ErikaElle Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 We've been doing every subject five days a week except for writing (because WWE only has four weekly lessons) and art & music. By the end of the day, we're all kind of burnt out and just want to flop on the couch and be vegetables. I've been thinking about transitioning to a four day work week, Monday thru Thursday. Fridays would be simple with just math, reading/literature, our weekly spelling & vocabulary tests, artist/picture & composer study. Fridays I would also add in any extra science or history I feel we need for that week. Normally, I would just power through, but insomnia has been kicking my bum for a month or two now and I'm feeling kind of bogged down and burnt out a bit, even though I love homeschooling. I go between thinking that changing our weekly schedule would be beneficial for our family and feeling that I would be doing my kiddo a disservice by somehow robbing him academically if I don't teach every subject every day. So, how do you homeschool? Do you teach every subject every day or no? What does the hive say? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 Math, reading, and penmanship are daily. The other subjects I do in a loop. So we do history, science, art, history....My goal is to hit each of those twice a week. Having a loop means I don't always skip one. One day a week, this year it's Mondays, we focus on projects, geography, news, and music. The scheduled in WTM are helpful and include about how much time per week should be spent on each subject per week by grade level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 We do a four-day work week. Reading, handwriting, math and Spanish are daily. Science is daily, but that is because we go through a year's worth of science at double speed (two week's worth each week) during the first semester and do the same with history the second semester. This works better for us than doing two days a week of science and two of history all year. Pretty much all other subjects are done twice a week. Math and some type of reading are done even on "non-school" days. We do math 300+ days a year. This is working well for us, but my kids are skill young: 1st and 3rd grades. Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbes Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 Math, language arts, and morning time (read alouds, memory work, french, odds & ends) are daily. History, science, and art are 1-2 times per week, on different days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 In looking at your blog, honestly that looks overwhelming, especially for a 2nd grader. No wonder you are both exhausted at the end of the day. Things will ramp up every year. If you are trying to cover tons and tons of things daily, every day, just in 2nd grade, what will it be like when your child hits Middle School? Down time, time to play and time to freely pursue outside interests is also VERY important. From your blog it appears that these are the subjects you are studying daily or almost daily? Bible Studies (multiple resources) Penmanship and Copywork (multiple resources) Grammar (3 different resources) Spelling and Vocabulary (3 different resources) Reading (3 Separate daily activities using 2 different resources) Literature Poetry Math Science (4 different resources?) History (2 different areas of study simultaneously) Geography Music Art Computer Skills Logic Good Citizenship If this is really what you are trying to cram in daily I would seriously rethink this. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikaElle Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 In looking at your blog, honestly that looks overwhelming, especially for a 2nd grader. No wonder you are both exhausted at the end of the day. Things will ramp up every year. If you are trying to cover tons and tons of things daily, every day, just in 2nd grade, what will it be like when your child hits Middle School? Down time, time to play and time to freely pursue outside interests is also VERY important. From your blog it appears that these are the subjects you are studying daily or almost daily? Bible Studies (multiple resources) Penmanship and Copywork (multiple resources) Grammar (3 different resources) Spelling and Vocabulary (3 different resources) Reading (3 Separate daily activities using 2 different resources) Literature Poetry Math Science (4 different resources?) History (2 different areas of study simultaneously) Geography Music Art Computer Skills Logic Good Citizenship If this is really what you are trying to cram in daily I would seriously rethink this. Seriously. It looks like a lot but our work day usually takes around 4 hours, sometimes 3ish & sometimes 5ish depending on how my toddler cooperates that day. I don't use all of those sources now. That's what is planned for the whole year. I certainly don't -and would never- use four science resources a day... lol... Can't imagine doing that. I would have no hair left. Several subjects (Bible studies, penmanship, vocabulary, geography, poetry) take just 5-10 minutes max each. It's not that we're spending 30+ minutes on each subject. Electives (art, music, computer, poetry) aren't taught every day. Logic is done leisurely for fun. Typing is twice a week for 10-15 mins max only on weekends. Good citizenship technically isn't even a subject we make extra time for except through reading books here and there, as it is covered in living our lives. I'm just required by our state to make note that I teach it. Basically, what I'm getting at is trying to figure out if I should teach simple core subjects four days each week and taper off other subjects (science & history) to two days a week and electives only once per week. I'd like to see what other folks do. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 In looking at your blog, honestly that looks overwhelming, especially for a 2nd grader. No wonder you are both exhausted at the end of the day. Things will ramp up every year. If you are trying to cover tons and tons of things daily, every day, just in 2nd grade, what will it be like when your child hits Middle School? Down time, time to play and time to freely pursue outside interests is also VERY important. From your blog it appears that these are the subjects you are studying daily or almost daily? Bible Studies (multiple resources) Penmanship and Copywork (multiple resources) Grammar (3 different resources) Spelling and Vocabulary (3 different resources) Reading (3 Separate daily activities using 2 different resources) Literature Poetry Math Science (4 different resources?) History (2 different areas of study simultaneously) Geography Music Art Computer Skills Logic Good Citizenship If this is really what you are trying to cram in daily I would seriously rethink this. Seriously. :iagree: I got tired just reading your blog!! What I tend to do is start by determining how much time I think is reasonable for my child to spend on school daily or weekly. Then, thinking about my goals for them, their strengths and weaknesses, what resources are working for us, etc, I decide roughly how to split that school time into subjects. Once I have a "time limit" in mind, then I start paring down (or I suppose, hypothetically, adding to, though I have never had to do that) what we will attempt to cover. So, every "school day", my first grader spends just over 2 hours on school. About 45 minutes is "language arts": handwriting, phonics, spelling, writing, assigned reading and listening to literature and poetry (not all done every day). About 30 minutes are devoted to math and problem solving. 15 minutes are spent on science or history, 15 minutes on drawing, 10 on Spanish, 10 on current events, and 10 on typing and/or computer programming. I don't mean to say that he spends exactly those amounts of time each day, but those are my rough goals. And I actually do spot checks. If our days start tending to run long, then I will spend a couple days jotting down start and end time for each subject so that I can see which are taking more than their allotted time and hence need to be pared down further. I went through a very similar process with my third grader, but starting with the expectation that he would spend about 3 hours on school. All of these numbers simply reflect my goals and priorities for my particular children. I don't think any answer is right or wrong, but I do think it is important to feel like the master of your school schedule instead of a slave to it. Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikaElle Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 Putting it all out there... Last year we homeschooled through an academy that chose our curriculum for us. It left my son very behind in writing, ahead in reading & math, and deprived in both science & history. Literally every day in school last year for science & history all his books told him were that God created the earth in seven days and we should go to church and be good people. That was pretty much it. He is entering the "big boy" years in school now and we aren't learning as much through creative & free play as we did in preschool and kindy. I am actually having to make curriculum choices for him now, and I worry that I'm giving him too much work yet not enough work at the same time, IF that makes sense. I kind of feel like I have to make-up what he missed last year since I feel like I failed us both. At the end of grade 2, I don't want a repeat of last year where we end the school year with him not learning things he should have... but I don't want us to be overworked either. I guess I don't trust myself to find the "balance" between the two. After all, this is my kid's education and I'm responsible for making sure he gets a good one. Thanks for all the feedback! I'm making note of things to do differently. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 Oh, goodness, we only do a 4 day work week. That fifth day is very nice to have for outings, library trips, and so forth. For my second grader, 4 days a week we do these: History- 1 chapter of SoTW along with a historical read aloud, the narrations, and 2-3 actvities each week. Language Arts - 3x a week with our program, the last day with a different read aloud and just dictation/reader. Latin - 3x a week with the program, 1 day for Rummy Roots Foreign language - alternating days and attending class. Math - 4x a week with the program, 2-3x a week with Life of Fred added on Logic - alternating CTC books and Thinkfun games Music - practice and class P.E. - absolutely necessary to run him ragged some days. 3 days a week we do science, the off day we do Art, and art study is mixed into language arts (ELTL). It looks like a lot, but it really has to be taken in context. There is a LOT of play in our day! History is active, science is active, art is active, Latin is short but has a game to look forward to each week, math has games, Logic has games.....I find if it's too heavy then nothing is really learned, but if you slow down and take the time for fun, more gets done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 We've always done a co-op one day/week (Th), and the subjects that my kids take there vary each year. Our regular curriculum goes into the other 4 days. I have always alternated history and science for elementary in 4-8 week units so that there are fewer transitions in the day. This year we do either the history or science unit 3x/week and do SCM's Visits to...geography on the other day. Math is daily, and back when we were doing phonics that was daily - these days, phonics is replaced by spelling. Most other subjects - grammar, vocab, handwriting, etc, are done 3 days/week. I give my kids a choice of which days to do them. One child liked to cram everything on M/T/W so that Fridays were short, and the other spreads things out more. We do Bible M, T, and F since we go to church on W. For my older student, who is now in middle school, we do some math, language arts, science, and history all 4 days. But, we don't do all parts of every subject every day. So, language arts may be grammar and vocab one day, and writing and literature on a different day. Because we have 'car school' one day and other days are stay at home days, we assigned different subjects to the days based on spreading out the writing-intensive work, and also so that the car day has things like reading literature instead of trying to write a report. When I can, I've always doubled up. If they need to write a sentence or essay (depending on age-appropriateness), I have them write it about their history or science work. This kid also has Latin from co-op and typing, and there are specific days with time set aside for that work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 We do a four-day week. Daily: math, spelling, grammar, handwriting, reading, writing, Latin Twice a week: history and science We fill in art and music appreciation as well as memory work in our morning meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 I find if it's too heavy then nothing is really learned, but if you slow down and take the time for fun, more gets done. :iagree: I mean, I want to provide a thorough, rigorous education, but not so much so that the kids and I are burnt out and dreading school. My number one goal is that we are all more or less enjoying school time and feeling successful most of the time. In general, I find that if I keep formal school time short and limit screen time, that the kids naturally engage in all sorts of educational activities of their own choosing. So I keep handwriting super short and put out mazes and crosswords for them to play around with after school. I skip formal geography and instead offer Geopuzzles and geography themed board games. I keep science activities short and sweet because I know they will happily spend their free time with Snap Circuits, Steve Spangler kits, our microscope, non-fiction science books, etc. Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHASRADA Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 We also do a 4 day week (5th day is co-op/field trips). My 2nd grader's daily work consists of math(bits from 3 different programs) and language arts (phonics /spelling, reading, grammar, penmanship). Everything else is on a twice a week schedule, alternating days: science, history, religion, French, Arabic and Art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 Each of my kids has one day a week at a tutorial. 4th grader does: piano 7 days math and literature (meaning read real books) x5 composition, spelling, grammar x4 science, history, memory work x3 art and drama x1 My 7th grader has several extra curriculars, so often does some schoolwork on Saturdays or evenings this year, for the first time. piano x7 math, Latin, writing, lit reading x5 science, history, grammar, art x3 memory work, drama (the class/schoolwork!) x2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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