Homeschool and Working Parent's Schedule

THESE ARE THE SCHEDULES WE'VE HAD

for each phase of our homeschool

Working and homeschooling means being flexible, fluid and patient with your schedule. Here are some examples of the schedule we had.

Our Elementary School Schedule

This is one of our many schedules. As working and homeschooling parents, the schedule is every changing, but this is the typical one.

This is the schedule that is focused just on the kids and who they are interacting with at the time of day.

Tools: Workbox Method, Online Curriculum with Teachers or Interactive, use of a NANNY or TUTOR

9am-10am - Kids Do one Subject with Dad

10am-11am - Kids work with Tutor/Nanny

11am-12pm - Kids take break for lunch games, Talk to mom on phone

12pm - 1pm - Kids Do one/two Subject independent

1pm-1:30pm - Break for snack

1:30-2:30pm - Kids work with Tutor/Nanny

2:30pm-3pm - Kids clean up

3pm-4pm - Mom reviews work from the day

5-pm-6pm - Kids get ready for sport/recreation activity and eat

6pm-7:30pm - sport/recreation activity [OR] continue working through subjects

7:30pm-8pm - Dinner with Dad and Mom

DAYS of INSTRUCTION was Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday

Our Middle School Schedule

Middle school the kids had a more vigorous schedule and used DVD based learning, online learning and in some cases a private tutor for topics like Writing, Technology, and Math.

Tools: Workbox Method, Online Curriculum with Teachers or Interactive, BLOCK SCHEDULE

8am-9am - Kids Do WorkBook Drills Independent with Dad Available

9am-10am - Kids Do one Subject Independent with Dad Available

10am-11am - Kids work with Tutor/Nanny

11am-12pm - Kids take break for lunch games, Talk to mom on phone

12pm - 1pm - Kids Do one/two Subject Independently

1pm-1:30pm - Break for snack

1:30-2:30pm - Kids work with Tutor/Nanny 

2:30pm-3pm - Kids clean up

3pm-4pm - Mom reviews work from the day

5-pm-6pm - Kids get ready for sport/recreation activity and eat

6pm-7:30pm - sport/recreation activity [OR] continue working through subjects

7:30pm-8pm - Dinner with Dad and Mom

9pm-10pm - Kids Finish Up work planned with Mom's help

DAYS of INSTRUCTION was Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

High School Schedule

High school the kids had have a very vigorous schedule and do most all work independently and only get tutoring on topics and areas they can't teach and reinforce with internet searches, reading, research or parents can't help with.

Tools: Online Curriculum with Teachers or Interactive, BLOCK SCHEDULE

10am-11am - Kids finish playing video games, or just wake up

11am-12pm - Kids get video call from mom check-in

12pm - 2:30pm - Kids Do one/two Subject Independently

2:30pm-3pm - Mom calls-Kids clean up

3pm-4pm - Mom reviews work from the day

5-pm-6pm - Kids get ready for sport/recreation activity and eat

6pm-7:30pm - sport/recreation activity [OR] continue working through subjects

7:30pm-8pm - Dinner with Dad and Mom

9pm-11pm - Kids Finish Up work planned Mom Reviews Task and Work Finished

DAYS of INSTRUCTION was Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Other days kids did their work completely independently with the deadline Friday

GET THE FREE COURSE

THE FREE COURSE

HOP ALONG TO THE OTHER

BLOG HOP

AUTHORS

I'm Writing a Working and Homeschooling Book

Yes, It's True!
Since no one has written the book I desired on Working and Homeschooling, I'm just going to write it myself.

Putting everything and the kitchen sink in ...

This book has been on my heart for a long time. I'm an author as well as an engineer, working mom and wife. I know, that's a lot, but all of those roles I passionately love and give my all to them when I am able.

I've written many books and published in fiction. Those books have made it to various Best Seller lists. That's my other life. This blog was personal, a diary for my kids of the adventure we journeyed together.

They've asked me to write a book on how I accomplished this, walked a road with them that impacted their lives and yet juggled all the other parts of me.

I smiled and said, not until I'm finish raising you all and I know what I did actually worked.

I'm almost finished the first draft. Can't believe it.

If you want to peek at my other non-fiction book, hop over to my website www.empoweredsteps.com
but if you are on the adventurous side, and want to read some of my fiction books, visit www.lmpreston.com

Let me know in the comments any questions you'd like answered in my Working and Homeschooling book.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I'll be back to regularly scheduled programming in a few weeks when my son finishes this semester. We are struggling through this one.

Discipline for Homeschool vs Every Day Life

Separating Types of Discipline in Your Homeschool and Your Everyday Life for your kid

There are many times my frustration with my kids had to do with their time management regarding homeschool work, their schedule, their motivation for their work or the quality of their work.

Problem is, PARENTING and HOMESCHOOL TEACHER roles are RATHER DIFFERENT and it BENEFITS US TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

HOMESCHOOLING DISCIPLINE

In our homeschool, dad and mom are the teachers and administrators. We have to decide the boundaries, the behaviors we want our kids to have when addressing learning.

IT CHANGES OVER THE YEARS and it should, as your kid grows, and you grow.

When our kids were in Elementary school and we homeschooled them, our goal was FOCUS, QUIET, and BUILDING CORE LEARNING KEYS in Math, Reading, Writing, Comprehension and Logic.

So, we put RULES and GOALS in place, and consequences in place when work wasn't done, or the kid was disrespectful.

Rules should be displayed, reviewed and have consequences.

For School ONLY, we had a rule to

1. Share why you don't want to do your assignment? [Need more help? / I am bored / I just don't feel like doing anything / I want to do something else'

This will help you assess WHY THE KID DOESN'T WANT to finish their work.

2. Expected Behaviors While Learning. [Watch Video / Watch Teacher / Focus Your Attention]

When those behaviors weren't met, we had a consequence > STUDENT GIVE TEACHER a BETTER EXAMPLE of how to teach the material > OR Student you have the weekend to learn it and present since the method was delivered in a way you don't want to follow.

MAKE YOUR KID PART OF THE SOLUTION to a DISCIPLINED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

In all cases where you have a consequence, have the child answer questions to be part of the solution for encouraging them to get on board with the learning.

Also, have a consequence. If they don't want to finish their work. They don't get to watch TV, play outside, go to a sport > until it's done.

DISCIPLINE FOR EVERYDAY LIFE

Remember if your kid went to traditional school, you would be the enforcer of discipline at home. A very different and sometimes less diplomatic form of discipline.

TALKING BACK > Do you allow it? Should you allow it?

I allow my kids to have a respectful stage to voice their feelings. When it's not respectful, they have to deal with the consequences of punishment and us taking away something we have given them.

DO Not ALLOW yelling, cursing, or tantrums. Your child has to learn to respect others, if they want respect. Although, mom or dad my not strike them, in the real world, someone will. Teach them to think and deal with the consequences of violence, nasty language and disregard for forms of authority.

We ASK THEM THE QUESTIONS that MOVE THEM TOWARDS THE BEST ANSWER to get their buy-in and ownership of their behavior.

They also have to agree, that we have the final say. They also have to apologize for their disrespectful behavior. *Make this part of the daily reminders*

CHORES and RESPONSIBILITIES

This is also an area where we have a standard and a consequence for not meeting the standard. If my kid doesn't feel as though the chore is fair, they can state why and give a solution. If we don't agree with the solution, the work better get done, or there is a consequence of loss of some type of freedom or financial gain from the chore.

Flexibility Planning For Homeschooling

BEING FLEXIBLE

This is the one thing about homeschooling I really love. As I start to plan for the next year, I realize that yet again - our schedule will change.

SLIDING SCHEDULE

As a working parent, I've had to be able to take a 'mental health' day, slide our schedule, shorten a day, do work on the evening and weekend. Also, taking work on the road trips or switching to a less demanding curriculum is a way to augmenting schedules when needed.

BLOCK SCHEDULE

This is a lifesaver. We put our more vigourous schedule of courses in the Fall when we are really motivated with the new year and it last 6 to 8 weeks, then we add a new set of classes. It's set up similar to a College Schedule of 5 weeks/ 8 weeks of specified course instruction. We make the schedule very light in the Spring Time and now plan to take the summers off.

EVENING, NIGHTS and WEEKEND SCHEDULE

With our working schedules, we sometimes have to move school days to the weekends. It gives us the flexibility to let the kids be involved in many extra-curricular activities that they loved when in traditional school. As well as it allows us to work our jobs and still be available for our kids to get work done.

ORGANIZATION OF WORK

Worboxes is a must for us. Keeps us organized and makes the kids more independent. Lesson Plans and weekly schedules help to keep us all on track. Curriculums that are well laid out and pre-planned has made organizing school easier. Location! Location! Location! is the key to getting kid motivated to do work. Find what works for your kid to 'spark them'.

PLAN but WILLINGNESS TO REDIRECT

Don't get attached, tied too, or grounded in a curriculum that isn't working for you or your family. Using a 'BLOCK' schedule or 'QUARTER' schedule allows you to figure out what's not working faster and to 'give yourself permission' to change things up often. Almost like a college schedule.


KEEP GOING TIL GOALS MET

If you don't meet your goals for your kids learning for the year, just keep on working through the summer. We do this around my kids activities.

OUR GOALS

My kids and I have set down after I finished up their report cards for this school year, and their 'Review Forms' that I submitted to our Umbrella group, to decide on the 'Way Forward'.

Tiger Lilly's Goal:
*Desires to be a Game Designer and Developer*

Focus on getting AA degree with High School Diploma (like her sister Rose did)
Build her Game Design Programming and Animation Portfolio
Find more STEM events that focus on Girls


Speed Racer's Goal:
*Still undecided about 'career' but likes to build Video Games and thinks being a Surgeon would be cool*

Build up Math Core skills (finish off Middle School Math)
Learn Game and Website programming languages
Do more fun hands on projects

Mom & Dad's Goal:

Gain better flexibility in Work Schedules
Support the kids with curriculums that are easy for us both to administer
Stick with DVD based, Computer based curriculums
Hire a weekly tutor for Speed Racer and Tiger Lilly as needed

Our last day of school will be May 15th, then we'll have Math daily when the kids aren't in camp or traveling.

WEEKLY WRAP UP

Sliding into the last week!

Speed Racer, 6th grader

This week we are winding down. Only doing, Math with Teaching Textbooks Math 6. Language Practice and Fraction practice with (IXL). Writing, Spelling, Reading, are all our Spectrum workbooks this week.

Seems we will only be doing 'Math' daily for the summer. At least for the weeks he isn't at sleep away camp.

Breakdancing competitions last week were SO FUN to watch! His Lacrosse team has had a losing streak. But Speed Racer doesn't care because his brother Razor Ray has been practicing with him one on one on Thursdays and allowing to hang out at the college with him.

Tiger Lilly, blended 9th grader

Tiger Lilly's finishing up some of her final projects in her Community College courses in Interpersonal Communication and Art Appreciation. May 10th is when everything has to be turned in.

Her final projects in Web Design with Currclick.com and Python (with Landry Academy) are being completed this coming weekend. This weekend is her last Digipen-Animation with 3D Maya class. She didn't work on her YouthDigital.com using Blender Animation at all this week. The Psychology class with Currclick on Monday is also closing next week with 3 quizzes she is finishing over the weekend. Can you tell she got a little behind?

Her scores in US History to 1877 using Instantcert are improving, now over 51% and shows she is ready for the test. So we may attempt to let her take the CLEP next week. Pre-Calc is still going well with the integrated IXL for extra practice.

WORKING PARENT's LOG

Meals. I nailed it this week! I think this is one of 7 weeks I had dinner on the table everyday without having to purchase a fast food meal for the week. Hubby helped me out this week which probably explains how I got this done. 

Cleaning. We did wash and fold clothes, kept the main floor clean and realized the basement and the floors need a really good do over.

Work & Life Balance. I am preparing to start a new job! This means that I will be working a total of 7 days before we leave for Hawaii. I was so greatful my new job allowed me to still go on vacation.

Lesson Planning. Starting to build list for what we are going to be purchasing for curriculum for next school year. Also, had to turn in final year in Review forms to my Umbrella (this was brutal! Took all week). I did the weekly lesson plans pretty fast though.

Rest. I actually made it a point to get more this week. I took a nap daily and got about 6 hours sleep through the night. It's easy since the kids really don't have a vigorous schedule.

Marriage Check Up. Hubba and I went to a business pitch get together. We both are into start up businesses (have one we are currently running together) and thought this would be a great way to meet new people and get re-motivated. We had a blast and did see some old friends since it was at the college we both attended.

Teaching is For Kids - by Grant Baker

My thoughts on a great books for Parents to read with their child on the full cycle of learning. From a Child's, Teacher's and Parent's point of view.

Written by a Teacher and a Parent: Grant Baker

TEACHING IS FOR KIDS by Grant Baker

Blurb from Amazon:
Buy From Amazon
At last, a book on education that is just plain fun: Teaching is for Kids! Everyone is tired of the debates and politics surrounding our schools. This book offers a refreshing take on the subject, from the perspectives of students and teachers, speaking in ways that parents can agree with.

The main section of the book explores school-related themes as they concern elementary school teachers, students, and their parents. You will laugh at the differences in point of view and maybe even learn something. Each discussion is followed by a hand-drawn illustration. This collection of kid-friendly artwork is a special attraction of the book, a sure pleaser for educators and children alike. Finally, there are stories that span a school year. They provide glimpses of the surprises, frustrations, and joys of elementary school.

Teaching is for Kids is a celebration of our early years. It lets us look back at those magical times with a smile, even a laugh.

If you’ve ever been a teacher, a parent, or a student, this book is for you. And it’s fun.

29,000 words, 56 hand-drawn illustrations, 148 printed pages

Book Review:
As a mom of four kids and now a parent who is homeschooling two of them (previously one other who's graduated), I always wanted to know what was the teacher's perspective. The book starts out with giving you a full view of some of the strong players in your elementary school aged kid's education. The teacher, the child, the parent. Also, in doing so, it gives you tips on how to make the learning experience for your child more full and memorable. Tips that show how you as the parent can share interest with the teacher that can help your child transition from the home to school experience. Also, each role is spoken in a different 'voice' that reflects the thoughts, concerns, or interest of the one doing the speaking. There are artful pictures, that make it a great tool to read with your child to get their perspective. My son loved comparing his opinion and the kid's in the book's opinion on learning.

Homeschooling Nights and Weekends as a Working Parent

Yes, this is the FREEDOM of homeschooling as a WORKING PARENT.

You have permission to break all rules and do Homeschool during the NIGHTs and WEEKENDS

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE TO GIVE UP

Tons of sports and extra-curricular activities.

A formal curriculum that is to rigid for you to augment around your varied schedule.

Your perseption that school can only be done during the day and the weekday.

CRAZY TURNS OUR SCHEDULE HAS TAKEN

We virtually homeschool year around.

The core of our curriculum is taught from Mid-July to the 1st week of April.

Why? So my kids can take advantage of all the Spring Break weekly camps offered in our area and get the opportunity to play with their traditional schooled friends.

We don't finish homeschooling work til 10:30pm! Yep, you heard me - 10:30pm.

We homeschool every other Sunday or Saturday (I alternate which allows both my husband and I who work outside the home to make up work hours without sacrificing school work).

We do a 'Block' school schedule similar to a college schedule where the kids learn or focus on certain subjects every 8-9 weeks, then a new subject is introduced. Math, Science and English is consistent though.

MUST HAVEs for NIGHT and WEEKEND SCHOOL

Let your kids sleep in late. And stay up late.

A schedule and/or Lesson Planned out. We do sports every season, I make sure the sport only takes up 3-4 days out of our week. Those days we have a condensed schedule of rotating subjects.

An open mind.

Car schooling ability. Make your curriculum and homeschool work - mobile - so you can take it on the go! Therefore if you have a kid in a sport, your other kid can be working with you.

A curriculum that pretty much teaches most of the information independently. That allows your kid to do some on their own.

Workbox system has helped us immensly!

WEEKLY WRAP UP

Great weekend recap!

Tiger Lilly's cheer team won 1st place and Grand Champion - ending her Fall cheer season. What a way to end the year!

Speed racer had a blast at his cousins ALL BOY birthday party at Skate Zone then back at his house for a nerf gun battle. Twenty boys - one large basement - my little guy had a ball.

Work this week.

Speed Racer is doing so well with getting his independent online work done in the afternoons before I start working with hime. He finishes: Xtramath, Mango Languages, IXL, Music Learning online, Tynker, Minecraft Homeschool (his new favorite class) all before 2pm. Then I checked his work to find he is doing well on each independent topic.

Monday was a bad day for him considering he only got 7 hours of sleep. But he turned his day around (after a quick review of his Calm Down List).

He likes to work on his Saxon math independenly, and he and I only do the Mental Math portion together. He reads the lesson, does his drill, then his 25 questions. After we did some corrections to wrong answers, we move on. Then him and I tackle his Speed Reading, Spelling You See. He does the online/computer daily test for Sequential Spelling. My husband (Poppa Bear or Hubba) worked with him in the evening doing Abeka DVDs that instruct him in Math, Bible, Reading, Penmanship, Language, Science and History (We only review the Abeka Spelling words daily but it's no longer our core Spelling program).

Tiger Lilly has been studying for her CLEP and Accuplacer test. [GAME CHANGER ALERT] As with everything in homeschooling - I have to be flexible. So we made a change to our study plan - again (only the 2nd time this school year!) We had planned on doing all these back to back CLEP test and both her and I think it's making things way too hectic. She told me she doesn't want to go about it this way any longer. Instead, she just wants to take the classes for some of the subjects. We are adding 2 college courses for her Winter Semester and 2 for her Spring Semesters in subjects she enjoys. She can take them at the local Community College online. Therefore, she only plans on taking 1 CLEP this school year.

Since Cheerleading is over, she has time to catch up on some of the subjects she only worked on 2 times a week. We added them to her daily schedule now. (Econ, Physics, American Gov't). Her independent courses were on hold this week til Wednesday while she studied (Java Programming, Python (through Landry), Logic (through Currclick), 3D Animation (through Youth Digital), French (through Middlebury Interactive) and Teaching Textbook Algebra.

She worked through her other Abeka subjects via her DVD school and talked to her tutor on Algebra 2, Chemistry, and US History.

I was so proud of how much more independant the kiddos are getting. However, they still need A LOT of accountiblity.

Days we schooled? All week long in the evening til 11pm on Wed and 10:30pm the other nights, and there will be a Sunday school day of 2 hours for make up work or working with a tutor on subjects where help is needed.

WORKING PARENT's LOG

Meals. Didn't plan this week. So Tuesday I stopped at the store and picked up already seasoned meat (Chicken, Fish, Beef). Viola! One less thing for me to do. Frozen veggies (don't judge) with more of that yummy Goya rice, fried potatoes, macoroni and cheese complements of Velveta.

Cleaning. My homehelper, daughter Rose, did the folding for me. She felt bad for me since I was planning on staying up late Sunday night to get them finished. The rest of the house is in need of a deep cleaning. Still haven't found a cleaning lady. But the deep cleaning is scheduled for...before we leave for vacation in December (that's my hope!).

Work & Life Balance. Yeah, and I volunteered to run a homeschool event that oh, only 3 kids showed up for. I believe that will be my last coordination for awhile. I find just inviting my kids friends from recreational sports activities tends to be more of a benefit of my time. However, I do this so my kids can build friendships. It's hit or miss.

This week didn't go as planned. I ended up working less hours than I wanted but thank goodness for paid vacation. My side business had some needs crop up and I worked on those while my kids were homeschooling in the evening with my husband.

Lesson Planning. I actually finished planning for next week early (so what if we are only doing school for 2 days). Thanksgiving break we have off from the 26th to 29th. Then back on the wagon. So I hope to get all of December (only 2 weeks of plans) done by the end of the weekend.

Rest. Failed at this on Monday. Even though the kids were finished I stayed up working on my part-time business stuff. I regret doing it, lol! Tuesday through Friday I still got up at 4 am, but made sure I took my power nap on Wed and Thu 30 minutes each day. Thank goodness I get to sleep in on Saturday!



Creating a Block Schedule to Get More Learning Done

Do you ever feel like that? I do, all the time.

This year though, we will 'get 'er done' by using a BLOCK SCHEDULE. Most traditional schools in my area do something similar so I stole their idea and made it my own.

THE SET UP

We use WORKBOXES a concept I found in author Sue Patrick's book and showcased on several homeschooling blogs. Check out some ideas on how to set it up here: click

THE SCHOOL SUBJECT LIST

I break up subjects based on the following:

1) Which classes should be done everyday
2) What class would the student benefit from a break
3) Can this class be condensed? Spread out?

DRAFT DAYS FOR SCHOOL

Get a calender (I use some of the free ones online)
Block out days where there is no school
Block out days where you are cutting school short
Block out your Semesters (Like a College would. We have Fall/Winter and Spring Semesters).
Note the number of lessons for each subject

HERE's MY SAMPLE BLOCK SCHEDULE FOR THE FALL

Create a template for your season's schedule.

The schedule is placed on the outside - see through - pocket on my kid's notebooks.

They take a dry erase marker and 'X' out the subjects they've finished.

At the middle / then the end of the day I go and check what was finished and what wasn't, check / correct work and return it to the student that evening.

Note the Numbers on the left of each subject- They represent the WorkBox Drawer the materials are in for the course.

Note the underlined L# - That notes the Lesson Number for that particular subject. Abeka Academy DVD/Streaming programming is very organized and has a specific Lesson Number for each school day. This makes planning for me VERY easy.

Note the Subect Name on the right side - This lets both parents (my husband, my tutor and myself) know how long the particular class will run and the subject name.

Note the sports/extra curricular activities at the bottom - Those are added each season.

TWO steps FORWARD and TWO BACKWARDS

Rewards and Consequences

So this week we’ve had a few hiccups.

NOTHING IS EVER PERFECT

Nope. Nothing.

So I did mention that I had a 2 week vacation of sorts. That my older daughter was substituting school for me. For the most part things went well. Until I decided to check the kids test and quiz grade book (it comes with their DVD out of the box curriculum).

I noticed that none of the quizzes or test were completed for the last 2 weeks.

Upon further inspection of the online math program both kids do for their ‘Math Lab’ I noticed that problems were skipped and test or quizzes had a FAILING GRADE!

ACCOUNTABILITY

The problem here is….(da da da) ‘lack of accountability’. Now my older daughter seemingly did what she was supposed to do. She was present during lessons. Available when students needed assistance – BUT, she didn’t make them accountable for their work by checking it.

REWIND and doing MAKE-UPS

So for the next 3 weekends my kids will be ‘Making Up’ the missed quizzes and test. So no activities (fun ones) will be planned for those 3 weekends bcause they decided to play with the SUBSTITUTE TEACHER.

JUST BECAUSE YOU HOMESCHOOL DOESN’T MEAN KIDS won’t BE KIDS

I share that to say, when my kids were in traditional school, they goofed off, had fun, laughed, MISSED HOMEWORK assignments, failed test or skipped out on quizzes.

You know what? Being homeschooled they do the same thing if given the chance.

REWARDS and CONSEQUENCES

I believe in life we all have rewards and consequences for our actions. Learning is the same way. Real life – Learning isn’t always fun, done our way, easy or even pleasant. But being able to learn inspite of those barriers can be rewarding.

Having a system of REWARDS and CONSEQUENCES helps kids get a taste of what the world has to offer. It also is more of a life lesson than discipline.