jholland, it took us quite a bit of time (5 weeks) to figure out what would work, making curriculum changes in a couple of subjects, deciding yes, we do want to do quizzes and texts in some subjects that we thought we would not, finding the appropriate grade level and speed to work. My DH and I tag team with my DD8. I have an excel spreadsheet with subject rows and day of the week column. I made a different sheet for each week for 18 weeks. I put everything combined on these and I went out a few weeks at a time so that if I have to make adjustments it is not an ardous task. Everything is written out. If it is something my husband needs to check and review, it is highlighted for him. We use the same basic schedule Mon-Thurs and Friday is the flex day that we use for a longer science experiment, creative writing, her history timeline notebook, or a make up day to catch up from a field trip.
In the morning, I do Math and Science (always an experiment) with her. Two days a week we do a Spanish workbook, the other days she does a Spanish learning game on the ipad. Then she works through her List on her own. She does her bible reading and scripture memorization. She has a world history reading, a chapter from a fiction book to read, she does a book with songs to learn geography. Then, she gets on the computer and does Spelling and plays Cato's Hike. By then, its is about 10:00/10:30 and she practices gymnastics until about noon, when her dad takes over. He does a book with her called Windows on the World, where you learn about a country and pray for the country and goes over Bible, he does US History- read and Q&A. They watch youtube videos. She reads a couple of pages out loud and Q&A on the fiction book chapter she read and then he does Language with her. They are usually done by 1:30/2:00. She plays on the ipad until time to pick up her siblings. On Wednesdays at 2, she goes to a homeschool art class at a neighbor's house. Anything that is unfinished gets done on Fridays.
She quickly got used to her list which makes it easy for us to send her to other family to do her work, if needed because she knows what to do. Then, we just check everything at the end of the day. Our evenings are now free for her gymnastics (7hrs per week) and other seasonal sport. The joy of homeschooling is the flexibility of time and schooling. She is in 3rd grade doing 5th grade Math, and the rest is a mix of 3rd and 4th grade work. Some is 4th grade but we are doing it a little slower. For science, she likes the Physical Sciences, so we bought a curriculum that is entirely physical sciences with simple experiments every day.
