Our Starting Schedule

I've got our starting schedule figured out (if you click on the picture it should open up a full size document you can read more easily). L & Z have the basics down, and I really feel like I need to step it up a notch with them this year. J will be doing "official K" this year and I think M will thrive having a bit of structured schooling time with me for PreK. And in case you're wondering about N's presence on the schedule, he loves to color with his brothers. This just reminds me to actually give him paper and let him sit at the table with them.

The darkest gray boxes show me where I am needed for teaching. I make the schedule based on worst-case scenario times, so many of our days will be shorter than the schedule (I hope). For example, while Z has 1 hour scheduled for Math, he's usually done in 30 minutes, and history usually only takes around 30 minutes. But I like the extra cushion built in so I don't feel like we're rushing through our days. Also, I keep moving along to the next thing I need to teach-the times are just a guide to make sure I don't spend all of my time teaching L & Z Latin and neglect to teach J & M to read. So if I finish L's math lesson in 5 minutes, I tell Z to get to a stopping point on his handwriting and give him his math lesson. After I'm done teaching he can then finish his handwriting (either before or after his math worksheets). Our core subjects are listed in the morning, which helps me to reschedule our days if we lose a morning or afternoon to an appointment. We will only do history or art on Wednesdays and Fridays. We will probably do 10-11 weeks of History, stop and do Art for 9 weeks, and then restart History for another 10-11 weeks. If we finish on time with History and Art, then we'll have time for a 5 week science course. If not, then all science this year will be informal learning and reading (I'll pad our library book basket with various science books).

Clear as mud?