What should be dropped?

[MrsBanjoClown]

I'm trying to plan 3rd grade for next year, and I am getting overwhelmed. I can't do it all, so I have to decide what to keep and what to drop. So far, I have planned:

MCT Island/Alice, Peter, and Mole Lit.

R&S Spelling

SOTW 2

Singapore Math 3A/3B

Beast Academy 3

Finish BFSU Vol. 1 (will probably take half of the year)

Something for writing - undecided between WWE and IEW.

 

"Extras" I'd like to work in:

Latin for Children A

Spanish

D'Aulaire's Greek Myths study guide (MP)

Geography

Christian Studies 1 (MP)

 

I know I would go crazy trying to work all of that in. I'm thinking I may put Greek Myths aside and do it when we study Ancients again. He will be in 6th and his brother will be in 4th, so they could do it at the same time. That still leaves 4 extras to try to work in, and science for the second half of the year to figure out. I want to do a semester-long study of either astronomy or chemistry. What else should I drop? Any suggestions?

[missmoe]

I'm trying to plan 3rd grade for next year, and I am getting overwhelmed. I can't do it all, so I have to decide what to keep and what to drop. So far, I have planned:

MCT Island/Alice, Peter, and Mole Lit.

R&S Spelling

SOTW 2

Singapore Math 3A/3B

Beast Academy 3 Why more than one math?

Finish BFSU Vol. 1 (will probably take half of the year)

Something for writing - undecided between WWE and IEW.

 

"Extras" I'd like to work in: I would pick one extra to work on at this point. And keep in mind you don't need to do one thing for the whole year. Perhaps, you could spend September/October working on Spanish vocab, November/December do your Christian Studies, January/ Febuary work on Greek Myths, and finish the year off with a Geography unit. Or something along those lines.

Latin for Children A

Spanish

D'Aulaire's Greek Myths study guide (MP)

Geography

Christian Studies 1 (MP)

 

I know I would go crazy trying to work all of that in. I'm thinking I may put Greek Myths aside and do it when we study Ancients again. He will be in 6th and his brother will be in 4th, so they could do it at the same time. That still leaves 4 extras to try to work in, and science for the second half of the year to figure out. I want to do a semester-long study of either astronomy or chemistry. What else should I drop? Any suggestions?

 

 

HTH

[mumto2]

I have always worked the extras into the schedule one at a time. That way you can see the time commitment for your kids with each addition. Start with the one you want to do the most. Christian Studies can be quite time consuming if your boys do not like to write. We did the later volumes verbally with the teachers guide. It worked well and made our days much easier--less conflict. I would wait for ancients to do the Greek Myths.

[LMD]

I'd drop the greek myths until you come back to ancients. Anyway to tie geography in with the history? - is the mapping in sotw enough? Other than that, it doesn't look like too much to me :ph34r: however, I wouldn't do everything every day or even every week. Maybe alternate days with spelling & wwe, wwe is 4 days so spelling only on the 5th day? Use the concepts from R&S spelling but worked into the wwe copywork or sotw narrations? Do history 2 times a week and science 2 times a week, then an 'extra' on the 5th day?

[MrsBanjoClown]

I have more than 1 math scheduled because I think Beast Academy will be a good fit for him, but I don't want to use it alone until we try it. Right now I just have the guide for 3A and plan to use it as a supplement until we see how ds does with it.

 

I do plan on alternating days on some subjects.

[sleeplessnights]

Some of your extras would take a lot more time than others, so I might rank them and see how the top one would fit into your schedule, and then add if you have time. Obviously a language will probably need work daily while geography could be tackled once a week. It will also depend on how much time you want to devote to history and science. If you use a MP-like schedule, you could do history, geography, science, and something else once a week.

 

I would probably want to avoid starting two new languages at the same time. They take a large time commitment, and your student might get confused. And if you're crunched for time, you could do Christian Studies orally. We read and discuss the Golden Children's Bible over breakfast each day.

[besroma]

I would delay Greek myths as you mentioned.

 

I would choose Latin or Spanish at first, then introduce the other when you see that you can handle that as well.

 

I understand what you are saying about Beast Academy and SM, so that does not sound like too much.

 

Christian studies are an important part of our day. I would keep the MP.

[Lori D.]

Rather than dropping, you might try moving towards a sort of rotating schedule, in which in which you don't do everything every day. For example:

 

4 times a week (Mon-Thurs, with Friday only if needed):

- MCT Island/Alice, Peter, and Mole Lit.

- R&S Spelling

- Something for writing - undecided between WWE and IEW.

- Singapore Math 3A/3B

(Christian Studies 1)

 

3 times a week (M-W-F for one, T-Th-F for the other):

- Finish BFSU Vol. 1 (will probably take half of the year) -- [i assumed this was your science?]

- SOTW 2

 

2 times a week:

(D'Aulaire's Greek Myths study guide)

(Geography)

 

1 time a week (Fridays, with option to fit in one other day a week as it works):

- Beast Academy 3

(Latin for Children A) OR (Spanish)

 

 

By staggering the Singapore and Beast Academy on different days, you avoid math burn-out as well as making the schedule less crowded.

 

 

And Grammar works fine at 3x/week, so that could free up some time.

 

Other ways to shorten things: do some work orally, such as the Christian Studies. Is the point to learn about your faith, or to struggle through a lot of handwriting? A lot of the grammar, Latin or Spanish could be done out loud together, as well.

 

When choosing a Geography materials, pick something that can be done in 15 or 20 minute chunks all together, rather than something that requires a ton of solo writing by the student.

 

 

Just a few thoughts! BEST of luck as you decide. Warmly, Lori D.

[MrsBanjoClown]

Thanks for your responses. This year we are doing SSL and the boys are both loving it. We started out also watching Salsa Spanish, but I have let that slide.

[bpskowski]

I have a 3rd grader now doing some similar things. In the morning we do math (Singapore, supplementing for fun LoF and HOE), Then we do language arts, WWE (although taking a break and created my own, modeled on Writing Tales), grammar (alternate days between FLL and MCT), literature (MCT's APM on Fridays), spelling (AAS). Then I do classical studies (at this point alternate days between GSWL and the MP's D'Aulaire's Greek Myths). After table time before lunch he has to work on independent items which I rotate around, cursive, typing, and MP's states. Then after lunch I read chemistry (we just finished McHenry's Elements and now working through MrQ) and history SOTW and lots of extra books. At bed time I read aloud different literature books from a list which I gathered. More times then not he'll pick up where I left off read on his own time. I schedule the mornings very specifically to make sure we work through the skills. The afternoons are open and usually I leave up to him to decide. He's motivated though and loves science and history. Geography is also done with history. He loves google earth and always looks up where we read about and then moves on around the area. Plus, we get in poem memorizations in on morning schedule, which then he loves to practice and act out with his sisters. He loves listening to audio books while he play's with legos. My library system has some great audio books, but I wish they would get more of Jim Weiss's stories. In regards to spanish, I plan on waiting a few years before starting it. We recently cut tv out completely. It's amazing how much he has taken control of his own learning now.

[boscopup]

I haven't ever felt like I needed to add geography beyond the sotw ag. My son has a better command of geography than I do. :p

 

I think you're math sounds fine. Singapore doesn't take very long.

 

I'd hold off on the Greek myths study, but go ahead and let the child read the book itself if he's ready. My son loves that book.

 

We're only doing one language, but we didn't do one last year.

 

I do Bible study during breakfast (I eat before the kids come down).

 

R&S Spelling can be done in 3 days - part A, parts B&C, test. I have my son study the words on the other days. I'm among that you're using level 3. The part C is super short at that level.

 

WWE can be done in 3 days also. Combine days 1 and 2, since one of those is narration only (no writing).and the other is copywork.