Our School Schedule

When we started homeschooling last year, I had a great schedule planned.  My 3 year old (Boy Wonder #2) and 1 year old (Girl Wonder #1) would nap from noonish to early afternoon.  During that time, my 5 year old (Boy Wonder #1) would have his kindergarten time.  This way, I could give him the concentrated attention and time needed to do his work.  Ha.  Ha.  Ha.  As we all know, the best laid plans often go awry.  These were no exception.  Our first obstacle was pregnancy #4 and the ensuing first trimester all-day sickness/tiredness.  Our second obstacle was that my preschooler decided he needed to do preschool, not nap.  Whatever big brother does, little brother has to do as well.  Needless to say, the past few months have been a challenge to get school completed.  Granted, we were starting kindergarten early since my oldest didn't turn 5 until the fall.  He's an early reader so we've been encouraging that with a light homeschooling schedule. 

Fast forward from our starting date of August of 2010 to January of 2011 and we're way "off schedule".  I had the year mapped out, lessons assigned to days, etc., ready to tackle the kindergarten life.  Nothing went according to my plan.  So this week I decided to chuck the plan I had and work with Boy Wonder #1's natural schedule.  He's an early riser.  By early riser, I mean 5:00am to 5:30am.  Daddy leaves for work at 6:00am so he likes to have time with daddy before daddy leaves.  This means he's raring to go at 6:00am.  One day last week after daddy left, Boy Wonder #1 asked to do kindergarten.  Seriously.  Begged.  So with coffee in hand for mommy, we did kindergarten.  And it was amazing the transformation from his being tired and cranky when we did it after lunch/during naps to his begging for it at 6:00am and willingly sitting down to work.  Then we did it a second day in a row.  Same results.  The bonus for me was we ALL got to take naps during nap time. 

This week, we're doing kindergarten at 6:00am.  While this would not be my ideal time since I am a morning person and love to sit with a cup of coffee in the early quiet to read the Bible, the newspaper, catch up on email, and check my favorite blogs...I will adjust.  Seeing my son get excited about school and having some "just us time" is worth pushing my alarm up a little so I can still have a few minutes of quiet time before the house awakes.  I think this is one of the sweet joys of homeschooling I have discovered the hard way.  I thought our schedule had to resemble a traditional school schedule but it doesn't.  At least not at this early stage it doesn't.  I am sure we will revisit our schedule many times over the next many years as each child starts school or moves into different phases of school.  But for now, we are content to get kindergarten completed before the sun comes up and the wild chaos of little brother and sister add to the mix.