Mapping out the Day

Here is our basic daily routine.

Here are some PUS Timetables that were useful to me last year in planning a CM-y flow to the day and week.

Today I wrote a few notes as we walked through our easy-ish first day of school. Part of the reason for starting gradually is simply because it's an advantage we have over those who are going to a school building; we can take off to the beach right after lunch. And another part of the reason, honestly, is that I'm easily intimidated, and starting off slow is better than waiting, and waiting, until things are just perfect (and they never are, and the pressure builds). Finally, starting off gradually gives me a chance to scribble notes, and that is what I do. I scribble about the glitches, the blank spaces, the moments when several needed attention, the way the kids reacted to what we did (for better or worse). I do this for several days, and I go back to doing it whenever we hit a slow or difficult spot during the school year. I don't know where I read about doing this (I think it was in Evaluating for Excellence) but it has worked well for me.

So anyway, this is what I scribbled about a possible homeschool schedule for this year:

8 am Make breakfast, supervise chores
8:30 Work with Aidan a bit on reading and math -- give him something he and Paddy can do on his own.
9 am Religion (start off by prayer and reading aloud, then go from there)
9:30 Math for Sean and Kieron-- help as needed (they can finish in their own time)
10 am Sean and Kieron work on Latin with Clare -- I can work with littlies on literature themes.
10:30 Clare does Nature Study twice a week with Kieron; on the other days, do something science-related -- reading, or drawing in sketchbook, or lab
11 am Break, Activity --
11:15 Language Arts, ending with freewriting or copywork/dictation (see Bravewriter) -- also, Greek and Logic and drawing during this time.

around noon-- break

1 pm I go outside with little ones -- olders come with us or stay at home and do independent reading (see PUS Timetables for choice of subjects).
2 pm Narrations ??? (little ones do project)

3 pm -- I rest or run errands.

Wow, the day fills up fast.

I've never really had a chronological timetable for the morning hours before.... usually the morning is just about Getting Things Done, with a few built-in pegs like Reading after Breakfast. I thought I'd try it because the boys seemed to sort of like the idea and it might help keep things going a bit. I'm not attached to it, and if it gets artificial, I'll drop it.

I told Kieron that if he has eaten and done his morning jobs before 9 am he can work on his story, or read, or play, but that he should stay off the computer until the afternoon.


I made a list of other things I'd like to include -- I like the list of Prince Caspian's education:

"He learned sword-fighting and riding, swimming and diving, how to shoot with the bow and play on the recorder and the theorbo, .... besides Cosmography, Rhetoric, Heraldry, Versification, and of course, History, with a little Law, Physic, Alchemy, and Astronomy. Of Magic he learned only the ehtory, for Doctor Cornelius said the practical part was not proper study for princes. "And I myself," he added, "am only a very imperfect magician and can do only the smallest experiments." Of Navigation ("which is a noble and heroical art" said the Doctor) he was taught nothing, because King Miraz disappoved of ships and the sea."