April at ElCloud was looking for examples of daily schedules for those of us who use Charlotte Mason methods. I think I will post specifically about what we're doing this year for each subject in separate posts. For now, though, I will give you an idea of what our daily schedule is like. I wanted to be able to post a link to my Word document that actually shows our schedule, but being relatively new to all of this still, I can't figure out how to do that!! (If anyone wants to explain it to me in my Comments area, PLEASE, feel free!)
Printing up a Daily Schedule in a colorful table form has been mighty helpful, to begin with. My daughters each have their own copy on the backs of one of their binders so they can see for themselves what we will be doing when or next. This is helpful, because Charlotte Mason's method includes many subjects around 20 minutes each for the ages with which I am working (7 - on Thursday!- and 9). I have not had to listen to, "How much more are we doing?" or "What are we doing after this?" once this year so far.
Originally, I had printed times for our schedule. For example: 9:10 - 9:30 - Bible. But I found out rather quickly that this was not going to work and would only stress me out trying to stick to the times. Plus, there is always that 5 minute window of transition time and that was not accounted for in my schedule. I consider myself to be a pretty linear, organized person, but scheduling my life down to the minute has never appealed to me.
To alleviate that problem I have put, in place of the minute range, a simple, "20 minutes". Then we know how long we have to work on each subject... no matter what time it is! I just carry around our little timer with us as we move through our rooms or outside throuout our day. When the timer goes off, we wrap up whatever we're doing and move on to the next subject. I have found that this keeps interest and energy levels high (generally speaking! We all have our sleepy days!).
So our days, Mon. - Thurs. look something like this:
10 min - Gathering time (This is time for the girls to look at and color in their calendars and time for us to talk about our plans for the day. We open with prayer for God to bless our time together. Any time left over we practice our group recitation for our recital. See my Recitation Club entry for more info on that... And no, I don't know how to link to that either!)
20 min - Bible
20 min - Phonics - E, Math - M (If M doesn't finish her assignment in math in her 20 minutes, she does this at the end of our day for homework. This is the one subject she has more than 20 minutes in, generally. We use Saxon and she does half of the problems the first day and the other half the next)
20 min - Math - E, Spelling - M
10 min - Free Time E, Drill - M
10 min - Free Time M, Drill - E
20 min - Reading E, Journal - M
20 min - Copywork
60 min - Lunch
20 min - Science - Nature or Space Notebooks
20 min - History
15 min - Art Appreciation or Poetry
15 min - Dictation (or, on alternating days for M, Typing)
20 min - Literature/Narration
20 min - Spanish or Geography
20 min - Free Reading
On Fridays we do our Gathering and Bible time as usual, but then we have a shorter, easier day. M takes her Spelling test and then we have some more Art Appreciation, Music Appreciation, and then do Handicrafts. We also visit the library or have field trips on this day.
On Wednesdays, our days are a bit different, too, with time spent at the park for a hike with our Nature Notebooks and social and P.E. time with our homeschool group.
Monday afternoons we also get together with some friends for an informal Spanish club.
We usually do narrations with Literature, Art Appreciation, and History. I will talk about that in more detail in future posts.
The variety keeps our days full and interesting and we are usually done between 2:30 and 3:00 pm.
Comments
Sep. 5, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ElCloud
Hmm. Maybe I need to try a schedule more like that. I never have. Thanks for sharing!!
Sep. 5, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Lilliepad
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I admire anyone who can keep a schedule since I most definitely cannot!
Sep. 6, 2006 - Nice to meet you
Posted by cascade
Hi. Thank you for your comment on my site. I'm sorry it has taken me awhile to respond. There just doesn't seem to be enough time to do everything. And I'm discovering that this blogging can be time consuming too. I came over and read your blog entries so I could get to know you before I wrote back, and there was so much I wanted to say!
No, I didn't put my real name because I'm still really new to the whole cyberworld thing and am a bit cautious about its safety. But maybe as I get more familiar and comfortable with it, that may change.
I use the colored pencils for sketching and drawing. Colored pencils would be a good, archival way to add color to scrapbook pages though. I haven't posted any drawings or pictures. I don't have a scanner or a digital camera. I can't even figure out how to upload a picture to change my avatar!
I like your doll you made. You mentioned that they don't end up exactly the way you had planned at the beginning. I think most artists find that is true. The work grows and evolves as you work on it and it speaks to you what it needs next. You have to evaluate its success by what it is now and not what you originally intended for it to be. As long as you like it and enjoy making them, that is all that counts anyway.
I really enjoy your site. It is so lovely, with the old fashioned pictures. And the wonderful photos of your lovely daughters, & lovely home and yard! It's just like being there. You know I will be there with you in spirit when our cold WY winter get here!
What made you move to FL from MN? Work, family, health, weather, or just someplace new to try? My husband's family has their big reunion in MN so we were just there this summer for that. Very hot and humid compared to our dry ( did I mention dry!) weather in WY. We are going on about 16 years of drought here. Alot of bad fires going on around the state this summer. I'm glad that Ernesto passed you by and will pray for an uneventful hurricane season for everyone. We have some family in FL and I'm always concerned about them when these storms come up.
I was sorry to hear about the tragic death of your stepfather last year, but praise the Lord for how he has worked all things for good for your mom and your family.
I also enjoyed your tips to help make a greener, cleaner Earth. I'm not an environmentalist, but I do believe in being a good stewart of what God has given us. Being far from the sea, I did not realize that the poor sea turtles are eating plastic bags because they look like jellyfish, and dying. Golightly Place - what a thoughtful name for your home and your blog site.
By the way, Anne of Green Gables is my 10yo daughter's favorite book. We checked it out of the library last year. It took us a while to get through it, it is so rich in literary words and visualization. We had to check it out on her card, then renew it, check it out on my card, then renew it before we could get it all read. Later I found a nice copy of it at the library book sale and got it for her to keep.
I chose eclectic as my category because I've formed my homeschool philosophy from several different sources. But mainly I believe in Charlotte Mason's learning lifestyle, though my loose schedule probably doesn't follow her teaching.
Better go for now, my husband's home and wants the computer. Sorry if this is too long. There was just so much on your site I wanted to comment on.
Sep. 7, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Revee
Thank you for sharing your schedule. We use the CM theory in our school work and we enjoy the flexibliity and whole-learning atmosphere it provides. It has opened up a whole new world for my girls.
One more thing - I do like that you start your time with a prayer!
Sep. 9, 2006 - Thank you...
Posted by MrsPivec
for all the kind comments.
Cascade, we moved here because we had been trudging through too many looooong winters in MN. P's mom moved down here first and we came to visit her in April 2002. We LOVED the sunshine and 80 degree temps that April brings around here. It remains my favorite month here. We discussed moving here, but weren't really looking to move.
When we returned home to our MN spring, things were greeening up and it seemed okay. Then the next day it snowed. I didn't even LEAVE the house that day. I remember feeling mad. :)
It wasn't until the following February, though, when we came out of church and E (3 years old at the time) said, "Mama, my FACE hurts!" It was just so cold. All the way home I kept thinking, "That's it. We're going." Being vegetarian, we never did the ice fishing or hunting that are such popular autumn and winter "sports" in MN. We just twiddled our thumbs until spring. We like to be outside, but we like to be WARM.
So, we took the plunge and we'll have been here 3 years on Sep. 19th!