Sticking to a good schedule is critical when it comes to home schooling and getting all of your work done.
Part One)
I recently adopted by girlfriend’s schedule that she keeps with her kids and I absolutely love it. Things would always sort of come up and throw off the schedule I had carefully planned. Sick kids, broken down vehicles and appointments always seem to pop up when you have a big family. Because of those “things” we used to home school 3 days a week year round and the kids and I were getting tired of what seemed like an endless schedule. That’s when I adopted Tori’s plan and I love it!
We home school 4 days a week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We leave Friday for a makeup day. It’s a day that we use each week in case any of those mom or kid “things” come up during the week. If nothing comes up that week and it’s “smooth sailing” then we have a 3 day weekend! If you have one child that gives you a hard time completing assignments it can also work as a “lesson” to have them complete assignments that day while the other kids have the day off (if needed – every child is different)
Part Two)
The best decision I ever made was to have my kids keep their own planner from 1st grade on. If you are the only one in your home keeping schedule for 3, 4, 5 or even more people than it’s just too much. Kids need to be accountable for themselves, their school work and their part in the family. My youngest is 4 and my eldest will be finishing his Associates Degree this year and helping your child understand time management is a great service to them forever. Kids need to learn that you just don’t write down when an assignment is due but also when they need to get to a library during the week for research, where they can fit in time for extra-curricular activities, and when it’s clearly free time to play and have fun. It’s a skill and the earlier they learn it the better.
Part three)
Keep some kind of group calendar or your calendar visible for the entire family. If kids are going to help in planning schedules and keeping calendars they’ll still need a master family calendar to help them plan. Either keep a grand master calendar somewhere (or on the family computer) or make your calendar available to the entire family so there are no scheduling errors.
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