Planner Section 5: School

Lesson Planning Diagram

As a homeschool family, this section is one of the most important to keeping my days running smoothly. The first page in the section is a weekly plan. I made a list of the subject we wanted to cover and the time needed to commit to each per lesson (usually 15-25 min.) Then I made a chart with five columns, one for each day of the week. I divided the columns into three rows: morning, afternoon, evening.

Morning activities tend to be done with all of the children, afternoon activities are done when the baby is asleep and evening activities are for the whole family.

Finally, I plugged the subject names from the first list into this chart. It became clear that I was trying to fit too much in, so I limited our morning activities to an hour and a half, the afternoon to two hours and the evening activities to an hour.

In the end, I had to prioritize the list of subjects* I was trying to study with the kids and eventually reduce the number of days we do art and history, the two lowest priorities right now. As the kids get older and more independent we'll make more time for these subjects. At this point I just want them to learn the basics and learn to love exploring my Father's world.

*My list of subjects for 1st grade is Bible, Reading, Math, Spanish, Science/Nature Study, Music, Cursive Handwriting, History.

The best laid plans: creating your own home planner

For years, I searched for a calendar/planner that would meet the needs of our busy homeschooling family. I even purchased a more expensive Day Timer brand product hoping the extra investment would get me a more useful tool. It just didn't work for us.

So, I decided to build my own home planner that would help our family run more smoothly. Here are the components that I used with links where you can print them out for your own use.

1) A sturdy 1.5 inch binder: I started with a cheap-o 1 inch binder from Dollar General and it broke within a couple of months. This planner will be carried, stacked, dropped, etc. so get something that will protect your investment.
2) Cover: This will distinguish your planner from other notebooks around the house. Use scrapbook papers and embellishments to make the cover a work of art that you will look forward to seeing every day. You can change it out mid year if you have a spare moment!
3) Page protectors: For pages that do not need to be modified on a regular basis, a page protector will keep them looking neat for frequent reference.
4) Adhesive tabs: Page protectors stick out further than regular paper so the usual binder dividers will not work. Make your own with adhesive tabs attached to the edge or a page protector.
5) Section 1: Calendar-- I modified the templates available on Wincalendar.com. I increased the size of the calendar cells and added a section for notes each month. You can download my modified version here.

I'll add more tips and downloads as I complete my 2012 home planner.

Thoughts on Television in the Home

(This is the 2nd email forward that my husband has sent me in 10 years, so you know it must be important!)

The Stranger

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger... He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. He made me laugh, and he made me cry.

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not from us, our friends or any visitors. After our long time visitor stayed longer he became more daring however, and even got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing..

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name?....

We just call him 'TV.' 

Two birds with one stone: audio books and housework

Most moms wish they had more time to read. Maybe it is a light hearted novel or perhaps an interesting bit of nonfiction. Unless it is the Bible, it is usually hard to justify letting the housework pile up while mom sits down to read.

Audio books can be different. When you lose yourself in an good book, you find that the most discouraging cleaning projects are finished in no time. There are several sources of good reading material that you can listen to on an MP3 or CD player.

1) Librivox.org has a large selection of classics. I have recently enjoyed books by Jane Austin, Mark Twain, and Rudyard Kipling, thanks to some dedicated people who volunteered their time recording books for free download. Many of the narrators are professionals who doa great job.

2) The public library is desperate to keep up with the needs of patrons in the digital age. Our library has subscriptions to two audio and ebook databases. The selection is not huge but is certainly adequate. They also have many books on CD and cassette.

3) Friends will sometimes own a copy of a book on MP3. It is within their rights to lend you a copy as long as you don't share it with anyone else.

4) Paid services like Audible.com are worth the fees if you find that listening to audio books helps you complete housework that would otherwise be neglected.

I'm going to listen to an Elizabeth Peters book while I clean out the storage room. That is a big job! It might take two audio books to complete.

An Ambitious Schedule

A few months ago, I got tired of feeling that important tasks were going undone and that our family would be so much happier off if we could make better use of our time during the workday. I made a daily schedule for the five weekdays and then outlined when each task needed to be worked on.

I started by plugging in the times that we have regular appointments-- music class, Cub Scouts, etc. Then I inserted a time to complete essentials based on each day's appointments-- preparing 3 meals, school, and Bible study/ prayer. Finally, I added things that it would be really great if we could accomplish each day-- exercise, play time with mama, rest time.

Here is how the Monday schedule looks:

7:30-Prayer and Bible Study for Mama/ Boys have breakfast

8am- Boys work on daily chores/ Mama unloads dishwasher and starts laundry

8:30- Boys report back/ Play time/ Mama works on Zone 1 cleaning

9:30- Family learning

10:45- Snack time

11am- Exercise 

11:15- Play time outside with Mama

12pm- Lunch time

1pm- Rest time for Baby/ Turtle works on school independently/ Diego Kindergarten

1:30- Rest time for Diego/ School time for Turtle      

3pm- Play time/ Mama folds laundry

4pm- Boys pick up living room floor and put laundry away/ Mama makes dinner

4:30- Eat, clear away dishes, run dishwasher

5:15- Leave for Kindermusik

We never complete everything that we have planned. There are even some days when I don't get the scheduled dinner cooked and we have a quick meal of tacos or spaghetti (again!) But my goal is to get better at doing the things that must get done for our home to run efficiently and to get the boys to help me in those tasks.

Customize a Home Management Guide Part 2

Here is a description of sections 5-7 of my journal. I refer to these several times throughout the day to make sure the important things get done each day.

5) Cleaning- I use the Fly Lady's Detailed Cleaning List for this. With three small children around, our house gets really dirty so I do a zone a day. For example, page one in this section of my journal is Zone 1: Living Room/Front Porch. There are 10 jobs to do and I have 4 of them in bold type so I can remember to have the boys complete those tasks (wash windows, sweep porch, etc.) It takes about 45 minutes per room to get it good and clean. It takes about 45 seconds for it to get messy again :-)

6) Meals- I have a regular meal plan based on daily and evening activities. We eat an early dinner on Monday to make it to Cub Scouts on time, so I make sure it is a quick and kid-friendly food (tacos, spaghetti, etc.) Wednesday we are gone all day so I schedule a crock pot meal. This section of the notebook has a list of meals in different categories (quick dinner, pack lunch, breakfast on the go, crockpot, etc.) and I just plug the foods I want into a weekly schedule and print it out. Besides the master list of meal options and the weekly schedule of meals there is notebook paper for grocery lists based on the meal plan.

7) School- This is the most important section in the journal because our day revolves around learning at home home. Page one is a weekly schedule including columns for five days of the week and each column is divided into Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Morning activities include all three children (Spanish, Scripture Memory, etc.), Afternoon activities are done while the baby naps, and Evening activities include Cub Scouts, PE at the Y, and music practice.
Pages 2-6 of this section are for the days of the week spelling out exactly what lesson we are on in each subject and what materials I need to gather ahead of time. The next 8 pages have a subject listed at the top and a place to record what lessons were completed each day and any comments for future reference.

Customize a Home Management Guide Part 1

I love the concept of the Fly Lady's Control Journal but it never worked for me. It didn't seem to be set up for people with small children at home and it was too complex. I did a little searching on the web and found a Home Management Journal at Wanting What You Have.com. I did some tweaking to make it more homeschool friendly and after using the journal for 4 months my days run more smoothly and continue to be more productive as I mature in my parenting skills. This is what I put in sections 1-4 of the journal:

1) A zippered pouch with scissors, permanent markers, pencils, pens, dry erase marker, and adhesive tabs.

2) Calendar- monthly calendars printed from WinCalendar.com, I record appointments here for quick reference.

3) Prayer and Bible- I printed a 365 day reading plan and put it in a page protector. Then I can check off the readings as I go, using the dry erase marker. At the end of the year I'll clean off the marks and start over.

4) Daily Routines- I only plan the weekdays since weekends are unpredictable in our home. This section has five page protectors with a day of the week printed at the top. I printed five different schedules, one for each day. There isn't a time assigned to each activity, unless it is an appointment. Instead, I list things that must be done in the morning, afternoon and evening and do that as I am able. Home/ Laundry Day, Outing Day, Homeschool Co-op Day, Home/ Laundry Day again, Errands Day. Then depending on the appointments we have schedule that week I slip one of the schedules into each of the five page protectors. Generally, every Friday is Errands Day and Tuesdays are Outing Days, but if something comes up, I can change that around easily by pulling the schedule paper out of one day's protector and slipping it into another one.