Round and Round

#1 The grand scheme of our home school is ever changing.
#2 I'm sure I'll have the "perfect plan" soon after they all graduate. :)

This year we're going "Round and Round."

I used to have a daily plan for school that would generally start with spelling and writing, move to grammar and reading, and then onward to math.  Then we were suppose to do history, science, Latin, and all the rest.  The problem was that we would get through with reading, barely make it through the math, and then either cry and fight through the rest, or just call it a day.  It rarely ended well.

When I realized that we needed to make a change I decided that instead of starting each day the same we would just pick up where we left off the day before.  After a little "googling" I learned that other home school mom's have also been doing this, and that it had a name:

Loop Scheduling.

Who knew???

The blog I first came across gave an outline of how to use Evernote with a loop schedule.
Check it out at www.simplyconvivial.com. 
(She explains it all in more detail then I ever care to, so I'll leave it to her!)

I was already using and loving Evernote for holding my running notes/articles, recipes, addresses, schedules, and other random things, so this was an easy move for me.

Thus far, this (along with a to-do list for King and Duke of daily school tasks they can do on their own) is really working. 

It's a little more relaxed, but the learning is more focused. 

Here's a glimpse of how I'm working it:

• King and Duke work on their to-do lists, which includes hygiene, chores, and as much reading/spelling/math as they can do without my help, while I do my morning chores (unload dishwasher, start the laundry, make the littles' beds, and wipe down the bathrooms).
• I check out Evernote to see which subject should come first and then just work down the list, spending as much time as we want, or is necessary, on each subject until we run out of time (I cut off schoolwork at 3pm) or our brains are fried (usually before 3pm).
• We could get grammar, writing, math, and history done one day, then the next day we would start with geography and move to science, Latin, and typing before we come back to grammar again.  (We do some form of reading everyday.)
• There's lots of other stuff that happens during each day, but we always try to end with a 15 minute clean-up time (for sanity's sake).

That's about all there is to it. 

This will obviously not be the right plan for everyone, and it probably won't be the right plan for us for forever, but it is definitely the right plan for us for now.

The "perfect" home school plan will probably always remain a mystery to me, but I'm thankful that we follow a God who directs all change and gives wisdom and knowledge when we need it.