New School Strategies

This post is for all the homeschoolers out there reading. 
Others will likely want to disregard this post because it is VERY long! 
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For me personally, the addition of an older adopted child last winter was a big adjustment to our school day. There are now FOUR kids in our house who have important content to learn. We are past the stage of keeping toddlers busy while I teach the big kids (which has its own challenges I will admit whole heartedly!) As a result, I have been forced to think through ways to improve our home schooling experience. You may already use these strategies or have a great system in your home. If so, that's awesome. Each homeschooling family is unique and develops their own style. Here is what is working for us. If this post helps at least ONE person, then it was worth the time spent putting it together.

STRATEGIES THAT ALREADY WORK:

1) Workboxes - You can read more about the use of them HERE. We use a relaxed form of this and it has been SO helpful for organizing our work and keeping us on track. (Luke has moved on from the workboxes and does really well with a spreadsheet of his daily/weekly assignments. He crosses them out as he completes them.)

2) Daily walks after breakfast - We call them prayer walks and yes, most days we pray together and recite our bible memory verses. Sometimes though, they are too distracted by worms or running sprinklers. Last year, there were also days they moaned and complained about our walk, so I agreed to let them ride their scooters. Either way, it was/is a really helpful way to get some extra energy expended before our school day began and helped them focus better during school.

CHALLENGES AND NEW STRATEGIES:

1)  Challenge: There is a desperate need for my attention all the time, but particularly during school. I don't think I can accurately count the number of times I was repeatedly beckoned for help during the school day last year. Understandably so, our little butterfly needed and wanted non-stop affirmation and help. How quickly the others caught on to this technique of capturing my attention! "Mommy!" "Mommy!" "Mommy!" I should have stopped the constant interruptions long before I did. Instead, I became exasperated and impatient. I was like a sweaty ping pong ball bouncing all over the room every time my name was called.

New Strategy: 

So far, it is working really well for the kids to signal that they need help by using a clothes pin. It is a really simple idea. They walk quietly up to me without saying a word and attach the clothes pin to my clothes. Of course I notice them, but it is not distracting if I'm working with someone else. When the time is right, I'm able to slip away and answer their question. While they are waiting for me, they are instructed to move on to their other work and/or read books quietly from the book basket. Sometimes, they even answer their own question before I'm able to help them and come back to take the clothes pin off. yeah!

2) Challenge: Four kids who are growing made our tiny school room very crowded, and smelly! Not to mention, it was a struggle to work with one student and not be a distraction to the other students who were working independently. Even just the sight of me tempted some students to beg for my help the instant things were challenging rather then thinking independently.

New Strategy: 

Rather then only using the school room, this year I have three zones.

Zone 1: Luke's room. He is a very motivated kid and works very well in his room. I don't have to worry that he's playing. He's our first born rule follower. He will always choose to work first so he can play second. This is the second year that he has done the majority of his independent work in his bedroom and I know it works for him. (It would not work for any of the other three kids!) When I need him downstairs, I use a walky-talky to call him down. He loves this and it's awesome!

Zone 2: Kitchen Table. New this year, I made a schedule of who is working with mom at the kitchen table. Aaron and Irina are often grouped together because she is on the same level language arts and reading as he is. While they are working with me, Ethan is alone in the school room and Luke is in his bedroom. We then rotate through the kitchen and every kid is getting uninterrupted time (yeah clothes pins!) with mom to go over their lessons or check their completed work.

Zone 3: School room. The school room is where they work independently on crafts, hands on activities, or other independent work in workbooks. There are never more then two kids working in there at the same time. Irina and Aaron usually overlap in the school room. Since she is very motivated to complete her work, I don't worry about her staying on task. Aaron is adjusting to not having me with him for his other work. This may be our challenge, but I'm brainstorming ways to help him stay on task.

3) Challenge: It was very clear to us from the beginning that Irina had lots of energy and difficulty being still. Her attention span was very short for every activity and she had trouble sticking with one task for very long. She has made amazing progress, but this is still a big consideration in how we plan our day. The reality is that she is in good company with the three other wigglers I teach. 

Two New Strategies:

REGULAR BREAKS! I am always so tempted to push through with their work and not take breaks. However, THEY NEED BREAKS. This year, every 30-45 minutes we are taking a 5-10 minute break. It lengthens our day, but I can clearly see that they are refreshed after their short break. (They are hopping backwards in the photo above and below.)

We do relays across the yard, swing on the swings, have a snack or just soak in the fresh air. I have some plans for when the weather is bad: trampoline, jumping jacks, push ups, etc.. It's great!

Also, we're trying out these new "seats" to help with their wiggly bodies.

 I bought some "Balance Stability Fitness Cushion Discs" and a kid size exercise ball. Do some reading on this and you will see why I decided to try it out. It's only been 7 school days, but so far I see great value in these purchases. I prefer the stability discs because they offer more versatility and are less likely to be thrown or bounced. ;)  You can sit on it, stand on it, or rest your feet on the bumps for a sensory experience. 

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Ultimately, these strategies are not going to make for "perfect" school days. I know that and will continue to remind myself of that as hard days are bound to pop up. (and they have!) However, it has been helpful to be willing to admit what is not working and make some changes. So far these new strategies have added a positive boost to our year.  (We've made a few more changes that I'm not willing to share until I know for sure they are working. )