Another schedule... how does it look? Please. (long) « SCM Discussion Forum: Charlotte Mason Method Homeschooling

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Another schedule... how does it look? Please. (long)

(8 posts) (6 voices)

Started 1 year ago by moralesml
Latest reply from moralesml

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scheduling

moralesml
Member

Hello, ladies
Need a little sanity and knew I could come here to get it. We are doing full-time CM this year and as I looked at what I was putting together I thought I'd like to get some advice from some of you. I took the schedule from the one's offered here and changed some things around, but still...... well, you know how we second and third- guess ourselves. Anyway, if you have some advice, I'd appreciate it. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Mon -
Scripture Memory
Bible Study
Copywork
Math
English
Free time/read as a family or computer time
Handicraft
Math drill
Poetry
History
Playtime
Literature

Tues --
Scripture Memory
Bible Study
Copywork
Math
Reading
Free time/read as a family or computer time
Handicraft
Math drill
Picture Study
History
Science
Am. History
Playtime
Literature

Wed --
Scripture Memory
Bible Study
Copywork
Math
Reading
Free time/read as a family or computer time
Handicraft
Math drill
Nature Study
Am. History
History
Playtime
Literature

Thur -
Scripture Memory
Bible Study
Copywork
Math
English
Free time/read as a family or computer time
Handicraft
Math drill
Music study
History
Science
Drawing
Playtime
Literature

Fri --
Scripture Memory
Bible Study
Copywork
Reading
Free time/read as a family or computer time
Clean up day (kids do their rooms, etc.)
Math drill
Geography
Am. History
Hymn Study
History
Playtime
Literature

Basically, we are planning on doing our scripture memory, bible study, copywork, history and literature five days a week. Is this reasonable? I read some of the posts where we need to remember we don't do every subject every day, but I am taking this to mean things like picture study, nature study, etc. This schedule ends our day at about 3pm, which seems a little long. Granted we will not start our day until about 9am, but still, it seems long.

Do you do your handicrafts more than one day per week? What about free time? Would you do this only after every other "real subject" has been done?

I realize this is a long post, so if you have hung in there.. thank you! I can't wait to hear what you ladies have to say!

Monica

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
Dee
Member

Hi, new to CM, SCM, everything. ;) Well, not new to homeschooling.

In any case, I've been trying to figure out how to organize schedules, too. One thing I've noticed about the recommended schedules in SCM is that while they are fairly simple to set up, they don't quite follow Charlotte Mason's recommendations, which is to have daily variety so the children don't get bored with the same routine. Here are some examples of a PNEU school's schedule:

(Moderator's Note: Unfortunately, we had to delete the link here to honor Ambleside Online's terms. They request that links are posted only with their permission and only to their home page. You may be able to perform a search on their site for the schedule.)

I think Class 1 was ages 6-8, class II was 9-11, class III was 12-14, and class IV were the 14+, but I can't guarantee that.

See how every day starts differently? Of course, I don't think anybody I've encountered yet follows the 6-day week that the PNEU schools had, which is why they were able to end their school days so early. Mind you, with the first schedule shown above, you would only have to add in another 30 minutes a day to have the same number of hours a week.

What ages are you teaching? How many minutes are you giving per subject area listed?

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
kimofthesavages
Member

Hey Monica

I've only been homeschooling for a year and a half (and using CM) now but your schedule looks good to me! We do all those subjects every day too. I schedule handicrafts in the middle of everything else. For example, my 9 year old might to handicrafts while I work with my 7 year old on his math. I also have little blocks of free time through out the day. Our school day will probably run from around 9am to 2 or 3...because I have 3 different ages to school and I also have a newborn and so I know we will have to be flexible and take a little longer. For me this isn't a big issue...just ages and stages of life. :) It sounds like you are ready for a great year of homeschooling!

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
Rebekahy
Member

I'm not sure if this is the schedule Dee is referring to, but on page 117 of the "planning your cm education" you will find Charlotte's Timetables. I would also recommend this SCM guide for helping plan your schedule - it goes into great detail about how to get it all done in an organized fashion, and feel confident with your plan.

After just a quick glance at your schedule, and not knowing the ages of your children, I would say that your day sounds too long based on the subjects you are covering. The youngest children 1st - 3rd should only be spending 20 minutes per subject and things like scripture memory, copywork, poetry, geography (map drill) may even take as little as 5 minutes most days - certainly none of these subjects should take 20 minutes every time you do them.

You have reading listed as a subject - does that mean phonics/learning to read? Then on Fridays you have Am History listed as well as a separate subject for History - are you teaching two periods of history? Unless you're teaching one history to one age student and a different period to another student I wouldn't recommend teaching two time periods to the same student - perhaps there are others that have done this successfully and give you guidance, but imho that's too much.

Ok, so that's probably going to cause you to have more questions rather than clear things up, so if you want the best info and things cleared up I would HIGHLY recommend the all day CM seminar on DVD as that is SUPER helpful for instructing moms on how to do each subject and how long each should take. It's been a GREAT investment for me, and I got a few friends together to watch it, so we split the cost and I got to keep it for hosting the seminar in my home!

hth,

Rebekah

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
crazy4boys
Member

This looks very much like our schedule and we get it done without problem (my boys are 10, 9, 6 and 4). Some of those subjects are going to take 5 minutes I'm guessing, like scripture memory and math drill. Others will take 15 to 20 minutes. We do science, history, math, bible study, memorization, an "elective" like composer or art, copywork, reading and read-aloud every day. We start around 9 or 10 and get done (with LOTS of breaks) around 2 or 3.

If you keep lessons short it looks very doable. I give my kids "free time" at the end of our school day, or when I need to work with a child one on one. If I'm working with my 6-yr-old on his reading, then the older boys have "free time" which is usually reading or drawing or playing. We don't really do handicrafts here, haven't figured out what to do for a household of boys!

Heather

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
moralesml
Member

Thank you for some great replies.

You have all provided some great information and much to think on! The encouragement, too is wonderful. I am the only one in my circle of homeschool friends who uses CM and so, it's great to hear from all of you!

Blessings,
Monica

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
LindseyD.
Member

I just wanted to add that handicrafts is not something I put into our schedule. We have an on-going array of crafts (needlepoint, painting, sewing) that the children know they may work on during their free time, which is in the afternoons, following lunch and nap/rest time. Sometimes they choose to work on something once or twice a week; other times, they want to work on something everyday until they're finished with the project. We do literature everyday, but my children have no idea that literature is part of "school". They love it so much that we often read from our lit. book after lunch AND before bedtime everyday. We also have family read aloud time from the same book on the weekends.

Depending on how many breaks you take and if you break for lunch, six hours a day does seem a bit long for school. However, you didn't put the ages of your children, so if they're high school age, that amount of time for that many subjects would be appropriate, I guess.

Anyway, I know this post was coming to an end, but I wanted to add that little bit. Hope it was helpful!

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
moralesml
Member

Thank you, LindseyD. My kids also don't see our literature readings as part of "school". They enjoy them so much they often want more! I appreciate you looking at this. It's great to get some sound advice!

Blessings, Monica

Posted 1 year ago # Report Post

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