In addition to our normal school work, I decided to try another "unit study." So, we made cinnamon rolls! The kids learned how to read, analyze, and triple a recipe. They learned that 3 teaspoons equal one tablespoon. They learned how to take turns and cooperate. They learned how yeast works, that making bread of any kind takes a long time because it has to rise, and that there are two delicious ways to make them-- with caramel and pecans or with creamy white icing on top. They also learned more on Four Square writing as they wrote five paragraph essays on making cinnamon rolls. If you ask me they learned math, science, home economics, and language arts all at the same time!
"G" kneaded the dough.
Anastasia buttered the pans.
Julia and Anna rolled out the dough.
Sveta and Rachel spread the butter.
Anastasia and Annalyn sprinkled on the brown sugar.
Anna and "G" sprinkled on the cinnamon.
After patiently waiting nearly an hour for the rolls to rise-- we were blessed with the bestest cinnamon rolls ever!
I know what I am having for breakfast!
29 inspiring thoughts:
I think my home school day averages 4 hours and that already includes art and music.
The trick about homeschool is that the kids don't sit around waiting, so a lot more can be achieved in the same amount of time than in the school.
Hmmm...well I didn't homeschool, myself, but I have plenty of friends who did. I don't think that they spent a traditional school day's time on work. If you factor in walking in line, recess, lunch, distractions, delays due to other students, etc, normal students don't spend a solid six hours on schoolwork everyday either!
On the other hand, I know that Montessori schools emphasize making time for kids to really get interested in something and work on it for an hour or two.
Maybe you're just getting the best of both worlds with your Cinnamon Roll unit!
Sounds like alot of fun and learning :)
I'm sorry i havent commented much
Me and my mom were in Russia for the past 3 months :)
We went to visit my babushka, dedushka, and my uncle who came with his 5 year old son Daniel :)
I hope all the kids enjoyed their day of learning and cooking
Best wishes to and your wonderful family on this new 2011 year :)
Please consider sharing that recipe some day.
My mouth is watering and I am so jealous over you having them to eat. LOL!!
Love,
Sheila
Yummmmmmy!!!
We start schooling at about 8:00am and are done when the kids finish. Sometimes they are done early and sometimes it can drag out until bedtime. :) They know exactly what I expect them to accomplish so it really depends on their attitude that day. Most days we are done around 2-3. Can you e-mail me again Christine? I don't have your e-mail address b/c it got lost when I dropped my laptop. kpgreer@verizon.net
Those look good! Great job mom!
I remember when our son didn't think math was important, I gave him a Cookie recipe with all fraction problems. He had to solve the problems for the recipe to work. LOL
3 3/4- 1/2 = etc.
It was a great project so he could see that he really was using math all the time.
We start school at 9:00. I don't like to rush in the a.m. and that gives everybody time to be ready, fully awake and organized before our day begins with chores done etc.
We school from 9-12 take an hour for lunch and then school from 1-3:15 or sometimes later....
we have gone as late as 4 or 5, depending on what we are doing.
I have not figured out how anybody does the two or three hours and you are done thing, except for maybe Kindergarten or preschool.
It takes us about 3-4 hours per day to complete all text assignments. Art, exercise, cooking or life lessons come as needed.
I agree with Pam on this one. It can really vary depending on the day and the attitudes.
I have been homeschooling for 16 years and it is an ever-changing thing. With our first 3 bios who are all very driven people it was like 5 hours most days.
With our 2 adopted our day can really vary.
My son can start at 8 and go till 5 with a 2 hour break in the middle. He has a very hard time staying on track and not very highly motivated, some days. Others are a thrill as we accomplish so much in a short period of time.
Our daughter with special needs, it depends on her day and whether information is 'flowing' for her that day or not.
I think it all depends on the child, the day, the parent, and so many other things. It is important to remember that relationships are key, they with gain knowledge if you just keep plucking away at it, but it is wisdom that is the ultimate goal!
Go with God,
Donna
I do most of our homeschooling in the morning from 8 am-noon with an hour recess. Then we do individual learning (on our own- guided of course) from 1-3:30. I have 5 children that do full time school and 2 that do part time...and one that just gets to hang out for fun.
Looks yummy! I think we'll be dropping by for a field trip. Heehee! Hmm, for my 1st & 2nd grader we do school for about 3 hrs. a day, covering Bible, Language Arts, Math and Science/History/Fine Arts. We do History 2 days a week, science 2 days a week and Fine Arts 1 day a week. You don't have to cover every subject every day, especially for the youngers. The most important thing for the youngers is learning to read and read well, and do math.
Our state law require us to homeschool 4 hours a day. That's what we try to do: sometimes more, sometimes less, but an average of four hours.
We have chosen not to make homeschooling look like public/traditional school. Instead, we have made our home an environment of learning. The children {ages 5-8} have what we call "sit down" school for an average of 2 hours three days a week. On our "non-sit down" days we do science, geography, history, art/crafts, etc. I am always in the middle of a chapter book/read aloud {currently we are on book five in the Box Car Children series}. I am amazed at how quickly the children learn. We have a lot of fun!
Blessings,
S
Our home school day really does vary. I plan for our day to be about 6 hours long which includes an hour for lunch/break and an hour for music/PE/art(depending on the day). That gives approximately an hour per subject. Most days my daughter finishes on time or earlier. My boys are a whole different story.HAHA! They really do struggle to finish each day and sometimes are finishing just in time to sit down for dinner. They all know what I expect though and their schedules are clearly laid out for them. I have spread the work out to be done by a certain date and so they really have to be careful to not fall behind. We do work all year instead of just August-June like most schools. It just works better for us since all of our children are home schooled. By working all year we can take a vacation whenever it is convenient and of course our destinations usually aren't crowded because everyone else is in school. It works well for us. Congratulations on your new (home school) adventure. It really is the hardest but most rewarding thing you will ever do. Good Luck! ~Melissa Moss
melissamoss79@live.com
Sounds to me like you got this home schooling thing down! We start by 8:30am with Bible (breakfast and chores are all done by then). We're homeschooling 4 kids (K1-9th grades) and now we have little Slava underfoot. We are typically done by 1 or 2 depending on life in general. I love your unit study with the cinnamon rolls!
I was also wondering who "G" is? I follow your blog often, but when we were in Ukraine from late Oct to Thanksgiving I couldn't access it. I assume I missed something?
Blessings,
I think you have this homeschooling thing down pat. We start at 8:30am (after breakfast and chores). We are schooling 4 kids grades K/1 to 9th grade and now we have Slava underfoot. We usually end around 1 or 2pm depending on life in general. I love the cinnamon roll unit study!
Also, may I ask who "G" is? I usually follow your blog but while we were in Ukraine I couldn't access it. I guess I missed something?
Blessings,
Sandra
It depends on the day for us too. On days we have paperwork only, 2-3 hours, on unit study days, 3-5. That includes music practice(20 min per instrument), which they do daily as part of their school schedule, but not chores and cooking.
We combine as many subjects as possible to keep things efficient; history, science, geography and some lit units. Math, spelling, grammar and some lit. done individually. It really does save time!
Every Sunday night I write out the kids schedules. These include all subjects, and Bible, pe, electives, chores, work if necessary and volunteer time.
they get these on Monday morning and it is their responsibility to check off each assignment when they are done.
There are many subjects they do on their own and many that I lead with two or more kids. It rotates each year.
At the end of the week we see what we have accomplished. Most everything gets done, but some moves over into the next week.
So, our days are like most others. Some are done in 4 hours, but some are still doing their math at bedtime! UGH! But, they know what to expect and that I expect it done.
I would suggest making sure they know what is expected of them, even if it is just daily and not weekly. Give them some responsibility (the older ones) to do what they are suppose to do. It also helps them with their time management - which some of my kids are still struggling with!!!
Love the cinn. buns!! YUM! I agree, share the recipe!!
Blessings,
Sue
You asked for advice, I was going to give some, then I read the rest of the blog.
I think you are doing fine!
If you were doing ONLY bookwork that long, I would say WAY TOO MUCH. However, since you are combing school/life together in such a wonderful way, I think your timetable is great. When I was teaching all my kids, it took a lot longer, too. I just wanted to be done before the big yellow bus drove by. Now that I'm schooling only 2, we can usually be done by noon, or shortly after lunch.
I'm homeschooling 4 kids, ages 7, 8, 9, and 10. We do use a program from the internet for a base, and add to that - we typically spend 3 to 4 hours. But as some others have said, we have so many things going on 'outside' our 'schooling' time. Always reading chapter books, always researching something or other online. We get stacks of books from the library, just for fun - and many of the books the kids want 'for fun' are fact books. They love Guiness Book of World Records, facts on animals, machines, space, etc. One fun part for us is that we're in Finland, schooling at home in English, and get a real assortment of books in both Finnish and English.
What I would love to see happen is that we would get a homeschool blog going. I know there are tons out there, but one that I knew of from the start, and with some people who I know, either in person, or from this lovely blog-world! I would love to get ideas ... one area I know we need to spend more time on is handwriting, for example. So ideas on how to accomplish that in as fun, productive way as possible.
We "do school" from about 9:30 until 12. That mostly involves a group activity like a unit study and then the little kids do their workbooks while I do any one on one that the big kids need. After lunch we work until 2 or 3. That usually includes one on one reading or math with the littles while the big kids do their individual work. The kids who read all do about an hour of reading a day and sometimes finish up writing or computer work in the evenings while I make dinner. I think it comes to about 4 hours a day. It's a good balance for us. We've homeschooled for 11 years and sometimes have done a lot more each day and sometimes a lot less but this amount seems to be the most effective.
I really enjoy reading your blog and hearing about what all your family is doing.
(This is only my 2nd time commenting)--
Years ago I homeschooled 4--now they are grown and I just have 1 that is being homeschooled.
I guess I was just wondering if you could say that all that they did and learned with making the cinnamon rolls--was all that they needed to do for those subjects for today.--Unless of course you are using a program that is more structured-and you need to follow their curriculm every day. Sometimes it is good just to take a day a little easier and do something that you are learning at and still having lots of fun.
Debra
If you look at a regular school day, take out all their time transitioning from one area or classroom to another, take out lunch and recess, they only have about 4 hours of actual learning time. Many of my friends homeschool, and I don't think any of them go more than 5 hours TOPS.
I homeschool two daughters, grades 2 and 7. We try to start at 9:00, take a lunch break approx. 12-1:30 and then work 1:30-3:30 (or whenever we get done--generally by 4:00). Of course, we often run behind in the AM, so end up having lunch from 1:00-1:30 instead of 12:00-1:30. There are also times one girl or the other is "on break" while she waits for me to finish up something with her sister. Problem is, I rarely get a break!
I have never figured out how you could do a full day of school in 2-3 hours either. I'm glad to see from other comments that I'm not the only one. Sometimes it feels that way! Maybe if all I had was the second grader, but it does take extra time to work with two kids of such a wide age split. I also think I'd be doing my 7th grader a disservice to send her off to high school thinking that school can be completed in 3 hours. On the other side of things, though, she almost never has "homework." She gets all of her academic work (and sometimes piano practice) done by 4:00. Only rarely does she have to work on schoolwork after dinner.
Good luck! I would never have the courage to homeschool eight. Of course, I'd never have the courage to take on 14 kids, either! They're obviously lucky to have you.
Fun Project!
I don't homeschool - but my friends who do rarely spend more than 5 or 6 hours a day 'schooling'.
Kids don't spend more than that 'learning' at school really - but since you have such a large and varied age group represented maybe it would be different for the different ages and stages?
We're in our 17th year of home schooling. We only ever did formal "sit down at the table" school three or four days a week. We'd spend about 3-4 hours on those days. We spent the rest of the time cooking, field tripping, reading, reading reading, and laughing. All of my kids were required to choose an instrument (there's so much math in music!), and an artsy activity as well (could be an actual art endeavor--clay, paint, etc, or a foreign language or dance/movement class). That goes for my daughter with Down syndrome as well.
The best part about homeschooling is that you can change it whenever you see the need. Everyone does it differently to suit their own family.
Our day is about 5 hours at the most, though occasionally a child will choose to drag things out. My older kids are fairly independent, so I only work closely with the Littles. Unit studies are the way to go when you have lots of Littles!
Mommaofmany
www.teachingthecrew.blogspot.com
I have a preschooler and a kindergartner and we study from 8-noon. Here in Guatemala, schools let out at noon, so I feel that's a good way to go with our boys, too . . .they get to play with their cousin when she comes home from school.
I was also homeschooled and my mom started us at 8 and we had specific assignments to do and we were done when we were done. There were nights when I still had school after dinner!! I don't recommend that though, there has to be time to play and it did cause burnout, not to mention some awful fights. :) Another reason I've chosen to go with the set times.
Sounds like you're doing great and I love the idea of the cinnamon rolls!
GREAT fun! I am glad hsing is going so well! We do our table work from 8:30-1:30 :o)
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