Days feel frazzled…too many subjects?

[enchantedhome]

So, I started my hs'ing 4 years ago in a CM mindset. I have since let most of that go, as my brain is really more inline with classical education (and I have issues with CM and her proponents, but that's another story. lol). BUT, one of the hangovers of that way of schooling is that I feel compelled to do all the "extra" subjects each week, and as a result I feel like we're bouncing from thing to thing to thing and not able to consistently get the basics done for as long as I'd like to each day.

 

I have a 4th and a 2nd grader. In my mind, the essentials for them are: math, handwriting, spelling, grammar, literature, history, piano practice, and Latin (for the 4th grader). They also each have catechism work, and we do memory work and read aloud together.

 

But, I'm also attempting to do: art study, composer study, science and geography (both read alouds), and creative writing with the 4th grader. Ideally, I'd like to just do the basics category, but I have that nagging voice in my head that says they need those lovely extras. As a result of my lack of confidence in what to focus on, we are go-go-going from one thing to the next, and not on any one subject for more than 20 minutes max. My overall impression of the day is: piecemeal, stressed, over-full. As I type this, I think I also still feel like we need to be done by lunchtime, and that's part of the pressure too. "Should" we be done by lunch? Is that a pipe dream?

 

I'm sure some people are able to make this all flow beautifully, and maybe I'm missing something, but this feels crazy-town. Advice?

[Lori D.]

Three ideas:

 

1. Schedule one extra each day and rotate extras through the week

Do your daily essentials, and leave room in the schedule for 20-30 minutes for doing ONE extra. Rotate through the week as to which extra is done, so that each extra is done once a week. Example of working in what you list as "extras":

- Mon extra = art study

- Tues extra = composer study

- Wed extra = science

- Thurs extra = geography

- Fri extra = creative writing

 

2. Schedule one extra a day as a 6-8 week unit

Schedule 20-30 minutes a day and include one extra as part of your daily essentials. Spend 6-8 weeks on that extra, then set it aside and pick a new extra to fill that spot. By the end of the year, you will have covered a good chunk of each extra as a unit.

 

3. Consider slightly reducing a few of your essentials

Consider cutting a few of your essentials from 5x/week to 4x/week so that you have a big chunk of time on that 5th day of the week for including extras as you desire.

 

Handwriting, Grammar, History, and Spelling can all be done 4x/week with no detriment to the student (unless there is an LD in place that requires 5x/week). You can either do a little extra work on those 4x/week to finish out a 5th day of the week lesson, or just "loop" a 5th day of the week lesson, or -- gasp! ;) -- not feel you must do every single lesson and skip occasionally where your student has good understanding.

 

You could even stagger the schedule so that you open up a shorter block of time on 2 different days of the week for working in extras 2x/week. For example: Handwriting and History could be skipped on Mondays, and Grammar and Spelling could be skipped on Fridays. Or, just skip one essential a day -- a friend of mine had DSs pull a topic from a jar and that would be skipped that day; once all the topics had been skipped once, all the topics went back into the jar and they did it again. With this method, on days you skip an essential, you can plug in an extra that matches that amount of time.

 

 

BEST of luck in finding what works for you! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Lori D.

[fralala]

 

As a result of my lack of confidence in what to focus on, we are go-go-going from one thing to the next, and not on any one subject for more than 20 minutes max. My overall impression of the day is: piecemeal, stressed, over-full. As I type this, I think I also still feel like we need to be done by lunchtime, and that's part of the pressure too. "Should" we be done by lunch? Is that a pipe dream?

 

I think one of the suggestions from Lori D. is likely to work for you, but I just wanted to add that for us it actually works really well to spend 20 minutes (or less!) of focused attention on a subject before allowing an equal amount of time for a fresh air/movement break. It won't work if your kids are the type to wander away and get really absorbed in something else, but if you decide you WANT to do these shorter intervals, being intentional about it might be freeing. For us, it works better to take frequent breaks throughout the day than to aim to finish all our work before lunchtime.

[PeterPan]

The most practical thing I ever did was put time amounts beside each thing on the to do list.  Then when I added the time amounts up, it was very obvious we couldn't do everything and had to cross some things off.  

 

Even straight classical can still get you caught up in a rat race.  Pick an amount of required work per day that is reasonable, making sure that you allow for 1-2 hours a day for their own personal reading.  Then tally up your ideas and just get honest.  Chop things out.  Or move things to summer term or May term to catch what doesn't normally get done.  You need some cover your butt like that.  What you can't do all the time, you can rotate.

[HomeAgain]

I put a time limit on our day.  We hit what we can in that time limit and don't worry about the rest.  We also rotate through subjects and don't attempt everything every day.

[enchantedhome]

 

3. Consider slightly reducing a few of your essentials

Consider cutting a few of your essentials from 5x/week to 4x/week so that you have a big chunk of time on that 5th day of the week for including extras as you desire.

 

Handwriting, Grammar, History, and Spelling can all be done 4x/week with no detriment to the student (unless there is an LD in place that requires 5x/week). You can either do a little extra work on those 4x/week to finish out a 5th day of the week lesson, or just "loop" a 5th day of the week lesson, or -- gasp! ;) -- not feel you must do every single lesson and skip occasionally where your student has good understanding.

 

 

This is helpful. I just re-wrote our schedule and did Monday-Thursday as our core work, the essentials, and Friday as a day for everything else (art, music, science, etc.). I have a feeling we'll all look forward to Fridays:)

 

I do like keeping lessons shorter, yes, especially for my 2nd grader, who is a boy. He can't do writing for more than 10 minutes, tops:) I have been trying to keep things loose and not have a schedule, but rather a routine, and while I love that in theory, in reality we sort of float through, hitting whatever subject seems best next, who's in the room, who's walking the dog, etc. I think more of a specific schedule actually would help. Not sure what that looks like yet…it's home, not school, so there's no need to be on a bell schedule, but structure helps me to function better.

[lllll]

nm

Edited October 28, 2016 by 1' n'ye

[LindaOz]

Not everything needs to be done every day. For example, Tuesday and Thursday are for grammar and freewriting here, while MWF are for the other LA program that we do. Readalouds and poetry and other things I want to do with my kids tag on to a meal usually - like we have a together time at/after breakfast and another one coming off lunch. You could cover art/music etc are these 'after-meal' times, but not all at once. 😊

Edited October 19, 2016 by LindaOz

[Miss Tick]

I have a 4th and a 2nd grader. In my mind, the essentials for them are: math, handwriting, spelling, grammar, literature, history, piano practice, and Latin (for the 4th grader). They also each have catechism work, and we do memory work and read aloud together.

 

But, I'm also attempting to do: art study, composer study, science and geography (both read alouds), and creative writing with the 4th grader. Ideally, I'd like to just do the basics category, but I have that nagging voice in my head that says they need those lovely extras. As a result of my lack of confidence in what to focus on, we are go-go-going from one thing to the next, and not on any one subject for more than 20 minutes max. My overall impression of the day is: piecemeal, stressed, over-full. As I type this, I think I also still feel like we need to be done by lunchtime, and that's part of the pressure too. "Should" we be done by lunch? Is that a pipe dream?

 

I have a few more ideas from looking at what you wrote. Can you combine spelling and handwriting? How about history and geography (or science and geography, depending on your approach)? Could you do at study one year and composer study the next? Or, do one of each a month and then have additional pieces of art or music by that person around for the next few weeks before you change.

 

You asked about being done by lunch. A rule of thumb for that is an hour of school-time per grade. For us, that meant that my fourth graders had one or two subjects after lunch. You are in charge, though. If you want to be done by lunch you can be, but of course that would mean more trade-offs!

[TKDmom]

My suggestions (feel free to ignore what won't work for you):

 

I like Spelling Wisdom, which combines handwriting and spelling. But not for my 2nd grader. She'll start spelling next year. Right now she's just working through her handwriting workbook.

 

Also, I would move piano practice and maybe literature to afternoon as an "extracurricular" or "free-time" activities (not that it's optional, but they aren't part of our school day--they just need to get done before my kids run off to play).

 

Right now I pick one or two read-alouds to do at a time. That could be history, geography, science, or literature. So the subject alternates. My older kids read their own history, lit, and science, but usually join in for family read-alouds (today dd15 declared that she read Trumpet of the Swan "dozens" of times when she was little, so she wouldn't listen to it again. But she still sat in the room and listened while I read a chapter to dd7 ;) )

 

The only subject that I do 5x/week is math. Depending on the subject and age of the kid, other subjects are 4x or 2x a week. (my teens have most of their subjects 4x/week, while dd7 has most things 2-3x/week). We use our Friday for "extras" Right now that is art and field trips.

 

I dropped most of the extras, because the guilt and stress were too much for me. If I still felt strongly that I needed to do them, I would pick a day (say Monday)--and alternate every other Monday between art study and composer study. Creative writing and art would happen on a day (like Friday) where I don't have as many core subjects.

The only subject that I do 5x/week is math. Depending on the subject and age of the kid, other subjects are 4x or 2x a week. (my teens have most of their subjects 4x/week, while dd7 has most things 2-3x/week). We use our Friday for "extras" Right now that is art and field trips, because that's what works best for us right now.

[8filltheheart]

So, I started my hs'ing 4 years ago in a CM mindset. I have since let most of that go, as my brain is really more inline with classical education (and I have issues with CM and her proponents, but that's another story. lol). BUT, one of the hangovers of that way of schooling is that I feel compelled to do all the "extra" subjects each week, and as a result I feel like we're bouncing from thing to thing to thing and not able to consistently get the basics done for as long as I'd like to each day.

 

I have a 4th and a 2nd grader. In my mind, the essentials for them are: math, handwriting, spelling, grammar, literature, history, piano practice, and Latin (for the 4th grader). They also each have catechism work, and we do memory work and read aloud together.

 

But, I'm also attempting to do: art study, composer study, science and geography (both read alouds), and creative writing with the 4th grader. Ideally, I'd like to just do the basics category, but I have that nagging voice in my head that says they need those lovely extras. As a result of my lack of confidence in what to focus on, we are go-go-going from one thing to the next, and not on any one subject for more than 20 minutes max. My overall impression of the day is: piecemeal, stressed, over-full. As I type this, I think I also still feel like we need to be done by lunchtime, and that's part of the pressure too. "Should" we be done by lunch? Is that a pipe dream?

 

I'm sure some people are able to make this all flow beautifully, and maybe I'm missing something, but this feels crazy-town. Advice?

My list of essential subjects is way shorter than yours, so feel free to ignore my post. 2nd grade essentials are math, reading, copywork used to teach simple mechanics and grammar/complete thoughts. 4th grade essentials are your basic 4 (English, math, science, history).

 

In 4th grade we do a lot of cross subject teaching. We incorporate other things as we encounter them in our other subjects or real life. It is our discussions and rabbit trails that bring our studies to life. We have the freedom to wander and spend time on things we are interested in as the interest is sparked without feeling that we are off on a tangent and have to get back to something that is arbitrarily incorporated.

 

Do my kids have gaps? Absolutely. Do I worry about their gaps? Absolutely not. My kids are well-educated independent learners who thrive in seeking out subjects that interest them. I would much rather have nurtured that confident love of mastering content that interests them than having checked off the box off of some list where it goes in and 2 weeks later they don't care or want to learn more about it.

 

My kids' desire to learn all kinds of subjects comes from the gift of time and being encouraged to question and wonder.

[Ellie]

So, I started my hs'ing 4 years ago in a CM mindset. I have since let most of that go, as my brain is really more inline with classical education (and I have issues with CM and her proponents, but that's another story. lol). BUT, one of the hangovers of that way of schooling is that I feel compelled to do all the "extra" subjects each week, and as a result I feel like we're bouncing from thing to thing to thing and not able to consistently get the basics done for as long as I'd like to each day.

 

I have a 4th and a 2nd grader. In my mind, the essentials for them are: math, handwriting, spelling, grammar, literature, history, piano practice, and Latin (for the 4th grader). They also each have catechism work, and we do memory work and read aloud together.

 

But, I'm also attempting to do: art study, composer study, science and geography (both read alouds), and creative writing with the 4th grader. Ideally, I'd like to just do the basics category, but I have that nagging voice in my head that says they need those lovely extras. As a result of my lack of confidence in what to focus on, we are go-go-going from one thing to the next, and not on any one subject for more than 20 minutes max. My overall impression of the day is: piecemeal, stressed, over-full. As I type this, I think I also still feel like we need to be done by lunchtime, and that's part of the pressure too. "Should" we be done by lunch? Is that a pipe dream?

 

I'm sure some people are able to make this all flow beautifully, and maybe I'm missing something, but this feels crazy-town. Advice?

 

So let's divide the primary subjects this way:

 

English

*Grammar

*Penmanship

*Spelling

*Literature

 

History

 

Math

 

Latin

 

And extras:

Extras

*Geography

*Science

*Art study

*Composer study

 

So, both of your dc do all those English components? Does your 9yo *need* penmanship? Does your 7yo *need* spelling and grammar? When you say that you do "literature," what does that actually mean? How much time do you actually spend on each of those?

 

In a classroom, for children that young, science, history, and geography are usually only semester-long subjects. Are you *sure* you need to do all them every day? (and also, for us, history and geography go together).

 

I would expect both art and composer studies to be alternated, not daily.

[Meadowlark]

Just wondering if you all consider science an "extra"? I guess I've never thought of it that way, since my kids love science and it's just an extension of their natural curiosity. Do you really do it 1x/week?

[HomeAgain]

Just wondering if you all consider science an "extra"? I guess I've never thought of it that way, since my kids love science and it's just an extension of their natural curiosity. Do you really do it 1x/week?

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but science is a 3-4x a week subject here.  We have our normal science lesson, a science lesson through history, and current interest science.  So far this week we've read about/done projects on insects, did astronomy to coincide with our ancient history, and went hunting for bats to observe and learn how they communicate & live.  Today we'll go back to insects again (there are some amazing ant hills in walking distance).  It's not always planned science, but I don't think of it as an extra.  I'd want my child to get science in school, so we do it at home.

[Tiramisu]

If this helps, we do science twice a week, history once a week, and geography once a week. I always did it this way in the early years and it hasn't hurt my kids.

 

For English: grammar and writing, each three times a week each. Integrated cursive & spelling four times a week.

 

Math: Four times a week (we do a coop, otherwise we'd do it more)

 

Because of the temperature of this particular child, I have to keep lessons short. I further work in a lot of history, geography, poetry, etc., through memory work and coop classes because she enjoys them and they don't require additional writing.

 

She is very bright and works quickly but she could never, ever manage long periods of work. She is now ten. I very thoughtfully increase the amount of assigned reading and writing each year to help her develop stamina without overwhelming her.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Tiramisu

[Ellie]

Just wondering if you all consider science an "extra"? I guess I've never thought of it that way, since my kids love science and it's just an extension of their natural curiosity. Do you really do it 1x/week?

 

When my dc were young, we didn't have any "subjects." We just learned stuff all the time, including science-y stuff. ;-) So I agree with you there. Just do things which are an extension of your dc's natural curiosity and call it good. :thumbup:

[enchantedhome]

So, we don't' do all the subjects every day. Math and copy work, yes. And Latin for my 4th grader. Spelling and grammar are 2-3 times per week. History is once. And by reading, I only mean that we all (me too) read good books every day for a chunk of time. Science for us, so far, is simply reading good books on a topic. We've done a few experiments, and for astronomy, which is our topic now, going outside at night IS the tangible work.

I guess my worry was whether I need to ALSO be doing art/music/geography or if those could simply be by osmosis. 

[PeterPan]

You don't need to do art, music, and geography all the time.  Yes, you could pick up the geography by weaving it into your other things.  The art and music benefit from intention.  But they can be in spurts, like for a month in May, over the summer, that kind of thing.  I really like art done in spurts like that.

[Hunter]

It really is okay to drop some subjects for months or even a year or two.

 

You don't have to do geography and history in the same year.

 

You can teach just one of science, history/geography, and literature each month, finish something significant, and then start one of the other subjects. So read Moby Dick OR study cells OR study the Colonial period.

 

You can do nature study in the warmer months and art and/or music in the colder months.

 

Some subjects that are critical to someone else might not be critical to YOU. Arctic parents don't need to teach their children to climb palm trees. Parents at the equator don't need to teach their children to hunt seals.

 

You don't need to schedule and teach everything your children will learn. People learn. All the time.

[Lori D.]

Just wondering if you all consider science an "extra"? I guess I've never thought of it that way, since my kids love science and it's just an extension of their natural curiosity. Do you really do it 1x/week?

 

Science was always one of our daily essentials along with History, Math, and English topics. In the elementary years we did Science 4x/week, same as History.

 

But, there were some years later on when it worked best for us to schedule a longer block of time and then alternate days of doing History and Science, so each got 2 days a week with that longer block of time, and then the 5th day was for any "finish up" work or more time-consuming history project or science experiment.

 

Geography was done 2x/week.

Art or Music was done 1x/week, and we alternated weeks (so Art 2x/month, Music 2x/month).

Edited October 20, 2016 by Lori D.

[Clemsondana]

We do basics (math, grammar/writing, phonics in the early years, handwriting, vocab) 3-4x/week. We have one day of co-op where my kids get an assortment of different classes that vary from year to year. We do the other subjects as units. Usually we do geography and world history for the first half (or 2/3) of the first semester and do a science unit (usually some sort of physcial science) for the second half, with the last few weeks being a study of art history. In the spring, we do half of a semester of US history, half of a semester of some sort of biological science, and a few weeks of music history/appreciation.

 

My kids are a few years apart and our curriculum guide (core knowledge) isn't really set up to work easily with multiple grades, but I take the topics and sort them out into broad categories. Sometimes both kids are doing very similar things, or related topics (one studying Ancient Greece while the other studies Ancient China), so I can put a stack of unit study books in a box and then work with each student on the right section of SOTW or the Usborne Ancient History book. The units seem to work better for use because we're don't have to shift gears a lot. They also give us a lot of flexibility - we can read for a long time one day, or dig deeper into a part of the area, or do an experiment, project, or video. We also sometimes move more quickly if something is review or uninteresting. This actually isn't how I had planned to do it, but once we got started I realized at we didn't do well with too many topics in one day, and it made doing anything long too complicated. My older child starts middle school grades next year, so I don't know whether that will change things - time will tell, I suppose. Good luck!

[Moonhawk]

I feel the same way when I try to everything everyday.  And I don't have as many things as your 4th grader does, and I'm really only dealing with 1 grade level. 

 

With my core subjects: math, memory work, FLL, writing/handwriting, finishing before lunch is not always easy.  Some days, it's no big deal, we get time for a snack, even finish by 11:30 with time to do a quick science or a shorter art class.  Other days, not so much; math seems to be the reason usually, we just go over on time. We start at 9, right after getting home from Mass, so if we started earlier maybe we could get it done without issue -- but it's still not the full list you gave for daily essentials.  Piano, I always try to fit in the morning, I succeed maybe once a week.  

 

Everything else, usually art, music theory, history, science, catechism, has to go either after lunch or on the weekend.  I rotate those subjects so that they are each done 2-3 times a week. 

 

 

[birchbark]

So, I started my hs'ing 4 years ago in a CM mindset. I have since let most of that go, as my brain is really more inline with classical education (and I have issues with CM and her proponents, but that's another story. lol). BUT, one of the hangovers of that way of schooling is that I feel compelled to do all the "extra" subjects each week, and as a result I feel like we're bouncing from thing to thing to thing and not able to consistently get the basics done for as long as I'd like to each day.

 

I have a 4th and a 2nd grader. In my mind, the essentials for them are: math, handwriting, spelling, grammar, literature, history, piano practice, and Latin (for the 4th grader). They also each have catechism work, and we do memory work and read aloud together.

 

But, I'm also attempting to do: art study, composer study, science and geography (both read alouds), and creative writing with the 4th grader. Ideally, I'd like to just do the basics category, but I have that nagging voice in my head that says they need those lovely extras. As a result of my lack of confidence in what to focus on, we are go-go-going from one thing to the next, and not on any one subject for more than 20 minutes max. My overall impression of the day is: piecemeal, stressed, over-full. As I type this, I think I also still feel like we need to be done by lunchtime, and that's part of the pressure too. "Should" we be done by lunch? Is that a pipe dream?

 

I'm sure some people are able to make this all flow beautifully, and maybe I'm missing something, but this feels crazy-town. Advice?

 

A few years ago, this was exactly me. Oh my, this was me. It IS crazy-town. I pretty much gave up on CM at that point (although I'm learning more about her recently and it's quite different from how I was led to believe).

 

Here's what transformed our school:

 

-I dropped all language arts curricula and went with CM skills for elementary grades (copywork, dictation, narrations). This covers handwriting, grammar, usage, mechanics, and composition. I understand why publishers divide it all out, but it is a killer for time and maintenance.

 

-I instituted "Circle Time" (or Morning Time or Basket or whatever you want to call it). This covers Bible, poetry, a hymn, memory work, lit, and for the little ones (1st-2nd grade) their content subject. This is under an hour for my two grade-schoolers. You can't read aloud everything.

 

-I block schedule the content subjects so we are doing only one a day. Usually history for half the year, and science for half the year. 

 

-I require reading for an hour a day from any of the books that Mama has lovingly collected on those big bookshelves! This is their "feast." Ain't nobody got time for cooking all those separate dishes themselves!

 

-I keep Fridays for art/handwork and baking. The only academics we do that day are math and a dictation. You don't need a lot of lovely extras. Just pick one or two that you find enjoyable and doable. We do a lot of watercolor around here. It's my default.

 

-The only time I did geography for a separate subject was in 8th grade as a break from history. We had great success with Mapping the World With Art. The youngers enjoy doing Sheppard Software games and Map Dots.

 

-I have come to feel that composer/artist study is a bit of a waste of time with youngers. My main goal for these years is just exposure. I try to be intentional about playing classical music (esp if it's packaged for kids) and I'll get books like this from the library. 

 

The key to peaceful days is fewer subjects.

Edited October 20, 2016 by birchbark

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited October 28, 2016 by 1' n'ye

[IsabelC]

You already have so many good suggestions, the only thing I can add is that you may like to consider what 'subjects' you can 'cover' by stealth.

For example, my kids have a reasonable idea of classical composers without ever having studied music appreciation as such. We listen to quite a bit of music in non school time (eg over meals, while doing chores). We talk about musical styles and composers as they naturally arise in conversation (eg a question about what's a Faustian pact develops into a discussion about Niccolò Paganini). Or when the kids encounter them in their musical instrument studies (Why is my new piece called 'The Boy Paganini'? How does it's style relate to Paganini's mature style? Let's listen to somebody famous playing the Caprices). Occasionally we notice it's Mozart's (or somebody's) birthday and decide to do a micro unit study on his music. 

Art appreciation can, of course, be 'covered' in much the same way. Although I must admit I do sometimes slip in some structured lessons too, just because I don't know a lot about art history so it isn't a subject that comes up as often as music in our household. Nevertheless, we would certainly spend more time doing things like examining paintings in the art gallery than examining my art appreciation pictures.

 

[IsabelC]

The most practical thing I ever did was put time amounts beside each thing on the to do list.  Then when I added the time amounts up, it was very obvious we couldn't do everything and had to cross some things off.  

 

Even straight classical can still get you caught up in a rat race.  Pick an amount of required work per day that is reasonable, making sure that you allow for 1-2 hours a day for their own personal reading.  Then tally up your ideas and just get honest.  Chop things out.  Or move things to summer term or May term to catch what doesn't normally get done.  You need some cover your butt like that.  What you can't do all the time, you can rotate.

This is one of the best suggestions ever!

 

The first time I tried it, I discovered there was no way it was possible to fit in everything I thought we "should" do unless we could eliminate sleep.  

 

Generally, if you want to do things well, you have to pick a few things, and everything else either gets the standards lowered or is eliminated altogether for the time being. No child can be serious about 4 different sports AND four different musical instruments AND drama and dance AND various arts and crafts AND pursue academic excellence in a dozen subjects. No parent can facilitate all those things, let alone keep up with study, volunteer or paid work, growing the family's food and keeping an immaculately clean house. Most kids can only manage basic school work plus two or three 'extras', and most parents can manage home education plus one or two other things, before serious stress and dropping of balls ensues.

 

Not only that, but remember it's normal for schedules to contain gaps. Kids need snack breaks, bathroom breaks, movement breaks, cuddle breaks, and tease-your-sister breaks (well maybe not the last one). Parents need coffee! (Or whatever kind of break you prefer). And that's before the dog vomits, or whatever unpredictable mini-emergencies happen at your house. So you need to have some slack built into your plans. Daily slack, weekly slack and preferably some time at the end of the term / semester / year.

Edited October 21, 2016 by IsabelC

[ondreeuh]

I split up my 3rd grader's essential work into weekly assignments. For him, these are math, geography, science, spelling, grammar, logic, Spanish, daily writing, piano, Reflex math, and Math/Grammar Minutes. He has an all-day class on Tuesdays, so we try to get the rest of the work done on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday (except math and piano, which are done daily). That leaves Friday as our "fun day" where we get to the electives: art projects, coding/mindstorms, cooking, chess, etc. (and math and piano, and any unfinished work).

 

It sounds like a lot, but everything is pre-printed, organized, and put into a weekly folder. He can do quite a lot independently and it turns out to be very efficient.

 

ETA: we do composer study in the car by using audiobooks (The Story of Classical Music, Famous Composers, More s Famous Composers), podcasts (Classics for Kids) and CDs (Maestro Classics and Classical Kids) that I have organized into playlists. I have other playlists for poetry and Shakespeare. We drive every day, so it is a nice way to get those extras done.

Edited October 21, 2016 by ondreeuh