Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Our Schedule: General and In Detail

The best schedule we have found since Jon has been on first shift is one in which we get up early and go to bed early.

5:00 AM - Jon and I get up and ready for the day.

5:30 AM - Jon wakes the kids while I fix breakfast and pack Jon's lunch.

5:30 - 6:30 We eat breakfast and have family devotions.

6:30AM - Jon leaves for work. The kids get ready for school. I help the kids as
needed, check e-mails, check for blog updates, review my lesson plans for
the day, and gather the materials I need for teaching. The kids and I do our
morning chores.

8:00AM - 3:00 PM School

3:00 - 3:30PM Clean-up from school

3:45 - 4:00PM Jon comes home from work. The kids finish any schoolwork that wasn't finished during school time.

5:00Pm Supper

6:00 - 8:00PM clean-up, chores, family time, and bedtime routine (kids in bed at 8:00PM)

9:00 PM Jon and I go to bed.

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Before we started back to school, I wrote out a very detailed school schedule:

8:00AM Prayer, Pledges, Praise, and Bible

8:30 Social Studies/Science

9:00 Language Arts/Health and Safety/Art

9:25 Break/Snack

9:35 Spelling/Vocabulary

9:45 Penmanship to Praise

9:55 Creative Writing

10:00 Wisdom Words

10:30 Math

11:30 Reading

12:00PM Lunch

12:30 Read Aloud then Boys' naps

1:00 Spanish (1st Semester)/French (2nd Semester)

1:30 Learning to Love Literature (Froggie and Kitty Kat)

2:00 Mon. - Music, Tues. - Etiquette, Wed. - Homework, Thurs. - Sewing, and Fri. - Home Economics

2:30 High Way to English Grammar (Froggie and Kitty Kat)

3:00 Break/Snack

3:10 Afternoon chore time

4:00 Physical Education

5:00 Supper

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While the kids and I thrive on a schedule, the above schedule is a bit too strict. The set times for starting and finishing subjects doesn't allow for finishing early or continuing with something that needs more time. Here is the general schedule we follow for school. (If we are starting late, like today, we adjust our times accordingly.)

8:00AM - Noon The Weaver Curriculum, Vol. V subjects, Math, and Reading

Noon Lunch

12:30PM Read Aloud then boys' nap

1:00 For the first couple weeks: finish Math and Reading.
In the following weeks: add in the rest of the subjects listed in the afternoon in the above schedule.

3:00 Finish school except for P.E., "homework", and music/instrumental music, if music didn't get done earlier (Jon is teaching Froggie and Kitty Kat to play the saxophone. I'm teaching Monkey to play the flute. The others aren't quite ready for doing anything but playing around with their toy instruments.)

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Over the summer, our church took a break from the regular Sunday evening and Wednesday evening programs. Those will start back at the beginning of next month. When that happens, we will be getting to bed later on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Any school day after a late night, we will either adjust the start time for school or add in more rest time during the day.

Actually, our whole schedule may be changing soon. Jon's work place is supposed to be doing a rebid for positions. He will have to go with second shift this time, because we can't afford for him to stay on first shift. First shift is great for family life, but terrible on the finances. When Jon is on second shift, I usually stay up until he gets home and winds down. When his shift changes, we will adjust our schedule accordingly.

7 comments:

Mrs. Darling said...

Well if youve read my blog for long you know Im not big on detailed schedules. You're right in just changing it to school work and working within that framework.

We get up at 6 and the kids go to bed at 7:30 in the school year. In the summer they go to bed at nine. Thats the only way to make the day flow as you already know!

MyKidsMom said...

This is great! I'm going to print it off so I can have access to it while I'm making our schedule. Of course, I know we have different activities and such, but this will be a great basic schedule to compare and get ideas from. I personally like a set schedule, but you're so right that with hubby's work schedule (and church) I've definitely had to work on being more flexible.

Thanks for sharing your schedule:)

Brandi said...

Thanks for stopping by ladies!

One thing I forgot to mention is that we don't answer the phone while we are doing school. I will return calls on our lunch break (if I'm not reading to the kids), but I turn down the ringer on our home phone and only answer my cell phone if it is Jon's ring. If Jon calls during school time it is important. Otherwise, I just return calls later.

Anonymous said...

I think your schedule looks great! My children and I thrive on a schedule also. I always fall into the trap of nit-picking every last detail and leaving no time for overage. Then I have to start all over again with a nice loose schedule that allows us to actually enjoy our days. Good for you adjusting yours.

Brandi said...

Thank you, Kate!

Damama T said...

I'm so glad to see that others think you are as smart as I do! Maybe I should pay for a flight to houston for you to come organize me. Lately I couldn't organize my way out of a brown paper bag if the direction were printed on the inside! ARRRRG!! LOL! Better yet, how about I just send my Girl up there and you can get her in shape so I don't have to pull anybody's hair out! heh heh heh ... mmmm... either way is definitely worth thinkin' 'bout. ;o)

Brandi said...

Now don't go putting my on an organization pedestal. It would crumble so fast from the weight of the unorganized areas of my life that I probably wouldn't be the only one who got hurt. lol

It's too dark in that paper bag to read! Move into a well lit area so that you don't damage your eyesight!

Aw, I wish we could help with your girl! But like Jon said when he saw your comment, she wouldn't have a reason to listen to us. We don't have any authority over her. We could befriend her and try to set a good example. Other than praying, that's about all we could do. We'll keep praying!