Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Rethinking our Charlotte Mason year - my schedule

Today I’m going to share with you my homeschool schedule.  This schedule reflects a general flow to our days rather than a we-do-this-at-this-time kind of schedule.  Also, at this point I have only one student - an almost 7 year old first grader.

I based this schedule off of the PNEU time tables.  I mainly looked at what was scheduled in the morning for form I students and for how long.  My schedule is tweaked, of course.  If you haven’t explored Nicole’s posts on scheduling, I encourage you to do so.


Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Morning Time
5
Poetry
Poetry
Poetry
Poetry
Poetry
15
Bible
Bible
Bible
Bible
Bible
10
Memory Work
Hymn
Poem
Memory Work
Folk Song
Psalm
Memory Work
Hymn
Poem
Memory Work
Folk Song
Psalm
Picture Study
Individual Lessons
20
Drawing
Handicraft
Drawing
Handicraft
Nature Journal
15
Math
Math
Math
Math
Math
15
History
Great Americans
Lit
Aesop
History
50 Stories
Lit
Just So
Lit
Blue Fairy/
Shakespeare
15
Reading Instruction
Reading Instruction
Reading Instruction
Reading Instruction
Reading Instruction
10
Nat History
Pond & River
Geography
Paddle
Nat History
Burgess Bird
Object Lesson

10
Copywork
Copywork
Copywork
Copywork

10

Nat History

Geography

10
Spanish
Salsa
Spanish
Library
Spanish
Salsa
Spanish Song


My grid tells me three things (as I outlined in my previous post).

1.  What to do – I have each subject plugged into a specific slot, along with a particular book for that subject, if needed.  So each week we will just get through what we can for that reading and continue where we left off the next week.  If we cannot read and narrate a whole chapter of Just So Stories, for example, no big deal, we'll just continue the next week.  Pressure off!  The books are in red type and are mostly taken from Ambleside’s year one list.  (I have made a change or two here and there.)

2.  How long to do each thing – The column on the far left has the suggested amount of time to complete each subject.  Again, I’ve made some tweaks here and there to best fit my child.  For example, on the time-tables copywork (or writing) was done for 20 minutes, but I’ve shaved that down to about 10 minutes.  We may take a little longer than the suggested amount of time for a particular subject, but never more than 20 minutes.

3.  What comes next – The grid shows the flow of subjects, i.e. what to do next.  I've tried to order the subjects so that there's some variety, and my child isn't doing the same type of work back-to-back, like two narrations in a row.

Also, it’s interesting to me how the PNEU schedules had drawing and handicrafts actually scheduled in the morning, rather than in the afternoon (which is where I would have a tendency to place subjects that fall under the category of "we’ll-get-to-them-if-we-can").  I think that shows the value placed upon those subjects.  (It makes me think of The Little Prince and how he lamented the fact that he was not taught to draw when he was a child.  Actually, lots to think about in that book in regards to childhood and what's most important in life.)

So that's a little bit of an overview.  I'll talk more about some details - books, morning time - of this schedule soon!


2 comments:

  1. I added you to my feedly, Angela! So I can see your new posts. Your schedule looks good! :) I'm REALLY bad with handicrafts. Just such a big mess :P My children do little things on their own all the time, but bigger learning new stuff I need to do better! I liked Harry Potter also! I think I liked the last ones a bit better than the first. They are darker but more meaty. :) Did you see there is a "new" Potter book coming out? :)

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    1. Oh gosh, I've been terrible with handicrafts! But I think they're so valuable so I've been trying to do better with that! It's hard for me, too, because mine are so little still and sometimes it seems that I'm doing more than they are.

      I just started the 4th Harry Potter book and looking forward to the rest of them. I did see that about the new one! I can't figure out if it's a play or a book or both?

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