A Lesson A Day: Scheduling, the Written Code

The wonderful, and sometimes terrible, thing about homeschooling is the flexibility it allows us with regards to scheduling. We can do as much or as little, or not at all. The day can begin at dawn, or dusk. And they have for me at some points of my 11-year homeschooling "career". This stint ran from 1997-2001, then 2003-05, and finally 2005 to the present. Due to the variables of age, the number of kids (I began with 4 kids ranging from 4-10 years of age), and the subject specializations for those specific ages (beginning readers, sex ed, American vs. World history, artihmetic vs. geometry), I've had to be creative with my time...not to mention energy, patience and brain function!

For any given situation, I've found that a printed or written out schedule that both you and your child can refer to is the best. It's like a map of where you are going that week. Also, it allows you some satisfaction as you both work at crossing off (or crayoning off) the subjects accomplished. For me, I had to create 4 separate schedules, so each child could go on to subjects unsupervised when I had to concentrate on one of their siblings. This way, no one had to roll in their seat and go stark mad waiting around for the teacher. Four voices crying "Mama, what's next?!!" was enough to drive me up the wall.

School was done when the child accomplishes their goals set for the day. This meant that, the more focused and concentrated you are at the task at hand, the quicker you get to go out and play. It got a bit ridiculous, though, at one point when Luis had the bright idea of "doing school" at dawn, so by the time the teacher came down to the school room, all his tasks were colored in. He got a free day, while the others labored. It was good for all of two days. I got caught up with the older kids' lessons, then it was time for him to get back with the group.

The schedules can be as simple or as detailed as you and the child can cope with: