In Your Opinion, Which do you Prefer....

[Joyfullyblessed]

a five day school week OR a four day school week???

 

We will be beginning first grade on August 9th. I am toying around with the idea of a four day school week, but have not yet decided for sure.

 

If I do that, it will add nine extra weeks to the school year, which would be alright since I like to school year round.

 

I have an in-home childcare that keeps me very busy during the day as well as homeschooling my son, plus all the other daily things that need to be accomplished. My thinking is that having Friday to "catch-up" on things would be great.

 

So, if anyone has experience with a four day week, please let me know if you enjoyed this schedule as opposed to a five day week. Also, please explain why it works for you & your family.

 

Thanks soooo much & have a wonderful day! :)

[johnandtinagilbert]

K-4 4 days with Wed or Fri off

5+ 5 days :)

 

So I get to do both!

[brownie]

We started out doing '5 days', but with a coop twice a month and occasional field trips, illnesses and appointments, I found that I usually ended up with 4 days for seatwork each week so I started planning for four. That made it less stressful when something came up at the last minute and allowed me to plan for the same rate of work each week. It was easier to always think in terms of 4 days than sometimes 5 and sometimes 4. Brownie

[southcarolinamom]

We did a 4 day week until last year. We LOVED it! And you are absolutely right, it's wonderful to have a 3 day weekend every week. :D

 

I loved the break as much as the kids did, although they weren't happy about starting school in June, so we could be done at the beginning of May ... but we have to get in 180 school days somehow!

 

We switched to a 5 day week this past school year, b/c my kids are in high school, and they wanted to get done with their school year sooner. So we start the second week in July and they are basically done at the middle/end of April. Which allows for a jump on the summer job situation.

[mom31257]

I am planning all our core academics for 4 days each week. My dd will be taking an outside class one day a week, so I figure it will help me to make that day less stressful. I am going to use the 5th day for our montly artist/music study, reading poetry, and field trips.

 

One thing I did this summer was have my dd start some of her subjects so that the 4 days won't be difficult. She started her science, math, and language arts.

Edited July 11, 2010 by mom31257
add in more info

[KJsMom]

I guess ours is a 4 1/2 day week. We have co-op on Friday so it is a light day with only math and english. This year may be different though. I will babysit a toddler Mon-Thurs so we may be doing more work on Friday.

[johnandtinagilbert]

I wanted to add that on the "5th day" this is "off" they often do drills on the computer or play educational games. That way there's no teaching time required and everything seems like a game.

[robsiew]

We do 4 "full" days and the 5th day is lighter/more fun. Because I school 4 there are a couple kids who have one "core" subject on Friday, but for the most part it's art and games! During the winter I'm hoping to start a little PE group so that will be on Fridays as well. Once they hit logic stage I'm not sure we can afford a 4 day week???? We'll just have to see how it goes.

[Guest aquiverfull]

Here we are required by the state to be in attendance for 180 days a year. So we do 5 days a week to keep from having to go to school year round. When I schedule our work, I always schedule Friday as light days. We do Math and Language Arts 5 days a week but the other subjects usually only 4. If we didn't get to something during the week, Friday is our make-up day in those areas.

[Pata]

We do 4 "full" days and the 5th day is lighter/more fun. Because I school 4 there are a couple kids who have one "core" subject on Friday, but for the most part it's art and games!

 

:iagree: This is what we do.

[lotsofpumpkins]

We love having a 4 day school week. My dh has Fridays off (he's a pastor), so we try to leave Fridays free in case we want to do something together as a family. Sometimes we have appointments earlier in the week, in which case we do schoolwork on Friday instead. Having a 4 day week gives us lots of flexibility. We aren't required to keep attendance records, so we take off when we need/want to and just keep schooling year-round. It ends up taking just about a whole calendar year to complete each grade level at our current pace.

[Closeacademy]

We've always done a 4-day week. Fridays have been an errand/playgroup/co-op sort of day. The last year or so we've been down to just errands/playgroup.

 

We school year round and I find that 4 days work well for us.:001_smile:

[TracyP]

We've been doing 4 days a week for about 10 months a year so far. I hope to continue this until late elementary. For us that free day can be doctor appointments, catch up, preschool/homeschool group or just free. I dread going to a 5 day week.:tongue_smilie:

[2cents]

We've always done a 5 day week. :001_smile:

[kittysmom]

We've always done a 4 day work week. The 5th day is always outings/lessons/co-ops/etc (it varies each year). I consider it our extra-curricular day. :)

[AngieW in Texas]

We enjoyed a 4-day schoolweek for a long time. The group that we were in when my girls were little had group activities on Friday mornings and then playtime in the gym on Friday afternoons. It worked out very well. Later on we were in another group and had co-op on Friday morning and parkday in the afternoon.

 

I enjoyed that schedule. Everything changed when we moved and other hs groups weren't set up the same way. We were also in a neighborhood with other kids for the first time. My kids wanted to follow the ps calendar. We switched to doing school 5 days/week. We still did school through the summer, but it was very light, just 1.5-2 hours instead of 4-6.

[campmom]

for years my dh worked 4 10 hour days per week and had Fridays off so we always did a 4 day school week and it was WONDERFUL just the break everyone needed. Now my dh works from home and i haven't found anything that works for me:confused: I really wish I could have that 4 day schedule back.

[Tam101]

I do four days a weeks. Most of our subjects can easily be done on a 4-day/36 week schedule, but I have 39 weeks on the schedule. That gives us extra time for sick and life happens days or take longer vacations. The extra weeks also give each subject a buffer in case we need (or want) to spend more time on a lesson.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

We've done 4-day school weeks for a while and LOVE it! In my state you need 180 days so that means we school year round, which I also love. It gives us 1 free day each week for doctor appts/outside activities/etc. That way we aren't stressed about having to get that 5th day/week in when life happens. I use the extra day as a floating holiday and put it on whatever day I need it. We are usually done by Memorial Day and start right after July 4th. I love the extra days off during the year and not having a really long break where stuff is forgotten.

[angela&4boys]

We're entering our 13th year at the end of the summer. We originally started with a 5-day week, but have progressed to a 4-day with a light 5th day as others have mentioned. Sometimes we do nothing at all in terms of book studies on that 5th day if we have a co-op gathering or just want to head to the beach or something as a family.

 

Many blessings! :)

[shehmeth]

I plan for 4 days a week - and leave Friday for either field trips, back-up, or simply for games related to class (when we do computer games or games for the "Games for ____" series, or things like that.... When we have a good week (no one got sick, no emergencies came up, Mom did to have to turn in Final Grades or Midterm grades at work, and no History club, no violin concert coming up which means extra practice session during the week) we do 4 days of class and Friday is free for all those fun things.. but if something did come up and is necessary to cover what was missed that day rather than skip it or cover it lightly (in other words new material vs. just review) then I use Friday as the day to do that.

 

Kate

[Michelle in OK]

Last year, my kids had 3 days of school at home and two at Blended School (Science, Social Studies, Language Arts and P.E.). Blended school lasted from 8:30 until 3:30 so I did not make them do any additional work on these days. We had to do a bit of catch up this summer to make up for not working on math every day. Plus, we had some major illnesses/accidents hit our house this last school year that interfered with our 3 days at home. Thank the good Lord that they are all healthy now and we are completely finished with all of last years materials.:party:

 

While we are still living in Florida (hopefully 2 more months max) they are only going to be allowed to take one day out for Blended School and we will still work 4 days at home.

 

When we move to Alabama we will have a 4 day work week for every subject but math. We will be using Fridays for any catch up work and/or field trips and outings. The girls are THRILLED with the prospect of the new schedule.

 

I think I really needed 5 full days when we first started our homeschool journey. This year we seem to have everything down and are much more efficient. So, the girls definitely deserve some "me" time!

 

Of course, this year I am adding a kindergartner to the mix so I may eat these words after a few months. :)

[Love2teach0307]

At 4yo we did two days a week. For kindergarten we did three days a week. For 1st grade, we did 4 days a week. We took Monday off to recoup from our busy Sundays at church. To me, it's according to how much review is needed. Tuesday was always my review day, and the rest of the week introduced new stuff. Some kids may need more review days. For second grade, we have to start reporting our days, but I'm still planning on four lessons of each subject each week so we can do more in depth stuff, plus fit in field trips and play dates regularly. For us, after 36 weeks of school, we were tired or else developmentally ready for the next grade. So, even for a four day week, I counted our fifth day as educational, but planned games, outside activities like a nature walk and life skills to round out our education.

 

This year, though, my 7yo is ready for more school, so weeks that we have no trips planned, we'll still do school all five days doing more projects if all lessons are finished for the week. But I know she has the basics down pat and is ready to dig into more subjects this year. Just find what works for you and yours and it will work out fine.:001_smile:

[Mallory]

We do a 4 day/36 week schedule.

 

For curriculums that are planned 5 days a week we just combine one of the days to stay on track (writing tales is one of these we almost always do day 1 and 2 together), for curriculums that I plan I divide by 36 weeks to decide how much we have to do each week or by 144 to figure out how much each day.

 

Each kid has a weekly schedule that has 4 boxes (or 2) for each subject, they are labled Day 1, 2, 3, 4-- not by days of the week.

 

So to fill in a box of math for example ds might have to do 3 pages. Sometimes he does three every day, sometimes he does 6 or 9 at a time and fills in more boxes. Some weeks my 9th grader gets all her work done mon- thur anyway, other weeks she has several things left as "homework" when she goes to Dad's on the weekends.

 

We volunteer at a food pantry/pregnancy center on Tue. and Thur. mornings, and usually get much less school done those days. So we don't usually end up with a day free. Instead we spend Fri. filling in whatever boxes are left.