How long did your K days last?

[bttrflyvld]

This is our K4 year and starting in August we'll start our official kindergarten year. Just out of curiosity, I was wonderding how long your k days were and what you taught.

[StartingOver]

My daughter is doing K ish now. The days she chooses to participate, last 30 min to an hour. She is all for school most days. When she is 5, She will be required to work for 1 hour Monday through Thursday. Friday are half days here, if that.

[ZeeMommy]

However long it takes to do reading lesson in OPG, 2 pages math in Singapore, and one lesson in HWT. About an hour - lessons seem to be shorter the younger they are, since their attention span is shorter. Sometimes she will want to do more, so she does! We will be starting History for Little Pilgrims sometime soon for her and her 4 year old brother, and once she's done with OPG then we'll move on to First Language Lessons. Only lesson I attempt with my boy is 100EL, and he joins in sometimes on math or writing. Trying to get him to focus is like trying to nail jello to a wall! Since he's not a bookworm like his sister, it will take a different approach on my part - still trying to figure that out!

[newbieoftwo]

My DS usually only lasts for 30 to 45 mins for reading, handwriting, and math. However, we can spend hours on science, art, or history. It all depends on his level of interest here.

[Clarkd]

2 hrs 4 days per week. This does not include read alouds or sports.

[Tawlas]

I'd say roughly 1-1.5 hours. That's calendar, reading, spelling, math, and printing.

 

once a week we do "center time" with all the fun things we don't seem to do otherwise. once a week we do French (which includes an art project and some baking). once a week we do some fun little science experiment. About 2-4 times a week, we add on either a bit of prehistory, some ETC, Lollipop Logic, or art/music appreciation. We read 1-2 times a day. So all this stuff adds time most days, but it's much more content based, child led and unstructured than our morning school time.

[ByGrace3]

My ds does about an hour of math, phonics, and handwriting. 30 minutes of Bible, and about 30 minutes a day of science/history. Plus read alouds. It is so spread out it often feels like so little!

[reign]

About a hour for my 6yr old kindergardener. This is her reading aloud, writing, math, geography and memory work. My 4 year old is in jr k and that takes about 1/2 hour. Some times she is silly and math takes forever because she gets crazy with the c-rods. I read aloud to the girls for about a hour a day from picture and chapter books. We also rotate science, history, crafts, fine art, and music appreciation. I don't really count that as school though we do some cool stuff. I usually do 1 or two a day. Anywhere from 10min to a hour.

[Maplecat]

However long it takes to do reading lesson in OPG, 2 pages math in Singapore, and one lesson in HWT. About an hour

 

We did 4 pages in Singapore, but all the rest the same. Some days it took half an hour and other days it took longer. OPG had some lessons that were very challenging and seemed long when we were blending CVC words. Thankfully, things sped up.

[bumblesmama]

I am a newbie too. Ok whew, I think I am not slacking! Everyone's comments are so helpful and reassuring. My 5 yr old DD can focus for about an hour of sit down work, 4-5 days per week. That is when I cover a few pages of math, handwriting, calendar, a "read, build, write" activity and some lap book time. This doesn't include reading time, circle time, craft time, or outdoor adventures (science and nature). Sometimes I wonder if I am doing enough but she just can't sit and focus for longer than that.

[Bellamoon]

my dd is doing K now. Most days we work for about an hour. We cover phonics/spelling/reading, math and history. I let her help me cook for science!!

[Carrie12345]

Around 30 minutes.

 

We use Mathematical Reasoning, Building Thinking Skills, HWOT, and HOP with AAS, but only do 2 a day. And then reading, games, and apps throughout the day that we don't really "count".

[tabrizia]

Seat work takes anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes. We also do lots of reading and read our History and Science outside of the seat work time. We normally start around 9:30 and are done by 10:30 with seat work. He does about 2 to 3 pages of Math, 1/2 - 1 lesson of AAR and some writing daily. He will also do iPad Apps throughout the day, but I don't count those in time spent on schooling.

[Esse Quam Videri]

Our K program for the olders lasted about 90 minutes, five days a week.

[HelenNotOfTroy]

Less than 30 minutes. We do one lesson in OPGTTR (we don't review, almost everything has been review from Leapfrog or Starfall or Reading Eggs), however many lessons in Singapore EM he will put up with, and some handwriting or fine motor skill work. He doesn't consider anything else we do to be schoolwork, just fun time with me.

[Mommy_of_4]

DD is prek and takes about 30 min. She does one abeka phonics lesson and 2-3 pages out of a rod and staff workbook. DS is K age and takes about 2hrs or so. He does 1 lesson of english, 1 lesson of phonics, 1 lesson of math, 3 pgs in science and history plus either a reading comp worksheet or logic puzzle. Spelling is 3-4 days a week.

[daniv]

I'd say it could be anywhere between 30 mins-1.5 hours here with reading and worksheets, 4 days a week(Tu-F.) It depends on how everyone is doing. I am doing kindergarten now with my 6 year old and preschool with my 4 year old. I don't think it is necessary to do too much at that age. There's certainly more learning taking place the rest of the day, but it's on a less official level.

[mlgbug]

about an Hr depending on his behavior. we cover reading OPGTR, AAS1, CLE Math 1 ( we are doing 2 lessons a day right now since its been all review for him) and 2 pages in HWOT. I am adding ETC1 though. and he sitrs through SOTW reading and science but those take more time

[boscopup]

30-45 minutes for phonics/math/handwriting, then another 15-30 minutes Sonlight read alouds and Life of Fred elementary.

[FairProspects]

45-1 hr on his work, and another 30 minutes later in the day for alternating history and science. That doesn't count his time spent in projects, audiobooks, or regular read-alouds.

[cagirlintexas]

Our lessons last from 30-60 minutes. Currently we are trying to get through Right Start Math, All About Spelling, and a little writing. Then if he is the mood I might throw in some logic, geography or reading comprehension. We put the OPG on hold for right now. Having a hard time getting alot of work out of him because of his 2 year old brother who is very demanding and is constantly saying "no School work". He would much rather we play then do school work.

[beaners]

We do a little here and a little there, so we might be doing work at both 8 am and 8 pm. That's for a 3 year old and 5 year old. Time spent is just snippets here and there. Maybe 30 minutes for the 3 year old's reading lessons, but only about 15 minutes of reading out loud for the 5 year old. I require a couple sentences or a letter to family for the 5 year old every day, and sometimes the 3 year old asks to join in there. That's usually 10 minutes tops, including the older scouring her favorite books for a passage she likes. Math takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour for the 5 year old. The longer days are at her request, not mine. We do about 20 minutes of French each day.

 

We don't do circle time or calendar or anything like that to give our day an official start. The younger asks for a reading lesson (like she is asking at this moment, haha), then I have the older read to me when that's done. They ask to get things together to send envelopes to people, so we write. The 2 year old and 3 year old fall asleep, so the 5 year old can do math in peace. They ask to do French, or I need them away from the stove while I cook so they watch tiji or brainpop, or I read a bedtime story in French. We do crafty stuff whenever they bug me enough and the table is clean. ;)

 

Our daily schedule is always different because my husband's work schedule is always different. He might leave at 4 am, or 7 am, or 9 am, or 11 am, or 2 pm. He's almost never home on weekends, so our days off and out of the house are his days home from work. His schedule is always changing too, because he's the one responsible for making sure everything gets done. I kind of envy people who can make plans in advance.

[violamama]

I'd say our actual teaching time is about 90 minutes to 2.5 hours, spread out over the morning between 9am-1pm.

 

The only reason it's that long is because he tends to hang around when his older brother does school, too.

 

K= FLL 10-20 min, Long Story Short bible 15 min, math ~30 min, 15 minutes writing of some kind (we do things like dot-to-dots & tracing, 15-30 min CC games/songs.

 

If he does hang out with us for the longer day, he likes to do math shapes (tangrams), coloring, legos, lacing, tag reader books with headphones, file folder games, etc. He's been listening/watching us do SWR lately and repeating phonogram sounds, but that's just him wanting to join in.

[Farrar]

Half an hour to an hour of official school time. Then we had activities, co-op, field trips, etc. All obviously also learning, but not "school" per se.

[Amy M]

An hour at the beginning of the year, closer to 2 hours at the end of the year. Writing took him a long time.

[Laura Cook]

I have two kids in different stages of K right now! You can see what we use in my signature. DS6 spends about an hour, while DD4 spends about 30-45 minutes. They also participate in science and history if they want (and they usually do) and we spend at least an hour a day on read alouds.

[Runningmom80]

20 minutes. Most of them getting DS to sit in the chair. :)

[ebrindam]

Usually about an hour a day for K4.

[PachiSusan]

This is our K4 year and starting in August we'll start our official kindergarten year. Just out of curiosity, I was wonderding how long your k days were and what you taught.

 

If we worked two hours it was a long day.

[Dawn E]

We generally work around 45 minutes a day. That includes math (R&S Arithmetic 1, Going on Eagerly, Education Unboxed), phonics (Primary Phonics, SRA 2), reading (Primary Phonics readers, American Language Series), handwriting (d'nealian), and listening to an Aesop's Fable while coloring a page from this coloring book. We do not do history or science regularly yet, though we occasionally do science experiments/projects. I have recently added in some readings from Ambleside Online year 1. When he is reading well enough I will add in the Bible portion of My Father's World First Grade, which will take the place his regular readers for reading time. I still don't expect to go much past an hour, though, if that.

[bttrflyvld]

I've enjoyed reading all your replies. It's interesting to see such different amounts. Children at this age are at such different developmental levels. I think our days will be aimed at 1 - 1 1/2 hours each day. Add to that 30 minutes of read alouds in the morning and 30 minutes of read alouds at bed time. Glad to see that some of youu are similar to what I was thinking.

[hsbeth]

My K'er is enthusiastic, as the youngest she's been wanting to participate in school with all of her siblings for years. We spend 60-90 most days.

 

2 pages of Singapore Math

1 lesson of OPGTR

2 pages of ETC

1 page of HWOT

She listens in on SOTW and does a coloring sheet or map (3 days per week)

Listens to some read-alouds

On T/Th we read a phonics reader togetehr (bob books or Gaydos)

 

She also participates in a Tuesday pm co-op that does Art and Science.

[GSOchristie]

1.5-2 hours 4 days a week, we have "Fine Arts Friday" for all the fun artistic things I want to do but can't seem to make time for during the week.

[MommaOfalotta]

On days when we just stick to the 3 R's we can finish in 40 minutes to an hour. (Thats on a good, smooth day.) But on days/weeks that we are learning about a special topic, we go a lot longer. However, its often longer due to starting and stopping because of the baby. If it were just she and I.. we could probably have everything done in 3 hours on those days. Throw in a baby and that often turns into an all day thing! Once you add in the read alouds, the craft or movie, etc and then our quiet time (which is as long as the baby naps!) It turns into an all day deal.

 

This is why we study an interesting topic for about 2 weeks, or longer if she is really interested, and then we stick with the 3 R's for a while. I dont want her to be too overwhelmed. Kindergarten is a time to relax and enjoy them.

[lea_lpz]

Technically our school time takes about 2 1/2 hrs up to 3, but this includes Read Alouds, Spanish (DVD or songs, fun stuff), Bible, and activity (craft, art, science experiments, cook etc., it varies) and 15 minutes of prechool time with 3 year old (which K'er doesn't have to participate in). So if we are talking the 3 R's, we spend about an hour. Math is typically 15 minutes, the we do Lang (this includes handwriting, reading, phonics, games, multi-sensory activities, singing ABC's, etc).

[Mommie_Jen]

We read for about 45 minutes to get started, then I aim to be done with phonics/handwriting/math in about 1 1/2 hrs. We go slow and side track a lot with manipulatives. Then in the afternoon we try to read more books and do a quick science lesson if it's a science day.

[pehp]

I value efficiency and a relaxed child and a cooperative relationship, so for my 5.5-year old son I keep it short-n-sweet. We do about 10-15 minutes of OPGTR, 10-20 minutes of math (a variety of things), and a few days a week I will work with him on basic handwriting (just basic strokes and simple copywork, being careful not to fatigue him). (I think he's a slower handwriting-developer than other children might be, so I keep this light and happy.) We do a bit of science 1-2 days a week (Elemental Science....just b/c he asked for it). Otherwise life is all about outside time, read-alouds (good quality), exploring, tinkering with toys, chores, helping me cook and building stuff. So far this works well for us. He's happy and I'm happy! :) He is learning to read and is a clever chap when it comes to building and creating things.

[hollyh]

1-1.5 for prek

2 for k

[suzielou]

Kindergarten for us always lasts around an hour each day, five days a week. We do all of our pre-K this year in under 30 minutes. I have mostly boys and they just can't sit still for more than that. 1st grade was a big shock for mine, since it stretched to a couple of hours. Now, we are in 2nd with my middle two and they are done by lunch if they don't goof off.

[lattedrinker]

30-45 minutes of "serious" work (reading, math, handwriting); as long as they're interested for the "extra" stuff, like history, art, music, science (can be surprisingly long sometimes).

[blondeviolin]

My son's PreK by age (late Oct birthday), but mostly working through higher level work. He does reading, math and spelling for his skills work, which takes him 40 minutes or so. He participates in science and history with his sister, which usually takes another 20-30 minutes. This brings him to about an hour, if that.

 

In comparison, my oldest is first grade, and her skills work (grammar, spelling, writing, cursive, math, reading) takes about 90 minutes. Content takes 20-30. So she's maxing out at 2 hours.

[Wheres Toto]

45 minutes to an hour of sit-down work, three days a week. That will be phonics, OPGTR, one page from MM, one page from a fun math, HWT, a phonics game, a math game. Then she plays with Play-doh while I work with her brother. Then there's another 1/2 hour to an hour in the afternoon doing Spanish and Literature, Art or Music together with her brother.

 

Tuesdays and Thursday we do science or history all together and she participates as much as she wants.

[Marie131]

I spend 10min on phonics, 10 min on handwriting and 15 min on math every day. He also does Bible and science, plus a lot of read alouds.

[Staceyshoe]

Our "time spent" has changed quite a bit in just 3-4 months. We started out doing about 15 minutes per day (tiny bit of phonics, some pre-writing practice or play dough). Now he's doing about 2 hours per day. I've just been following his lead. The 2 hours includes things like singing songs, practicing physical skills like skipping and Tae Kwon Do, playing math games, so it's not all seatwork. He still probably does a solid hour (or slightly more) of seatwork 4 days per week. 3 months ago that wouldn't have happened. As he's gained skill with phonics and writing, it doesn't require so much concentration.

[pitterpatter]

We started out with 1-2 hours, then ended up at 2-3 (we added more subjects as we went). DD was 4 years, 4 months old when we started.

[Guest]

Kids are so different. My son happily did 2-3 hours when he was in K. My dd does 30 minutes of focused seatwork + whatever history reading I can get her to listen to. She does love listening in on science, though.