Could you give me ideas for scheduling?

[Maddysmom26]

Please for a newbie.. just give me a rough idea of what subjects you do.. time wise & number of days?

 

Like do you do science twice a week, math everyday??

History every day?? spelling 2x a week??

 

And is 30 minutes enough for each subject .. just to start a rough schedule..

 

Im trying to just make a flexible plan.. Im sure once we start and get going Ill have a better idea. But just wondering what others do??

 

I only have one child and would like to get things done mornings. and leave afternoons for her to do independant work /read/ play etc..

 

Thanks :D

[kwickimom]

:bigear: I would love to know also!!!

[Maddysmom26]

So far I have ...

 

Math everyday. 1st thing in the morning. (Aprox 30 Minutes)

 

Then I have Spelling Monday Wed Friday

I put handwriting alternating with spelling on Tues & Thurs.

 

( Both HW & SP 15-20 minutes )

 

 

Im thinking science 3 days a week ? 2 days of lessons ( 30 minutes) and day 3 experiments?

 

and history 4 days of lessons ( 30 minutes ) and day 5 research and project work ?

 

Art and music 2x a week plus independant work (anytime she wishes)

 

 

Still have to figure in Language Arts.. etc..

Im not anal... I know that its most likely going to change.. I just would like some sort of structure going into this .. then we can adjust accordingly... :)

[pageta]

We do short lessons, 5-15 minutes. Math is longer, but we do three different things, so short lessons if you count each section independently. We do each subject every day. We have a routine and we just clip right through it. We also school year-round with a 4 day school week and one week off each month. We do have four subjects that alternate - artist study, composer study, nature study and art - but they all have the same slot and we just do them on a rotating basis. But we do science every day, history every day, math every day, etc.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

For one thing, I've found that scheduling too strictly is the enemy of all happiness in our home. When we try to stick to rigid schedules, we constantly fail to keep them and spend the rest of the day (and our first failure is generally first thing in the morning) feeling like failures.

 

On the other hand, completely carefree, live by the moment only gets us in trouble.

 

We've tried a number of ways to schedule our school days. Some things remain constant: it doesn't matter how committed we are to getting everything done, if Dad is home, no schooling gets done. Putting it off today and "getting up early tomorrow" n.e.v.e.r. works.

 

Finally, what we find really working best is to keep a running list of what has to be done and schedule block of school time instead of English 9.00 to 9.45; Science 11.15 - 12.00. Those never work for us. School from 9 - 12; lunch 12-1; School 1.30 - 3.30 is a more us friendly schedule.

 

Having said that, we do have some online classes now that are inflexiblly scheduled. We just work around those.

 

One thing we're trying new for next year is scheduling every class (first day of the week lessons, too) on Tuesday and Thursday and reserving M/W/F for homework.

 

I dont think that would have worked in the lower grades but 6th grade seems a good year to start that.

 

Sorry I couldn't be more help. I just find too much scheduling to be more trouble than worth.

[simka2]

This is always changing :) But with the 3 school age kids it goes...poetry/devos, math, lit and narration, grammar and writing, dd will do Latin here, break for lunch. After lunch we spelling or handwriting, then alternate science or history.

 

I don't do scheduled times, because it depends on how long it takes them to work thru there lessons :)

 

I mix in art with the lapbook we are working on or with a history project.

[SilverMoon]

My 9yo dd who's nearing the end of fourth grade does grammar, spelling, writing, reading, Latin and math daily. History is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Science is on Tuesday and Thursday. Generally she aims for having her language arts and math done by lunch. We save science and history for the afternoon, and our reading time usually lands around 2-3 P.M. when the youngest kids take their nap. Any leftover work from morning is done then too.

 

I don't map anything out in time frames, and she's begun keeping her own student planner. I do ask that she hold off on the subjects that require me until the younger two have pretty much wrapped up their lessons.

[whitestavern]

Here is this year's schedule for my dd10. (Come fall it will be different since she will be in logic stage):

 

 

Math: 20 min/4x week. This is her least favorite subject and she often dawdles, so it often takes longer than 20 min.

 

Grammar: 15 min/3x week

 

Reading: 20 min/5x week

 

Typing: 15 min/2x week

 

Spelling: 15 min/2x week

 

Writing: 15 min/4x week

 

Latin: 20 min/4x week

 

History: 60 min/3x week (sometimes less depending on what we're doing for that day)

 

Science: 60 min/2x week (again, sometimes less)

 

Art: 30 min/1x week

 

 

For ds7:

 

Spelling: 10 min/4x week

 

Grammar: 10 min/3x week

 

Writing: 15 min/4x week

 

Math: 30-45 min/4x week

 

Cursive: 10 min/5x week

 

Reading: 20 min/5x week

 

We do history/science/art together so same schedule as above.

[Guest MamaBear10]

I will list out the schedules for 3 of my dc. Sorry if it is a long post.

 

DD16:

 

Math- 45 mins/4x week. We use Fridays as a makeup/review/test day. This allows her to focus on math during those 4 days where she has it regularly so she knows she doesn't have to rush to get it all done in time.

 

English- 30 mins/3x week. I expect her to read what I assign on her own time. We do, however, do biographies of the author's together, literary terms together, and discussions of the readings together. Everything else is done on her own.

 

History- 30 mins/4x week.

 

Biology- 45 mins/4x week. Again, Fridays are used for makeup/reviews/tests. We also do labs on this day.

 

Latin- 35 mins/5x week. Repetition is key with language :)

 

Grammar- 30 min/3x week. Now, we are just doing Grammar as needed. She doesn't need it as much as used to.

 

 

DS8:

 

Math- 20 mins/5x week. It usually takes longer than 20 minutes, as this is my sons weakest subject, and least favorite.

 

Botany- We actually do this as it comes. Some weeks 4x, some weeks 5x, some week 3x. Some weeks we don't even get to it.

 

History- 30 mins/3x week.

 

Grammar/vocab- 30 mins/2x week.

 

Handwriting- 30 mins/2x week.

 

Music- 45 mins/3x week. He does practice Piano on his own time.

 

 

DD4:

 

Handwriting- 20 mins/3x week.

 

Vocab- 20 mins/2x week.

 

Botany- Same as son.

 

Math- 20 mins/3x week.

 

HTH

[Karen in CO]

So from your signature, I see 1 9yo?

 

I have a 9yo who is currently finishing 3rd grade.

 

Here is my basic outline for my schedule - then I plug in whatever specifics we are working on.

 

Daily (4 days a week September to May otherwise 5 days a week) we do

Math

Foreign Language

read something

write something

 

That is the basic outline.

 

In addition to that, once a week I schedule in

a science activity

a science reading

a history reading

a literature or poetry reading

a wisdom tale reading and retelling

a hands-on project

an art activity (either a class or doing something at home)

 

Right now our grammar is covered between copywork/dictation and our foreign language(s).

[JMDRAD]

I despise schedules. Ok, that said... :glare: I wrote one out as a general guideline for second grade. I may be way off on something though but here it is:

Spelling 15 min/day We use SWR

Grammar 15 min/day FLL

Writing 15 min/day WWE

Reading 30+ min/day Sonlight Readers

Math 30 min/day MUS

History 60 min/day 3 days/week Sonlight Core 2 with SOTW

Science 45 min/day 2 days/week Apologia Astronomy

Latin 20 min/day Prima Latina

Bible 30 min/day includes Bible reading and memorization

Music 15 min/day piano practice

Art 60 min/day 1 day/week Artistic Pursuits

 

I included what we are using for each subject because I think that plays a major factor in how much time is needed. Also, we probably won't take that long for each subject but it gives me a rough idea. We also plan to only do 4 days a week... I leave Mondays for appts, grocery shopping, etc.

[rafiki]

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[Maddysmom26]

Thanks so much everyone. :D That really helps! I know the schedule will not be set in stone.. But its nice to see what others do and get ideas. I think I now have a good start to a rough idea of what will be done daily .. Once we begin and get into routines .. the time factor will fall into her pace. ;) Very excited. Thanks again for your help ! I really appreciate how helpful everyone is around these boards;)

[NanceXToo]

We just finished fourth grade.

 

We did language arts 5 days a week- daily journal, whatever grammar review or activity there was. Spelling was four times a week- review 3 and quiz 1. We'd read aloud together every day and she'd have silent reading time pretty much every day.

 

We also did math 5 days a week, usually. My OM curriculum would give us a weekly lesson and I'd break it down by day. I probably could have done it in four days a week. I think next year we'll be doing math 4 days a week.

 

Social studies was usually broken down to three days a week, and science was broken down to two days a week.

 

Then we'd do art 2-3 times a week, music 1 time per week, health 1-2 times per week (which was just reading, really).

 

We'd review times tables here and there, review geography (states and their capitals) a few times a week gradually learning them in alphabetical order. When we finished health we decided to start typing lessons in its place at my daughter's request.

 

We spent 2-3 hours a day total on schoolwork, the 'official' stuff I had on my list. Of course, we'd often continue doing other hands on, fun, educational things beyond that, but schoolwork never took more than 3 hours a day, and if it took that long, it usually involved some sort of hands on project.

 

I did not say "well we'll do 30 minutes on this subject and that one," we just played it by ear. Sometimes we might spend an hour doing something, other times we might spend 10 minutes on it. As long as I got through our weekly lesson, I didn't really worry about how much time we were spending on it. I didn't want to give much "busywork." I wanted to spend however much time we needed to spend, and if we grasped it and/or didn't have a lot of interest, we wouldn't dwell on it. If we needed a little more time to understand it or were having a lot of fun with it, we might take longer.

 

Sometimes we'd finish things early, other times I'd find myself a little behind and tacking it onto the following day or week's lesson.

 

It all worked out in the end!

 

Just see how it goes, don't feel like you have to be tied down to a very specific schedule :)

[Maddysmom26]

We just finished fourth grade.

 

We did language arts 5 days a week- daily journal, whatever grammar review or activity there was. Spelling was four times a week- review 3 and quiz 1. We'd read aloud together every day and she'd have silent reading time pretty much every day.

 

We also did math 5 days a week, usually. My OM curriculum would give us a weekly lesson and I'd break it down by day. I probably could have done it in four days a week. I think next year we'll be doing math 4 days a week.

 

Social studies was usually broken down to three days a week, and science was broken down to two days a week.

 

Then we'd do art 2-3 times a week, music 1 time per week, health 1-2 times per week (which was just reading, really).

 

 

It all worked out in the end!

 

Just see how it goes, don't feel like you have to be tied down to a very specific schedule :)

 

Thank you.. its funny because what you just said is about what I planned for us. Math 4 or 5 days. LA every day. Spelling 3 days and writing on the other 2 .

I planned doing history and science eevery other day or history 3 and science 2.

Music 1 and art a few times. throwing some spanish in there maybe 2days.

journaling,reading aloud before bed and independant reading for her.

 

I figured as long as I plan what we need to get done, I wont plan exact time for everything. ;) thanks again..

I think our first year is going to be great and Im feeling more at ease about it !:D

[Closeacademy]

Scheduling. I do more of a flow of work sort of thing than an actual timed schedule. We have an order that we do our work in and as we finish one thing we go onto the next. I have two children and this is how it goes:

 

work with 5th grader first

grammar instruction

any spelling instruction

history or science lesson

math instruction

assign independent work (math, spelling, grammar, lapbook, and composition to do on her own while I work with my 2nd grader)

 

work with 2nd grader

she reads to me

phonics lesson

main lesson (math, science, social studies or language arts activity)

math instruction

lapbook

assign independent work (copywork and math)

 

It takes me 1 1/2 - 2 hours to finish with instruction. My oldest takes up to 3 hours to finish her work for the day from start to finish. We do read alouds at bedtime that take another 30min to 1 hour.:001_smile:

[Laura Corin]

For that age, I would do English for 45 minutes a day, maths for 45 minutes a day, then a third block which covers science (twice a week) or history (twice a week) then art (Friday). A fourth block for us might cover music, foreign language, memorisation (poetry, etc.), logic, etc.. Then I make sure that the boys get an average of one hour of exercise a day. So Monday might look like:

 

9 - 9:45 Maths

9:45 - 10:30 English

10:30 - 11:00 break and snack

11:00 - 11:45 history

11:45 - 12:30 foreign language

12:30 - 1:30 lunch

Afternoon - exercise and reading

 

ETA: this looks a lot more formal and strict than I actually am - it's just a guideline for me.

 

Laura