Mommy School Schedule

Mommy School is in full swing this winter. We started Mommy School two years ago out of pure necessity. I couldn't find a preschool that taught my kids what I want them to learn, both socially and academically, so I created Mommy School. My kids love it! Although the kids still go to preschool, primarily for their social development and to keep up with state measurements of achievement, I teach Mommy School in the morning before school, on the days one of them is home with me, and after dinner. After much research on The Responsive Classroom (www.responsiveclassroom.org) and in line with our Mommy School study of values (about which I am writing a book for the public school system), Mommy School looks like this. (By the way, my children naturally wake up by 5:30am. I am up at 4, when I run with the dog, shower, make lunches and prep for the day, and then make breakfast, which is loaded with healthy fats. Our studies on the brain have shown that healthy fats and low carbs/sugars are key to a healthy body and brain development, especially since we have a child with brain damage and a seizure disorder.) So, here is the schedule: 6am breakfast, 6:30 Mommy School begins with Morning Circle (based on The Responsive Classroom), 6:45 Station One Assisted Activity, 7:00 Station Two Independent Activity, 7:15 Station Three Group Activity, 7:30 Final Circle, 7:45 Brush Teeth and out the door for exercise (karate class, trail running, etc). I have a chart with five stations on it: Math, Reading/Writing, Art, Music and Physical Design. The kids mark which station they want to do for each of the three activities. By the end of the week, they have to have a mark in each of the stations, although they can repeat stations as often as they like. The kids love this setup. They get to choose what they study every day. They get stickers for good effort. They get to work with help, independently and as a group. Our mornings used to be hectic and sometimes involved cartoons and then by the time we tried to get out the door, everyone was complaining and uncooperative. With the cooperative nature of Mommy School in the morning, which the kids love and look forward to, they brush teeth and get out the door with total cooperation. I give out tons of stickers on their sticker chart for good behavior, cooperation, effort, etc. which also motivates them. On the days I have one child home with me, we continue Mommy School, mostly by playing board games or working on a longer project. Our board games are Candy Land, Monopoly, Scrabble and Chess. Although they needs tons of help playing these games, they love them and are learning a lot about math, reading, spelling, colors and how to follow the rules. At dinner every night, we review our values. We study one value each week from my book. We give examples of the value and talk about how the kids might have practiced the value that day. Then after dinner, they have some time to write in their values workbook and then its time for bed (brush teeth, reading, etc). There is a lot of structure to Mommy School, and yet the kids have a lot of choice, which gives them a feeling of empowerment and improves their overall interest and cooperation. During the afternoons, we often do a sport (swimming, gymnastics, etc) before coming home for a few hours of completely unstructured free play, which is as important as anything I might teach them in school. We have almost entirely eliminated TV. I love Homeschooling, because I get to teach my children the skills that I feel will allow them to be happy and successful adults. I let them fail, a lot. I encourage them to be resilient, curious, self-motivated and independent. They also must learn to be patient and to work in a group. I don't believe Homeschooling needs to be exclusive to school, but rather can be an awesome supplement for a parent who can schedule it into whatever lifestyle the family pursues. Our number one rule for Mommy School, as chosen by my kids when we created the Mommy School rules, is HAVE FUN! And we do. Try some homeschooling with your kids. You may be amazed at the results.