How do I homeschool? ( Part 2) Scheduling, and assignments

So this year is our second year, I can tell you our second year is by far better then our first. That could be due to the fact that I am not pregnant and feeling yucky.  My postpartum recovery has been a tough one, but we are getting there...slowly....in the mean time schooling is going much better.  I really worked hard this summer prior to the baby at setting up an achievable schedule.  Last year I came out of the gates just a swinging with idea's of how we were going to get this all done.  Well it took about 3 days for that to go up in smoke.  The first week was a week of tears and complaining. I thought I was doing my daughter harm by homeschooling her. By the Third week in I was realizing the my expectations were way beyond her ability.  I backed off, and so did the tears.  By the 7th week, the curriculum I had originally purchased as one big package. Sonlight, was not going to be for us.  It just was not working for me, for her or for our homeschool with me being pregnant and feeling awful.  So it was then that we decided that we needed to change it up.  I went shopping and started our eclectic journey.  This year, No big all in one curriculum, but rather a whole mish mosh of different things, all with a little different style of learning.
We have a flexible schedule that I got from Erica of Confessions of a homeschooler, as far as time goes,( http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com) and we try to do the basics for sure everyday. So on those days that we have visits or outings that we are still covering our bases.

Schedules for Lady Tor Tor on The right( Grade 2) and For Miss Emi-lou on the Left( Preschool)

Weekly assignment chart( I made it) For Lady Tor Tor Grade 2

I down loaded her editable Free schedules, and they have been awesome.  Originally I had laminated them, but had to make changes to them, so now I just use a page protector. I put one in my children binders and one on my wall above my desk, just so that I know what we are doing next as well. Between changed diapers from 2 babies, and feeding some times mommy looses track of where we are in our school work.  This has proven to be really helpful to be organized.  The other thing that I did was make a Weekly Assignment  Sheet and laminated it Then on Friday afternoons, after school is done, I go through it and write in the assignments for next week, and then on Monday morning Lady Tor Tor knows where we are starting at. Because we are in Grade 2 week are still spending a lot of time together, and slowly but surely she is getting more independent with her assignments. Woot Woot!  Miss Emi-lou is in Preschool and so her assignment sheet is more for mommy to remember what plans I had for the week.  We have found that we need a routine, but it had been hard at times with a new baby to work with as well. Being organized is key to making this successful.  I find that if I get behind in my planning for the week ahead, I get overwhelmed myself, and then its hard to focus on what needs to be done, when I have to divide my time between the littlest ones and my schooling ones. 

We can usually get all of our school work done in about 2 hours from start to finish, but sometimes that takes longer if mommy has to deal with the baby. Or if a meal needs to be made and served in there as well.  Everyone is going to have a different way of doing things. I have learned that this year verses last year.  I have learned that flying by the seat of your pants as far as the time of day that you are doing school with a baby is how I have to roll, but others will do the same routine every day.  I find that if baby has been up all night that it is hard to get school going in the morning, because I a exhausted before I even begin. Those days, its coffee and devotions for mommy first, and then I am able to face my day a little easier, and I don't rush myself, because that 3pm Crash will be coming. I really try to get the little ones busy with activities before starting school with my 7 year old.  She loves to draw so she is happy to wait till her sisters are busy before starting with her school stuff.  She has a hard time focusing, so she needs that direct one on one time for certain subjects.  How do I keep the preschoolers busy...With a busy box, and bingo dabbers, and Dora the explorer.  My almost 4 year old, has her assignments in her binder in page protectors under the day of the week that it is. So once she is done her sheets she can go and play, we also do a Letter of the day book and in that she has colouring and dabber painting and practice writing.  This is something that I pre-make the night before or on Saturday for the week.  It is rather time consuming, but she loves it.  I am really trying to promote some self motivation. So They have weekly binders, where there assignments are in, and we have a morning binder, where we talk about the date, the time, what the weather is like, what we are wearing, and we do devotions in that time as well.  That takes about 15-20 mins.  Then we start into the rest of our school work. Although being in our second year we are still adjusting and figuring what works for us. 

I am working on a video I hope to share in my next blog post with those binders, and what I do for a child who has trouble focusing and wants to forever be wiggling.   

God's Blessings

Mommy AK