Being task oriented is a tremendous asset in getting things done. On the flip side though, it can easily result in missing the beauty of CM. I have found those little boxes seem to get bigger and bigger the further behind one gets! At one point in our journey I was just plowing through because I believed if we worked harder and did more we would stay on track! No body was happy in that season!
While reading "Teaching from Rest" by Sarah Mackenzie I realized I had allowed my schedule to become my master. I also learned that if I don't have something to guide me I tend to lose sight of the big picture, skip subjects because of brain overload, and just because I'm a procrastinator. I know a procrastinator who loves check lists. Yes, I own that t-shirt that brags about being an "imperfect perfectionist!"
So I needed a guide, a check list with flexibility. Some love loop scheduling but I'm not sure I will ever feel comfortable with that. This list keeps me on track with everything we need to get done in the week. It has daily boxes I can mark as we go and blank lines for those things we don't get done and need to carry over.
I've built some margin into it as well. Usually we don't take two days to read certain books but its there if we need it. If I don't get something done I just write down the stopping point and can easily transpose it to the next week's schedule. This schedule follows along with our Year 2 schedule with Ambleside Online.
Prior to this format I had a bad habit of putting certain subjects on the back burner. This year we will start our days with a Power Hour. During Power Hour we are combining some subjects the kids were doing separately, such as poetry and Shakespeare. I want to stay within the framework of Ambleside Online as much as possible but desperately need to lessen the load between my beginning reader and not quite ready for independent Shakespeare Y4 reader.
We are definitely excited about starting our new school year and that alone is a success!
Below are pictures of our Y2 and Y4 schedules.
