swimmermom3 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? How many hours a week does your child "do" school? How many subjects does your child do? If you were a certified teacher prior to homeschooling, how did the planning process for the class room compare to what you do now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I don't actually spend much time planning my 6th grader's week. Most of our materials lend themselves to "Do the next page/chapter/assignment." I think I probably spend more time going over his completed work, with and without him. We've settled into a pretty regular routine and he's become quite independent. I'd say he works 4 hours a day, on average. If you count everything individually, you could say ds will cover 15 subjects this year. If you clump, then there are 8: Math Science Latin Logic Art Music History (Ancients, US Constitution, British History and 13 Colonies <last two were through our hs group and very light>) English (Grammar, Writing, Lit, Vocab, Note Taking and Outlining) For his portfolio, we also have to add health/PE and fire safety, which we've covered in our usual family life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? I plan all subjects before the school year begins. It's done in spurts, but I probably spend 30-40 hours planning the year before it starts. I do most of my planning on paper and it takes about an hour to plan for the following week. Next year (7th grade) I anticipate more planning as we are doing a few higher level courses. How many hours a week does your child "do" school? We do school M-F from 10am to about 3pm, which usually an hour of break. It averages 4 hours a day. We're slowly ramping up the time spent on any subject this semester and he does 40 minutes of reading per day on his own during the week. 4-5 hours/day would be a good yearly average. How many subjects does your child do? Latin, math, grammar, writing, memory work, religion, lit, history, science, logic, geography, art/music. He also does 4H. If you were a certified teacher prior to homeschooling, how did the planning process for the class room compare to what you do now? n/a. I have started applying grades to some subjects as it seems to help ds' accountability. I use www.engrade.com to keep track of grades. I recently downloaded the trial version of Planbook and really like the ease of helping me plan week by week. I'm working on my organizational skills so I don't feel overwhelmed with admin work as we get closer to high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Like EL, I spend most of my time putting together our school year in the summer. I don't think I'm quite as organized as EL though! I have EduTrack that I input all information into. So, dd can just look up what she needs to do. I've also written out all her subjects by day and stuck the paper on the back of a door in our homeschool room so she can look and see what subjects she is doing for the day. It seems like it is very important for middle schoolers to know exactly what they are doing each day. I probably spend about 30-40 hours of planning for the whole year. I spend about a half hour inputing grades into EduTrack a week, if a grade has been given. The subjects I'm teaching her this year are: Latin, Math, History, Literature (combined with history), Science, Memory Work (I'm not REALLY teaching this, but I put a portfolio together that she goes through 3 days a week using Plaid Dad's Living Memory book) She also takes co-op classes: Art, Drama, Poetry/Writing She has another Art teacher as well and does piano and dance once a week. I don't assign grades for a lot of her work yet, so I don't have much of that admin work I'll have for later grades. :) Our school day is from 8:30-3:30 with an hour break for lunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in SouthGa Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 My son is in 8th grade and has a rather heavy load this year: math (CD PreAlgebra), Easy Grammar Plus, Apples Spelling II, Wordly Wise 8, IEW SWI B (coop), Spanish I (high school level at coop), Apologia Physical Science (lab at coop), speech (high school level at coop), WTM lit. list, BiblioPlan modern, Studying God's Word and men's Bible study at church, memory work list, dictation and copywork (twice a week, usually Bible verses or lit passages), typing, Fallacy Detective & 5-Minute Mysteries. He works about 6-7 hours a day minimum, more when we are preparing projects like science fair or International Day. He also takes tennis, works out at the gym and golfs with his dad, and is a member of Key Club. He is not very athletic, more academic, and rarely complains about his work. I spend about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours on the weekend getting him ready for the next week-I have a planner on my computer and just have to type in the assignments and print it out. I stay on top of his science and math daily, because those are his weak areas. I will add that this is VASTLY different from 6th grade-I have been steadily increasing his work load to get him ready for high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) I've been a part-time professor teaching classes with very prescribed content with state-mandated texts for eleven plus years, I've been a homeschool co-op teacher using materials I developed myself, and I've been a homeschool mom. The planning process for each is very different. I began our homeschool days with mom-planned things and some custom materials, and now use almost entirely scripted materials. I have two logic-stage kids, and my oldest is in an academic co-op for most of his subjects. My planning for the year goes in spurts. I have the rest of their academic careers somewhat planned out with various alternatives, and keep a running shopping list of what I need. I edit my long-range plan here and there. For example, our academic co-op does two years of Latin followed by two years of Spanish for high school, but some of the colleges I'm looking at want four years of a single language. So I need to plan either to continue Latin on our own or start Spanish earlier than they do and continue it on our own. So that is in the plan. I buy curriculum when I have the $, so my book list helps. I have almost all of my books for 2010-2011, and will start working on the next year as soon as those are purchased. As far as weekly planning, both kids have assignment sheets that I fill out on Fridays when they are at martial arts or on the weekend. That takes me about an hour at most because the academic co-op provides a list of expected "end products" that just need day-to-day break-down, and my younger one is using mostly materials broken down into lessons already. The hour is also used to assess the previous week's work. My older one is involved in academics from about 8:30-4 or so, and does math, vocabulary, Bible, logic, reading, writing, history, geography, science, Latin, and Spanish. My younger one has almost the same subjects but at a lighter level and is usually done around 3. In the summer we do school 3-4 days a week, math for 30 minutes, light Latin/Spanish, and then some sort of Unit Study together. Edited January 23, 2010 by GVA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) I think it will depend on many variables. I do my prereading over the summer, I also write out my general plans and goals for the year. I spend about an hour a week going through and writing my lesson plans for the next week. The time a day would take I think depends on the subject material, the type of student, and how flexible you plan to be. We are pretty flexible here. I am juggling to many kids not to be and stay sane so it's not uncommon for my DC to be doing something in the evening or over the weekend if it works better for us, this also allows more flexibility with my DH's work schedule. Edited January 23, 2010 by melmichigan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Mine is just finishing middle school, though this year he is essentially doing all high school level work. In 6th grade he spent 4-6 hours per day doing school work (though he has some LDs and ADHD which cause him to work slower than a typical student). My weekly planning took maybe 1-2 hours, depending on whether I needed to create a test or work math problems or whatever. Just the scheduling part took probably 30 minutes. I should say that starting in January of 5th grade (and every year), I started gathering and reviewing materials and making master schedules. This takes many hours that I am not counting in the weekly planning time. In 6th grade my son used the following materials: Sequential Spelling Homegrown writing Hake Grammar 8 Jacobs Algebra Homegrown history (1850-present) K12 Life Science Homegrown geography Getting Started with Latin Violin lessons Outside art classes Outside swimming classes Outside aikido classes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongo Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? No time at all, maybe 20-30 minutes to go over her week, with her, hand out he reading/literature books. How many hours a week does your child "do" school?I stick to my schedule, it works or us. We work from 7:30 (music) to 3:15 every day. Some days we finish by 2:30ish. They have about 1 hour, lunch/break. So about 6-7.5 hours a day, 30-37 hours a week. How many subjects does your child do? Over a week she does;math,science,English,writing, Spanish, Poetry,word roots, reading,history,geography/timeline,math drill,art, composer study, test prep(for IOWA), fun reading, and piano.[/B] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? How many hours a week does your child "do" school? How many subjects does your child do? I use a curriculum that someone else already planned (MFW), so I spend very little time planning. I need that in my household. If I find I have down time, I am free to plan to my heart's content. I may add something for "shop class," look in more depth at a topic we're learning about, look into science or math for future years, etc. [i do spend some time planning non-MFW subjects during the summer.] My son's school hours are 8:30-2:30. He probably works hard about 4-5 hours each day, depending on his workload, and the other hour or so may be used to finish his work; otherwise we may play a game, watch an ed. video, or do an outside activity (math team, YMCA class, Critical Thinking boys' club, field trip to orchestra, bring lunch to dad at dialysis, etc). He's done some homework this year in math, reading chapters of his current book, & occasionally science when he gets behind. -We spend the most time on math & English in middle school, coming at each from several angles. -Next are science and history, which are short some days and very long on others. Woops -- Bible goes here, too. -Electives are very changeable still; I'm taking advantage of the flexibility of homeschooling. Some electives he's doing or has done: Critical Thinking, shop class with dad, Spanish, Health, art, music, phy ed. Julie Edited January 23, 2010 by Julie in MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? 30 minutes on Saturday and keeping up with the reading trying to stay about a week ahead. I spend a week between terms setting up the following term. How many hours a week does your child "do" school? 50 hours (5 days at 9 hours and 1 day at 5 hours) How many subjects does your child do? Math Latin Greek French English Religion Geography History Literature Science If you were a certified teacher prior to homeschooling, how did the planning process for the class room compare to what you do now? Honestly, I see little similarity. In homeschooling you will be the teacher for the long run so you are always looking ahead in your planning and constantly adjusting your planning based on how the student is succeeding. In curriculum planning for schools you are given a sheet of objectives to meet (in Florida they are the Sunshine Standards) and you develop a lesson plan in which each lesson must match one or more of the required standards. There is no consideration of where the students are currently or where the students are going once they leave the classroom. You generally do not adjust the plan based on how the children are performing. You try and work out a plan for the "middle of the road child" and hope for the best - once you submit your plans for the term you basically stick to them. Readjusting plans would require resubmitting forms and a bunch of paperwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen the RD Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? I spend about 1 hour per week writing in my dd's assignments. I also plan at the beginning of the year. I copy the table of contents of each curriculum and pencil the approximate date(s) that I want to accomplish things. This helps me stay on track in my weekly planning. How many hours a week does your child "do" school? M - F schedule is 8:30-12:30, break for lunch/PE/play, then resume from 1:30-4 or so. Total hours runs about 6.5-7 hours daily. Whatever we don't finish during the week becomes weekend homework. How many subjects does your child do? Bible Math Latin Grammar Spelling & Vocabulary Writing Reading (covers history/science/literature & literary elements) Geography History (Ancients-try to include writing in this) Science (try to include writing in this) If you were a certified teacher prior to homeschooling, how did the planning process for the class room compare to what you do now? N/A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanaTron Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? I also have 2 younger dc. It takes me about an hour to plan for all four. Most of what we use is open and go, or directed to the student; you can see what we use in my signature. How many hours a week does your child "do" school? About 21-22 hours. 2 hours on Monday, then around 6.5 hours on T-W-TH. Friday we go to music co-op, where they participate in choir, band, and music theory. We school during the summer, as well, and then it will be closer to 25 (I think). How many subjects does your child do? *English (Spelling, Writing, Literature--on grammar break until 9th grade) *Math *Latin *French *Geography *Logic *Bible We are not currently doing science, but will probably start McHenry's The Elements after Spring Break. HTH! Edited January 23, 2010 by LanaTron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? I did a lot of preparation over the last spring and summer for this year. As a result, I spend very little time on preparation for lessons *now*. I do need to spend time working on Latin ahead of the kids. And I spend time during school going over things with ds and helping him edit papers, etc, etc. But little or no time in lesson-prep. (On the other hand, I'm doing some prep for next year now...) How many hours a week does your child "do" school? Hm... 30 hours? Ish? How many subjects does your child do? Algebra, History, Literature, (writing incorporated into those two), Latin, Greek, Science, Christian Studies, Logic, memory work, a little art (PE is after school) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia On My Mind Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I teach my dgd; she comes to me everyday for school except Friday. We start school at 8:30 a.m. and I run her home at 1:30 p.m. We test every Friday (Bible, Saxon Math, Latin, Literature and alternate Science and History) so we only have class Monday thru Thursday at my house. Her mom proctors her testing on Friday at her house so I can have a free day. She is in 9th grade this year but last year our schedule was very similar. I was a classroom teacher and principal for many years in a private Christian middle school so I approach planning a bit differently. I plan everything by chapters or modules (Apologia) usually every two weeks. It takes about an hour and beginning last year I allowed my granddaughter to have some input regarding scheduling, projects, labs, etc. I teach her Bible, Saxon Alg II this year, History- I supplement the BJU textbook and we discuss at length, Latin - I only teach new material and review weekly, Science (Apologia Biology) independent with labs done in front of me on Wednesday, SAT Prep is done this year only-last year it was Wordly Wise for Spelling and Vocab, Literature - trade books that track with our history and composition is included. Last year we finished the highest level of Shurley English and only review when deemed necessary. Her mother teaches her Dave Ramsey's Economics and this year we have done a unit study on the Constitution in addition to the regular BJU American History. My granddaughter does all her reading independently after our formal school and it varies from day to day. She tells me she usually spends between 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours on independent work when she gets home. That includes her Saxon Alg II, Apologia Science, BJU American History and American Literature and Latin drill work. Last year was primarily the sames except different levels of each subject, a formal grammar but no SAT Prep. She did also take Latin in 8th grade. In our ps district we have to count Bible as an elective on the HS transcript so she has two electives this year plus a foreign language (Bible, SAT Prep, Latin) and the math, science, history, lit/gram/comp. That's a full load for us. Last year was exactly the same but no SAT Prep and we added formal grammar and vocabulary to Literature and PE was done at local gym. I am fortunate that I taught almost all her subjects in private Christian School prior to home schooling her last year and this year. We have to complete 4 1/2 hours a day in 8th grade to count it as a school day in GA (we do much more with the independent work she does at home). High school requires class hours to award credits so we have to consider that. No problem since she does work independently at home . She works well independently with a schedule to follow on the subjects she does on her own. She did have to prove herself last year in order to be allowed that priviledge and that wouldn't work for every student. She's a math whiz but doesn't like it so I teach the lesson and she does the work independently. We also supplement with Dr. Seigal from Great Courses with the Saxon Alg. II just to add understanding (she really doesn't need it but I am not a math major so it gives me the confidence to teach Alg II so I guess I am the Great Course student but don' tell her.) I know I have given TMI, please forgive me. I hope you can sort it all out. We are not the traditional hs's but who among you is? LOL I am so thrilled I think this is my 50th post. I didn't think I would ever make it to 50.:party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 We are not the traditional hs's but who among you is? LOL Great quote! I am so thrilled I think this is my 50th post. I didn't think I would ever make it to 50.:party: :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Georgia, congrats on your 50th post and thank you for making it an informative one.:D As always, I appreciate the time and effort each of you has taken in responding to my questions.The information shared here has pointed out some of the more glaring glitches in my schedule. I did a significant amount of planning over the summer and then made last minute major changes to the curriculum. Instead of the hour or two of planning on the weekends like most of you wrote about, I am up to about 4-5 hours due to all of the tweaking. The workload is dampening my enthusiasm. While the number of hours for school varied, I had forgotten about schooling in the summer. The average number of hours and subjects is about on par with what we are doing. I am not sure why but I have felt the need of some kind of yardstick to measure what we are doing. The question about teachers were more of a curiosity due to a recent FB post I had seen. So, now to do some streamlining and to leave well enough alone on the curriculum. We all know I have enough of it.:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 One more question: How much time do you personally spend learning new material to be covered in the course of a week? For example, I always pre-read science and take notes. sometimes I need to work math problems as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? I plan out my entire year and generally start working on it (during swim meet down time) over the Christmas holidays or in January. I finish up over the summer. How many hours a week does your child "do" school? We generally do school from about 8 - 3:30 daily, although we do have interruptions for appointments, outside classes, field trips, etc. almost daily. How many subjects does your child do? This year: Bible/character, math, spelling, handwriting/writing, grammar (doing outlining and notetaking practice this year, too), reading (read alones), literature (read alouds; lit genre study), alternate Spanish with Latin/Greek, alternate logic with geography, history and science also alternate. We also do some music, art, and PE related things during the year. Next year: reading time (to include Bible), math, language arts (vocab and alternating grammar/writing), Spanish alternating with Latin/Greek, Logic, History (to include geography) and Science. If you were a certified teacher prior to homeschooling, how did the planning process for the class room compare to what you do now? I was not a trained as a teacher, although I have always worked as a trainer in most any job I've held, for some reason. Those who I know here in KY who were trained and certified as teachers have always told me that they had to "unlearn" things they learned in school because they just don't work. Also, at the Cincy convention a couple of years ago, a bunch to certified teacher/homeschool parents were in a talk by Dr. Keller (RS4K) and we got into a conversation about how their teaching colleges (Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky) had taught them to integrate across the curriculum, for instance, but then when they went to do their student teaching in schools or into their first jobs, they were absolutely not allowed to do such a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 (edited) One more question: How much time do you personally spend learning new material to be covered in the course of a week? For example, I always pre-read science and take notes. sometimes I need to work math problems as well. I do need to work math problems a little ahead, which is somewhat embarrassing, but I find that it's helpful. We're just about ready to start NEM, and I'm wondering if I shouldn't have ordered myself my own text and workbook! I used Saxon with my other son, and worked problems alongside / ahead of him as well, but with a different curriculum, I'm not that confident about what I learned the first go-round. And, besides, I can hardly remember my own name some days. Don't even talk to me about order of operations. Right now I'd say I spend about 30 minutes to an hour on math each week, preparing. Some weeks none, but I usually regret it. With history, I have started to pre-read each chapter and take notes. I think I mentioned to you that we got off to a late start this year because of (me) adjusting to an essentially new job. Also, supporting my older son's college application process sucked, oops, I mean, required more of my time than I'd imagined. But now that we're on track with history, I am spending about 45 minutes taking notes before each chapter, and then, because I didn't do it over the summer, I am doing additional reading on my own during my free time. You know, the switching tracks mid-year, or at the beginning of the year, can really waylay a gal. Before last year (middle ages), I spent oodles of time planning and collecting various resources over the summer, then found everything falling apart once we were in the year, for various reasons. I kept trying new things, and our studies became very haphazard and chaotic. This year, sticking to one history text (K12's Human Odyssey) seems to be working, for me at least. My obstreperous student doesn't care about the "stinkin' Renaissance!" but only really wants to study the Romans. Sigh. Science, we feel our way. I don't do too much reading ahead, though I do hit up the science department on campus here where I work for calipers (digital ones are awesome!!!) and weird equipment. I look ahead to see what "stuff" we'll need. Honestly, I fully intend to outsource science in the HS years because a) I spent my entire college life avoiding the science building for a reason and b) not cutting up dead animals or blowing things up in my kitchen. Just not that adventurous, I guess. So we only do enough science so that when he gets to a real lab, he won't be a complete ignoramus. :D I'm curious about how much time others spend reading ahead as well. I find if I'm hitting material cold, it's not good. I need time to process, so it's better if I study ahead. Edited January 24, 2010 by Nicole M major brain burps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 I was not a trained as a teacher, although I have always worked as a trainer in most any job I've held, for some reason. Those who I know here in KY who were trained and certified as teachers have always told me that they had to "unlearn" things they learned in school because they just don't work. Also, at the Cincy convention a couple of years ago, a bunch to certified teacher/homeschool parents were in a talk by Dr. Keller (RS4K) and we got into a conversation about how their teaching colleges (Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky) had taught them to integrate across the curriculum, for instance, but then when they went to do their student teaching in schools or into their first jobs, they were absolutely not allowed to do such a thing. I'm very curious about this, Regena! Can you say more about "unlearning"? And I don't quite follow about not being allowed to integrate across the curriculum...? :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 I do need to work math problems a little ahead, which is somewhat embarrassing, but I find that it's helpful. We're just about ready to start NEM, and I'm wondering if I shouldn't have ordered myself my own text and workbook! I used Saxon with my other son, and worked problems alongside / ahead of him as well, but with a different curriculum, I'm not that confident about what I learned the first go-round. And, besides, I can hardly remember my own name some days. Don't even talk to me about order of operations. Right now I'd say I spend about 30 minutes to an hour on math each week, preparing. Some weeks none, but I usually regret it. With history, I have started to pre-read each chapter and take notes. I think I mentioned to you that we got off to a late start this year because of (me) adjusting to an essentially new job. Also, supporting my older son's college application process sucked, oops, I mean, required more of my time than I'd imagined. But now that we're on track with history, I am spending about 45 minutes taking notes before each chapter, and then, because I didn't do it over the summer, I am doing additional reading on my own during my free time. You know, the switching tracks mid-year, or at the beginning of the year, can really waylay a gal. Before last year (middle ages), I spent oodles of time planning and collecting various resources over the summer, then found everything falling apart once we were in the year, for various reasons. I kept trying new things, and our studies became very haphazard and chaotic. This year, sticking to one history text (K12's Human Odyssey) seems to be working, for me at least. My obstreperous student doesn't care about the "stinkin' Renaissance!" but only really wants to study the Romans. Sigh. Science, we feel our way. I don't do too much reading ahead, though I do hit up the science department on campus here where I work for calipers (digital ones are awesome!!!) and weird equipment. I look ahead to see what "stuff" we'll need. Honestly, I fully intend to outsource science in the HS years because a) I spent my entire college life avoiding the science building for a reason and b) not cutting up dead animals or blowing things up in my kitchen. Just not that adventurous, I guess. So we only do enough science so that when he gets to a real lab, he won't be a complete ignoramus. :D I'm curious about how much time others spend reading ahead as well. I find if I'm hitting material cold, it's not good. I need time to process, so it's better if I study ahead. This makes me feel better and not so alone. This is the type of work I have included in the 4-5 hours on the weekend. It has to happen on the weekend because I can't be sure I will have the time during the week. And as you said, I need the time to process. Right now, we working partially in a science kit that covers things I've done before with older ds ,only the kit is not as good as the previous experiments. So I read and then feel compelled to go and locate the materials I originally used to boost my understanding. It takes so much time.:tongue_smilie: I too would like to know how much time is spent reading ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in SEVA Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 :bigear: I will be honest... middle school scares me(I used to teach 5th grade). I have nightmares about high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 50 hours (5 days at 9 hours and 1 day at 5 hours) . You really find you need 6 days a week and 50 hours to get your school work done? Does this include outside activities or just the academics? Is it primarily because of the CLAA classes? I know everyone is different but I have to wonder if I could ask my kids to work longer hours and more days a week than a adult work week. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 My 7/8th grader is doing the following subjects- Saxon Math BJU Grammar Apologia Science Spanish Wordly Wise Oak Meadow History Sequential Spelling Clarinet & music lessons Ice skating (15-20 hours/week) She also has 1-2 books to read for english at a time (probably 2-3 per month) where she does some kind of chapter questions or some writing assignment. There is also an additional fiction/non-fiction for history with some kind of report (usually 1-2 month) There is also a weekly/bi-weekly writing assignment. On average we start school around 9:30 and work until 12. Break until 1 and then finish up around 3:30. My daughter has been moving at a snails pace lately so for the past few weekends and some weeknights she has had "homework". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 You really find you need 6 days a week and 50 hours to get your school work done? Does this include outside activities or just the academics? Is it primarily because of the CLAA classes? I know everyone is different but I have to wonder if I could ask my kids to work longer hours and more days a week than a adult work week. Heather No, we don't need 50 hours, we just DO 50 hours. If that makes sense? :) I don't have any time frame for the CLAA classes (or any classes) so we aren't doing the hours to "get done" in a certain time frame. When we finish one class we just move along to the next. It really isn't that long though. The girls school from 7:00 am to 1:30 pm. We don't take any breaks, but we snack while studying French. Then they have all afternoon off for free time, sports and activities. They have school again after dinner from around 7:00 to 9:30. It isn't much different than what they would be doing if they were in school. My husband always works six days and well over 50 hours, so they don't feel like they are working more than an adult would. Any day my husband is off work they are automatically off school. In talking to their cousins and friends about school, they feel that they are getting off easy. I don't set required times for getting work done and most classes aren't graded. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 :bigear: I will be honest... middle school scares me(I used to teach 5th grade). I have nightmares about high school. Colleen, I've already done 7th and 8th grade with an older son and enjoyed it immensely. I don't know what is wrong this year. I just can't seem to hit my stride. Middle school is great fun and you will be fine.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school?I plan 6-7 weeks at a time. For one student, it takes approx 2-3 hrs. What takes a lot of time is generating my yearly objectives which I plan during the summer, How many hours a week does your child "do" school? My 8th grader spends 7-9 hrs per day on school work. However, he is atypical b/c he is taking 3 high school courses as well as extra math from Art of Problem Solving (he is taking it for fun). How many subjects does your child do? alg 2 physics English (spelling, lit, grammar, composition) French 1 history religion If you were a certified teacher prior to homeschooling, how did the planning process for the class room compare to what you do now? It didn't. My planning is completely opposite of typical school planning b/c I don't use textbooks for the most part (except for math) Everything is individualized for each child. No matter how many times I have taught a subject or grade level, I have never taught it the same way twice. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 That does help and congratulations on your little one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 If you have a middle school student, how long does it take you to plan and prepare for one week of school? I make a general plan before each semester, but it tends to change as we go, and I make definite weekly plans with the girls Friday after school. How many hours a week does your child "do" school? About 8 hours Sunday through Thursday, and about 5 or 6 hours Friday. That would make it about 45 hours weekly. That time does not cover all of the Literature readings (they read those in their free time) and most of the assigned essays, so if I were to include the extra time for that, add 5-6 hours weekly, but that's quite flexible because they tend to squeeze in those hours if they finish earlier the rest of the work. How many subjects does your child do? Age-wise they're 6th and 7th grade, content-wise we do a mix of middle and high school material: Italian (Literature, Grammar, Writing) - native language level English (Literature, Grammar, Writing) - native language level Hebrew (Grammar, Reading and Writing; Literature for the older dd) - advanced foreign language level, but the older dd is slowly making a shift towards studying it at a native level too Latin (Literature, Syntax, some Metrics) Greek (Morph/Syntax, Literature) Maths (they both do 8th grade material together) Science - we have it split by disciplines, thus they do separately Biology, Chemistry and Physics (about 6 hours in total) History Geography with very basic Economy/Politics (we tied the two together in order for the girls to get in touch with what's going on in the world) Judaics/Tanach - used to be tied to our Hebrew studies, not we separated it, but do it only once a week, nothing huge Music/Art - quite informally, usually only once a week each (though they get plenty of "practice" there by attending concerts, spending all summers in Italy and seeing all you could possibly see, etc.), sometimes as a part of school hours, sometimes not; we're saving history of music/art for later The older dd also does Formal Logic and Philosophy (in total 2-3 hours a week, with me); the younger dd has some Logic incorporated in her extra Math work and she studies extra high level science (Biochemistry) with a tutor weekly, sometimes in and sometimes out of school hours. If you were a certified teacher prior to homeschooling, how did the planning process for the class room compare to what you do now? I taught at university, so it's not really comparable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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