Schedule - Balancing high school with youngers

[DS4home]

Hello, I'm Nett. First time HSing this month...whenever I get my head wrapped around everything.
I've got three kiddos beginning 9th, 3rd, and kinder.
My question is: how do I plan what subjects when? Kinder and 3rd grade have their own curriculum, so no real overlap. The oldest will probably work independently quite a bit, but I don't wanna leave him completely on his own.

All advice appreciated!

Hello and Welcome!
I'll start the conversation. Had your kids been in public school before this year? I'm always interested in people's story on how they came to start homeschooling!

I would advise starting with Adventures for your 3rd grader. It is a fun year written for just that age!

Kindergarten doesn't take very long to teach, and you can then let your Kinder student join in on most of the fun stuff in Adventures. You wouldn't have to do all the art and music and science from both curriculums. Just choose one art for the day and do it with both of your younger ones together. Family learning is fun!

Have you looked at a sample of the curriculum? I pretty much just follow the grid down the left side, doing the subjects in the order they appear. I am not one to have a strict start time, but many do. When we get started I begin with Bible as it is scheduled on the grid, and keep going until we have worked through all the subjects. I don't have to put a lot of thought into it, thanks to the awesome structure the author's have developed.

Have to go for now, maybe chat more tomorrow,
Dawn

[Nettiegirl]

Thank you, Dawn

My older two have been in Christian school each since kinder. Both with a mix of Abeka and Bob jones. My youngest has been home with me, and has begun to draw and recognize some letters.
I've got all he curriculum in house now...wow, there is quite a lot! I prepped all of the kinder stuff yesterday, and have now moved on to double checking the school supplies.

[hsm]

Hi!

I did K and ECC last year with my k'er, 3rd grader, and 6th grader. I managed it like Dawn by going down the grid pretty much in that order. It was easy to do. I agree that you don't need to do both sciences/art. We combined those a lot. Even if you just read some books on the science topic for K that is enough I think. My one piece of scheduling advice is to do the youngest first. At least in my case, my K'er didn't like waiting to start later in the day. If I didn't do him first then I had a hard time getting him focused later in the day. He was free to play or join us after his school time.

I don't know about high school. We aren't there yet. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[TriciaMR]

The K kid won't take too long. Maybe have the 3rd grader be reading from book basket, doing handwriting, math drill, studying memory verses while you work with the K kid. Then work with the 3rd grader. The K kid can join in on the fun activities, and even listen in on Bible and history (or Geography if you chose ECC). Then in the afternoon, meet with your High Schooler and help where needed.

This year I have a high schooler and twin 5th graders. My morning is dedicated to my 5th graders and my afternoons to my high schooler. Makes for long days, but my high schooler is not 100% ready to be independent (a little dyslexic and math is a killer subject for her).

[Nettiegirl]

Thank you! I'm now to the point where I'm ready to dive in and see how it all goes.