Tots and Me... Growing Up Together: 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Work it in Wednesday

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Work it in Wednesday

Welcome back to the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Back to School Blog Hop from the Homeschool Review Crew. I am so glad you are here. My fellow Crew Mates and I hope you've been finding encouragement this week. On Monday I shared how I stay motivated on this homeschool path, and yesterday I decided we would "take a look" at our 2018-2019 curriculum. Of course, being a part of the Crew, things change up quite a bit, but our core always stays the same. Today we are going to look at how I fit it all in.

One of the things I love about homeschooling is how flexible it is. I can look at our schedule at any time and see where I might need to tweak something. Though, I admit, once I get a schedule down I find it hard to have to switch things around. I've never been a fan of change. However, each year it seems we are changing up something in our schedule to make it work better. Usually they are just little alterations. In fact, I really liked the way our days were flowing last school year after the few changes I had made. However, due to some recent changes at the YMCA, we are going to be making some big changes in our schedule this year.

See, we joined the Y a few years ago so I could get healthier, and now getting exercise into

our days is very important to me,. Going to the Y used to be about the hubby and I getting exercise; however, last year Tabitha (and sometimes Amelia) joined me for Zumba. I figured it was a great way for them to get their P.E. requirement in. Unfortunately, that class was put on hold during the summer, and it looks like it isn't making a comeback. During the summer I found a few different classes that I enjoyed, as does Tabitha. Amelia comes with us occasionally. The only problem is, these classes are all in the morning. Sooo, in order to work them into our school year, I needed to do some major flip-flopping of the schedule. Thankfully, I think I have it worked out. Though I won't know for sure until school officially starts. I guess if it doesn't work out, I will have to tweak some more.

Our school time is going to be pushed back to the afternoon and possibly the evening, leaving the morning free for exercise on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. In October we will start back up with co-op on Wednesday mornings. Mondays, and Wednesdays when we don't have co-op, we will devote our mornings to art, music and science, playing catch up where we need to. Those are the subjects we fell behind in the most last year.

Here's a look at my tentative schedule. As I said, I will have to evaluate it once school starts to see if it will need some more tweaking.

Of course, with a change in our daily schedule, the children's routine time had to be altered a bit too. We used to have what we called "Morning Routine" and "Afternoon Routine." This is when they took their turns on the new computer, old computer, WiiFit U, and math drill (in the morning) or mommy time (in the afternoon). Now these routines will come back-to-back after lunch, which will take some getting used to. These are the times when the children work on math and any review products we have online.

So, with school less than two weeks away, I think I have some clue what our days are going to look like. I am thankful for My Father's World which gives us one day of the week that is more relaxed than the others, so I can work co-op in without making me crazy. I am thankful that I can be flexible in order to adjust our schedule due to changes at the Y, or the addition of Bible Quizzing, which the girls are just starting up. Of course, this flexibility assures me that we will be able to fit school in even if we have such things as dentist or doctor appointments. Unlike public school, where the child(ren) would be absent, we can just take some work with us for in the van or the office, change up our schoolwork for the day, or move it to the weekend. I love homeschool flexibility!! Don't you?

Here are some of the other participants in this week's blog hop, and you will find more in the linky below.