School Schedule, Maybe

This weeks link up is Day in the Life Week over at IHomeschool Network

This is probably one of my most difficult areas of homeschooling to narrow down. Why? You might ask. 

Well personally I don’t function well with strict schedules. I write out a to-do list and start on that list then along the way get distracted. I work better if I can work at my own pace. I have never been a morning girl, just ask my momma about my days in school and she’ll tell you that she sent me out the door to the bus with both of us crying. I cried because I wanted to stay home and sleep, she cried because it broke her heart to send me away crying.

So that brings me to home school. I would like to think that Little Man thrives on organic learning. In truth he fluctuates between thriving on a strict schedule and also time to stretch his learning his way. For me the key is knowing which mode of learning he is in. Sometimes, he needs a very strict schedule. In fact, he seems to do well knowing what comes next. But often, he also get’s frustrated with me keeping him to the schedule that he craves so much. He get’s interested in a topic and as one lecturer I recently heard put it, he wants to go down that rabbit hole. That is where I must be flexible enough to let him. 

That’s when the schedule get’s tossed out the window and I get off track. When I get off track it’s hard for me to get back on the scheduled track.

So all of that being said, what does a typical day in our homeschool look like?  First, we do 4 day weeks, so that means he should be getting approximately 5 hours per day of structured learning. But, what does structured look like when you are an ecclectic homeschooler who doesn’t function well in the morning.

For the past few years, we started school at about 10 a.m. worked for 2 hours then took an hour lunch break, then the after noon was about 2 1/2 to 3 hours depending on how quickly he worked.

This year (We aren’t starting until the 11th of September) I plan to be even more structured, because at church camp this year I saw how well he thrived on a planned day.

So my general schedule will look like this, if I can manage to make myself over into a morning person…. Bring on the Coffee!!!

8 am Mom wakes up, makes breakfast, get’s dressed.

8:30 am Little man wakes up, eat’s breakfast get’s dressed.

9 am, Personal Bible Study 

9:30 am, chores

10 am School Starts, Bible, Language Arts and History

12:00 Lunch Break

1:00 Math, Science and foreign language

2:30 Afternoon break

3:00 Art, Music, Typing or various other extra curricular studies.

4:00 School is dismissed, afternoon chores for mom. Little Man has some play time

5:30 Little Man’s evening chores

6:00 Dinner

7:00 Dinner Cleanup

8:00 Little Man Play time, mom finishes up chores for the day

9:30 Bed time for Little Man, Quiet time for mom and dad.

I will say, that this schedule will ebb and flow with our needs, I will restructure as we go along because I’m just not sure how well either he or I will do with this particular one. I want to add Yoga, which I have discovered this summer that I enjoy, into my day somewhere, but not yet sure where that will go. Oh, schedules are difficult for me… But, I school for the best interest of my child so I am having vision’s of a perfectly scheduled year. ?? can that really happen???