MellowYellow Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 What does your first graders day look like? How many times a week do you do school (for each subject) and for how long? What is your favorite curriculum that you are using and your least favorite? What extra-curricular activities are they involved in? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 (edited) Our first grader's day is free form, but we do have certain requirements. Daily Grammar (KISS and GWG and MCT) Daily Latin (Lively Latin) Daily Writing (WWE2) Daily Math (MM and/or SM, or RS games) Daily Reading, at least 30 minutes. Spelling 2x a week. History with SOTW 1-2 times a week, with extra readings throughout the week. Science with Nancy Larson and BFSU, 1-2 times a week. He also does test prep booklets once every couple of weeks, maybe 2-3 pages, as well as HWT if his narration writing gets messy (that's his incentive to make his pages look neat). Outside of school, he loves yoga, which he does once a week, and his homeschool art class every Wed morning for 2 hours. He also goes to music afterschool 3 afternoons a week, where they study composers, piano, and musical composition. His favorite thing to do is read and write, and he loves diagramming. Edited December 8, 2011 by Halcyon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnlvr Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 What does your first graders day look like? How many times a week do you do school (for each subject) and for how long? What is your favorite curriculum that you are using and your least favorite? What extra-curricular activities are they involved in? Thanks! My ds6 does: Math Mammoth (currently in 1B)/daily Winning With Writing/daily Soaring with Spelling and Vocab/daily Growing With Grammar/3x-week Handwriting without Tears/daily k12 phonics/daily Primary Analogies/1x-week Brainpop Jr (science)/2x-week Usborne World History (prehistory and ancients this year)/2x-week Total school takes about 2-3 hours. *I* like MM the best and k12 the least. Ds likes Brainpop the best and has no least. He also does gymnastics (1x/week), community service (2x/mo), track/cross country (2x/wk), and piano (daily practice and weekly lessons). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 We school 4 days a week for 1st grade. We work on Bible, read alouds, crafts, snack/story time in the mornings. Sometimes phonics/reading in the morning. Math, phonics/reading at night (after my small girl goes to bed), sometimes science or history. We work on our Core subjects 4x a week (BJU Bible, math, LA). Bible devotionals 3x a week (on non BJU Bible days). RA and crafts almost daily. We aren't doing history or science this month (doing a "light" load for Christmas holiday) but we try to get science in 4 x a week (I have a science nut) and history kind of fell by the wayside (I just don't feel like doing it!). I would say we do about 2 hours of "official" school and I have no idea of how much "self learning" time they do on their own. I'm pretty pleased with everything we are using but I would single out Singapore Math and Noeo Chemistry specifically. My big girl is math/science oriented and she is really excelling with these programs. Right now, she is a 4-H Cloverbud and has regular playdates with her cousins. In the summer, we are more active with recreation and soccer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Day to day varies (we have a preschooler and a toddler!) :tongue_smilie: We start out on schedule, and then take it as we can. Daily: Piano Bible BSGFAA Math (currently MM 2A) Phonics (currently ETC, and reviewing from OPGTR) HWOT 4X/week M-Thurs WWE 1 AAS 2 3X/week MWF FLL 1 History- SOTW 1 2X week T/R Science- ES Right Start Games (2-3X's/week) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jengjohnson Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 My first grader schools 5 days a week, occasionally only 4. Saxon 2 math is daily WWE 1 is daily FLL 1 3x reading 20 min. outloud daily - we alternate between a chapter book and Pathway readers, she's currently on the 2nd grade 2 book. Spelling was AAS 4x a week but she despises it, I'm currently just giving her lists of words from one her sister's old books. SOTW 2-3 days per week Elemental Bio 2 days per week She play soccer year round 3-4 days per week. Swim team in the summer. 4-H Cloverbud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 I had a first-grader last year and have another this year. Our lesson schedule currently looks like this. We use block scheduling and only reading, some form of math, and penmanship are done daily; everything else is between 1-3x/week. We don't time our lessons; we just work until the lessons are done. It works out to 1.5-3.5 hours a day, depending on how focused everyone is. 3.5 is rare, though. It's hard to say what my favorite and least favorite curricula are because I don't use curricula I don't love. The goblins' favorites are SOTW, FLL, and WWE (DS6), and RS, SOTW, and FLL (DD5). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIS0320 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 (edited) Daily: -Phonics Road 1 - spelling and readers -Reading aloud to me from McGuffey or another leveled reader -Zaner-Bloser Handwriting -I read aloud literature/poetry to her -Copywork off the white board OR simple dictation sentence in her writing journal -20-30 minutes of free "reading" in her room (I don't care if she reads or just looks through books, she is still an emergent reader) Math - Singapore lesson with some workbook OR Math Mammoth pages for review to support a previously taught SM lesson Science 2x per week and based on unit topics History is 2-3x per week and we insert geography organically into our lessons We spend a good 3 hours per day on school but we take a lot of breaks. I try and have L/A done early in the day, math right after lunch, a break for free reading, then join back for science or history. I am shuffling a couple of other kids around for naps, play, snacks and so on so it takes all day to get it all done. We also try and do art and music appreciation once per week, but if something is going to get cut it is one of those. She also does dance, gymnastics, swimming lessons, and Drama Club weekly. Dance and gymnastics are getting ready to end and we will start Spanish with a tutor 2x per week, swimming 2x per week instead of once and piano lessons in January. I actually like all the curriculum I'm using with the exception of K12 music. I hate it! I will be dropping it once piano lessons start in January. Edited December 7, 2011 by drexel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 At this point, only math and reading is every school day, not even every weekday. :-( Still trying to get on track to bump most of the "1x" subjects up to 2x/week, but I've been working outside the home, plus taking a neighbour to cancer treatments, so we're only averaging 3.5 school days at best... :-( Math - 3x/week Handwriting (HWOT) - 2x/week Phonics (Explode the Code) - 2x/week First Language Lessons - 2x/week Chumash (Bible in Hebrew) - 2x/week Hebrew language - 1x/week Songschool Latin - 1x/week SOTW History - 1x/week Apologia Science - 1x/week Geography - if and when... sigh I think that's everything. But we do a lot of reading out loud and living books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Sylvia goes to co-op every Monday and we do school Tues.-Fri. I don't time school subjects and we don't do things in the same order every day. School for her lasts maybe 2.5-3 hours? She's focused and does her work quickly but accurately. I spend a lot more time prodding Rebecca to finish. :glare: Math, LA, phonics, writing, history, and science get done every day. Art is 3x/week and music appreciation is 1x. Logic twice a week, Latin twice a week, a simple geography workbook once a week. She has gymnastics once a week, choir once a week (they just had their concert last night, so she'll have a few weeks off), and AHG twice a month. In the spring she'll do soccer too. MFW Adventures has been an excellent fit for her this year. I'm happy with everything we're using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 (edited) What does your first graders day look like? She is usually the first one up, at around 7:30. Since I need some time to fully wake up, I drink my coffee and surf the net and she is allowed a cartoon. After that, she gets dressed and makes her bed and comes for breakfast. She usually eats salad (I know, she is weird) and then we head to our school room to start. I have a 3 and 1 year old as well, so there are plenty of interruptions... I have a schedule that alternates subjects based on how often I want to get to them every week. Generally, it has dd(6) do two sit down subjects, then a break. I alternate dd(6) and dd(3), working with each individually, on reading, writing, and math. During their break, they take the baby and go play. It's generally 20 minutes of work for dd(6) and then a ten minute break, while I work with dd(3). How many times a week do you do school (for each subject) and for how long? We do school 6 days a week, for about an hour to an hour and a half per day. We also school year round, taking breaks as needed. This allows us to do less work per day, and it lets us skip days when we need it without falling too far behind. Each subject takes us about 15 minutes, we will go longer if she wants, but usually at about 15 minutes, I start losing her attention. We do, per week: Math 6x (Miquon and MEP) Reading/phonics 6x (The Reading Lesson and various phonics decodable books) Spelling 3x (AAS) Grammar 3x (FLL) Writing 5x (Usually a history narration ala WWE or something from FLL) History 3x (a combo of living books and Elemantal History) Science 5x (we are doing Nature Studies ala Charlotte Mason. My dd6 is a nature/animal fanatic, and knows more than anyone else I know on the subject lol) Musis/Composer study 1x (we model this after Charlotte Mason as well) Art study 1x (so far, it's been just following the CM model, but I think we may get Mark Kisler's online course, since she really enjoys drawing) What is your favorite curriculum that you are using and your least favorite? Miquon. dd(6) loves loves loves math, and I think it's partly her, but also due to the curriculum. What extra-curricular activities are they involved in? She does gymnastics and soon she will also be taking art lessons. We have a HS coop that we attend every week, which is basically a park play date. We go to church and she goes to Sunday school there. Thats it for anything 'organized'. We have play dates with other HS families 2-3 times per week. She is very extraverted lol. Thanks! Now, of course this doesn't all go off without a hitch every week, or really ANY week...but it's our goal! Edited December 7, 2011 by Gentlemommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Roughly two hours of "academics," five mornings a week, with the curricula in my signature. It's all our favorite! Our least favorite was Sonlight Language Arts, which we got rid of a few weeks ago. Most things are 5x a week. Art and music are 1x a week, logic is 2x a week, HWT is 2-3x a week (alternates weekly), and WWE and ETC are 4x a week. Extracurricular activities are swim team, Cub Scouts, and 4H. We're in two different homeschool groups, where we have monthly "boys club" and lego club, and are offered field trips (we do about one a month), weekly park days (again, about one a month), and fun get-togethers with his age group (again, we do about one a month). We're also in the playgroup that we've been with since he was two. During school hours, it's mostly younger kids, though there is one other HSed boy, but after 3, the kids his age come to activities also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadianmumof5 Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 DS5 is doing first grade this year. Math (Saxon 1) - daily Language Arts (Abeka) - daily Spelling (Spelling Workout A) - daily History - he tags along with his sister on VP OTAE online - daily Piano - 15 minutes of practice each day - daily Religion - read alouds about various Saints - daily Poetry Memorization - from The Harp & Laurel Wreath - daily Art - Mommy Its a Renoir plus the usual arts & crafts - whenever we have time This year, we have finished Abeka Science 1, First Communion Catechism, HWOT printing book & Little Angel Readers Level A. He is my eager beaver :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threeturn Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 We do: Faith and Catechism 5x Math (Miquon and Living Math) 4x Language Arts (The Wand - covers spelling, reading, copy work and usage) 4x Handwriting 2x (non copy work days) Read alouds some from AO Yr1 (But not the entire curriculum) and others with narration 5x Art and Composer Study 1x Project Based Studies (kids choose) 3x We do gymnastics, art class, and faith-based homeschool group. Everything takes about 2-3 hours but we have a toddler so there are tons of breaks, fits, and starts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violingirl Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I work early on Wednesday so we have a regular school day Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and a short day on Wednesday where we only do two-three subjects on the list. Our schedule looks like this: Math 5x HWT 5x Faith 5x Reading 20 min. 5x Violin 5x History/Geography 2x Science 2x Art 1x In January I'll add WWE 4x and FLL 2-3x. It looks like a lot to me when I write it out, but it really doesn't take us very long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 (edited) Great thread! CORE (5 days/week) Math: Usually one review drill, one Singapore math lesson, and then one challenge or other kind of 'different' math exercise/lesson. Singapore (with IP) is the spine; we are also getting good use out of Kitchen Table Math, Primary Challenge Math, Marilyn Burns's Math and Literature Series, and other random books. Hebrew language: Z'man Likro Something involving writing: Either Galore Park Junior English 1, GDI Book B, or other writing task (letters, lists, etc.) Cello practice OTHER We have also been doing history, science, and geography in a somewhat free-form fashion. I chose specific topics at the beginning of the year, plus DS has added some of his own (e.g., astronomy), and we spend a week or two focusing on each one, spiraling back to some of the bigger themes (e.g., ancient Greece). DS also generally continues reading and studying on his own about the subject for a while after we have 'officially' stopped focusing on it, which I pretty much see as the whole point. I am not using curricula for this but mainly books from the library, activities, science materials, etc. I am very pleased with how this approach has been working out. Literature and religious literacy are through reading and read-alouds. TIME: Core subjects take a couple of hours, then everything else kind of happens here and there. I have a 3yo tagging along and a 16 mo underfoot, so we are not exactly the model of efficiency around here. The boys also need a LOT of exercise and I make a point of getting them out and running around hard for a decent chunk of time every day. EXTRACURRICULAR Suzuki cello, T-ball in the fall, will probably do soccer in the spring. I am trying to help him build up his swimming stamina so he can join the swim team -- that will probably take another couple of months. LIKES/DISLIKES DS's favorite subject by far is Hebrew. The house is littered with Post-Its with random little bits of Hebrew written on them and he takes every opportunity to insert the Hebrew words he knows into English sentences. He tells me that his least favorite subject is "Junior English," but he seems to enjoy it perfectly well when we're actually using the book. I would say that his true least favorite is handwriting practice. Edited December 8, 2011 by JennyD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 We had a nice light 1st this year, because my DD was ahead. We had violin lessons on monday morning, maybe 1 WWE and\or grammar lesson, and an activity/park/library visit. Tues-Thurs we did LA or Math and something else - usually science or art. Occaisionally (sp?) we'd do both LA and math, but I was pretty relaxed. Now things are stepping up for 2nd next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Daily: SM 2-8 pages fewer if a new topic, more for review R&S 2 Daily, done orally or on worksheets I type Classical Conversations memory work and history timeline 2-3 days a week, rotating SOTW 1 RS4K Biology Spelling Plus and the dictation companion (alternating weeks, list one week, dictation the next) Handwriting (only during list weeks, when we have a week of dictation that is his handwriting) Extracurriculars: Co-op PE, art and lit classes once a week Gymnastics once a week Dance twice a week Musical theatre once a week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtymomma Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 (edited) Day to day varies (we have a preschooler and a toddler!) :tongue_smilie: Ditto. ;) Four days a week: CW Primer (copywork, dictation, narration, grammar/spelling, nature study, picture study) Singapore 1 math and/or drill SWO A/B Poetry read-aloud Golden Children's Bible CC memory work Rotating: Adventures in America Nature stories (AO yr 1) Geography stories (ditto) In the afternoon after our CC morning, we are finishing OPGTR (we only have a few lessons left!), and we do our Song School Latin Lesson. She's also finishing the HWT cursive book whenever we have some extra time. Every day she has 30 min - 1 hr of independent reading, and we read chapter books at bedtime. ETA: As far as scheduling, we generally try and get the Primer lesson done in the morning after our Bible reading. I generally have her and the 4 yr old take turns playing with the baby while I do school with each of them. Then we have a break until after lunch. She usually works on SWO while I'm putting the baby/preschooler down for nap/rest time, and then she and I do History/Geography/Nature, math, and read a poem or two together. Then she reads independently while I try and get a break! CC memory work has been our wildcard. It's been difficult to find a good time to work on that (when the 4 yr old can participate and the 1 yr old is cooperative). We've really been happy with everything we're doing this year. It's been a good combination for us. CW Primer has been rich. For a kid who doesn't need something as incremental as WWE/FLL, it's been a great program. I think we'll move on to CW Aesop next year. No extracurriculars right now because of finances. We hope to start back up with maybe a soccer class after Christmas. Edited December 8, 2011 by squirtymomma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krismoose Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 What does your first graders day look like?How many times a week do you do school (for each subject) and for how long? What is your favorite curriculum that you are using and your least favorite? What extra-curricular activities are they involved in? Thanks! Math 4x (1 page),~15m each Reading 5x (BJU 2-3x, chapter from assigned book everyday) ~20m each Copywork 5x ~5m each Grammar 5x (1 page) ~5m each Spelling (SWR) 3-4x, ~15m each HOD Beyond: History, Bible, Read-aloud, related activities 3x ~45m each day Apologia Astronomy 1-2x ~15m each Art 1-2x, depends on the activity I've finally found the right fit for right now in each area - I'm enjoying everything, ds is not complaining about anything ;). No extra activities right now, vision therapy and the 2 dds keep us busy enough :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 What does your first graders day look like? How many times a week do you do school (for each subject) and for how long? What is your favorite curriculum that you are using and your least favorite? What extra-curricular activities are they involved in? Thanks! Our 1st grader is doing some unschooling/relaxed homeschooling this year. So, most of her day is just playing. She usually does sit-down work 4 times a week for about 30-60 minutes. Her favorite curriculum is Prairie Primer (which is a unit study based on the Little House books) and she seems to really like Usborne's Time Traveler. She also likes Miquon. Extra-curriculars: Tae Kwon Do and Girl Scouts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 My first grader does Bible daily Right Start B 4x week Reading (chapter books - currently Little house series) daily Handwriting/Copywork 3x a week Spelling AAS level 2 3x a week Poetry memorization 3x a week History SOTW Ancients 2x a week Science RSO LIfe 2x a week Geography Evan-Moor Beginning Geography 2x a week Composer study, Nature study, Picture Study as they fit in. For writing/composition she does 3 or 4 narrations each week, sometimes from literature, sometimes from history or science. She also does choir, swimming lessons and ballet in addition to church 2x a week and a hs class at church 1x a week. We do at least one field trip each month, often 2 or 3. Library story time and get books every other week. Our schedule varies, but we generally do bible and skill subjects in the morning and content/project oriented things later in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I think these answers are going to vary quite a bit based on the age of the 1st grader. First grade age can be anything from ages 5-7 and as I have both a 5 y.o. and a 7 y.o., what they are capable of is very different in terms of coordination for outside activities and attention spans. My 1st grader (7 y.o.) does school 4 x week, with lots of different subjects set up pretty much as described in WTM. Writing Comp. - 4 x week Grammar - 2 x week Spelling - 4 x week Phonics - 4 x week Cursive handwriting - 4 x week Math - 4 x week History - 2-3 x week (depending on projects) Science - 2 x week We have a weekly homeschool co-op on Fridays. My 7 y.o. also does Tae Kwon Do twice a week, Awanas once a week, and takes piano lessons so he has nightly piano practice. My 5 y.o. takes Tae Kwon Do twice a week, and Awanas once a week, but does not yet have the stamina or discipline to take music lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 My first grader is schooled 5 days a week. Writing, Math, and Reading happens every day. (Even though WWE 1 is 4 x a week, we do something else writing-related the 5th day, and penmanship practice (manuscript) is daily.) History and science happen as time allows. There are times I let her stop school after lunch (though she still has to limit herself to a few school-approved choices prior to 3 pm, such as free reading, her typing program, piano, drawing, educational games with sister. No TV, toys, or video games as a general rule.) She is already a fluent reader and her spelling is rapidly improving with reading and writing, so we don't do anything formal with phonics or spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Oh, I should probably mention that the reason we do grammar and writing as often as we do is because we changed programs at week 18 so we're doing it at double pace to finish on time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 My 1st grader (ds6) spends a little over one hour working on basics in the morning, gets a long break to play and have lunch, and then has a little less than an hour of read-aloud time in the afternoon (WTM-style science & Sonlight history and read-alouds). He spends about 2 hrs working altogether (not counting independent reading). He studies: daily in the morning: Singapore Math, language arts (alternating between spelling, copywork, & journal writing), independent writing using the writing process, L'art de Dire French daily in the afternoon: Sonlight read-alouds and independent reading alternating days in the afternoon: science, Sonlight history, and Drawing with Children Favorite things we have used so far: Handwriting without Tears Reading Reflex Sonlight Cores 1 & 2/B & C (just basic cores: history, read-alouds, readers) Drawing with Children Nallenart French (L'art de Dire) He takes gymnastics and plays seasonal sports: soccer in the fall, t-ball in the spring, swimming in the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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