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Home Schooling Problems: Could Your Weekly Calendar Be A Cause?
Take a minute to look at your schedule for the past two weeks. I know they were probably full of “exceptions,” but just use them as an example. Think honestly about how your days looked during this time. Did your kids consistently…
- have lessons or activities several days a week, sometimes eating into your family's dinner hour?
- have a day that was so rushed with lessons or clubs that they didn't get much of their home schooling done?
- have a hard time on Monday getting back into the routine, a better day on Tuesday and Wednesday, then hit a slump on Thursday, and work hard on Friday?
Perhaps your days look nothing like this, but that's not really the point. The point is, do you see that there might be some patterns to your children's days, where the energy is strong and where it is leaking out?
How about your schedule? In the last two weeks did you consistently…
- end up needing to go to the store or do other errands during school time?
- have a hard time getting back into the swing of things on Monday morning?
- feel so burned out and over-worked that by Friday you were just coasting?
- rush around going to various co-ops or other activities on one day in particular so that you practically needed a day to recover from it?
- get to Friday and wonder where did the time go for all the things you wanted to do?
- stay up late Sunday night trying to figure out what the kids are going to be doing, preparing various lesson materials, or searching online for certain home schooling information?
Just like with your kids, look to see patterns of where your energy goes during your week. What are the ebbs and flows of your energy and activities? This is so key.
Where can you build on the positive energy, the momentum that gets school done or lessons planned. Where can you minimize the loss of energy?
For example, if going to lots of activities wears you out, think about cutting back on something. You may find you aren't the only one who is relieved to do one less outside activity. On the other hand, if you are energized by more outside input from groups like co-ops, make that time a priority.
If you plan on home schooling for the long haul, you need to make sure that your weekly schedule is sustainable for you. If it isn't working for you, you need to readjust somewhere to regain some energy. Here are some tips to do that.
Tips:
Schedule errands, lessons and other activities in the afternoon after home schooling is over.
Make sure you consistently have sufficient time at home so you can really hunker down and get some academic home schooling done.
Use car time well. If you must be in the car, bring along some books on tape or CDs of Geography Songs or something educational. I remember my first grade daughter learned her math facts so naturally just by listening to a skip counting CD on the way to the laundromat every week. Other ideas are to choose a topic for discussion, or informally have kids narrate a book that they are reading.
Be creative in how you view the big picture of the week. If Monday mornings are a highly productive time, when kids are eager to get work done, try to encourage the rhythm of that by not scheduling something then. Or, if Monday mornings are unproductive as your family gets back into the swing of things, consider rearranging assignments or changing expectations for that time slot. Who is to say you can't start your week on Tuesdays, with Mondays as a day to finish up work from last week?
Maybe you feel you need extra time for home schooling projects, math review, or home work that just didn't get done. Many people schedule it in Saturday mornings before the weekend activities get going. Evening school might work well for a favorite subject taught by Dad. Think outside the box.
Consider your week in terms of blocks of time (including weekends). If you know certain days will be busy, make sure you have a down time built in before or afterwards to handle what comes up during those times, or just to relax. For instance, if you have a busy weekend, you might need to say no to a play date Monday afternoon. If your children are taking lessons, you need to plan in enough time throughout the week (better yet, every day) for them to practice.
You may want to schedule in an extended block of time for science experiments. After all that work setting up supplies for experiments, you may want to go ahead and do a week's worth of science at one time. Why not?
One home school curriculum that was instrumental in helping me think in week-long blocks of time was
Tapestry of Grace Home Schooling Curriculum
Their history-based curriculum focuses on one theme per week, which I really like. I found it helpful to know at the outset of each week what theme we were going to be discussing, reading, writing, and doing projects about. If you find you get lost somewhere in the fourth week of a semester and wonder where you are and where you are going, you may also find such an approach helpful.
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