Another Schedule Revision and an Initiative Experiment

Well, the schedule I posted here is already obsolete.  We used it until the routine was semi-established and then reverted back to the old goal chart.  I know some veteran ACE homeschoolers who might remember those...The Husband, for one.

I purposely did not purchase planning software this year (big change for me) in an effort to get away from "doing school" and to get closer to "learning as a way of life."  However, there are some tasks, usually the mundane ones, that we forget to do if they are not spelled out for us in a schedule.  So, after using a handwritten goal chart successfully for a week, I created another Excel spreadsheet to use with Thing1.

It is similar to last year when I printed out a daily task list, but this one is for the whole week.  I saved the template in Excel so that I can change the assignments for the week each Sunday night.  The peaceful feeling I get when I look at those red marks reminds me of why I enjoy planning software.

My dilemma now (because I always have one) is how much initiative to expect from a 7-year-old in completing the goals.  I want to put some responsibility on him because he needs it, but when I see "7-year-old" typed out in black and white, I back up a little.  How much prodding throughout the week is appropriate for his age?  Obviously, the tasks that require my attention (spelling, writing, history, and science) are done on my time.  The independent work is the challenge.  My solution for now is to insist on work before play but not to hound him about lolligagging (difficult for me).  Usually a wordless, appropriate consequence works better than my endless nagging.

Last week, he did not accomplish all of his goals before Saturday and, as a consequence, had to stay inside to complete them on Saturday while The Husband and Thing2 were outside working on projects.  I felt bad for him, and I really wanted to let him off the hook.  But with the hope that a couple of disappointing Saturdays would help the initiative development along, I stuck to my guns.

My conclusion from my last schedule experiment is that it was profitable for a few weeks.  I am hoping this goal chart method will last a bit longer.

As for the initiative experiment, results will take time...11 years, perhaps.  Remind me to post the results then.

Finally.

Finally.  We live in a house that we own...Or will own after we finish paying the bank.  The kitchen is functional.  The bathrooms are functional.  We have enough clothes to wear as long as I keep washing.  The most important school items are out of boxes.

Finally.  I was wondering if my old drive for plan-making was lost forever, but I found out that it was (mercifully) hidden behind the urgency of moving out of a rent house into a more permanent home.  It would have driven me crazy if it were not hidden.  For the first time ever, I did not even care to make a weekly plan for our school year.  We simply went to Classical Conversations on Tuesdays and practiced the memory work each day while we packed, cleaned, and moved.

Finally.  My planning brain emerged from its hiding place today!

I decided to try a plan based on The Core by Leigh Bortins, which I read this summer and highly recommend to all parents.  Each row is a 30-minute segment.  I will work with Thing2 first and then Thing1 at the start of Math, Language Arts, and Read to Mom.  Thing1 will have to work alone and hold his questions until I am finished with Thing2.  (We will see how that goes.)  If they finish before the segment is over, they can play, get a snack, read, etc.  When the timer buzzes at the end of the segment, we all move on to the next subject.  The idea is that I might have a few minutes at the end of the segments to do a chore or two, and the kids won't be sitting in lessons for a solid two or three hours.  Yes, it will drag school out longer, but my intense two-to-three-hour get-school-done-as-quick-as-we-can plan isn't working for us any more.  It exhausts and overloads us.

Here is a sample from my new plan:

I did not include times on the spreadsheet because I want us to be flexible.  I left out things like lunch and rest time so that we can insert them at whatever time is convenient for the day.  There is no piano on Thursday because we go to lessons on that day.

I realize that this is an experiment, as are all of my plans, which is why I record them.  An experiment is no good unless the purpose, hypothesis, materials, procedure, and conclusion are clearly recorded, right?

I am so thankful to have my planning brain back.  Finally.

My Well-Planned Day Update

I promised I would update my opinion of My Well-Planned Day software after I used it for awhile. This review is unsolicited, unbiased, and written on my own initiative.

I love the concept behind their lesson plans and assignments. I am a checklist person, and this satisfies my need for seeing accomplishments in list form while keeping records of which days we "did school" throughout the year.

The Lesson Plan page (link is to tutorial page) is where you divide your curriculum into a number of lessons.  It is like a holding area for future assignments. At a glance, you can see your progress in any subject you have planned. Don't let "lesson plans" scare you. It is as simple as determining how many days you will work on a certain subject throughout the school year. Then if you want to be super detail-oriented in your planning (like I am not), you may edit each lesson to reflect your plans for each assignment. Or you may not...

The Assignments page is for assigning those lesson plans to a certain date/time/student.  Once you assign a lesson, it is no longer on the Lesson Plan page. You could assign an entire semester in one click (because you have already told the program on which days and at what time each student will be doing each subject) or you could assign one week at a time. I assign one week's worth every Sunday. Honestly, most of the time I do it on Monday morning at 8:25.

What I do not love is that there is still no mobile app and that the calendar still does not sync with Google Calendar. The Husband and I live by Google Calendar.  My dream is that when Well Planned Day finally syncs with Google, my homeschool life will sync with every other part of my life. There is lots of potential in the chores, shopping list, and calendar. But those do not interest me if I cannot pull them up on my cell phone.

That's it in a nutshell.

Is it worth $65? Perhaps. If you need help in organizing lesson plans.

Will it be worth $65 when it syncs with Google and comes with a mobile app? Yes!

 

Mom Learns About Schedules

It is fun to research and dream about everything I want my homeschool to be. But no matter how much money I spend or how many great ideas I have, there must be a practical plan for the application of these marvelous intentions.

Enter the schedule.

Schedules on the First Day

At first, I blamed our new schedules for our rough first week of school, but I am now convinced that it would have been much worse without them.  Schedules are funny things. They are easy to make and hard to keep. An effective schedule liberates, but an ineffective one enslaves.

I learned something about schedules this year. I learned to schedule priorities in honest, practical time slots. This plan allows time for the important (Bible reading, reading lessons, etc.) and the urgent (emergency showers, leaky honey bears, etc.).

Don't Schedule Optional.
My schedule need not include everything I would like to get done on an ideal day. When it does, I am set up for failure, enslaved by a schedule that is only doable on the best days. (I know this by experience.) However, the schedule should include the most important things that I must get done. My most successful schedules allow me, at the end of the worst day, to be satisfied that my highest priorities were accomplished even if I accomplished nothing else. It requires me to think carefully about a potential activity vying for a scarce time slot to determine how important it is. If it does not make the cut, I am free to do it if I have time, but I am not allowed to feel guilty if I do not. Liberty!

30 Minutes.
The best way I know to ensure that only the priorities are scheduled is to use larger time increments. On paper, I give myself more time than I should need. Unforeseen events will occur. Obviously. I cannot see into the future. I want enough slack in the schedule so that when Thing2 comes in with a one-inch-thick layer of mud on himself and his clothing requiring an unforeseen shower and a heavy-duty load of laundry (read: urgent), I do not feel hopelessly "off schedule." If three 10-minute time slots have elapsed, I might never get back on track. However, if one 30-minute slot that contained one priority has passed, I can move on without much anxiety.

It seems more of a cycle than a two-step process. The only way to fit my life into 30-minute time slots, for there are not very many of those in a day, is to schedule only the highest priorities. The only way I will get the priorities accomplished is if the schedule is not cluttered with optional activities.

More schedule-related topics I am contemplating:
Why schedule?
What about routines?
Where does optional fit in?

I am very curious about what my friends' schedules and routines look like. Write a post and leave a link in the comments!

My Well-Planned Day

I am trying a new planner this year. I just downloaded My Well Planned Day software. It is brand new. I bought it today, the last day of the cheaper beta testing price, and I hope it works for me. It has so much potential! I am betting that the slowness and kinks today are because they are getting ready to go online with the full version tomorrow.

What sold me on this software is that I should be able to pull up our schedules, shopping lists, calendar, etc. on my mobile device. And supposedly it will sync with Google calendar (which I already use heavily) once the full version goes live.

I will update soon on its usefulness!

I am not getting anything from Well Planned Day for this post. I paid for it just like everyone else!

What Do We Do All Day?

I love your answers to my question in Bunny Money.  Maybe one day I'll make a t-shirt inspired by AMAY!  Thank you all so much for taking time to comment.

I think most people like the chiropractor know that their kindergarteners are in school all day but don't realize that their actual "school" time could be distilled into an hour or less when you work with them one-on-one.  Then with the extra 6 or 7 hours they can learn about the world outside the walls of the school firsthand.

Like many of you mentioned, "school" and "learning" are not synonymous, which can be misleading to someone who has not considered it.  Granted, our "school time" takes an hour, but much of the rest of the day is filled with learning.  If only I could have thought of a smart statement like that while I was lying on that table!

• In the house, it is rare moment when one of them does not have either a book or a tool in hand.
• In the back yard, they use pulleys, inclines, wheels, and levers.
• In the kitchen yesterday, Thing1 helped me (recited ingredients and instructions from a cooking show we watched in the doctor's office) make a casserole for supper.
• In town, they are exposed to all kinds of occupations and ask lots of questions about them.
• In church, they find hymns by number and learn to sit still for an hour and a half at a time.
• At home, they learn that for every privilege there is a responsibility by participating in the family's chores.

I am glad "school" and "learning" are not synonymous because that means that even a stay-at-home mom like me can be learning every day even though I can't go to school!  That's what I want for my kids.  I want them to be lifelong learners.

Shared with Women Living Well Wednesdays



If at First You Don't Succeed...

Obviously, I have not figured out how to use my planner.

Since the planning page was illegible by mid-week, I decided to use the journaling page to list what we did accomplish.

The best part is this:

We get to start over tomorrow.

I have had four school days.  I have tried four different schedules.  Friday was the best.  Tomorrow we will build on Friday. 

Friday I got Thing2 started playing in his room (got down a toy from a box he had not seen in months and helped him set it up and get interested) then quickly worked through the four basics with Thing1.  This took about an hour or less, and then the boys were happy to play and do "extra" activities.  This was the most peaceful day we have had.  When the school work is harder and lasts longer, I predict that I will like the idea of interspersing fun with work in the workboxes.  But for now, the morning sprint scheme looks most promising. 

I have had less than optimal results in the area of  housework this week. Case in point:

Not pictured is a bathroom that reeks, a dirty, stinky kitchen trash can, and piles of clutter along most walls and upon most surfaces. 

We will try, try again.

Observations From our First Morning of Routines

Yesterday I introduced routine cards to the boys. I prepared these cards to be used in the mornings and evenings before and after "school" time. In the past, I have tried charts that are marked off each day of the week. I find that, at age 5, Thing 1 is just now beginning to be able to be motivated by something in that format. As for 3yo Thing 2, forget it. He just does't get the process. Credit belongs to Sue Patrick's Workbox System and Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations for this idea.

This is Thing 2's chart. At this point, he had done all his morning chores and could easily tell he was finished because the list was white! Amazing! As the kids complete a task, they turn over the tag (Velcro on both sides so I don't lose any). All I had to do was turn them back over after they went to bed last night so they could start again this morning. It helped them progress from one task to the next easily, and it seemed like they had so much more fun playing after they were "free." Maybe it was coincidence, but they played hard yesterday without asking for my help as much as usual.

This is Thing 1's list. It has one more task than Thing 2's. Of course he is more mature than the 3yo, but this is working splendidly for him as well. It helps him to be much more independent. Thing 1 needs to learn to be independent.

Lastly, and completely unrelated to this post, here's a video of happy playtime yesterday. Just kidding. Can't get it uploaded. How about a picture instead?