How We Roll

One of my favorite blogs to read is Carissa's at 1+1+1=1. A couple days ago she posed some questions about homeschooling.

1. Do you have a schedule that you follow, no schedule at all, or are you a schedule drop-out like me?
2. If you DO have a schedule that you follow, please tell me (any of the following that you are willing to take the time to share)…
1. how many kids you have and their age range
2. what hours you schedule for during the day
3. how often you actually adhere to the schedule
4. why you feel it is best to stick to it
5. what is hard for you about sticking to it
6. when you bend the schedule
3. If you are a schedule drop-out, please tell me…
1. do you think you work better with or without a schedule and why?
2. are you planning on trying again in January like I am?
4. If you don’t have a set schedule and usually wing-it but still have a successful homeschooling day, please tell me…
1. why do you think you function better this way?
2. do you think your kids do better this way?
3. do you get everything done each day that you’d like to get done?

She asked for answers in the comments section, but I thought I'd share my answers here instead.


1. Do you have a schedule that you follow, no schedule at all, or are you a schedule drop-out like me?


Well, as much as I would love to say that I have a schedule that we follow closely, I'm more like Carissa - a schedule drop-out. I always have a great scheduled set up for the year with grand plans. In fact, you can click over to my homeschool blog just to check out what I had planned for this year. This schedule worked for about the first month. Then it slowly began falling apart. I even talked about our limping start to the school year. 


The other thing that has really thrown us for a loop this year is my participation in the TOS Homeschool Crew. It's been a huge blessing to try out all the products we've been given. Many have been ones that I've looked at in the past and wondered about using in our own home. Now I've been able to do that without any cost out of pocket. While it's a lot of work to add in these new products, it's simply been too big of a blessing and I'm very glad I decided to try out for the Crew this past summer. 


However, it has contributed to my "drop-out" status. Having said that, it's typical of me to continually tweak my schedule. In fact, last year I used a checklist to be sure I covered all the subject I wanted to during the day. That seemed to work the best for me. 


3. If you are a schedule drop-out, please tell me…
     1. do you think you work better with or without a schedule and why?
     2. are you planning on trying again in January like I am?


I do think I work better with a schedule but but more to keep me on track for teaching than anything else. Too much falls by the wayside unless it gets scheduled it. I'm a huge "to-do" list type gal. I love to make my list and then cross of things when I'm done. When I have a schedule like that, it does help. Recently I even went so far as to do a MOTH-like schedule for the family. I managed to use that for a couple of weeks before things began falling by the wayside again. 

I will definitely be getting back to a schedule again in January. Since the check-list way works best for me, I will be most likely going back to that style. I will have to continue to be flexible though since we will have at least four to five reviews due each month for the TOS Crew. Some are easier than others to get through but others (like one I'll be starting soon) take longer to get through. Like I said, it's been fun to add in all the new curriculum but also challenging. 


One thing I've tried this year is the workboxe craze. It started after I did a review for Sue Patrick's system as part of the TOS Crew.  This has helped us to stay on track but I'm not sure how much I really enjoy it. Although my oldest son loves it as he knows once his bin is done, he's done. My issue with it is completion of work. Many times, B13 in particular, won't come to me with questions and either leaves work undone or not completed or full of mistakes which means more needs to be done the next day.


All this to say, schedules and work routines will definitely be getting tweaked for the second half of our school year.