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This year there is one thing that I have changed in our study schedule that is working very well – our Monday Workshops.  As I began our years plans I found I had a handful of subjects that were additional to our main core subjects that required my input and instruction.  I’ve scheduled all these to happen on Monday.

The Pros:

Being the beginning of a week, I am fresh and ready to go

It is one intensive day and then the rest of the week flows a little more relaxed

The Cons:

I need to be organized before Monday
I can’t ‘wing it’ on Mondays

It is full on

We have a monthly study schedule; this means some subjects we only touch once a month, some of course are done weekly, or daily.  Sometimes I have wondered about the benefits of touching those subjects at all if that is all we get done – but the idea is that I am exposing my children to an idea – they have the rest of the month to ponder and pursue if it sparks something within them.  So far it is working well.

Some subjects are done as individuals (one on one with me), some are done as a whole group or with various mixtures of the group (all depending on who needs to know the particular subject)

Subjects for our Workshops:

• Science – Independent with Daniel.  I chose this as Daniel’s independent focus this year with the idea that he will be able to do experiments independently throughout the week.
• Art – Nomi is very artistic and this is the one subject that we will focus on for her this year.  She does this one on one with me.  There is no point me showing her how to do anything – she far excels me in art – but we talk about an idea, connect it to the Bible and then she has several art assignments to work on throughout the week.
• Money – Financial Responsibility with Josh and Jess.  We read a narrative/text, we write in our reading journals and discuss.  So far we are working on the ‘whys’ of financial responsibility, later in the year we will work on the ‘hows’.
• Auslan – this is the Australian Sign Language for the Deaf and is the LOTE choice for Nomi, Daniel and Jess.

The above subjects are done weekly, then I have a handful of monthly subjects that we alternate weekly:

• Character – On the first Monday of the month we introduce a new character trait to our children.  Everyone joins together for this so that it is clear that it is a family focus even if the older children study independently for the rest of the month.
• Creation Science – We have a collection of DVD’s and a quarterly magazine that I draw from for this hour or so. 
• Geography – to be honest – we haven’t got here yet this year, but hope to start this block when we get started again, a couple of weeks after Easter.
• Writing – we have writing workshops where I introduce another aspect of writing to the children, we practice it together and then they apply that lesson for the rest of the month to anything that they are working on.  If they are not ready for a new technique we play around with and practice some more with what they are currently working on.