4 days a week?

[leeannpal]

If you use a 4 day week schedule, do you schedule anything on the 5th day, or is it just a day off? I was thinking of doing sort of a fun Friday with more hands on things or field trips on that day.

 

Oh, and do you find it difficult for your child to get all the basics (reading, writing, grammar, math, science, history) on a 4 day schedule?

[boscopup]

Our writing program is 4 days a week. Our grammar is done 3 days a week. We do math 5 days a week. History used to be done 2 days a week (M/W), though I'm trying to get through SOTW1 a bit quicker, so we're doing one section per day, 3 days a week, and we'll probably continue that in SOTW2. We do spelling 4 days a week. Science is 2 days a week (T/Th). So on Friday, we basically have math, reading (just read a chapter or two from a book), and history. Very light day.

 

If I wanted to, we could easily get it all in 4 days, but I like math to be 5 days a week so he's not forgetting anything over the long weekend.

[truebluexf]

We have coop one day a week, and while I usually have intentions of them doing some work while we are there...it rarely happens. :P We pretty much have a 4 day week at home, but I do prefer math to be 5 days. I'm trying to figure out how some of our things will work this year [like CLE LA (meant for 5x a week) and WWW (which I think we can probably get ahead on early on and be ok.)

[Hedgehog]

Sort of - we have a proper school day 4 days a week, and then DD11 and DD9 do Math and Latin on Mondays, in amongst our weekly chores. DS6 also does a little phonics or spelling.

[kristinannie]

On our 5th day (Wed), we do Miquon instead of normal math, we play phonics games, we do art class, music class, etc. On weeks when we have to take another day off for something else, we skip our 5th day.

[Hedgehog]

Oh, and do you find it difficult for your child to get all the basics (reading, writing, grammar, math, science, history) on a 4 day schedule?

 

Yes, we do, but not being able to do our weekly chores on a Monday is a no go so we just have to do the best we can. DH says he'd rather the kids did a bit of extra schoolwork at the weekend than to make Saturday into a chores day.

[NittanyJen]

We did it in the spring, and called Friday Flexible Friday.

 

That is when we scheduled field trips, played Yahtzee or math dice or did Khan Academy instead of math books, did history activities instead of encyclopedias, hit the library and read, etc.

 

This time around we had more stuff to schedule, but I try to make Friday a lighter load day, since most of our school days go breakfast through dinner time (with breaks for playtime, swim, trumpet, 2 15-min pickups, etc) and we go year round.

[hopeallgoeswell]

We did 4 days last year with a 4 hour co-op on the 5th day and will do it again this year. The co-op did projects for history and science (this year we are adding art) so it was only the reading that needed to be completed at home. We did not get "behind" in our core subjects (spelling, math, reading, grammar, writing) mainly because we did things that were geared towards 3-4 times per week (FLL, WWE, spelling dictation). DD did do math 5 days per week, but the 5th day was and Abeka test instead of Singapore work.

 

If you choose to do 4 days a week, you could always look at programs that do light/no 5th days like MFW, Sonlight, or HOD. Or, you could just dribble over into the summer. Both options leave the 5th day open for other "fun" activities.

Edited July 25, 2011 by hopeallgoeswell

[rocketgirl]

Last year, our first full year, we did 4 days a week & friday the kids took art classes in another town. We didn't do any other lessons that day like math, etc. It pretty much tied up the whole day. This year we won't be doing the classes (just too far away, time, gas, money, etc) so we'll have that 5th day. But it'll be a fun day (I think!) We'll have a different schedule. We won't do our "workbooks" but they'll still do some kind of math, reading, writing, grammar, spelling, etc within the context of the music, art, and science experiments that we'll do that day.

[HayleyKC]

Hi. We worked into a routine last year that is basically what you described wanting to do. We were able to fit all of the meat in Monday through Thursday and then leave Fridays for more fun, light work,arts & craft projects, or outings. We definitely liked it this way and plan to continue on this schedule.

 

I do block scheduling with their humanities anyway so they do Bible/Church History on Monday, History on Tuesday, Geography on Wednesday, Writing on Thursday. We squeeze literature in the cracks as my kids love to read so they do that every night before bed. We do Science twice a week and typically T/H but depending on what the workload of the other subjects are, I move it around. We do our phonics/LA program Monday-Thursday, and we do regular math Monday-Thursday also. Friday is our Miquon math day and then we do lapbooks, arts & activities, or if there is something we just really want to go do that day. . . we don't worry about the extras. Just do some Miquon and off we go!

[Occasionally]

If you use a 4 day week schedule, do you schedule anything on the 5th day, or is it just a day off? I was thinking of doing sort of a fun Friday with more hands on things or field trips on that day.

 

Oh, and do you find it difficult for your child to get all the basics (reading, writing, grammar, math, science, history) on a 4 day schedule?

 

We've done a 4-day week since January. We take Wednesdays "off." Library trips are usually scheduled for that day. So far there hasn't been any issue with retention or getting to everything. Of course, mine are in K and 2nd, so take it for what it's worth.

[Mallory]

We do a 4 day week, well really it is something like 3 whole days and 2 half days, but I only plan 4 days (at the most) in any subject.

 

So we do Math, Spelling, Grammar 4 times a week, but science and hist 2 or 3 days.

 

We spend Tue/Thurs mornings volunteering at a food pantry :D

[laurad1125]

We do 4 days a week because my work schedule requires it. I go in to the office on Thursdays and my in-laws keep the boys. My older son has a list of independent assignments for each week and he sometimes works on things from that list on Thursday but I don't assign our regular work that day. It is sometimes hard to "get it all done" but I don't hesitate to skip assignments in math or grammar if the boys have mastered that topic or to double up by doing 1/2 of 2 different assignments some days. Josh's Iowa test scores just came back and he's clearly not hurting from the missed assignments. HTH!

[catz]

Last year my kids were taking classes at the science museum and doing music lessons on their day "off". They usually ended up reading a couple hours that day with all the running around in the mix, so it never really seemed like an "off" day. Just different! :-)

[2_girls_mommy]

Our 5th day is co-op. So it is out of the house, fun, hands on learning, no homeschooling that day.

 

Although, on the weeks when there is no co-op, we will use the day to do the core subjects in the morning. Then the afternoon can be extra, fun, hands on stuff, or chores, or field trip, or cleaning, or whatever needs done that week. I do appreciate getting an extra math lesson or english done on those days that co-op is on break or canceled.

[Pink]

We leave Tuesdays open to hang out with h/s friends, go to museums, etc. I may have to throw in Miquon Math! Great idea!!

[Mommy22alyns]

Our fifth day is co-op too. Actually, it's our first day. They have a full day of co-op and then gymnastics. We did fine last year with a 4 day week, so I'm hoping it'll still work well for us!

[Coffeemama]

We participate in a co-op on Mondays and yes, I do find it challenging to fit in all the academics in 4 days. The way I found more time was to schedule one hour blocks for History on Tues and Wed and Literature on Thursday and Friday. But there will also be two additional one hour blocks in the evening twice a week to get in three hours for each of these subjects. We'll see which evenings are free from extra-curricula activities and plan around them.

[black_midori]

We do 4 days a week because I work 2 days a week - so we take the last day off completely (so Mommy gets a break, too!!).

 

Sunday is a do-nothing day; we HS M/W/F/Sat and I work Tues/Thurs and have a sitter watch them (they do a couple workbook pages but mainly just play).

 

Fortunately, my 2 are fairly young right now and their schedules quite light (1st & 2nd grade). I'll have to re-evaluate as they get older - I think I will still definitely keep Sunday free (I'm loving it!!), but I might slide some independent work into my 2 days at work to ease up the work on the HS days & allow us more time to do "extras".

[Raising Little Shoots]

this is a really interesting thread!

 

our 5th day is much more relaxed - spelling test, reading from each childs reader, then we do an art project & our nature study in the morning & after lunch meet up with homeschool friends for knitting & play :)

[MinivanMom]

We've always done 4 day weeks. We take Wednesdays off for "field trips". We haven't had trouble fitting in all the basics, but my kids are still young.

[Roxy Roller]

We do a four day week, leaving the fifth day free for house cleaning, appointments, field trips or doctor appointments, we do not do any school work on this day. We make up for this by doing school in the summer(6 - four day weeks) to get a head start on the things that would normally need a five day school week, like math, spelling and grammar. My children are happy to do these things in the summer, because they know that they are doing them in order to have 4 day school weeks during the year.

 

When I first started homeschooling(7ish years ago), I tried to do 5 day weeks, but I found that after I had spent lots of time planning out our yearly/weekly schedules, things would always come up, we would get behind and I would feel so guilty. Sometimes I would fall into the trap of 'oh, well, we are behind anyway, what's a few more days'. We would spend the summer trying to finish things up. There is a huge mental difference between trying to finish up things because you are behind, and working ahead, which is what we do now.

[ScoutTN]

I teach a hs class at our church in the mornings one day a week, so we don't really get school done that day. RA and Scripture memory at lunch and DD reads independently during room time.

DD has ballet in the afternoon.

 

So far we are fine, but that may change as my kids get older.

We have saved some fun things for Saturdays so DH can participate too. Learning is all days here!

[SnMomof7]

We do four days a week and totally take the fifth off :). My children often do self-directed work that day though, like lapbooks, handcrafts, etc. - for fun you know ;).

[baybedaul]

I've scheduled our work this year for a 4-day week. I don't want to let things slide from one week to the next like I did last year (it was just K, so no big deal) since we're starting a real history cycle, so I feel like this gives me more wiggle room. Wednesday will be our planned day off, but I'll move it around as needed. Last year we'd take the occasional Friday to hit the zoo or museum or whatever and they were always PACKED with school field trips.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

We usually have one light day where we just do math & LA. Since we're moving 1 1/2 hrs from my family, we will probably use that day to visit my mom and family too.

[Veritaserum]

Last year was our first year of doing a 4-day week. We started a couple of weeks earlier and made the lessons a bit longer each day. I do not schedule anything on the 5th day. It's strictly for catch-up/cleaning/time off/etc.

[robsiew]

We've always done a 4 day week. That 5th day (whenever it may come in the week) is usually set aside for library and projects. We'll also do art that day. It usually ends up being a 1/2 day, getting done before lunch. Most of the curriculum I use is made specifically for homeschoolers so it's easily used 4 days a week.