New System -- Part 2!

The smiley faces represent days of school until our "Shabbat Week". So, 6 weeks of motivated hard work, and then a week of rest! When my regular week happens that way with 6 days of plowing through the laundry, dishes, cooking, etc... and then a day of rest (trying to do as little of the above as possible), it is very refreshing. God set a wonderful pattern in creation and then a day of rest!!

The plan for the week of "rest" from schooling will be playing educational games, enjoying music together, performing our own skits and plays, possible field trips to area businesses and a themed party for the family centered around something we learned about during the 6 weeks. I'm still debating about what the party theme will be for each of the 6 week chunks, but the Lord has always given me great resources and ideas when it comes to planning a party and a few of the parties will just have to be shared with some of the kiddo's friends. :) This first 6 week "chunk" happens to end right before Feast of Tabernacles, so our Shabbat week for school will be great celebrating Sukkot with family and friends!!!

So, here are the nuts and bolts: The 6 week "chunk" of ideas goes into a portable hanging file folder box. Ideally, each week would be a different color so they could be spotted easier. The folder that has the week number on it will hold books that I want to read to the children, a sheet with ideas that I'd love to squeeze in if we get a chance but are optional, etc... Then, there are folders for each day of the week. We are planning to have a "seatwork" time for an hour in the morning where each child works on Math, Writing, and Language Arts in their own area to allow for possible distractions in the afternoons. Then, if something happens, at least the priorities are out of the way. History and Science are easier to make up a missed day here and there. The plan, though, is to have "Circle Time" when I teach all of the children together for an hour before lunch. After lunch is more open for extended projects and experiments for the older 3 while Weston naps (or has "Quiet time" in his bed) and time for reading and other hobbies. We have a rule of no television, videos, or electronic games until after 4:30 p.m. each day. It's fun to see how excited they get when they get the privilege of playing a learning game on the computer or watching a science or history video before 4:30. :)

So, when that day is done, the folder will come out of the filing box and into the bin with the planning lists. If there is anything that we didn't get to that has to still be done, it can easily be put into the next day's folder or wherever it will work. I'll be able to look at my box at any given point and know how far it is until the fun week and the "rest week" for the kiddos. I don't know how much "resting" I'll do, but it will at least refresh me to not have that week full of assignments. At some point I'll need to "reboot" the file box for the next 6 weeks, so that'll have to get squeezed in somewhere. I'm thinking that we'll be able to experience more of the "unschooling" that I hear so much about during that week as well! We will be freer to go exploring various topics and see where it leads us...

The two file folder in each hanging folder just have the seatwork things separated from the circle time things. Some workbooks, Math texts, etc... will stay at the children's work areas since they are so big, but particular worksheets can go here in the seatwork file. It's easy for my children to get overwhelmed when they see a book with a lot of pages, so I try to separate them into smaller "bites" as much as is possible. It's much easier for them to stay focused if they are handed one sheet of questions, rather than turning to one page out of a whole book of distractions. :) The circle time folder has whatever instructions I need for the experiment or information I want to read to the children or have them read aloud. If I'm using a resource that won't fit into the folder, I just put the name and page numbers on a sticky note and put it into the folder to make sure I grab it when I need it.

Here are just a couple of things I found for Week 6 that got put into that folder since we won't need them until then. I had a picture of painter's tape and sticky notes, but Picasa won't let me put more than 4 pictures on a posting. The painter's tape is usually bright blue and peels easily off of the covers of books. It stays put better than sticky notes for books that are going to get piled and shuffled around. I just use a sharpie and write the info on the tape and slap right onto the cover of the book. The sticky notes make great bookmarks with the specific page numbers for the section I need (and the week it will be used since there are many books that will be used multiple weeks).

So, that's it in a nutshell! I really hope that all of this rambling helps someone else to be able to sort through and find out works for them! I love having the visuals in front of me whenever I'm tackling a big task. Now, I'm thinking about a smaller scaled version of this system for my household chores, projects and menus!