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Our Home Schooling Days

You've read about many options for setting up a home school routine. Here's what we do -- at least for now!

We set aside 9:00 am to 12:00, Monday through Friday, in our family for home schooling. I don't take phone calls during that time, nor do I make doctor's appointments or schedule social time. That's when my son and I concentrate on our more structured school projects. However, if they are doing a Civil War reenactment on a Tuesday morning, we'll go! If company is in town for a few days, we'll stop our schooling and enjoy them. But if a friend wants to have lunch with me, I'll schedule it for 1:00 instead of 11:30.

Our afternoons are set aside for more social learning. One afternoon a week we meet other home schoolers for a hands-on Science class, another afternoon is set aside for Art or Pottery lessons, and we love to have time for a few hours at the library, as well as a day for a field trip, park day with friends, or time with grandparents. We also like to do a lot of reading out loud in the evenings, and often do our history, geography, and social studies then.

We'll talk more about curriculum choices in the next lesson, but even though my son might tell you we only home school from 9-12, really many more hours than that each week are full of learning opportunities (don't tell him I said so!). As Sherri Linsenbach says over and over in our text, "home schooling is not school at home." If you're new to this whole idea, it may take a while to bond with it, but it's very relaxing when you feel that way.

And, you might ask, when do I work? I strive for four hours a day of private time. I usually find an hour in the morning, several in the late afternoon, and a bit more in the evenings, especially if my husband is out of town. I often find some time on the weekends and when my husband is home to work on special projects with our son. Is it busy? Yes! But these are the years where raising a child is a high priority and we make it work.

Need to Get Organized in General?

If you feel like your home is chaotic, cluttered, and generally out of control, adding home school to it isn't going to help. You may want to take a look at a plan of home organization that I have used for years.

Sidetracked Home Executives (SHE) is a wonderful book by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. They are known as the Slob Sisters, but have gone from "pigpen to paradise" with good humor, realism and a practical plan. You'll find more about them, their many ideas, and organized home schooling at their web site:

If you'd like to read their first book, which I highly recommended, you'll find it here:

Summary

This will conclude Lesson 3. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson and the exercises you and your family have done.

In review, you should be comfortable with the following:

• Home School scheduling can take many forms.
• A daily, weekly, or even monthly routine will vary and can still be quite effective
• Allowing time for unscheduled events, free time and play are all part of a schedule
• You don't need to schedule schoolwork for your children 6 to 8 hours of the day. Learning comes in many forms, thank goodness!