Saturday 14 November 2009

November now has a timetable

Grit is worn out, fed up, and mangled flat.

My solution at the end of the day is to create a large timetable for the week ahead and pin it up where everyone can see it every morning and I remember what I do.

In my timetable is listed lessons for children, group activities, things for everyone to do, and a free day on which they sort themselves out.

You can hear the rustling of the autonomous crowd as they shake their heads in despair. The fact that I have actually timetabled a day of autonomy is not in the spirit of things at all.

I can say the sound of that distant collective sigh is far better than the rasping of Grit's broken fingers drawn down her own despairing face.

On the plus side, Dig has flown back and mended the tap.

9 comments:

Sam said...

whatever works :-)

And hooray for Dig and the tap!

sarah said...

Sorry for your mangling. Those of us in the know (ie, all the other frazzled homeschoolers out there) are indeed sighing over your timetable - with empathy.

I too follow the WW Method of Education. (Whatever Works.)

Lol, you make it sound like Dig flew home just to fix the tap :-)

Not From Lapland said...

good news about tap. you now take your lifevests off!

This is the bit that plays on my mind most about homeschooling (no not the tap) the being with them all the time. I don't think I could cope. they don't go to school here until they are 7 (they are 3 and 1 now) and i am already counting down the weeks! you are made of stronger suff than i am, that's for sure!

Maire said...

Glad to hear Dig is back and as one of the autonomous crowd, I would not ever be so arrogant as to interfere with your autonomy. Or my own, I would become structured at the drop of a hat if I thought it was the right thing to do, and someone gave me a memory transplant so that I could remember to look a the timetable. : )

Grit said...

thank you sam!

sarah, it is better to say he came home to mend the tap than to confess his real aim: to get from one side of the world to the other and change his trousers en route.

hi heather! i may have to blog about the spending time with children bit, otherwise i'll do it in the comments box. the only thing i can say is that i'm still getting used to it.

maire, you are right: the size of this timetable is at least a metre across, strapped to a piece of hardboard on wheels, and placed in front of the window so it blocks the view. if i put it somewhere discreet, within 5 minutes i'll have forgotten about it.

Pig in the Kitchen said...

Grit, nooooo, step back from the edge! I don't want to read a blog about timetables, I like your freefall home ed blog!!

but thank heavens for tap being mended ;-)
Pigx

kelly said...

Good news about the tap.

I think you are doing rather well in comparison to me.

My eldest three are kneeling at the top of the stairs practising how to howl like wolves. There is an awful lot more to it than you would think, apparently........

Merry said...

We have a child led tick list. It doesn't make for such an interesting life as yours, but we do keep busy.

I must get out more.

Grit said...

pig, i like that expression, 'freefall'; it has all the right connotations. i'll adopt it.

wolf studies, kelly. it could be a whole new academic discipline; i sometimes console myself over the more bizarre activities here that intellectual inquiry advances when people challenge boundaries.

a child-led tick list is an excellent solution, merry. i'm nicking that idea as well now.