WFMW-Greatest tip edition

(From Titus 2)

I would say my greatest tip is to have a schedule. So, I'll rerun my blog post on this from August.

We are in full swing with our homeschooling. I was recently asked how we do it with different ages, so that's what I'm going to discuss today, our schedule.

I bought it at Managers of Their Homes. It was worth every penny. I wrote down everything we wanted to accomplish in a day, for each child. I included time with the each girl to spend with Millicent and Asa, to allow me to work with each of them without interruption. (Terri suggested this in the book.) Then Jeff and I had a couple of really fun dates at his work site, after-hours of course. After several hours we had figured out the schedule. We really saw God's hand as we worked it out. We wanted to honor him with our school day. Now, it did take some work and finagling, but it was really worth the time.

Once we got the schedule ironed out we put it to use. No flaws. This school year we had to re-work it. It only took one date and several hours. It was much simpler.

Here is Millicent's schedule:

6:45-------Get up and breakfast with family
7----------Finish breakfast
7:20 ish---Get ready for day
7:45-------Clean room
8:15-------Do chores (Mill's chores are cleaning stove and dishwasher fronts)
8:45-------Free time
9:00-------Geography (which usually amounts to her playing or coloring nearby)
9:30-------Time with Kori for reading and school
10:00------Snacks
-----------Work with Mom--letter of the week, coloring, shapes, numbers, etc
10:30------Time with Kati
11:00------Time with Kori to play
11:30------Alone time
-----------Mon-puzzles
-----------Tues-blocks
-----------Wed-legos
-----------Thur-play do
-----------Fri-little people toys
12:00------Bag time
12:30------lunch
12:45------Rest time
2:30-------Snack
-----------Keepers of the Home (which amounts to Millicent making it hard on us)
3:30-------Art/PE (alternating)
4:00-------Clean up
-----------Play with Kati/Read Aloud (alternating)

Then Jeff comes home at 4:30.

It really helps us to accomplish all the things I never had time for. We don't always get to everything but it's something to strive for. If you are having a hard time getting everything done, I strongly encourage you to purchase Managers of Their Homes. I know it's a little high priced but it has everything you need to plan your schedule. And it comes with a book with some sample schedules and other peoples experiences. I really enjoyed the book and got some helpful advice from it.

Or if you feel like there is so much you would like to do but just don't have time for anything else, try this schedule. It amazed me to see that I really could fit art and read aloud into my schedule. And again, every day isnt perfect, and we don't always adhere exactly to the schedule. Things come up, kids want breaks, MOMS want breaks, field trips, sunny days. It doesnt matter though because we are not slaves to the schedule. It's here to assist us but not rule us.

Works for me Wednesday has moved to We are THAT Family.