mommy4ever Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I had our school board conference yesterday. I'm totally on point with things. I was talking to the facilitator, and commented that I don't spend alot of time of science, social, art, etc. Most of our day is LA and Math. Then I started thinking about it. We do indeed spend at least 3/4 of our school time on these things. Our school day is 3 to 4 hours lately, as dd WANTS to do more things now. Math usually takes us 40 minutes. We'll do spelling for 30. Do 15-20 of FLL, 20 of WWE, then we have an assortment of workbooks she loves to work in. One is reading comprehension, there are 3, yes THREE others of various grammar workbooks. It puts the practical behind the FLL. I want her to see it, put it in use. But she loves them ;) So it's all good. We also have one for writing prompts, she's been begging to write stories... so we got her the tool. We are finishing OPGTR as well, she reads extremely well, and we are behind in the reading lessons vs where she stands in her reading, but I still want to do it all, to be sure she doesn't miss something. So we can do that for 20 minutes. She hasn't struggled with any steps for months now. Then she likes to read out loud. She will read to me, her dolls, the dogs, really anything ;) So that takes us up to nearly 3 hours. Then we'll work on a lapbook, poster, or something for the other subjects for an hour or so..lol. Is any one else really heavy into the Math and LA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalphs Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I had to smile when I read your post, because your child reminds me of mine. ;) So many things to learn, with only 24 hours in a day for "learning time." Dh and I are firm believers in the 3 R's as the primary starting point. Math and Language Arts did take up a lot of time intially, but we were laying a foundation for future years. A lesson I learned while reading up on CM is with younger children it is usually best to keep the lessons short. 15-20 minutes is a good time frame. Dh and I implemented this idea and it made a huge difference! With shorter lessons we were able to include history, science, art, music and foreign language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Yes, that is how it was for us when my kids were younger. Most of our day was spent on basics. We would do science and history for an hour a week at tops. As my children have gotten older how we use our time has shifted a bit. They now spend at least an hour on math, but of course we aren't spending time teaching reading though they do spend time reading for lit, history, and science. For us history and science become the core of what we do and the basics tend to fit into those cores. I don't feel we could do what we do now, if my kids didn't have a firm base in the basics. Hope this makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana B Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Our day is like this as well. My son is 7 and we spend quite a bit of time on math and LA stuff. We probably spend a couple hours a week on science and history each, depending on the week. But I have no problem pushing aside the basics and focusing in the science or history if we love the topic. My son has been known to say "more, more!" when reading to him from SOTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Our homeschool is only just getting started, but here too the bulk of our day is math and LA, and that's how I think it should be in the earlier grades. They are of primary importance. The rest, while still "important," are of secondary importance to us. (Within LA I am including Latin, with its emphasis on vocab, grammar and...thinking skills, for lack of a better term.) History comes next in importance, and then the rest. There are a few subjects I prefer to cover every single schoolday but in rather small amounts, like handwriting and logic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 We spend 30-35 minutes on math a day with my 5th grader. We do spend more time on reading and language arts, though for us language arts and social studies are integrated. We do science 2 days a week usually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 We were very math/la heavy in the beginning, but we are starting to transition to spending more time in other subjects such as history and science. I would say we spend 60% of our time on math/la and 40% on our other subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaMa2005 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I'm right there with ya :seeya:. Just check out my siggy. I do know, as a retired teacher, that a good foundation in the basics makes the rest of the schooling years so much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Very little of our history and science is "school.";) For my 8yo: 40min of math (broken up in 2 lesson times), 1.5hrs LA (broken up into 5-15min lessons...I alternate reading and writing, etc) For my 5yo: 10min math, 10min handwriting, and she reads whatever she wants to me...and sits in with big brother on some of the phonics stuff when her dollies are not asking her for a tea party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAutumnOak Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I would say we spend 60% of our time on math/la and 40% on our other subjects. :iagree: We do everything except music and art everyday.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Is any one else really heavy into the Math and LA? I do these first and daily, and then do science on the weekends and art/music/history in the evenings. If something has to slide, it is history. When he is older, it will get more stress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 We pretty well dropped everything except the basics, because DD just wasn't interested. She picks up a good bit of science and history in her enrichment program and from TV and reading selections, etc. The only non math/LA we do anymore is geography, because DD really likes the EM Beginning Geography workbooks. We do that about once a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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