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**Katie** · 12-10-2021, 07:20 AM

Dear Diana,
We would also surely be considered a hot mess but I’ll throw out some answers to your questions anyway

Do you follow a traditional school schedule --- August-ish through May-ish, with a summer break?
Yes-ish. This is usually what naturally happens, even if I plan otherwise for a few reasons. One is that most of our friends follow this schedule and two is that summers on our homestead are very busy.

Do you stick to year round schooling? How does that look in your family?
Also yes-ish. Some things usually bleed in to the summer as spring is also a busy time for us so we typically chug along with Math, Latin, Comp and religion throughout the regular school year and then the rest is is sort of sprinkled in when we have the time. Sometimes it’s evening, some Saturdays, sometimes we don’t do History or Science for a month and then jam it out for a couple months. My highschoolers naturally accomplish more due to the independence.

Do you follow a calendar school --- starting a new school year in January, instead of the fall?

Do you follow Sabbath Schooling ---- 6 weeks on, one week off?
This also seems to naturally happen. Even if I don’t plan a break, usually about the 6-8 week mark..we all need one. It may not be a whole week or it could be two.

Do you utilize block scheduling ---focusing on a year's worth of material in one semester, then switching the next? Ex: Famous Men of Rome in the fall, then Astronomy in the spring?
Absolutely. My high schoolers tend to prefer this. Focusing on History one semester and Science the next, for example.

Do you have a loop schedule in place?
Sort-of. I suppose we loop literature, science, history, and Saint studies for my younger group. I have them all loosely scheduled for certain days of the week but it tends to turn in to a “we haven’t done this in a few days so let’s do this today” sort of thing.

What's your day to day look like? Full days, 1/2 days, a variety?
Our days are kooky-dooks! Really, my Sophomore girl is the only one of the 5 that sort of has a consistency to her daily schedule. She doesn’t have a job or many outside activities and is a very diligent, independent worker. My son does work a day or two a week, full days..and is Mr Social so his work gets done any which way we can manage (sometimes it doesn’t..he has covid right now so that threw yet another wrench in my beautiful plans My younger three have a couple of things they accomplish on their own but most is together as a group with me. Sometimes I only have an hour with them, sometimes we are learning into the evening. Just depends on the day. And somehow, we manage to get (almost) everything done in the school year.

How do you manage doctor visits, dentist visits, eye exams for your children? For you? How do you juggle kids in therapy programs (OT, PT, ST)?
By the Grace of God! My mom is battling a rare type of stage 4 melanoma so a chunk of our week is her appointments and helping her with whatever she needs. It’s about to get even crazier as we are starting construction of a mother-in-laws quarters to move her in with us. Having another driver has been a God-send. My son has shared the load of driving to Youth Group, etc.

How do you find the time to keep the house reasonably clean? Food on the table?
I expect a lot from my children. 7 of us live here..7 of us help out. They all have responsibilities they have to accomplish before they get free time, phones, etc. Every child does their own laundry. Each child also has a “zone” of the house they are responsible for keeping tidy and swept or vacuumed. Each night, a different child helps with dinner. Some nights, my oldest daughter does it all. I have also “hired” her to teach Comp to my 6th grader. She is a rockstar at Comp and plans to follow a career in writing so she offered to take this off my plate..I gladly agreed and I do give her a small tutor payment each week. I modestly pay her for other things as well that are beyond her normal household responsibilities. My son is another man in the house so he mostly helps
with the manly stuff 😉.

I want ALL THE TIPS YOU CAN THROW MY WAY. Let's link arms and help each other out. <3

Honestly, I’ve spent so much time in prayer and adoration over our homeschool and in seeking peace and order for our days. I’ve had to let go of my perfect day, week, month and just let the Lord guide us. I was bringing unnecessary chaos to our days with my anxiousness about getting it all done. At this current season, our homeschool certainly doesn’t look or run like a well-oiled machine. But our faith is strong and we have the opportunity to be the hands of Christ to my mom.

**smithamykat** · 12-10-2021, 09:09 AM

Originally posted by DiannaKennedy

CROWDSOURCING SCHEDULING/ROUTINES HELP NEEDED:

My schedule has been a HOT MESS this year, and while we're on a holiday break, I'm going to weigh all of my options for next year. I want to hear from y'all with your ideas/thoughts/what worked for you/what's a disaster, etc. I would LOVE to know more about you and your schedule.

For context, this our second full year homeschooling. Previously my kids were in a (tiny) private school that I helped run and taught in. So they have used MP curriculum from day 1, but we were in a more structured school environment for years. We went full time homeschool in March 2020 and decided to keep it that way after adding a new baby that summer.

Do you follow a traditional school schedule --- August-ish through May-ish, with a summer break?

Yes, but we don't start until the first week of September. Our state requires 180 days of instruction. I try to get those finished by the last week of may or first week of June.

Do you stick to year round schooling? How does that look in your family?

No. I like taking summer off from formal academics. We do read aloud in the evenings year round. We consider it fun and just pick things that my husband and I remember from childhood or have heard recommended, but I know it's also educational. I view summer as a time to prioritize gardening, swimming, crafts, and play (we got into tennis last year). No desks, no assignments.

Do you follow a calendar school --- starting a new school year in January, instead of the fall?

Do you follow Sabbath Schooling ---- 6 weeks on, one week off?

No, but I do put in a "catch up week" a couple times during the school year. On those weeks, rather than scheduling new lessons, I make a list of oral review and a list of things to finish from various subjects for each kid. Maybe they need to memorize a poem, study and take a quiz, write a final draft, or catch up some map work. On these catch up weeks, they need to do the oral review list each day, but they are free to complete the "things to finish" however they choose over the course of the week. Some get it all done in a day, some pick one or two things to finish each day. Of course the older kids have more things.

Do you utilize block scheduling ---focusing on a year's worth of material in one semester, then switching the next? Ex: Famous Men of Rome in the fall, then Astronomy in the spring.

Not usually. I like the MP schedule because they are continuously reviewing those once-a-week subjects, which I think aids in longterm retention of material. I think if we did block scheduling they would forget the first block by the end of the year. I like them to "touch" those subjects every week all year. This year, for my 8th grader, I did schedule Book of the Ancient World in a block at the beginning of the year so we could get that done and then put the rest of our effort into Ancient Greece, Iliad, and Odyssey. It felt like he had too many simultaneous pieces otherwise.

Do you have a loop schedule in place?

Yes, I think so. We do classical studies on Mon and Tues, geography on Wed, science on Thurs, and Christian studies on Fri. Except my 8th grader, who does science every day.

What's your day to day look like? Full days, 1/2 days, a variety?

Full days for me :-) My 1st grader does all her work from around 9 -11, with my attention on her most of that time. My older kids work from about 9-12 to complete math, spelling, grammar, literature, and Latin. I teach as needed. We break for lunch, listening to music, curriculum assigned read alouds, and outdoor play from 12ish to 1:30ish. Little kids then nap. 1st grader and 3rd grader have quiet reading time. In the afternoon, the older kids do composition/typing and those looping subjects mentioned above. I teach as needed. I plan to give them drawing lessons too, but that hasn't happened yet this year. Maybe in January. I give them piano lessons on Monday evenings.

How do you manage doctor visits, dentist visits, eye exams for your children? For you? How do you juggle kids in therapy programs (OT, PT, ST)?

I try to schedule them in the afternoons. It's easier to catch up those afternoon subjects. But we don't have any therapies, so this is a minimal disruption.

How do you find the time to keep the house reasonably clean? Food on the table?

Define reasonably clean :-) Honestly, it gets messier than I like quite often. But I do have a system that helps. Each day, kids have rotating tasks. In the mornings it's unload dishwasher, feed cats, clear breakfast table. In the late afternoon it's set table and pick up different areas of the house. After supper it's table clearing, dishes, sweeping, wiping table. Every Saturday, I make a weekend chore list for each kid, down through my 1st grader. Some chores are paid. On completion of those, they get $5 per kid per week. If I need more than usual from the big kids, I pay them more. Unpaid chores include picking up bedrooms, cleaning out the van, checking library books to make sure they aren't lost. Paid chores include vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, taking out trash, bigger organization tasks, mowing, cleaning windows. I aim to give them no more than 2 hours of chores for the weekend (less for the 1st grader, but sometimes more for the 2 oldest kids).

I do all the laundry because I like to do it a certain way. I usually do 3ish loads on Tuesday and 4ish loads on Friday/Saturday. I do all the cooking unless kids ask to do it, which does happen, or unless I am in a crazy hurry with other obligations. I also clean during the week, a little each afternoon (bathrooms, vacuuming), but it gets dirty again by the weekend, which is why I pay the kids to do things again. I meal plan every Thursday night and pick up groceries every Friday or get my husband to. I also make myself a chore list every Saturday when I make them for the kids. It helps me to put everything on a list even if I know I won't get to it all.

Sometimes these plans disintegrate due to illness or needs in our extended family. I was helping care for my elderly grandmother who passed away this June, and I cared for my mom when she got covid in October. So I do have to let things go sometimes. However, I like having systems because when the crisis passes I can go back to the system and get our home back on track. We don't live in perpetual crisis mode.

I want ALL THE TIPS YOU CAN THROW MY WAY. Let's link arms and help each other out. <3

#crossposted on FB as well

Hope that helps!

**Enigma** · 12-11-2021, 09:22 PM

TX is a very hands-off state which allows us to school how and when we want.

Year-rounders here. We take days off as we need for appointments, wisdom teeth removals/recovery (just did this 3 weeks in a row. What was I thinking?), sickness, or because it's summer and the pool is open. We start new materials as the old are finished. Days start later than most but end by 3 because we are all just DONE by that point. Kids know if they don't finish their assignments during the week, Saturday is make up day. They also know Christmas Day is their only guarenteed holiday off. Even with all this we school way more than 180 days a year. (I keep track for me.)

Cleaning up:
No one eats dinner until the house is picked up. This has been the rule since they were toddlers. We also have few toys because I had purged most of them before we knew we were going to have M. I've been very careful about what we've re-bought. (Did you know Hot Wheels cars breed like rabbits?? It's true! Get 2 in a box and suddenly it's 4 then 8 then hundreds!!!)
No one goes to bed until the kitchen is clean. I hate waking to dirty dishes.
Other cleaning is Saturday morning. Everyone has assigned chores and no fun happens until they finish.
Laundry day is Thursday. My kids have minimilist wardrobes so we don't have days of laundry to do otherwise they will be naked. They also have one towel each and one set of bedding. Less to clean and more closet space for books!

**enbateau** · 12-14-2021, 03:24 PM

Do you follow a traditional school schedule --- August-ish through May-ish, with a summer break?

With my student who needs the most at-shoulder time, I stagger the start. This means beginning 6-8 weeks prior to starting with my older student(s). It seems to change each year as I figure out whether I want to catch up to actual grade level or not, but usually I start the younger one between May and July so that he can have the most one-on-one time with mom. Then, once the procedures are down, pulling back to focus 75% of my effort with the eldest is not so jarring. The youngest then finishes early, which frees me up at the end of the year to focus individual attention on the eldest to get her through finals.

Do you stick to year round schooling? How does that look in your family?

Like the PP above, over the summer both children read aloud to me and I to them. My eldest reads voraciously. My youngest reads (with joy while reading) after a bit of coercion. The only dedicated schoolwork the children do during their 8-week break is 3x/wk math drill sheets and Latin summer bridge activities (eldest). Otherwise, we prioritize skills training in the younger years (demonstrating the how-to's of chores in and out of the house), play with friends, leisure, travel, and swim days.

Do you follow a calendar school --- starting a new school year in January, instead of the fall?

The year I started in May, we did finish in February of the following year, but I chose an 8-week "summer" of rest instead of pushing ahead. I am in favor of allowing children to mature by age more than any need to push academics forward. Many skills are attained just because the children reach a developmental milestone. So, while I used to find myself chomping at the bit to start a new year so that my kid could catch up, I am more content in where we are. When we try to school off-season, I find my kids more anxious to finish early, giving poor effort and output because neighborhood kids are outside or the perfect beach day is calling. They are old enough to perceive that no one else is doing any appreciable work over the summer, and I grew weary of the fight. Because our climate has seasons, January doesn't bring the lure to dash outside that June does.

Do you follow Sabbath Schooling ---- 6 weeks on, one week off?

We seem to fit 1-2 week breaks in every 6-8 weeks. We also do a light review or catch up from time to time, but this is not intentional. I am horrible about remembering quizzes, and part of it is the new layout of quizzes being on days where the afternoon subject is not typically scheduled, and sometimes I find out we are 2-3 quizzes behind (err....esp in science). Today, my kiddo is taking two science quizzes! This especially plagues us over the holidays when family comes to town. Fridays (test days) are occupied with last-minute laundering, cleaning and shopping, and it could be a few weeks before we can work the quiz back in, even though we have been completing the workbook and reviewing flashcards. Unlike Insects, Book of Birds has more short answer and comprehension questions with new technical jargon, and giving this its due has been difficult. We make them up as soon as possible and move forward. Sometimes these 1-week sabbaticals become working sabbaticals in one subject.

Do you utilize block scheduling ---focusing on a year's worth of material in one semester, then switching the next? Ex: Famous Men of Rome in the fall, then Astronomy in the spring?

Never except where mentioned above (as is scheduled in a CM like Birds and History of Medicine). It has its allure, but so far we haven't needed it. In our school district, block scheduling is reserved for at least middle school (sometimes not until high school). This technique lends itself better to true electives like art, typing, computer science, accounting, or a project-based class like newspaper/yearbook or cooperative work experience/internship, where a skill is taught quickly to move on to another subject. Once older kids have a good foundation, they can plow through a class in a semester.

Do you have a loop schedule in place?

I think what you're really asking here is whether we put a fork in it to say we're done and pick up where we left off the next class session. To that, it would depend on the subject and grade. This works far better as an accommodation for struggling learners or young students who need to build stamina in writing or reading. In the daily subjects, I always try to get to a place where homework or classwork can be assigned. With the young elementary lit guides, I'd rather read the entire text assigned, then go back and do as many comprehension questions as possible, setting the guide aside for the next day if my student looks frustrated. But this can add extra work or rereading to keep the story fresh, so I try to keep each day's work as scheduled. With older grammar school guides, I prefer to read and discuss the text together, then assign the questions we did not cover as independent work. While composition lends itself to a loop (it has lots of logical breaks), for many of the once-weekly subjects, the student couldn't study flashcards all week if the chapter hasn't even been finished.

What's your day to day look like? Full days, 1/2 days, a variety?

We work assiduously from 8:30 to 3, and sometimes, if we've had a leisurely lunch or outdoor activity, until 4:30. One of my favorite things to do is make dinner while my eldest reads to me from a PM subject like lit or FM. Sometimes a break around 2:30 or 3 keeps the whole day feeling fresh.

How do you manage doctor visits, dentist visits, eye exams for your children? For you? How do you juggle kids in therapy programs (OT, PT, ST)?

I am cut-throat with doctor's appointments. For annual visits with specialists, I try to pack them into the summer (including labs, X-rays, sonography, etc). For more frequent specialty appts, I book the first appt of the day (your doctor can't run 2 hrs behind if you're the first). For my kids' pediatrician, we still aren't allowed in-clinic visits for respiratory symptoms, so these all wind up being telehealth visits, which is great for me. It takes 20 minutes of my time on the phone, and my hubby can pick up scripts on the way home from work. If we really want to be seen in-person, we can book a slot at a local urgent care. 1pm is my favorite time, as nurses are usually back from lunch and energetic before the after-school rush. When we had weekly SP, we fit it in before afternoon nap and carted schoolwork along to do in the waiting room.

How do you find the time to keep the house reasonably clean? Food on the table?

During the lockdown, hubby was the only one leaving the house daily, so he did all of the grocery shopping. I'm sure our grocery bill went down because he is immune to impulse purchases! There are 9 grocery stores on the way home for him, so I usually just prepare a list on Sunday of what I need for the meal plan my eldest and I have created, or he emails me before he leaves work for a list. I confess hubby has mostly made dinner for the past year and a half. I cook three days a week now. I did everything for over 18 years, so in this season of life, hubby really enjoys trying out new Sam the Cooking Guy recipes (oh, my waistline!) or Cooks Country meals. I'm not bragging, but he also does floors and all of the laundry. I fold it; the kids put it away. I clean bathrooms, unload the DW, dust, and straighten. The kids split the remaining tasks: trash, toy clean-up, beds, dirty dishes. I also try to find something to deep clean every month. I have sowed a lot of time teaching my kids how to clean to "mom's standard." I am a horrible perfectionist, but I try to live in a house, not a museum. Still, we have ingrained procedures in place that one activity gets cleaned before another starts, and the house is ALWAYS spotless before we leave for fun or appointments or if Dad will be home before we get home. That is our gift to him, as he likes to walk into a clean home. Happy husband; happy life. It doesn't rhyme, but it's as true as the other aphorism floating around.

**enbateau** · 12-14-2021, 03:25 PM

Hopefully the unapproved post I wrote will get fixed.

tanya

**dahmdr** · 12-16-2021, 11:12 AM

Great topic. This is only my second year homeschooling, but here's what we are up to with my kinder and second grader:

We are planning school August-ish through May-ish, with a summer break. I have two stepsons in public high school and convincing my youngers to continue school through the summer was a tough sell last year. I do make each one a folder for the day with a quick review of math and some type of writing/copywork (just to keep skills up--I tell them it will mean less review in fall). I am trying to pay attention to our natural rhythms and needs. We started mid-August and went hard for about 12 weeks bc we had two weeks of travel in November and plan for two weeks off this month.

If kids seem to be overwhelmed, we take two days for one day's worth of work when needed, my son needed some spelling review so we halted and did a review one week. The result has been that we are somewhat all over the place in the manual but it seems to be working okay. Next year I might buy each manual subject separately because we seem to be going at different pace for different subjects.

We hit the ground running around 8 am each weekday after Bible reading at breakfast and we try to power through by 11 am b/c the stopping and starting just does not work for us. Rarely, the kids and refocus after a break but it is so hard that often I ask if they want to just carry on and they do.
I do any history/science/enrichment/read alouds in afternoon and often my kinder girl does a craft or art while my second grader finishes up his book work in the morning. They do math, LA daily but pretty much all other subjects are on a loop.

I either cluster doc appts on one day and take that day off or schedule them in the afternoons.

My house is a wreck and true confessions that is even WITH a weekly cleaning service. This is my biggest struggle. With 6 of us in a small house, it is impossible for me to keep things organized. A perfect illustration was me cleaning the other day and my daughter literally following me from room to room laying out a "trail of pebbles" with actual pebbles for her "lovies" in my wake. My kids are just there ALL THE TIME, making messes all the time. And honestly, I am there doing school, cooking, etc all the time. We have "clean up" twice a day but somehow this still doesn't help much! I am really struggling because it truly seems like a Sisyphean task that is only getting worse over time. I have decluttered their room twice since starting school and yet I feel like stuff multiplies at night while we are asleep.

I have heard people say between school, cooking and cleaning you can do max of 2/3 and we are definitely doing much better with school and cooking at the expense of our cleanliness.

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Scheduling/Routines Help needed --- TIME FOR CROWDSOURCING

Scheduling/Routines Help needed --- TIME FOR CROWDSOURCING

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