Getting back on track

[Jill in Monroe]

I'm having trouble getting back on schedule with academics and chores since having my fifth child. It's been since before he was born (2 years ago) that I really felt 'in-charge' of our schooling. Now the other four: dd12, dd10, ds7 and dd4 who 'ought' to be doing school-type things during the day, find themselves having a lot more free time. One of the bummers here is their loss of the skill of working independently.

How do you moms-of-many handle having kids in all these levels (baby, preK, grammar and logic)? I really feel lost.

I've just purchased and have begun to read through David and Laurie Callahan's Daily Planner (I think it may be similar to EduTrack), and I think that may be a God-provided solution to some of this. But, I'm eager to pick the minds of you ladies as well!

Thank you for any advice you may share!

Jill

[Wendy in ME]

We have similar ages here but my "baby" is 3. I find that my key to a successful day is my schedule and keeping the littles busy. I find that if I loosen the reigns just a little during the day, I lose control and nothing gets done. I find this also happens if I try to get done other things besides school so I pretty much resign myself to school from 9 - 3 with an hour off for lunch and I don't take phone calls or even try to clean the house. I set my alarm an hour ahead of the time the little ones get up which means 6 for me so that I can shower, have coffee, read, check email, etc. While everyone is eating breakfast, I run upstairs and do a quick run through the bedrooms to make beds, open shades, and just neaten up for the day. After breakfast the older boys wash up and brush their teeth, take care of the pets, and do 1 small 15min chore. Once we start for the day, we don't stop or we will lose the momentum. For the littles, I have a closet full of things to keep them busy and I pull out something different every half hour. I let them cut up paper and use paint and glue sticks, do puzzles, and sorting games, color, use playdough, etc. I try not to care about the mess and just clean at the end of the school day. They all pitch in to clean the school room at 3. As far as independent working, I think you will have to slowly build that back up. I have a 9yo who would like me to sit with him all day. I am pretty much in the school room or the kitchen all day but not sitting with him. It has been my goal all year to move him more toward some independent work. I have been giving him a short assignment and a timer. I have progressively increased the amount of time for independent work. So far it seems to be helping. He does get easily distracted with all the noise the littles make so we incorporate our music appreciation into our everday lesson by having classical music playing in the school room. It really seems to improve their concentration and reduces the distractions of other noises in the house. I hope some of this rambling will give you some ideas.

[Faithr]

I am trying to get back on track now after being very relaxed the last couple of years. But before when I did have babies/toddlers and was trying to do a modicum of scheduled learning I had a couple tricks up my sleeve.

1) Montessori trays - Using the Montessori services catalog and other resources, I accumulated (and added to as the years went on) materials that replicated things you'd find in a Montessori infant school. I would put out two trays with different activities plus a basket of blocks. We also had a toy kitchen nearby with little brooms, etc. So my littles would get up and be surprised every morning by the trays I put out. During the morning they would move between the trays, the blocks, the kitchen and play quite happily. Some mornings would be noisier than others and not everything went smoothly all the time, but it worked quite well over the long run.

2) I always started school up right at breakfast with read alouds. Right after breakfast, I'd wisk the dishes off the table, give the table a quick wipe, and before anybody had time to wander off, I'd whip out the seatwork. I'd try to keep everyone in the same room (have a diaper station nearby). My older ones who might need to work a bit harder, with less supervision, were set up at a table in the next room. I spent my time going from kids, coaching them and keeping them on track. Often I'd be nursing a baby or quietly playing house or building blocks with the toddler, but we were all right there.

3) I used a timer. Short lessons for the seatwork. I truly believe in CM's philosophy that it is better to do, for example, 5 math problems perfectly than a whole page of math problems where the child gets weary from the sheer number of exercises and begins to dread the drudgery. Especially at your children's young ages.

4) Lunch was read aloud time again or any recitation, etc.

5) After lunch I had an enforced quiet time for the littles. They could listen to stories on audio or music, nap or play quietly in their rooms. This might take some training if you are not in this habit, but it is well worth the effort. Then I would try to take a 20 minute nap! Twenty minutes was all I aimed for! I would force myself to just lie down and close my eyes, no matter how messy the house was or what phone calls needed to be made. Again, I might be nursing a baby at the same time. The thing was to lie down with my feet up. It truly rested me.

6) After my 20 minutes, I'd get a cup of tea and work one on one with whichever older student needed it. Sometimes we'd work together (where I could group them, like in spelling) or one day I'd work with one and the next with the other.

School was usually over by 2. Then I'd make phone calls and attend to household chores.

If I had missed anything during the day, I'd go over it at dinner. My dh or I would read good lit. at bedtime.

7) My dh was in charge of science. He read to them at night, did experiments with them over the weekend took them on fieldtrips over the weekends and also taught science during the summer.

Planners never worked for me. They took so much time and energy and I very seldom stuck to them. Then I would get so discouraged. So instead, I would just find a program or curriculum I liked and we would 'do the next thing.' I'd mark everything in pencil with the date we did it. A couple times a year, I'd sit down and go through the books figuring out how much we generally needed to do in order to get to wherever we wanted in the program. I didn't feel obliged to finish everything, if I didn't think it was necessary. There is so much review built into so many programs that to me finishing something wasn't necessarily a goal.

Hope this helps.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We use a MOTH schedule to stay on track. This keeps my almost 4yo busy in the morning, while still allowing us to get school done. Without the schedule, either school would drag on forever or my son would get lost in the morning shuffle. Here's our current schedule (http://narrowgateacademy.blogspot.com/2007/12/revising-our-schedule.html) for you to look at if it will help.