Day 12 of the 30-Day Challenge: Procrastination Station
Task: To create a “homeschooling” winter break schedule for Little Man and implement it during his two-week break. And by “homeschooling”, I mean it in the unofficial sense of the word. I will be conducting some school work type tasks at the homestead with Little Man, while he’s away from his brick-and-mortar school.
Reason for Task: I can’t say that this assignment has been in Procrastination Station for some insane amount of time. In all actuality, it was inspired by recent events: the combination of my 8-year old, Little Man, returning to the public school system after being homeschooled by yours truly for first and second grades as well as the fact that he’s off from school two whole weeks for winter break. Now, I have to admit that I was never truly proficient at maintaining a consistent schedule with Little Man while officially homeschooling him for first and second grades. And unfortunately, I believe that the inconsistency or flexibility (depending on how you look at it) has created some challenges for him now that he’s attending third grade at an elementary school known for strict adherence to order and conduct. I love the school though; I wouldn’t want him to be anywhere else. I’m calling third grade Little Man’s transition year. He’s acclimating to his new surroundings like a champ, but it takes time and consistent repetition to develop structure in one’s life. That’s why I feel it extremely important to create a schedule for him to follow during his downtime. I’ve told him a schedule is coming, so I think any illusion that he had of exclusively eating, sleeping, watching tv, and playing video games as his responsibilities for the day has pretty much been squashed. I’ve got work for him to do. I promise I’ll be careful to make sure he gets his rest, relaxation, and kiddy playtime; but my goal is to make sure that he gets some ABC’s and 123’s in throughout his day. Productivity people, productivity!
Here are 5 reasons that a winter break “homeschooling” schedule is beneficial for small children:
- It will provide an additional opportunity to review, fine-tune, and practice areas of study that are challenging the child.
- It will help keep school knowledge and study habits fresh in the memory bank.
- It creates structure, a routine for the day. This structure won’t be appreciated while it’s being carried out, but it will be appreciated once school resumes. The child won’t experience as extreme of a transition from a regimen of “absolutely no school work” to “back to the grind in full force”.
- It prevents the couch potato syndrome from settling in.
- It keeps the child busy. The words “I’m bored” probably won’t be uttered. If the schedule is laid out just right, there should be enough busy work to occupy the child’s day.
Duration of Task: I took today to create Little Man’s schedule and shared it with him. The implementation phase starts tomorrow and will last until the day before he returns to school, minus Saturdays and Sundays.
Outcome: See the schedule I came up with (below). There are seven categories of items I want to work on with Little Man. These seven categories will be split up over seven hours of the day, starting with the 9a hour and extending to the 3p hour. On the hour, Little Man will be required to work on an assignment in a particular category for at least 30 minutes, then he can use the other 30 minutes of the hour to do his own thing. After 3:30p, it’s a free-for-all. No homeschooling required!
We’ll see how it goes. I might have to follow back up with you on this one.
degreesofmaternity.com 