Language arts takes FOREVER

[MarigoldHS]

I'm new to homeschooling and I've been following TWTM as a guide.  Right now, I feel completely overwhelmed by all of the things suggested in the book for language arts.  I know they are only suggestions but I find it confusing and a lot to sort through.  So if someone could give me some guidance on my Language Arts daily routine for my 2nd grader, I would be so grateful.  This is what we do every day:

 

10-15 mins of spelling power

happyscribe copywork for penmanship

WWE level 3

MCT Island Level 

memorizing one poem per month

He reads independently everyday for about 30 mins on a book that I pick and we try to discuss it sometimes

His dad reads to him and sister every night from a history or science related piece of literature or just a classic chapter book

 

This feels like A LOT to me (and it takes SO LONG), yet it also feels like we are not doing enough work with literature and reading comprehension.  Can someone tell me if I should be doing all of this everyday? should I be adding to this list?  is there anything I can do less of?  part of the struggle is that my son gets easily distracted, but still.....I'm getting worn out.

 

Thank you so much for your feedback!

 

[maize]

You don't necessarily need to do each subject everyday. My personal preference at that age is to focus on reading, individual and read alouds. Those are the things that build reading comprehension as well as a feel for the patterns and grammar of written language. I would do those things everyday, with copywork and spelling on alternate days. I don't do formal grammar or writing programs until fourth grade. I would keep the poetry memorization.

[blondeviolin]

My 2nd grader does:

 

WWE 2 - M-Th

AAS - lesson on T, words from dictation W-F

FLL 2 - MWF

Assigned Reading - 30 min or so daily

Cursive copywork for handwriting daily

 

All in all, about an 1-1.25 hours. We also use narration and dictation in history and science work.

[Lori D.]

Similar to the previous posters -- we did not do everything every day, and it totaled about an hour a day, spread out with non-writing or non-LA subjects in between. For us, 2nd grade looked something like this:

 

4-5x/week:

- reading: out loud = 10-15 min -- together, "popcorn" style ("you read a page, I read a page") of a book at or just above reading level -- this gives you the chance to check comprehension, learn vocabulary in the moment, and get fluid with reading out loud (we did together read alouds all the way up through high school)

- reading: solo = 15-20 min -- book of DC's choice from book basket

- spelling, 15 min -- we'd use the 5th day if the words hadn't been learned well for testing

 

3-4x/week

- copywork = 5 min -- copy 1 sentence

 

3x/week

- grammar = 10-15 min -- we often took more than 1 day to do a lesson, to keep it short

- phonics = 10 min -- 1 page from the workbook

 

1x/week

- narration = 10 min -- narrates to me, I write it down; sometimes we used that for the copywork for the following week, a sentence a day

- games = 15-20 min -- wide variety of educational games/activities to supplement

 

not counted above:

- vocabulary = learned in context of reading (not a separate program)

- me reading aloud = 2 hours a day, with a morning book, history/science reading in afternoon, and either continuing the morning book or a separate family read aloud at night

[SorrelZG]

Well, now you have me feeling like my second grader isn't doing enough. :P

 

He does Lively Latin for about 20 minutes daily (grammar is included), WWE 2 four days a week and copy work (short paragraph) on the days he is not writing for WWE 2 (so, two days), a couple of chapters (at least) of assigned reading and does a bunch of his own reading and some creative writing in his own time. Oh, and he's memorizing a poem of his choice. He is a natural speller so I address the occasional word he needs help with as needed.

 

I don't plan different things for different days because I have trouble remembering what day it is but if you don't and you're using more programs to cover everything then it would be a good option to make the daily load more bearable.

[lewelma]

In 2nd grade, we did the 'language block': 10 minutes each of Grammar, Spelling, and Handwriting; and 30 minutes of composition using IEW. I had to push him through it, but we got language arts done in two 30-minute chunks.

 

Ruth in NZ

[petepie2]

 

My 2nd grade DS does spelling (AAS) for about 10 min every day because he struggles with it and needs the review. (If if were not a problem subject, we would only do it 3x a week.) We use FLL 2 for grammar, and that is done 3 days per week and usually takes about 10 minutes. FLL also includes poem memorization. We use WWE2 for writing 4x per week. A Reason for Handwriting is done earlier in the morning along with his independent subjects. We do all reading after lunch.

 

You may be able to cut out penmanship and just use the writing in WWE and other subjects. I can't do that for my DS because he needs all the practice he can get in writing neatly. However, I skipped penmanship with my DD when she was in 1st grade. She picked back up with cursive in 2nd grade.

[Sherry in OH]

My second grader does:

 

Junior English – 1 exercise/occasional mom designed extras

Language Smarts – 2 pages

Cursive Handwriting – 1/3 – 1 page

Total time 30-40 minutes a day

 

Reading – buddy read 1 chapter, silent reading as desired

Listen to me read – minimum of one hour a day, broken into morning, noon, and bedtime sessions. 

 

With the programs you have selected, I would alternate copywork and the written assignments in WWE.  I would also consider dropping or postponing Island.  Although many people use it in lower grades, it is really intended for third grade and up.  Your child won’t be behind if you wait to use it.  You may find that after a few months, you need a break from one or more of your other programs.  If that happens, you could pull out Island for a change of pace. 

[ByGrace3]

We didn't do every subject every day.

 

Every day was reading, handwriting, read alouds

4x /week spelling and WWE

3x week grammar

Narrations in history and science.

 

We averaged an hour a day sometimes slightly more. At this age, LA does take up the bulk if time as I think it should. :)

[Amy M]

I have just been feeling the same way with my 1st grader. It does seem to take a lot of time.

[MerryAtHope]

Love the picture of you & your baby, so sweet! Like the others, I would either do things in units, or I had a different focus for different years--you don't have to do everything every day. Here's how I plan LA. Merry :-)

[MarigoldHS]

This is awesome.  Yall make me feel so much better about this and more laid back.  I really appreciate it

[MarigoldHS]

ha ha ha.....I just outed myself as a southerner with "yall"

[duckens]

Yeah.  Language Arts takes a lot....but I consider that once we get past "learning to read," it will get better.  We are finishing Grade 1 of the K-1-2 books for Saxon.  One more year to go!!!

 

For Lit:

We are reading through award winning books.  We do two a week, and we get them from the library.  We are lucky that our library will pull them for us as I request them.

--Caldecott (for best artwork)

--Zolotov (for best story)

--Goldfinch Award (nominated recent books that are voted on by Iowa schoolchildren)

 

My first grader can do more of the reading this year than last year; but not all.

 

For these books, as we read the story, we discuss characters, setting, What is the problem or surprise?, How is the problem or surprise resolved?  What happens after? What is the clincher sentence?

 

For comprehension:

We read chapter books in the morning and night, for 20 minutes. 

 

At the end of each section, I ask, "Could you tell me two things that happened in this section/chapter?"  Usually there are 3 or 4 right choices, but it tells me that dd6  understood what we read.

[ErinE]

Dd is second grade level and our language arts time is about one hour between grammar, spelling, read aloud (her), and writing. She reads independently for 30-60 minutes. I read aloud to the family about 30-45 minutes every day.

[jessj]

That is a lot.  The fact is, LA is the bulk of grammar school learning.  However, if you and he are struggling, it's time to lighten up the load.   

 

I have a second grader as well.  She is a fluent reader, so no phonics. She is doing FLL2, WWE2, AAS 2-3, A Reason for Handwriting, and she has assigned reading for 30 min per day, plus whatever free reading she does.  She does either WWE or FLL, but not both on the same day.  Spelling is generally with FLL, and for WWE, I combine days 1/2 and 3/4 to do it on two days.  So 4 days of lang arts, 20 minutes doing FLL/WWE/AAS plus her reading time.  She does handwriting whenever it fits into our day.  I also have a 4th grader who is a sloooooow worker so there is always at least one break for her to fit this in. 

 

I wouldn't do both WWE and a separate copywork.  There is copywork/dictation in that already.  I don't know exactly what's involved in MCT but there is a writing portion to that as well.  So you're doubling up on both copywork/dictation and writing.  He's a year ahead on WWE, so you could drop that until next year and spend that time doing more reading and informal narration. Are you also doing Latin?  There is a strong argument for not doing grammar in the early elementary grades, especially if you are studying Latin.  So that's something to consider as well.  I think you could safely lighten up his load right now, by quite a bit.  He should be enjoying reading and getting hooked on it!

The second grader I have now is NOTHING like the second grader I had two years ago.  She had very little Lang arts outside of reading and narration.  Sitting at seat work was pure torture to her... and me too of course!  I tried, but most of it was a battle that wasn't worth it.  In the end I backed way off (out of frustration) and she is now in 4th grade and FINE.  8 seems to be a magic age.  She still fights too much seat work or working alone, but she is leaps and bounds better than she was two years ago.  And despite not doing "formal" lessons, she does very well in LA's.  It didn't hurt her not to be doing all that much at that age. 

[My3girls]

My 2nd grader does each week.

 

FLL2 2 days

WWE2. 4 days

ETC3. 4 days

SpellWell 4 days

Copy work 4 days

 

She reads a leveled reader for 15-20 minutes aloud to me. Then in the evenings she, her sister, and I read a classic tandem for another 20-30 min. So all together this is about 1.5 to 2 hours a day. It's most of their work. Math is another 30 minutes 5 days a week, we alternate Science and History for another 30 min 4 days a weeks, and then we have our read alouds. So a total of 3-3.5 hours of seat work... Throw in cross-country 3x a week and our nature walk, crafts, and experiments, and we're up to our 4.5 hrs 5 days a week. We do not do all our seat work at one time. We do an hour then take a big break then do another hour. Take another big break and then do the rest. Maybe, breaking things up would help to make it not seem so overwhelming?

[redsquirrel]

With little ones, language arts and math does take up much of the day.

 

My third grader does:

Spelling: R&S 3X per week. I divide up a lesson over the week

Grammar: FLL 3X a week

Composition: WWE 3X a week

Reading 30 mins silent reading every day

Editor in chief 3X a week (this takes 5 mins and isn't a big deal. I use it to reinforce grammar, not to teach)

 

We also do Latin, but I don't count that as language arts.