xpost: How long a day for 8th grader?

[Kathie in VA]

I posted this on the k-8 board but there are more folks here that have 8th grade or older kids to homeschool....

 

My dd is 13, going into 8th grade (her Bday is in Nov)

I think I have everything covered but I wonder if my time estimate are too much or it I have too much on her plate. We are up to 7 hours of school work per day (but no planned homework except for what doesn't get done).

 

SL core 100 (hist, lit, bible, & memory work) w/7th gr. brother [2 hrs/day]

Lials BCM [~55min /day] ...or algebra 1 depends on how much she gets done this summer

Calculadders? [5min /day]

CW Older Beginners with Harveys / CW Poetry OB w/brother [1.5 hrs 4 days/wk]

Apples Daily Spelling Drills (yep still needed) [~15min 2days/wk]

VfCR A w/ brother [~15min 3 days/wk]

Co-op class: Italian [1hr class day, ~15min 4 days/wk?]

Co-op class: Debate [1hr class day, 1 hr 4 days/wk]

Teaching Toolbox w/brother [30 min 3 days/wk]

Draw Squad or V.M. Master Drawing (she loves art) [30 min, 2 days/wk]

 

Plus she plays soccer on a team.

I also try to get them out for Rock Climbing or ice skating when we can fit it in.

Oh and she'd like to get a job ( :lol: )

etc.

 

So, how's this look? Since she really wants to take the Debate class, I might drop Teaching Toolbox (although I'd love for her to go thru it.. it's just oral work with me).

 

TIA

 

:bigear:

[Chris in CA]

I didn't add up your hours, but we will do something similar to last year

and begin at 8:30-ending at 3:30 - that is with 1/2 hour break and 1/2 lunch

So about 6 hours total, not including P.E.

[Michelle in MO]

around 8 hours or so per day. Is that correct? If so, I don't know if I'd add a whole lot on top of that. Generally speaking, I like to ease into the year at first and then we add things. It usually takes a month before we're at full steam, so to speak.

 

Are you sure you need Calculadders? Also, are you planning on stretching out Lial's Algebra? I found that we generally needed closer to two hours daily for math. If you're going to tackle quite a bit this summer and proceed through the book more slowly, then that should probably work fine.

 

HTH!

[Chris in CA]

I agree about ramping up, and ramping down at the end of the year

[nancy in nj]

Hi Kathie,

 

I also have a 13 year old daughter going into 8th grade. I'm estimating 6-7 hours per day for next year not counting extracurricular stuff, so it sounds reasonable to me.

 

One thought on looking at your schedule. I'm probably missing it, but I didn't see science on your plan for 8th grade. This is one area that we are planning to beef up for 8th to prepare for high school.

 

Nancy in NJ

[Kathie in VA]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad to hear that I'm not so far off. I've had others tell me that they don't go beyond 5 hrs/day. Guess it depends on what you use and how fast your kids work.

 

I also tend to ramp up. Only problem is my kids will sometimes bark as I keep adding work. "Hey I thought we were done after this?" :D

 

on the math:

She already started Lial's BCM last year. She needs to finnish up either this summer or next year.

hmm, not sure CalcuLadder is needed, but we have it already. She's been a bit slow at the basics so we were using it last year for awhile. The year B4 she didn't finnish her standardized math test because she was slow on her facts. She's a bit faster now. It's only 5 min a day but might be the first thing that's dropped.

 

On the science:

ooops, forgot to include that in this list.

I'm thinking of Apologia's General Science. It would give her both science and study skill work, all in one. We'll probably do this with her 7th grade brother and possibly meeting with another family either weekly or 2x/month or something. So I'm guessing about 1hr 3 days/wk?

 

I've put it all on a spreadsheet, spreading out the subjects that only get a few days and it does add up to about 7 hrs per day.... plus driving, lunch and breaks.

[Michelle in MO]

Kathie, it looks do-able. I forgot to look carefully at your schedule, with some of the classes being less than five times a week. We had to do that, too, with several subjects, like Latin with my older two (4X/week) and with my youngest (3X/week), plus science and history we scheduled in larger "blocks" of time, like history 3X/week for two hours at a time, and the same with science.

 

It's hard to fit everything in! Sometimes when I feel absolutely overwhelmed by all that there is to do, I take some comfort in the fact that public schools and private schools have the same struggle. Someone once told me that there undoubtedly will be some gaps in education, but that the key thing we can equip our kids with is the desire to learn and the ability to self-teach; that is, if they don't know something, they've learned the skills to research and find things out for themselves.

 

I think you have a good plan going! Hope you have a great 8th grade year!

[Jean in Wisc]

As my son got into it, he found that some days he could get done early, and by 2:00 he was done. Other days he went the whole schedule. I like it when they can get done earlier, but it depends upon their work ethic.

 

:) J

[LoriM]

6-7 hours per day with no "homework" (since it's ALL homework!) is a perfect load for an 8th grader. In fact, it's about what we continued to do all the way through 12th grade, although it might have crept up to about 8 hours per day with the reading load factored in.