Question about a structured day...?

Question

I am going to be homeschooling my 6 yr old twins this yr. I have purchased Alpha Omega Lifepac's and my "plan" is to do a structured day. I think that my boys, and myself need the structure.
I am aware that it may not work out this way but I am just wondering what your day is like? Also, I would like to take either Friday or Monday's off to just go and do something fun. Does anyone do just 4 day school weeks?
I also want the day that we take "off" to be our field trip day and go to museums and stuff, I know that it is all part of learning.
THANK YOU.

Answer 1

There's a big difference between having structure and having routine. Structure can be quite limiting, as it means putting restrictions on activities whether academics if social.

What I usually say to new homeschoolers is to look at the routine you already have in your home. When you wake, when you rest, when you eat, when you bath. Find your natural rhythm, and find how best to put the homeschooling in there. To be quite honest, no matter what you do, it takes so little time to homeschool, it seems silly to structure your day around that, rather than vice versa. We finished a full curriculum, in two hours a day, in less than four months. That was with four kids! We had several trips out a week, at that age, learning is best by living.

Answer 2

I think everyone starts off with some structure and then goes their own way as they figure out what their specific family needs. We've done 5 days, but this year we are going to 4 days and do games, art & crafts, or field trips on the 5th day. Lots of people do it that way. The best thing, is to just start and see where you get. Everyone is different and every child is different. That's what's so great about homeschool. You can do what's right and good for your family.
Please, enjoy your first year! Don't stress out about anything. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, it all can seem a little overwhelming at times. Just take it easy, don't stress, and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Answer 3

Our days aren't hugely structured, so what we do might not be very helpful to you: get ready for the day, school time between 8:30 and 11:30 (roughly), lunch, fun stuff/outings in the pm. However, I do know other people who follow a highly structured day. They fall into two basic categories:

1) The ones who do a bit of every subject every day.

2) The ones who do LA and math every day, but then set up the other subjects differently.

They have clear schedules printed out to follow. For younger kids, like 6yo's, this has usually meant academics for no more than half the day and other things planned in for the other half, even if part of the plan is 1 hour of free time.

If you do a search online for _homeschool schedule_, you may be able to find other examples of family schedules.

Answer 4

Sounds good. Just make out a game plan.

As they get older, say 8 or 9, I'd start introducing weekend unschooling.

Practical hobbies (new toys). A chemistry set. And erector set. A microscope set. A telescope. And electronics kit (build your own this and that). A drawing kit.

Also some educational TV on Weekends between the morning cartoons and evening prime time. Maybe an hour of Discovery during lunch and then they go outside or go to sports.

Then you can have them write a report during the school week on that Discovery show and see how much they remembered.

Answer 5

We have a "semi-structured" day. We usually start school between 9-9:30 every day.

I figure out what the kids need to have done in a week's time, then my older kids are on their own.

The younger one, who is now 9, obviously needs more guidance so we go through things some things together. However, I've tried to teach my kids to teach themselves and they prefer it that way now so unless they need help, they tend to do it alone.

When they were younger, we used "Five in a Row" and my kids loved it. That was our core curriculum except for math and phonics. I miss those days.

We work 4 days a week and take Fridays off for other activities. That's just a guideline though as musical practice was Monday mornings and band is Tuesday afternoons. We rarely do school in the afternoons - usually by noon we are finished. When the kids were younger we were done earlier.

Answer 6

I hope someone who is structured can help you better than I can, but I just wanted to throw this out there.

Personally, I was never the most structured of people. When I started homeschooling, I thought we needed structure, too, and it really set us back and drove us to burn-out within a few months. It took a while to realize that it wasn't me, that I was laid back, and things really began to cook when I stopped trying to live up to some model I had in my head that seemed right, and started doing things more the way they came natural and felt right.

For a while we went completely unstructured, then we began to settle into a little structure. I realize now I tried to do too much too soon with formal lessons, curricula, schedules, grades, tests, records, etc. and I wish I could go back and slide into it a little bit easier because I feel it really caused a lot of unnecessary stress on both me and my child that first year.

This may not be your case, but I always throw it out there because it's something to think about. I think most homeschoolers start off more structured than they find they really need to be and eventually after a bit of fuss and grief learn to level off to a comfortable place.

Good luck homeschooling, and with finding a better answer to your question, and finding what works best for you and your kids.

Answer 7

We do unschooling, but my sister in law does a structured homeschool with her 3 girls. They do take off once or twice a week sometimes. They have even taken off a week to get a small break and do fun things like field trips-etc. You figure in Public school they have days off for Teachers to do their things, Holidays, minimum days etc. They do take time for field trips in some schools. I say do what you feel works for your family and how your sons do. Just because you are structured doesn't mean you have to spend all day in school like in the public schools. That is the beauty of homeschooling is you do your own thing and whatever you feel is right. Gee everyday is a learning day for us. From the moment my daughter gets up to the moment she goes to bed we are teaching her something or she has learned something new that day.

Answer 8

We work 4 mornings a week on book stuff and are done by noon. On Fridays we usually visit the library or go somewhere fun. We need the structure and have a basic schedule but I dont let it stress me out if we are not able to get everything done or if our schedule is thrown off with something unplanned.
Our basic schedule looks something like this
8:00- Breakfast
8:15- Chores, when finished they have free time
9:00- School starts, we cover math, language arts, science, and social studies between now and lunch.
12:00 Lunch & clean up, on Wednesdays we have lunch at McDonalds with my mom and the kids play.
12:30 Play outside for awhile, go for a walk, we exercise in some way for 30 minutes
1:00 This is where our schedule varies alot. We have many activities that take place in the afternoon, these include dance, martial arts, swim team, climbing club, tennis, skating, bowling, spanish classes, art classes, volunteering, classes at the science center, etc. We do our best to break from 5:30-6:00 so everyone can eat together (I usually place something in the crockpot in the morning to save time) I read with each of the kids before bed, the youngest is read to about 15 minutes, my middle child reads to me for about 15 minutes and I read to her for the same. My older dd doesnt read with me but we discuss whatever book she is reading for about 30 minutes. The youngest is in bed by 8:30, next one in bed by 9:30, my oldest doesnt have a set bedtime and usually talks on her phone with her friends from 10-midnight and then goes to sleep
This is a very basic schedule. things come up and we tweak it every now and then and it isnt set in stone. Probably the best advice I can give is to not let your schedule overwhelm and control you its there as a guide but if the kids find a really cool bug outside before its time for book work and want to research it, go with it, the books will still be there tomorrow. Their excitement over their find will dissapear if you dont allow them to explore and create.