a day without programs and workbooks, part two: and all the rest
I try to throw in a load of laundry before I start my day. And give the upstairs a quick tidy on my way down (our bedrooms are upstairs). I'm talking really quick. Five minutes quick.
After we read and tidy up, the kids start whatever is on their list before I'm ready for sit down work with them. If they finish, they can just read or play until I am ready to work with them.
I work with my kids on the things they need help with one on one. Personally I have found this easier than jumping back and forth between kids who need me. Honestly, I do not know how teachers do it. But what I love most about the one on one is the interaction. The moment we get to spend, just us for a few minutes each day.
Generally moving from youngest to oldest, I sit down and do dictation, math, and whatever else that might require my full attention, just as an example, this year requires with each one,
Rosebud and I do dictation, first Communion preparation, chocolate chip math, a game of memory some days (fifteen minutes to half hour a day)
Huck does long division and dictation (maybe twenty to thirty minutes)
Silas does some math practice, dictation, cursive writing and a paragraph practice once a week (thirty to forty-five minutes)
The Professor just works on rhetoric and writing with me, and I help him once a week or so helping him study for science tests (he has two sciences). (thirty minutes to one hour).
We are usually done by noon, except this year I work with The Professor after lunch. We put a French learning CD on while we clean up from lunch.
Ten years ago, it might have looked like this:
Read at breakfast and tidy up. Toddler push in chairs, Professor clear dishes, Polly tidy counters, Scout sweep, Alice put the food away. I lounge on the divan. I don't actually have a divan.
Ask Scout or Polly to watch toddler and/or baby if necessary while I work with Professor on dictation and chocolate chip math.
Then sit down with Polly for dictation and math and writing. While nursing baby.
Do dictation with Scout. Help her with math when needed. While holding toddler on my lap and letting him scribble on an exercise book.
Help Alice with writing. Math when needed, studying for a test, perhaps.
Get lunch ready, read to them during lunch again, tidy up.
After lunch, a couple of times a week, we would work on a project or visit friends. I set aside mornings to work with my kids, and after lunch, I get some housework done. I try really hard not to try to "sneak in housework" while I am working with the kids. I get cranky and distracted if I don't just put it on hold. But when I'm done, then I can focus for an hour or two (with interruptions every few minutes) to get some housework done.
I would generally try to assess my day before Fall came (in fact, I still do), so that I could debrief people on how it might look. Okay this child is not really needing to be watched over while I do sit down work with others, but the chicken whisperer likes to hang out with you in your room...maybe you could do you voice practice while he plays with your stuff? I work with Polly and the Professor then. Let's see how that works. You need help with your study guides for science, but my mornings are pretty busy with the youngers. How about after lunch, while I do some kitchen work, I help you with your study guide?
Each year requires some thought to how I might manage my day a little more efficiently. Our situation with growing children, every changing, needs tweaking occasionally. As soon as I get scrambly, I get cranky. So a smooth running house is tantamount to me getting to heaven.
When the kids were smaller, I would plan a couple of hours in the afternoon to do housework, that probably should take half an hour. But I had to allow for the interruptions, or I would get cranky. Because I'm pretty scatterbrained, I usually set myself some small couple of tasks...fold the laundry, tidy the mudroom. Then I can check my email. Okay. Sweep the living room and straighten it up. Then have a cup of tea. Okay. Go through my to do list, oh, yeah, I have three phone calls to make. Okay. I'll do those while and do a tidy up upstairs, then I can sit down for a while.
Even though there are a thousand things to do, if I don't operate this way, I become frozen and ineffective and don't get anything done. So I have to break it all down in bite sized chunks.
It's kind of a simple life. But I like it.
Get up. Pray, eat and read, work together, pray, eat and read, work and play, have dinner, work and play. Go to bed.