Trying to get organized

I'm glad I gave myself so long to prepare for our first year of homeschooling. Since making our schedule for the first week I have also made a template of what things typically need to be accomplished each day:

Weekly Schedule

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Monday:

OB/Midwife appt

Cassius:

Math

1^st Language Lessons

Reading practice or lesson

Writing with Ease

Spelling Workout

Yusuf:

Math

Reading practice or lesson

HWOT Letters and Numbers

Together:

History – Read chapter, make a narration page

Bible – Big Truths, read a chapter, introduce catechism for week

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Tuesday

Ben's therapy from 11:00 – 12:00

GC at 6:00 or 7:00

Request library books for next week

Cassius:

Math

1^st Language Lessons

Reading practice or lesson

Writing with Ease

Spelling Workout

Yusuf:

Math

Reading practice or lesson

HWOT Letters and Numbers

Together:

Science: Read appropriate encyclopedia, narration page (Can you tell me two things you learned about this animal? What was the most interesting thing we read about this animal?)

Bible: Read 1 chapter, review catechism for week

Wednesday

Cassius:

Math

1^st Language Lessons

Reading practice or lesson

Narration page for book we have read aloud this week

Writing with Ease

Spelling Workout

Yusuf:

Math

Reading practice or lesson

HWOT Letters and Numbers

Together:

History – Read aloud from library book(s), possible narration page, art or activity, and map work

Bible: Read 1 chapter, review catechism for week

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Thursday

Cassius:

Math

1^st Language Lessons

Reading practice or lesson

Writing with Ease

Spelling Workout

Yusuf:

Math

Reading practice or lesson

HWOT Letters and Numbers

Together:

Science – Read additional library books, possible narration page

Bible – Read 1 chapter, review catechism for week

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Friday

Catch up on any missed work

Library trip

Possible field trip (zoo, etc.?)

Cool huh? I think this will make my planning from week to week a lot easier because I can just look at my template. And it's flexible since we don't really HAVE to do anything on Fridays; we can push a day there if we need to. Or we can push a day to Saturday. Or Sunday!  And if other things come up which we do certain days on a regular basis I can add them as well. Some of these things we also don't HAVE to do every week; like if we skipped a week of science it would totally not be a big deal this year. 

So I plan to (PLAN to, ha ha ha) get a large magnetic whiteboard, write out things to do each day, and then cross them off as we go. And I have a paper copy for posterity/record keeping, which is not necessary in our state but it will make me feel better. I realize this may get tedious and I may change as I go along.  I tend to be anal retentive so I typically don't mind the tedium. :)

I also made new chore charts for the little ones and gave them all more chores. Things like taking the sheets of their bed every Saturday for me to wash them, bringing their laundry downstairs twice a week for it to be washed, emptying the little trash cans in the bathrooms, wiping baseboards around the house, vacuuming, etc. This first couple of weeks has been an exercise in frustration trying to teach them how to do these things but I know in a few weeks once it becomes more of a habit it will be a big help for me. My expectations are pretty low and I figure hey, if we do these things every week (like wipe the baseboards), at some point even if things get missed it will be mostly clean right?  At the very least it will save me a few trips upstairs to the bedrooms each week and will guarantee that laundry and sheets get washed more regularly, which is a good thing! Also having Yusuf vacuum his bedroom was fantastic. There was a bunch of stuff under his bed and he's so little he was able to actually get underneath his bed with the vacuum! That floor is the cleanest it's been in months!

Brian was able to feel the baby move two days ago, when I was 24 weeks, 1 day along. The placenta location is making it hard because the baby just moves around so much. She'll kick in one spot and then just be gone, I assume moving on to kicking the placenta. So it's hard to catch her even though I feel her every day. Anyway I could actually see my tummy moving with her movements so that was pretty cool.

Also, since we are at 24 weeks the baby is considered viable! Which just means that if I do go into labor, the baby has a chance at surviving. I think the odds are something like 5% so they are not that great, but 5% is certainly better than 0%. I have heard stories of people going into labor at 21-22 weeks and the baby is born and lives for a few hours before passing away and the doctors do not intervene. I can't even imagine, I really can't.