Changes in our timetable
Our school day has changed this term, after our deliberations off last term on what and how our children can be learning. Last year we considered the benefits of creative and pragmatic learning, over purely analytical content. https://thereisnoshouldbe.com/what-should-i-teach-my-homeschool-children/
We considered the purpose of teaching moral values and creating vital boundaries within our learning ethos.
I realised the importance of choice in learning experiences. https://thereisnoshouldbe.com/religious-and-moral-studies-in-education/
I found out about the importance of movement and hands on learning for good brain development and experiencing learning. https://thereisnoshouldbe.com/a-models-that-serve-socialising/ and https://thereisnoshouldbe.com/fostering-creativity-in-everyday-life/
And I witnessed the transformation of my children as they flourished in our nurturing home environment https://thereisnoshouldbe.com/should-you-homeschool/
So, with all this in mind, this term I determined to make changes to our school day that reflected the journey of discovery that we’ve been on. I thought I’d share some of the practicalities of our day, what our general timetable looks like, and how it’s been working.
Early morning
These days, I am more intentional about our get up time. I need to have my coffee and breakfast before my kids have hit the ground running. Additionally, though I hate to admit it, several of my house keeping jobs need to be done in the morning. In fact, this might be the biggest and most impactful of the changes in our timetable.
Honestly, I’d prefer to do my house work as part of my working day, because I prefer to value housework as work in its own right. However, there are several non optional tasks that are just not getting done in our homeschool day. I feel that this is a time in our lives where I need to embrace a practical approach to getting these tasks done and under the belt before the day starts.
The boys too have brief animal care chores before breakfast, and likewise, the whole day goes so much smoother, with much less nagging if these tasks are on the way down to breakfast.
I am having to manage my expectations of all the piano playing, book reading, perusing through YouTube and podcast listening I like to do in the night.
Ultimately, there is a limit to the amount that I am properly absorbing, against the amount of content that I am mindlessly consuming. That is to say, after a certain time frame, perhaps the some of the content that I am consuming doesn’t inspire so much as it could.
Outside
The next of the changes in our timetable is one that has revolutionised our whole day. After a filling breakfast, loaded with a great dollop of honey or chocolate or jam, we head outside.
I can give them their preferences at breakfast only because we head straight outside. Previously I couldn’t possibly allow a deliciously sweet breakfast, because we were indoors, round a table, getting the homeschool done, with a compulsory dog walk looming that had-to-get-done in the afternoon.
No more. Now, heading straight outside, dogs dancing round our heels, we spend a few hours exploring or creating. The main point of this is to work with the brimming energy that children naturally have, rather than against it. Cheeky, (annoying), and cantankerous behaviour becomes vivacious, joy filled energy – if I can only manage and bundle them outside in time! Choice in imaginative play and child led creativity means that left to their own devices they could spend hours outside, (but for desk work later in the morning).
Outside options
Sometimes we’ll take our horse, or our shetland pony in tow, play in the flood at the bottom of the field, or now that it’s winter they build dens in the warmth of the hay barn. Or we may take the dogs for a swim in the river. Perhaps we’ll explore a favourite woodland with a story corner. Or in the spring we may be digging in the garden for planting or more importantly, finding bucketfuls of worms. There are nerf guns and skate boards.
Outdoor time is a pleasure for all of us. Now I can’t imagine missing this part of the day – these have been such welcome changes in our timetable, mainly because of the adverse behaviour diminishing increasingly.
Around the table
At the start of the year, I had hoped that our changes in our timetable would include reading a ‘living book’ together to start off our studies, but I have neither properly researched Charlotte Mason, nor found any ‘living books’. (Watch this space!)
But after our time outdoors, I find motivation is at its highest, and the boys get straight in there with their academic studies. So we are still using a lot of our previous curriculum.
Halfway through, while I’m reading our youngest a story, I find that everyone enjoys a sojourn into another world as a halfway break. At the moment it is The House at Pooh Corner, by A. A. Milne. Because of the wide interest, perhaps I’ll diversify age range stories during this time.
Educational content
This stage of ‘compulsory learning’ that preoccupies so much of education these days is a relatively small part of our day. I am so interested in cultivating creativity, problem solving and engaging with the moral, ethical and spiritual. And this happens through activities and experiences. Perhaps a couple of hours in the morning makes up the extent of it, with a little more in the afternoon for the older ones. By the afternoon, it is just the older ones that might have some more to work through. Actually these changes in our timetable have relaxed our available time for learning, and opened up more free time.
For the youngest one
However for our youngest peanut, academic hours are significantly less. After working on our 3 Rs, as mentioned, we read stories, or experiment in the kitchen. Drawing, taking photographs, building, constructing, imagination games and sowing seeds in the spring take up a lot of the second half of the afternoon. I can guarantee that his quantity of analytical learning is far less than most other 6 year olds in the country. However, I feel quite sure that as he grows with his freedom for creativity, imagination, choice and initiative, it will be anything but a problem. Motivation is not a problem for this one, and it is my intention to gently and organically cultivate that.
Lunch
We love food in our house. Time to sit together and fill hungry tummies is something we truly value. This isn’t really one of the changes in our timetable. Perhaps in a culture where we have so much, and children are allowed to ‘order’ their food, the true beauty of a delicious meal is slightly overlooked. My boys love to make our lunch – probably because they are more involved in the choices of what mum is serving up this time! But I find it enormously helpful, because I often take this time to prep for dinner.
Left to my own devices I would prefer for everyone to happily eat one meal, no fussiness, no pickiness, just unadulterated appreciation for the food that I have prepared. This is just not the reality, and rather than fight the trend I am quite happy to allow my children to make informed choices on the lunchtime menu. When they have made the food, there is a sense of pride and autonomy, and also indignation if people are too slow to sit up and eat it hot. It is a rather nice lesson to sit back and watch. Making the leap to apply that to my own efforts in the kitchen, well that’s perhaps a bit of a far stretch. But for now, it is with quiet amusement that I observe these proceedings.
Afternoon options
Free play, jobs with mum or dad, or an activity like the skate park, park or horse riding makes up a lot of the afternoon for the younger children. But especially for the oldest peanut the afternoon is also a time when he can take a deep dive into analytical, creative or practical learning, through science, or ‘home economics’ or ‘horticulture’ or sailing, riding, biking or foraging. Languages and reading are also big in our lives, and take up a decent proportion of the day. But to be honest this is also not so much of the changes in our timetable from last term. The only difference is the time available for these activities.
Screen time
Screen time is not part of our school day at all, and this is something I need to address with the oldest. We’ve even let touch typing slide this year. Eventually I’ll need to find a curriculum for learning computer skills.
Evening extra curricular
For someone who tries to keep extra curriculars to a minimum, we seem to have at least one thing every evening. But I don’t really begrudge it – scouting groups with beavers, cubs and scouts are a fantastic opportunity for them, and they enjoy it, and getting to know local children in the area. Judo, youth group, literacy tuition and riding lessons are all fairly regular in our term time week. Every now and then we chase the winds and waters, or the mountains with sailing, and snow boarding or skiing.
Our day
Over all, our day probably doesn’t look too different from anyone else’s. Many children have extra curricular activities, most people enjoy their lunch, and many children enjoy story time as part of their school day. And all parents hold the responsibility for the education of their children. This isn’t intended as a list of superiority. However, I feel it now more than ever before. And now that I am solely responsible for the education of my children, for the past 6 months I have been discovering how I might be educating my children, and what might support their upbringing and wholistic wellness. I hoped to share the changes I’ve included in our general day to day plan.
Of course, there are days when we go completely off piste, whether with an art class that our wonderful friend prepares for us, or with a ‘field trip’, or with a piano lesson. I don’t prefer to squeeze these things in as if they take no time at all, or as though my children may fall behind the national average. I feel quite secure that these digressions are very valuable in a full education, whether for character building, or the usual hailed academic approach.
Furthering the curriculum
By the time we have traversed the next 6 months we can be sure that we will need to make more changes and improvements to the plan. Here are a few things that I hope to look into for our children’s curriculum.
- Curriculum – building music and computing science into our curriculum – at some point I’ll have to include this – computer literacy is an important tool. A block about the book of Genesis, the dead sea scrolls, and missionaries would be great. https://mylittlerobins.com/2022/06/missionary-biographies/
- Pioneers of education that I hope to read more about – Charlotte Mason, Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner.
- Opportunities for volunteering, and involvement over seas is something I have my ear to the ground on.
- Field trips – this year we hope to cycle through the Hebridean Islands, sailing the Norfolk Broads and visiting in London.
WoW! inspiring to read. Such energy and commitment to those 3 boys. What an adventure!
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