We've not perfected (and we never will) but we're hitting a semblance of routine and I wanted to share our progress.
#1: I consolidated all of the boys' independent subjects (stuff they do alone) to be worked on back-to-back, giving me mostly uninterrupted time with my adorable preschoolers.
#2: I've officially packed up all of the girls' toys and only pull out an item or two at a time. This week, we've pulled out all the Little People toys and the girls go to town with them when I'm working one-on-one with the boys. This has also cut out a HUGE amount of time with cleaning up.
#3: Schoolwork is written up on Sunday. Here's the handy-dandy form I use: Weekly Planner. I hole-punch it on the sides and use it as a two-page spread.
#4: The menu is made up ahead of time so I'm not scrambling anymore. Here's the other handy-dandy form I use: Menu Plan
#5: I have a general idea of the direction we're going in each subject by filling out a vague outline in a Year-at-a-glance form (also very handy-dandy).
#6: Now, this one is just weird, but after doing the Dave Ramsey thing and budgeting our money to the penny (ha, pennies are all we have) I thought I'd take a turn at budgeting my time. So my Time Budget form is handy, but not at all dandy. It's a page full of boxes. Any idiot can make it. But there are 48 boxes, each representing a half hour of my day. 16 of those boxes get labeled "Sleep" because I am pretending for example's sake that I get 8 hours sleep. I mark off each subject taught, meal prep/eat/clean-up, reading, blogging, and what-not. If I only have 24 hours in a day, I thought it would be nice to see what I'm doing for that time. After filling out what I plan on doing, I use them periodically to mark off what I'm actually doing. If I spend a half hour playing "bubble shooter", that's a half hour I have to "take" from something I had allotted on my boxes. I only have so many boxes, ya know? Does that make any sense?
#7: I laugh. A lot.
4 comments:
Great ideas! I just might steal some of them.
I'd love to look at your forms, but Google Docs tells me the page requested is not available?
Denise in IN
A time budget? Jeepers. I think I'm supposed to be spending my time more wisely.
Two weeks ago, our Sunday School class on Revelation had a substiture teacher on "The Economy of Time".
Then our senior pastor didn't preach the sermon, but the youth pastor did. The subject? "Redeem the Time".
Then I ran out of library books, so I picked up a copy of Piper's "Don't Waste Your Life" that has been sitting on my nightstand for over a year.
Then I come here to tell you what I'm leaning towards in a writing curriculum, and you've got a Time Budget.
Hmmm...think the Lord's trying to tell me something?
Oh, yeah, writing: I think I'm going to do Imitations in Writing next year, and then move L & Z into Classical Writing Homer the following year (I'm pretending I'll have more time :P). Did you see this thread http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75904?
I love #2...I need to do that with my kids' toys. I also really like the menu planner. I plan our meals too, but never really take into account breakfast & lunch...this will be even more helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Even though you put me to SHAME...SHAME I am tellin ya... I went ahead and did a post about our school ;)
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