New Schedule, or M.O.T.H. Revisited: Homeschooling

I scrapped our old schedule, and now we have a new one. This one is a bare-bones schedule.

Concerns:

• JT has karate at the YMCA Monday and Wednesday, that we are not willing to budge on. The other class he could join is in the afternoon, and with the driving time added, we'd miss two nights of supper together. He has a talent for this, and it counts as PE. Also, Bryan can get some exercise at the same time (me, too, if I want--usually I catch up on lesson plans or do my Bible reading and enjoy the peace and quiet while Luci is in Baby Jail).
• The boys have always had a flexible schedule and, until this year, have done quite well with it. This is the first year we've had major problems.
• Luci is into everything, and I mean everything. I am always dashing about keeping her from doing permanent harm to household things--yes, I do put things out of reach, but she is a climber.
• I like the flexibility to go to the commissary at Redstone (a whole day of travel and shopping) without putting the whole system in danger of collapse, and adding in ice skating or letting the boys build things with John when he has a day off (current projects include a playhouse for Luci and, what do you know, a craft/sewing room for me!)

So, here's the new schedule. Those of you who have children going to "regular schools" will think this is so lazy! Homeschoolers will understand.

Monday and Wednesday:

7:45 am Up.

8:30 am Leave for YMCA

9-10 am Tang Soo Do class

10 am- Until...Errands or go home

Home--set timer for 60 minutes to do chores

When timer goes off, it is time for lessons and work "until finished," which can be quite early or late, depending on how studious the boys are. They, for the most part, are independent workers now--it took a long, long time to get them to this point, and I am enjoying their independence!

Noon--lunch (fits in to chore time or lesson time)

When all school work is done, then they can work on projects (not associated with school) or play or computer time, whatever.

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday:

9 am Up and dressed. (Yes, I have to specify "dressed." Homeschoolers are notorious for wanting to stay in their pajamas.)

9-10 am Chores.

10- Until: Schoolwork.

Noon: Lunch

When all schoolwork is done, they can work on their projects and play, etc.

The boys earn checkmarks for

1. getting up on time by themselves
2. finishing chores in allotted time
3. finishing schoolwork before playing
4. getting along (no arguing with me or each other)

On Friday afternoon, they will get a $10 allowance...connected to their checklist. I choose two items each week to tie the allowance to, but I don't tell them which two I am looking for--for example, this week I am counting getting up and finishing chores. If they earn all ten checks for those two items, they get to keep all $10. Next week I might pick two other items to tie to their allowance.

M.O.T.H. (Scheduling) Update

M.O.T.H. (Managers of Their Homes) was a great idea but just not for our family. It does work for many people, and I love order, but it just doesn't work for us.

Remember those charts?

They are in the garbage now. I did keep the chore lists (NO, Mom!!) .

We now have a checklist in place for schoolwork and behavior so I am no longer the bad guy. The boys can get a check for 1) getting up on time on their own, 2) completing chores before playing, 3) completing schoolwork before playing, and 4) "getting along." They can earn four check marks every day. Yesterday both boys got three check marks each. No comment on which boy slept in (he's the teenager) or which boy didn't get along with others (he's the other one).

Nothing on the Calendar --M.O.T.H. Update

We have only two days this month with nothing on the calendar. Absolutely nothing. Today was one of those days. So how did it go with our M.O.T.H. schedule, since there was nothing to compete with our homeschooling and housekeeping? It didn't go at all!

Rebellion set in, and the boys would not get up until 10 am. I was beside myself. Everything fun was taken away and extra chores added on. Since they missed breakfast, and got up so close to lunch time, they had to fix their own meals. Did you hear the arguing and moaning? I don't know what to do to get the boys up earlier. Not much works. Bryan is wanting to spend time with his friends next week before we go off to Grandpa's on Wednesday. He has school scheduled Monday and Tuesday, but his friends are out all week. Friend time is not going to happen.

As for our Feingold/ADHD diet, the boys are keeping a "food diary" but so far it is not showing what infractions might be causing a breakdown in civility. I think it is just plain, old-fashioned rebellion. Sin. Disobedience. Near anarchy.

M.O.T.H. Update--The Rebellion

(Managers of Their Homes) Well, the schedule is not going as planned. I am pretty sure it's my fault, and I'm working to correct that. We have spent the last 10 years of schooling flying by the seat of our pants as far as a schedule goes (flying by the seats of our pants? not sure if that is plural or not; Mom, let me know). It was easier to do with just 2 kids. It was easier when we didn't have a high-schooler, because now everything counts more.

So now we are learning to work with a schedule. Getting up earlier is hard for all of us. Luci is the only one who is getting up at her usual time; I am getting up earlier for Bible reading and a cup of coffee in peace. The boys now have alarm clocks that go off at 7 am and I hear the clocks through their whole alarm cycle--I am hoping the boys will learn to hear and respond nicely to the sound.

The idea of a schedule is a very good one, and so far I think it is a good schedule that is up on our cabinets. The boys both fight it (and try to argue with me) about everything on it until they have finished their particular chores and lessons for the day, then they are as sweet as pie and play nicely with each other (a minor miracle!). We have even gotten to do a science experiment, much to JT's delight (our science experiments this year come from a book, Science Experiments You Can Eat by Vicki Cobb and David Cain, so you can imagine that they are fun).

We are also reclaiming supper time two nights a week by moving Tang Soo Do (karate at the YMCA) to mornings again. We moved it to the evenings because we were missing out on too much learning time for Bryan's high school studies. That is all scheduled in now, so he's actually having more time for study even though we are using up 2 mornings at the Y. He did not study well on his own when we went to the Y--there are more exciting things to do, like sleep. So now he goes with us and things are scheduled better. I really hated that we were missing suppers together as a family because of two nights with karate and one with soccer each week. This way, we have only one night where we are not really eating together because of soccer practice.

Sorry this is so boring for most of you--there are a couple of homeschoolers who are following our trial with M.O.T.H. to see how it might help with them.

M.O.T.H. Update

M.O.T.H. stands for Mangers of Their Homes, the book I've been reading. It took a while, but I finally got a schedule figured out for us.

The book comes with a lot of scheduling how-tos and encouragement. Good thing, because it is quite a daunting task. I am happy that we only have three kids to schedule. There is room on this chart for seven kids! One column is for Mom. I ended up using the extra columns to line out what we do on Mondays and Wednesdays (JT's karate at YMCA, which makes those days completely different from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm). So those extra columns are handy.

Everyone has a different color--that makes it easy to see what you are supposed to be doing now and what's up next. Very handy when there are chores to be done, and school work to do, and Mom doesn't have to constantly remind or fuss. The kids liked what they saw--JT is thrilled to have Bryan to play with for 30 minutes every day and Bryan is relieved JT has a limit on his time. Both boys liked that they each have a 15 minute time for teaching games with Luci. Luci even got tickled that her columns are pink (so she's tickled pink?).

Bryan commented, "Wow, it's like a Rubik's cube." When my column says, "shower," Bryan's says, "watch Luci so Mom can take a shower, JT's says, "computer time" and Luci's says, "Play with Bryan so Mommy can shower." Everything meshes. As for me, I am thrilled to bits that every single day I will get to shower! (Hey, is that the neighbors I hear cheering?!)

Right now the charts are huge and the pieces are stuck on with sticky-tac. That's so we can see it well and move things around as needed to make the schedule serve us, not us serve the schedule. When we decide we like how it's going (or rather, when I decide it's working well--the boys are sure to balk at chores and lessons!), I can put in on a Word spreadsheet, colors and everything, and print off a copy for each of us. Then, next year, it will be a matter of cutting and pasting on the computer to tweak it for the new set of classes.

These two charts cover 2/3 of the day--there is another cabinet door with the last 1/3, and another with lists of daily and weekly chores for the kids and myself (yes, even Luci has chores to do). I didn't schedule John except for playing with Luci and doing her bath time. He has been warned, however, that when he retires in a couple of years, that he will get his own color and column on the chart--when he's home we don't get much done school-wise: the kids think Daddy being home is a grand excuse for playing. Just wait, kids...Dad's going to be scheduled to teach all the higher maths! I'll have my revenge yet...and I'm not telling if it's the boys or John I'm paying back. :)

Cool. Just did spell-check, and no errors! I hope the grammar was correct, it won't account for that.