Making Adjustments

Adjustments are some of the perks of homeschooling, tweaking schedules and routines and curriculum to fit the unique lifestyle and learning style of your family. And we’ve definitely been taking advantage of that perk lately. I’ve made some pretty big adjustments to our routine, as well as a few minor tweaks.

My husband has Mondays off, which made it tricky to fit in family time. We had school in the mornings, had a window of time in the afternoon to do something together, and then I had a Ladies Bible study to attend in the evenings. But everything in me balked at the idea of doing school on a Saturday. Until I finally gave in and tried it. I love it!

I’ve moved our typical Monday through Friday school schedule to a Tuesday through Saturday schedule. The kids pre-approved cartoons are DVR-ed anyway, so it really makes little difference if they watch them on Saturday mornings or on Monday mornings. And though the first Saturday was a little rough, the following Monday was absolutely worth it.

Another major difference this year is how I organize the kids’ weekly assignments. I mentioned in an earlier post that I’m no longer using the hanging pockets as workbox pockets this year. For one, filling all the pockets every day was requiring too much time and effort for me. And though I had originally intended to continue filling Middlest’s pockets this year, I soon converted her to my new system as well.

This year, each child has an assignment notebook. Inside this notebook, I have 5 pocket dividers labeled for each day of the week that we do school: Tuesday (T), Wednesday (W), Thursday (R), Friday (F), and Saturday (S). I have these written in permanent marker so that it will not smudge. When I need to make changes (i.e. change Monday [M] to Saturday [S]), I simply wipe off the permanent marker with a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol. At the start of each week, I fill each pocket with the worksheets, notebooking pages, copywork assigments, etc. for that day.

 

 

assignment notebook
You can totally tell that I have no OCD compulsions. These were the pockets I had left-over to put into the notebooks, and the tabs don’t line up. My motto? Oh, well!

homeschool organization

Even my Middlest has learned to open her notebook and begin working on those pages that she knows how to do. If they have a question about a page, they set it aside and begin work on another page. There are pages in their notebook that they have learned are “Mommy” pages, pages they only do with Mommy present. For Oldest, that’s some of his math assignment. For Middlest, it’s her handwriting and reading.

This system has worked out so well for those mornings when Littlest has us all thrown off schedule. I know, hard to believe that sweet thing could be any kind of trouble.

Watch out! I’m on the move now, folks.

Bottom line, this system has been a real life-saver.

  • when the phone rings
  • when a diaper needs to be changed
  • when it’s time to work with my other child
  • when Littlest is teething
  • when Littlest is fussy
  • when Littlest won’t nap
  • when Littlest…you get the idea

And honestly, the kids have loved the independence about as much as I have. It’s a win-win for us. So that’s the update on our year and the adjustments we’ve made so far.

What adjustments have you already had to make for your school year?