Schedule for next year

[mom31257]

I am trying to decide a schedule for next year because it could influence some of my curriculum decisions. Bible, math, and language arts will be daily and will include the following:

 

Awana and Positive Action for Christ

BJU Math, LOF Fractions

R&S English and Spelling

Book Club and BJU Reading

IEW Writing (every other week)

Logic (every other week)

 

I'm trying to figure out my schedule for science, US History, US geography, and some government/economics study. I do not want to do science and history every day. Ds is very math/science oriented, but he does like history. I feel he will end up in a science field, so that is why I have an option for science year round.

 

Thanks!

[Lily_Grace]

I would integrate them.

 

Monday - History lesson.

Tuesday - geography of the history lesson

Wednesday - geography/social studies of the current day area to compare.

Thursday - scientific achievement of that time.

Friday - he produces a report on one of the three, or documentary day.

[elizabeth rose]

yes, I think geography and U.S. history go together, you can do them together. for example, we learned alot of geography while studying things like the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and clark. Native american studies, you are learning about the geography of where they lived. It's all intertwined.

[mom31257]

I would integrate them.

 

Monday - History lesson.

Tuesday - geography of the history lesson

Wednesday - geography/social studies of the current day area to compare.

Thursday - scientific achievement of that time.

Friday - he produces a report on one of the three, or documentary day.

 

 

I LOVE the history approach, but I don't think ds would enjoy doing science that way. He is more interested in "doing" science. I was ordering dissection supplies for a Biology lab class I teach and for a friend's anatomy class when he came in the room. The fetal pig was up on the screen, and he was dying to dissect it.

 

He is also interested in lots of topics in science, so I won't be doing just one subject a year as TWTM recommends. He'll do that in high school and possibly upper middle school, so I'd like variety now.

[mom31257]

Here we do every week:

3* Science

3* History

2* Geography

2* Social Studies

 

We homeschool 4,5 days a week.

 

 

Do you feel you get to really focus on those subjects doing so many each week, or are you just touching on them? Because I really want ds to do well in math and language arts and I feel they are vital at this age, he does those daily. He'll be 5th grade next year, so it's my last year or two to keep it fun and not so rigorous in the other subjects.

[Lily_Grace]

 

I LOVE the history approach, but I don't think ds would enjoy doing science that way. He is more interested in "doing" science. I was ordering dissection supplies for a Biology lab class I teach and for a friend's anatomy class when he came in the room. The fetal pig was up on the screen, and he was dying to dissect it.

 

He is also interested in lots of topics in science, so I won't be doing just one subject a year as TWTM recommends. He'll do that in high school and possibly upper middle school, so I'd like variety now.

 

We did a year where we integrated the Thames & Cosmos kit Milestones in Science with history and The Story of Science (history of science text). We concentrated on physics that year, but the first and the last would work beautifully together, especially if you got the third book in the series so that it corresponded to American History time periods.

[Ellie]

I'm not sure how you differentiate history and geography from social studies. :huh: And did you mean world history, or U.S. history?

[Farrar]

We don't have as much of a schedule as you, but with what you describe, I would give one day a week for science reading and one day a week for science experiments, demos and projects. And then one day a week for social studies and you can arrange your topics within that (history, geography, etc.) however you want.

 

While the vote reflects more science - many people in this thread seem to be suggesting you do a lot more social studies than science. But really, I would go with what your child loves and is inspired by. WTM's approach does try to bring the two together and greatly emphasizes social studies more than science. But that doesn't mean you should - go with what you think your kid needs.

[mom31257]

I'm not sure how you differentiate history and geography from social studies. :huh: And did you mean world history, or U.S. history?

 

I am wanting to spend a year on U.S. history and U. S. geography, but I'm also wanting to do some studies on government and economics simply because he hasn't studied those very much at all.

[pitterpatter]

We are studying science and history all year long. I try to keep it to no more than three days each (overlap on Wednesday), but it doesn't always work that way. There are some topics that take the entire week to cover. So, if I'm heavy on science, I try to keep history short. If we're heavy on history, I try to keep science short.

[persephone43]

If your kiddo loves science, I would go heavy on the science and make it fun....lots of hands-on projects and experiments. History should be taught alongside geography and social studies.

I plan on doing science everyday with my son since he loves it so much and doing history/geography 2-3 days a week.

[mom31257]

 

While the vote reflects more science - many people in this thread seem to be suggesting you do a lot more social studies than science. But really, I would go with what your child loves and is inspired by. WTM's approach does try to bring the two together and greatly emphasizes social studies more than science. But that doesn't mean you should - go with what you think your kid needs.

 

 

I am wondering if the vote is going more for science all year because I said I think he'll end up in a science field.

[PachiSusan]

I am of the thought process that science should be year round, so you know my vote! :)

[hopeallgoeswell]

I voted other. Do one content subject every day. Do the core subjects in the morning and a content subject after lunch. For example: Monday- U.S. history, Tuesday-U.S. geography, Wednesday- government/economics, and Thursday- science...every week for the whole school year.

 

[julikins]

I haven't read the other posts so that's not influencing my opinion.

 

I think what works best for me is doing Science on Monday and Tuesday, and HIstory on Wednesday through Friday every week. Then I'd choose geography for one semester and social studies for the other. I don't think that was one of the options you had available. That's what we try to do for science and history and it's what we've been able to stick with the best. I've heard of people that do history one semester and science the other. That's a possiblitiy too, but wouldn't be my favorite.

[mom31257]

UPDATE: I am part of a co-op that has used IEW writing this year. We were together today, and the moms started talking about making our day longer and adding science to what we already do there. We would use the same science at home, but do the experiments there. We meet every other week. So now I'm thinking about doing science and our writing every other week, then I could do history and social studies/geography on the alternating weeks.

 

So my schedule would look like this. How does it look?

 

M-TH:

Daily:

BJU Math

R&S Spelling

R&S English

Reading for book club & BJU 5 Reading

Cursive practice (with spelling words, dictation, narration)

Logic (2 days a week)

 

Co-Op Week:

Science

IEW Writing

 

Non-Co-op Week:

US History

US Geography

Social Studies (small unit studies)

 

Fridays:

Co-Op Week

IEW, Art, and Science at co-op

LOF

 

Non-Co-Op Week:

History and Geography projects

LOF & Math Games

[Clarkd]

I would also integrate geography and history. The issue of scheduling science vs soc studies would depend on the learner. My kids need a spiral or they lose skills quickly. My friend's son needs one big project in depth to really understand and retain the information. For us I would do sci and soc studies every day or every other day. For him I would do a few months of science then a few months of soc st.

[Mandy in TN]

I like the UPDATED schedule better than the original options! :001_smile:

Mandy

[mom31257]

I would also integrate geography and history. The issue of scheduling science vs soc studies would depend on the learner. My kids need a spiral or they lose skills quickly. My friend's son needs one big project in depth to really understand and retain the information. For us I would do sci and soc studies every day or every other day. For him I would do a few months of science then a few months of soc st.

 

 

By social studies, I'm wanting ds to learn some about government and economics. He hasn't really had much of those. I may do government when we study the constitution and how it came about.