Not finding time for reading and writing!

[Caroline]

Well, it's January, and I am back to tweaking our schedule. We follow the schedule Andrew laid out in the Latin-Centered Curriculum, within reason....given I have 4 kids. (6th, 4th, 2nd and pre-k)
Our schedule is very full, and it seems we never have time to spend on more progymnismata. Most of our time is spent on Latin, Greek, French, Copywork and Math, plus the study of the day. That is 4-5 hrs right there. There is the evening gymnastics/scouts/dance and what have you, so there is virtually no time for the kids to read aloud with me. I am feeling that there are not enough hours in the day. (Like the lady in the thread under before me).
I know the kids should be reading more, writing more, and I should be spending time with my preschooler (she is ready to learn to read), but it just isn't happening.
The only thing that consoles me is that I know they are getting a better education than they would at public school. What can I do to find time to finish the books we are reading? 1 hour a day per kid just isn't happening!
I want to do better.

[Mungo]

How much time are you spending on each of those subjects? Adding French in will necessarily extend your day, which is one of the reasons I don't emphasize modern languages in elementary school.

Just as a comparison, at the high school where I teach, students have one hour of Latin a day (plus homework) and half an hour of Greek (ditto). The middle schoolers I teach have 45 minutes a day of instruction for both languages, plus maybe 15-30 minutes of homework. Both middle school and high school students spend one hour a day on math. Middle schoolers spend 60-90 minutes on the weekly rotation subjects; the high schoolers, 2 hours. That does not include reading for the classes or written assignments; it's all discussion. At home, it is possible to spend half that time on reading and half on discussion or writing, at least for middle schoolers.

Copywork need never take more than a few minutes. The older two do not need to be doing copywork beyond what is in Classical Writing, and the 2nd grader could be doing maybe 5 or at most 10 minutes a day.

I realize that juggling children at different levels can be very difficult, but the key is not to try to do too much. I would set a time limit for each subject. Do your best to make sure that everyone is on-task (not always possible, I know!), and when the time is over, move on to the next subject.

Good luck!

-Drew Campbell

[Gretel Deem]

I wanted to encourage you in your struggles. Drew gives wonderful advice, and as you can see by my recent posted questions - which you referred to - I am in no position to say hey I've conquered it, let me tell you the way that works. But what I can do is encourage you forward. The ages and grade levels of my children are not as different as yours, neither do I have as many children (1 less). However, trying to juggle multiple things in a day and find time for something other than acadmecs, not to mention taking care of the home, the husband, and the character issues in your children which ultimately arise daily - phew! It's a lot. You may have read the comment someone gave me: "Less is definitely more when homeschooling."

Also, I have read many suggestions that challenge a mom to look at the extra-curriculars and verify what is needed, what could wait, and is the positive derived from that extra curricular overshadowed by the challenges and difficulties it brings to the rest of the schedule. It sounds like you are handling a lot and I bet you are doing better than you think you are.

As far as the January reevaluation thing - you are not alone there! I was reading a few great articles in Home School Enrichment - if you are not familiar with this magazine, check it out online, they have a wide assortment of articles that encourage, inspire, and instruct you and your children in your noble efforts. I read a suggestion to take a detour from the regular curriculum schedule, perhaps, to renew your focus, bring objective insight that comes with distance, and a little refreshment. It could be as simple as a day of different studies or perhaps a whole week or more. Maybe consider a unit study of a topic you are interested in, or maybe delve more deeply into a subject you don't usually have time for - giving yourself the freedom to explore and yet consider it school because you are all learning and enjoying the process of learning how to learn. When you are done, or in the process, you may stumble onto your own answers. You also may feel much better about things just after having a break.

Another suggestion to finding more time - you may look at how you the mother are spending your time. Do you ever find yourself spinning your wheels? Do you keep track of how you spend your time or how much time you spend on any particular thing? For instance, do you spend more time in the kitchen than is really necessary? Could you share some of the responsiblities with your children more than you already do? Could you force yourself to except less of a perfectly clean picked up area somewhere? Do you schedule your laundry for a certain time of day and/or day(s) in the week? Point being, could you find more time in your day for the other things you wish to accomplish by re-working how you spend your time? Again, not that I have this mastered. As I write this I am thinking through what I continually need to improve upon. Perhaps you have these issues mastered, and then, wow, good for you. Share your wisdom with the rest of us! But perhaps you are like most of us and still wrestle with the wisest way to use the abundant but every dwindling resource God blesses us with each day - time.
Hope all goes well for you and you can enjoy your children too.

Another point - don't beat yourself up along the way for what isn't getting done. It will come in time. (There it is again! That wonderful recurring resource!) If you are reading to your preschooler daily, you could simply work in a little bit of reading instruction at that time - a little bit here and there adds up, especially at that age. Letters, their sounds, stringing them together, without formal instruction, but here and there, you may be teaching more than you realize you are already doing. At that age, as you know from the others you've raised, they sometimes learn best when we take advantage of their interest as it arises: they see a word on a box when you are shopping and you stop to help them sound it out. They lean over to see a sibling's book and they help the younger child recognize the letters. Games are fun and a good break for everyone and they teach the younger ones a lot.

Caroline, we all want to do better. Bless you for having such an aspiration. The day we are content to remain stagnant or, worse yet, give up, is a day for sorrow. We press on with the belief that our hope will be realized.
Keep up the good work.

Gretel