Schedules, Schedules, Schedules

It’s that time of year. Facebook and blogs and Yahoo groups and forums are full of people’s schedules. I used to write mine up in great detail on Excel — talk about Throwback Thursday (even though it’s Saturday!)

Here two of my schedules from the past:

Best laid plans of yesteryear

And what about now? How do I home-educate four children between the ages of 8 and 15? Well, now my schedule looks like this:

My plan for this year

How have I gone from ticky-boxy to book-stacky? Basically, three things have changed in the past two years:

• I have fully embraced the idea that homeschooling is as much as about a relationship among the family as it is about a relationship with our studies, and therefore, I’m committed to teaching the kids together as much as possible.

Homeschooling is so much more than just studies

• I have fully embraced the idea that recording what we’ve done is as successful an approach as planning what we will do: more so, in fact, because the stresses of “falling behind” are gone entirely, and the joys of “capturing the moment” are here to stay.

Recording what you've done is less
stressful than planning what you might do

• I have fully embraced the stage of the children’s lives that they can both work together, and work independently; this means that we study together in the morning, and the afternoons are free for play/handicrafts/Spanish/music lessons/hobbies, or further studies for the older two.

Afternoons are free for hobbies

Sometimes, my friends accuse me of being very off-hand with my approach, as though it’s as easy as falling off a log. I think I give this impression because I’ve been homeschooling for twelve years now. With time (and children’s maturity), one tends to grow into their individual rhythm.

However, if you want to embrace an all-together policy of home-education as I have, then it's possible for you to start now. Here are some suggestions.

First, following a flexible educational philosophy like the Charlotte Mason method. Sometimes, her method is made to seem overly complicated if you look at various websites. The hoops to jump through are made to seem overwhelming, as though each child has to have his or her own complete curriculum, and therefore, you have to spend your entire day in leaping from one child to another to support their studies.

To me, that’s the way to madness.

This is what madness looks like

Look — what they tell you is that their way is a CM curriculum, and I say to you that my way is a CM curriculum.  In fact, both ways — all ways of homeschooling — are curricula, because the definition of curricula is those subjects which you study. If you happen to study the lyrics of Janis Joplin songs 24/7, then that’s your curriculum. It doesn't have to be someone else's pre-set way of educating your children.

It’s a bit like saying you’re on a diet. Everyone is on a diet. Diet is what you eat. Some people are on a low-fat diet, or a low-protein diet, or a low-Starbucks’-vanilla-latte diet, but a diet is just describing that which you eat. Period.

That's the English Cream Tea diet

So my curriculum is the collection of subjects that we’ve chosen to study, and we do so by using the Charlotte Mason method.

Charlotte Mason, by the way, was a Victorian teacher whose forward-thinking ideas about education continue to be ground-breaking when it comes to churning out thinkers instead of hoop-jumpers. (She would have abhorred today’s focus on teaching to an exam rather than igniting interest in a subject)

In short, the CM method is characterised by:

• short lessons
• use of living books as opposed to dry textbooks
• employing narration, dictation, and copywork for Language Arts skills
• nature study
• art- and music-appreciation
• free afternoons to work on handicrafts, outdoor pursuits, or other personal interests

Our CM-inspired timetable consists of reading really good books for about 20 minutes each, sometimes getting to six or seven of them in a morning. We rotate through about twenty books at a time, and generally they have a similar theme. 

This autumn, we’re focusing on North America at the time of the early explorers, including the indigenous peoples who already lived there. Our science is botany with a focus on trees. We use Life of Fred for secondary school, and a mixture of Singapore and Shillermath for primary. We’ll also dabble in artist study, composer study, quantum theory, Shakespeare, US politics and economics, character study, and of course, biblical history and Christian faith.

We’ll work our way through this whole stack of books in the year, supplementing with great documentaries like Crash Course, local workshops, trips to museums, concerts, plays, and even creating a lapbook or two.

Most of these supplemental activities are reserved for Fridays, because we only “school” four days a week (see my blog post about the importance of Free-Day Fridays for us).

Free-day Fridays are just plain fun!

I realise this has been a really long blog post — probably the longest I have ever written — but I wanted you to know that it’s possible to combine your kids for a great learning experience. If you have babies or toddlers, you will be a few years away from this luxury (I used to employ a lot of Montessori-type activities to keep the toddlers busy: Tot Trays is a great website for ideas), but start getting everyone into a routine of learning together in the mornings, and it won’t be long before your youngsters are right in the thick of it, discussing which Canterbury Tales is their favorite, or arguing whether light is a particle or a wave, or saying they're sad because we'll only be in the penumbra and not the umbra of the solar eclipse. 

Honestly, with a diet of great books and great thoughts, stuff like this really happens!

A Look at Free-Day Friday

At the beginning of the year, I made a mistake. I told my kids we wouldn't school on Friday.

Hooray! No school on Fridays!

There was method in my madness -- the year before, Fridays had been Busy Timmy's day to have private swimming lessons, and by the time we all trooped back home, it was about 11, and shortly thereafter, we would all head off to the afternoon youth group I run.

Busy Timmy gets ready to collect
children from the local school
to come to the youth club

Needless to say, that doesn't leave a lot of time for study.

No time for Life of Fred
on a Friday, I'm afraid.

It's true that, over the years, I've come to the conclusion that it's actually a good idea to carve out a day where you can a) have social calls from other home-ed people, b) invite newbies over for a chat, c) schedule workshops without disrupting the other school days, and d) catch up with chores, laundry, and housework.

So, why am I now re-thinking my announcement of a free-day Friday? Because Busy Timmy's swimming lessons got changed to Thursdays, and my lovely plans for afternoon reading with one child at a time got scuppered when I moved my Dreaming Spires classes to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays ... our long-standing Monday afternoon play-date ... music lessons ... Wednesday afternoon youth-group leaders' meetings ... thus, afternoon school has just disappeared from our schedule entirely, which was never part of my original plan.

The temptation is to renege on my original announcement about Friday, and reinstate it as a normal school day in our home -- that is, chores before 10, then Blocks 1 to 3 until lunch. Yet, I have discovered recently that Friday is not a dead loss after all, and for two reasons:

First, we are actually covering a lot of ground in our studies during the rest of the week, even though we only sit at our school-room table on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings. The two older ones have additional work for the Dreaming Spires classes which they do in their own time, and Thursdays is a Bible study/literature co-op with another family in a town about 14 miles away.

Do we really need to give up our Friday free-day if this is the case?

Oh, no! Say it isn't so!!!

The second reason is that Friday can actually be a really lovely time to spend some low-key one-on-one time with each child. With one of them, I'll read a book (I love reading "Money Mystery" with Phoenix). With another, we'll play a card game like Zeus on the Loose (sneaky way of strengthening maths!). Another one wants to show me his video animation, and the fourth wants to do food technology.

Rocky's taste test:
carton orange juice, or fresh-squeezed?

Meanwhile, they're each having a session of Spanish with the au pair.

Phoenix (aka Ellie Firestone on Amazon)
 gets translation help with her short stories

So Friday is not lost after all. It's just a different route to the same destiny, and that is trying to create an atmosphere of learning in our household a la Charlotte Mason. So we'll keep free-day Friday, and all will be glad!

"Awesome!"

Time To Start A New Year 2013

I'm finally out of summertime holiday mode, and back into school preparation.  I've just about managed to put away all the camping gear, newly washed clothes, and seventeen packets of cup-o-soup, but now I have to tackle THE SCHOOL ROOM.

Out go all the books about medieval history, and in come those about the Renaissance.

Out go the papers, books, scrap books, and exercise books from our work last year, and in come the new folders, binders, composition books, pens, paper, glue, scissors, and boxes of crayons.

What a mess in the meantime!

Out with the old, in with the New

But wait?  What's this?  You mean, things aren't as chaotic as they first seem?

Guess who's got a new label maker?

My hope is that more books on display in neat categories might encourage more browsing . Still not sure what I'll put in the drawers at the bottom.  These used to have activities and crafts, most of which the kids have outgrown.  They might be a perfect place for the art supplies that currently live in the utility room, but I sure hope they don't encourage Rocky to paint on the carpet again!

Meanwhile, here is a very exciting book shelf:

CM Live Middle Ages Core Texts

These are the core texts for the CM Live Middle Ages course which I teach, and which Killer is going to take this year. I'm very proud of him.  Most students don't read these books till they're in college, and Killer is only 10! (I may have to carve out time to read them with him, though)

Finally, tidying up got delayed when I was inspired to work on our daily schedules.  About three hours later, I had finished the first draft of Phoenix's schedule: 

A Year 8 Schedule based on Ambleside Online

Phoenix is my eldest, and a natural scholar. Her brothers and sister will have shorter schedules than this, though they will be almost identical up until lunchtime. 

This one is heavy on the humanities, especially geography, because that's Phoenix's personal forte. I printed it out, but haven't edited it -- so, who knows if all the timings add up!

Roll on September 9th, when we officially start.

What about chores?

Chores, chores, chores! They gotta be done, but how do you go about it -- especially when the kids are home 24/7, and you've got more than a full-time job trying to run a household and teaching your family (not to mention the other balls you're trying to juggle in the air, whatever they may be)?

Everybody needs to pitch in!

Over the years, I have read books like Managers of their Homes, and more recently, Homeschooling at the Speed of Life* which are very good about scheduling, but I usually find -- as I'm sure most of us do -- that one person's plan for organising the household isn't always exactly right for my family.

So, right now, I do two things with my four kids.  I give them regular, almost-daily chores, and I give them a Monday job, a Tuesday job, etc.  

We call these once-a-week jobs "fish jobs" because I once saw an episode of Supernanny where she had the children use magnets and string as fishing poles to catch magnetic little fish with chores written on the back.  

We, too, once fished for our jobs, but because my kids like routine -- and I like practice till perfection! -- we never fished for the jobs again and just kept to them until they were outgrown and passed down to younger siblings.

My older two -- who are 12 and 10 -- receive salary for these chores.  My younger ones -- who are 7 and 5 -- have chore charts.  They put their stickers on when they complete their chores, and they get paid 5p each, with an opportunity to win a morning at the coffee shop with Mommy if they ever do all their jobs for four days of the week.  (This has NEVER happened up till now).

Busy Timmy's Chore Chart

If you want some good ideas about which chores are age appropriate, you can just Google "age appropriate chores".  Here is a link to one version by Focus on the Family.

Sometimes, having a chart is a good way for ME to keep honest about what jobs need doing.  For example, I'm not very good at making my kids practise their instruments, even though I should be very strict about this.  Having the instruments on their list makes them become responsible for themselves -- they see it, know it needs to be done, get on with it, put on the sticker, etc. 

We're all happy, then!

Putting violin practice onto Rocky's chart
helps her remember to do it
(it's also in her school schedule for a double reminder
because she can be forgetful ...
usually on purpose!!!)

I have been on many forums where a discussion ensues regarding whether or not to pay children at all for their chores. I think I got convinced about paying children from Dr Dobson's New Dare to Discipline book, which basically said we, as adults, are almost always able to discover reward in whatever we do, money-wise or not.  I mean, I really, really hate to do the dishes, but I know there are myriad good reasons for doing them. 

Children, too, deserve to see the reward in what they do, but they probably aren't yet mature enough for seeing rewards in a job well done, like we are, unless there is tangible and short-term evidence for it.  Money is one option.  I have also used pocket-money toys in the past, where they could trade a certain number of stickers for a yo-yo or something similar, but the toys were so cheap and made such stupid clutter, I decided I'd rather give them money.

In the end, I would rather pay my children for doing their jobs than give them pocket-money for nothing.  They are learning about saving, spending, and giving; they are learning how working hard achieves more reward. 

Best of all, I can see them all starting to pitch into household success without always needing to be paid -- helping out in areas which aren't on their chore charts or their lists -- and I guess that's what I'm ultimately after.

Making lunch has its own rewards!

*I haven't finished this book yet, but so far, I like its practical, down-to-earth approach.

How to Homeschool 4 Children at the Same Time, Part 2

My previous post was about the morning schedule I've devised in order to juggle the homeschooling of my four children, aged 12 to 5.

Now I'm going to look at some afternoon schedules.  One thing to notice is that I have more time with my Year 7 Ambleside Online student, that I've scheduled in some free time for the younger ones, and that we have instituted a new 4 o'clock tea-time session, where we share a pot of hot tea, some cookies, and a low-key learning experience like music appreciation or picture study.

All this is based on the Charlotte Mason method of education, and one which suits my humanities background really well.

First, let me show you the afternoon schedule for my Year 7 student.

Afternoon Schedule for Phoenix
(Ambleside Online Year 7)

One-on-One with Eldest Child

You will see that, after lunch and violin practice (and some chores which I haven't indicated), I spend some time reading with her.  She is someone who has always relished the chance to sit with me and listen to my reading aloud to her, audible learner that she is, so I tried to maintain this connection with her.  It's a lovely time to discuss things that aren't relevant to her younger siblings, which may include issues like whether I believe in Arianism or Athanasius' teachings (a topic that arose from the "Saints and Heroes" reading), or more personal issues like the coming of puberty and what she can expect as she gets older and her body changes (a discussion that came out of studying population control in Singapore).

Any chance to carve out some personal time for the eldest child is a real bonus in a too-busy homeschooling family.

Block 5: CM Live

You may also notice that, after our time together, she has another block on her own, doing something labeled "CM Live".  This is my newest venture into on-line tutoring, or as I like to call it, on-line co-operatives for homeschoolers.

I won't spend too much time on it, but basically, there seemed to be a call amongst AO Yr 7 students to get together to discuss their difficult literary selections like Beowulf and Chaucer and the like, yet to circumvent the issue that they live great distances from their peers.  Thus was born "CM Live".

Have a look to see if it's something for you and your children in the future.  You can be assured that your child is part of an on-line homeschooling community that's safe, stimulating, and scholarly because I'm a teacher who has taught to university-level in the past.  

Phoenix has three sessions in a week to work on CM Live because it involves reading a primary text, two secondary texts, an optional novel, and writing some narrations in the on-line environment, as well as keeping in touch socially with the other 18 students in her class. It's amazing to be able to interact with people all over the world, and though she's in England, she's making fast friends in Texas, Alabama, Massachusetts, and even Germany.

Block 6: Tea-Time Slot

Finally, she finishes her school day with the family-friendly wind-down time of hot tea and cookies, and painting flowers or listening to music or studying a Renoir painting.  Something together, and low-key.  The kids are enjoying this so much that they are keen to boil the kettle, pour the tea, set out the cups and milk and biscuits.  I can see they have really taken a liking to the routine, and are missing it the days when we cannot attend because something else has interrupted it, no matter how cool a field trip, or how special the friendship of someone who drops by.

Child Number 2

Now here's a glance at my second child's afternoon schedule:

Killer's afternoon schedule,
(approximately AO Yr 5)

Unlike Phoenix, Killer has only a half-hour slot with Mom in the afternoon, to read a variety of rock-solid medieval-based stories to go along with our history focus on Our Island Story.

Children number 3 and 4

Finally, the afternoon schedule of the youngest two.  Currently, I'm reading "Seabiscuit" to them after lunch, and then they are free to do as they like (whether it be their daily ration of computer games, playing outside, filming themselves on the camcorder, making good use of their toys, or whatever else they may choose -- today it was trying to shoot bubbles with the hose-gun, resulting in the sudden need for a hot bath).

Rocky and Timmy's afternoon schedule
(Ambleside Online Yr 2)

Again, you can see we finish the school day with our Block 6, Tea Time.

Free Reading

The last thing I'll say is that each student has a list of free reading to choose from.  For the younger two, that means books I read to them after lunch.  I haven't yet made the transition to reading on their own yet, though I'm sure that will be coming this year some time, particularly in the case of Rocky who's nearly 8.

The schedules aren't rigidly adhered to, but a useful guide, and just by using them over the past two weeks or so, I have noticed a vigorous attention to purpose, and a satisfaction that comes with being productive in our studies.

Phoenix was nearly in tears on Day One when she saw these multi-coloured charts, but within a day or two, she was singing their praises.

"I like the feeling that I'm getting so much done," she said. "And it's fun."

High praise indeed!

How I Homeschool 4 Children at the same time, Part 1

We have come back to our school this week and are trying out our new-and-improved schedule based on Ambleside Online.

My eldest is tackling Year 7.

My younger ones are doing versions of Year 2, with my 9-year-old boy wanting to have the Year 5 reading list.

I say "whatever".  AO is a tool and not a prescription, so I've always juggled things to make it work for me (being ever-so-grateful that the Advisory has offered this foundation from which I can build).

First, I'm looking in this post about my basic building-block, the three segments to our morning school time.

You will notice I have only a 4-day schedule.  We meet every-other week with a group families for a history co-op, and we have morning swimming one day a week, so Mondays and Fridays have to blend into each other to form a single day.  Having a 4-day schedule also lets me do things like skip a whole day for an amazing homeschoolers' discount at Legoland, or go on amazing field trips to places like Stonehenge or St Albans cathedral.

Basically, I build in margin because I know I need it!

You will see from the schedule below that Blocks 1 and 2 are pretty much the same for all of them.  Block 3, the individual work varies to allow me to work with children in turn.

Here is the the basic schedule with Block 3 showing what my Yr 7 does:

General schedule for all four kids, plus Block 3 work for Year 7

Compare the Block 3 above with my 9-year-old's Block 3 in this one:

Block 3 work for Yr 4-ish

Just for comparison's sake, here is the morning 3 blocks for "Busy Timmy", my 5-year-old. Note that his Block 2 also includes piano practice, since his math should take a shorter time.  Also, he is finished with his school day once the foreign language is finished in Block 3 for the morning (I will blog later about what he does in the afternoon).

Blocks 2 and 3 for Kindergarten

In my next post, I will show you what I do for the afternoons.

Do I follow my own schedules exactly?  Well, I try to.  They work really nicely when everything goes to plan, but there will be times where we have to miss, alter, ignore, or other such things. Or, times when one of the kids gets so excited about one of their books that they stay up all night to finish it on the first day, and then I have to come up with a new title for that slot.

(I love it when that happens, by the way!)

Charlotte Mason famously wrote that education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.  I think by grouping the kids together sometimes, having them do individual work at others, and having a schedule to keep us all on track (and start fostering independence), this is one way that our family manages to live out this learning credo.

Planning for the New Academic Year

Some people love Christmas.  Some people love Spring.  I love the weeks just before the new school year, when I call up my spreadsheets and download all my book lists and sort out the schedule for the kids.

I'm nearing completion on Phoenix's weekly schedule.  Hers is the most complicated because she is going to start Ambleside Online for Year 7.  It looks pretty challenging, but the best fit to go along with our fortnightly history co-op that's studying Our Island Story.

Yr 7 is great for this because it looks at the Middle Ages in greater depth than Our Island Story, so she'll be reading books by Churchill about the Birth of Britain, selections from the Venerable Bede, and lots of mediaeval literature, amongst many, many others.

She's even got readings from Charlotte Mason herself: character study in Ms Mason's book "Ourselves".

Exciting, therefore, that the new CM Live! on-line co-op class is going to allow her to discuss these challenging works with her global peers.

Why not have a look at the on-line co-op for your own pre-teen?

One of the things I've been contemplating this year is Phoenix's copywork selections.  Do I carry on with the Yr 7 selections as provided by former Yr 7 mums, a collection of sayings and paragraphs adding up to 129 pages?

Or do I take a leaf out of my own book (see earlier blog post about Killer's copywork) when it comes to encouraging quality of quantity?

Truth be told, Phoenix's handwriting is fluid but messy. She has been trained in the Getty-Dubay italic hand (a choice made because it seems more universal than the various cursive options), but penmanship is leaning toward poor.

Ages ago, I bought Penny Gardner's little book about Italic Handwriting.  She has since put out another edition, and it seems like her additions to the original are downloadable for free on her website.

Within this supplement are, I think, selections to practice, and so Plan A this year is for Phoenix to tackle these quotations in a methodical and exacting way with the aim of improving her penmanship.

I feel another "before" and "after" post, so watch this space as things progress.

Planning and Preparing for Back-to-School

To me, the run-up to a new school-year is one of the most fun times in the life of a homeschooling mom.  All the great, optimistic plans, the excuses to buy new notebooks and pens and books, the joy of clearing out last year's stuff to make way for the new.

Yet, it can also be a stressful and difficult time.  For one thing, if you're anything like me, you've just had a fantastically relaxed summer vacation.  I've just returned from two months in my home state of Texas, where -- ok -- we were setting record temperatures over 105 and it never rained, but having lived twenty years in England, there's something glorious in having the sun on-tap whenever you want to brave the scorching weather for a half-hour or so.

Soaking up the sun in the sand.

Now it's back to dreary, chilly reality, an empty calendar looming in front of me, and lesson plans to arrange for four children who range in age from 11 to 4, and a house to de-clutter after the exodus at the end of last term.

Factor into that the vacation-thing: piles of laundry and new books and toys and swimgear, all gathered over the past two months when the children seemed to decide that sunshine was some kind of growth hormone, and they all shot up about an inch, which meant new clothes and shoes as well.

Unusual picture of me among the clutter
(unusual that it's me, not that there's clutter!)

So to help us all -- new homeschoolers as well as veterans, since every year is a new challenge -- I've come up with a handy little acronym to help you get everything ready in under a week's time.

R-A-D-A-R-S

You can either think of it in terms of having a RADAR device that locates everything that's coming your way, or you can think of that character in MASH who always seemed to be able to know what was coming ahead of time and so anticipated his commanding officer's needs.

This is your RADAR for the coming year:

• R) Remind yourself why you're homeschooling.  I think it's important every year to recall your purposes and motivations, because there are times (and we all have them!!!) when you just can't think of who thought homeschooling was a good idea.
• A) Avoid over-buying curriculum and supplies.  The flush of having a whole year's worth of stuff is so exciting, until the credit card bill comes.  Spread out your costs if possible (for example, some curricula, like ShillerMath, might offer payment plans -- if there's no penalty for doing it, then it's not a bad solution).  Better yet, look into free options like AmblesideOnline.
• D) De-clutter.  I can't tell you how important this is for starting your year, since you'll invariably clutter back up during the year.  I'm going through a phase right now of having a very critical look at the books on my bookshelves, choosing only those "living books" that don't "undermine the child's integrity".  In other words, that doesn't dumb-down the reading experience.  I can't believe how many annuals of Teletubbies, Thomas the Tank Engine, and My Little Pony I had accumulated, and now they're going down to the charity shop.
• A) Adapt any curricula or programme so that your input is minimized, particularly in terms of combining  children or even your whole family together for some things. I know with some boxed options, this will be hard, but there is only one you, and that makes it really important to protect yourself from burn-out. Otherwise, it affects not just the homeschooling, but the home itself.
• R) Routine, not schedule.  I think of schedules as rigid, whereas routines are more flowing.  Instead of using a time frame like "10:00-10:30 Science", I just aim to do science after we've done our history reading, which should be around 10 or so.  An example of routine in a timetable can be found at Simply Charlotte Mason. Just note: at first, they looked overwhelming to me, and then I realised that -- true to the Charlotte Mason method -- the number of different subjects were being covered in only about 10 or 15 minutes each.  This is so children can concentrate for a long stretch of time (between 2 and 4 hours, depending on the age), but not have to focus too long on any one thing and so get tired and cranky.   You can, for example, mix in some silly dancing, or PE, or computer time, or music practice so children, especially boys, can move between desk work and something that uses a different part of the brain and perhaps is more geared toward gross motor skills.
• S) Stay simple, and stay sentered ... yeah, yeah. I stretched that one.  Again, though, it's a matter of protecting yourself.  There's such a tendency to overcommit to lots of outside clubs and sports, seemingly overcompensating for your children's social opportunities at home (though children who are at school are also dangerously overcommitted, and they haven't got that excuse!).  Keep it simple, because actually there's a huge bonus for children to be left alone sometimes to make up their own entertainment.  And keeping it "sentered"?   That's getting yourself a break from it all, a time when your kids are doing something on their own and leaving Mommy to have some Quiet Time.  It may be to pray or meditate, read a novel, have a cup of tea or coffee, soak in the tub, potter in the garden, or whatever is your method of choice to relax.  But honestly, do it every day.  Every day.

A good book about simplifying, not exactly about homeschooling is Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids.  Maybe pick up a copy and read it in your Quiet Time!

So fix your eyes on your RADARS in these last few days before you leap into your homeschooling again, and hopefully, you'll be able to see all those things that lie ahead of you. 

Remember: forewarned is forearmed.

One Kind of Daily Schedule

I have been home-educating my children for over seven years now, and though I have dabbled in various curricula from unit study to biblically based, they all have one general thing in common: a sympathy to the methods espoused by Charlotte Mason over a hundred years ago.

If you want to know more about the Charlotte Mason method, you can Google the name, or start off with this website.

In the meantime, I thought I would share with you the kind of schedule that my son, Killer, has responded to so well over the past year.

I have made it myself using the "table" function in Word, printing it out, and then laminating it.  That way, he can use a water soluble pen to mark through his work every day, then wipe it all off for the next day, to start over again.

To reproduce it here, I had to save it as a JPEG in "Paint", so it's got a bit garbled in translation.  I think you can get the gist of it, though.

Having a Heart-to-Heart (on the way to Ikea)

I had the privilege of driving with my son to Ikea the other night in order to return a damaged item.  It's a two-hour round trip, and gave us some valuable one-on-one time.


On the way, I thought I'd ask him how life was going.  He's only 7, so I'm not sure how much detail I was expecting.


Nevertheless, he opened up to me.  "I just wish I did my work better."


Mommy-probe got into high gear: what do you mean by work? work, as in chores at home? work, as in homeschooling?  And when you say you want to do it better, do you want a schedule?  Something written out?


He was pretty quiet after that, so I gave him the low-down of what our homeschool schedule was going to be like this year: the Bible study, the history, the map skills and math and art.


"And you'll have a project this year.  Something for history, when we're studying World War One."


"I could do something with poetry," he said.  "Like make computer stick people do the actions."


Brilliant!  He's reading poetry, and it's about his history topic, and he's combining it with his love for animation and computing.


So in my mind I've established his long-term goals and schedule till Christmas, and my intuition is to leave him to get on with it.  


Oh, no, no, no!  Not boys!  You see, it's been tried in Norway for years, this idea of setting a work plan for individual students and them letting them get on with it, but they've discovered that boys are falling further behind the girls when they employ this strategy. 

The study makes the following generalizations: boys don't do well with self-regulation and taking responsibility for their own planning: instead, they like when a teacher sets clear learning objectives, short-term tasks, and tightly timed activities with clear targets.  Boys want immediate feedback, tend not to collaborate or discuss, and often put things off till the last minute.

Boys like immediate feedback

Of course, these may not be true for all boys, but in my struggles to get "Killer" peaceful in his school work and productive, they may not be far wrong.


Now it's not exactly back to the drawing board -- more like, back over to the computer to watch "Killer" make his stick figure animations and continue to encourage him in his poetry project.


This could be really good.  I must tell him so, often.