Guest lahmeh Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Can someone please tell me how you get it all done?! My dc are in 3rd and 4th. Any advice or words of wisdom?! :confused: Aren't all these subjects expected at this age? Please tell me how to simplify. :) math spelling reading writing grammar vocabulary history science social studies geography Is there a really such a thing as an open and go hist/geog/social studies curriculum? We are using GWG and thinking of SWS and WWW. We also have CLE for Math. Can someone else please think for me? My brain hurts. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joysworld Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 For spelling, reading, grammar, writing, and vocabulary you could do an all in one program for that. You don't have to have a separate history, geography and social studies program. Do history, and incorporate geography into that. That would bring you to four subjects. Would that help? Also, all of these subjects do not need to be done everyday. I only do reading and math everyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooketopia Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I'm not yet at your stage, my eldest is in 2nd grade, but the first thing I noticed about your list was that history, social studies and geography were all separate subjects and that seems like "too much" to me. If I were in your shoes, I'd try to streamline all that. We use SOTW here, and with its mapwork I think it fulfills those requirements. I don't even know what I would do for social studies with elementary kids besides studying history and the cultures that go along with those studies. Perhaps I'm missing something. Another thought: don't try to do everything every day. Have Subject X on M, W, F and Subject Y in its place on T and Th. I know I'm going to have to go to that sort of schedule when my children get older because I have no idea how to do all that work each day. :grouphug: I get overwhelmed by all the stuff we need to do at this stage, so hang in there...talk to your hubby as well, it's amazing how efficiency-minded guys can be. My husband has "solved" various scheduling dilemmas for me in the past that I really should have come up with on my own, but because I was so emotionally keyed-up I couldn't think straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I agree with the pp. Ditch the social studies and incorporate geography into your history. I use HOD and they lay it all out nicely. Also I would recommend alternating writing and grammar. Do a unit of grammar. Take the test. Switch over to a writing project for a week or two, then back to grammar. That way they are both covered but don't take up two separate time slots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antsam Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 My boys are in 3rd and 4th grades this year (our first year homeschooling). We do the following: math (Saxon 3 and 5/4) 4 days a week spelling (spelling power) 4 days a week SOTW 3 days a week Prima Latina 4 days a week Wordly Wise (vocab) 3 days a week Grammar (FLL) 3 days a week Writing (WWE) 4 days a week Cursive 2-3 days a week Science 3 days a week We are also doing a mish-mash of atlas work (geography) a few days a week drawing with children (art)- once a week learning about the orchestra- once a week We do school 4 days a week and use the 5th day for nature walks, experiments, history projects, etc. Most days take us about 4-5 hours or so a day. They also practice piano 30 minutes each day. They do history, science, grammar, writing, and latin together. They do separate math, spelling and vocabulary. I would try to combine as much as is possible to help cut down on time. Also, they pretty much do vocab, atlas, cursive on their own (i.e. while one is finishing math or spelling, the other will do piano and then work on vocab, cursive or their atlas work for a while). HTH. I'm new to this, so I don't even know if this is the best way to do things, but it's working for us so far. Good luck. Jodie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I agree with the pps, pick a history spine and do mapwork for geography. I found blank world and US maps at a teacher supply store. I can just copy and reuse all I want. We also do SOTW, so I don't need my maps yet. Social studies fits with history nicely. It is really just a study of town/city, state, and country identifications, with some world cultures and minimal geography. A full history program would more than cover that. For your kids, if they read well, history and science can cover their formal reading. Have them read aloud some so you can check their pronunciation. When they read silently, have them narrate. Assign x minutes of reading they select, don't narrate that, they can use some for book reports. Don't make all of their reading "school." You can get integrated grammar and writing programs. Also, do some block scheduling. History MWF, science TTh, spelling 3 days. Grammar/writing, math and reading daily. It is not so much when you combine and spread it out. *you don't have to finish the books, ps classes rarely finish a book. *ps does not cover everything everyday. If they do, something suffers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michele B Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I go to the library and look for a book about modern children in the country we are studying for history. There are a couple of series, but I cannot think of the names. :tongue_smilie: I know there is a series called "Look what came from...." This would incorporate "social studies" into your history. Note any famous landmarks on the map from the SOTW activity guide. I alternate spelling and vocabulary either by day or by week. The lessons are so short -maybe 15-20 minutes. Of course dd10almost11 spent 3 HOURS on her math today. And then we had to correct 3/4 of it. :banghead: So we did not fit everything in today - but that's a whole other problem!! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Have you looked at MCT? We are doing that this year. I tried WWE and FLL last year (our first year) and it was overwhelming. We are doing the Island series this year. It is grammar, writing, and vocabulary. Satori Smiles has a great lesson plan all set out for it That has really eased things up for us. We are also doing SOTW4 with the activity book as our History/Geography class. That is our "Social Studies" We just do the reading, mapwork, outlines, and the projects that look fun. Next year my ds will be in 5th grade, and I am hoping to use ALL and WWS. By then I will have some more homeschool experience under my belt, and as an older child, my ds will be doing more independent work. Simplifying has made homeschool more enjoyable this year. Hope that helps Nicole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greeny Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I agree with everyone else. Incorporate geography and social studies with history. I think SOTW does an excellent job of that. There is a map to work with for every chapter. Also, since your children are just a grade apart, I would combine them in as many subjects as it makes sense to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Combine Hist/Geo with History Odyssey. As an added bonus, she covers literature and writing a bit, too. Same with SOTW. Drop Vocab until 7th or 8th grade when they have finished your spelling program. Find a program that mixes grammar and writing (like CLE or R&S) or wait until 4th/5th and go with IEW Student Writing Intensive-A and stay with GWG for now. If they read well, have a reading list and require summaries...that's it. If you need to have a program, reading Detective Beginning is for those ages and simple. For the total radical, drop all gravy (history, geo, social studies {what is that, anyway?}, science, etc.) until 5th grade and focus on the 3R's with books thrown in to cover the gravy as interest arises. Really, your kids would be fine, I promise. For me, what helped was Memoria Press's grade level lesson plans. They helped me see what was most important and to keep my life simple. [Just FYI, I do not teach or plan to ever teach latin or logic. I just ignore those parts. These are plans are made to be flexible.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 math spelling reading writing grammar vocabulary history science social studies geography I don't do a reading program. My ds reads to me for 15 minutes a day because he's still working on reading fluency. I don't worry about it with dd because she reads 500-page books on her own ... her reading is fine. I don't feel the need for a reading program with worksheets and discussion questions and comprehension questions, etc. We do enough of that in science/history, WTM-style, that I am satisfied my kids can comprehend their reading. I don't do vocabulary. My kids ask me what words they don't know mean. They learn new vocabulary that way. Spanish and Latin help/will help with roots and the like. I don't do social studies. I'm not even exactly sure what that is. I don't worry about geography. They learn about the rest of the world through science and history. In school I learned about principal exports of countries and other boring things that I never retained. I'm not worried about my kids learning that. We use maps for history and my kids know where things are in the world. I'm satisfied. We do have a map skills work book that we work in periodically, but I find that my kids often already know the material. So there are three subjects you could safely drop. I'm assuming you combine them in science/history? We do math and language arts and memory work in the morning, Spanish and science/history in the afternoon. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I am like those that suggested a block schedule. I also use SOTW and A.G. as a spine for history, geography, social studies, and literature. It is not totally open and go. We do require a library run for the books and need to make copies to be ready for the mapwork. But it is easy to follow once you get the hang of it. We use Rod and Staff for grammar/writing. The writing lessons are integrated into the English book. So if today is a writing lesson, then there is not a grammar lesson. We do daily work 4 days a week in the a.m mostly. This is when the core subjects: math, writing, spelling, english, and latin are done. I have a detailed time schedule typed up that tells what each child and mom are to be doing each hour to accomplish it all. We don't always stick to the schedule completely, but it works as a guideline to keep us on track. We block schedule our afternoons. Mon. afternoons are for art together, Tues/Thurs are for SOTW, and Wed are for Science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Social studies is a school term. We study history and geography. I use the same science and history with both boys (reading aloud, discussing and doing projects). Geography is a component of history though the boys get extra map practice and geography from time to time. Science and history are done four days a week here. Some days, I just read a chapter, some days we work on a lapbook, etc. As for the following: math (daily, they each have their own Saxon level) spelling (daily, we use Megawords) reading (I don't have this as a separate reading time during school hours. When they are young, they learn phonics and read aloud to me. Once they read fine, I just make sure they read on their own) writing (we complete one IEW lesson a week -- usually taking three days. They also work on combining sentences daily in Daily Grams. Handwriting is practiced separately when younger) grammar (daily -- we use Daily Grams daily and Rod and Staff English (minus the writing) three times a week. They diagram three sentences daily). vocabulary (we are doing a slow Latin program, and we study Latin and Greek roots. The rest of vocabulary at their age comes from me reading aloud and explaining words they may not know from literature, history and science sources). The boys complete the following in an hour or less on their own: logic handout Daily Grams 3 diagram sentences 15-20 problems in Saxon Math spelling Yes, we spend hours on school a day. I am attaching our schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Can someone please tell me how you get it all done?! My dc are in 3rd and 4th. Any advice or words of wisdom?! :confused: Aren't all these subjects expected at this age? Please tell me how to simplify. :) math-- daily spelling-- 3-4 days/wk reading-- unless they need more phonics, tie this into history/science or read great books, not an actual curriculum writing-- alt with grammar either by week or something similar grammar-- alt with writing weekly or so vocabulary-- 3-4 days a week history--2-3 days a week science -- 2-3 days a week social studies-- ?? What are you doing here? Is it something you feel necessary? Can you cut it down to 1 day a week?? geography-- tie this in with history- or do something life MFW that has a geography year before starting the 4 year history cycle Is there a really such a thing as an open and go hist/geog/social studies curriculum? We are using GWG and thinking of SWS and WWW. We also have CLE for Math. Can someone else please think for me? My brain hurts. :bigear: Just my thoughts. Here is my 4th graders schedule Math- daily English- grammar portion for a week then writing for a week Reading- she just reads stuff to go with geography, science or classics spelling-3-4 days a week, depending on the week. science- daily (SHE is a science nut! She can not get enough) geography- (we are doing geography this year instead of history, she will start with ancients again next year) 4-5 days a week We actually just temporarily stopped vocabulary. It was an 'on your own' deal and when I had her write her sentences every 10 words or so to test how well she actually learned the words she could not use the words so they made sense. Maybe the words were to hard, I don't know but we will pick this up again in a few weeks when things slow down outside of school so I can work on this with her. For now we just take vocabulary words from science, geography and the books she is reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 you might find this article helpful. RE: School subject I would group by subject. math - spelling, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary For this age I do a read aloud each day- This cover vocab. We also do R & S- 2-3 lessons a week and IEW's Fables 1 x a week (with a sm group of other 3 graders while their older sibs are at Lego League. I have my dd read 1-2 pages outloud of the book we are reading aloud. Spelling is covered in copywork, writing. history, social studies, geography We are doing a world hx overview this year. My 6th grader is doing worksheets that cover the above, my 3rd gr is not. We do have a map on the wall and a globe that we are constantly looking up stuff on. Occaisionally we do a MCP Map book. Social Studies is not necessary imho, other than by various mags around (ours= Science News, Nat'l Geo, Nat'l Geo for Kids, etc) and discussion when it comes up (daily) The kids also listen to SOTW and MoH ad neuseum just for fun. science My dh covers a lot of science by his regular discussion with the kids over the NASA and NOAA sites. We also have various mags around (Ranger Rick, Nat'l Geo). MSB- books, videos, Moody science videos, Bill Nye, etc. This year my ds is in a class for pre-chem and my dd is doing an actual book as well but that's not usual for us in eled (btw my kids always score off the charts on the Iowa for science) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Can someone please tell me how you get it all done?! My dc are in 3rd and 4th. Any advice or words of wisdom?! :confused: Aren't all these subjects expected at this age? Please tell me how to simplify. :) math spelling reading writing grammar vocabulary history science social studies geography Is there a really such a thing as an open and go hist/geog/social studies curriculum? We are using GWG and thinking of SWS and WWW. We also have CLE for Math. Can someone else please think for me? My brain hurts. :bigear: Some of these don't take us very long. Spelling, vocab and grammar, in particular. All of those together would take maybe half an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lahmeh Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Thank you all for replying. I am taking it all in... :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lahmeh Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 (edited) I remember now why it seems we can't get it all done. I am playing catch up with my dc because of all my curriculum hopping in the early years! Totally my fault (and yours for posting great new curricula for me to try) ;). We are nearing the point where I'll be able to slow down and add in more. Thank you all for the advice. :D Edited October 5, 2011 by lahmeh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 (edited) Here is what my 4th grader does. MUS/TT-daily, for the most part he does this on his own. MCP Plaid Phonics-daily, on his own with little help from me Shurley Grammar-4xweek, we do this together (grammar only) WWE-3xweek, we do this together Simply Spelling-4xweek. Three days he copies the passage on Friday I dictate it to him. AAS-3/4xweek, with me Copywork-2/3xweek. Latin-daily Bible-daily, usually with me but when I'm running late they practice AWANA verses. History-2xweek, that is all I can fit in Science-2xweek, wish I had more time Cursive-daily Logic-Friday's with me For the most part he can get it all done. I did write a schedule for him that he follows. It's more of a block schedule. 40 minutes of math, then move onto 10 penmanship etc. I use a timer. Shurley Grammar can take very long. I set the timer for 30 minutes. Once it beeps we are done, then I set it for 15 for WWE ;) and so forth. Just because the subject is listed doesn't mean we are completing a full lesson each day. Some days we do and some we don't :) I would combine the history, geography and social studies. Can spelling be used for vocabulary as well? Another thought is use audio books for history. This is what I have done for the past four years with my four younger ones. This year I'm attempting WP program because Caleb is now in the 5th grade, but for his 4th grade and under years he listened to SOTW, MOH, Little House, and many other books for history. I can't wait for the Apologia series to be on audio. I hear they are thinking about it or working on it. Can't remember ;) Edited October 5, 2011 by Homeschooling6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyNellen Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 [quote=lahmeh;3205508Aren't all these subjects expected at this age? Please tell me how to simplify. :) math spelling reading writing grammar vocabulary history science social studies geography Is there a really such a thing as an open and go hist/geog/social studies curriculum? :bigear: Nope. My 3rd graders do: Bible math reading grammar (which includes copywork & dictation) history (which includes geography) science For open and go history we always did SOTW at that age. Buy the Activity Guide and you are all set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In2why Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Can someone please tell me how you get it all done?! My dc are in 3rd and 4th. Any advice or words of wisdom?! :confused: Aren't all these subjects expected at this age? Please tell me how to simplify. :) math spelling reading writing grammar vocabulary history science social studies geography Is there a really such a thing as an open and go hist/geog/social studies curriculum? We are using GWG and thinking of SWS and WWW. We also have CLE for Math. Can someone else please think for me? My brain hurts. :bigear: Social studies is just life around here. We combine Geography and History. Vocabulary isn't a separate subject until they get older and we study root words. When reading I just explain words that aren't familiar. We combine Spelling, phonics, and dictation with AAS, and practice handwriting that way as well. They also have writing in GWG. We do WWE but it is never more than 10 minutes a day and I wouldn't trade it fr anything since it is so vital to learning to narrate an summarize. Science and History we alternate and we always finish our content subjects first so that if we are having a long day or something comes up we can push back Science or History instead of a content subject. I also build in padding by looking through our history and science and automatically picking a few chapters or units to skip each quarter is need be. Read alouds usually go with our history studies and I struggled with making the time until I decided that I would read in the morning while we were all waking up. That way I can get a cup of coffee, the kids grab cereal, oatmeal or toast, and we are half awake. It gives us a chance to ease into the day while enjoying a good story. Afterwards I get them started on something independent (usually GWG or TT) while I get a shower and get dressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I have friends that use the Robinson method or similar. I am working my dd into that slowly as she is only 6 at the moment. Basically: math- 1 lesson per day history, social studies, geography-- find history readers that you like. Any type of living history, be it bios, auto bios, or books that cover a time period. Have a stack and let the children read through one at a time. Set a min time you expect them to read each day. science -- same as for history. Living books that they can just read through for a min of so many mins. reading- same again writing, spelling, grammar, vocabulary-- After they read from their books above have them do copy work from one, and write about what they learned in the other two. Set a min time to do the writing. Unless your child really needs it, spelling as a separate subject is not necessary. Writing doesn't have to be formal every year, and grammar doesn't need to be rehashed year after boring year. Wait till they are older and then let them take grammar, but otherwise they learn so much from reading and copywork. Vocab usually comes naturally with much reading. I have found wonderful books that are linked on Old Fashioned Education and Ambleside Online. You don't have to follow their schedule to use the books. I have many, many on my hard drive and have printed the ones we are currently using. The Robinson Curriculum Book List is easy to find via google. These books can be placed on e-readers if you don't like to print or they can be bought at Yesterday's Classics. But you can use the above method with any books of your choosing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbsweetpea Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 We do all that and more. The key for me is planning, planning, planning. I also have short lessons. I do not know what your expectation is for hours in a school day but we typically do 3 hours a day for my 6 and 8 year old. That is with some sort of project that takes us time. If you look at my siggy I have a link to my lesson plans and how I do it. We complete weekly: math x 5 days logic x 3 days spelling x 3 days reading x 5 days hand writing x 5 days writing/grammar x 5 days vocabulary x 2 days World history x 2 days science x 2 days social studies/ American History x 2 days geography/ map work x 3 days Spanish x 4 days Music Theory and appreciation - x 3 days Piano x 5 days Recorder x 5 days (yeah my kids wanted to do this and it reinforces theory) Art x 2 days Read Out Loud by mom x 4 days Memorization x 5 days PE/life skills/ Health x 2 days (even though they play everyday) Bible x 5 days Then I schedule Field trips and games on my schedule to throw them in. My kids normally don't want to stop school at the end of each morning but I am exhausted. We quickly work through everything and review weekly with quiz/test every 2 weeks (just so I know where we are not for grades). We do lots of hands on activities and games. My kids usually write quite a bit each day in subject journals but do not always fill out their worksheets. We do a lot of work out loud or on the dry erase boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I tend to focus on either writing or grammar, not both every day (or even every semester, or even every year). Writing can be worked on informally through other subjects, grammar can be worked on informally through every day speech as well as writing. I like to work on vocabulary through read-alouds. I stop (or my children stop me) when I come to a word I think they don't know. Maybe not every word, but enough that their vocabularies are ever-growing. So, those might be some ways to trim down the list. Sonlight is pretty open and go for history, readers etc... We've always enjoyed that. One thing I do is set time limits. Just because a curriculum schedules a certain amount per lesson or day, doesn't mean that's how much you should do. Decide how much time you are willing to devote to a subject instead, and then you can decide if you want to continue a lesson the next day or move on to a new one. Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I think I know why some of us separate these three topics. I am with a homeschool charter school through the PS system in California and they have the kids do Study Island to bump their Star testing scores-it is all about standards, standards standards. Anyways I am noticing that my kids are not doing well on Study Island (they hate reading the lesson and the explanation) in their history and science topics because some of the curriculum is not covering basic geography skills such as longitude, latitude, prime meridian etc and state studies and currently we are following TWTM and covering biology and not the usual scope of what is required by the state. I am finding that I have to add in additional teaching just to get to cover those standards. Kind of stinks in my opinion but it is what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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