Deciding which subject to schedule first each day

[Bluezoo5]

I'm trying to nail down a rough daily schedule for our first day of school, and I was wondering how you all decide which subject to start with in the morning.

 

I'm torn between starting with the least liked subject because it might be better received when the kids are well rested; or doing their favorite subject first so it's not so hard to get them into the swing of things each day.

 

What do you think is the best approach and why?

[Heidi]

Math first because you need your brain the most with math, and brains tend to shrink as the day goes on. I know this through experience.

 

We try to get the important subjects first thing: math, phonics, writing, reading. Fun stuff later in the day: art, history, science.

 

We do start our day with song, prayer, and scriptures... if that's your thing. :)

 

I have our actual schedule linked on my blog.

[amyrjoy]

We all need to go into our day easily here so I start with devotions, handwriting, reading....this year we will do history and geography after that along with language arts. After lunch/break, there will be individual reading, math, then science, and then art or Spanish. I always wanted to do math first but it just seems not to work for us that way. :tongue_smilie: My kids need to "warm-up" to the day. Lol.

[AnthemLights]

Math first because you need your brain the most with math, and brains tend to shrink as the day goes on. I know this through experience.

 

We try to get the important subjects first thing: math, phonics, writing, reading. Fun stuff later in the day: art, history, science.

 

We do start our day with song, prayer, and scriptures... if that's your thing. :)

 

I have our actual schedule linked on my blog.

 

Hey, this pretty much describes the way we do things around our place. We too start with Bible study/singing first. I think it helps set the mood for the day.

 

And then math.... because I so agree with the shrinking brain theory. :D

[Diana B]

We do a loop schedule, so it changes every day! We do (try) to start out with Bible every day, but some days.....

 

If you search for loop schedule, you can find lots of threads about it. But the idea is that you create a list of the subjects and you just do as much as you can in the time you have for school. And then where ever you leave off is what you start with the next day. I like it because I don't feel like I have to leave something off because we didn't get to it (we were constantly skipping science in our pre-loop days!)

 

Some people will do things like math or language separate from the loop because they want to make sure they get to it every day - but I find that we do just fine with it in the loop.

[Maverick_Mom]

FWIW, TWTM recommends starting with math.

 

We've always started with math, for two reasons:

1. The brain seems fresher in the AM.

2. We all wanted to get it over with. :D

[Ali in OR]

We start with "table work", but that includes many different subjects and the girls can work through their assignments in whatever order they want--it is mostly independent work. I will work with one dd on piano practice while the other works at the table on her own--Horizons math, Singapore math (I go over these before the piano begins), spelling, R&S English, Caesar's English. There is a planbook that has their assignments and they can do them in whatever order they want. When one is done with piano, they switch. After piano (and a break for me), I will work with them on anything that isn't completely independent and I'll check their work on what they did on their own. The other type of work here is "sofa work" which includes languages, history, science, and even some language arts stuff. Anything that we do all together or that I think is better done on the sofa. We usually don't get to it until after lunch. And again it is in the planbook. I don't care too much about order, except that I usually save history last for "dessert" since it is our favorite subject.

 

Now after writing all of that, this may get changed up a bit this year. My 6th grader will be in band at the public school after lunch, so we may do our sofa stuff first and save at least some of the independent work to be done in the car or library or wherever we go to during/after band.

[OnTheBrink]

I tend to start with Bible, then whatever subject dd needs me the most for. So, usually, it's Bible, math, history, science, English, Greek, arts, etc.

[Lily_Grace]

DS sets the order most days. Big project days, like today, he'll do a bit in the morning first, then other subjects, and then go back to it for the whole of the afternoon. A lot of times he likes to do whatever subject has a worksheet first (we do a lot of notebooking).

 

Not having a consistent order actually works better for us.

[Shannanlee]

We are going to start with Math. Then it Science, Grammar with a break for Lunch then Social Studies, Literature and Religion/Bible Study.

[Aelwydd]

We start with whatever subject is most challenging to ds, because I want him "fresh" mentally. Usually, that's reading and comprehension. He loves math and science, so that's reserved for after language arts.

[Running the race]

Bible, then Math. I'm flexible after that.

[Forget-Me-Not]

We start with math here too.

[happypamama]

We do Bible and poetry at breakfast, and then when we move into the schoolroom, we start with math. It's not DD's favorite subject, so I want her to be fresh and ready, and then, no matter how long everything else takes, she is done with math for the day. History, which is the favorite subject, is right after math.

 

Our daily schedule looks like this (sometimes I will vary this if convenient, but this is generally how it goes; I try to mix up the writing vs. non-writing subjects, as well as the preferred vs. less preferred ones):

 

Math

History

Memory work

Writing (copywork, letter-writing, grammar -- specifics depend on the day)

Foreign Language (alternating French and Latin)

Science

Literature (though this one can be skipped until later in the day or bedtime -- usually whenever I'm going to be sitting and nursing the baby for a while)

Independent Bible Study

Specials (religious biography, geography, picture study, music study -- depends on day)

Reading (reading lesson for the 6yo, chapter of something good, usually related to history, for the 9yo)

Any other projects (art projects, handwork, nature study, more involved science/history projects -- I'm not as good about getting to these, but it's my goal for this year.)

[iquilt]

We start with read alouds, but this year that's not even technically correct because we are using two different Sonlight Cores. I start with oldest dd and her read alouds, then while she moves on to writing down her individual assignments I do the reading with middle dd and youngest ds. Since they don't have as much work they don't generally start until after my oldest.

[Bluezoo5]

Math first because you need your brain the most with math, and brains tend to shrink as the day goes on. I know this through experience.

 

We try to get the important subjects first thing: math, phonics, writing, reading. Fun stuff later in the day: art, history, science.

 

We do start our day with song, prayer, and scriptures... if that's your thing. :)

 

I have our actual schedule linked on my blog.

 

I had originally thought math first ever since reading WTM, since that is the recommendation. But my kids seem to love math and get all excited about doing it (at least right now). While that would be a nice intro to the day (i.e. "Yay, we get to do math!"), they are still young and learning to read, so that seems to require more brain power for them at this point.

 

I think it's actually me who needs a gentle intro to the day, since I am so not a morning person. :tongue_smilie: We will be starting with something Bible-related as well, so that'll probably ease us into things sufficiently.

 

I also like the idea of the loop schedule that a pp mentioned, I hadn't considered that option.

[Karen in CO]

I start with a chapter from a read aloud. After that my older dd does a Perplexor to wake up her brain then math. My younger does better starting with her ETC (phonics workbook) followed by math.

[Paula in MS]

I've been thinking about this as well. Last year, I started with math because it is her most difficult subject. She has a lot of trouble getting started in the morning, so starting with math just made it harder to get started.

 

I think this year I will start with SOTW4 audio book and the coloring page that goes along. On some days, we might start with a Classics for Kids podcast and coloring a fine art print. I find our days go so much smoother when we can start without complaint, and these are things she enjoys doing. Once she actually sits down and starts the school process, it is much easier to talk her into math because she is in school mode.

 

Paula

[ukfan78]

We start with Math as well. My son gets more distracted as the day goes on, so he needs to get this finished early!

 

Melissa

[redsquirrel]

We start with math, then piano, then second breakfast. After all that brain work they boys get hungry!

 

One thing, if I am teaching reading, we do that first and math second. Learning to read takes more out of them than even math.

 

While they are eating second breakfast I make a list on a white erase board with all the subjects they will be doing that day. Once math and piano are out of the way I really don't care what order things happen. My older son has developed his own routine and I let him follow that.

[Gailmegan]

We start with History (MWF) or Science (TH) because we are eating breakfast and the 2 yo is occupied. These are hardest for us to do with a 2 yo any other time of the day because he gets bored and wanders off and causes trouble. With the other subjects, some mom involvement is needed, but nothing else requires my full attention, so I'm free to keep a better eye on the toddler. After those we do Math and Writing since those are the subjects that require the most brain power.

[SailorMom]

Math - it takes the longest, takes the most brain power, and we both need to be fresh for it :)

[sbgrace]

We're math starters too. It works better here. One child really needs to be at his best thinking-wise for math. I like to get it over with. If I just had the one mathy kid I might do something else first.

[elegantlion]

We start with read-aloud. Neither ds or I are morning people and it allows us to acclimate ourselves before digging into the heavier subjects. It works, ds has requested we start that way. After that we transition into Latin or Math depending upon the week.

[ChristusG]

We begin with reading....DD struggles with reading so she seems to be better at it first thing. Then I finish uP the subjects that do not require DD4....which is writing and math.....sometimes map skills.

 

By that time it's usually time for lunch.

 

After lunch I have both kids join me for grammar and Bible. And then we will do either history, science, sign language, or health (these rotate daily).

 

After another break I will take Dd4 alone and work with her on some preschool things for a bit.