4 days a week?

[Cottonwood]

I HS my DD13 this year (currently a 5 day a week schedule) but will also be Hs'ing my DS11 next yr.  We want to try a 4 day a week schedule next year.   I'm thinking of starting mid-July on a two day a week schedule, August a 3 day a week schedule, and from Sept on through May, 4 days a week.  Taking off a few days in Nov,  a week (or so) off in Dec,  a week in April and being done late May or so.  Of course, there will be unscheduled days needed off here and there. 

 

 If you do a 4 day a week schedule, how do arrange it?  Any advice?  Does that sound reasonable?

[~Anna~]

We wanted to do a 4-day week this year, but with co-op and other things we just haven't been able to. I envisioned taking Wednesdays as our day "off" but using this day to do things we often don't get to, like art and music and also for just doing extra reading or watching educational videos. So it wouldn't be a free for all. Learning would still be happening, just not seatwork like the other days.

[LLMom]

I have done a 4 full days with a 5th light day for many years.  We always do math on the light day and anything we didn't get to on the other days. 

[GnomeyNewt]

I do 4 days a week and try to squeeze everything in on those days, so the extra day can be used for going to piano lessons or another activity though. We do most of our sit down work during those 4 days, such as workbooks and other work that requries a lot of sitting. We started to do some new PE classes this past month, and I've really needed to adjust our school to fit in with the new schdule. I still read to them read alouds every day of the week that I am able too and of course as Anna said lots of learning still happening on the non-school day.

 

You should give it a try to see if it works!

[silver]

I do four days a week with my school year lasting longer than the typical 36 weeks (so that we have the same number of instructional days). Each week I plan on covering four days of material (rather than five days crammed into four). If we stay on task so that all the work is finished in four days, on Friday we just do read alouds and art. If we didn't stay on task, we'll use Friday to finish up the work for the week.

I have run into problems with choosing curriculum. Some curriculum companies out there make each week into a mini unit with five lessons. I would either have to cram five lessons into four days or have the 3-day weekend split the unit. With our calendar I prefer "do the next thing" curricula over "weekly unit" curricula.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Fridays have always been a bit lighter for us, with once a week subjects lioe logic and spelling, plus time to catchup. No formal math Fridays, but IXL review. Grammar instead of writing.

 

Thurs nite is 4 hours of dance, so one more reason to adjust Friday.

[madteaparty]

Not technically, but we do have days when he just does assigned work which needs no input from me. This is because I work and am gone all day those days. They are invariably light, because it needs to be work that's independent. So, it might look like: vocabulary (Sadler-Oxford is what we use), a writing assignment, typing practice, and "easier" math (so for example, not any Challenging Word Problems but the few pages of exercises that follow a lesson we've already done, pages from MEP, etc). I still have to check this work, but it can be the next day.

[katilac]

Sit down with a calculator and figure out exactly how many days that works out to be. There's no substitute for cold, hard numbers! 

 

Don't plan on just one week off in December; it's almost certain you will take two, so plan accordingly. 

 

Your July/August schedule will gain you about 20 days, if you usually start in September. 4 days versus 5 will lose 36 or so days (not exact), so you are definitely losing time. 

 

4 days a week can be tough in high school (although I certainly know some who pull it off), and your kids are at or near that age. I myself wouldn't want to start that schedule and then have to revert in a year or two. Instead of 4 days a week, every week, why not rough out a schedule of long weekends? That has worked well for us so far this year. I looked at all of the pre-existing holidays, and added in some personal holidays during the long, dry stretches. For example, we start school the first week in August. The first semester existing holidays are Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I added in 2 days off at Halloween, so we have a nice little break every 6 to 8 weeks. 

 

It also helps to plan your work and then stay on top of it. If the kids are really close to finishing their goals for the month, quarter, whatever, it can be very motivating to know they can get an extra day or half-day off is "x, y, & z" are completed by this date.

 

Sidenote: Circumstances (life!) mean that these goals will change as you go, and my kids are obsessive, lol, so the whole year plan is for my use only. They know our overall goals, and have a rough idea for the month, etc, but I don't give them a year of dates and deadlines. 

[Mommy22alyns]

We do 4-day weeks with light Fridays.  We have no trouble finishing things either!  We don't school over the summer, as Rebecca has an intense training schedule then.  So we start in early August and end by the end of May.

[momto2Cs]

We school 4 days a week, with a 5th grader and 7th grader, from September through November, and January through the end of June. Much of our current curriculum is do-the-next-thing (math), or scheduled for 4 days a week (thank you Susan Wise Bauer for WWS!), and a lot of what my kids is basically independent studies, so they often do those more than the 4 days a week we have scheduled. I work outside the home Monday-Friday mornings, and we have a standing Friday afternoon with their friends, so it works best to do Monday-Thursday. Sometimes I work in extras on Sunday afternoons, like art or geography.

 

Try it out, and see how it works for your family!

[My3girls]

We have been doing 4 days with a light Friday for extras and/or catch up.  I have found that this works great for dd7&8, but dd12 is almost always putting in a full day on Friday.  She just cannot fit it all in in 4 days.  I think a lot of that has to do with her being a dwaddler, though.  I am hoping to join a homeschool orchestra/band next year which meets on Fridays so hopefully, the 4 days schedule will work out a little better next year.  We started August 1, took a week off in September and November, 2 weeks off in December, and plan to take off a week in April.  I would like to wrap up by the end of June, but we will do light schooling through July and August such as Life of Fred, journalling, free reading, nature walks, etc...  DD8 has a very difficult time adjusting to routine changes so it's best to just continue on, kwim?  All this should net us more than the 180 day requirement.

 

Just look at your schedule this way... if you do 4 days a week, you'll need 45 weeks of school.  This will give you you 7 weeks off a year to take as you see fit.

[Cottonwood]

Thanks for all the input!  Lots to think on here.

The way I figure it, we have 365 days to do 180 days worth of work (sort of like the 7 weeks off above).  I think we will like a year-round..ish.. schedule  with some months (like summertime) being a little more relaxed.  The kids have said if they get Fridays off, they won't mind having an abbreviated schedule through some summer months. I figure there will be plenty weeks where a 5 day schedule is necessary (yes, life! lol  and dwaddling) Since our curriculum is not written by week, but rather, do-the-next-thing, I think the curriculum part of this is fine.  Math, though will rarely be skipped, maybe only doing Math on Fridays if it works out. 

 

I think we will try it. At least if we start an abbreviated schedule in July and August and we find the need to go to a 5 day schedule, we will be ahead.  I'll worry about high school when we get there.  My kids seem very adaptable so if we have to get used a to a 5 day schedule, I don't see much of a problem there.  As I've learned through this journey, I'll stay flexible and change back to 5 days if needed. 

[regentrude]

I would be concerned about the high schooler (I assume your older will then be a freshman?).

That's four awfully long days if you want to squeeze a rigorous high school load. If anything, we have taken advantage of weekends and summers to spread out the load a bit and make room for electives.

[Cottonwood]

Well, DD13 is in 7th this year (late birthday) and will be in 8th next yr.  DS11 is in 6th this year and will be in 7th next yr, so I'll have a 7th and 8th grader.  I thought I'd try it this one year they are both in middle school.

 

I'm pretty sure that if we are able to maintain a 4 day a week schedule in middle school, it will change in high school, back to 5 days.  BUT I am not short cutting anything, even now, if we do 4 days a week.  I will be doing a yr round 'like' schedule and will do the same amt of work, same amt of days, but with a more relaxed, yet longer schedule.  Well, that's the original idea anyway lol  The motivation behind it is really trying to avoid a slump from taking a break in the summer.  Both kids seem to keep things tight and retained when there's not 2.5 to 3 months of being completely off.  I'm just trying to think it out.