As much as I've been trying to ignore it, Christmas is coming. I've tried putting my fingers in my ears, closing my eyes and humming, but it hasn't worked. I am going to have to get started on Christmas shopping. Perhaps even harder for me is coming up with ideas to give to others about what my family and I would like for Christmas.
Don't get me wrong. I am very grateful for gifts. I actually love receiving gifts. I'm also very glad that some people want to know what I want. I hate being ungrateful, but some of my family members need a little bit of guidance. (Like the year I got a Jerusalem napkin holder and a pair of gold ballet-style slippers from my mother-in-law. Guidance would have been nice.)
I have found that the best tool for figuring out a wish list for everyone is Amazon.com. I have several wish lists at Amazon that I add to throughout the year. But about now (think today!) I've got to add ideas for everyone in the family. The thing that I like about it is that when I think of one idea, then it shows me the things that other people bought at the same time, so I get more ideas, and before long, I've got a wish list several pages long. Not that we get everything. I wouldn't want that. But my mother wants options. So, she gets options. I get to give guidance. And I tell my mother-in-law exactly what to get me. Sometimes I even buy it myself!
This week is cleaning theme week at Works for Me Wednesday. I have already made a few Works for Me Wednesday posts with some of my cleaning tips. Here's our Chore Chart, and just last week I posted on Dividing Cleaning Tasks. You may think that I like to clean. But I really don't. I just like the end results. There are some chores that I am particularly likely to procrastinate. My tip today is for those little chores that you tend to put off because "you don't have enough time right now." (I'm not talking about cleaning out the garage!)
Time yourself doing the chore.
Really. See how long it takes. I was amazed one time when I was heating something in the microwave while I was unloading the dishwasher. I finished the entire dishwasher while I was waiting! What about folding a load of laundry? It can be done in 5 minutes!
A way to take this just a step further is to have a race doing a chore. I started having a race with my daughter while putting sheets on my bed. My job is to put all the sheets on while she is putting all 4 pillow cases on. We actually have fun and it is a way to get the chore down even faster! You can even race against the clock if you can't convince anyone to race with you.
When I was a kid, my mother cleaned the whole house once a week. (Not that she didn't clean up anything in between) I mean all the dusting, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, floor mopping, EVERYTHING on ONE day. As I got older I was assigned a lot of it. It takes a lot away from a Saturday morning when you have to clean the whole house. Not to mention what happens to the house if you miss your cleaning day.
Well, with homeschooling, that definitely does NOT work for me. I've divided up my housecleaning into manageable chores each day. I also have them scheduled a little more often than is absolutely necessary because I'd rather clean a not-so-dirty toilet twice than a nasty toilet once. Overall I think it's less work too.
So I don't clean my bathrooms on the same day as I vacuum. (And if I didn't have kids assigned to clean some of the bathrooms, I wouldn't even clean them all on the same day.) I don't mop the kitchen the same day I change sheets. What do I gain from this?
Cleaning takes smaller chunks of time.
+
A house that is never totally dirty.
(It's never completely clean either, but I can live with that. How long would it stay completely clean anyway? 5 minutes?) It's definitely working for me.
I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with everything I've got going on right now. Hopefully, making a list and seeing the progress will keep me from panic. Here is last week's list. I think I'm going to drop a couple of things off the list. They'd be nice to do, but are a little low on the overall priority list.
Supervise completion of fair entries and drop them off.
Plan menus for next month. (Here's my method.)
Write Nature's Friend review.
Write Guardian Angel Press review.
Read through Chapter 11 of Called to Worship.
I think I overdid it on the book reviews. Oops. I have five to do. (That's not counting my Homeschool Crew reviews.) Most of the book reviews don't have due dates, but I want to get all the books read and reviewed by December 1. I will NOT order any more books until spring. You all heard me?
Now that I've typed everything out, it really isn't all that much. The two curriculum reviews I'm planning on completing aren't actually due this week, I'm just trying to make sure I stay ahead. Of course I haven't actually put much of my day to day stuff on the list. (Like homeschooling my kids, laundry, dinner, violin lessons, Kids4Truth...) Oops, starting to panic again.
This week for Works for Me Wednesday I have another one of those tips that seem so obvious and yet took me a while to think of. We all like to keep various papers and notes handy so that we know where they are. A lot of people have chosen to hang everything on their refrigerator. I do have some things on my refrigerator (I actually need to do a little cleanup of the outside of my fridge currently.), BUT too many papers make the whole room look messy.
I have found that an excellent place to hide some of those papers you need (or maybe just want) is on the INSIDE of the kitchen cabinet doors. It's an excellent place to post that phone list, sports schedule, grocery list, or whatever else you tend to put on the refrigerator. I've even got newspaper clippings of some of my favorite comics hanging in one of my cabinets. I can reread them and get a good chuckle while I'm unloading the dishwasher.
Of course you can't use magnets on the inside of your cabinets. However, you could fix that by painting with magnetic paint. You could also paint the inside of a cabinet door with chalkboard paint! I haven't actually tried either of these ideas, so I'm just sticking with tape for now.
I love high-tech gadgets. If I had more disposable income I'm sure I'd have more gadgets. (Can you say i-phone?) My laptop is my fairly constant companion these days, and I really don't know how I managed without it.
I love making color-coded chore charts and schedules on the computer. I've converted to a mostly on-line calendar. I'm even using several educational items straight from the laptop WITHOUT printing them.
But, I think that sometimes I have a tendency to assume that because I'm doing something on the computer it's saving time and is therefore somehow "better". I have to keep evaluating whether it is really going to save me time in the long run or whether it's just fun to do things the "high-tech" way. (For instance, I really want to catalog all our books. But I haven't because it will take a long time and I don't have a reason to, except that I think it would be neat.)
So with that introduction, I present to you my (not) high-tech list making method.
OK, I'm being a little silly. But I'm also serious. This note pad hangs on the side of our refrigerator. It's easily accessible. I always keep a pen on the counter below it. When my husband or I think of something that we need from the store, we write it on the list. The left side is for Wal-mart/grocery store items, and the right is for Sam's items. This is not the actual list that I take shopping, but I refer to this to make sure I add all the little things we've thought about since the last time someone went to the store.
Old-fashioned though it may be, this list-making system is working for me.
It looks like another week has passed. I did fairly well on last week's list. I'm carrying over a couple of items to this week's list.
Write review of Studypod.
Iron ALL the clothes waiting in the ironing line!
Organize computer files. Set up shared folders for network.
Mount wall lights in kids' rooms.
Do Tapestry of Grace planning.
It looks like I've missed a week (or maybe 2) for To-Do Tuesday. I have found it really helpful making a list for everyone to see. I makes me feel more accountable to actually complete the items on my list! So, here's this week's list.
Read Sue Patrick's Workbox System and decide how to implement.
Write review for The Curriculum Choice.
Iron ALL the clothes waiting in the ironing line!
Put away/give away all the clothes left over from consignment sale.
Sort books for sale and to give away.
Organize computer files. Set up shared folders for network.
It's Organizing Week on Works for Me Wednesday and I really love to organize! For my contribution, I am sharing how I organize our chores. This is our weekly chore chart for me and the kids. I implemented this format of chore assignments a couple of years ago. It has really worked well for us. I keep a copy hung on the side of the refrigerator so everyone can easily see what their chores are that afternoon.
This school-year, I switched the chores around a little, trying to make a person responsible for cleaning the whole room. At first it didn't go over that well, but I think the kids are finally getting used to the different chores.
KPH is me, DWH, is 11 year old son, AKH is 9 year old daughter, WJH is 7 year old son, and EGH is almost 3 year old daughter.I also should mention that we have 3-1/2 bathrooms with notations of MBR for Master bath, K Bath for kids' bath, H bath for Half-bath, and PR bath for Playroom bath (in the basement).
Hope this helps someone plan their own chores. Chore charts definitely Work for Me!
This week I am going to post first a nicely checked list of the things that I can check off my list from last week. Then, I am posting a list of what I actually intend to get done this week.
I have NOT made good progress on my list this week. I got some of my items finished, but some of them took a little more time than they should have.
Clean out fishpond and stock with new fish.
Can you tell, I REALLY don't want to do this one?
Finish weeding all the flower beds.
Paint the living room.
Decide on paint.
I had checked "Decide on paint" last week, but this week I undecided, and picked up a zillion more samples. I think I have once again decided, but now I don't know if I'm going to have time to actually paint before my husband goes back to work!
Purchase new book shelf.
I may have to take this one off my list. I had hoped to make a trip to IKEA for this which is a 2 hour drive, and my summer time is running short!
Complete school planning for new year.
Completed curriculum list.
Potty train little one.
Still doing great!
Complete chore plan for upcoming year.
This is done, just need to make it look pretty! No progress on this last week.
Build more pages on squidoo.
I didn't make any new pages, but I did a few updates.
Assist daughter in making apron.
Woohoo! This is our big accomplishment for the week!
Yes, my silly 2 year old is wearing her new "Sunday shoes". What you can't see is that she is also wearing her pajamas. What natural fashion sense she has!
Write Sense and Sensibility (the apron pattern company) review.
Write Hank the Cowdog Review.
Write Webdesign for Kids Review.
We just got back from a week at the beach. In addition to our clothes, we had to take bed linens and towels for our stay. Our family of six traveled in a Chrysler Town and Country mini van and we didn't have to use the roof carrier!
My favorite vacation packing tip----
LAUNDRY BASKETS
I packed all of our clothes and linens into 4 laundry baskets. (I even had extra shoes, diapers, sunscreen, and some of our food in there too. We use the large rectangular ones. They will fit stacked 2 high.
Here's a picture of the van after one laundry basket and some other stuff (like a Pack n Play) had already been removed. It's not the best picture, but I, believe it or not, wasn't thinking about getting a picture for the blog!
Packing in laundry baskets definitely "Works for me" and I hope someone else finds it a useful idea.
I missed last week because I was on vacation. Here are my updates for this week's To-do Tuesday. I've deleted items that were complete last time. I'm also going to add a few more.
Clean out fishpond and stock with new fish.
Finish weeding all the flower beds.
Paint the living room.
Decide on paint.
Purchase new book shelf.
Complete school planning for new year.
Completed curriculum list.
Potty train little one.
She's learning.
Complete chore plan for upcoming year.
This is done, just need to make it look pretty!
Build more pages on squidoo.
Assist daughter in making apron.
Write Hank the Cowdog Review.
Write Webdesign Review.
I really think the purpose of this meme is to post a new list every week, but I am using it more as a reminder to be working on my "big" goals for the summer. Here are my updates for this week's To-do Tuesday.
Prepare for children's consignment sale.
Do ironing
Catch up on regular laundry
Hang all clothes
Tag clothes
Drop-off clothes
Clean out fishpond and stock with new fish.
Finish weeding all the flower beds.
2 done, 1 to go.
Paint the living room.
Decide on paint.
Purchase new book shelf.
Complete school planning for new year.
Completed curriculum list
Potty train little one.
She's learning
Complete chore plan for upcoming year.
This is done, just need to make it look pretty!
Update photo albums.
Build more pages on squidoo.
Have the pastor and wife over for dinner.
Had a lovely evening on Thursday. Need to practice hospitality more often!
I found a new meme called To-do Tuesday sponsored by Crazy Adventures in Parenting. (The meme is not new, just new to me.) I'm going to re-post my summer goal list that I posted last Friday along with (a very few) updates.
Prepare for children's consignment sale.
Do ironing
Catch up on regular laundry
Clean out fishpond and stock with new fish.
Finish weeding all the flower beds.
Paint the living room.
Decide on paint.
Purchase new book shelf.
Complete school planning for new year.
Completed curriculum list
Potty train little one.
Complete chore plan for upcoming year.
Update photo albums.
Build more pages on squidoo.
Have the pastor and wife over for dinner.
One of my eleven stated goals in my previous post was to work on school planning. I've already picked out curriculum, so I just need to look through everything, determine a reasonable pace, and decide how often to teach each subject. Then I could start scheduling every assignment. But I don't like to schedule too far ahead. Inevitably something comes up, or something takes longer than expected and then the schedule is all off. I like to get a general outline in place of each of the courses, but I do most of my planning weekly.
Here is my list of curricula for the upcoming year:
Combined Subjects
We will be using Tapestry of Grace Year 2 . TOG includes History, Geography, Literature, Church History, and Art Appreciation for my 6th grade son, 4th grade daughter, and 2nd grade son.
For science we will be studying zoology using Apologia Elementary science. We completed parts of both the Flying Creatures and Land Creatures books last year. I hope to finish them both this year.
I must admit that after reading this, I'm having one of those what was I thinking moments! This really looks like a lot. This doesn't include all the Homeschool Crew Review Products we'll be using. The unknown Crew products are another reason why I am not going to make a detailed schedule for the year.
For the last two weeks, I've been discussing different aspects of teaching multiple ages of children. In part 1, I mentioned choosing curriculum that would assist you in teaching multiple levels by utilizing a combination of curricula that combined children and worked for independent learning. Last week, in part 2, I provided some basic philosophies of scheduling to plan your days. This week I'd like to talk about remembering the individuality of each of your children and how it relates to choosing curriculum.
You may be thinking, "Of course I know my children are individuals! That's one of the reasons that I chose to homeschool!" And you are right of course. But I have found myself "forgetting" this when I'm choosing curriculum and you may also have unknowingly "forgotten" too.
When looking for a curriculum to combine multiple children, be sure to consider the aptitudes and learning styles of all your children. The problem is that if you have children with widely different ways of learning, you probably won't find one curriculum that is perfectly suited to every child. Here's where you might have to "tweak" the plans a little. For example, if you are using a curriculum that includes a lot of reading aloud, and you have a child that has problems sitting still, then you could give that child something quiet to do with his hands while you read. But if you have a whole house full of children who can't sit still while being read to, then look for something that isn't so reading intensive! If a curriculum requires a lot of reading by the student who finds reading difficult, you could search for audio versions of some of the required reading. When you are trying to combine students who learn very differently, be sure to look for a curriculum that contains activities using a wide variety of learning methods. Not every student will be happy with every assignment, but it isn't a bad thing to stretch your students, making them do some things that don't come as naturally to them.
When choosing curriculum, homeschoolers tend to be frugal. So when we see a spelling curriculum that is non-consumable and can be used for all our children every year from first grade through graduation, we tend to think that it's a great deal. But this is another one of the ways we tend to forget the individual natures of our children. This type of curriculum that is a one time purchase for your whole family may seem like a great deal, but don't be too surprised if the same phonics, spelling, or math curriculum isn't very well suited to all of your children. Once again, there are ways to "tweak" a curriculum you already have to make it work with all of your children. Also, we don't have to make every single subject perfectly suited to each child's learning style. To function in the world, we need to be able to learn in a variety of ways. But, when you choose ALL your curriculum for your OLDEST child, planning on passing it down to the others, you could be faced with NONE of your curriculum being well suited for a YOUNGER child.
I have just finished the first grade with my second son. My oldest son just finished 5th grade and oldest daughter 3rd. I cannot imagine there being two boys who are any more different than my two. Their first grade years also looked very different.
My oldest son was reading fluently BEFORE first grade. He completed through Singapore 2A in his math. He also completed First Language Lessons, having started the first grade portion in kindergarten.
My younger son is still not reading fluently but has made tremendous progress this year. (We're on our third phonics program with our third child.) He is working his way through Math Mammoth Level 1A over the summer. I didn't even begin First Language Lessons with him this year.
Admittedly, some of the differences are a result of my not spending as much time with the younger son as I did with the older son, partly because of lack of desire on HIS part. But my boys are also extremely different in personality. The oldest is serious and exacting, while the younger is a ham that is a bundle of energy. My younger son just wasn't ready to learn things at the same time and in the same way as the older. I can't expect him to use his brother's "hand-me-down" curriculum without some serious "tweaking".
I shared this example to demonstrate how differences in your students should be taken into account when choosing curriculum. I urge you to think of the entire family when you make your curriculum choices. At least be willing to accept the possibility that the "perfect" phonics curriculum may not be so perfect the next time around.
Last week, I talked about choosing curriculum for teaching multiple ages. I mentioned some examples of curricula that are good for independent learning, and some that are designed for combining children. I also told of the necessity of balancing those types of curriculum with those that require intensive teacher involvement.
This week, I will give some guidelines for scheduling your homeschool day. I know, some people break out in hives at the mere mention of the word schedule, but there is a great deal of flexibility in scheduling. Many people have great success in making very specific daily schedules. Others prefer to have a general routine, without setting specific times to their activities.
To start building your homeschool schedule, first make a column for each child you are teaching. Under each column make a list of the subjects he will be studying, making a note of the resources you have selected for each subject. Also note if it's an independent resource, requires help from you, or is a combined resource.
For example:
Johnny Math - Singapore 2A - Start with me, then independent
Spelling - Spelling Power - with me
English - Rod and Staff - independent
Bible - morning devotions - with me and Susie
History - Story of the World - with me and Susie
Science - Apologia Astronomy - with me and Susie
Then make a similar list for other students.
The next step is to combine everyone's schedule. In this example, I would probably start the day with Bible with everyone. Then I could begin math with Johnny, while Susie does something independent. (Something like handwriting or copywork is good for younger students, but not so young that they need constant attention to their handwriting.) After going over the math lesson with Johnny, I would then move to help Susie on her math. Later, I would meet with everyone together for history or science.
This is a somewhat simplified example, but I hope it illustrates the thought process in making a schedule. Some additional ideas for independent time for children while you're working with another child are silent reading, educational computer time, or playing with a younger sibling. Last year, I set up my schedule to include one meeting time with each of my two older students. During the meeting, we went over the math lesson, looked at the independent assignments and went over the instructions. This freed up more time for me to work with my younger son and cut down on the questions that interrupted me while I was working with another child. An excellent resource for learning about making a schedule is Managers of Their Homes (MOTH). This book guides you through building a complete schedule for you and your entire family's day. It does an excellent job of teaching you to think through your priorities and goals. In addition, MOTH includes a kit to assist you in physically making the schedule. Here's a review of MOTH by a woman who is homeschooling her five children.
Another scheduling idea that has recently swept the homeschooling world by storm is Sue Patrick's Workbox System. The basic plan consists of setting up a system of 12 workboxes for each student to work through every day. Each box contains only the assignment for that subject that day. When the assignment is complete, the box is removed, thus providing a visual encouragement to the student. Here's a recent review of Sue Patrick's workbox system that also contains many links to various blogs that detail their adaptations of the system.
Another unique scheduling idea worth considering is Loop Scheduling. The idea is to list the subjects in order. When time for school is done, stop work. The next day, you will begin with the subject that was next in the sequence. This is a neat idea to make sure that you get to all the great "extra" subjects that seem to get pushed aside due to fatigue and running out of time.
As you can see, there is great variety in scheduling methods. Hopefully, you now have some ideas on how to schedule your school day so that you can teach multiple children.
My days are never dull as a homeschooling mother of 4 children. This blog contains views of our life, reviews of homeschool curriculum, book reviews, and helpful hints for homeschooling.
