This was the first year I had a real, live, doable homeschooling schedule.  In the past, I have tried many different schedules from the rigorous to the lax.  None of them seemed to stick and always eventually led to chaos. 

The rigorous schedule only worked for a short time because, truth be told, it was just too much.  Too much to get done in too little of a time frame, too much work for my children at the ages they were, too much to be expected of them and me.  Because of this, it eventually fell by the wayside and what took its place was often the exact opposite...the lax schedule.

My lax schedule tended to look like nothing.  I jumped around in subjects willy nilly, never truly completing any one of them.  I was never prepared and school rarely got finished.  This, by its very nature, brought on chaos.  No one ever knew when school would be nor what was expected of them once they were "in school."  I could only take so much of this before my head was cluttered and I revamped and ended up back on a rigorous schedule...oh, the vicious homeschooling schedule cycle.

However, this year I was introduced to the concept of MODERATION.  Not every subject had to be done every day.  (Have I ever mentioned that quite often I need the obvious stated to me?)  So, I took this concept and developed a block schedule.  I have been amazed at how well this works and how easy it is to accomplish.

So, without further ado, here is the block schedule we use for our 1st grader and 4th grader.

Every day, I start w/ the 2 children together.  I read a Bible story from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible.  You can read this online, but I was blessed to find a copy at a thrift store for $.50!  This book teaches even the most obscure of Bible stories in a solid Biblical-worldview way.  And the children LOVE it!

On Monday, we also add Window on the World to teach the children to think outside themselves and their country.  This has been a real turning point for our 4th grade son.  He prays for missionaries and their work on a regular basis now.

Then, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we do History.  For us, history is incredibly important to our homeschool.  It is part of the vision my husband and I have for homeschooling; therefore, it gets 3 days a week.  Currently, we are at the threshhold of the War between the States, so we are reading Uncle Tom's Cabin: Young Folks' Edition.  We downloaded it to our computer and read it off of there.

After our time together, the children seperate off and my 4th grader independently does his math and grammar while the 1st grader does her math and handwriting.  During this time, I grade papers and go between the two helping them as needed.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the schedule looks much the same except that Science replaces History and my 4th grader does Rosetta Stone online instead of his grammar.  Before this, he did typing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but he is a fairly good typist now and practices his skills during his computer time (also on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).  My 1st grader also gets her Home Ec in on Tuesday and Thursday (but really, this takes place nearly every day as she spends time following me around and helping wherever she can).

So, there you have it.  An easy, doable schedule.  I am so pleased that I have finally found something that works for our homeschool.  I would encourage anyone who sees problems in their homeschooling schedule to take a step back and really asess the problem areas and revamp and rework until they find what works.  Once you do, you will feel so much more relaxed about your school day!

The other thing I would highly encourage is thinking outside the box.  Don't think school must start at 8am every day.  I thought this was the only way to school for years before I realized that there was no way that was going to work for our family that consisted of more littles than bigs.  So, I shut my eyes and took the plunge into afternoon schooling while the littles napped.  (Once again, sometimes I need the obvious stated...or else I just need to be reassured that doing something "differently" is okay.)

So, what are some things you can do to beat the homeschooling scheduling blues?

1) Pinpoint the problem areas.

2) Brainstorm ways you can overcome these problems.  Don't be afraid to list even seemingly outrageous solutions.

3) Try each suggestion on for size (preferably one at a time).  Give each one at least a week before deciding whether it works or not.

4) Discard those that do not work.  Do not worry about the fact that Susie-so-and-so made it work for her family.  You are not Susie-so-and-so, and your family may have different needs than hers.

5) Keep those that do work for you.  Write them down, implement then, enlist the kids to hold you accountable to the schedule.

6) In a few weeks, reevaluate.  Is it still working for you?  Did it end up being as great as you had thought it would be?  Do you need to try something else from your brainstorming session?  Has the new schedule created a new problem area somewhere else?  If so, is the new problem worth keeping the new schedule?  Do you need to brainstorm a solution to the new problem?

7) Don't be discouraged.  The process may be long and involved, or you may find a workable schedule only to realize that a new baby or a new move or something else puts a kink in it and you have to rework it again.  If you stay calm and just methodically work through finding a new solution, you'll make a lot more headway in a lot less time than if you fly into a frenzy and end up burned out.  Remember the adage, "Slow & steady wins the race."

and

8)  My very favorite reminder...Pray for the Lord to fill in the gaps.  You WILL have gaps.  There is absolutely no way around it.  Remind yourself, if you must, that your own schooling had gaps and yet, here you are, following the Lord's will.