Secular Charlotte Mason

I would be very curious to hear about what kind of schedule everyone has while teaching.  I have my own feelings about this but would be very curious about how other CM'ers spend their days. 

Is there alot of structure as CM has explained to allow the child to keep their focus on their studies? 

For us, so far, we are not very rigid with our study schedule. I had in the beginning posted the times and what subjects, but we usually either went over the time or we found we had more time left over....

My boys need lots of breaks because they get tired from their hard work they put into their studies.

Having Dyslexics and a possible Aspie, I find I have to alter their day according to their abilites and needs so I have to remain flexible.

One thing I do though is to keep lessons short and move onto the next... this really does help them stay on task and I dont try to draw things out like I had done earlier in my teaching.

We start around 9:00 or so and will end at about 12 :30 or so with a few breaks in between. This leaves the afternoon for their free time and for me to work.

It seems to work well although we do not do all "8" subjects each day.  We do our main subjects which is Language Arts, Math, and Remediation work.  Then alternate two days a week for science and history although new just this year I will be integrating science and history into their teachings daily by integrating their subjects..

We tried this briefly after Christmas and found it to be wonderful and have not looked back. ~

We really struggle with keeping a schedule.  Always have, but as the kids are getting older and wanting more independence I feel they need a more set schedule so we are putting more effort into it.  When they were younger I had to be much more flexible because their needs were less predictable. Plus, I use to teach several classes outside the home which always messed with our scheduling. All three of my kids are doing different things academically so our schedule is not set by academic subjects and the older kids tend to work pretty independently. We have never gotten through every subject every day.  We are more cyclical (or tidal as Becky calls it) in our learning; often focusing on a few subjects while letting others slide and eventually switching which subjects are the focus.  We almost always have one subject that I totally let slide for the year or that ends up not panning out as planned.  This year that subject was science for the older kids. The kids do like using the shorter focused lessons but for their favorite subjects, or if they are nearing the end of a unit, they tend to work on that subject for an hour or more. Just yesterday my son did math for 2+ hours because he is very near to finishing the course and now just wants it completed.

Our daily schedule is suppose to look something like this:

9:00 to 12:00 kids free time while I do my stuff, animal care, eat brunch, sometimes we do read alouds to wake up

12 to 4 focus on academics

4 to 6 household work, go outside for PE

7 to 9 family time, read alouds, independent projects, watch tv

Our weekly schedule looks something like this:

Monday: focus on cyberschool classes

Tuesday: any subject that can be done quickly (geography, language arts, etc.), homework for classes, 8 yo is in class all day, 14 yo is in Shakespeare class in the morning, this is also errands running day

Wednesday: we are all in classes all day, no at home work other than animal care

Thursday: homework for classes, any subject that tends to get more involved (history, narrations, science for the 8 yo, etc.), cyberschool

Friday: same as Thursday, meet with cyberschool teacher every other week

Saturday: catch-up day, Writing Club with IEW twice a month for 11 & 14 yo, Science Club once or twice a month for 8 yo

Sunday: family/jammies day

And then there are the days/weeks everything gets thrown out of whack because of field trips or illnesses lol.  That was this past week.

Gina

"Tidal" I have heard of this and belong to the Tidal Homeschooling group but still trying to get a handle on what it means, I think that is kind of what I do, but not sure...lol (hope it is ok to mention a group here, if not sorry)  

You only do IEW twice a month? we started great with IEW and then slid a bit off the charts with it because of literature units we were doing and they kind of took off with their own writing just after unit 3.. I plan to get back to it though...as sequential the program is -which I thought my boys would have real trouble with they are doing great and their writing is incredible. I think for them they see how well they do and are encouraged to do more.. for us it is a good fit.

Back to scheduling.... I like how you start school at 12:00 I would like to do this but my youngest (10) seems to be too tired to read then.. reading is very tiring for him, oh how i would love to do school from 12-4. Perhaps I will try this for the summer.

I could work in my studio all morning.... will try and post back and let you know how it works...

this week we are taking off I am pooped from portfolios and need to start Spring Cleaning.. have tons of group work to do and am trying to plan out our units for next year..

Your children seem older than mine.

Do you plan out units or do you follow history programs ?

Tracey,

We do IEW with some friends so we end up doing it for 2 to 3 hours twice a month, plus a little bit of homework.  Right now I am going easy on them but I think my son will be doing more of the "extras" separate from the group.

My kids don't get up until 9am which makes it easier for me to work in the mornings.  Even if they wake up earlier they aren't suppose to leave their rooms until 9am.

My son follows a history program (History Odyssey) but the girls tend to do history more as units that we create together. For the girls I tend to set up what is available and then they can choose what they want to do from that, including the stuff that I consider required. I try to let them make their own reading choices and project choices as that makes them dislike history a bit less.

My kids are 14, 11 and 8.  The 8yo, obviously, still needs me to be right there with her when she is doing everything but the projects. This is the first year that my 11 yo has been willing/able to work independently although I do have to check in with her regularly as she has a habit of doing lessons only 3/4 of the way but calling it "done".

Well, my one "school age" child is only 5, so we aren't very schooly at all.  However, we already have a certain structure to our days.  I find that if I allow him to sit around in his pjs in the morning, NOTHING will be accomplished all day.  Or if I let him get his K'NEX or Legos out right after breakfast so I can check e-mail or somesuch, NOTHING will be accomplished all day.  Etc.

So right now our "structure" is more about building up good habits.  Getting dressed before coming downstairs.  Then breakfast and clearing the table.  Then usually some fun-yet-school type thing (this morning it was an experiment from his favorite science book) -- just to set the mood that school time is fun time!  Then his chore of the week -- this week it's vacuuming the main living area.  Then phonics, then I read to him from any good literature of his choice.  I think I've read Squirrel Nutkin a couple hundred times, but that's another post!  After that, he has free time to get his K'NEX out, or play outside, etc.  Once he (and I) have had a little bit of free time, we tend to either sit down and draw together (while listening to music) or go for a walk, trying to give it a nature study focus.

After reading, I just let the day progress naturally.  I feel like we've gotten the important basics (phonics and reading) out of the way, and then I can be more relaxed.  I also find that when we do start the day this way, he comes to me periodically throughout the day with books to read, science-y questions, and simply a desire to learn.

I should also note, I do try and encourage as much outdoor time as possible, as CM calls for.  My son is an inside kind of boy -- building sets and the like -- but as I incorporate more outdoor time into our day, he's learning to be at ease outside and to entertain himself.

Hope our "structure," such as it is, encourages any with young kids!

Wow!  I feel like such a slacker.:D  My children are also quite young.  My oldest is 6, so most of the structure is in her schedule.

We always do math first.  Depending on what type of math we are focusing on, this can be a wonderfully happy time for us, or an epic battle.  Next, I will read aloud, and the older kids (4 and 6) will draw or create images of the story in clay (once, my son drew a picture of Ulysses eating corndogs with the Cyclops :lol:).  After this, we usually need to stretch our legs a bit, so we head to the park for some nature study.  We pack a bunch of notebooks and colored pencils in the baby stroller and head out.  Now, we live in the city, so nature study takes a bit of effort for us.  Even in a concrete playground, we always find some interesting way that nature has persevered.  We draw, and they play on the playground equipment for about an hour.  Then, it's back home for lunch.  After lunch, the baby takes a nap while my oldest has free reading time.  My middle child wants to learn to read so badly!  He and I have developed a habit of working out of a reading primer during naptime.  This has become my favorite part of the day!  We listen to a lot of music, and the television does not go on until after dinner each night.

Each day, we have something like karate or gymnastics, or piano or Girl Scouts, or some other thing that seems to throw a monkey wrench in our schedule.  I feel pretty disorganized about it all, and honestly, get discouraged from time to time.  But on the whole, my kids are happy and learning, so I guess it's working on some level!

Oh, I forgot.  Sorry for my ignorance, but what is IEW?

Ulysses eating corndogs with the Cyclops---love it!!!

IEW stands for Institute for Excellence in Writing.  Here's the link for their site: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ .  I'm surprisingly happy with their writing program. It's much better than I thought it was going to be.

Right now we don't have a very good schedule going.  I feel like we never have enough hours in the day to get everything done that I feel like we need to do.  My oldest, 11 is a late sleeper but my almost 6 year is is an early riser.  So I do all of his lessons with him from 8 to 12 every morning and then I sit down with my 11 year old and do his lessons from 12 to 4.  This for right now works for us.  But I would like something better for sure. 

Thanks for posting about the younger kids. My oldest is almost 6.  I have been slacking with schedules lately.  I've been doing a lot of research on the computer so the kids get free play and tv and then we head outside for several hours each day.  I read to them at night.  Our academics and othe projects are random and at request.  Mostly unschooling for the last year but moving into more formal studies soon.

For those of you with younger kids, remember that you have the gift of time (unlike those of us with high school staring us in the face) and you can slowly ease into formal schedules as the kids are developmentally ready for it.  The one thing I've learned in hindsight is that I should have focused on habits LONG before I focused on academics. Because of my hubby's standards and WTM expectations I did it totally backwards and am now paying the price with teens/preteens with excellent academics yet poor daily habits. Don't make the mistake I did!:ohmy: 

I have to say that I am not the primary teacher in our homeschool -- though my role has been getting more active.  And Jack is only six, so we've only been at this for a few months.  Well...maybe as much as a year now. 

That said, we make no attempt to keep to a schedule.  That was a big concern to my husband, who is a little disorganized and a lot resistant to feeling pushed.  He didn't want to feel a sense of "falling behind", because he was worried that his own worse nature would start to become a problem.  We found a comromise in setting the work up in "units" of material on all the subjects to be covered together, but not with any specific time assumptions.  The guys study whatever gets their attention from the checklist when they're inclined and have some free time, and the rest of the time, Jack is doing his own thing.  As it happens, the units seem to get done pretty consistently  in about three months. 

Since I got a taste of "doing school" while on furlough and realized what I was missing, we have started doing school as a family after dinner several nights a week, and that seems to be going pretty well, too. (And I am having a blast!)  

Interestingly, it seems to be prompting more study when I am at work, too.  (I concede that in part that may be because Jack has discovered Harry Potter, and in a vain effort to slow him down, so he doesn't scare himself silly with the later books, I have uggest that he celebrate the end of each unit by reading one more Potter book and seeing the movie.  Oops, that may not slow him down as much as I had imagine, at this rate.)

Oh, and unbeknownst to Jack, we do "Literature" at bedtime.  I have placed a stack of good literature on his bedside table, and we read a chapter or two at night as a part of our bedtime ritual.  Now that he's getting older and the books are getting more inetresting, Dad has started to join us for the reading, too, which makes the time all that much more fun!  It also allows Rod and I to discuss the book during the day, so that Jack can see that there are things to notice and can start looking for foreshadowing and things liek that, too - - though we're using the osmosis method to teach it while he's so young.

Another year, therefore a new schedule. Since I know scheduling is often a concern for homeschoolers, esp. the new folks, I think it would be great if we posted our current schedules to share with others. Here is what my family has come up with so far. It's organized, yet flexible so I think it will actually work.

Sundays: home

Mondays: home

Tuesdays: classes

Wednesdays: home mostly

Thursdays: girls home but sometimes have co-op friends over for learning activities, Drakon classes only

Fridays: home

Saturdays: off

Drakon's daily rhythm is to eat and then start on his 5 hours of daily school work (his online teacher requires this # of hours). Then he has the afternoon to get his chores/handicrafts completed. The rest of the day is then his to do as he wishes.

After eating, KodyGirl and Tide start their day off with chores/handicrafts since they prefer to ease into their schoolwork. KodyGirl usually does her computer free time in the AM since she has to rely on me more than the others and I am not ready to do school first thing. They begin their schoolwork after lunch and if they don't dawdle they should have plenty of late afternoon and evening free time.

Still trying to figure out how to fit in the family read alouds since the  kids do their schoolwork at different times and I'm usually too tired in the evenings. You will notice that I don't have set times to begin and end. I do this since our day can start at different times depending on whether I wake up with a migraine or not. The schedule has to be flexible to accomodate my health needs while providing the consistency that my high schooler now needs. This year I am going to try assigning subjects to specific days (ie, geography is on Fridays, Trisms/history is Sun., Mon., Weds., Fri.).

If you want to see it broken down further, such as what subject is done on which day, just let me know and I can post that. Drakon's schedule is set but I still need to tweak the girls' schedule.

I just watched the Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education DVD from Simply Charlotte Mason. I think she does a really good job of walking through each step of how she does her planning. I like her charts too. Even after 8 years of homeschooling I was able to glean a few useful tidbits. If you are new to CM, a perpetual planner or worry about those darn gaps than this may be an excellent resource for you. I don't think you need it for the younger ages but it would be handy for planning the years after grade 3 or if you have multiple children.  

I really like that she often discusses the differences between Ms. Mason's scheduling needs and modern homeschoolers' needs and how to adjust for that. The thing I love most about Sonya Shaffer is her practicality.