Joyfullyblessed Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Hello, I am trying to prepare somewhat for next school year. My son will be in first grade beginning in late August of this year. We will be going from about 2 hours of schooling per day to four hours per day (Ga. law). I am no longer worried about getting four hours in per day thanks to some helpful advice from people on this forum who responded to one of my other recent threads, but I am looking for a little more help. I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to share their daily schedule for a first grader. Do you find that certain subjects should be addressed first thing in the morning? Are there certain things you do every single day and other things that you split up over the week? How does your schedule flow? I will be splitting my son's schooling time up throughout the day. I just haven't figured out how and what we should tackle first and then at the end. I just need to get some ideas and then I am sure I can create a schedule that will work well for us. Thanks sooo much for sharing and I hope that everyone has a wonderful day! : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 We attend co-op about half of the school year. That is on Mondays. The other weeks on Monday we try to make it a fun day, doing art, music, review games, poetry. He is doing a math lesson on Mondays because it is a very full program for the year. The other 4 days are like this. I do let him choose the order he does his subjects, so that varies. Everyday: Bible (both kids) CLE Math CLE LA Reading Critical Thinking Company books (he LOVES these) History is usually 3 days a week. I have him learning about some of the same topics as his big sister. Science will change somewhat this semester. I am teaching a science class for his age group at our co-op. What we do at home will be a review and extension of that lesson. I'm not sure yet if we will do that 1 or 2 days of our other 4. We used to do 3 days a week before that. He usually chooses math, CT books, and reading as his first subjects. The others flow well, but he is good about getting his work done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in WI Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I now have a 4th and 2nd grader, but this was their first grade schedule: A.M. (all daily subjects) Bible Spelling Grammar & Writing Math Fun Literature Reading -lunch- P.M. History (2-3 days per week, depending on chapter) Science (2 days per week) History Reading (daily) HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanna Tomlinson Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 My first grader is the youngest of 7, so her schedule is sort of dictated by what the rest of the family is doing. Since she has a Dec. birthday, we start the new school year in January. Daily Bible story- read by mom 15 min Chores 15 min All About Spelling - level 1 -20 min Copywork and just beginning dictation - 5 min Reading - read aloud from readers, some instruction from phonics book - 20 min MUS- Alpha- 2 pages - 15 min Math Mammoth - 1 page - 10 min fun skills book- 2 pages (time, mazes, find the hidden picture) 5 min Storytime - 30-60 minutes depending on my voice ;) - These books go along with TOG selections which the older kids are doing 2x's a week "Basket time" - we have a basket full of science related picture books. We explore this basket together twice a week. She sits with it alone on another day. Music time - I teach some basics of music theory once a week. I plan to start piano when her older brothers finish basketball....their schedule is too hectic. 1x/week TOG co-op 1 class hands-on activities related to Tapestry unit 1 class life skills - i.e. calendar, fire safety, health etc. ....very low key I probably work with her most days in three different chunks. She gets time with me first until she gets tired, usually around 9:00. She'll then come back to the school table after she's had a break (ususally around 11:00). In the afternoon we'll have storytime, basket time, and music time. Many times she's working at the table with older siblings and I hop between two or three students. HTH, Leanna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyfullyblessed Posted January 20, 2010 Author Share Posted January 20, 2010 Thank you for each of your replies. It is really good to see different schedules. It is helping me figure out some ideas that will work well for us. Keep those replies coming! I would love to hear about more schedules. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4boys Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 My 5yo (soon to be 6) just started with 1st grade material. This is his schedule: 5 days per week: - reading - practice piano 4 days per week: - copywork or narration 3 days per week: - math - Bible lesson 2 days per week: - history - science - phonics 1 day per week: - music - art or craft - Canada unit study - handwriting practice All of this normally takes us 1-2 hours in the mornings. Then after lunch he has a book basket that he picks books from to read independently. There are lots of people on this board who spend way more time and do more subjects daily but this is working for us, we are covering all our material and my 5yo is working ahead of where my 7yo was at the same age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medieval Mom Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 7ish-7:30 Piano 7:30-8:00 Singing & Memory Work, both using SCM memory system Until it gets done-- DAILY: Math Copywork CLE LA 1 CLE Reading 1 (This is new this week. We may or may not continue.) Reading until Lunch (He reads aloud to me. Then we "buddy read" poetry. Afterwards, he reads silently on his own until lunch.) Lunch Afternoons: Monday: CHOW with ds does Artpac 1 or other coloring or playing with Legos Tuesday: Burgess Bird Book with bird coloring pages Wednesday: Fairy Tales from Andrew Lang's Fairy Books Thursday: American History (various read-alouds) and Map Skills 1 Friday: Beginner's Bible (finished), now Aesop's Fables Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 (edited) 6:30 wake up, fruit and toast 7:00 Bible and Hymns 30m 5 days (get out paper for math drill and spelling)(when they are able name, date, title on same papers) spelling - 15 min. 4 days grammar - 15 min (occasionally 30m) 4 days math drills (Holey Cards) 10 4 days 9:00 Breakfast 30 m. 5 days ;) Read aloud history or science with snack 15m 5 days PE - 45 minutes of Energy Release! 5 days Literature - 15-30 m 4 days Lunch 5 days Math 30 min 4 days science 20-30 4 days history 20-30 4 days drawing or writing journal 15m. 2 each piano every other day computer work -- all games that enrich our studies: MUS math drills, Spelling City, Purpose Games (geography) 5 days We practice copywork and dictation as a part of spelling, grammar or literature; narration and copywork for science and history; and handwriting in our language arts program. Fridays we do family health, music, and they sit in on discussions. They do something fun that has to do with science or history, then they play, play, play! The times are long b/c we are finished with all of that by 1:30, at the very latest 2 every day. Many days, we're finished before lunch without a problem (like everyday last week :D). Edited January 20, 2010 by johnandtinagilbert left out the days we do stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 PE - 45 minutes of Energy Release! He-he, I am going to have to implement this at my house. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoffeeChick Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 We school from 8:30 to 12 or 12:30 and add in another 1/2 hour after lunch if it is needed (most of the time it is not). Phonics (ETC 4x week) Reading Lesson (OPG 4x week) Writing (WWE 4x week) Grammar (FLL 3x week) Read Aloud (ds reads to me 5x week) Memory Work (we have a box that they pull 2 cards from, each listing 1 item to recite 4x week) 15 minute snack break Bible (4x week) Math (5x week) Science (3x week - God's Design for Life) US History (2x week - president study) World History (2x week - SOTW) *We started the year with the presidential study and added in SOTW after a couple of months. If I was to plan this year all over, we would do only SOTW. Piano (10 minutes 4x week) Music Appreciation (this is us listening to classical music during lunch - sometimes we discuss the composer and instruments in the pieces. Nothing formal.) Art (Fridays) Greek (Fridays, very informal, we just finished learning the alphabet in Dec.) Most days we are done by lunch. Today he was done at 11! On days we have to do work after lunch it is because we have some sort of larger project that ds wants to do more detailed than I had planned or he fiddle-faddled during the morning and didn't get his math done. :) Also, our Fridays are pretty sparse in subjects and we don't start till 9 and can get done by 11 if art doesn't take long. You can click the link to my blog to see what we get done in a normal week, my last post is last week's report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 He-he, I am going to have to implement this at my house. :D What a MONSTROUS difference. It avoids the appearance of little monsters :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 This is what we aim for: 8:15-8:25 - Opening excercises - flag salute, calendar work, singing 8:25-8:45 - Memory Verse, Bible 8:45-9:30 - Language Arts - Phonics, reading, FLL 9:30 - 9:50 - Handwriting, other seat work 9:50-10:15 - Math 10:15-11:00 - Break 11:00-11:30 History M,T,W, and Science Th, F Usually DS1 has work to finish up after history, but we aim to end the school day at noon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDMom Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I have found the most helpful schedule for our family is a block schedule. Depending on how my DS is doing, I sometimes insert a 5 minute break within each block between subjects. There are longer breaks between blocks. I love that I am not watching the clock trying to stick to the schedule. And we seem to get everything done! Here's what our day looks like... Monday-Thursday Block 1: (usually about 7:30-8:30) Wake Up, Chores, Breakfast, Bible/Pray with Dad Block 2: (usually about 9:00-10:30) Singapore, WWE, FLL, OPG, MCP Plaid (a couple pages), Spelling Block 3: (usually about 11:00-11:45) HOD- History, Read Alouds, Bible, and any other scheduled activities for that day Lunch, Errands, Park, etc. (12-2:00) Block 4: (2:00-2:30) Tea Time with Independent Reading or Read Alouds (this is usually Composer or Artist related or quiet independent reading) The rest of the day is free for play, leftover work that still needs to get finished, and a quiet time that lasts about 1 1/2 hours. On Fridays, I do science and SOTW in the Morning. On Tuesday we have PE from 1:00-2:30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 5 times per week * Early mornings * Bible story Memory work Phonics lesson I read books related to our science or history for the week *Late morning into afternoon * Latin songs Math Handwriting She reads to me I read chapter books to her 1 of these per day, normally in the second morning session Geography History Literature Science Music / catch up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 During breakfast: Bible, Memory verses, sometimes read aloud Play, usually Legos (I find that he does better when he gets to play first before school. I know other kids have a hard time stopping but he seems to do better when he gets to do it first. ) Around 9:30ish: LA or Math, I let him pick what he wants to do first LA is: OPGTR about 4-5 x a week, Spelling 4x a week, review poem we are memorizing daily, FLL 3 x a week, WWE 4 x a week Math is daily and is some combo of Mental Math/Drill or Games, Singapore and MEP. Often Fridays are just math games. Most days we take a break after the first subject (usually about 45 minutes). Depending on the day this might be a long break or a short break. Snack. I do "H school" for his brother which is really just reading books, C usually chooses to listen. Then C and I read a book out loud together (we alternate reading pages). After snack we do the other subject, either Math or LA. Break for play while I fix lunch. Lunch. Afternoons are variable. We do History from 3-5 x a week (I break it up into short lessons and some days it's just an activity or a read aloud book). Science is 2-3 x a week. Often we do Science or History as read-alouds during teatime late in the afternoon. He has things out of the house a few days a week but that varies seasonally. This is about 4 days a week, due to my work schedule Wednedays are a much lighter school day and are more in the afternoon than morning. I would also say that I've found the "schedule" such that it is has morphed a lot as the year has gone on and it different from what I thought it would be. For example, I thought based on advice from others that it would be really important to start school first thing...worked better to give him playtime first. What worked for me was to write down what I thought would be a good schedule and then be willing to be flexible and change it (over and over again) as our needs and other things change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 In our workboxes this week- 1. Poetry, Art, Music 2. Aesop’s Fable (Milo Winter), Wordly Wise, handwriting 3. Science 4. Saxon 5. Read-Aloud 6. Geography Puzzle 7. Foreign Language (Farsi 2x, Spanish 2x) 8. History 9. Copywork, Plaid Phonics, Easy Grammar 10. Reader 11. Fun Junk 12. Key to Fractions, MEP I am not picky about the order he works through them. HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacnchs Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 (edited) Obviously everyone's schedule is different b/c of circumstances - here is what we do as far as school goes. 7-9:30: breakfast, roomtime, get dressed, we all play together 9:30/40: baby naps, 2yo plays quietly (tools for tots, doll house) 1st grader: we do Saxon Math for 1 hr (when she does wksht, I do school w/2yo (OPG, etc)) 10:40: Break for Elmo's World 11:00: 2 yo - playdoh 1st grader: SWO A, FLL 1 (3 days/week), OPG (goes quickly - 30 min) 11:30-2:30: baby is up from nap so we play, eat, play outside 2:30: baby & 2yo nap 1st grader: Math facts & whatever math we didn't finish, she reads to me & I read to her (30 min total) 3:00-5:00: naps/rest time for 1st grader (sometimes naps) 5:00-7:00: supper, time w/daddy 7:00: 2 yo & 1st grader: Bible, memorization, K12 (revised history/geography), science, math, music, and art books from library (30 min total) 7:30: bath, get ready for bed So, only 1 hr. of intensive work and most of that is hands on learning b/c that is how Saxon is...2-2.5 hrs/day total but very doable b/c it is split up. (we don't always get to the last part of school b/c stuff happens at night - for example, tonight we have gymnastics) ETA: I do not do a science curriculum mainly b/c they are so young (I do history but that's b/c I LOVE LOVE LOVE it) but was thinking about doing WTM suggestions next year, so I guess that would add to the schedule. I am also thinking of adding some type of art, my MIL has been promising for a year to teach piano - we'll see, and Spanish (we kinda unschool Spanish right now - it is Daddy's native lang.) For right now, my days are full but not crazy or stressful and I would like to keep it that way so...we'll see. Edited January 20, 2010 by kmacnchs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 My 6 y/o is technically a K'er, but doing first grade work... his schedule is dictated by the family schedule, but this is what works for him... Together first thing: Bible (15 min.) History (30 min.) Then he works independently on his math sheet (if he can) and independent reading (10 min.) Sometimes I throw a handwriting sheet in there. After little brother gets done with me, my 6 y/o comes and we go over math (or do the math if it's a new concept he can't do on his own), do reading, spelling, writing and AWANA (memorizing) together. This is all done in about 1/2 hour to 45 min. Then he gets to play Jumpstart on the computer for a half hour... then together we do science (usually takes 20 min. or so) and he's done for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferB Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 These time slots are just rough estimates: 9:00 - math 10:00 - phonics (spelling/reading) 11:00 - language arts (grammar & literature combined) 12:00 lunch 1:00 - History, Science, or Art Before school he's allowed to play on Starfall.com or MathPlayground, and there are also on-line games for science and history in the K12 curriculum we use that he's allowed to play before school or between lessons. This way he gets more than 4 hours of school per day. The minimum amount of hrs. for my state for 1st grade, in our program (WAVA) is 4 hours per day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyfullyblessed Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 Wow! Thank you so much everyone! : ) All these schedules, even though they are very different, give me lots of great ideas on forming our very own schedule to suit our lifestyle. I really appreciate everybody's input on this topic, it is going to help me out a lot in preparing for 1st grade in late August. I am already getting excited it! Thanks again and have a wonderful day! : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I school year round in 6 week chunks, and it seems every 6weeks we tweak our schedule. I start with things that need to be done daily, and use the things that are not so fun as bribery for science. :D:lol: Today - We started at about 10am and worked until 11:30 (we had a potty break in there...and a "mommy has to chase down your siblings break":tongue_smilie:) Right now, we are taking a lunch break. We'll go back inside and work for about another hour after lunch. I try mix up the writing/non-writing lessons, the tough thinking skill lessons with the relaxing read-aloud lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 We're a lot more relaxed than most. We do seatwork for 1/2 hr. a day -- about 15 min. each for math and phonics/reading practice. We also do chapter book read-alouds at bedtime. I love Charlotte Mason and am slowly incorporating other subjects into our day. But honestly, if she makes steady progress in reading and math then I'm satisfied. Everything else is a bonus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Inna* Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 We school 4 days a week, Wednesday is for CBS and park, time with friends and cousins afterward. We use workboxes (or work drawers) in this order: Math Spelling Handwriting or creative writing Sing Spell Read and Write 2 days History and 2 days Science Bible StudyArt or Russian She takes breaks when needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey Mom Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 My DS thrives on a schedule. Both of my boys prefer to do school first, then have the rest of the day to do whatever they want. We don't have scheduled breaks, but whenever the boys want to take a break they just take one. So with that in mind, we stick to this schedule unless we have a field trip planned: 8:00-8:15am - Circle Time (pledges, calendar, show-and-tell, etc) 8:15-9:00am - Heritage Studies (both boys) 9:00-9:30am - Bible (usually takes less than 30 minutes though) 9:30-11:00am - Language Arts (English/Phonics/Handwriting/Reading) 11:00-11:30am - Math 11:30-11:45 - Spelling Lunch Swimming/outside play/skating Fridays Only 5:30 - 6:30pm - Ice Hockey practice (PE) Saturdays Only 60 minutes - Ice Hockey game (PE) We did our Science course the first semester, and the Heritage Studies in the second semester. I met a mom this week that hs her first grader by doing only one subject a day. For example, Mondays are for Language Arts, Tuesdays are for Science, etc. She feels her dd is able to retain things a little better doing it that way. I don't think that would work for my boys, but I thought I would add it here as another alternative for you. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise1mds Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Math and writing are done every day. MWF are history and spelling. T/Th are grammar and science. We also have music on Monday, Latin on Wednesday, swimming lesson and Scouts on Thursdays, and typing practice on Fridays. On Tuesdays he gets 'bonus' computer time if he's done well over the previous week. I don't have a set time frame as to how long it takes for each subject to be done. I just make the plans so that we can typically get everything done in 2-3 hours. Sometimes we go over, and there have been one or two days where we've been under, but that's rare. He reads on his own quite a bit and we have a huge yard to play in, so those get covered pretty well. Hope this helps :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 (edited) I schedule two blocks each day, four days a week. We get through the first block about 95% of the time. About once a week, something comes up where we miss a day of Block 2, but as long as we get the 3R's, I don't feel guilty. Also, with the exception of handwriting, Block 2 is done with older siblings, and I don't require much more than her presence during those subjects. Usually DD wishes to participate as much as her sisters, unless she finds the subject boring. Block 1 OPGTR Spelling WWE/FLL (we alternate daily) Math Read Aloud Block 2 Handwriting Spanish Science/History (alternate daily) Music/Art (Alternate weekly) Cindy Edited January 22, 2010 by extendedforecast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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