Ever since MIssy joined our learning time, I have had the darnedest time to get everything done academically. Unfortunately, it seems to always be Missy that gets left in the dust. Due to reasons that I won't get into right now, Mia always goes first with doing school with me. Then it is Rocky's turn. By the time I get Rocky finished, it is lunch time and Missy's work hasn't even been touched. I like to keep the afternoons for the content subjects as I consider these the 'fun' subjects and we all need a bit of fun in our days. I always think "Well, we'll get to Missy tomorrow. We'll have more time tomorrow." Tomorrow has never arrived.
We have started doing more school this week. I decided it is time to address this issue. I can't keep sloughing Missy off. The girl needs to learn. I just don't know how to cram it all in. Every element of our morning is important and I don't want to give any of it up.
Our Morning Time usually takes an hour. Part of the problem is that we have been starting at 9:00 as I can't get the kitchen clean before that time (I like to have at least a clean kitchen before school starts.) By the time I get to Mia it is 10:00. Another problem is that I have chosen curriculums that are teacher-intensive. I can't just give my kid the book and say 'Go at it." I have to teach the lesson first. This was done on purpose. My feeling here is that this is why I homeschool; to teach. I do not want to give up these programs as they are working for us and I think they are excellent programs, but they take up a lot of time when you are teaching more than one child.
Getting back to our day: so I get Mia started on her math (if I don't have to walk her through the lesson then I, at least, have to stay close if she has any problems) now I might be able to do math with Rocky but I have to stay at the kitchen table close to Mia. After math, I do all of Mia's subjects (spelling and writing) then move on to Rocky's. While I am working with Rocky, Mia does her independent work. By the time I get finished with Rocky, it is time to get lunch started. I might have time to read to Missy but that doesn't even happen most days.
I have been giving this alot of thought. Here is what I have come up with so that MIssy can spend some learning time with her Mama. Even if it means starting school with a messy, jam-sticky kitchen, we will start our Morning Time at 8:30. Also, MIa will not always be going first when working with me. We will do this through cycling. Each day, one of them will take turns going first so that it won't always be Missy getting short changed. If it happens that Mia or Rocky do not get their work done in the morning, then we will have to carry on where we left off right after lunch. I don't like this as it makes our school day that much longer (we are already doing 5 1/2 hours) but I can't see any way out of this.
We tried this new plan yesterday and things worked out very well. We started as close as we could to 8:30. Missy went first in learning with her Mom. We were able to get every one done, but we havent' been doing Grammar this week. Once we add that in, we might topple over into the afternoon. Oh, well, a price you pay for having more than one child.