('Just another day of homeschooling the boys....here we're at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.)
One of the very first questions I get asked about homeschooling is "How do you do THAT with a toddler???"
While homeschooling a kindergartener with a VERY active near-2 year old on the loose is not easy, it's possible to get 4-5 hours of quality education in without resorting to midnight classes or sticking the little guy in a playpen. Likewise, it's also possible to fit in quality time with both children, continue to take enrichment classes with each, and even to work out 4 times a week. The trick is organization, patience, and, (I will confess) lots and lots of cleanup.
This is what a typical week of homeschool looks like for us, with Brendan easily meeting his 3 1/2 hours of "school time" each day:
Monday:
8-9am: After eating breakast and getting dressed, Brendan sits at the kitchen table and begins his language arts while I bounce between feeding Ryan, cleaning up the kitchen, and providing him with occassional guidance. He'll "warm up" with handwriting, then follow with either a spelling or grammar exercise. These are his "hardest" topics of the day since he is in 3rd-4th grade workbooks, so we do these first while his brainpower is fresh.
On most days, we leave the house around 9am for some activity.
Two mornings of the week, Ryan has playgroup or music class. We pack Brendan's bookbag with language arts, CalMath, or other worksheets that he can complete on his own off to the side while Ryan has his Mommy time. I usually design it so Brendan can finish that work in about half an hour, then enjoy a book on our homeschool reading list. Sometimes, he wants to join in with the class or play with the little guys, and that's usually fine as long as he got his basic work done.
Another one or two weekday mornings, it is Brendan who has workshop classes at his charter school. These include bi-weekly writing workshops, AIMS science classes, 5 in a Row/Children Around the World workshops (involving lots of craft projects), and Spanish classes. Those obviously count as "schooltime" for Brendan, and I have an activity bag for Ryan and me off to the side, or we walk over to the nearby library.
When we get home from the activities, we have about 2 more hours left. Ryan is a great 2-hour napper, so Brendan and I wait until he crashes before we dig into math. We are using the RightStart maniupulative-based math program, and there are so many manipulatives and mental exercises that we need our one-on-one time without distraction. Brendan is finishing Level B, and he picks it up so quickly that we're usually able to get 2-3 lessons in each session (to compensate for non-nap days!). If it is a non-nap day, we'll just pull a lesson from CalMath 2 (the 2nd grade book used in the regular classroom), which Bren can pull off in 5 minutes.
The third "hour" consists of either history or science. We love the R.E.A.L. science program, which is made up almost entirely of "labs." Right now, we fit those into Ryan's naptime too or have Daddy work on some of them with Bren in the evenings or weekends because they often involve equipment (ie heat for the weater cycle), chemicals, or small parts (ie dissecting the parts of a flower) that would not be toddler-friendly. On alternating days, we study Ancient History through Story of the World. This is Brendan's favorite part, since we'll read a chapter in our story book (ie Ancient Egypt), look at the geography of the region, read several related books (fiction and nonfiction alike), occasionally watch a related video, and have fun with related craft and cooking projects. Ryan can often join us in modified projects, and Brendan can do the reading on his own.
In addition to our three basic hours, Brendan has "PE time" through his taekwondo classes, soccer, a weekly playdate with other homeschoolers, or riding his bike/having a playground playdate/etc. Sometimes we join other homeschoolers for more structured PE "classes," too.
We can also include reading time as school time. Brendan reads his Story of the World-related literature books for at least half an hour each day, plus he reads for at least an hour every evening. On special days, he also gets online educational game privileges. We do enough other things that we don't count this, but since schools use them too, they do count in our daily record.
One of the best parts of homeschooling are the field trips! At least once a week, the boys and I are jetting off to some museum or other field trip. In the past few months, we've been to two zoos, an endangered animal sanctuary, an 1800's power plant, a colonial village, three science museums, a sports conditioning, a fine arts event, a musical, a tour of a fire station and a fast food restaurant, and more that I'm simply not remembering. These are toddler-friendly too, so Ryan is enjoying as much as Brendan. We're especially lucky for these opportunities, since the regular schools have completely cut field trips with the budget issues.
Plus, we also do other classes throughout the week with other homeschoolers. Brendan just began a LEGO engineering class for 90 minutes a week, which counts as school time. I don't think the kids even realize how much they're learning with the fun they're having! We also have a whole schedule of co-op type activities with other famiies through our social groups.
The greatest thing about homeschooling is that you can adapt your school hours around your family's needs. Not only can we make room around Ryan's activities, but we can take "time off" so Mommy can get in the gym. Both boys love the playcenter at our sports club. On busy weeks, Ryan plays and I work out while Brendan's at taekwondo. Otherwise, on "off" days, Brendan loves playing wii in the playcenter, and we just call that playtime, so school begins when we get back home.
It's also important to remember that, while most of us are diligent about getting our required "school time" in each day, these children are learning much much more in their time than they would in the regular classroom. After volunteering every week in the regular kindergarten, I know that the amount of "learning" that is done in 3 1/2 hours of classroom work can easily fit into an hour of one-on-one homeschooling. This is why homeschooling children are often so much further ahead.
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