It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Back to School, Part II
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Guess what? I ended up having a whole evening with no one in the house! It never, ever happens. And it was wonderful! I was able to make quite a bit of progress in my school planning and now, let’s look at the more detailed process together. (This is Part II of a series, find Part I here.)
Rule of 6
One thing I always keep front and center when I plan is our Rule of 6. I ensure that the rhythm of our days allows space for what is the core of our home education. The only person who can truly facilitate this in our day is me. I am the one who knows what is going on in our life and in everyone’s life and how the rhythm works best for all. This family’s rule of life is:
Everyday, as much as I am able, I will ensure that my children have time to:
- Create deep, meaningful relationships
- Wonder and excitement
- Encounter beauty
- Enjoy the outdoors
- Accomplish meaningful work
- Create memories
With a tagline of: Focus on the True, Good and Beautiful.
Keeping that at the forefront of my mind while planning ensures that I make it a priority. The fact that it hangs right above my computer helps a lot too.
Schedule
My desk (and my room) morphs into a kind of bookish monster for a few days (weeks) with baskets, books, supplies and post-its everywhere, lol! I start by mapping out our yearly schedule (big picture), with our breaks and then move down to weeks and days. Here in Colorado we are required to homeschool for 172 days a year, 4 hours a day. Having this requirement in mind makes it easy to plan our start date and our end date. Our sabbath school schedule, 6 weeks focused on school, 1 week of break, makes it easier for me to book our yearly calendar.
Daily rhythm
Planning our daily schedule is not always the easiest. I gave up on a strict schedule years ago and we use a “what comes next” approach rather than a strict time table. However this year will look different since I do have to follow a time table for work. I want to try organizing our days in blocks of time in order to maintain some of the flexibility that a rhythm allows. Our first block will be breakfast, family prayers and chores. Then will come our Morning Time and yearly theme block.
My oldest two are at a point where they have quite a bit of independent work now, which makes life easier. So independent work will be our next and largest block. While they are working independently I will occupy myself with my preschooler and toddler (my grandson). Then will come a lunch and outside block, followed by a read-aloud for the older ones while the littles are on quiet time. Then the rest is open to family life. On the days I work, my girls will take turns doing their independent work while the other is taking care of the younger ones.
Pen to paper
It is time to start planning individual feasts! I color code my children, lol, a trick I learned from the great and fabulous Jenn Mackintosh. It helps see what a person needs and has to have. Below their desires I enter what they have to have in order to have a good view of each child’s load. Once that’s done it is easier to plan the week to include everything and ensure that all gets covered. Once I have a first rough draft I consult with the child again (yes, even the preschooler) and take into account their perspective and tweak what needs to be tweaked.
For Morning Time and our yearly theme I will only plan the first 12 weeks at this time, life changes too much and too quickly to set more in stone. Then on our first break, at the end of week 6, I will plan weeks 13-18. This allows me more flexibility and to not make any rash decisions at the last minute. After week 6 I will also review what is going well, what is not working and what has fallen by the wayside. This allows us to put everything into perspective and back on track.
Basket time!
Once the overarching plan for our family and for each child is in place I can start shopping my library! This is truly my favorite part. I will create a basket for each child containing all the books that seem to fit for the coming year. I do the same thing for Morning Time and our yearly theme. Once the books are collected I spend quite some time going over my impulse collecting and weeding out what is actually suitable and will enrich my child’s education. Once I am satisfied with each basket, I go through each book in order to see how long each will take.
Organizing the work
Pulling out the materials that we will need helps me design our curriculum and schedule, which is why I do it before the actual planning when I have a rough idea of what we will be doing. Some books will take all year to cover, others will only be present for a few weeks. I go book by book and divide them appropriately. I usually divide books either into chapters or, if the chapters are too long, 10 pages per day or week. Then comes the time to organize the week and spread the feast throughout. Some works, such as the 3Rs, come back daily, while others are only assigned to certain days. And voila, we have our plan for the first 12 weeks of home education and a good idea of what the whole year will look like.
Space
Oh that is another favorite part! I review our current space, what will work for us this year and what won’t. Which materials I want to bring forward, such as art supply or science equipment. I assess which supplies are low and need to be refilled. We clean bookshelves and drawers, we rearrange desks. I will pull off all the relevant materials for the coming year and put them on the lowest shelf where everyone can have easy access to them. I will create book baskets (which means finding a location for the said baskets). And just generally deep clean and rearrange our learning spaces. I just love being able to have a fresh start!
It all seems like it takes a long time, and it does, but the upfront work is so worth it to ensure smooth and easy days. The schedule enables each person to know what is expected and how the day’s rhythm will proceed. The baskets allow all materials to be found easily and not waste time looking for books or supplies. Do you know how much time one can waste just looking for things!?! Drives me crazy! Every evening, before dinner, all assignments are to be placed on my desk for review and books and supplies returned to their baskets. This has worked really well for us for a long, long time. But this year will be different and we might need to let go of old habits and establish new ones. It is all an adventure!
Wishing you a wonderful year of wonder, discovery and delight!Love,
Mattie
