How I Changed our Plans After Baby

Every year I try to plan a reasonable schedule. I try to take into account my energy, my children's individual abilities for working independently, and how toddlers and babies are going to affect the rhythm of our days. So far, I've been able to make reasonable plans for 1 student, 2 students, 2 students and a baby and a preschooler, and 2 students plus a kindergartner and a toddler. 

But this year, with 3 students a 2-year-old toddler and a new baby, my carefully laid plans did not work!

Oh well. After 3 intense days, I saw the writing on the wall and our 2-week old baby took an awesome evening nap which gave me just enough time to hammer out a new schedule. After a few more tweaks, I found a way to get most (but not all) of the things accomplished each day and week. Here's how (even though, full disclosure that we aren't actually getting to the art or handicrafts as scheduled! We'll get there eventually.):

Why didn't my first schedule work?

It all comes down to my own lack of imagination. I just completely failed to appreciate just how much my third grader and first grader would need my attention to do their best work. And I didn't realize how hard it would be to try to split my attention between 2 kids and juggle the interruptions of an independently working fifth-grader plus 2-year-old Harry and baby George. 

So now my day takes MUCH longer to accomplish because I am splitting my time into different blocks spent with each child individually. But I'm able to enjoy the time spent with each child instead of falling apart from constant interruptions or realizing that a child has been daydreaming instead of working for the last 10 minutes ;-) And I can see that everyone is thriving instead of floundering. Oh, and I'm a lot more patient and resilient instead of irritable and cross.

Some other takeaways from our first 5 weeks of homeschooling

Peter was totally ready to manage his own checklist and work independently. Most mornings he gets up before I do and starts working so he can be the first one done. At first, I expected him to grab my attention for spelling, which was frustrating for both of us. But now I have scheduled it into my day so that we both have a set time to do it that works for us. He narrates to me using the voxer note to self feature and that is also working great.

It is hard having a new student who needs to get used to the schedule, the subjects, and the expectations. Sylvia just turned 6 so she is a very young 1st-grader and she is a very different student from Peter who started first grade reading fluently and doing lots of math but not writing very much and John who really struggled with reading but felt very comfortable with math and tolerated handwriting.  Sylvia does not know how to add yet, but she is picking up reading quickly and she writes fairly well. 

Speaking of reading, John has been making great progress. He is finally able to pick up books and read them!  Explode the Code online as well as these Primary Phonics readers have been big helpers recently. To solidify everyone's reading ability we've been having a read aloud challenge where the kids are reading aloud to someone 10 minutes a day. 

Half the battle in our homeschool is teaching everyone how to deal with frustration and what types of complaints and behaviors are not acceptable. I'm pretty tolerant of emotions . . . but that doesn't mean I can handle dramatic outbursts on a daily basis. This is easier for some than others. It took a few weeks, but everyone is doing better at completing schoolwork without hostility. If only sibling conflict would disappear during school time. That would be nice ;-)

And finally . . . I am so glad I planned to start homeschooling this year with a break week after 5 weeks of homeschooling. Right now is our break week and besides finding time for a dentist appointment and a couple of park visits, I've been using the time to take care of myself, take care of the house, and do some food preservation and bread baking. I'll make a big grocery run this weekend and hopefully be well-rested and patient when we begin our next 5 weeks of homeschooling.

I hope your homeschool year is off to a great start!