Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Peace Amid the Chaos

Peace amid the chaos. This has been my prayer request the last few days. I'm considering revising our homeschooling schedule AGAIN in order to have a more peaceful home environment. I keep reminding myself that the reason I chose to homeschool my kids is so I could spend all day with them and enjoy them! So why does it seem so stressful?

These are the changes I've decided to try in order to make for a more peaceful home. Please give me additional suggestions or comment on the changes that I'm trying.

1. Gone are our big blocks of independent study time. My kids are not able to stay on task for an extended period of time (more than 1 hr.) I'm going to limit their independent study sessions to 45 minutes max. They can't get their math done in less than an hour, so I'm going to have to temporarily shorten their lessons (thank goodness they're each 1 year ahead) so that they can complete them in 45 minutes or less. This will do several things, I hope. It will allow us to spend time on more subjects each day (more on what we're adding to our curriculum later) and I'm hoping it will also help the kids to stay focused until they complete their lesson.

2. I'm not going to try to cram all our subjects into our Bible study days. My kids and I go to Community Bible Study on Wednesday mornings. It takes about 2.5 hrs out of our school day, but it's well worth it. We are all studying Acts this year and are blessed to have a homeschool program in our local CBS. This has meant that our Wednesday mornings and afternoons have been crazy busy. I decided today that we would substitute 30 minutes of Mathtacular for math on Wednesdays. The kids love it and it's a load off me. Again, I'm grateful they're a year ahead in math so I can make these changes without feeling like I'm compromising their education. I'm also making sure we read ahead in Bible on Tuesdays so we can skip our morning read-aloud time on Wednesdays.

3. I am committed to tweaking our schedule until we find a happy and productive routine that allows peace to reign in our home, not stress. Stay tuned for a revised schedule that will include a new subject.

6 comments:

  1. I have found that everything seems to grow at the same time...Our subjects, our Bible reading, our stress. I am anxious to read ideas as they come in here!

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  2. i got this advice just last week from a friend with 10 children, five of whom are grown and graduated from their homeschool. she said that going to a four day work week when her children were small was the greatest idea. on fridays, they would schedule appts, do errands, and play catch up. i'm thinking of doing this for a season while i have a new baby!

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  3. Hang in there! I think my schedule is changing more when I have a baby and/or toddler. They need attention, and they are changing fast as well. We do four day school, using our CBS day for errands and fun afternoon projects. For some reason, leaving the house in the morning makes it very hard to get back on track when we leave, so that takes the pressure off.
    We are off to CBS this morning. We are studying Revelations, and it is so good!

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  4. I hear ya! This whole homeschooling thing is a long process of finding the right balance. We constantly reevaluate what we are doing and make adjustments. We aren't at the 4-days a week yet, but we do math only 4 days a week. We kept doing math through the entire summer so we could keep this schedule up, and I love it. It does ease the pressure on other days, for sure. Limiting their study time on each subject also helps. I try to guarantee that they get my attention during the "lesson" part of each subject...and if all 3 kids are on the same subject, that helps ME...then after a predetermined amount of time I call for them to put it away and finish the rest as "homework." This works especially well for math problems and writing projects that may not need my guided attention later. It is so important for the school day to have an end time for me (certainly for them, too, but if they have more homework because they couldn't focus or stay on task, I don't want to suffer the consequences of school days that never end). I hope that makes sense what I'm trying to say there, LOL. Finally, we also started our kindergartner during the summer so that I only have to do school with him 4 days per week. As year 3 of homeschooling flows into year 4, we may see ourselves shifting everyone to a 4-day week. Flexibility sure is key!

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  5. Good advice, all. Thank you! Today we tried the shorter subjects and wouldn't you know I had to take two kids to doctor's appointments and two kids had piano lessons. Not exactly an easy first day, but miraculously we made it through all subjects. I'd say it was a success.

    Please keep the hints coming!

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  6. Thanks for coming back to the Cafe again. I like what you said. I don't know this for sure, but I thought one time I heard a teacher say that the bride would have wore a veil the whole night. She also said that it would have more than likely been pitch black....see if you can check this info out...

    Blessings, Kim

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I'm an on-the-run mom to 6 kids who studied and taught exercise science in a previous life. I love all things running, nutrition, and health-related. I usually run at zero dark thirty in the morning and am often quite hungry before, during, and after my run, but I live a rich, full, blessed life with my children, family, and friends. My faith in God is my anchor, and looking to Him and His promises allows me to live fully even when life circumstances are difficult. While running gives me an appetite, my desire is to hunger and thirst for righteousness more than for physical food.