Scheduling

One of THE most common questions a mom with lots of kids is going to get, is "How do you do it all?"  Seriously, I had a mom of triplets ask me that, since I had more than her.  That, I just didn't get. Anyway, since it's a question that so commonly comes up, I thought I'd share probably the one thing that keeps us (somewhat) on the straight and narrow...  Scheduling. 

First, you need to know, every kids is SO different.  Katie is very laid back, relaxed, and doesn't like a strict schedule.  That isn't to say she doesn't need one, though.  She'll spend all day laying in the sunlight playing with her sisters, if I let her. 

Danny, however, is VERY rigid.  He absolutely craves complete structure to his day.  It REALLY messes him up when something interrupts our schedule.  He needs to learn flexibility.  Desperately. 

Now, I am a procrastinator.  (As seen by the fact that I've been meaning to put these organizational posts out for something like 6 weeks.)  I will let things pile up until they're completely unmanageable, and then the chaos robs me of the meek and quiet spirit we're called to have and strive for, as women of God.

Sean and the twins, they could care less, for the most part. Sean does do better when he has many different things planned through the day, but he's also a very opinionated 3-year-old.  Yesterday, for example, I just could not get him to sit still and read during read aloud time with him.  It helps him to learn discipline, that life isn't fair (an important lesson to learn!), and that sometimes we just have to do things we don't want to do.  The twins are learning security through routine. 

So, here's what we do:  First, I use a system based pretty much off of the book Managers of Their Homes:  A Practical Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian Homeschool Families by Steve and Terri Maxwell of Titus2.com.  The Maxwell family have 8 children who have all pretty much been homeschooled.  They have WONDERFUL resources for raising and training godly children, organization, scheduling, homeschooling, and general encouragement.  It's a wonderful website, and I highly recommend it.

When you order MOTH,  you get a chart and colored little papers to get stuck up on it, to organize your day.  (If you've ever watched the Duggar's TV show, it's the same color coded system Michelle Duggar uses.)  This works REALLY well when you're just starting out.   You're able to switch and change up your blocks and activities, very quickly. 

Our problem with that, is that they kept falling off.  ((rolls eyes))  Or getting torn off by little hands.  Then, when we were painting the living room, the chart got some sort of mess on it, and that was that.  I tossed the chart.  BUT... I need something that I can tell at a glance who's doing what when, and that the kids can tell what they need to do and when. 

I opened up Exel,and came up with this:

It's basically the same thing as a MOTH chart, without all the little squares to fall off. :)  Each child is color coded, and my schedule is the yellow one.  It took 2 pages to print, but I cut it to fit into my laminater, which only fits just slightly larger than 8"x11".    The hours on the side of the page start at 6 am, when I get up, and go through 10:00 pm, broken up into half hour increments. I also put each of the kids' daily schedules into their school binders.  You can find a post on that and see that example here.

EVERYTHING is scheduled into the days.  Every school subject, chore time, even playing with their siblings.  Now, it looks at first glance that they don't have any free time, but this isn't entirely true.  Remember Katie, my dawdler?  She could easily take 2 hours for a 15 minute spelling assignment, if I let her.  Instead of scheduling how long a subject should take (nothing they do should take over 1/2 an hour), I give them one-half of an hour for each subject.  If they finish early, they have the choice of either using the rest of the time for free time, or going onto the next subject and knocking that out, too.  Danny usually gets all of his schoolwork done long before lunch.  Katie, not so much, but she's learning.  Once their school and chores are done for the day, they're welcome to have free time to do what they want.  The only things they have to do at scheduled times are meals and chores (they do chores after every meal). 

Scheduling makes our days run SO much smoother.  Just like in a well-organized home, everything has a place and everything in it's place.  It's the same with our schedules.  Everything has a time, and everything in it's time. 

School Year 2010-2011 Part 3

 
OK, last thing we're going to go over. We specifically chose Tapestry of Grace because of the quality of literature and history books. We don't have access to a great library, so we knew we'd be making a LONG term investment, because we'd be buying all of the books ourselves. (And, no, it's not cheap to do it that way, but, it's an investment, right??)


 
We also knew we'd need a way to organize everything. Plus, have I mentioned our kids are HARD on books? After scouring blog after blog and message board after message board, here's what we finally came up with!


 
First, many of the books are paperbacks. NO GOOD for my house!! I had to come up with a way to protect those precious covers, and covering them with contact paper seemed the easiest (and cheapest) way to do that.


 
Second, when we cycled back to Year 1 (TOG is a 4 year cycle, and we'll keep cycling through until everyone's out of school), I would need to know at a glance what books I already had, and what books I would need for any new levels we were going to be in.


 
And third, I needed a way to know when I was done using a book, so I could put it away. We live in a pretty small space, so I didn't want books we weren't using out, taking up space, and I didn't want them out where little hands could get to them and ruin them, either.


 
Here's what we came up with:


 
TOG has their levels color coded. Lower Grammar is red, Upper Grammar is yellow, Dialectic is green, and Rhetoric is blue. I bought simple foil star stickers with those four colors on them. Some books in TOG you're going to use for one week, some for a unit, some for multiple units. In the same way, some are only for 1 level, and some for multiple levels. I went through every book we bought (we only bought what was on the UG list), and stuck a sticker on them for whatever level they had.


 
This book is used only for Upper Grammar, for example:

 

 

While this one is used for LG, UG, and Dialectic:


 

 

Next, as you can see, I took a sharpie to them. I marked them with the year and units we'll be using them for. The top one, we only use for Year 1, Unit 1. The bottom book, we use for Year 1, but all four units. When the kids are done reading the top book, it'll be put away. The bottom book, though, will stay out all year long, as they'll use it all year long.


 
The next thing I did was cover the paperbacks. I put the stickers and the markings on FIRST, so they were protected, too. I got a few rolls of contact paper, and went at it. There are good instructions on how to do this here. It took me 2 or 3 rolls to do them, and, I admit, I have bubbles, but it's SO much better than letting them get ruined by spilled juice or gumming babies.


 
For the hardback books, I simply took a piece of clear packing tape, and taped it over the stickers and markings. That should protect them for now.


 
Now, we take out each book that we need for the week, and put it in our book basket. I also put our grammar book and science book, and anything else they're going to need to finish their lessons in there. That way they always know where it is. The basket's also portable, if we need it to be. ;)


 
I think that's pretty much it for our organization this year!! We're still keeping their notebooks and binders and such in bins, for simplicity's sake, but they're getting to be too stuffed, so I need a new system for that. Working on that one, and I'll keep you posted! :)
♥

School Year 2010-2011 Part 2

In the last post, I showed you how I organized my teaching manuals for Tapestry of Grace. Here, I'll show you the kids' binders. I love that TOG really encourages the kids to be self-motivated and self-taught!! I'm a firm believer that 99% of my job as a teacher is to teach them how to learn, not just fill their mind with information. If I teach them how to learn independently, the world is truly their oyster, and they can learn anything!!


 
Ok, kids' binders… I'll be showing you Katie's, but they're both the same. The only difference is that Katie's binders and notebooks are pink, and Danny's are blue. (They chose the colors…)


 
First, here's a picture of the front. I mentioned that TOG has front covers and spines for your binders on the Loom. This is the same cover and spine I used for my binders.

 

Nice, huh? :)


 
OK, for the kids' binders, I got a BUNCH of dividers. I prefer the plastic ones. Yes, they're more expensive, but they're SO worth it, since they're not going to get torn up nearly as easily. You're going to need 3 dividers with pockets on them, and 5 more that don't need them. (If you buy them in a pack, though, it's no big deal, really.) I labeled my pocket dividers as Assignment Sheets, Maps, and SAPs and Worksheets. The ones in the back say Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, and Maps. 

 
OK, we're going to start at the front. First is a page protector pocket that has the daily schedule for each child on one side, and a weekly calendar on the other. I print of the calendars every week, so they know what's coming up. Our schedule is loosely based off of the Managers of Their Homes system, which I HIGHLY recommend, especially if you have a child or children who really need a ton of structure, like I do.

 
Next is their Assignment Sheets. Remember my Master Assignment sheet? They each have one, too. Every Sunday, I take each child individually, and take them through the Master sheet. They copy their assignments down onto their sheets. It's getting them prepared to eventually read the TOG Assignment Sheets for themselves, and write them out (although, realistically, that won't happen until at least the Dialectic stage, about 7^th grade). Theirs are written out, not typed, but they still save them as a record. Again, good practice in record keeping and organization. Plus, it keeps me from having to answer the never-ending question, "What's next??"

 
After their Assignment Sheet are the TOG Reading Assignments, Weekly Overview, Spelling Cards, and Writing Assignment sheets. We go over these on Sunday during our time together. Now they know exactly what to expect to learn this week.


 
Behind the Assignment Sheets section is Maps. This one is pretty easy. I just put any map they have to do this week into the pocket of the divider. Their maps are assigned on their sheet, so they know exactly when we're going to do them.

 
Behind Maps, is SAPs (Student Activity Pages) and Worksheets. The SAPs show them what activities they'll be doing this week. The Worksheets are, well, worksheets. ;) I also put any evaluations they have to do in this section.

 

For our Unit Tabs, I took page protectors and tabbed them, with the headings of Week 1-Week 36. On Sunday, when we go through our upcoming week, the kids take all of their assignment sheets and SAPs/worksheets, along with their calendar, and put it in the corresponding week's pouch. Permanent records! At the end of the year, we'll put them in our big bin for Upper Grammar, labeled by year. 

For Maps, that's labeled by Unit. As they finish a map, it goes in the corresponding Unit pocket. It, too, will go in the bin at the end of the year.

 

So, that's how the kids' binders are organized, more or less. It's teaching them a lot about independence, and they really do enjoy having their own lists, and schedules, and knowing exactly what comes next. It also frees me up to deal with the littles, and not have to answer constant questions about what's coming up next!!

School Year 2010-2011 Part 1

OK, we're a little late in getting this out… We actually started about a month ago. ;) But, here's how we're organizing this school year.


 
I've already mentioned we're using Tapestry of Grace for our core curriculum this year. What's nice about TOG is that they explain how to set up everything from the get-go! They have a whole article called Out of the Shrink Wrap that takes you step by step through what you need to do to be organized. Of course, you can tweak it to fit your needs, and I'm thinking most people do. Here's what we did:


 
We start with my binders. You can buy one unit (9 weeks worth of curriculum) at a time through TOG. That's what we did, to save money. We'll buy the next unit when we're done with this one. You can buy the curriculum as a Digital Edition (DE), as a printed hard copy, or buy both. I opted to buy both. It's slightly more pricey ($45 for DE only, $58.30 for hard copy, plus shipping, and $65.80 for the DE plus print copy, plus shipping), but it was worth it for me. I couldn't see me printing out the whole thing, and I like having it all printed out for me when I started. But, I like having the DE, so I can simply print off the kids' pages when I need them.


 
SO, you get a BIG binder, I use a 3", and you have the option of either just putting it in the binder as is (it's pre-punched, as the print edition), or putting it in page protectors. I opted for the page protectors, to protect my investment. This curriculum can be used through high school, and you only have to buy each year once. That took TIME, but I really think it was worth it. In the Loom, which you get access to when you buy the curriculum, they have spines and covers for your binders, which look really nice. You'll need one binder per unit, with four units in the year. You can also buy tabbed dividers from them, which has the week numbers on them. I also put my Map Aids keys, and my Evaluations keys with the corresponding weeks.


 
Then, I go through the activities. Activities are big deals in our house, mostly because Mommy tends to forget to buy the supplies, and we never get them done. ((blush)) To avoid that problem, I make a list of things I'm going to need for each week. I list all of the activities, their supplies, and what book or where to find how to do them. In that page protector pouch, I also print off any extras we're going to need, and stick it in. (For example, one week we're making lentil soup as our project. I printed out the recipe, and put it in the pouch.) This way, I have everything I need at my fingertips.


 
The other thing I did is order Pop Quiz. Basically, this is a CD and card set that's specifically for Dad. He can listen to the CD in the car on his way to or from work, or wherever he goes, whenever he has time. Then, the cards give him idea starters and questions to ask the kids on Friday, so that he knows exactly what they're learning. I laminated my cards, and stuck them in the pouches with the activity sheet, broken down by week. The CDs I keep in a CD holder sheet in the front of my binder.


 
So, that's step 1. Step 2, is making my weekly binder. Basically, you're going to work with three weeks at a time. You're going to need three "pouches" or folders, where you store the kids' paperwork for the week. Then, you just take out the pages you need from your big binder for the week, and put them in the weekly one. This way, I'm not sorting through stuff I don't need. We're only doing Upper Grammar this year, so I don't need the Lower Grammar, Dialectic, or Rhetoric pages. By putting them in my weekly binder, I don't have to sift through them.


 
In my binder, I also have some CD holders, to hold the Pop Quiz CDs we're using. We're also using Teaching Textbooks this year for math, which is all on CD, so we keep our CDs for that in there, too. The kids always know where they are that way, and there's no looking for them. When they're both finished with a CD (there's about 30 lessons on each CD, with a total of 4 CDs), they go back into the Teaching Textbooks folder that they came in, and get put away.


 
Behind the CD holders, I keep a monthly calendar, letting me know at a glance what I have to do, and my weekly master assignment sheet. This is typed out, and I save it both to my computer, and as a hard copy, so that I know and have a record of exactly what we did each week.


 
OK, one more thing to go over with this post. I print out in advance ALL of the pages I'll be giving the kids ever week (you'll see more about their organization next post) in advance. So, I needed a way to organize those, too! I simply bought a file folder bin, along with a box of yellow file folders. (TOG is color coded for each level. Yellow is Upper Grammar, which we're working on this year.) I labeled the bin for the school year, and labeled each folder for Week 1 through Week 36. As I print off the pages they'll need, I stick them in the corresponding week. At the end of the year, they'll put their work in the bin, by week, so we'll have a record of what they did this year.


 
OK, so that's how I organize my teaching supplies. In the next post, we'll take a look at how the kids are organized for this year!

Preschool Giveaway from The Modest Mom!

Another sweet giveaway from The Modest Mom!!  I have heard wonderful things about the Christian Liberty Press curriculum, and now The Modest Mom is giving away a Preschool Curriculum Kit from them!  You can see her review and enter the giveaway here.  It looks like such a sweet set, I'd love to win it and use it for my almost-preschooler when he's ready!!

Also, make sure you check out The Modest Mom's store!  You can head to her blog from my links above, or use the button to the right on my sidebar!   

The Modest Mom Giveaway!!

OK, y'all know I LOVE giveaways!  The Modest Mom is having one, and it's VERY nice!!  She's reviewed and is giving away a Tropical Sands style swimsuit from Modestly Yours Swimwear!  These suits are pretty, MODEST, and, from everything I've heard, wear well.  This particular style will run you about $67, so I'm thinking this is a VERY generous giveaway!  Head over to The Modest Mom (linked here, or use the button on my sidebar) to check it out!!

Also, make sure you check out everything The Modest Mom has to offer for modest clothing! I think her skirts are just lovely, AND she has some gorgeous maternity skirts!

It's a New School Year!!!

I love it!  Admit it, you do too...  This time of year is almost like Christmas!  Yesterday, we had to run out for a bit, and when we came home, there was yet another box on our front porch... GOTTA LOVE THAT!  (This one was the books we'll be reading this quarter.  The kids are SO excited!)  

  Since we're starting a new year, I thought y'all might like to know what we're using.  So, here goes: 

Our core will be Tapestry of Grace.  We'll use this for Literature, History, Civics, Reading, Worldview, Geography, arts... tons of stuff.  I've wanted to use this for a VERY long time, and I'm SO excited to finally be able to!  We'll be using TOG's  Writing Aids to help teach them writing.  Writing is one of those things that comes pretty easy and naturally to me, but it's VERY hard for me to teach, just because it does come so naturally. 

For Math, we're going with Teaching Textbooks.  We got it last week, and the kids wanted to start right away.    The first lessons are sort of review, and they've been zooming through those!  They seem to be really enjoying them.  

For grammar, we'll be finishing up Primary Language Lessons.  It's gentle and the kids seem to enjoy it, instead of dreading doing their grammar.

Science will be Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy this year.  Again.  We never seem to finish it.  BUT...we're GOING TO this year, so help me!  And then we'll be moving on to Exploring Creation with Botany, hopefully around January.  The kids really learn a LOT with this series, and they retain it.  I was surprised as we started up again how much they remembered from this time last year. 
It also gives a very uniquely Christian worldview, without sacrificing an science.  The Astronomy book, for example, explain how God created the solar system, making it just perfect for us!  Then it goes on to explain how it's perfect... the gravitational forces, how the different planets work together, ect. 
I highly recommend this series!!

To finish up, we're using McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book for spelling, and Spencerian Penmanship for handwriting for both Katie and Danny.  I will say the kids aren't really thrilled about their penmanship... they don't like practicing so much.  But, coming from someone who's handwriting is SO bad, I'm big on them having nice handwriting, and I love how much they practice.  And I think it's getting pretty good, too!  

Patrick and I are going back and forth on foreign language.  They're either going to be starting Latin, with Prima Latina,  or Latin American Spanish with Rosetta Stone Homeschool.  If I had to guess, I'd say it'll probably be Prima Latina, just because of the price difference.   

So, I think we have just about everything!  We're ordering our TOG one unit at a time, so we'll have to keep ordering that, as we come to the end of the quarters.  But, that's OK.  It's a big investment to put out all at one time.  The only other thing I would REALLY like is a copy of the Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary, to help with their spelling.  Anyone can feel free to donate one for us!  ;)  LOL  In the meantime, I'll be searching diligently at the used book store...  

I hope everyone has a wonderful new school year!!