Schedule

I was talking with a friend about the schedule I posted not too long ago. She said she couldn't figure out how I made it work.  Then she came over and saw this up on the wall in our office/school room:

It' is only for the school hours but it helped her visualize what I was trying to type up.

First Day of School and A New Schedule

Today was our first day of school which means a new daily schedule has begun.  Here is what it looks like:

MWF 5:15 am - I get up to get ready for the gym, includes make-up for the day because I don't need to wash my hair and face when I get home.
6:00 - Arrive at gym
7:00 - Arrive home, shower if necessary, morning chores for kids and me (read Bibles, make beds, clean rooms, get dressed, eat breakfast, me-sort and put in a load of laundry, brush teeth)

T, TH 6:30am - Read Bible
7:00 - Morning chores for the kids and me

Everyday 8:00 - Bible time with the kids (review memory verses, books of the Bible, teach about character qualities)
8:30 - Emma, Gray and Jackson start Math while I work with Charlie and Iris on Phonics and Handwriting
9:00 - I work with E, G, and J on their Math while C and I have free time
9:30 - Emma works on Science, Gray and Jackson do English, I work with Charlie and Iris on Math
10:00 - Smoothie time while I read Biography, Autobiography or Historical Fiction (currently it's The Story of Harriet Tubman - Freedom Train)
10:30 - Emma works on English, Gray does Science, Jackson does his Handwriting/Spelling & Vocabulary/Latin (*see below), Charlie and Iris are free to play while I assist the older three in any area they need help with)
11:00 - Emma and Gray do Handwriting*, Jackson does Science while Charlie and Iris have Quiet Play (picked out by me and easy to clean up)
11:30 - Lunch, Put in another load of laundry, I read Oral Exercises by Abeka and if time more of history or go over memory verses
12:00 - I read our literature book (currently it's Great Illustrated Classics' Around the World in 80 Days)
12:30 - Iris and I nap while the other kids read quietly in school room
1:00 - TV/Snack time, My computer/snack time
2:00 - Afternoon chores; depending on the day it consists of cleaning the house, putting away laundry, or going to the grocery store(Friday)
2:30 - One-on-one time with Mommy; each child is assigned a day of the week and on that day they get to pick whatever they want to play with me while the others have free time
3:00 - Computer time for child whose day of the week it is while rest are free
3:30 - Free time
4:00 - I start to get dinner ready, Put in another load of laundry
5:00 - Dinner, Roddy reads the Bible (currently in 2 Samuel) to us or from the book Radical
6:00 - Clean up dinner - everyone helps/Free/Family time
7:30 - Clean up rooms, Get ready for bed
8:00 - Iris' bed time, Other kids quiet play, Mommy and Daddy time
8:30 - Older kids go to bed
9:30/10:00 Our bed time

*Depending on the day Handwriting can be combined with the kids' Spelling/Vocabulary words or Latin.  Spelling and Vocabulary words are taken from the books we are reading.  We usually have 10-11 and take 2 weeks to learn them well.

Schedule Explanation Part II

More schedule talk...If you're wondering why I'm starting with number 4, go to the previous post...

4. I am a morning person. I like to get up early. Noon feels like the day is almost over to me. But don't think I love getting up at 5am. I actually hate it. 6am would be much better for me. But I do it because it's necessary to get in my workout and quiet-time which is necessary to make my PMS not so bad.

I used to not like 6am. But 2 1/2 years ago (before I started going to the gym) I made a New Year's resolution to start getting up at that time so I could have my time in the Word.

All that to say, don't feel bad if you aren't getting up at 5am. But if you think it would help, take it 30 minutes at a time and ask God to help you. He woke me up many times!

5. My schedule is a tool not a rule. What I love about schedules is that I can get so much more done. But I can also change it as needed and still get everything done. For example, last week during Iris' one-on-one time, we ran to the library because it looked like it was going to storm soon. We made it home before the ran and then had our time together during "free time."

Also, I love order. But as much as I love order, I also love change. I can get off schedule one day or two (like going to the beach for a couple of days) and just jump right back in the next day. No big deal.

6. Schedules help a lot with kids. Years ago when I had a skeleton of a schedule, one of the first things I put on it was tv time. Before, the kids would ask all day, "Can we watch tv?" and I would mostly say no so they wouldn't be watching all day. But I got tired of the nagging. After I scheduled it, all I had to say was, "It's not tv time yet." They just seemed to have this easy acceptance like "Oh, of course, it's not tv time yet." They knew they would get it eventually. It just wasn't time then. Soon they learned tv time fell right at the same time every day and they didn't even ask anymore. Now that they have computer time, it's the same thing.

7. Chores - it seems like adding the word "time" to anything just makes it more acceptable to kids. I get much fewer complaints when it is "2 o'clock chore-time" than when I just randomly pull them in to do their work.

8. My computer time - My sister was also wondering if I only get 30 minutes of computer time all day. Well, it would be best, but my hubby has this awesome thing called an i-phone, so during our evening free times I get to jump on and off to read up on emails and blogs. It can be such a time-robber that I try to keep it in check.

Not sure if that cleared everything up or not but hope it helps.

Schedule Explanation Part I

Just wanted to expound on some of my scheduled and non-scheduled events listed in this post:

1. Bathtime/Showers - Why not scheduled? Because I just don't find it necessary to do everyday. I know that totally grosses some of you out. If the kids have been outside playing and are sweaty, they get baths. I rarely sweat, even when I work out, so I only take showers every other day and that's based on what's going on. Like I'll take one Sunday morning before church, then again Monday afternoon before Bible study but probably not again until Wednesday afternoon before church.

2. Quiet-time - My sister was cracking me up after she read the post and said, "There's a lot of quiet-time going on over there!" I personally need a lot of time in the Word or reading books that point me to the Word.

I start my day listening to a sermon on podcast while I put on makeup - usually Mark Driscoll but sometimes Chip Ingram or others. I read my Bible after that.

Midday, I read one of the books I'm in the process of going through. Currently those are:
So Much More by the Botkin sisters or
Created to Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl
Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell

At night I read one of those books or Discovering Your Child's Strengths by Jennifer Fox.

Charlie and Iris's quiet time at 10:30am is actually completely different. We originally called it Blanket Time and I'll explain it in more detail later but basically they have to sit quietly on a blanket. They can either play with a toy or two (by themselves) or look at books. But they have to be quiet. Teaches self-control.

3. One-on-One Time - Each child has been assigned a day of the week. Charlie - Monday, Gray - Tuesday, Iris - Wednesday, Jackson - Thursday, Emma - Friday. Those are the days they have their special chores but also those are the days they get 1/2 an hour of computer time and 1/2 an hour of one-on-one time with me. They get to pick however they want to spend our time together - reading to them, playing cards or boardgames, cars, dolls, etc. It just has to be at home.

I'll explain some more things tomorrow...

First Day and Our Schedule

Well our first day of school went really well! The kids were so excited they started before I even made it in the school room.Of course, my first thought is, "This is not going to work with my new schedule." But I went with it and it turned out fine. We actually finished early even though Bible time went long.

The reason the schedule is important is because of adding Charlie and Iris. I have to work it so the older kids are doing their independent work while I'm working one-on-one with the younger two.

Since Mrs. Jackson had asked about my curriculum and school schedule after this post, I'll go ahead and answer the schedule question now. Curriculum will be another day.

This schedule is new (changes every year) so I haven't work out the kinks yet (changes throughout the year). Here goes anyway...

5:00 - me up and dressed for the gym while listening to sermon on podcast - usually Mark Driscoll
5:30 - quiet time
6:00 - Roddy gets home from gym, I leave for gym; Roddy gets ready for the day and has quiet time
7:00 - *leave gym for home; kids up and start morning chores (by the way, the chore badges were the best idea I've had!)
7:30 - my breakfast & laundry; kids finish morning chores; Roddy leaves for work
8:00 - Bible time (today we set spiritual goals for ourselves, very cool time)
8:30 - Emma's math lesson while Gray and Jay work on math worksheet; then teach the boy's math lesson; Iris and Charlie have free time
9:00 - older kids continue working on math while I teach Charlie and Iris to read and write
9:30 - older kids handwriting; Charlie and Iris math
10:00 - older kids English lesson; younger two free time
10:30 - MWF - Literature (reading classics, asking comprehension questions), Tues - History, Thur - Science; younger two have quiet time in the room with us
11:00 - MWF - Vocab/Spelling, Tues & Thurs - Latin; youngers free then clean up time
11:30 - lunch & laundry
12:00 - read to kids
12:30 - my nap, Iris' nap, MWF - Charlie's nap; older kids read quietly or finish school work
1:00 - snack and tv time; my snack and quiet time
1:30 - my computer time
2:00 - afternoon chores for all
2:30 - one-on-one time with one of the kids; the rest free time
3:00 - computer time for one of the kids; rest free; my project/to-do list time
4:00 - dinner prep & laundry
5:00 - Roddy home, dinner
6:00 - clean up dinner watch Little House as family
7:00 - free, more family time
8:00 - Iris bed, Mommy and Daddy time
8:30 - the rest of the kids in bed
9:00 - my reading/quiet time
9:30 - our bedtime

*I don't go to the gym every day so on those days (like today) I get up at 5:30, get ready, do some exercises, etc.

Well, gotta run! It's 2 o'clock...afternoon chores are waiting :)... But first some pics of our morning:

My ambidextrous daughter coloring with both hands at the same time.

Chore Badges

I did not come up with this idea on my own. Mine is the make-do version based slightly on her idea.

If you would like to get the original go to Titus 2. They have a lot of great resources. I highly recommend their schedule book as well.

Anyway...

Yesterday I used some old name tag holders to make chore badges. We have the same morning chores all the time but because we each start and finish breakfast at different times, we're at differents stages during the first part of our morning. So I often have to keep someone on track. I've tried charts but don't like having to use the ink to print them off each week or to check them.

These hang around their necks first thing in the morning. When they are completed they must hang on their door until the next morning.

Of course, for the younger two who can't read yet, I drew pictures.

This morning was the first day and it went great. I kept hearing Iris (4) going over what all she needed to do.

What do morning chores consist of in the Wagner home?

Also, each child has a day of the week that is theirs. This day doesn't change. Monday is Charlie, Tuesday is Gray, Wednesday is Iris, Thursday is Jay and Friday is Emma. So I also have another list that they will use to remind them of the things they get to do on that day. Here is that list (sorry no pic):

Bring down the laundry / Feed Goldie (fish) / Pass out Juice Plus / Pick what to watch during TV time / One-on-one time with Mommy / Get the mail / Sit by Daddy at dinner