A Week in the Life: Year One, Winter/Spring Schedule

Here is a chart that shows our basic schedule this spring.  After fooling around and experimenting with lots of different ways to structure our day and our school day (and different ways to structure my own checklist!) I found that this approach works well for now.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we are basically home all day with no obligations. On most Monday afternoons we have a friend come visit us while her mother works, and sometimes on Friday afternoons I can take my children to her house for a visit while I get some things done.

Tuesday afternoons my son has his art lesson, and on Thursday we are at Classical Conversations until about 1:30. My stroke of genius was to move our nature study--which I could never seem to find a great slot for--to Thursday afternoons!  We've been inside all morning anyhow, and are ready to get some fresh air and sunshine. 

I like to get a few things knocked out at breakfast and I put those first on my list.  But truth be told some days the only thing that gets knocked out at breakfast is a pot of tea.  However, I do like to start the day with a brief Bible reading and some fun poetry or rhymes.  

Next we do our skills work.  This takes an hour or less. Then we take a break to sing the hymn we're memorizing and after that is done we just jam out. I play the piano (poorly), and the children play a variety of instruments, or dance or march around the room.  It is *fun!*

After our noisy break I get my son to read a little bit aloud (10 minutes is plenty for concentrated reading time at his level--any more than that and he gets restless) and we read 'literature' (currently featuring Winnie the Pooh and James Herriott). A couple of days a week we also read one Aesop's fable and my son narrates that back to me. 

Finally before lunch we tie up any further content-related loose ends: history, geography, and science. Picture study, composer study and folk songs are brief and often take place casually over lunch. 

Our afternoons are free for resting, creating, exploring, playing--whatever. I'm so looking forward to warmer weather so that our afternoons can be *outside*.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Bible (5) breakfast	Bible (5) breakfast	Bible (5) breakfast	Flash cards -math (10)	Bible (5) breakfast
Poetry (10) breakfast	Poetry (10) breakfast	Nursery rhyme (10) breakfast	CLASSICAL CONVERSATIONS	Poetry (10) breakfast
9:30-10:30	9:30-10:30	9:30-10:30		9:30-10:30
Math (20)	Math (20)	Math (20)		Math (20)
Phonics (15)	Phonics (15)	Phonics (15)		Phonics (15)
Copywork (10)		Copywork (10)		Copywork (10)
Hymn & break (10)		Hymn & break (10)		Hymn & Break (10)
10:30-11:00	10:30-11:00	10:30-11:00		10:30-11:00
Aesop (10)	Aesop (10)	Read aloud (10)		Read aloud (10)
Literature (15)	Literature (15)	Literature (15)		Literature (15)
11:00-12:00	11:00-11:30	11-12:00		11-12:00
Read aloud (10)	Additional history readings, if needed (20)	Geography (45)		Science (30+)
History (30)	Picture study (10)
Folk music (lunch)	Folk music (lunch)	Folk music (lunch)		Composer study (lunch)
	ART LESSON		Nature Study

I do not slavishly follow these time slots--they are there for my reference, but we sometimes finish early, sometimes run late, and I'm not afraid to rearrange the schedule entirely (in fact, I just did it tonight for the upcoming week: I've got a doctor's appointment Monday morning and we're happy to be attending a birthday brunch on Friday) to suit our needs.  

On Tuesday afternoons after our art lesson in the city we usually run errands: the farmers' market, visit to the natural foods store, and any other errands that need to be run.  I don't like to run random errands on various days because it feels like a waste of time, and also because after a morning of lessons my pupil needs to be able to do his own thing.  So we reserve Tuesdays for that!

I print out this chart at the start of the week and keep it by my side throughout the morning, and when we finish a subject I just highlight it. I like to have a visual chart, in the order to do our activities, with a rough time frame attached to it.

Not listed are our audio-learning times: in the car we listen to our Classical Conversations memory work, and some afternoons if my son has quiet time he will listen to The Story of the World, Just So Stories or Uncle Wiggly's Stories (all of them by Jim Weiss of Greathall Productions, who is absolutely top-notch!). 

Saturdays are free days--we do whatever we want.  And Sundays are taken pretty seriously around here as a day of rest and rejuvenation: church, leisurely lunch (usually prepared on Saturday), resting or visiting grandparents, a walk...the focus is on restful activities and family time!

I also try to fit in housekeeping, cooking, personal reading, sewing, corresponding and exercise--maybe content for another post. I do it all imperfectly, but we're happy!