Stay at Home Schedule

This schedule was from last summer. [This summer has changed]
8am Wake up and eat breakfast
9am Do an Arts and crafts project or just color.
10 either let them run outside or take them to the park
11:30 or noon Lunch- Get you child involved. Very simple is a sandwich and they get excited helping you.
1pm quite time or nap.
2pm Reading time.
2:30 Ask them to draw a picture about the book.
3pm Practice writing skills from workbooks.
4pm Snack
4:30 Let them have some free time
5pm Dinner- Again give him stuff to help you.
6pm Go for a walk
7pm Take a shower
8pm Watch a cartoon.
Then bedtime.
Again this year has changed just b/c we go to the GYM MWF. Go to the park on Tuesday. Thee's a great homeschooling team that meets at Raymond Russell Park off I-10 and Camp Bullis. We do story time on Tuesday and Thursday at the Library. When my son was younger I had a picture schedule. So if he didn't want to do something for that time I would let me pick out another activity.
GL

Hi N.,

I know how hard it is to have a baby and a four year old. That was us last year!

My advice to you might seem crazy, but it works really great for us: Get rid of all of the TVs in your home. If there is a TV around, you want to watch it and so does the little guy. It isn't healthy for anyone at all. We have a dvd player on our computer and we subscribe to netflix, so we can always (very intentionally) call up exactly what we want our little one to watch. She gets no more than 2 hours of educational programming a week.

OTher than that, our schedule is like this (she's almost 6 now and baby is 1.5): Breakfast, snuggly play time or outside time. We garden together. (I'm not a gardener, she is. I just buy the plants). That usually turns into water play or tomato picking. Swim lessons follow then lunch time. It's always fun to use things that she's grown!

After lunch is a nap for both my kids. I need this because I work from home. Sometimes this means they stay up extra late. If my big kid does't seem to need a nap, she can watch a video or color or practice reading a story. SHe likes to do this in the office with me.

After baby wakes there is a fruit snack then outside time or errands. We play a game then make dinner, eat, go for a walk, bathe and its bedtime again.

We really can't fit everything we want to do in a day, but getting rid of the TV makes more productive and educational and meaningful things possible. Kids are fine without it, they do learn to entertain (and think for) themselves. So do we.

Good luck to you.

I also have a very active child. And I agree with Umber... it's a hard thing, but get rid of the TVs! We actually have one TV, but we don't even have an antennae to get local channels. We have prescreened DVDs that we keep in a locked case. Most of the day we have the TV off. You wouldn't believe the weird looks we get for it, but we know our own vices too well!

I've found that schedules are nice, but if you're ANYTHING like me, I can't stick to them to save my life. I'd do a very general schedule, not a rigorous timed schedule. Ours is along the line of this:

Breakfast
Gym (3 days a week, the other days vary) or outside play (if it's too hot, we have supervised Wii time), or errands
Relaxing time (I change, the kids color or do light picking up of toys)
Lunch
Younger takes a nap, my daughter usually helps me around the house then. She loves helping with the dishes and laundry, I was so surprised! We put on music and dance around while we're "taking care of our responsibilities".
Outside play or reading time
Light schoolwork (on some days)
Help Mom with dinner (I find something in every meal that they can help me with... you'd be surprised at what they can do at a young age. My daughter makes omelettes... well... all but the flipping part)
Baths/Brush Teeth/Get Ready for Bed

Like I said... it's flexible. But there are definitely blocks during the day that we're doing certain things. They just change and keep it interesting. Otherwise I think I'd go stir crazy.

The best advice I can give is make a conscious effort to include him in everything you do. He'll feel like a little man, and it will take some pressure off of you to be so strict.

Good luck!

N., sorry I don't have a ton of advice! I have a three year old and a seven month old and am a stay at home mom... planning on homeschooling as well. I just wanted to write out that I support you and am on the same road! Hope that's encouraging!! I'll be reading for advice. And I'm open for ideas as well... especially crafty ideas. We do a lot of chalkboard drawing and window painting!

This is the schedule that I used for when I was watching children.

They had to be there no later than 8:30

8-8:30 breakfast
8:30-8:45 potty time/diaper change
8:45-9 Barney or whatever videos.
9-9:30 Circle time,
Sing songs, read books, show them flascards of abc's, #'s from 1-20, shapes, colors, days of the week, picture cards
9:30-10:00 Paper work, Trace the letter, shapes, name and then let them color the page. Practice with them holding a pencil or crayon the correct way
10-10:30 Outside time, or play with toys time.
10:30-11:00 Video Time.
11:00- 11:30 Lunch time
11:30-12:00 Read a story to him/her as they lay down for nap.
12:00-2:00 naptime
2:00-2:15 Potty time
2:15-2:30 Video time
2:30-3:00 snack time
3:00-3:30 play time
3:30-4:00 do a circle time again or outside time
4:00-4:30 let them color or just draw
4:30-5:00 listen to music and let them dance.
5:00 let them watch another video until dad gets home and then dad can play with him/her and you can get dinner done.

This way they are not only learning, but they do get some video/t.v. time in. you can not just cut out t.v. altogether. I hope this help.

Hi N.,

Find some activities that work for your older son. We use story time, singing time (with puppets & pictures), arts & crafts, cooking, walking around the neighborhood, free play, and even chore help (gathering towels or sorting laundry). In the summer a sprinkler in the backyard is awesome to help get the kids out of the house without over heating, just find a shady spot for you and the baby. I would use the TV only when you need to nurse or make that time free play. Don't get overwhelmed and try to put all these things in one day, but try to pick one for the morning and one for the afternoon. Good luck.

Go to www.houstonsahm.com and look at their lesson plans. There is no "schedule" per se, but you can create your own schedule based on some of the lessons you find.