Monday, August 23, 2010

Is there a typical day?

Writing letters to friends and family



It doesn't always go the way I planned (in fact it NEVER goes the way I planned) but here is the schedule that we will strive to follow this school year...

Breakfast at 8:30, start school by 9. We try to do Math first every day. That takes about 45 minutes, then we take a quick break. (So I can get more coffee and Dude can eat, since he's never hungry when the rest of us are.) Language Arts takes an hour or so, depending on what we're doing. Mondays and Thursdays the kids will do 30 minutes of Rosetta Stone German and then have lunch. The other days are D.E.A.R. time before lunch. Afternoons are spent on Science or History, alternately. Wednesday afternoons are reserved for Art because the kids are tired after their swim lessons. Fridays are more independent: Teaching Textbooks for Math and workboxes or independent reading. This year we'll try to finish school by 2:30 and have all chores done by 3.

Trying to stay organized!



We've discovered that we really like unit studies, so there will definitely be days when we dump the whole schedule and just focus on whatever we're into at the time. We've already started a biomes study and will be "traveling" to Africa soon. I created our daily schedule to make sure that we covered all the math and language arts that we're "supposed" to, but we also enjoy ditching the schedule and following our interests. Freeeeedom!

Plenty of time to have fun!




Blog hops are fun! Can't wait to see what others are doing this year!
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11 comments:

  1. Liese4August 24, 2010 at 8:29 AM

    I love ditching the schedule, those are the most fun days!

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  2. KarenAugust 24, 2010 at 8:34 AM

    Don't you love the flexibility? It's nice to be able to say, let's put away what we'd planned because *this* interesting thing came up :-)

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  3. AnonymousAugust 24, 2010 at 12:49 PM

    Although I've been doing pretty well this week, you still look way more organized than I am. Aaannd...now I want to play Othello.

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  4. FéepoussièreAugust 24, 2010 at 3:27 PM

    :) nice post! :)

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  5. MichelleAugust 25, 2010 at 12:35 PM

    Ooh, I haven't played othello in ages!
    I love unit studies too.

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  6. LaurieAugust 25, 2010 at 4:37 PM

    Great post!! We love our unit studies too- my boys enjoy school more with that approach.

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  7. AnonymousAugust 25, 2010 at 10:22 PM

    We follow a very similar schedule... and are trying to add in more unit studies and lapbooking.I love the binders!
    ~h

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  8. candynSeptember 1, 2010 at 11:59 AM

    I love to have my week all scheduled out, it is just how I work best. But last year I kept running head first into those plans and ended up feeling behind. I recently tweaked my system for this coming year and left plenty of 'scheduled' time for impulsiveness. Hopefully a way to accomodate the planned and unplanned and soothe my inner control freak all at the same time.

    I also love your binders, btw.

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  9. blessedmommieSeptember 1, 2010 at 5:13 PM

    Your school looks so full of interesting things!

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  10. Traci's Teaching TimesSeptember 17, 2010 at 11:26 PM

    I am so glad to see you post that it takes you more than 20 minutes for a class. I thought that somehow we were just not getting our act together. I hear everyone saying, "Short & simple lessons,) I've tried to do that, but just can't seem to get them in so short. Thanks for this post.

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  11. SparkleeSeptember 18, 2010 at 7:22 AM

    Our lesson times vary greatly. Since we do a lot of hands-on stuff, it would be hard to fit it into a 20-minute lesson. Of course, it depends on how focused the kids are--if I keep losing them, I know they've had all they can digest at the moment.

    Thanks for the comment!

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