Saturday, April 26, 2008

Getting It All Done, Part 1

Somebody asked how I get it all done: homeschooling, homemaking, cooking, scrapbooking, and blogging. The simple answer is: I don't. I have seven helpers, five of whom are a significant help. I have three goals Monday-Friday:

1. Get school done
2. Get chores done
3. Make dinner

If I get those three things done, I've had a successful day. I have to make my list short because I'm all about productivity. Checking things off a list makes me very happy. The more things I get done, the happier I'll be. However, if my expectations are too high, I'll kill myself trying. That's just me.

To get it all done, I use a loose schedule. I can't do half-hour by half-hour schedules, they wear me out and don't work for me. Instead, I have a list of things I need to get done by a certain time. This has worked great for us.

Here's our weekly schedule:

Monday/Wednesday

8:ish

Breakfast & Bible Study

Aesop’s Fable or Poetry

Math – Maya & Elena

Lydia plays w/ I & C

Phonics rotation

Lydia plays w/ 3 kids

Chores & Dinner prep

11:00

Outdoor Time/ Errands

12:00

LUNCH

Literature & Rug time

Daniel & Lydia nap

Quiet Time

Daniel & Lydia nap

4:30

Outdoor Time/ Toy Time

5:00

Tidy-up Time


Tuesday/Thursday

8:ish

Breakfast & Bible Study

History/ Geography

Math – Isaac & Chloe

Lydia plays w/ M& E

Phonics rotation

Lydia plays w/ 3 kids

Chores & Dinner prep

11:00

Outdoor Time/ Errands

12:00

LUNCH

Literature & Rug time

Daniel & Lydia nap

Quiet Time

Daniel & Lydia nap

4:30

Outdoor Time/ Toy Time

5:00

Tidy-up Time



Fridays, we have homeschool co-op all morning. The schedule picks up at naptime on those days.

* The phonics rotation and rug time are explained here.

We do a college-type schedule. I can't do the same thing everyday. I'd go nuts. I like change. So instead of doing a single page of Math everyday, we do half the lesson (3 pages) per day.

Daniel is my little tomato, he stays with me while I do the math and phonics rotations. (The big kids can handle Lydia, but Daniel is too fast and too impulsive. He needs my constant watchful eye to stay out of trouble. Tomato-staking is working wonders with him.)

I read, nap, or blog during quiet time.

I'll explain our chores in another post.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for posting your schedule. I enjoy new ideas! Maybe sometime you can blog more about tomato-staking, giving practical ways to do that with such a busy house.

Thanks,
Naomi :)

The Herd said...

I really want to read the Tomato book:) Love the way you do math and other subjects:). I do things every day--only b/c I am a schedule follower--and that happens to be the schedule that was given to me...but I might have to change things up just for fun!!