Subject of the Day? (history, science etc)

[Ecclecticmum]

I still feel this year that we are "flitting" too much.

 

In elder children who can form the connections related to the subject at hand, it may be fine, but I am finding the littlies aren't forming the connections when spreading the program over 5 days a week (history e.g. Book Monday, Reference Tuesday, Library Wendesday, Movie Thursday, Lapbook & Audio Friday, with projects interspersed)

 

I think they would retain more, and be given time to form the connections if it were one subject/theme for the day.

 

I WOULD of course, leave Maths & Language Arts as subjects to do EVERY DAY.

 

I was thinking of something like:

 

Monday: History

Tuesday: Science

Wednesday: Geography & Our Country (Aus) Studies

Thursday: Electives Lot 1 (Bible, Home Ec, Piano, Latin etc)

Friday: Electives Lot 2 (Art, Crafts, Latin etc)

 

Or some derivative thereof.

 

Has anyone done anything like this? How did it go? If you stopped, why?

 

I definately wouldn't use the "core" subjects like maths (I think even the thought of one of entirely spelling or grammar would drive me insane, and not be good for the children lol ) or LA, just the above subjects. Ijust feel we would get more time to sort of connect all the information, but then they are only getting that information once a week?

 

We gave up sonlight because it felt like there was too much flitting, now I am starting to feel like we're doing the same thing again. I will change my schedule for the next few weeks to reflect the above sort-of plan, and see how I go, but just wanted to find out the pro's/cons from others. Thanks :D

[ladydusk]

We do something like that. We do "Project Day" on Mondays to ease ourselves back into the week. We do Circle Time, Bible, Art, History, Science, and Geography. If there's a big project/experiment for one of those disciplines we focus on it. Once a month we go do Nature Study. We try to make it to the library on Monday afternoons.

 

The rest of the week we do our regular lessons and then focus on one of the above as well. Mondays we do History, Tuesday Science, Wednesday Art, and Friday Geography. We try to do some Bible every day.

 

It works out pretty well for us.

[Embassy]

I do something a little like that. http://eclectic-homeschool.blogspot.ca/2012/06/homeschool-block-schedule.html

 

I separate the day into 3 blocks of time. The first block covers daily subjects. The second block rotates between language arts and math. The third block rotates the rest of the subjects.

[abba12]

Second Gen homeschooler here. We used many different systems as kids, but one of my favourites, and the one I intend to use with some tweaking with my little ones, is below.

 

When we did science and history, we found the most effective method for our family was intensive blocks. Lets say a topical 'unit' lasts 4 weeks, which was pretty common with our workbooks. We would complete it in one week (so one 'week' each day.). We seemed to retain it best that way, being able to focus in on it for the week. Another thing to remember is that, while it might seem work intensive to do a 'week' in a day, by doing it all at once you have less revision and revisiting, less time spent getting 'into it', less time finding workbooks etc. So while you might spend 40 mins on history, 5 times a week right now, you might find doing it all in one day each day in the week only takes a two hour block because you've cut out 15 minutes of wasted time at the beginning and end of the session. (if there's a movie to be watched, watching it while eating lunch can be a great use of time!)

 

If I had the subjects you've listed, this is how I'd look at doing things. (of course I have no knowlege of your curriculum structure, this is just an idea). I'm actually going to include two different schedules, just to give some ideas and help you think outside the box with it all.

Subjects - English, Math, History, Science, Geography, Our country, Home ec, Piano, Latin, Bible, Art & Craft.

 

-----------------------------

 

Routine Suggestion 1

 

Morning session, done every day, perhaps between 8am and 11am - Bible, English, Math, Latin, Piano. (I've included latin, bible and piano because, in my mind, they're things that should be practiced daily.)

 

Lunch with movie/audio/read aloud

 

Afternoon session, perhaps from 1pm to 3pm

Week 1 - History

Week 2 - Science

Week 3 - Geography

Week 4 - Home Ec

Week 5 - History

Week 6 - Science

Week 7 - Our Country

Week 8 - Art and Craft

(Insert school holidays here perhaps, or catch up or whatever you want to tack on the end of the term)

 

It's important to note that if you aim to do a workbook week (or two weeks for the less intensive subjects like home ec) per day in your focus subject, and your subjects cater for 4 week units (or 8 week 'terms' for things like home ec) then you have a built in catch up day on the 5th day of the week, a great buffer for any family!

 

---------------------------------

 

Routine Suggestion 2

 

Morning Session, done between say 8am and 9:30am - Math and English

 

Midday Session, done between 10am and 1pm - (again, allowing time for a movie/audio/readaloud component during lunchtime, hence the longer session time)

Week 1 - History

Week 2 - Science

Week 3 - Geography

Week 4 - Our Country

(Again, this allows for an automatic catch up day at the rate of 1 workbook week per day)

 

Afternoon session, done between 2pm and 3pm

Monday - Home Ec

Tuesday - Piano

Wednesday - Latin

Thursday - Bible

Friday - Art and Craft

 

-----------------------------------------

 

Hope these suggestions get you thinking :). It's hard to get out of the mindset of 30 minute subject blocks like a schoolroom, but as a graduated homeschooler, the majority of other homeschoolers I know agree that we all fared much better when we were allowed time to focus, whether it was an art and craft project we wanted to finish that afternoon, or a science course that we simply lost track of and forgot if we only visited it once a week or in small doses, but stayed in our minds if we did it in an intensive manner.

 

Find what works for your family, and don't worry about what's 'expected'. Every family has a different routine and pattern to it.

[sleeplessnights]

This is the same type of LCC block scheduling used by Memoria Press. You have the "daily subjects" of Latin, Math, Language Arts, and Literature, and then you have one more block of time for a "weekly subject." In third grade they have Greek Myths, States & Capitals, Bible, and Astronomy for weekly subjects. We do our daily subjects in the morning and the weekly subject after lunch. It works great for us!

[2_girls_mommy]

I have pretty much always done it the way described in the first post. What has worked best for us over the past 4 yrs was:

 

Mon: art

Tues/Thurs: History and Geography

Tues: Music lesson

Wed: Science

Frid: out of house learning, different things different years.

 

Last year we did Latin at co-op, so that was the main lesson day, then studied for a few minutes a few times a week at home, though less intensively as part of daily core work.

[Ecclecticmum]

Thanks for the replies!

 

I think whilst the kids a younger one subject a week is a bit much, and I don't think it would fit in with our curriculums.

 

Thank you for the link to the the Block Schedule, thats the sort of thing I was thinking.

 

Thanks Abba for the ideas. I like the idea of Number 2, but in keeping with daily rotation rather than weekly. It is nice to know that sort of idea works. I didn't think about adding 1 elective in the afternoon, so thank you for the thought, its given me some great ideas.

 

Our Bible curriculum is a Sunday School type thing, hence why I only schedule it for one day (we're rural, family has mixed religions, and theres medical/personal problems that make going to church for the moment infeasible (i.e. no "family" sessions, and my son would disturb other church-goers). Everyone in our family has different beliefs (i was born CoE, but tend to me more towards the Unitarian Universalist view, DH is non-practicising Christian, his parents are strict Christians, My mother is an Atheist, my father is Catholic)....its a real mixed bunch LOL :tongue_smilie: So in order to keep everyone happy, I am giving the children the sort of upbring I had (basic stories of the bible/learning about jesus, following by more serious studies. Bible is mandatory until 13, then they can decide themselves whether they want to continue, look down another path etc) This year we're using Read & Share curriculum next year its ABC Bible Stories (related to each letter of the alphabet) and after that we'll probably move onto Telling God's Story (TGS). They ask questions about the Bible everyday, the "bible" as a subject is just to cover what would be learnt in Sunday School.

 

Latin for the schdule we are going to be using Song School Latin, I am not sure as to how many days that goes over??? I was guessing twice a week but I am probably wrong.

 

Thank you, you have all given me lots of food for though :grouphug:

[SkateLeft]

I've done that with my kids for years.

 

I started when my girls were little, because it was how I caught up whenever I was feeling behind. Eventually, I realized that it just made sense for us to do school that way.

 

We did religion, math and language arts every day, then we'd focus on one other subject (history, science, art and music).

 

It doesn't work for us past about 6th grade, but it works really well for the lower grades!

[nukeswife]

I'm :bigear: because this is something I've been thinking about too. Even though my oldest will be in 8th grade I'm thinking this could work because we'd really be able to dig in on the day that subject was held.

[malleyfam]

I'm learning so much from all of you! I have the same problem with feeling like we're a bit scattered. Love the idea of picking a subject to focus on each week aside from the core subjects. I've always wanted to do unit studies but was worried I wouldn't be covering the core stuff - now I can do both!

 

Thanks!