Scheduling School Time

Awhile ago we had a great discussion on some ideas for a good family routine when trying to teach older kids and keep little ones happy and out of (too much) trouble. I promised several people that I would share what has worked in our family this year. As much as I would love to spend the next few years in a relaxed manner reading and following rabbit trails, the reality is that this does not work for our oldest son. So, as with so many things, I had to cast aside my ideas of what I wanted our days to look like and figure out what worked best for our son and the whole family in real life.

Our son needs structure to not feel anxious and to minimize meltdowns. Verbally telling him the plan was not enough. He needed to see it, to have control over it. Then I remembered the picture stories our special ed teacher had introduced to us last year. So I printed up images of the things that compromise our school mornings. They are left by the coffee maker at night and in the morning (3 days/week) each boy is responsible for picking up their chart and water bottle (of matching colors) and lining up by the learning room door. This is not a gimmicky thing for us, but rather has become an important tool that makes the routine sail (ahem, most days).

It may look like a lot of work for a first grader, but really, it is not. The vast majority of the time is me reading aloud, either picture books or longer books. Circle time is when we light a candle and say morning prayers. Poetry is listening to a poem, sometimes coloring a picture or memorizing it. Geography is usually doing a Montessori puzzle and talking about different places. We incorporate beautiful art once a week and Bible memory verses.

The ability to see what he needs to do and then remove it when finished lifts the burden of the unknown and motivates our son. He removes the cards and places them in a little potato basket when finished.

Of course, the little boys also wanted a chart, so they have pictures of puzzles and playdough. I have a whole assortment of these cards printed and laminated and I switch them up frequently so that no one gets bored. This has, rather amazingly, kept our 2 year old from much more nefarious schemes. This is more or less our version of the pre-school circuit.