping tremendously with the work of keeping things running- like laundry, bathroom cleaning, sweeping up, taking out trash. I have a pretty fabulous and healthy team of helpers and for that I am so thankful!

Here are the grades of all the kids:
Peter- 4th (gulp- HOW did that happen so fast??)
Kate-3rd
Maddie-1st
Teshome- Kindergarten
Ella- Preschool
Charlotte- Preschool Apprentice :)

Here is what our day looks like-

5:30 I get up, shower, have devotions, check email, start laundry- just enjoy a little quiet!

7 The kids get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, do chores, older ones have devotions

8 Most head outside to play

9 Circle time (all)- we read several different things every morning including
*The Bible
*Reformation Heroes (next up is Stories of Missionary Heroism)
*Window on the World
*Portions of our church's confessions
*We also sing a few of the Westminster catechism songs each day
*Nifty Fifty US State flashcards (one state per week)- also read a book about the state

9:30-Peter- piano
Kate- math (Teaching Textbooks 4 on the computer)
Maddie, Teshome, Ella- handwriting (Without Tears), explode the code book, and phonics cards.
Charlotte- chooses one activity like puzzles, pegs and board, marker board and markers, dominoes, etc out of a jar of ideas- we call this "stations."

10:00-Peter-math (Teaching Textbooks 5)
Kate- piano
Maddie and Teshome- math (Saxon 1)
Ella and Charlotte- stations

10:30-Peter and Kate- handwriting/copywork (they copy their Latin vocab everyday, Peter copies lists of world rulers and the dates they ruled, when CC starts they'll copy their memory work).
Maddie- Reading (still working through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Teshome, Ella, and Charlotte- stations

11:00-Latin- Peter and Kate are doing Latina Christiana and the others are doing the fun and simple Sing Song Latin.

11:30 ish- Free time, lunch

1:30 ish- The afternoon is less scheduled but here's what we do
Charlotte takes a nap
sometimes the younger ones rest
the 2 oldest do IEW (All Things Fun and Fascnating), Story of the World (finishing volume 4), Shurley Grammar 2, and soon we'll start the Apologia Anatomy study (corresponding the chapters with the parts of the body we're learning at CC). We will also use the afternoon to review our CC memory work and prepare our weekly speeches.

4 We are usually done by now and the kids clean up, sometimes watch one show, and play outside.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for sharing your homeschedule. We are also a CC family in Greenville SC and I'm looking to start our year here in a couple of weeks and just wondering how I'm going to fit everything in... This is a great help and encouragement (your blogpost). Thanks for sharing!
Holly
Greenville, SC