Haiku Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I am trying to work out a schedule for next year for dd's 5th grade year. I have 10 things I want her to be doing: math, grammar, spelling, writing, history, science, Spanish, Latin, memory work, and logic. I can't fit it all in. At 10 years old, I think five hours of focused work is a lot and very sufficient. It's not like traditional school, where there is so much transition time that there isn't continuous focused work. I don't want to just keep stacking stuff on dd and make her day ridiculously long. I'd really like to start school at 9, work until noon, start again at one, and be done by three. Is that just not realistic for a fifth grader? Not counting that in order to try to get everything done both for her and her brother, dd-then-10 is going to have to be able to do some of her stuff mostly independently. I really feel like I am going to be a slave to my schedule next year rather than making my schedule work for me. She's already going to have to do her history and science reading on her own time, as I can't fit school reading time into next year's schedule like I did for this year. I'm feeling discouraged. :( Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 If all the subjects aren't done every day, it is doable. I agree that it would make for too long a day for a 5th grader to do EVERY subject every day. Maybe trade off history/science, Spanish/Latin, memory work/logic? Do one 3 days a week and one 2. You could do first subject 3 days and second 2 days on even weeks and the other way around on odd weeks if you want them to get equal attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 :iagree:That's what I'd have said as well. I'd do some math and writing daily. Maybe spelling M and F with grammar the other days. Science once or twice a week, history twice a week, logic maybe three times a week, memory every day but for a short time. I would possibly trade off Latin and Spanish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 What exactly are you refering to when you say "memory work"? Also I've always thought it would be confusing to do two languages at once... could you work on latin first semester and spanish second? Keep in mind that most grammar programs are not daily. Spelling can be done in 15 minutes from you then she can practice/quiz herself independently. This is where other siblings or Dad can help out too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) We're in the same boat. For 5th, I want my son to do Writing, Latin, Spanish, Grammar, Spelling, History, Science, Logic, Composer Studies and Memory Work-almost identical to you. Right now, he works about 4 hours a day, sometimes more. What has helped is making Friday our "History and/or Science Day"--75% of our weekly work for those subjects is completed on Friday. We do very little else on Friday--perhaps a weekly test, maybe a bit of catch up, but I try hard to dedicate that day to History and Science (usually what ends up happening is one subject is "predominant" for that day, typically whichever one we start with! And Fridays are our longest day, as those topics tend towards rabbit trails, projects, books, and videos. We generally start at 9 and end at 4 pm, with a break for lunch). So from Monday through Thursday, he'll be responsible for spelling 2x (15 minutes each time, not a lot of work needed here), writing 5x (45 minutes each time, history and science will include writing work), Latin 4x (45 minutes each time, he will do work in the evening 2 times a week on this as well), Math 4x (1 hour each time, again, evening homework not included of 20 minutes a night or so not included), Grammar 4x (30 minutes), Logic 2x week (30 minutes), Spanish 4x (20 minutes-doing GSWS), Memory Work 4x (15 minutes). This is pretty much what we do this year, and it's worked out fairly well, assuming we do read-alouds and library books on Science and History throughout the week. My guess is that next year, we MAY need to do extra history somehow in the week other than Friday. I don't know how that will work. We plan on working 9-1:00, break for lunch, then 1:30 until 3 pm. We'll see how that works... Edited December 10, 2011 by Halcyon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Well, that looks a lot like our 5th grade schedule and it didn't take us all day. It did take us longer than 4th grade. I remember last year being an adjustment. DS has some friends who are a year younger and for years they had a mid week playtime. Well, I had to cancel because we could not have a half day free in the middle of the week. I got many grumbles and resentful comments (from the mothers, not my son!) but now they have 5th graders and understand. Like everyone said, you don't do it all ever day. We do math and musical instruments 5 days a week. Everything else is 2 or 3 or 4 days a week. We also do Latin and Spanish and each gets done three times a week. He has been studying Latin since 2nd grade but started Spanish this year. It would be too much to start both in one year. He does logic, grammar and history three times a week. Science is two or three, depending on what is assigned. Writing and spelling are 4 days a week. We generally start at 8:30 and are done around 1:30 with lots of snack breaks and minor chores and getting dressed etc. It doesn't feel to intense. But, yes, it is the focus of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 I forgot to mention that we wouldn't be doing history and science on the same days. We do two weeks of history, then two weeks of science. What exactly are you refering to when you say "memory work"? Memorizing poems, mostly, but we also review vocabulary from science, grammar terms, and religious items. I have worked out a schedule that fits everything in, but I feel like it will have to run perfectly in order for it to work. And whose schedule ever runs perfectly? Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 What are your curriculum choices? Maybe a subject or two can be more streamlined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 Math: Math Mammoth, which the kids work on at the same time even though they are in different levels Latin: Getting Started With Latin, Salvete Logic: Building Thinking Skills Writing: Writing With Skill Spelling: Wheeler's Elementary Speller Grammar: Hake 5 Spanish: Getting Started With Spanish, numerous other things History: Probably will use History Odyssey Science: Real Science 4 Kids Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloggermom Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 My 5th grader does school work from about 6 AM - 3 PM. So that is approx 9 hours. He never complains about and seems to really enjoy it most of the time. I have a few of his subjects outsourced right now (Writing/Grammar & Latin) and the rest of it is mostly independent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) I am trying to work out a schedule for next year for dd's 5th grade year. I have 10 things I want her to be doing: math, grammar, spelling, writing, history, science, Spanish, Latin, memory work, and logic. I'm feeling discouraged. :( Tara I sometimes put my subjects on index cards and play around with the arrangement. Aside from that I write it different ways to see what might work. Basically you have 7 subject time slots: Math English history rotate with science Spanish Latin memory work Logic This may take some looking through your curriculum, but I would break up the English portion. Maybe do writing everyday, but rotate grammar and spelling. You said you're already rotating weeks with history and science. Memory work will take what 15-20 minutes? What logic program are you doing? Does it need to be done daily? What about Spanish and Latin, which is getting higher priority? Could you maybe do one subject 2x/week and one 3x/week? You could do a schedule something like this. Memory work - 5x/wk Math 5x/week Latin 4x/week English - 5 x/week (writing daily, grammar & spelling rotate) History /Science - rotate weeks Spanish - 3x/week Logic - 2x/week That way you're down to 5-6 subjects per day, 7 if you break up the English components. ETA: saw you added your curricula in another post. WWS is designed for 4 days a week, so that would help. Edited December 10, 2011 by elegantlion should not add before coffee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Tara, when my dd was that age, I thought in terms of independent writing and together writing. So your writing curriculum you might do together 1 day a week and then have her finish the tasks independently and have them do on Friday. It's a good age to begin that kind of structure. You just have to set it up with clear expectations. Another thing I did was google 5th grade (4th gr, 6th gr whatever) book reports, print the project forms, and put them in a folder. So the expectations were very clear and she could do it independently, at least once I got her started. History, science, and book narration writing is all independent writing. Might give you more together time to spend on things you like doing together. I personally think 5 hours of formal schooling for 5th is high. You want to hit that 5-6 hour a day range INCLUDING her reading time. To me, 1-2 hours is the norm for expected reading, so that means a max of 4 hours of formal school. It's ok if a science lab or something runs over. I'm just saying if you take that formal too high, you scrunch out energy for art, etc. My dd really got into her cooking and sewing around that age. We loved Snap Circuits in 4th/5th gr btw. That's a total aside, but I thought I'd throw it out. I gave them to my dd as a Christmas present, and she was HORRIFIED recently to find out they had been *school work*... Bwahahaha... Anyways, they're still at an age to enjoy this hands-on play/learning stuff. I'd make time for it and not feel compelled to cram. BTW, when I played with your list of stuff, I got 4 hours of work: math-1 hour grammar-20 spelling-15 writing-40 history-30 science-30 Spanish-20 Latin-20 memory work-10 logic-20 With the science and history you could alternate days and do one hour blocks. Those times are pretty generous for what we did at that age and include the dawdling and transitioning we had. (10-15 min. of grammar with 5-10 minutes of transitioning, that sort of thing I think the key to successful scheduling is not to expect your dc to be radically different than they already are. They're going to make steps and grow, but they're not going to become a DIFFERENT PERSON. They are who they are. So basically you just take what is already working now and tweak. At least that's what I do when I'm trying to stay sane. And sometimes we don't realize why our current method is working till we screw it up. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Ok, my fifth grader (in reality) does: Math (45 min + homework) - 5x/wk Grammar (15 min) - 4x/wk Latin (30 min) - 3x/wk + 10 min flashcards or listen to CD on 4th day Religion (30 min) - 3x/wk Writing (30 min) 4x/wk Spanish (30 min) - 3x/wk Dictation (15 min) - 4x/wk History/Science (1 hr 15 min) - 3x/wk switching off each week Art (90 min) - 1x/wk P.E. (60 min) - 1/wk ----------- Outside of school time: Reading (1 hr) - 4x/wk Piano (15 min) - supposed to be daily, but doesn't always happen ============== That's 1120 minutes = 18 hrs 40 min weekly or 3.73 hrs/day not including piano or reading. My schedule says that some of those subjects (religion, spanish, history/science) should be done 4x/wk, but it doesn't happen in *real life.* I've had to adjust my time & expectations of what we can cover to reflect reality. (For example, it'll take us longer to cover history/science & math is going slower than I'd like.) I'm going to be in a pickle next year when my third kid needs more time from me. I've found there isn't enough of ME to go around. :glare: I hope you find something that works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Math: Math Mammoth, which the kids work on at the same time even though they are in different levelsLatin: Getting Started With Latin, Salvete Logic: Building Thinking Skills Writing: Writing With Skill Spelling: Wheeler's Elementary Speller Grammar: Hake 5 Spanish: Getting Started With Spanish, numerous other things History: Probably will use History Odyssey Science: Real Science 4 Kids Tara So how long do each of these take? It's possible that some take more time than other programs do and you could switch some out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 You might want to take a look at Ambleside Online's original schedules...the ones CM used in CM schools. They show how she managed to fit in all subjects in an organized manner. I often use them to help me plan out my kids daily schedules @ the beginning of the year. There are ones for every age group. HTH, Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 I have worked out a schedule that fits everything in, but I feel like it will have to run perfectly in order for it to work. And whose schedule ever runs perfectly? Tara Can you share your schedule? Maybe some here can give suggestions. Based on your curriculum list it doesn't see like (to me at least) that it would be difficult to fit it all in, but maybe I'm misjudging something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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