Is this too much for 2nd grade? Can any of this be dropped??

[diaperjoys]

This is what my newly-turned 8yo. is currently working on every day. It seems like a lot of subjects to me. I don't want to overload him, yet I want him to receive a solid education. What would ya'll change on this list?

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3)

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC)

[Stacie Leigh]

This is what my newly-turned 8yo. is currently working on every day. It seems like a lot of subjects to me. I don't want to overload him, yet I want him to receive a solid education. What would ya'll change on this list?

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3)

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC)

 

Do you plan on doing all of it every day or do you do certain things bi-weekly and such?

[mom2boys030507]

Can you do your Penmenship as part of your other subjects - such as WWE or R&S?

 

Also, I would think that your reading workbook could be done out loud - this would save time from writing out everything. You seem very well covered for Grammar and Dictation/Writing.

 

What I don't see is any science?

[...................]

?

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3)

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC)

 

My 2nd grader would melt through the floor with all of that. Bible you should do orally, on the couch. You can read the Bible or use Apologia.

 

2nd graders do not need typing.

 

Keep R&S English, get rid of WWE, and be sure to do half of R&S orally.

 

Get rid of CLE Reading and just...read.

 

And isn't Veritas Self Paced Recomended for older kids?

[FairProspects]

I would drop Greek and Typing until Reading/Phonics instruction and Penmanship is finished. Then, sub Typing in for Penmanship (although this is usually done around 4th grade) and sub in Greek for Phonics/Reading. Although, I'm questioning whether he needs Penmanship at all assuming you have him writing across the curriculum in English, WWE, & Spelling.

[Aurelia]

This is what I recommend:

Piano

Bible

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

 

Keeping all of it would be too much. History, if you're doing OT, could be covered with Bible and some library books, and WWE plus R&S is enough to make MY head spin. I also wouldn't do typing, it can wait until next year, as can Greek. But, are you going to do any science?

[farmwife]

This is what my newly-turned 8yo. is currently working on every day. It seems like a lot of subjects to me. I don't want to overload him, yet I want him to receive a solid education. What would ya'll change on this list?

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3)

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC)

 

Honestly R&S 3 is going to be a challenge for a 2nd grader unless you plan on doing most of it orally, even that will be challenging. I would only do R & S 2 or use a different program. My daughter was 7 when she did 2 and it was a struggle for her and I thought she was above grade level in most areas. Now she is doing R&S5 and it is still hard. It is a very rigorous course so this is one subject that I wouldn't jump ahead on. Other than that I think it looks fantastic! I think the Veritas History looks awesome! I am not familiar with any of the greek, I did Prima Latina for 2nd grade but other than that and the history it looks very similar to what I did with my daughter when she was that age.

[2squared]

For comparison, here's what my 2nd grader is doing:

 

Piano - n/a (starting in 3rd)

Bible (finishing CLE 2) - I read to him, he narrates, and we discuss

Math 2 (CLE) - RightStart C

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3) - n/a (spelling via dictation starts in 3rd+)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice) - daily copywork

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3) - He reads out loud for 5-10 min/day

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School) - n/a

Writing With Ease 2 - WWE 1 at double pace

English (R&S3) - PLL orally

Art (Mark Kistler) - n/a

Typing (BBC)

- n/a (probably starting in 4th or 5th grade)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE) - I read to him sometimes for narration development

Science - Nature study, BFSU sporadically, & random read alouds

 

My goals for 2nd grade are reading fluency, handwriting proficiency, and narration development. I want my dc prepared for 3rd grade so they are ready to read content (history and science) independently, write dictation, and narrate.

[sbgrace]

This is what my newly-turned 8yo. is currently working on every day. It seems like a lot of subjects to me. I don't want to overload him, yet I want him to receive a solid education. What would ya'll change on this list?

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3)

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC)

 

My 2nd graders do the following every day:

Math (finishing RightStart/MEP combination, moving to Math in Focus w/some RightStart and MEP)

Phonics Road (this is our spelling, grammar, handwriting, and (eventually) literature combined and it takes under 20 minutes a day so far though I expect that will be longer as we get to the next level).

Bible--Telling God's Story (hands on)

And one enjoyable lesson in either history, science, art, literature, Spanish, or music--all of them designed to be hands on and engaging.

They read all the time and I read to them routinely as well so that's not in our school day formally.

 

Bible, the history/science/art/etc., and whatever we're reading aloud are highlights of our day. They don't feel like work to any of us so the only "work" we do is the Phonics Road and Math. Math for one of mine is not usually fun for either of us because he's got major attention issues and a likely math disability combined but the rest of the day is agreeable to all.

 

I'm guessing you don't do all of the things on your list every day--correct? If it's going well I wouldn't change anything. If it feels like too much to you or him I would change something or pull back and see what I can add at what intervals.

 

Finally, I'm a former public school teacher who did a lot of keyboard instruction. Piano students generally did well when I finally taught them keyboarding. I don't know if it might be difficult to be a beginner in both at the same time. Probably not but in both your brain is becoming automatic with finger movements so possibly. We used to do keyboarding much older than is done today so piano students were already proficient long before I taught them keyboarding. If he's got the hand reaches to keyboard and the discipline (imposed by you probably/even older kids won't have it on their own) to not look for the keys it doesn't hurt to do keyboarding at this age. I don't think it's necessary though unless the child is using the computer a lot and so developing hunt and peck habits that might be hard to break older. FWIW, this area is a skill I very much intend to make sure my kids develop and I'm waiting but that's mostly because neither can quite get the reaches down and my two don't spend time on the computer right now anyway.

Edited August 20, 2011 by sbgrace

[SorrelZG]

If I was you, and I'm not :D, I'd do this:

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)[i'd work on penmanship during the writing portion of English]

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3) [read .. compulsory but own time]

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2 [writing is covered in R&S]

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC) [non-compulsory, own time]

 

I haven't done second grade yet but I wanted to join in the fun of playing with your plan rather than mine for a change. :lol:

[LisaKinVA]

Each child is different. What they can handle is also different.

 

Last year, my then 7yo was enrolled in Virginia's Virtual Academy (K12) We did the following:

 

Bible (I read aloud, we discuss, pray, sing and move on)

Math (this was an AWFUL math program for him, and we routinely spent at least an hour getting through it)

Spelling (every day, about 15 min.)

Grammar (almost every day, about 45 min.)

Composition (2x/week, 45 min.)

Penmanship (daily, 15 min./day)

Song School Latin (about 15 min/day... one of his "joys.")

History (3x/week 1 hour, mostly oral... some map coloring and fill in bubbles)

Science (2x/week, 1 hour, mostly oral... some coloring, other little projects and fill in bubbles)

Literature (daily, about 45 min... we did most of the longer questions orally,)

Art (2x/week, 1 hour)

Music (2x/week, 45 minutes)

PE (3x/week)

 

We had some really, really long days. My biggest hurdle to getting things done was the writing.

 

This year, we're no longer doing K12, and he still has a pretty packed schedule:

 

Bible (Oldest 3 read aloud, we discuss, pray, sing and move on)

Math (Math drill or games 30 min./day. He's doing Math Mammoth now, and it's a much better fit, as he doesn't have to copy problems down first).

Spelling (every day, about 15 min.)

English/Vocab/Poetics (MCT, orally, some FLL3)

WWE (some things are done in other subjects... like narration)

Penmanship (daily, 15 min./day)

Latin for Children A (with his sister, about 45 min/day...)

History (5x/week 1 hour, mostly oral... VP online with sister)

Science (5x/week, 1 hour, with sister... some fun projects

Literature (daily, about 45 min... read/discuss)

Art (Mark Kistler... 2x/week)

Music (2x/week, 45 minutes)

PE (3x/week)

 

I'm preparing some Memory Time stuff for the car, or during chores... playing it on the MP3 player while we work. While this would seem like a ton for some other children... he's happy, and enjoys what we're doing (other than penmanship...which he'd give up happily).

[Sahamamama]

This is what my newly-turned 8yo. is currently working on every day. It seems like a lot of subjects to me.

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3)

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC)

 

 

• Piano -- Keep as is.
  
• Bible -- You could do Bible as a read aloud only, with no workbooks or seatwork.
  
• Math -- Keep as is.
  
• Penmanship -- I know others have said to drop this, but I would not. Especially if you are transitioning him to cursive, then I would keep the penmanship practice, but just do it 2x/week.
  
• Writing with Ease 2 -- WWE 2 doesn't add much to the student's "writing load," IMO, only a sentence or two. For us it's more efficient to do two days' worth at once, so we do it only 2x/week. Could you alternate Penmanship & WWE?
  
• Spelling/English/Reading -- Is this all one course, or do you have Sound & Structure for Spelling, English 3, and Reading 3 (God Leads His People)? That is a lot. If so, you could do English 3 orally as much as possible. You could drop the workbooks for Reading. Just have him read and talk to you about what he reads. Use the teacher's manual for discussion points, but do it orally.
  
• History -- I would keep this as it is, and enjoy the course.
  
• ----------------------------------------------------------
  
• Greek -- 12 weeks. See below.
  
• Art -- 12 weeks. See below.
  
• Typing -- 12 weeks. See below.
  

For me, as the teacher, this would be too many "subjects" to be juggling and planning, but I think you have a good, solid curriculum for him. I honestly would try to keep everything above the line. Personally, I would drop Greek, typing, and art (as required courses for a second grader), and spend more time reading wonderful books together. Of course, he could always work on these informally throughout the year, as time permits, but I think that Bible, English, Math, and Daily Read Aloud are the cornerstones of second grade.

 

If you want to keep it all in, what I would do with the Greek-Art-Typing trio is put two of these aside for the time being, and focus on only one for 12 weeks, then the next for 12 weeks, then the final subject for 12 weeks. That way you "get" to all of it, but you're not dizzy from too many spinning plates, KWIM? HTH.

[Julie Smith]

Now I am inspired to start adding more subjects to out day.

[boscopup]

I don't think it looks horrible, though I do think it might be a bit much workbook busywork.

 

First, I'll say that I have done R&S 3 with my second grader (for about 6 weeks). It wasn't too hard. It was actually pretty easy, and sometimes I had to combine lessons. So that will totally depend on the child. I couldn't use R&S 2 with him even in first grade because it was spending 6 weeks on a topic that took one lesson for him to understand. So if your child picks up grammar easily and understands it, R&S 3 is fine. We did the lesson orally (make sure you do the oral review in the TM), then I assigned written seatwork appropriate to his level of writing. R&S 3 doesn't have much "writing instruction" until the end, so I don't think WWE with it is too much either. We switched to FLL3 since I just like it better and I think it moves a little faster than R&S 3. Before that, we were doing R&S 3 and WWE 2, and it wasn't a problem at all. We aren't doing other workbooks though.

 

Ok, so back to your list... Here's what we do a bit differently here:

 

Bible - We read a story each day from Egermeier's and have him narrate the story when we're done (my copy has questions in the back which are helpful for drawing out a good narration). No writing involved - I type his narration.

Reading - We read good books and discuss them casually on occasion. No writing involved.

Greek - We're doing Spanish, but they probably take similar amounts of time, so I think this is fine. :)

Typing - We started Dance Mat, but since we're working on cursive now, I've dropped it for the moment. Once cursive is proficient, I'll have him work on typing again. This is a skill that isn't necessary in 2nd grade, so I'm ok with dropping it.

History - I don't know what those VP classes are like. We do SOTW and it's fairly easy for us. How long do your classes take and how many days per week are they?

 

I also noticed your lack of science.

 

My current schedule has us doing Bible, Math, Spanish, Cursive, Grammar, Writing, Spelling, Science, Art, Literature, plus I have a couple math "extras" in there too. We are able to finish by 11am Monday-Wednesday, and Thursday/Friday we do science/art during nap time, so that's after lunch. We do grammar 3 days a week, WWE 2 3 days a week (combining days 1 and 2 since only day 2 has writing), history 3 days a week, science and art 2 days a week, spelling 2 days a week. Bible, Math, Spanish, Cursive, and Literature are all 5 days a week, but some of those don't take long. The math "extras" are also 5 days a week. We spend roughly 2-2.5 hours on school each day, which I think is fine for a 2nd grader. :)

[FiveOaksAcademy]

If it were me, I would ditch the typing then do this:

 

Bible - together with you reading, then discuss

Math - daily

Spelling - 3 times per week

Penmanship - by doing the copywork in WWE or do WWE 3 times per week and penmanship the other two days

Reading - daily

Greek - 4 times per week

English - since you're doing R&S 3, do it 3 times per week and let it stretch through 2 years. That program is pretty advanced. No need to get your child finished with level 3 in 2nd grade. Believe me, these books take longer and longer daily work to finish as you go through them. He will be in tears if he is doing 5th grade grammar in 4th grade!!!

Art - I'm assuming this is one of the Mark Kistler books or is it a video? You could do art 1 or 2 times a week and it won't affect other things.

 

We're basically doing what you're doing for 2nd, but Latin instead of Greek and we're using TOG, and art will be projects or art appreciation, etc. I've decided to try something new this year. A lot of these subjects just do not need to be done every single day. Math and reading, yes; the other things, no. I'm going to make ds a sheet that has each subject repeated the number of times we need to get it done: Math 5 times, English 3 times, Spelling 3 times, Latin 4 times, Science 2 times, etc. Then we're going to cross out each time we finish that subject. That way we know we're progressing through and we're not focussing on one subject too much, to the detriment of the others. We're more of a do-the-next-thing family, so I probably won't have a lesson plan for him anyway other than knowing what we have to have done to finish the year. I'm going to put it in a sheet protector and wipe off at the end of each week. I think it will look something like this:

 

Math Math Math Math Math

Reading Reading Reading Reading Reading

Spelling Spelling Spelling

Grammar Grammar Grammar

WWE WWE WWE

etc.

 

Basic, yes, but I think it will help us both see how we're progressing. Also, this will enable me to put in music appreciation or math drill games on my ipod, etc., and he can see an activity to do while I'm dealing with the baby, his younger brother, cooking.

[RahRah]

For comparison, here's what my 2nd grader is doing:

 

Piano - n/a (starting in 3rd)

Bible (finishing CLE 2) - I read to him, he narrates, and we discuss

Math 2 (CLE) - RightStart C

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3) - n/a (spelling via dictation starts in 3rd+)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice) - daily copywork

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3) - He reads out loud for 5-10 min/day

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School) - n/a

Writing With Ease 2 - WWE 1 at double pace

English (R&S3) - PLL orally

Art (Mark Kistler) - n/a

Typing (BBC) - n/a (probably starting in 4th or 5th grade)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE) - I read to him sometimes for narration development

Science - Nature study, BFSU sporadically, & random read alouds

 

My goals for 2nd grade are reading fluency, handwriting proficiency, and narration development. I want my dc prepared for 3rd grade so they are ready to read content (history and science) independently, write dictation, and narrate.

 

 

:iagree:

 

My second grader's schedule:

 

Piano - lesson 1x per week, practice 15-min daily

Bible (finishing CLE 2) - CCD 1x per week

Math 2 (CLE) - Singapore M-F

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3) - AAS M-F

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice) - HWoT M-F

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3) - Daily Sun-Sat

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School) - n/a

Writing With Ease 2 - n/a for now

English (R&S3) - n/a

Art (Mark Kistler) - Art Program 1x per week

Typing (BBC)

- n/a

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE) - SOTW 2x per week

Science - Earth Science 3x per week

Swim Team - 2x per week

Jujitsu - 2x per week

[Doodle]

This year for 2nd grade I have Doodle doing 5 subjects per day plus daily reading. We also practice our karate basics and kata together a few times during the week. We just finished week 3 of school and so far this has worked out wonderfully.

Here is his weekly schedule:

Mon :math, phonics, spelling, grammar ,history

Tue: math, phonics, vocab, writing, history

Wed: math, phonics, spelling, grammar, science

Thu: math, phonics, vocab, writing, science

Fri: math, geography, art and/or cooking, science/history projects

[TracyP]

This is what my newly-turned 8yo. is currently working on every day. It seems like a lot of subjects to me. I don't want to overload him, yet I want him to receive a solid education. What would ya'll change on this list?

 

Piano I'd keep

Bible (finishing CLE 2) we do Bible before bedtime as a family

Math 2 (CLE) keep

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3) 2 days/week: part A,C then B

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice) drop unless you are starting cursive

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3) drop and just read

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School) not necessary but keep if you like

Writing With Ease 2 keep - this takes 5-10? min a day

English (R&S3) keep - 3 x's/week on nonspelling days - my experience was similar to Boscopup's

Art (Mark Kistler) I'd drop

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE) not necessary but keep if you like

Typing (BBC) drop

 

As has been said, it looks like science is missing. In my house reading is from history and science so we cover all 3 at one time.

 

ETA: I would skip the writing portions of R&S if you keep WWE.

[Tarreymere]

I am adding what we are doing for my second grader

 

Piano - We are starting this in third also. Actually it will be a keyboard, no piano would fit in this house!

 

Bible (finishing CLE 2) - We are finishing Christian Studies I, once a week, our approach is cultural.

 

Math 2 (CLE) -Singapore 2a at the moment, not thrilled with it, probably going back to MM. Ordered LOF Apples. We do this daily.

 

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3) -Spelling Workout B, one lesson per week with review during the week. Your spelling is combined in with R&S, so you aren't really doing it as a separate subject.

 

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice) -Daily journal writing just to keep up with the development of her fine motor skills. She usually just records what is going on in her life that day. If your child has decent handwriting you should consider if there is enough handwriting practice in the other subjects you are doing. If so, I would drop this. For example, you are already doing WWE2 which should cover it, and if R&S has any dictation or written narration requirements then you don't need WWE2 either.

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3) -DITHOR, reads aloud a newspaper article daily (she reads really well but her comprehension could be better) For us, dictation and narration are included in DITHOR, and in history and in science (I put together my own plan), we don't do it separately. We do DITHOR daily, either just reading a certain number of pages silently or doing that along with an assignment.

 

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School) Finished SSL, starting Lively Latin. We do five minutes a day, literally, and move slowly. If you and your child enjoy this, why not!

 

Writing With Ease 2 -Spectrum Writing workbook grade 2, two assignments per week, may get dropped. For your purposes, I think you could drop penmanship and just do this, and depending on the content of R&S you may be able to drop this also.

 

English (R&S3) - Shurley English 2 daily, may keep or may switch to a combination of vintage ebooks I have been evaluating.

 

Art (Mark Kistler) - weekly, alternating free websites. Do you do this daily? Maybe you could cut down on how often you do it, or if you love it then keep it daily.

 

Typing (BBC)

-/Dance Mat typing, dd has a lot she wants to express but her fine motor skills are really poor, she finds the keyboard much easier. She enjoys this, and she does it three times a week. We will not be attempting cursive this year. Does your child want to learn keyboarding? I think it is a fine thing to learn, but I wouldn't stress over making sure I covered it every day. Maybe once a week or so.

 

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE) - SOTW, focus on Rome this year per dd so pausing to explore more about Rome. I do read alouds, she plans and designs her own projects as her imagination dictates. I also have made up most of our dictation and narration exercises from our history read alouds. I supplement, of course, with other children's books about this era, some fictional. Not sure if you would want to go to the trouble of making up your own dictation and narration exercises from this, but it does combine subjects and in my opinion helps the child remember more of the lesson. Then you could drop penmanship and WWE2 (or again if R&S addresses dictation and narration then I would stick with R&S). We do history twice a week.

 

Science - BFSU and Nature Study weekly. BFSU I teach 'formally' once a week and bring up the topics discussed throughout the week as the opportunity comes up. Nature study they insist on, once a week or more often if we have time. You could add in a read aloud once or twice a week or make a point of checking out some science related books from the library that your child finds interesting.

 

MCP Phonics B, dd needs reinforcement with word attack skills, we are doing this daily. She knows this stuff, but doesn't always apply it. I am hoping to create a habit of applying phonics rules to the words she encounters and she encounters a lot since she loves vocabulary. I am certainly not recommending you add this, it just works for us.

 

Wordly Wise and unknown words encountered elsewhere for vocabulary, dd loves vocabulary, reviewed daily. One assignment per week for Wordly Wise. You might want your child to just keep a notebook of unfamilar words as you come across them.

 

Saying of the week, poem of the week, reviewed daily and 'performed' weekly. This is just for fun, I'm not suggesting you add it.

 

Yoga daily, we start with this. Obviously, not necessary.

 

Critical thinking, geography, art, and music appreciation once a week each. We are using Primary Analogies B right now, and almost done with that. She likes the logic puzzles. I am making up my own geography program with a focus on physical geography right now. Art and art history we use various free websites, and music appreciation is listening to different genres. DH is a musician and he shares his love of music with her regularly. These are all just 'extras' that we do because we enjoy them. I would drop them now and then if time became an issue in any given week.

 

 

My goals for dd are to increase her reading comprehension and word attack skills, increase her vocabulary, and encourage her to explore literature outside her comfort zone. She is still exploring all of the interesting things the world has to offer and enjoying the journey.

 

It looks like a lot written out like this, but most of the work is spread out over the week. If the weeks lesson in one subject is mastered then that is it for the week. We don't start a new lesson until the next week. This frees up time spend on what she needs more time for that particular week. I insist on covering language arts and math no matter what everyday. Our next priorities are history and science once or twice a week, then last come the weekly things. We usually get everything done and have time to spare, but then there are THOSE weeks when I am just glad we get the minimum done.

Edited August 20, 2011 by Rainefox

[Mrs Twain]

This is what my newly-turned 8yo. is currently working on every day. It seems like a lot of subjects to me. I don't want to overload him, yet I want him to receive a solid education. What would ya'll change on this list?

 

Piano

Bible (finishing CLE 2)

Math 2 (CLE)

Spelling (finishing R&S 2, moving on to R&S 3)

Penmanship (Evan Moor Daily handwriting practice)

Reading (finishing CLE, moving on to R&S3)

Greek (Code Cracker, Song School)

Writing With Ease 2

English (R&S3)

Art (Mark Kistler)

History (Veritas Online Self-Paced, OTAE)

Typing (BBC)

 

I'll have to be a loner and say that I like your schedule! If you think it is too much for your dc, then of course you can cut it down. If your dc is doing fine, I might just keep what you have. We do a similar lineup of subjects with a few small differences:

 

Bible--just reading and talking about together (no writing), but we memorize short passages

English--R&S at current grade level (not above)

German instead of Greek, but only 15 minutes three times per week.

I tried typing for 2nd but didn't make much progress with it, though I think it is worthwhile to try.

I am a believer in doing the penmanship (especially for boys who have messy handwriting!), so I personally wouldn't chop that off.

I do science, geography, and civics/state history each once per week.

[coralloyd]

This is what my 2nd grader is doing-

 

English:R&S 2

 

Math:MUS Beta and lots of math games.

 

Copywork/penmanship:ARFH cursive

 

Reading: Read books outloud and discuss

 

Creative Writing: Once a week instead of R&S

 

Spanish/Memory work: We do these together. For Spanish we are simply doing flash cards. For memory work we use

SCM's memory system.

 

History/Bible: I do my own thing for this combining history and Bible. We are

in Greek and Roman history.

 

Science: Human Body

 

I do not have a 2nd grader do typing. I start this along with Latin in 4th grade. I also wait till 3rd grade to start spelling through copy work/dictation.

Edited August 20, 2011 by coralloyd

[gracyomalley]

I see nothing wrong with your schedule - I notice your second grader is 8 years old, so I assume able to do more seat work than many 7 year old 2nd graders....unless you waited for a different reason. (I have one kid who is "old" for his grade because of LDs, and he does do more hours than a kid "at age level", and is ahead in many areas, but behind in others...perhaps you are working with a similar "odd fish")

 

This is my 3rd time through "second grade", each kid has been different, and able to handle different amounts of work. For youngest, his year looks like this:

 

Bible - with family, 20 minutes, 5 days a week,+3 hours of Sunday school

Math - Math Mammoth 3 and likely part of 4, TT 4 for "fun" (likes the computer work, and its easy reveiw)

Reading/Phonics - McRuffy 2 (finishing)(has spelling) SL readers 3

English - R&S 2...I wouldn't do 3 with him - gets into too much nitty gritty by the end - but then, he's only 7, and a math head!

Violin - Suzuki book 2, practice 30-45 minutes/day, 5d a week, one lesson & one group class/week

Art - Meet the Masters - with family and cousins, 1/month

Cursive - A Reason for Handwriting C going slowly

Spanish - Rosetta Stone - probably about 15-30 minutes, 5 times a week (fun)

Typing - BBC Dance mat typing, 10 minutes a day (fun)

Latin - trying to get them all through Latin for Children A...so far, not a go

History - Sonlight Core C(second half of world history)+ SOTW cds for fun in car

Science - SL books added in for fun on Weds, and a lab class in the Spring through a local University Extension HS class

PE - gymnastics M/F, 3.5 hours each, also we have a farm, so there are chores.

 

It looks like tons, but if you look closely, its a balance of only 2-2.5 hours max of seat/pencil work per day, about 30-40 minutes of computer work/day (max), 30-60 minutes per day of artistic work, and some family read aloud/listen to CD time...plus plenty of exercise. We've been doing this schedule for 3 weeks - and he's doing great and having plenty of time for legos...its the older kids I have trouble with!

 

I do think that R&S as written and WWE will be alot, especially with written spelling, and if you do other pencil work too....but some kids LOVE workbook stuff...you know your child. For my kids it does work well to mix up the ways they are getting information through out the day (as above), and not do everything every day...

Erin

[Melissa B]

I think it looks fine.

 

I waited on typing for my first two girls and regret it. By 4th/5th grade they weren't interested and it took time from other subjects. I taught my current 2nd grader during K and 1st and now she doesn't need typing in her schedule. (She's already as good as the other girls at typing. :)) My son has daily typing in his K schedule and is doing great. He thinks it's fun and has the time this year.

 

I don't think you have to do all those things every day. I keep a weekly schedule so we can focus more on one subject or another each day as needed.

[TracyP]

I'll have to be a loner and say that I like your schedule! If you think it is too much for your dc, then of course you can cut it down. If your dc is doing fine, I might just keep what you have. We do a similar lineup of subjects with a few small differences:

 

:iagree: My previous post was based on the assumption that you were unhappy with your current schedule. If you and your dc are both happy then keep it up!

[diaperjoys]

Thank you, all of you! This thread has been a huge help and blessing to me. With your help we've come up with some promising ideas. We were indeed trying to do every subject every day. I'm going to try keeping all our subjects, but alternating these:

 

English/ WW/E English/ WWE/ English

 

Typing/ Art/ Typing/ Art/ Typing (he loves both of these)

 

Spelling/ Penmanship/ Spelling/ Penmanship/ Spelling

 

This will give us three fewer subjects to do each day, which will be a big help. Also, it will free up a bit of time for some online math fact drill, which he really needs.

 

Again, thank you!

[black_midori]

Your setup looks almost identical to my setup - except I ALSO do science & computer programming (and we are doing Spanish rather than Greek, and using some diff curric). :D

 

Oh, and we are also involved in a weekly science/art co-op class & weekly PE class. Also, we just started narration story writing (he talks, I write) because he "really wanted to write a story".

 

However, we DEFINITELY don't do everything every day!! I basically took all the subjects & broke them down over my school year weeks & then marked off what I needed to accomplish each week. Then, inside the week, I further broke them down into what I wanted to do each given day (with flexibility - co-op day is lighter than other days, for instance).

 

Math & reading are the only subjects that we do every day. Most of the rest we do 2 days a week. Some we do 1 day (typing, computer programming - unless he begs for more!!) and some 3 (Shurley English some weeks to even out the schedule, science because he loves it!).

 

So, if you are happy with your actual subjects & still feeling overwhelmed, I would just make sure you are not overdoing some of them unnecessarily!! :)

 

Side note - for first grade, I wasn't very organized on when/what got done... we pretty much just did a lesson a day in each of the things & plowed on through until the book was finished. Once I started to actually lay it out on a nice spreadsheet, I suddenly realized - I SO SO SO did not need to do that!! We were blowing through things too fast - getting a lot done in a few subjects with no room for anything else. Now that I can see what truly NEEDS to be done each week, in order to complete the books before year-end, I have a much more open schedule for tons of other things.

 

I am NOT a super-organized person, so that I can get through all those subjects sound of mind & in under 3 hours most days is saying a lot!! :D