July brings swimming, the beach and planning for our next homeschool year. I know it seems too early, but we are starting school the second week in August. It gives us the ability to take more time off when we need it. 

I want to be more consistent with dividing our year into smaller terms with breaks in between. While we did our required 180 days last year, it wasn’t quite as organized as I would have liked.  I love planning and organizing but follow-through is not my strong suit! 

Last night, I looked at a calendar of the upcoming school year and marked off days I knew we would not be doing school, and then I broke our year into blocks or terms.  My plan for this coming year is to do school year-round with breaks between each term. I think that will help me to stay focused, with the ability to reevaluate and make any necessary changes before starting the next term. I really need the change of pace a break brings every few months, monotony can be suffocating! 

I also want to figure out a loose daily schedule. I say loose because let’s be realistic, sticking to it exactly just isn’t going to happen. My plan is to follow the schedule I have set for the first term and then reevaluate. By then I will have given it a fair shot and I will have a better idea of what needs more or less time in our schedule. 

So far our daily schedule is looking like this:

8:45
Breakfast, read aloud, and memory work

9:00
Clean up, morning jobs for older kids; mom set up activity for the morning

9:30
Reading and math with the 3 oldest; rotate order of who goes first

11:00
Schooling loop

12:00
Lunch

1:00
Naps and quiet reading time

2:00
Judah reads to me, free play in playroom; still quiet time for mom

3:00
Life skills, health, arts in some kind of rotation.  (Maybe I will do a loop here too.)

I am going to try loop scheduling for science, history & Geography,  I read about it on Amongst Lovely Things and feel like it might be a good fit for us. Also, while I may do some of Judah’s reading in the morning, he really needs complete silence and no distractions when reading, so it often gets done in the afternoon to give him the atmosphere that works best for him.