How much is too much???

[JoJosMom]

I need advice. This will be my first year homeschooling my almost 8 year old third grader. I keep reading all these WONDERFUL ideas for curriculum, and want to keep adding on...and on...and on... I need boundaries!

 

What does a realistic school day look like? How long is the day and how much time should be spent on each subject, especially Math and Language Arts? Do you take breaks? If yes, how often and for how long? I'm trying to write out my lesson plans and I'm floundering. We are planning a four day week, with Wednesday being an enrichment day with other homeschoolers. How much time do you think is reasonable for a third grader to spend in school? Once I get a better handle on THAT, I'm hoping to be able to focus on prioritizing the subjects....:001_unsure:

[kalanamak]

. How much time do you think is reasonable for a third grader to spend in school? Once I get a better handle on THAT, I'm hoping to be able to focus on prioritizing the subjects....:001_unsure:

 

Do you have WTM? At the back of the grammar age section there is a grade by grade list of topics and times. I use that as my guide and adapt from there. Has served me well. Since I year-round, and that schedule is for 180 days, I add up a whole years worth of, e.g. spelling, and divide by 12. That is what I cover in a month. It has been very, very doable, even for my wiggly (getting less so, but replacing it with yakky) kiddo.

 

Another bit of advice often told to start-in-the-middle folks: start a couple of subjects, catch your stride, add another one. That is how I did, too, even starting at the beginning. HTH :001_smile: Glad to meet you!

[Jean in Newcastle]

This is what my 3rd grader did last year:

 

30 min. - 40 min. (approx.) of history read-alouds (we did this over breakfast and lunch)

15 min. spelling

30 min. math

15 min. grammar for half of the year

15 min. poetry the other half of the year

30 min. science

15 min. of music (learning to play the recorder and now the piano)

30 min. of art once a week

10 min. of a reading comprehension book (not in my original plans but added because she needed extra practice)

10 min. of a phonics book (not in my original plans but added because she needed extra practice)

[unsinkable]

I need advice. This will be my first year homeschooling my almost 8 year old third grader. I keep reading all these WONDERFUL ideas for curriculum, and want to keep adding on...and on...and on... I need boundaries!

 

What does a realistic school day look like? How long is the day and how much time should be spent on each subject, especially Math and Language Arts? Do you take breaks? If yes, how often and for how long? I'm trying to write out my lesson plans and I'm floundering. We are planning a four day week, with Wednesday being an enrichment day with other homeschoolers. How much time do you think is reasonable for a third grader to spend in school? Once I get a better handle on THAT, I'm hoping to be able to focus on prioritizing the subjects....:001_unsure:

 

Have read the WTM? SWB gives suggested times for each grade.

 

You can't do it all! And it is ok! :grouphug:

 

Have you heard of the skills vs. content theory? Simply stated, there are skill classes (like math, reading and writing) and there are content classes (like history and science). In the younger grades, many moms concentrate on skills and make sure those are done every day before you get to the content classes.

 

Post again if you want more info on this.

[unsinkable]

Do you have WTM? At the back of the grammar age section there is a grade by grade list of topics and times. I use that as my guide and adapt from there. Has served me well. Since I year-round, and that schedule is for 180 days, I add up a whole years worth of, e.g. spelling, and divide by 12. That is what I cover in a month. It has been very, very doable, even for my wiggly (getting less so, but replacing it with yakky) kiddo.

 

Another bit of advice often told to start-in-the-middle folks: start a couple of subjects, catch your stride, add another one. That is how I did, too, even starting at the beginning. HTH :001_smile: Glad to meet you!

 

Sorry I said the same thing about reading the WTM! I didn't read everyone's replies.

[Lily of the Valley]

I don't really have any advice to give on the amount of time your day should take, but I can tell you a bit of my own experience. I started homeschooling my dd last year when she was in third grade. The one thing I did that I think worked well for us was to make sure she got plenty of breaks. Usually a couple of 15-20 minute breaks in the morning, an hour to an hour and a half for lunch, then more 15-20 minute breaks in the afternoon.

 

As far as time spent "doing school", I think I went a bit overboard last year and am looking to reevaluate that this year. It wasn't uncommon for us to go from about 9 am to 3:30 or 4:00 pm, four days each week. The other day was spent in classes with other homeschoolers. This year I'm hoping to keep our days to about 4-5 hours and we'll still be partcipating in another homeschool class one day each week.

[lmrich]

I have a third grader this year.

We plan on spending about 40 minutes on math - 5 - 10 minutes on facts review and then a 10 minute lesson, 20 minute independent practice (I use Singapore and add a lot from Rod and Staff) Math comes easily for her. She completed two Singapore lessons and half Rod and Staff today.

 

Next is spelling/word study. My dd is a little shaky with spelling so I use a couple different approaches. We do Apples and Pears together - 7 minutes, Spelling Workout - 5 minutes (I supervise), then Spelling Wisdom - 5 minutes (completely independent). And ETC (independent) about 7 minutes. So about 30 minutes.

 

Then Grammar - MCT 20 minutes together.

 

Then WWE together about 15 minutes max.

 

Then reading - she usually reads aloud a page or two and then finds a comfy chair and reads for 20 minutes. We chat about what she has read for five minutes or so, usually over lunch. This year we are doing book club online with other WTM members. Let me know if you are interested.

 

History - STOW - forty minutes - four times a week - we do this with a friend down the street

Science - - forty minutes - three times a week - same friend down the street comes over for this

Spanish - United Streaming - thirty minutes - twice a week

Latin - LC - forty minutes - twice a week again with a friend

Bible reading is done every day and takes as long as it takes - 10 minutes usually.

Cursive - 10 minutes max - three times a week.

 

We dropped piano this year, but she is singing in a choir. She has two art classes, a yoga class, a Native American class, and does Girl Scouts, dance, drama, and horseback riding.

 

She is a busy girl and understands that by finishing her work means more play time. In fact she is reading an assignment now (Friday night at 8:00) so she can get ahead and spend the day at her friend's house on Tuesday.

 

We have homeschooled for three years. I also have older ones so she has learned good work habits from them (lucky me). Please give you and your child time to get into a rountine.

 

 

All in all she spends a little over four hours on academics. We start at 8:30 or so and finish by 2:00. So she has several breaks during that time. Whatever is not finished before the afternoon activites start, she takes with her or finishes up before bed.

 

Enjoy your time together with your 3rd grader. It is a great age. They are really able to understand a lot.

[Pretty in Pink]

In third grade my ds probably averaged about 3 hours per day of school work. We did math, handwriting, and language arts every day, history M,W,F, science T,Th. He did art lessons in 6-week sessions through a local studio; I think he did three sessions that year. He play fall and spring sports.

 

We took lots of local field trips, practically abused our library card, and played outdoors nearly every day.

 

We didn't do any foreign language. We didn't use multiple language arts programs. We didn't do music that year.

[NanceXToo]

I homeschooled my daughter for the end of third grade and all of fourth, and we averaged about three hours a day for school. Sometimes a little more if we were doing some hands on project. Sometimes a little less.

[Crimson Wife]

You don't have to do every subject every day. Do a search for "loop schedule" on this forum and you'll get a ton of ideas. Here's one sample loop.

 

I don't have a formal loop schedule (I'm allergic to schedules) but I keep the theory in mind when deciding what to do for the day.

[kalanamak]

I homeschooled my daughter for the end of third grade and all of fourth, and we averaged about three hours a day for school.

 

Dear OP, keep in mind you have to figure out how many days a year all of these "X number of hours a day" posters school. I average 25 days a month, all year round. Other people do 4 days a week with weeks off here and there. Others do 5 days a week for the 36 or whatever number of weeks makes 180 days.

 

 

Since I school after work, I rarely do the three Rs more than 2 hours a day, but I could do 4 more hours, on a weekend, of art, science, and a huge history read-aloud.

[Dobela]

For us it really gets down to how long it takes my ds to finish the assignments I give him. On bad days he can spend hours just doing his math page :glare: On good days, we are done in 3-4 hours usually.

[....]

I have a 3rd grader this year.

When I get to that point (where I'm floundering with lesson plans), I stop writing lesson plans. I take it one subject at a time and see how much we can get finished in one day. I've found that WITHOUT writing lesson plans, we actually accomplish more in a day. :D

 

I'll also take a day and write out a Syllabus for her. The entire day of schoolwork is done independently. This gives them practice managing themselves and then you can also spend more time working with the younger kids.

 

If you google "3rd Grade Expectations", you can see a bunch of sites from grade schools that show what's their peers in ps will be doing this year. I actually found a good one, printed it out and went over it with her at the beginning of the school year. Third grade looked like a big jump - like they are preparing for Middle School.

 

As far as time, I think I spend 30 min on math and about an hour on LA/Reading/Spelling. Yes, we do take breaks, but I try to change activities often, so they don't get tired and burned out. We've also done things like do school outside, do school at Grandma's House, do school at the park, do school at our friends' house (they homeschool), etc.

 

If we start school at 8:30 or 9:00, we are usually finished around 1 or 2pm. But, I have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader and K-er. I also have a 2 yro. We always end up with a ton of delays and interruptions.

 

Also, be prepared for the inevitable. There will come a day, when no one wants to do school-including yourself. One day this week, school was cancelled because the swimming pool was calling us. One day, about a month ago, my 7 yro came to me and offered to negotiate. He said, "We'll let you take a nap when the baby naps if you agree to cancel school." Deal!

[NanceXToo]

Dear OP, keep in mind you have to figure out how many days a year all of these "X number of hours a day" posters school. I average 25 days a month, all year round. Other people do 4 days a week with weeks off here and there. Others do 5 days a week for the 36 or whatever number of weeks makes 180 days.

 

 

Since I school after work, I rarely do the three Rs more than 2 hours a day, but I could do 4 more hours, on a weekend, of art, science, and a huge history read-aloud.

 

In my case, we school 5 days a week, following Oak Meadow's 36 week curriculum. We spend as much time as we need to spend on each lesson covering the material, without tons of busywork, and it averages to 3 hours a day. Give or take, depending on what we're doing (hands on projects take a bit longer for instance).

 

Outside of OM and our school year, we still do plenty of other educational things, usually informally, so hours of schoolwork and hours of learning are not the same thing, IMHO :)

[....]

In my case, we school 5 days a week, following Oak Meadow's 36 week curriculum. We spend as much time as we need to spend on each lesson covering the material, without tons of busywork, and it averages to 3 hours a day. Give or take, depending on what we're doing (hands on projects take a bit longer for instance).

 

 

That's awesome. We plan on using Oak Meadow for 4th grade and middle school. I love the look of their 4th Grade.

[Garga]

Another bit of advice often told to start-in-the-middle folks: start a couple of subjects, catch your stride, add another one. That is how I did, too, even starting at the beginning. HTH :001_smile: Glad to meet you!

 

Get your math and language arts curric going (or whatever 2 things are the highest priority for you), plus one "fun" subject (science or history or art).

 

See how long it takes for those three, and then start adding in more stuff.

 

If possible, don't buy too much stuff until you've actually started schooling. You'll start to realize pretty quickly what sort of stuff to buy after you being schooling. But if you pre-buy, you risk wasting a lot of money.

[NanceXToo]

That's awesome. We plan on using Oak Meadow for 4th grade and middle school. I love the look of their 4th Grade.

 

Cool, we REALLY loved Oak Meadow for fourth grade last year! I'm looking forward to starting OM5 with my daughter next month, and starting OMK with my son! :)

 

If you take a peek at my blog (see sig line) in the left sidebar somewhere, there's a link to click to see how we broke the 4th grade curriculum down into a daily schedule, and I included some pictures of some of the work we did and so on, if you want to check it out. :)

[JoJosMom]

Thank you all for your replies. Yes, I have read WTM (That evil book is what started me on this journey to madness!:tongue_smilie:), but I was curious about how all that wonderful theory translates into real life. Before dedicating myself to being Mama, I was a trial lawyer and a bit...er...anal. Every time I lurked on these boards, I saw something that seemed great and considered adding it.

 

After all the experienced advice, I think that I'm going to revise my schedule with shorter times per subject. I need to remember that we are choosing to homeschool our dd to allow her learn things more deeply and experience life more fully, not to crush her. Looking at my first proposed course of study, it was beginning to look like I was about to saddle my third grader with a university level course of study-I think mama needs limits!!

[StephanieZ]

IMHO. . . Realistic for 3rd grader: 3-5 hours of school time total, including short breaks and a lunch break. Long or frequent breaks (more than 10 min out of every hour) would make it a longer day. . .

 

Also, the absolutely maximum "school time" of the day 6 hours. So, if you start at 9 AM, you must be totally done by 3 PM. As in, no homework for you to supervise, no grading, no nothing. This is more for your sanity than anything else, but that sanity is a precious thing. I know some people do read alouds as bed time reading, but that wouldn't work for me, as dh does the bed time reading and he likes to read his own selections (tho' I have been known to beg him to read a particular something on occasion if I am behind and swamped)

 

Now, I'm not saying I always follow these guidelines, but I truly believe they are good ones. ;)

[kalanamak]

Thank you all for your replies. Yes, I have read WTM (That evil book is what started me on this journey to madness!:tongue_smilie:), but I was curious about how all that wonderful theory translates into real life. Before dedicating myself to being Mama, I was a trial lawyer and a bit...er...anal. Every time I lurked on these boards, I saw something that seemed great and considered adding it.

 

 

I'm not one, but I'm from a family of them.:)

 

I took those advised times for each grade (e.g. grammar, 20 minutes per day; history 1 hour 3x a week or 1.5 hours twice a week). I multiplied to get a years worth of time, and divided that by 12 and so instead of doing history 3 hours a week, I need only keep up with 8 hours per month. I have found those time guidelines *very* doable, and they "give me permission" to stop there.

 

Anything beyond those times is to be completely fun and child-driven.

 

Your child will tell you. You will learn when you can say "please finish this page" and when you need to take a break. You will learn to tell a real headache from a child worried about the amount of numbers on a page. And if you feel restless over the level of what you are covering, if you feel that caged, try my method: read ahead and learn for yourself. Use your adult ability for self-directed study to make you a prepared tutor, so that the "seed my fall on furrowed land". My personal method is to read middle-schooler's books. You can crank right through them and familiarize yourself with where you are going, all while scratching your school itch and bettering your understanding of what you are going to be laying in front of your kiddo.

 

I have a science background, so I studying grammar. You may want to study chemistry! HTH, and ask away about details.

[unsinkable]

Thank you all for your replies. Yes, I have read WTM (That evil book is what started me on this journey to madness!:tongue_smilie:), but I was curious about how all that wonderful theory translates into real life. Before dedicating myself to being Mama, I was a trial lawyer and a bit...er...anal. Every time I lurked on these boards, I saw something that seemed great and considered adding it.

 

After all the experienced advice, I think that I'm going to revise my schedule with shorter times per subject. I need to remember that we are choosing to homeschool our dd to allow her learn things more deeply and experience life more fully, not to crush her. Looking at my first proposed course of study, it was beginning to look like I was about to saddle my third grader with a university level course of study-I think mama needs limits!!

 

Well, you sound very wise to me! You're open-minded and willing to take the advice in the spirit it was given...and not argue with the givers. Are you sure you're a trial lawyer?!?! :lol::D:tongue_smilie:

[MariannNOVA]

In third grade my ds probably averaged about 3 hours per day of school work. We did math, handwriting, and language arts every day, history M,W,F, science T,Th. He did art lessons in 6-week sessions through a local studio; I think he did three sessions that year. He play fall and spring sports.

 

We took lots of local field trips, practically abused our library card, and played outdoors nearly every day.

 

We didn't do any foreign language. We didn't use multiple language arts programs. We didn't do music that year.

 

My twins were in third grade last year -- we did what Pretty in Pink posted. We didn't do art lessons, though, ds did guitar lessons (one hour a week and at least an hour a day of practicing - his choice) and all three kids did choir and handbells. The girls did art on their own - they will spend hours in the afternoon and evening doing art projects.

 

All three did sports: basketball. The girls did lacrosse. We walked the dog every day that we could (only didn't do it in rain and snow) for at least an hour.

 

My advice would be to follow the WTM suggestions in as far as you think they will work for you. If something is working for you, DO NOT try to fix it or change it......that is how all that curric confusion gets started.

 

DO LESS! You can always DO MORE and you will feel better about DOING MORE than having to cut back and DO LESS if you start with too much.

 

As a former classroom teacher, remember this: your kids are getting quality, one on one time with the teacher (you) -- The value and worth of that simple little fact cannot be underestimated.

 

ENJOY -- if you are not enjoying homeschooling and your kids are not enjoying homeschooling (and I don't mean it's a party, but it shouldn't for the most part be TORTUROUS), take a step back and reassess.

 

Ask questions on the curric board if you have curric or procedural questions -- Digest the answers you are given -- process what you are told -- and decide if it is something that might make your h/s experience better. Look at the signature line of the individuals who answer you -- How long have they been homeschooling? What ages? How many children? Take all this into consideration.

 

If you hit a bump, switch things out a bit -- do some work at the library - my kids LOVED the change of scenery.....so did I.

 

And, be kind to yourself! The first year involves a lot of ironing out the wrinkles -- BE KIND TO YOURSELF!

 

HTH:)