Our Schedule, Revised to be 'Our Flow'

It was fun to make a "schedule" for our days, but quite frankly, we are not strict schedule people unless we have an appointment in which we are accountable to people coming to our home, or whom we're meeting outside our home.

So, I have joyfully revised our plan for our home education days, and I simplified the way I go about our educational pursuits.

First of all, here is a picture of our new daily plan ... more of a flow of activities. It's a timeline that is simple to read, for both me and the children. The timeline of the day is linear, as I read it should be presented in my Montessori book The World in the Palm of Her Hands. 

"Our Day" Home Education Routine for 4yo, 2yo & 1yo with Mom

It is inspired by my friend, Donna, who uses simple images and clock times for her son to know what's next. I also borrowed from my friend, Catie, who shared her flow of the day last year.

To make it, I printed paintings and pasted them to heavy-duty paper then hot glued them to this old barn board. It hangs next to our dining table, where we do many of our activities to keep them out of the 1 year old's reach.

In more focus, from left to right, see below. (Click images to enlarge.)

"Our Day: Sunrise ... Breakfast & Bible ... Dress, Groom & Clean Up ..."

"... Learn & Explore ... Lunch (then Story) ... Rest & Relax ..."

"... Tea Time & Learn (Just 4yo & Me) ... Play, Learn & Explore ... Dinner ..."

"... Farm Work & Play ... Ready for Bed & Storytime ... 

And the Sun Went Down on the Farm."

It makes much more sense for us.

Further, my "curriculum" chart is now more practical and usable for me, as it includes the subject, activity options, and frequency along with a fill-in of the days of the week. You can download it here if you're interested. (The excel file is formatted much better & ready to print on 1 page for each week; just send me a note if you want me to e-mail it to you.)

My Esther and Georgie dancing to Chopin in tutus.

I find I will probably use it as a diary of what we cover as much as a way to plan the coming week, since so much of what we do is somewhat spontaneous -- though largely coming from our options within the subject areas.

Here is an example of what we did today (with just Tuesday annotated) -- a very light "academic" day in terms of the more important phonics and math, but she only just turned 4! My 2-year-old participated in all of these, including dancing in a tutu :) (My husband tells me I can't put the older boy on the blog in a tutu.)

Tab	Subject	Activity	Frequency	Tuesday
Nature Study & Science		Outdoor Free Time	Daily	outdoor free play 3x
		Nature Walk & Nature Journal	Weekly	x
	Nature Study	Caterpillar Box, or other pet	Daily (seasonal)	x
		Farm & Garden Chores	Daily (seasonal)	with Papa after dinner
		Zoo or Park	Weekly	x
Written & Spoken Word	Beginning Reading	*Phonics Work	3x/Week	x
	Handwriting, Copywork & Transcription	*Sandpaper & Rice Letters	3x/Week	x
		Fine Motor Activities (SEE LIST)	3x/Week	sorting small beads, pinprick, key/hole
	Narration	Tell Back Books & Experiences	Daily (by way)	x
Literature & Our World	Literature	Mommy Reads Books to Kids	Daily	Zaccheus &                           Child's Book of Virtues
	History	As we read literature	Daily (by way)	x
		Reference map in context	Daily (by way)	x
	Geography	Understand Local Area, etc	Daily (by way)	x
		Pinpricking continents	Weekly	x
	Poetry	Mommy Read Poems to Kids	Weekly	Children's Book of Poems
Math	Math	*Math Books	1x/Week	x
		*Games & Manipulatives (SEE LIST)	1x/Week	Play with the balance to even out matching animal heads
French	French	*Short Lesson, include in Life	5x/Week	x
Art, Music & Handicrafts	Art (Skills)	SEE LIST	5x/Week	helped mom make daily routine timeline
	Art (Study)	By the way	By the way	appreciated art on daily timeline
	Music (Skills)	Informal Musical Instrument Play	2x/Week	played with instruments
	Music Study	Listen to Music (SEE LIST)	Daily	listened to Chopin while dancing in tutus for a long time
	Hand Crafts	Work on Hand Crafts (SEE LIST)	TBD	stringing beads
Everyday Life Skills & Habits	Everyday Lifeskills	Work on Skills (SEE LIST)	Daily & Weekly	helped with breakfast and lunch, dishes to sink
	Character	Work on Character & Habits (SEE LIST)	Weekly & Monthly	x
Knowing God	Bible Study	Read Bible Stories & Bible	Daily	Zaccheus from Bible Stories & from Bible
	Bible Memory	Memorize Verses & Passages	Daily (bf & l)	ABC Bible (Z)
	God's Holidays	Celebrate Sabbath, 3 Festivals	Weekly & 3/yr	(Fall festival is soon)
	Miscellaneous	Projects & Activities as Come Up	―	x
	* 4yo-specific activity, which 2yo can sometimes shadow

I'm still working on the LISTS noted above. We're off to a great start, though, and today my home felt like an environment rich in the love of learning, which is among my highest aims in homeschooling. Never mind that tomorrow may feel more like a near-miss tornado accompanied by mass rioting.