daniela_r Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Why does our curriculum recommend doing calendar time every day?Dd (almost 6) knows the days of the week and the months of the year and the seasons. She can easily answer questions like, "Today is Wednesday. What day will tomorrow be? What day was it yesterday?". I do see value in pulling out a calendar once a week or so and pointing out upcoming events and activities.So, if we don't do daily calendar time, will we be missing anything? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Millions of children in the world have learned to understand calendars and all that without once having had "calendar time." :-) In our family, children receive cute wall calendars each year for Christmas. They see me marking my own calendars and want to do the same thing. So I let them. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 The beauty of homeschool: Getting to skip over what your child already knows, or is learning in a different avenue. You'll finish school 5 minutes faster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maela Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I have a six year old Dd, and the only reason we do calendar time is for Ds's benefit (he's four). I don't think he'll even need it next year. It's kind of a pain and we skip it a lot lately already. But in the beginning of the year, I believe it really helped him understand the whole yesterday, today, tomorrow concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 No reason that I can see! We did it briefly, it felt like a waste of everyone's time, so we stopped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Yep, I wasted a lot of time on this with my firstborn. I bet I can guess which curriculum you're using. The next 11 kids figured out the calendar by counting days to their birthday or a holiday...on their own initiative, which is always a lot more fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsH Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 My kids, this year, are enjoying the use of a calendar notebook though. They just sit down, mark the number of school day (first to 100, now to 180). Ds8 is still practicing tallies so he marks that. They fill in the day(s) on their calendar, and graph the weather. We've done weather things, including type of weather in a bar graph, temperature plotting, and measuring rainfall and wind direction. I just change it based on what ds8 could stand to practice/learn. He enjoys it pretty well. I will add that he still struggles with time concepts, and is working on that with his SLP person as well. Dd4 will do anything big bro does, so she's fully on board! If it was a fight or a drag we wouldn't do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I do calendar awareness with my kids because most of them don't know (all of) their days of the week (in order) by the age of 6. I'm not super strict about it because when I did it (it seemed like) every day with dd#2 for two years, it didn't seem to really stick. I think she was 8 yrs old when she looked at me one day & asked, "What do those little squares on the calendar mean?" :confused1: :scared: :eek: :blink: But I admit to having my kids chant the days of the week (because ds#1 always forgets Sunday or Monday, depending on which one he starts with & dd#3 sometimes leaves off Thursday completely), months of the year (how can you leave out your birth month, :banghead: seriously?), and other such daily know-ables. It also helps when my kids ask, "When's Thursday?" or "When's May?" We can talk about what day / month it currently is & go through our chant. Don't even get me started on when I ask what month it is & someone answers, "Tuesday!" :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3girls Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 No calendar time here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 If they already know it skip it. My ds 5 knows the days of the week and the date. He doesn't know all the months yet but is learning them by reading chicken soup with rice and listening to the song. No reason to waste time with calendar time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I have wondered the same thing. Both of my kids were adept at using a calendar by 4yo. Last night after I put my 6yo to bed, he insisted I check the calendar for him to tell him what phase the moon was in. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakpak Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I have a Spanish calendar because we get to practice days, months, #s, and weather in Spanish. But even that is maybe once a week and typically when my DD (4) shows interest. She's got all the concepts down, so it's really just about learning the Spanish words. She enjoys changing out the dates when a new month rolls around and the weather, especially if something interesting is happening (snow, windy). We should really be graphing the weather instead...that would be much more fun and interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsH Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Phases of the moon, love it. I think we'll do that for April Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniela_r Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 I am pleased to see the consensus that I can ignore all instructions to do daily calendar time :tongue_smilie: Thanks for the feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korrale Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I know some people with multiple kids do calendar time at the start of the day as a family. Kids often do the days of the week, months or the years, mark off a day of school, and doing weather and money. And then they get to discuss daily plans. But for many families it is a way to meet in the morning and do devotional, bible studies, scripture memory work etc. We don't do calendar time. But I think if I had several children I would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 We do fun fact/ what happened on this day instead of calendar time. On the board I do have what date is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I have a Spanish calendar because we get to practice days, months, #s, and weather in Spanish. But even that is maybe once a week and typically when my DD (4) shows interest. She's got all the concepts down, so it's really just about learning the Spanish words. She enjoys changing out the dates when a new month rolls around and the weather, especially if something interesting is happening (snow, windy). We should really be graphing the weather instead...that would be much more fun and interesting! Love the idea of doing it in Spanish! My kiddo would really love that:) We do 'calendar time' daily but it is really a catch-all for all sorts of memory work, discussion of current events, upcoming holidays, etc., which is the only reason it has survived. Dd has a board she fills out with date, time, vocabulary word of the day, idiom of the day, and Spanish phrase of the day from a kids phrase book. And a BrainPop video... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahinwa Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 We do. It takes about 90 seconds for us. When you don't leave the house every day, it can be easy to lose track of days. For us, calendar time not only reinforces understanding of the calendar, but helps us keep track of where we are in time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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