I've spent the past week of vacation evaluating our school.  I've allowed things to get really relaxed this year, mostly due to being exhausted and not having the energy to do a whole lot.  However, I know that we need to buckle down and get more accomplished in a day,  but without killing myself.  Also, I need to work with the twins on getting work done in a reasonable amount of time.  Especially Robbie--he's a dawdler, and it can take him hours to finish one page of math and one page of phonics.  I also want to work on adding in science--a subject we've been neglecting as of late.   Sarah has requested that we read Shakespeare as well.

So, with those thoughts in mind, I wandered over to one of my favorite websites: Simply Charlotte Mason and read up on schedules.

Here are the weekly and daily schedules I've come up with:

Weekly Schedule

Monday
 Family Work : Religion (Catechism), poetry, memory work, History/Geography, Science
 Independent Work:
    Twins- Math, Phonics, Copywork, Reading
     Sarah-Math, Dictation, Grammar, Reading

Tuesday
 Family Work: Religion (Bible), Poetry, Memory Work, Shakespeare, History/Geography
 Independent Work:
     Twins-Math, Phonics, Reading
     Sarah-Math, Dictation, Typing, Reading

Wednesday
 Family Work: Religion (Saints), Poetry, Memory Work, History/Geography, Science
 Independent Work:
    Twins-Math, Phonics, Copywork, Reading
    Sarah-Math, Dictation, Grammar, Reading

Thursday
 Family Work: Religion (Bible), Poetry, Memory Work, Shakespeare, History/Geography
 Independent Work:
    Twins-Math, Phonics, Reading
    Sarah-Math, Dictation, Typing, Reading

Friday
 Family Work: Religion (Catholic Mosaic or other fun book), Poetry, Memory Work, History/Geography, Science
 Independent Work:
    Twins-Math, Phonics, Copywork, Reading
    Sarah-Math, Grammar, Reading
 
I have still yet to fit in Art Appreciation, Music Appreciation, Handicrafts and Nature Study.  I think I might try to just play a composer in the background during independent work time, and maybe display some art somewhere where everyone will see it.  Nature study isn't going to happen now, since it's way too cold and snowy.  I'm hopeful that we'll squeeze it in during the spring and summer.

And how does this look each day?  Well, I don't know for certain yet but I've written up a daily schedule, just to make sure we get it all done each day.  As far as the dawdling goes, I'm planning on setting a timer during independent work time, and whatever doesn't get finished has to be done during free time in the afternoon.  I'm hoping that will get things moving along a bit faster.   Also, I decided to set things in time limits, rather than what time of day--I never seem to be able to start school the same time every day, and this makes things a bit looser.

Daily Schedule

30 min. - Family Work (Religion, Poetry, Memory Work, Aesop Fable)
15 min. - Math (all)
15 min. - Phonics (Twins), Grammar or Typing (Sarah)
30 min. - Reading to Mom (Twins), Assigned Reading (Sarah)
45 min. - Family Work (History/Geography, Science or Shakespeare)
15 min. - Copywork (Twins) Dictation (Sarah)
30 min. - Projects (related to either History/Geography, Science or Shakespeare--I'm thinking lapbooks,
                 experiments, notebook pages, puppet shows, etc.)

So, what's your schedule look like?  If you read here, I'd love for you to share your daily or weekly schedules...I'm always curious how others get everything done in a day!  And I'll definitely update after actually using this schedule for a week or two.

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