Fisher Days

For some time now I've arranged our school by the day of the week. Have you seen that little ditty on my sidebar? Several people have asked about that, and it's time I updated and clarified :)
Oh, here it is:



It helps me to keep my head about me to have a loose idea of what we want to accomplish each day. I divide our work into subjects, which are designated to a certain day of the week. It doesn't mean we only do these things on the specified day of the week and no other... it just helps to know that everything will, or at least potentially could get done sometime during the week if all else gets crazy and unpredictable. Does that make sense? Schedules or checklists exist to serve me, I do not exist to serve the schedule! ;)

• monday - science & natural history
• tuesday - literature & poetry
• wednesday - biography & geography
• thursday - history
• friday - leftovers

Friday is left free so that anything we don't get done during the week is done that day :)

When I only had two children in any given AO year, it was VERY simple, I didn't even have to write it out, and we rarely had to look at a schedule. We got into the habit quite quickly knowing which books were read on which day. 

This year, as I have four, it is a HUGE help to have the subjects divided by day... here are my thoughts about using this list in the different years:

y2: I pretty much arrange the littles' entire day, every day (they still have plenty of free playtime in which I get to practice masterly inactivity). The amount of work in this combined year (see below) doesn't reflect a normal AO year. Even though their year is combined, there are several things that I only do with one or the other that I didn't put there on the list below.

y7: The bigger kids have arranged their schedules as they see fit when it comes to which books are read on which day at whatever time of day. :) But there are still quite a few things I help them with or am in some great way still involved. Their subjects that I am needed for are arranged by day. I commit to make myself available for those subjects at some time that day (usually before lunch). If they don't take advantage on that day, it gets pushed 'til Friday, or if neither of those, will have to be based on my availability at another time (meaning it may not get done that week).

Here's an example of our days:





Click to download

To work on this week...

y7:

Shorter Readings

(divide up longer readings over several days – will help with concentration (read for understanding vs. to finish the reading), and will improve narrations (narrate after each section of the reading vs. trying to remember all the way back to the beginning)

Vary Activities

(read for 20-40 min; do nature study, read, or sing hymn, etc. - this will help with quality of concentration, overall brain function, as well as help each study serve as a source of variety and delight)

y2:

Get Work Done B4 Lunchtime

(alternating reading and doing, finish all school related tasks early with exception to the mommy-read books which may be read at quiet time or bedtime)

Start Bedtime Readings at 7:30pm

(if not, this just doesn't get done... everyone is too tired (including mommy ;)

Our Combined Year 1/2 with Ambleside Online!

The early Pioneer father looked out into the unexplored valley below him, as (today in this blog post) you and I will be gazing over the brink of a historic year for our homeschool (as you may come to notice, we're also learning about similes today ;). As a mother hen scurries around gathering her chicks like a mad woman... oh. wait, those things might not be dissimilar enough to be a true simile... ;) and no, most days are NOT in the mad woman category, anyway.  (only about every other... ;) just kidding OF COURSE)




This is the year that we have officially added Siah (7yo) into the AO rotation, and he will be doing not only y1, but y1 & y2!! Oh yeah! {high five} Well... not really both years. He'll be doing a combination of the two years in order to be able to slide up to y3 next spring with Bria. I'm very excited about that for lots of reasons. We shall see to those in this post.

Reasons for Combining:

• When I contemplate having all 4 children (someday 5) in separate AO years with our travel schedule/lifestyle, I begin to shake like a whole forest of leaves... under heavy storm!
• Because I combined the two older boys from the beginning, it's as normal as bread for breakfast in our house to share years.
• Siah was a much earlier reader than his brothers were and will be able to read many of his books independently this year (thus justifying for me, helping him along in y3 at 7.5yo). - I do not normally recommend this. I like to have a nice young 7yo at in y1! But, I think it's going to work for us. I plan to modify when necessary.
• Siah has become a very good narrator under the unofficial tutorship of his older siblings.
• Bria had her y2 abruptly interrupted by a long furlough, so she's perfectly set up to do a combined year with Siah (she'll read some books from the second half of y2, that I've decided he won't have to read, while he's listening to the books she's already heard).
• I can keep them together on the booklist, but at their own levels in math, copywork, dictation, etc.

Here's a sneak peek, click the link to see the whole thing.

Here's the proposed schedule, we're currently in week 4. :)