"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full."

"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full."

Henry Kissinger, quoted in The New York Times Magazine, June 1969

We are only one week away from our official first day of kindergarten, and I have been working on lesson plans and making sure I have a schedule that (1) will fit in everything comfortably, and (2) is doable.  A few weeks ago I thought I had the schedule down, but then SC met a new friend whom we really want to spend time with weekly, so I adjusted everything and was able to clear an entire afternoon.  

I am linking up this post for the final week with iHomeschool Network's "Not Back to School" Blog Hop, and while it is supposed to be a post that details a "day in the life" at our homeschool, since we won't actually be starting until next week, I will instead be focusing on what the ideal week would look like, based on my latest version of the schedule.  On this year's curriculum post, I mentioned the times I had planned, but did not go into any detail about what specifically we will be doing during those times.  So, here is what I hope things will look like during our upcoming days.

Monday, Wednesday and Fridays will look very similar in the mornings, as will Tuesdays and Thursdays.  SC will be going to a "bridge" kindergarten twice a week at the same church she has been at for the past few years for Mother's Day Out.  I just cannot compete with the monthly themed activities.  Every weekday SC will need to complete one activity from A Reason for Handwriting level A, as well as a few pages from Explode the Code for phonics reinforcement.  This will happen in the evenings, before free time is allowed.  

M/W/F

7:00-8:00am:  Wake up, walk the dog, eat breakfast

8:00-8:10am:  Warm-Up [either listening activity or short reading passage/questions]

8:10-8:40am:  Bible

8:40-9:00am:  All About Spelling OR All About Reading [I have two separate sessions set up each day for AAR/AAR, but I am going to try to do them simultaneously, so some days we may do two sessions of AAS (NOT two lessons, but I have planned for much reviewing), or two AAR, or one of each.]

9:00-9:30am:  Junior Great Books [language arts]

9:30-9:50am:  Grammar [Language Smarts B]

9:50-10:30am:  Math [Singapore]

10:30-11:10am:  History

11:10-11:30am:  All About Spelling OR All About Reading

11:30am-12:00pm:  Spanish

12:00-12:30pm:  LUNCH

Mondays, after lunch, we will be traveling to a friend's house, and be listening to an audiobook on the way.  We also have gymnastics in the evening.

Wednesdays we will use Draw.Write.Now for some art instruction, combined with writing instruction (that I create - not handwriting).  Then we will hopefully meet some of our homeschool group at the park before heading to a short 30 minute dance class.

Fridays we will do some brief logic work before heading to piano lessons, and then have the afternoon free for a possible field trip to the zoo, one of the local museums, or more time with friends.

T/R

7:00-8:00am:  Wake up, walk the dog, eat breakfast

8:00-8:10am:  Warm-Up [either listening activity or short reading passage/questions]

8:10-8:50am:  Jacob's Ladder [language arts]

9:30am-2:30pm: away from home kindergarten class

2:30-3:10pm: listen to audiobook in the car on the way to afternoon activities (T: swim, R: dance)

Tuesday evenings SC will also have soccer practice (and I will be coaching for the first time).

Finally, as mentioned on the curriculum post, we will be doing a few homeschool activities Saturday morning, so that we can keep our afternoons mostly free for friends, park days and field trips.  

Sat

7:00-9:00am:  Wake-up, walk the dog, eat breakfast (we won't have a hard wake-up time)

9:00-9:50am: Science

9:50-10:20am: Math [Life of Fred]

10:20-10:50am:  Grammar [Grammar-land and Primary Language Lessons]

10:50-11:50am: Teatime and classical music to relax from all our hard work!

Throughout the school-week, SC will have the opportunity to earn free time, which will include watching taped PBS shows, using the computer to play games (usually pbskids.org), playing on the iPad or other electronic devices, as well as just playing with the multitude of toys we have.  However, she will have a checklist that she needs to complete some of first, during that free time period.  Here is an example of the checklist I have made:

I am hoping that this will be a baby-step in teaching her to prioritize tasks and how to manage her time.  We shall see how it works.

So, that is an ideal "day in the life" at our homeschool.  Don't forget to check back at the end of the first week of September to see how things actually went.  

What do your school days look like?  Leave a comment below, then check out all the other bloggers' posts at the iHomeschool Network 5th annual "Not Back to School" Blog Hop.

"...And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started..." Our School Room 2013

We shall not cease from exploration 

And the end of all our exploring 

Will be to arrive where we started 

And know the place for the first time. 

     T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding," Four Quartets

We are quickly approaching the start of our first "official" homeschool year, and that means we spent some time starting to get our school room organized.  However, we still have a lot to do (as you will see from the pictures).

We have an actual school room, which used to be the dining room we never dined in.  We converted it to an office a couple of years ago, and it has been a great space for us to do school in (albeit sporadically up to this point).  However, there are a few drawbacks to this room.  

First, one whole side is open to the entry way, which means there are only 3 walls of open space. Second, one of the other walls is mostly covered by the front window.

 So I have my desk up against part of this wall, and it sticks out over part of the window. We also have boxes of papers, a file box that I was using last year to keep SC's schoolwork in, and some other things that need to be gone through sitting in front of the window.  On the wall are my and AC's college diplomas, and that is pretty much all that fits in the little space on either side of the window.

The other drawbacks to this room are self-created, as I have covered the back wall and other side wall with bookshelves, which were mostly full before we moved school into the room, and are very full now.

We purchased a mobile stand-up whiteboard/bulletin board last year, and while expensive, it has been something we use daily for school.  Last year we had it as a separator between the room and the entry way, but it really was in the way of the front door, so I moved it in front of some of the bookshelves that are just holding all my old college books, and it is much more user friendly there.

SC has a little desk in the middle of the room, and we started using an exercise ball at the end of last spring, though right now the desk is covered with her summer art projects and supplies, and I have no idea where the ball went.

I have one bookshelf dedicated to the things we will be using this year, and it is mostly full, so I have no idea how I will organize for next year (because I tend to keep EVERYTHING).

I have a few shelves dedicated to art supplies, some of which are purposely out of SC's reach, and some that she has easy access to.  I also have some of last year's curriculum, my graduate work books, and all the books and notebooks from my one year of teaching mixed in.

Finally, I got some Command picture clips and turned our pantry doors into a calendar and artwork display area.  I started doing that last spring after I turned the whiteboard so the bulletin board side was not viewable 100% of the time, but I was using tape.  I got tired of going through so much tape, and honestly, I didn't want tape on some of SC's art that I want to save, so this is the solution I have come up with.

I really like these clips, and they are very easy to use.

So, I still have quite a bit of organizing to do; mostly just going through the things that have piled up, finding a place for them, cleaning off my desk and finding a place for all that stuff, but you should have seen it a few days ago.  The floor was littered with paper that SC had taken out and cut up, there were stacks of mail on her desk from when we were out of town that I had just dumped in a box to go through later.  I had MORE bags from Target/Hobby Lobby/Michaels/Mardel of supplies to start this year.  I had all of the curriculum I had purchased in a box on the floor in the living room.  I still have a few weeks before we start our year (the first week of September), so I am not worried!

Where do you do school (or homework) at your house?  Leave a comment, then check out other homeschool rooms at the 5th Annual "Not Back To School" Blog Hop.

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