Breaking the day down by the hour

Im sitting here during Christmas break re-evaluating where we are going in our school work. I'm content where Peter is but Tink is giving me a run for my money. It's time to rethink; why do I homeschool? The number one reason is so my kids can get a Christian education. I could put them in our church school for that but then we run into reason number two; Tink has a processing disorder and the school is not equipped to deal with it. Since I need to homeschool Tink it only makes sense to homeschool Peter.

There now I have the basics down. I'm back to the bottom line. The bottom line is to teach the kids in the ways of the Lord, to teach them to walk in truth and righteousness. Tink is 14 years old today. Lots of reflection is going on in her mothers heart and mind.

I have decided that Tink is only going to do the bare minimum in school this year. Between orchestra classes and volleyball she has 17 hours of her week used up. The average child attends school 7 hours a day at the very most. There are five days in the school week; seven times five is 35. Thirty-five minus 17 is 18. So Tink has 18 hours in her week for other book learning. Five and a half of those 18 hours are spent in classes at the charter school. Another hour is spent in a meeting with a state academic rep. Another hour is spent in mandatory volunteer work at the Academy. That now leaves Tink with 10.5 hours during the normal school week day to focus on her homeschool studies. That breaks down to roughly 2 hours and 25 minutes a day. Lets take out that 25 minutes for lunch time and she has 2 hours a day to do her work.

In that 2 hours she has to do Math, Science, Reading and Grammar. That would basically leave just a half hour for every subject. That doesn't count the homework she needs to do from the classes she is taking at the Charter school. I have been figuring her day from 8-3 with a 25 minute break for lunch. Do you see the problem? There aren't enough hours in the day.

Now assuming you followed all those numbers you know why I am at my wits end with her curriculum and education. After much thought and prayer we will be going into the new year with less focus on anything that doesn't positively have to be done in her curriculum. I have spoken to her Education Specialist and we have decided to test her orally every six weeks through this year with a test that is set up for this purpose. This will tell me whether she is actually making progress or not.

I will let you know what the results of the testing are. If after the first 6 weeks of this year we do not see even the littlest improvement I will have to refigure everything. If I see improvement I will let things be.

So what's happening in your homeschool world? Any milestones reached? Is there anything you have been doing that you are going to stop for winter break? Share with us.