Do you do your subjects in the same order every day?

[Hoggirl]

My son really likes routine. However, for next year I am thinking we may do the same order for all of our "before-lunch" subjects, but rotate our three "after-lunch" subjects (science, history, and LL 7) so the same subject isn't always last every day. Otherwise, I'm afraid that last one will get cheated somehow with the bad attitude/I'm ready to be finished fairy, especially since our school days are growing longer. Watcha' think?

[Wendy in ME]

We do the our subjects in the same order every day but we only do 1 after lunch subject and do a different subject everyday for 2 hours.

[King Alfred Academy]

I just blogged about this recently. We are rotating ours everyday and so far so good this week. You can read about it and see my schedule here.

HTH

[WTMindy]

I started doing a few time chunks of things we weren't getting around to. For example, Monday at 11:00 we watch the Latin DVD. I have a block of time called "Core" and the kids can do their subjects in whatever order they want to. They know what they need to do and whatever they don't finish has to be done after school is done. We work more from lists than time slots.

[Guest jennyberm]

We generally do the same subjects in the same order and they're generally based on how much concentration is needed to do them! Phonics is always first because that is the most tedious. Next is Spelling because that also takes reading and patience. FLL comes after that - it's kind of a work break since it's mostly oral. Math comes next because it is my DS6's favorite subject and it's a good brain release after all that reading stuff. Then we usually have a snack and then move on to either History or Science. We rotate those every other day so that neither is really left with that end of the day burn out.

 

Of course, this is only first grade and our school day is only about 2 hours long! Who knows what next year will look like. If DS has a need to switch things up a bit, I am more than happy to listen to his requests. Today for example, FLL included a rather long passage of copywork. He kept claiming fatigue so I let him do a line or two in between each subject until it was finished.

 

*Hey - why am I "just visiting"? Is it because I haven't set up a profile or anything yet? That's what I get for disappearing for months at a time. I miss all the good stuff, like this format change!

 

Jenny

[Emmy]

Sort of. We do all seatwork in the morning right after breakfast. Sometimes I give the boys a 10-15 minute break in the middle of seatwork if they need it. (My 5yo Kinder guy is *really* wiggly) After lunch is Reading to mom and then the fun stuff - history, science, art, activities.....(not all in one day!)

[Beth in Central TX]

I think that sounds great. Your rotation idea is a great way to have a flexible schedule that accomplishes your goals and keeps everyone involved happy, or at least agreeable.

 

I've made a lot of changes this year as far as scheduling and streamlining our work. Earlier this school year, I was letting my boys take their daily schedule and work at their own preference. However, I found that they usually let the subjects that they didn't really care for or the subjects that were more challenging fall to the end of the day. This quickly became a problem because, all of the sudden, they were complaining about work or disgruntled about how long their day was taking. I realized that the work that takes a long time in the morning (ie. Math) takes even longer in the afternoon. I also found that if it's a subject they don't care for (ie. Homer A) then it doesn't help them to do it last. So, I have a schedule set up for them to follow; however, they can make changes, but their morning work needs to get done in the morning and their afternoon work needs to get done in the afternoon. Any subject that is done by both boys and requires teaching time by me, cannot be changed without agreement of all parties involved.

 

As they grow older and our days get more intense, I definitely want my boys to feel like they have input in their schedule. This is a good way to develop their own educational responsibility, but it still allows me to provide the guidance that's needed.

[Shelly in VA]

I like your "Core" idea. My older 2 want to be able to do all of their schoolwork whenever they want to, but as Beth in Central TX mentioned, that would be a recipe for disaster! However, your method of giving them some subjects with a certain time slot to complete them is a good compromise.

[ArwenA]

I let my son pick the order everyday. That works for him/us. He likes to feel some sense of control over things. So as long as we get through the stuff I want to get through, I don't have a problem with it.

 

This is what we do with our independent subjects like math, spelling, grammar, writing... For our group subjects like history and science we do the same order.

[hsmom]

I let my son pick the order everyday. That works for him/us. He likes to feel some sense of control over things. So as long as we get through the stuff I want to get through, I don't have a problem with it.

 

I do it like this also. Ds 11 like to pick the order of his day.

[Musical Belle]

In K and 1st grade ds and I followed a loose schedule, but when I added in dd I had to have a more concrete schedule so I could divide my time between them adequately. Now we follow a set schedule but we alternate history and science after lunch. It has worked well for us so far!

 

I will add that partway through the school year, ds asked if he could do math earlier in the day because he could think more clearly. We experimented with some changes and finally settled on an adjusted schedule. Don't be a slave to the schedule; do what's best for you and your dc!

[Jennifer in NH]

We have to do reading/phonics first because she gets very frustrated. Then we do math. After that it varies and depends upon my toddler...we save some activities until he is napping. Any crafts or science experiments have to be done when he isn't around! So, until he is older, our schedual varies quite a bit.

[partyof5]

I use a weekly checklist format that I created and at the top is a section of "daily tasks" with a simple set of MTWRF to cross off as it is done, like piano, Bible Study, and memory work. I don't need to be more specific so the simple cross-it-off method works.

 

Below that is the grid where days go across the top and subjects down the side. I fill in the blocks with the details of pages to read, lesson numbers, or activities. My dd9 helps fill out her own for the week and she loves this responsibility. (I review it and make changes as needed.) The subjects are listed in order of "importance" so to speak, with math leading the list, then grammar, etc. The ideal scenario is to do them in order (based on what I know works best in the morning vs. afternoon) but I don't require it.

 

There is a spot for a checkmark each day as things are completed. This makes it easy for me to say "start your daily tasks" and they know exactly where to begin before more formal lesson time. This gives me time to finish cleaning up and get organized myself for the day.

[Jenny in Atl]

We mix it up, but usually end up in a grove and do subjects in generally the same order.

[...................]

I like to do math first. After that I give my ds his choice, unless he seems to be reaching burnout too fast, in which case it's best to do Phonics second and then give him his choice. However, he almost always chooses in the same order. :)

[Dayle in Guatemala]

Math and LA first each day so that NOTHING (in theory) interferes with them. After that, we do the other subjects in a random order depending on which subject has the most work involved that day.

 

Anyway, that's how we do it and it usually works well for us.

[Aletheia Academy]

in our hs, at this time. I am open to being flexible as the kids demonstrate their ability to manage themselves. I also like the idea of rotating the after-lunch subjects. I think I'll keep that in mind for whenh we actually do school after lunch!

[Gretchen in NJ]

Generally, we do our morning work in the same order, but our afternoons rotate daily. This is our winter schedule while ice skating is in season. We complete our morning work in the following order:

Mathematics

Grammar

Copywork/Writing

Reading

Spelling

Latin

 

In the Afternoon we do:

Art on Mondays

History on Tuesdays & Thursdays

Science on Wednesdays

 

I sometimes make adjustments to the schedule if I feel my girls are getting into a rut or a class outside the home pops up. I am not a slave to the schedule. It is just our guide we try to stick too.

 

Gretchen

[nmoira]

DD chooses the order of the subjects. Sometimes the last one or two will drop off the day's schedule; however, since it is not always the same one, it's not a big deal.

[Pensguys]

We sort of fell into it by accident. Older ds was choosing what he wanted to do and then he felt he needed me for Latin again (and I was needing to be there to help him when we got to some preposition and direct objects, etc), so I started working with younger ds 1st for awhile, while older ds does some independent work, then I swap off and younger ds does his copywork while I work with older on Latin, then we swap again so I can teach younger ds his math lesson, then I flip around again. It isn't as bad as it sounds, but I do some moving back and forth and fell into a routine.

[Trivium Academy]

It's been a great change for us! Thank you Christy!

 

[Osaubi]

My ds had an attitude problem with school until we got into a schedule. Now that we have the schedule down I have loosened up a bit, and let him pick the order of his subjects. Sometimes I would give him a choice btwn two so he didn't always choose the same subject last. He picks the subjects he is intrested in first. The odd thing about that is it changes from week to week. Last week it was history, and this week it is math.

[Mrs Mungo]

What we do is very similar to what many other people here do. We have the same subjects every day up until lunch. After lunch subjects are rotated.

 

For example, my 12 year old's schedule looks like this:

8:30-9:15 Math

9:15-10:15 Spelling and Grammar

10:15-10:25 Break (we do this to avoid 5 million drinks of water and bathroom breaks, that drives me crazy)

10:25-11:00 Latin

11:00-11:30 Spanish

11:30-noon writing (dictation, Writing Strands or letters)

noon-1 lunch

 

Monday and Wednesday:

1:30-3:00 Science

3:00-4:00 Logic

 

Tuesday and Fridays our structured day ends at lunch. We do activities, errands, real-life activities and such on those days.

 

Thursday:

1:00-4:00 History

[Closeacademy]

Well, since Jessica called me out. We have an order but we mix things up a bit. And every month, I redo things into a new fresh unit.

 

First we circle up for Circle time and everything is broken up by movement verses to keep us fresh.

 

Rhythmic drill--counting with youngest, math tables with oldest

Math exploration--I tell a story or take problems from the Singapore text and we use paper and/or manipulatives to solve the problems together.

 

Phonics drill--Monday and Wednesday we talk about a new phonogram, Tuesday and Thursday we review the phonograms and write down words that go with an old one.

 

Storytime--Monday is one of Aesop's Fables, Tuesday to Thursday will be Story of the World.

 

Then we go to the table for seatwork:

 

I work with my youngest first while my oldest does copywork.

 

Rod and Staff Reading--I really mix this up. We do the reader and then I pick and choose activities from the phonics, reading and worksheet workbooks for us to do.

 

Earlybird Math--She does up to 1 page per day.

 

Review book--she then does this on her own.

 

For my second grader:

 

Copywork--Monday and Wednesday is a silly sentence to go with the phonogram of the day. Tuesday is finishing up copying last week's composition. Thursday is working on copying this week's composition.

 

Math--1 to 3 pages in the Singapore Primary Math workbook.

 

Mondays--Form Drawing

Tuesday--Composition of a fable based on the one read on Monday. We are currently writing summaries.

Wednesday--Copying the composition into her own handwriting.

 

Minimus Latin--a bite sized piece a day and always something different.

 

My Pals are Here Science--a bite sized piece a day.

 

Thursday--McCall-Harby Test Lessons in Reading.

 

I try to keep an order but do mix things up and give them something different to do each day so we don't get bored. I also went through and put our subjects into units so that each month has a different focus.

[AudreyTN]

I tried doing that once, but someone was always waiting on someone else to finish.

 

We used to start with our "together" subjects, but then math and reading sometimes got left out.

 

NOW: I always start with Math. Then if one finishes s/he continues with something s/he can do alone. Handwriting, grammar workbook (this is pure busywork), or ETC for ds6. Within all of this I get reading lessons done somewhere. Wherever it fits!

 

After lunch, dd7 and ds6 read to each other from Pathway Readers while I'm working with ds5. After all of that we do our "together" subjects. So now if something gets left out, it's History or Science.

 

It sounds a little confusing and unorganized, but it works better than a "schedule" for us.

[elegantlion]

My ds10 thrives on structure. So we have a schedule we follow every day. We do tweak it throughout the year.

[Hoggirl]

I think we will stick with our regular routine for the a.m. My son LIKES routine (can you say, "concrete sequential learner?"). Then in the afternoon I will let him choose the order of those subjects which will be History, Science, and Lit. Those are more conducive to flexibility anyway. Thanks, again! I LOVE this board.

[BizyPenguin]

My ds knows what he needs to get done and I let him decide the order.

[5wolfcubs]

This is what we do with our independent subjects like math, spelling, grammar, writing... For our group subjects like history and science we do the same order.

:iagree:

We do this too -- if I don't have a set time & order for our "together" subjects, they either don't get done, or get done poorly w/ much frustration on everyone's part.