~Victoria~ Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I am getting together file folders with what I would like to accomplish each of the 36 weeks of school. I feel like TWTM recommends a lot of study time per subject in the early years - does anyone care to share how much time/how many days a week you focus on each subject? N will be 6 this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aiden Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 K/1st: Math: 10 min Reading practice: 10-15 min. (Phonics pathways) Handwriting/phonics/spelling: 10-15 min. (Reading lessons through literature) I read-aloud lit, history, nature stories and she orally narrates: 15 min. Family activities: memory work, other read alouds, religion, art: 1 hour total Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Ill toss something out there. This is for my 6 yr old last yr, the 5 yr old followed along with only 5-10 minutes for each individual subject. Morning Time I read aloud to him for 30 minutes daily from all kinds of children's literature, poetry, and non-fic We did bible reading and memory work daily, 5 minutes each? We rotated 20 minutes of enrichment (art, music, nature study, saints, geography) Individual Work He read aloud to me for 10to 20 minutes daily from easy readers Math-20 to 30 minutes a day, 4x a week Phonics/spelling- 20 to 30 minutes a day, 3x a week Copywork/grammar- 10 to 20 minutes a day, 3x a week Together Work History- 40 to 60 minutes 2x a week Science- 40 to 60 minutes 1x a week Outside co-op classes 2x a week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WistfulRidge Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 My oldest will officially be starting Kindergarten in a few weeks and we'll be continuing our current schedule Reading/phonics: 10-20 minutes (depends on the lesson, level of goofiness etc) 4-5x/week Math: 5-15 minutes (I usually aim for 3 pages - if he's on a roll and wants to do more I let him. If he's having a hard time we do less) 4x/week Handwriting: 5 minutes 4x/week Spelling: I'm not sure but I'm thinking 5-10 minutes 3x/week? I'm adding in science for him this year as well, by his request. I'm not sure how much time this will end up taking but as it is mostly experiments and nature walks it will all blend into fun anyway. I also try to read out loud for at least 30 minutes during the day and am going to start requiring that he read to me outside of formal "school time". I've got a list of books that I want to make sure and get around to this year but that's as formal as we're getting with literature this year, lol. Art and music creation/appreciation just integrate into our normal day at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Don't give those time frames in TWTM much credit; they exist because the non-homeschooling publisher felt they were very important. My first graders had about an hour of seatwork daily. That does not include read alouds and projects. We did math and language arts in the morning, and science and history in the afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rugrats Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 I think I've always been on the "unschooling" end of things...or rather, I'm not very good at keeping to a schedule, so what we did for our K year may be less than average. I let my DD choose to do math, LA or handwriting each day. If she was really into math and wanted to do that for several days, that was fine. Part of my decision to do this was based on that she was already reading since 3 1/2 years and a very quick self learner. I knew she'd be getting a lot throughout the day and at the K level, I thought most of the day should be play anyways. We do Sonlight, so each day always involves reading about history, science and literature, so we'd do that before nap and bedtime. We also "school" all year long. She'll be officially starting 1st grade in a couple of weeks and I have a DS doing K. Here is what I am planning on doing from now on for both of them: Read Bible story over breakfast do 1 math page Break handwriting (2-3 pages) LA/phonics (one lesson) break couch time to read sonlight schedule books (history/science/lit) break for play/lunch read one chapter from chapter book before nap/quiet time If you're looking for time, I'd say for K we spent 30 min or so and 1st an hour or so on "workbooks" and 30 min or more reading each day...not to mention other things we do like cook, library, PE, field trips, etc....my kids are also very crafty and love to pretend play/act out the stories we're reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Yeah SWB talks of training and competing with horses and (cycling?). There wouldn't have been time for that if the schedules had been real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbcooker Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 The only timeframes we try for are: Phonics, Math, Handwriting instruction - however much they'll sit for well (attention spans differ). Reading aloud to them (including discussion time of the literature) - 2 hrs a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg429 Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 For K we roughly follow this routine: 10 minutes Bible / Poetry 10 minutes of Spelling (AAS 1) 15 Phonics (AAR 2) Break 15 minutes - Handwriting (Zaner Bloser or copywork) and Calandar notebook are done independantly while I work with DS 15 minutes - Math Break 20-40 minutes of Five in a Row, which includes a lit read aloud and either geography, history, science go-along books. Possibly short experiement or craft if we feel like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 For K (ages 5-6), we spend: Reading aloud to kiddo: 30-45 min daily Kiddo reading aloud to me: 15-20 min daily Math: 10 min 4x per week Phonics: 10 min 4x per week Journal: 10 min 2x per week Copywork: 10 min 2x per week *It works out to be about 30 min of schoolwork in the morning on M-Th and about an hour of reading each evening. I only consider the 30 min in the morning to be "homeschooling", because we would read in the evening even if the kids went to public school. For 1st (6-7), we spend: Math: 20-30 min daily Silent Independent Reading: 1 hr daily Writing: 20 min 4x per week French: 20 min 4x per week Me reading literature aloud to kiddo: 20-30 min 4x per week Journal: 20 min 2x per week Spelling: 20 min 2x per week History: 20 min 2x per week Science: 20 min 2x per week Art: 1 hr 1x per week *It works out to be about 2 hrs of schoolwork on Mon-Thur and then a little over an hour on Fri for just math and art. That isn't counting the hour of silent reading, which happens in the afternoon during "Quiet Time". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Oh, I just want to add that part of the reason TWTM recommends so much time per subject in the early grades is because of all the busywork. I don't require my 1st graders to write written summaries in history and science or book reports or anything else that I consider busywork for that age group. We just enjoy the books I read aloud and we discuss them to check comprehension. Even for math and spelling, though, I just don't find that it takes us that long in the early grades. I consider TWTM time frames to be an overestimate, and I aim to keep our time shorter, especially for kindergarten and 1st grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Victoria~ Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 Your responses make me feel MUCH better. This is what I had been estimating, based on what we did in Kindergarten. Math - 20-30 min Science/History - 20 min Spelling - 15 min Read Alouds and Writing With Ease - 20 min Handwriting - 15 min Typing - 10 min Recorder - 10 min Spanish - 20 min Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrammarGirl Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Your responses make me feel MUCH better. This is what I had been estimating, based on what we did in Kindergarten. Math - 20-30 min Science/History - 20 min Spelling - 15 min Read Alouds and Writing With Ease - 20 min Handwriting - 15 min Typing - 10 min Recorder - 10 min Spanish - 20 min This looks very much like my plan. When I taught first grade in a private school, there was so much filler and busy work. At home, first grade work can easily be done by lunchtime, though I expect my toddler twins will do their best to throw off my schedule! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Victoria~ Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Yes, done by lunch is my goal but with a 1 year old I am not sure that will be the norm :) I didn't include my son's reading in there, but he will also be expected to read independently and to me each day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 SWB has a blog post about how she did not want to include the times for each subject in the WTM but her publisher required it. Really, don't worry about the printed times and do what you think makes the most sense for your children. I'll have three ~1st graders this year. I anticipate the following: 30-45min: Morning Time: Bible reading, scripture and poetry memory work, and one of the following: picture/composer study, art, spanish, nature study 1 hour: 3Rs with 6yo twins 1 hour: 3Rs with 7yo son (even though they are all ~1st grade, they use different materials for the 3Rs due to learning style and ADHD in my oldest) 30 min: Literature Loop: AO literature selections I'll have some space in the afternoon 1-2 days/week where we might do some interest-led science experiments/activities, and I'm hoping to do a Bravewriter-style poetry tea once a week (or every other week, we'll see). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Ill toss something out there. This is for my 6 yr old last yr, the 5 yr old followed along with only 5-10 minutes for each individual subject. Morning Time I read aloud to him for 30 minutes daily from all kinds of children's literature, poetry, and non-fic We did bible reading and memory work daily, 5 minutes each? We rotated 20 minutes of enrichment (art, music, nature study, saints, geography) Individual Work He read aloud to me for 10to 20 minutes daily from easy readers Math-20 to 30 minutes a day, 4x a week Phonics/spelling- 20 to 30 minutes a day, 3x a week Copywork/grammar- 10 to 20 minutes a day, 3x a week Together Work History- 40 to 60 minutes 2x a week Science- 40 to 60 minutes 1x a week Outside co-op classes 2x a week My five year old will be starting 'school' after the old calendar Church New Year. (We are also Orthodox Christians.) I really enjoy this schedule. I was interested in your 20 minutes of enrichment. I know what I am doing for artist study as we are following the Artist Schedule from Ambleside Online. Will probably follow their Composer Schedule as well. Could you elaborate on Nature Study, Saints, and Geography? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 My five year old will be starting 'school' after the old calendar Church New Year. (We are also Orthodox Christians.) I really enjoy this schedule. I was interested in your 20 minutes of enrichment. I know what I am doing for artist study as we are following the Artist Schedule from Ambleside Online. Will probably follow their Composer Schedule as well. Could you elaborate on Nature Study, Saints, and Geography? For Nature Study we drive to a state park that's only 10 minutes away (I know not everyone is so lucky, but I think any outdoors place would work) and we jaunt around for an hour or two. Everyone is expected to find 1 interesting thing to add to our family nature journal. Last week my 6 year old drew a rock that had fallen on a tree, and narrated how the tree had changed its course in order to find the sunlight, which I then wrote next to the drawing. My 5 year old drew a grasshopper, and had me write how it was interesting it was brown, because he had only ever seen green ones. He theorized it was brown to camoflage in the dirt and rocks in the surrounding area, while the green ones were always found in green grass. I drew a flower I had never seen before, and when we got home I looked it up in our flower books to identify it. Saints is a new study next year. Last year we studied the feasts and fasts. I have a saints picture book (A Child's Paradise of Saints) and also plan on utilizing the Under the Grapevine podcast on Ancient Faith Radio. We will pick a saint being recognized each week and either read or listen to a podcast story. I already went though and chose my saints, and if you PM me your email address I'd be happy to share it. Geography is also new this year. In hindsight, I wish we had done a year of Geography BEFORE starting History. Since we didn't I'm doing both this year, but the Geography will be very light because there is simply only so much time. When we finish our History cycle I will take a year off to study Geography more in depth. This year will learn basic map skills and memorize the location of the continents and oceans during September and then spend a month on each continent (2 on Europe) reading picture books from the library and getting a general feel for the culture and land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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