Dwelling on an epoch, or specific area of study?

[Strawberry Queen]

I'm looking for what people think about studying a specific content area subject for a short but intense time versus a longer time and less intense? Do you think that there are benefits for living with a section of history for a whole year versus 3 months? Do you think that better connections would be made in doing an intense study (5 days a week-taking up content subject time) ?

 

I'm considering doing only science or only history for a month or two and then switching. They would still end up covering the same amount of info, just in shorter, or longer time frames. My concern is that maybe there's a principle behind spending a whole year on history, rather than 18 weeks. That possibly delving in to a period of history for a whole year gives students time to ruminate over what they're learning and make connections between that and their other studies. What do you think?

 

TIA

[Strawberry Queen]

bump

[Malenki]

I'd love to hear thoughts on this too!

[Colleen in NS]

I'm looking for what people think about studying a specific content area subject for a short but intense time versus a longer time and less intense? Do you think that there are benefits for living with a section of history for a whole year versus 3 months? Do you think that better connections would be made in doing an intense study (5 days a week-taking up content subject time) ?

 

I'm considering doing only science or only history for a month or two and then switching. They would still end up covering the same amount of info, just in shorter, or longer time frames. My concern is that maybe there's a principle behind spending a whole year on history, rather than 18 weeks. That possibly delving in to a period of history for a whole year gives students time to ruminate over what they're learning and make connections between that and their other studies. What do you think?

 

TIA

 

bump

[Strawberry Queen]

bump

[Colleen in NS]

bump

 

Let's try bumping again, I'd really like to hear, too.

[Plaid Dad]

This isn't something I've done personally, but you might want to research the Waldorf approach for more on this type of scheduling. They do block studies during their "main lesson" time each day.

[Peela]

I am familiar with the Waldorf methods as Drew mentioned. They have "Main lessons" which last several weeks of daily application- I think about 3 weeks. I think this covers lots of topics- maths- they might do a main lesson on Geometry and go very in depth with it- then another one on Greek History- another on Zoology. Not simultaneously. And they still have daily lessons in other subjects. I think each block lesson is about 2 hours but it probably varies. At 3 weeks a block, they still cover lots of topics. Waldorf has a classical bent, coming from an era where that was the norm, so its worth looking at.

With Waldorf, they have a "head, heart, hands" approach. So they make sure they do hands on stuff, and songs and creative things along with their more academic work. And their "main lesson" books look very beautiful.

 

 

We have four 10 week terms here in Australia, and I like a 10 week "block" for focusing on a particular topic in History. We did 10 weeks on prehistory, Sumer and the early river civilisations, then 10 weeks on the foundation of the early religions, including Hinduism, Taoism, etc. The next is 10 weeks on Ancient Greece, then a final 10 weeks on Ancient Rome. I would find it hard to "pack" what we do in 10 weeks, though, into a month or so. For example, I have 7 books for history this term for the Greeks- some very light, some more meaty. So although history as a subject may not be done daily, the reading for it will take up maybe an hour or so a day.

So, although we are doing "Ancient History" all year, I break it down into sections that feel good to me, now that we aren't using SOTW (which is chronological) any more (our 2nd and last time through the history cycle).

[In The Great White North]

My dc started in a Waldorf school. Between dh and several moves, we've been affiliated with 4 of them. We started homeschooling when the oldest graduated from 8th grade because our local Waldorf didn't do high school. I am still using the "Waldorf plan" to schedule blocks for dd (11). Right now, we are doing Ancient Greek history. This year (5th), we have done Botany, fractions review, Ancient Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Egypt, Greek mythology, decimals, grammar, Greek roots, prefixes and suffixes, the metric system, and US geography. She also does German, Latin, violin, trumpet, swimming and track. It would have been very difficult to schedule all this without blocks.

 

Waldorf schools do have blocks, of three to four weeks. Math, science, social studies and English come during Main Lesson, first thing in the morning for about 1 1/2 hours. The topics for Main Lesson reappear in the child's life at regular intervals (spirals) of increasing complexity throughout the 12 years. (Yes, Waldorf high schools use blocks too.) The alternating of focussing on a subject in depth and letting it rest is designed to help the brain absorb the material and make it more permanent.

 

Languages, art, music, and eurythmy are spaced out throughout the week. They throw in "extra Main" every now and again, and do things like the "Math Challenger" every morning, but all new material is introduced in these blocks. Art and writing are the means used in all the blocks.

 

Main Lesson books are beautiful and lots of fun. I think they are a bit like lap-booking and note booking except Waldorf style Main Lesson books are all hand drawn by the student without any pre-printed material. In the early years, they are essentially copy books, with the teacher writing (and drawing) on the board what they put in their books. As they get older, the teacher presents some material and they summarize it (and illustrate it) for their books. I have been adapting CW Aesop to our blocks and it fit right in.

 

I would hesitate to do "only" science or history for a month because language acquisition doesn't work very well that way, which could be why Steiner didn't put languages into the Main Lesson. Social studies and sciences definitely work well as block studies. Languages need to be two to three days a week.

[In The Great White North]

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