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| Gathered together for Morning Announcements and Opening Exercises |
School is in full swing here!
And I LOVE the changes that we made this year!
I was so blessed in our home in Mexico to have desks for each child.
The house we are renting here is much smaller and so for the past two years, we have simply gathered around the dining room table with a few scattered at a 6-foot table we set in the middle of the kitchen or some working on the couch. There was lots of elbow bumping and "his book is covering part of my book". :)
Daniel had mentioned installing desks on the wall that would close up leaving plenty of room to "live" after school hours. Of course, we didn't know when or how we would be able to get the supplies needed to make the desks.
Long story short, there was a Christian school here in the area that closed down a few years ago, and they gave us some of the desks to use in our home school!!
So after breakfast chores each morning, the fun begins.
Dining room tables moved to the living room to serve as a scoring table and a desk for Samuel and Eliseo.
Dining room benches moved. Desks opened up. Dividers between each desk inserted.
Folding chair brought in and put at each desk. Water bottles filled and set by each desk.
And 5 minutes later, our kitchen/dining room/living room is transformed into a learning center!
Ok, so the first time we attempted this set up, it took us more like 40 minutes. So I made us practice.
A lot! ;)
Each child has their own area to study, keep their supplies and books, and decorate how they'd like.
After school is over, chair are taken back outside, dividers stored in the hall closet, water bottles emptied and washed for the next day, desks closed up against the wall, and tables and benches brought back to the dining room (and my pretty table cloths put back on those white tables :) ).
I'm so thankful for the ability to utilize the space we have in the best way possible!
As far as our school schedule this year, it's pretty simple, but it's working great!
We are trying a 4 day/week school schedule...starting a bit earlier and ending a bit later each day M-TH to ensure we keep on schedule getting all the material covered we normally would cover in a 5 day.
I broke our school day into 7 periods with a 10 minute break between each one. Every child has their daily goals/assignments and knows what to do each period whether it is math, reading, English, or PE.
6:00 or 6:30 am- Wake up time for children/Chores/Dress/Bible and Prayer Time
7:30 am- Breakfast/Clean up/Set up School Room
8:00- 8:30 am- Morning Opening Exercises/Announcements/Bible Reading/Scripture Memory
8:30-- 9:20 am- 1st period (10 minute break between each period)
9:30- 10:20 am- 2nd period (10-10:30 am- recess for elementary age)
10:30-11:20- 3rd period
11:30-12:20- 4th period
12:20- 1:00 pm- Lunch Break/ Clean Up
1:00-1:50 pm- 5th period
2:00-2:50 pm- 6th period (Early dismissal for those finished)
3:00 pm- 3:50 pm- 7th period
Clean up and dismissal by 4 pm.
4 pm until 6 pm- Afternoon chores/Homework if needed/Music Practice/Free time
6 pm- Supper and clean up
7 pm- Free time
8 pm- Family Bible Time
8:30-9:30 pm- Free until your time to get ready for bed
So far, we are LOVING the changes we have made this year and have had a great week. I used the first 2 days of the week as pre-start to school days. We went over rules, instructions, schedules, set up desks/binders/notebooks, and basically covered all the different aspects of our school day.
Wednesday we started our first full day following our schedule and it was probably the smoothest start to a school year we have ever had!
Of course, I told my hubby, talk to me again in a couple weeks when the "newness" has worn off and I'll let you know how it is then :) And I know the children are getting older and that definitely makes a difference. Home schooling with many little ones under foot is an adventure for sure!
Well, that's a little look into our school day. Looking forward to learning and growing together another year! So thankful for the Lord's never ending grace!
