Our Fall Schedule or How I Plan to Fit it All In

*I had just published this post when I found out about the Homeschool Open House. I couldn't resist joining in the fun. To add your homeschool schedule to the list go to http://homeschoolblogger.com/Tiany/366106/

A new homeschooling mom asked me at park day last week how we fit everything in our homeschool day, the answer was, "we don't."

Here is my plan for the coming "school" year:

8:00 - 8:30 Get up!
note: I am a night owl, so this is sometimes hard for me. The girls get usually get up around this time. Sometimes they are up earlier, sometimes later. They are pretty self sufficient in the mornings, so I don't have to get up with them anymore :)

8:30 - 9 Exercise
Remind girls to do morning chores: "Have you made your beds, yet?"

9 - 9:30 Shower
Remind again:"Did you brush your teach?"

9:30 - 10 Breakfast and computer time for me
Final reminder: "Are you dressed? Did you eat breakfast?"

10:00 School Time (about 1 hour)
Each day we will start with one of the following: learn a word from English From the Roots Up, do a Mindbender, learn a spelling rule, read a scripture story, learn a saying from the Core Knowledge Series, etc.

Then we will read books and do projects based on our current "topic". Topics include areas of interest from Science, History, Art, and Music. We do one topic at a time. When we are done, we move onto another topic. This works so much better than trying to fit everything into a day or even a week. By the end of the "school" year we seem to have covered a balance of each subject.

Copywork 3x a week / free writing 1x/week (5 - 10 minutes)

Break until lunch

Lunch around noon

After Lunch, More School (30 - 60 minutes)
Math - every day
Spelling/Grammar on alternating days
Phonics for 4 year old.

Afternoons - free play

In an effort to encourage independent learning and responsibility for my 9 year old, I plan to make a chart for her to mark when she has done the following: Practice piano 5x a week, typing CD rom 3x a week, and Rosetta Stone Spanish 3x a week, Math computer game 1x a week.

I plan to take a nature walk or have a poetry tea time at least once a month during the afternoon.

We listen to books on CD in the car and I read bedtime stories, sometimes picture books and sometime chapter books.

Dinner around 6pm

Free Play

Clean up Rooms starting around 7:30 or 8pm depending on if it is bath night.

8:30pm Bedtime Stories

Bed time 9pm

Younger girls can read in bed until 9:30
Oldest can read until 10pm.

I usually go to sleep around midnight and then we get up and start all over again...

Note: We are involved in a co-op that meets on Wednesdays, so this is our M, T, Th, F schedule. Also, we have a Park Day on Fridays, so we will need to get any school work done by noon on Fridays if we want to go to Park Day.

I am planning to post our curriculum choices after I get my stuff ordered. It's like Christmas in August!