This is the act I always think of when we are getting back in the habit of doing our academic lessons after we have taken time off, for whatever reason.  Getting back in the swing of things is always like trying to keep all those bowls spinning.

One Pirate (bowl) will get done with a lesson and need to be spun some more some of my time and instruction.  And right BEFORE I am done helping that Pirate, another bowl Pirate will finish what he is working on and need some spin action some of my time and instruction.  And right BEFORE I am done helping that Pirate,  another bowl The Princess will need to be spun have a mosquito bite that needs to have the itch goop smeared on.  And by that time the first bowl Pirate is getting wobbly done with his lesson.

This goes on for about 2 weeks before I start to see good habits re-forming and I start noticing less and less broken glass on the floor, so to speak.  But, boy do I ever detest these coupla weeks of habit reformation.  Makes me never want to change the way we go about our days, just to avoid having to teach new habits to all off the children.

Here are the tools I use to help us keep on track.

I use a daily schedule that I formulate around meal times.  The only activities that are assigned a time are rising in the morning, meal times, and retiring in the evening.  The rest is simply entered in to the schedule in list form.  One thing follows another until we’re done or a meal time crops up.

Another important item I use to help the children understand what is expected of them is a syllabus.  This is simply a list of their academic subjects.  I write them on  cardstock or colored paper, and keep them in the front of each child’s binder.  I write their name at the top, then the list of subjects, and if needed, a simple explanation of how much they will be doing.  For example, Geography – 1 lesson on M W F, Biography – 1 ch daily, Math – 1 lesson daily, and so on.  I write these out for everyone, even those who work directly with me.  They like to be able to see where we are in our list of things that have to be done.

The next item is for keeping track of where we are.  In Texas we have enormous freedom with our homeschooling.  We don’t have to keep records and we don’t have to participate in standardized testing.  I know, it’s great, huh?  But I still keep records.  Not rigorous, detailed records.  Just a record of what we do each day in our books.  Mostly, so I know where we left off and where we should pick up next time.  I do keep a seperate page each week for each child.  I list each subject across the top of a two page grid, and each day down the side.  Except for The Princess.  She gets a one page grid of four subjects.  Hers are Language Lessons, Math, Bible, and Read Aloud (which is what I read to her).  She benefits from her brothers’ lessons because I usually keep her under foot close by while we read our Science, History, Geography and Church History lessons, but I don’t record these on her page.

The last tool I am going to tell about right now is my white board.  I use my white board like a specials board at a sidewalk cafe.  I use it to tell about today.  I write the name of the day, the date, the season, today’s high and low temperature, weather appropriate attire, where we will be going, what’s for dinner, and anything planned for the day that is out of the ordinary.  I also like to write a Latin phrase across the bottom, for the children to figure out.  They usually get it, sometimes they will need to discuss it with each other, but they are not allowed to ask me or their Father for assistance.  If they really can’t figure any of it out, I will give hints.  I might start doing vocabulary words this way as well.  Anyway, having all this info on the white board cuts out a lot of repetitive (for me) questions.  I don’t hold to these bits of info, rigidly.  Some weeks or days I may decide that other bits of info are more pertinent at that time, so I hang loose on the content.  But, it certainly eases my day to not have to answer the question, “What day is it?” 4 times in a 30 minute span.

Works for me.

Related posts:

1. Homeschooling back at the ranch
2. Homeschooling Times Five
3. Journaling, Lunch and Cuteness
4. The Plan – part 2 – Homeschool
5. Spanish Test Today!