As a teacher, I always gave serious time and thought to the schedule over the summer because it was like a framework that would allow every other good thing to work within. I sort of felt like I'd started to find my ideal schedule in my last couple of years in the classroom. I've learned a couple important things about schedules. One is, I've learned my classroom schedule needed to allow for sufficient time for each subject/part of the day or else it wasn't realistic and couldn't be adhered to. If reading workshop was supposed to be 45 minutes, trying to do it in 30 just didn't work. Squeezing science in for 20 minutes just because that was the time available that day was not worthwhile. I learned in the last couple of years to not try to schedule every subject into every day because that just means there is literally not enough time in the day for everything. A given part of the day would always run over into the next thing on the schedule or have to be cut off in the middle in order to start the next thing on time. If I felt frantic trying to get through twelve things too tightly back-to-back in the day, the kids must feel that way too. I moved toward teaching the primary skill areas four times a week, and fitting in the secondary subjects around that, and giving each block of math, writing, or any subject, the time it truly needed to feel sane and be able to finish a complete, rich session each time.
I've also learned as a teacher how a snow day, a day or two out of the classroom when my own kids were sick, an assembly or special event in school can bump back my lesson plans until I've found myself a whole week behind where I thought I'd be by a certain point. And those weeks add up to a month, which means whole topics or skills may be not covered by the end of the year. I've learned sticking to the regular schedule whenever possible is the only way to have a hope of teaching all I'm expected to, all that kids deserve to learn, in the year.
So I knew what I felt were some best practices around classroom schedules. I needed to decide how that translated to what would be best for us at home. I did research reading online homeschool forums, in a book about homeschool I bought, and in conversations about what other homeschool families do.
I knew there was no one way I had to organize the day at home, with my own child. First of all our state has very few specific requirements. And homeschooling is the freedom to not have to try to be just like school. Many homeschool families chose this path specifically because they wanted to do things differently, to literally "unschool" their kids. They base learning on experiences and whatever presents itself naturally in life-- an interest in birds, a fantastic Lego creation, putting together a model kit, going to the grocery store, etc. I wanted W to be able to follow his interests, but I didn't want his learning to be solely dependent on that. Also, while I like the mentality that learning is a part of life all day, all week, I felt we already lived our lives always thinking about what our kids were learning and we already tried to give them good experiences, cultural outings, and time being active in beautiful outdoor places-- on the weekends, all summer long, on family vacations. I felt like that was all so important and yet that wasn't what homeschool was all about for us.
Some people also talk about integrating all learning-- projects that include math, science, reading, writing, etc. I feel a little guilty I haven't done more of that yet because I know projects are fun and can be memorable. But I still feel a little stung regarding how much of W's public school time was eaten up some years doing large scale "projects" with 20+ kids because teachers prioritized that over teaching math or handwriting or anything else consistently. Honestly that's part of why we're homeschooling, so I could be sure he learned the academics he needs to learn this year (and to fill gaps from previous years). I feel uneasy about projects as a centerpiece to learning because I think there is big risk in telling ourselves we are integrating things when often that can really mean we just aren't teaching things explicitly. I think projects can be great, but I don't think it should be the only way that a subject-- say writing-- happens. The basic skill areas need to truly be taught in and of themselves as well.
Many homeschoolers it seems give their kids a list for the day (math workbook page 30, social studies chapter 3, handwriting letter "l," 30 minutes of reading, etc.) and when the child finishes the list, they are "done." But I also didn't love that idea because I wanted to be able to actually teach him some things, not just print out and hand him piles of worksheets. I knew a list for the day would just overwhelm him, or make him frantic with the idea that he could be playing-- if only he was done. I also wanted him to grow as a learner, to be more motivated and engaged and do some higher level thinking and get challenged in ways that independent written work all the time couldn't accomplish.
So several modes of homeschooling I learned about didn't seem to fit-- unschooling wasn't for us, all project-based learning all he time wasn't my thing, and a slew of workbooks and worksheets for W wasn't what I wanted.
I knew I did want to take advantage of the flexibility this year afforded us, and I wanted us to have fun and do really cool things that we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. I wanted him to have choices in his day. I didn't want to feel like we were trying to be just like school. I wanted to take advantage of one-on-one time with my kid. Of course I wanted to do "all the things" with him out and about, as one homeschool parent described what was so special about the experience. And yet I didn't quit my job or decide to continue sending M to preschool this year in order to just let W hang out or go on field trips every day.
Wouldn't it be great if he didn't need a schedule, or a carved out space in our house for our work, and was simply more motivated to make his learning happen anywhere, anytime. But for now he isn't quite there. I knew my son, with ADHD, and not a ton of internal focus or organization, really benefited from external structures such as having schedules and routines and help breaking big tasks into manageable-sized pieces.
Alas, after having this circular conversation many times in my head and with my husband, comparing our situation to other homeschoolers, how to fit in what I wanted to this year while keeping it fun, I did what was perhaps inevitable to start the year off: I made a schedule that was not in any huge way different from the way I would make one for a classroom. I pieced together a reasonable amount of time for each thing in the week based on what I'd learned in the classroom as well as my new learning about what fourth graders needed.
I figured any special things that came up that we chose to do, like concerts, or homeschool days at our local museum, or other field trips or occasional just-for-fun things would simply happen when they happened in place of this schedule, and hoped the days and times of those things would balance out so as not to seriously deplete any one academic area.
I fit in two scheduled-in blocks of time devoted to "enrichment," which is not my favorite word, but meaning whatever W wants to be learning about-- I imagined filling this time with something to do with his interest in Greek mythology, pirates, or animals, or teaching him sewing, or getting better at cooking or chess, taking music or karate lessons... Whatever it would be, I wanted to be sure we at least had some time every week dedicated to things besides the standard academics. I wanted him to be excited about choosing anything he wanted to learn about. I wanted him to get in the habit of following an interest with the intent to learn by giving him the gift and the requirement of time to be spent on it.
W checks our schedule as if it's an official document, and I use it to plan, and it's a guide for us both for the "normal" days. We told ourselves we'd start with this schedule but I could change it if it felt too rigid. Depending on how things went, maybe we could make the schedule somehow more flexible over time but decided to default to this structure. I tweak it a little each week or two, based on a problem-solving conversation with W, or a brainstorming session with my husband, or some new epiphany about W's learning style. Every once in a while I have a twang of doubt/guilt one way or another-- am I being less fun than other homeschool parents? Am I focusing enough on what makes him tick? Should I just let him curl up on the couch with a book sometimes and forego the lessons? (Or, on the flip side, yikes, we haven't completed half the work I thought we would this week because of special activities, preschool being closed for two days, etc.) But in general I am feeling mostly at peace about our balance at this point. It is how our days fit together for now.
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