What do you do on a daily basis versus a weekly basis?

[MistyMountain]

I am hard time wondering when to fit everything in everyday in the time I have to work one on one with ds. I scheduled to have math, spelling, writing, latin roots, and handwriting every day but time wise I do not know how to fit it in with the things we do a few times a week. I know for sure math will be daily.

 

I just was wondering what others do every day and what things are scheduled on a weekly basis and how many times a week they are done.

[Guest]

I school six days a week, so I do a lot of things twice a week.

 

Grammar, dictation, copywork all on separate days, twice a week for my fourth grader, for example.

 

Science, history, myths...Same way

[mathmarm]

No 1st hand experience, and I'm not sure what grade level you're working with, but can you have a "Reserved" slot in the daily schedule.

 

So, say you do

08:00 - 08:10: Handwriting

08:11 - 08:30: Spelling

08:31 - 08:45: Latin Roots

08:50 - 09:30: Math

09:31 - 10:20 RESERVED

10:21 - 11:00 Writing

 

 

That way, what ever todays extra topic is, you have a slot for it? It could be geography, science, social studies, etc...

[MistyMountain]

He is a second grader. He is bright but a slow processor and the biggest issue is that nothing gets done really fast and things end up taking longer then anticipated.

Edited January 15, 2017 by MistyMountain

[jamijoy]

We do formal school work four days a week.

 

We do 'together time' subjects on the couch and the daily ones include Bible, history, Latin, our read-aloud, CNN Ten News, VP History, and science. Every other Tuesday, we watch a writing video (IEW). On Thursdays, we do art appreciation (a picture of a painting with information about it and the artist).

 

After that, we do their independent subjects at the table that may or may not need my help. I give my kids planners with their assignments in them and they can do them in any order. They go down the list and if they don't have an assignment in a particular subject, they obviously move on to the next subject.

 

As for a schedule, I write down everything in the ideal order, and then next to the subjects that aren't daily, I write those days in parentheses. Ours would look like:

 

Bible

History
Latin
Read-Aloud
CNN Ten News
VP History
Art Appreciation (Th)
Writing Video (T)
Science

 

Copywork (M)
Math
English (MTW)
Latin Vocab

Writing (TTh)
Logic (MW)
Coding

 

Is that what you were asking?

[sbgrace]

2nd grade is still young. I get having to prioritize when you have a slow worker. Having room for interesting and play time and just relational time is equally important.

 

At that age, my focus was math, handwriting and reading well. Is he reading well?

 

What are you using for writing? Is it going well? If he's reading well, spelling as often as you can without interfering with other priorities. If its helpful, writing as often as you can. I did WWE orally for a long time. How long does latin roots take?

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

How much time is he taking per subject?  

[Rosie_0801]

We do core subjects every day and block schedule content subjects. Each of those takes as many days as it takes, then we move on.

[wendyroo]

We school 4 days a week; two of those we follow the "Left Hand Schedule" (it is literally the left hand column of the schedule posted on the wall) and the other two we follow the "Right Hand Schedule".

 

The Left Hand Schedule for my 2nd grader is:

With me, his 5 year old brother and occasionally his 3 year old brother...

- Reading (letters for the 3 year old, phonics for the 5 year old, assigned reading for the 7 year old) - 20 minutes

- Handwriting - 10 minutes

- Spanish Vocab - 15 minutes

- History or Science - 30 minutes

With just me...

- Problem Solving (Beast Academy) - 15 minutes

- Writing (WWE) - 15 minutes

- Geography - 10 minutes

- Typing - 20 minutes

 

The Right Hand Schedule for my 2nd grader is:
With me, his 5 year old brother and occasionally his 3 year old brother...
- Reading (letters for the 3 year old, phonics for the 5 year old, assigned reading for the 7 year old) - 20 minutes
- Handwriting - 10 minutes
- Spanish Vocab - 15 minutes
- Art or time-consuming History/Science Project from previous day's lesson - 30 minutes
With just me...
- Problem Solving (Singapore Challenging Word Problems) - 15 minutes
- Grammar - 10 minutes
- More Advanced Spanish (Getting Started with Spanish and Duolingo) - 15 minutes
- Spelling - 20 minutes

 

Math Mammoth gets done almost every afternoon (about 300 days a year) for 20ish minutes.

 

Wendy

Edited January 16, 2017 by wendyroo

[KristaJ]

We reserve mornings for math and language arts so that we have plenty of time and energy for those subjects.  Everything else is done after an hour-long lunch break.  We rotate history/geography and science every afternoon.  However, we only do specific lessons Monday-Thursday, and Fridays are reserved for fun stuff like math games, art projects, and interest-led topics.  For a second grader, you could work on getting the core stuff done on four days a week and save the fifth day for the extras.

[Excelsior! Academy]

Weekly art and music.  Everything else is daily.

[MistyMountain]

I just started homeschooling him. He is reading well. Last time I checked he was decoding at a 6 or 7th grade level and he comprehends really well. He seemed slow but on his testing they did at school he actually was well above national norms and he is finishing books faster now.

 

His spelling on the other hand is a struggle. Writing is also a struggle. He probably has dysgraphia. His handwriting deteriated this past school year. Now it is barely legible with everything squashed together. He is very strong on oral narration and can go on and on but his written output is very simple. I am starting with Write a Super Sentence then will do The Best Writing Lesson Ever when he finishes but it will probably be taking his narration at first and maybe having him copy that. I am doing the writing 8 exercises for handwriting. Latin roots does not take long each day.

[wendyroo]

I just started homeschooling him. He is reading well. Last time I checked he was decoding at a 6 or 7th grade level and he comprehends really well. He seemed slow but on his testing they did at school he actually was well above national norms and he is finishing books faster now.

 

His spelling on the other hand is a struggle. Writing is also a struggle. He probably has dysgraphia. His handwriting deteriated this past school year. Now it is barely legible with everything squashed together. He is very strong on oral narration and can go on and on but his written output is very simple. I am starting with Write a Super Sentence then will do The Best Writing Lesson Ever when he finishes but it will probably be taking his narration at first and maybe having him copy that. I am doing the writing 8 exercises for handwriting. Latin roots does not take long each day.

You might also want to consider a typing program if he isn't working on it already. My 7 year old has autism, and really struggles with handwriting and fine motor skills. He's been spending time twice a week on typing for the last year, and the results are starting to show. Legible handwriting might never be his forte, so I need to make sure he has another means of getting words down on paper.

 

Wendy

[Ausmumof3]

Maths and language arts is daily. We don't do everything language arts daily though we do handwriting or spelling or copy work or whatever else we are doing not all of them all the time. I have started using an Italian app that gives a free lesson daily and I think we'll keep doing that because I think daily practice is best for a second language.

[Rosie_0801]

You might also want to consider a typing program if he isn't working on it already. My 7 year old has autism, and really struggles with handwriting and fine motor skills. He's been spending time twice a week on typing for the last year, and the results are starting to show. Legible handwriting might never be his forte, so I need to make sure he has another means of getting words down on paper.

 

Wendy

 

My dd's dysgraphia isn't that severe, but I intend to have her learn shorthand as well as typing. 

 

It seems like the sort of thing that will come in handy...

[lanalouwho]

Daily:

Math

Phonics or Handwriting

Read aloud or poetry memorization

 

Once a week:

Geography

Science

Art

Logic games

Library

 

We also have speech therapy/OT 3x a week.

[Mrs Twain]

Daily:

Math

Writing

Grammar

Reading

Spelling

Vocabulary

Science

History

 

Once or twice per week:

Map workbook

Map drawing

Logic workbook

Cursive

Dictionary practice

Art/drawing

Daily editing

Daily reading comprehension

Test practice

Khan Academy programming

Typing

[beka87]

We have a six day school week and only school in the mornings.  Math is daily, some form of copy work is daily, everything else gets split into short, focused lessons that are distributed throughout the week.  It helps us around here to switch it up often (my daughter is 3rd grade...I predict longer blocks as she gets older).  For example, today:

 

Story of the World (I read, she narrates, find places on map, do map activity)

 

Apples and Pears (spelling, half a level)

 

Literature with Copy Work (she reads an American tall tale, currently, on her own, narrates, and completes five minutes or so of copy work from what she read)

 

Grammar (Simply Grammar, Part 1 - today was making up 10 sentences where the predicate was composed of the word is plus an adjective.  Sometimes we write,      sometimes we do it orally.)

 

Math - today we have 20 minutes slotted for a game.

 

She has a daily checklist where I rotate through things like math facts, cursive practice, recorder practice, Gaelic vocab flash cards, anything that is short and can be totally independent.  She does this list in any order she pleases as she pleases, as long as it it don before dinner.

 

I do think this would have been too much a year ago.  I would worry about math, language arts, and reading aloud daily.  I read aloud during our daily morning time as a family and once or twice more throughout the day.  Everything else can be rotated and done as you have time.  Don't fret too much. :)

[Donna]

Dd is in 9th grade... daily or almost daily subjects then some subjects in longer blocks fewer days each week.

 

Daily or almost:

Music Theory (because she is doing an online AP course and it requires a lot of work often on weekends as well)

Language Arts

Instrument practice

Math (4X/week)

French (4X/week)

 

2-3X/week:

History 

Science

Gaelic

Physical Ed

 

If we are home on the weekends, she catches up or gets ahead.

 

[Arcadia]

When my kids were in 2nd grade,

 

Daily before lunch:

Math 10 to 20mins

Grammar 10 mins

Vocabulary workbook 10 mins

Literature Reading 20mins

Leisure reading 1hr

German 10-20mins

 

Weekly in the afternoons:

Science

History

Music and art appreciation

[Bluegoat]

What we do every day for my grade 3 student:

Math

Some kind of writing (W&R, at the moment)

Spelling

History or geogaphy (often these rare combined)

Literature/Reading

cursive practice

French, usually

piano/singing practice

 

Less often (or sometimes daily for a short period):

science

art (practical/history/appreciation)

church history/religious ed

poetry

 

[Bluegoat]

Ok, so I read along more:

With scedualing, I like to do my daily things, plus one other subject, if at all possible.  So, I tend to have a daily list, though sometimes I'll have a slot that will vary, mabe with history MWF ad geography T and Th.  And then five other subjects which we do once per week.

 

That being said, that starts in about grade 3.  K to 2 I have a very light scedual, so 2 might be just math, copywork, reading practice of some kind, and being read to daily.  The last would go over  variety of subjects.  A more academic child who could sit longer and read well might also get spelling, or a language, or something else.

[abba12]

Just to throw a different idea into the mix to think over.... I am VERY easily overwhelmed. I also prefer to delve deeply into something while the interest is high rather than doing a bit at a time every day or even every week. My kids appear to have followed suit, getting frustrated if we cut off a subject too early for another one, and getting 'tired' from the mental drain of switching subjects. Doing everything every day was never going to work here. Doing everything every week was pushing it too.

 

We do 4 things each day. Math, English (spelling/handwriting/composition), Assigned Reading (plus narration)  and our Intensive.

 

The assigned reading is quite a lot of time, and includes a stack of non-fiction and content-fiction alongside literature, but, it's self contained and doesn't feel like a subject switch, child just grabs the next book whatever it happens to be when they finish one and keep going for a set amount of time on the timer (could also apply to read alouds and read aloud time if that is more your style), it feels like one cohesive 'subject. So they might spend a week reading a science book, then a few days reading a literature book, then a day reading a minor subject book like an art-focused book. However, it is my aim to cover most of our content subjects through this reading list. I had a list of what I wanted eldest to learn this year and checked off topics as books covered them. If nothing else got done but Math, English and Assigned Reading time, my goal was that that would be a 'good enough' school year. Not ideal or great, but a minimum goal. Eldest narrates these books to me as she finishes them (or finishes chapters, whichever makes more sense) and we discuss the topics/ideas, so it isn't just reading, but further discussion. 

 

Of course, Math, English and an hour or more of reading can be pretty boring. That's where the Intensives come in. I pick topics we want to cover in more detail, topics which would be fun to go further into, topics which are hard to cover with just a book, and turn them into mini 1-2 week 'unit studies'. They aren't unit studies in their truest sense, because while some are naturally cross curricular (looking at poems, songs and art from Australian History or designing and putting on a play) others are just a single subject intensive (creating a diorama of the Great Barrier Reef or a week spent discussing the body with a key focus on puberty, or the two week MindUP intensive I'm planning). I intend to do 20 of these intensives this year, with 12 pre planned and the rest open to topics of interest or topics eldest wants to get 'more' from than just the book, during the year. 

 

Obviously this doesn't seem entirely like what you're looking for, but, just wanted to throw it out there for an extreme 'cut back' schedule that goes even further again than 'just once a week', think outside the box, would a block schedule of some sort work for you?

[Minerva]

With my second grader we do math, reading, spelling, Spanish and read aloud daily. We do math and reading twice a day (once in the morning and once in the afternoon) because he gets bogged down easily. He would rather do two short sessions than one long one. 

 

We do science three to four days a week and art one day a week. 

 

We haven't started history yet. 

 

 

[2_girls_mommy]

At that age we did math and LA stuffs daily before lunch. Then I had an afternoon schedule: 

 

lunch

outside playtime

piano practice 15 min

 rest and silent reading in bed. Books were chosen from a library stack I picked up on our topics and free reading.

afternoon subject: 

Monday: Art

Tuesday/Thurs: SOTW

Wed: Science experiments

Fridays: depended. Some years we had co-op where they would get more science and lots of electives. If not a co-op year this would be a fun day where we would do bigger SOTW  projects, more science projects, more art projects, whatever we had going on. Afternoon subjects were an hour to an hour and a half. So our days were long after long lunch/play break and reading breaks. But I had the afternoon to myself in between morning school and afternoon subjects to get things done. 

 

[Garga]

This year is different, but the past three years I worked on a 6-day rotation.

 

I did not do school 6 days a week.  But our schedule wasn't 5 days, it was 6.  My school used to do that when I was in middle school.  I labeled my days A - F.  I didn't call my weeks "weeks", I'd call them cycles.  So instead of 36 weeks of school, I had 30 cycles.

 

This way, I can spread out the subjects over 6 days instead of 5.  There were some subjects we'd do every day, like math.  But others would be done only on A, C, and E day.

 

The days would roll.  If I started this Monday on an A day, then next Monday we'd be on F day and our next A day would be on Tuesday.

 

Some subjects were done daily, some were done three times a cycle, some just twice a cycle, and some just once, like art was just once a cycle, so there were only 30 lessons in art. 

 

It worked remarkably well.  I was able to teach 11 different subjects that way by spreading out the lessons over 30 cycles instead of 36 weeks.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Garga

[ondreeuh]

For my 3rd grader:

 

Daily: math, literature, spelling

 

3 times a week (in various combinations): science, geography, composition, math review, grammar

 

He has outside classes that meet once a week: art, Lego robotics, outdoor school, book club

[cintinative]

I school six days a week, so I do a lot of things twice a week.

 

Grammar, dictation, copywork all on separate days, twice a week for my fourth grader, for example.

 

Science, history, myths...Same way

 

Six days a week? So Saturday too? Can you explain what you do on Saturdays? TIA!

[cintinative]

We block schedule history and science, so history is Mon/Fri and science is Tues/Thurs.  

We do additional map work or timeline work Mondays and Fridays.

We do logic  (informal, just Prufrock books and stuff) on Monday and Friday and Reasoning and Reading on Thurs.

Art is Wednesdays. 

Pretty much everything else is four days a week (we have co-op on Wed.)

[MistyMountain]

I have getting into more of a grove now with the schedule and adding things in as the curriculum comes in. Things still take longer then I like but we are getting most of what I want done. I rotate with grammar, reading detective and science. He is listening to a few history audio CDs on his own and I am calling that good for now. The challenge will be next year when I may have all 3 kids home and I want to add typing in. Right now it is just 2 I work with.

Edited February 16, 2017 by MistyMountain

[WistfulRidge]

Everday:

Math

Handwriting

Writing and Grammar

Reading and/or Phonics

Spelling

 

Weekly:

Science x 2

History x 2

 

Right now we operate on a 4 day school week (M-T and Th-F. Wed is errands day). For the every day subjects we just "do the next thing", for science and history I have things divided by individual days and filed in folders labelled something like "Week 18, Day 2". So when it comes time to do those subjects I just pull the next folder and we do whatever is in it. This helps us keep on schedule even if for some reason (vacation, illness, field trips, just a bad "nothing is going right" day) we don't actually miss anything or mess up my schedule. We just do the next folder.

 

Next year everyday subjects and history/science will stay the same but we're going to move errands to the weekend and use Wednesday as our art/music/foreign language day.