Wednesday, September 19, 2007

What we do and how we do it.

One of my wonderful commenters asked about what we do and how we do it.

We've tried everything in our 3 years of homeschooling and this year, we seemed to have settled into something that works for us reasonably well. It's not perfect. Flexibility is the key. I'd like to get up every morning, gently clean my already spotless home, fix a nutitrious breakfast for my eager-to-learn, whine-free children and begin studies, during which we learn 3 foreign languages, make great works of art and advance science 100 years into the future, but that's not what happens.

On Mondays I print lists for everyone for the week. Youngest son's is something like this.
Morning.
1. Eat breakfast/breakfast dishes to sink.
2. Brush teeth.
3. Exercise. (30 push ups, 30 sit ups, 30 leg lifts etc.)
4. Shower.
5. Chores.

Afternoon:
1. Unit study/notebooking (all 4 of us together. We're working from my oldest son's 9th grade American History textbook and supplementing it a lot. That way he gets a credit for the work and we get something to all do together which we enjoy.)
2. Math. (younger 2 kids and me together. At this point oldest son goes off to do the rest of his high school work.)
3. Spelling.
4. Writing.
5. Reading. (At this point, my daughter goes off to do her own reading and extra assignments while I work on reading with the youngest.)

In the mornings, I work on medical transcription, exercise (hopefully), clean the house (what little it gets), shower, do my blog and get printouts and things ready for the unit study and afternoon activities while the kids do their lists on their own. (Dad is usually home in the mornings and can oversee them a bit.) I don't cook breakfast. The kids are on their own. They generally have cereal or toast. We do lunch between the morning and the afternoon lists. I sometimes cook lunch and sometimes we have sandwiches or leftovers. The two younger kids are in the same spelling curriculum and the same math curriculum. They're at different levels in the spelling, but the same level in the math. It makes it easier.

When school is over, that's when we run errands, usually about 4:00 p.m., although occasionally, we do stay home during this time. The kids participate in our homeschool group for field trips and park day (usually on Mondays), Awana, skate nights and game night at the library.

So anyway, this is what we do and how we do it. I started with easier lists for the kids in August and this month, I've added some more chores. I plan to add to the list a little through the year and get in more art and more science. I use the internet a lot for printables and notebooking (more on that in another post) and use Netflix sometimes for DVDs that are related to our studies. We also use a lot of library books and do read-alouds every night before bed.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you SO much for posting this, even though I'm not the one who asked....Hee! Hee! I LOVE your list idea & think I'd very much like to incorporate that here. Do you have a special list maker/chore printable or what-have-you or do you just do your own thing? Need to know how to go about getting myself organized to do this.

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  2. Amy, I use Microsoft word and make a table for this. I can send you a copy if you email me.
    fatcatpaulanne@bellsouth.net

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  3. Anonymous2:27 PM

    Hi,
    Have you tried www.chartjungle.com
    they have some great charts for kids.
    I love your first part of your day....sigh....that's what I wanted, but never get it either!!!
    How is your high schooler doing? Mine is doing terrible and it's a daily fight to get anything done!!!
    Oh well.....
    I'm glad to hear that I am not the only mom who doesn't cook breakfast. Floridians seem to cook breakfast and not supper!!!
    Must go....glad you are back to blogging and sharing your perfect (to me at least) day!!!
    Bunny

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  4. Bunny,
    He's doing better than he did last year. Last year he seemed to waste a lot of time, but this year, I think he's doing better with his work ethic. He's doing algebra, computer, history and guitar which he says are pretty easy and science and language arts which drive him (and me) crazy sometimes. Making progress though. At this pace I do think he'll graduate on time.

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  5. Thank You!
    If I can pest you again, When you mention unit study - Do you make these up your self or do you buy one? If so, Which company or website do you like best?
    I am thinking of adding unit studies to our CM curriculum.
    Thank you,
    Donna
    Florida
    http://homeschoolingsunnyflorida.blogspot.com/

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  6. I've used Konos in the past, which is called something like 'the grandfather of all unit studies' (something like that) but found it too labor intensive for me, though we loved it. I've also used Christian Cottage
    http://www.christiancottage.com/units.html. I'm using it somewhat right now, along with my older son's 9th grade history book. You can get the Christian Cottage ones at the homeschool estore also. They have the ocean unit one for free on both the Christian Cottage site and the homeschool estore site.
    www.homeschoolestore.com
    I downloaded the ocean study and did it last January and we liked it and ordered the America ones.

    I've also done ones from Hands of a Child and I'd like to try one from Homeschool in the Woods but haven't yet.

    Check out the homeschool estore's free downloads and preview pages to see which ones you might like.

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  7. Anonymous2:13 PM

    Hi, just happened on your blog, after your blogsite was on a notebooking group I am on. We also notebook.
    My real question is about your medical transcription. My dh and I have been thinking of ways to earn extra money, but stay home also. We have read many people do transcript work from home. Could you share how you do this, and how you got started??? You can email me
    hsmom411@yahoo.com
    Thanks so much,
    deb
    <><

    ReplyDelete