Fit in Extras

Last year I shared our Theme of the Day chart which we use to “Do 1 more thing” after lunch and fit in all our Charlotte Mason extras.

Our Theme of the Day chart is the most successful and simple method to ensure that we enjoy the rich and rewarding education Charlotte Mason suggests.

Here’s my newest Theme of the Day Chart which you are welcome to download or use ~ Theme of the Day 2014

We start our day with Bible and follow with Disciplined Studies (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic), keeping lessons short and sweet.  Then we move on to our Core.  If things go smoothly, we finish before lunch, but most days we do 1 extra thing after lunch.  Our Theme of the Day chart is a handy reminder.

Here’s an example of my youngest daughter’s weekly timetable:

The grey line indicates our lunch break.  I included an “extra” extra for my daughter to do on her own if I am busy helping my high schooler after lunch.  Also, this year I hope to include a new craft “paper Sloyd” which I read on Amy’s post “Sloyd: Warming the Intellect” at Fisher Academy International.

In case you are wondering if we really manage to “do it all”, here is a little peep into our reality:  We first do our farm chores and housekeeping before school starts and so most days we only begin at about 9:00am.  My farmer hubby and sons return for lunch at 12:30pm and we stop school at 12:00pm to prepare lunch.  This means that we usually try complete most our schooling in 3 hours.

Another reality of our life is that we live on a really remote mountain farm and we always take a day off to all go to town for shopping and appointments, so we almost NEVER have a 5-day week.  Despite this, we still usually squeeze 2 days into the “1 extra thing”!  For example, we will do our Timeline with Social Studies, or Science with Nature Study. Very often we combine Fine Arts with our tea and Poetry.

And if you still don’t think you can plan and organize and fit all your Charlotte Mason extras in your week, Patti of All things Bright and Beautiful has done all your Fine Arts for you.  She posts a weekly study of a famous artist, composer and poem with links to YouTube videos and other helpful sources.  I subscribed to her blog and her posts arrive every week per email. I simply right-click and save the famous artist’s images to an art folder on my computer to use later if we are not following her schedule.

I encourage you to plan the extras and keep them visible in your school room.  These are the fabulous and fun, rich and rewarding aspects of homeschool!

Much Grace,