Cornerstone Classical Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I have tried all I can do to make our day be shorter. BUT, this is the best I can do. Would you do anything differently? I have a first and second grader. I timed what we did and this is how it ended up. 8-8.30 Explorer's Bible Study 8.30-10.00 went back and forth with DD's LA(reading,phonics, ETC worksheets) ---DS's Math lesson 10-10.30 Break 10.30-1.30 Went between DD's Math lesson, DS's LA( spelling, grammar,) Then did penmanship and cursive with both 1.30-2.00 Lunch 2-4.30 My Father's World (History Read Aloud w/ Narrations for both, bible verse memorization, watched a 30 min video about history topic, Listen to one song) Apologia Science (reading selection and narrations for both dc's) I would love to be finished around 1 or 2 but I have never finished earlier that 4 pm. Even last year was late like this. We didn't do our art sheet (15 min) and we had no Silently Sustained reading either. My dc are on task, they are not slow, it just takes this long to do all that we do especially due to the fact that they are at the age where they are needing one on one teacher instruction in all their subjects. Do you think this is too long of a day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iquilt Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Am I reading it right that you do all subjects everyday? For example, we do our basics everyday (math, FLL, WWE, OPG, etc.) but we spend 2 days/week on History, 2 days/week on Science and the 5th day on art. If we want a 4day work week to have time for a special field trip on day 5 we may even do our science all on one day. Today we worked from 8:45 until 11 with a 15 minute recess, 11:30 until 12:30, lunch, and then an hour on the couch reading together (Sonlight 4/5 and free choice). We then spent an hour at the library returning our stash of books and picking out new books for our library basket. Today was a history day; tomorrow we plan to finish history for this week and do science on Wed./Thurs. Does that help out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I have tried all I can do to make our day be shorter. BUT, this is the best I can do. Would you do anything differently? I have a first and second grader. I know someone will have some specific advice, but I just wanted to say I think it is waaaaaay too long of a day for a 5 and 6 year old. I had a 2nd grader last year and we only spent about 3 1/2 hours a day on seatwork. Meaning if we started at 8:30 we would be done by 12:30 for sure, even putting a short break in there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 That seems like a really long day, to me. We plan to do history 3x's a week and science 2x's a week, and spend about an hour on each, different days. 90 minutes for both math and LA (not even including penmanship) seems like a very long time. I don't know how you get them to sit still for that long! We've designated 30 minutes for each of those subjects. I expect we'll do more than that most days, but *I* may lose it after more than 45. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I have tried all I can do to make our day be shorter. BUT, this is the best I can do. Would you do anything differently? I have a first and second grader. I timed what we did and this is how it ended up. 8-8.30 Explorer's Bible Study 8.30-10.00 went back and forth with DD's LA(reading,phonics, ETC worksheets) ---DS's Math lesson 10-10.30 Break 10.30-1.30 Went between DD's Math lesson, DS's LA( spelling, grammar,) Then did penmanship and cursive with both 1.30-2.00 Lunch 2-4.30 My Father's World (History Read Aloud w/ Narrations for both, bible verse memorization, watched a 30 min video about history topic, Listen to one song) Apologia Science (reading selection and narrations for both dc's) I would love to be finished around 1 or 2 but I have never finished earlier that 4 pm. Even last year was late like this. We didn't do our art sheet (15 min) and we had no Silently Sustained reading either. My dc are on task, they are not slow, it just takes this long to do all that we do especially due to the fact that they are at the age where they are needing one on one teacher instruction in all their subjects. Do you think this is too long of a day? How much help are you having to provide? It really shouldn't take anywhere near 1 1/2 hrs each for math and LA for 1st and 2nd graders even if you only worked 1-on-1 while the other had free time. My current 1st grader is finishing math in under 20 mins and LA in under 30. That is pretty typical for 2nd grade as well. I would suggest trying to do complete math instruction for the 2nd grader and then have them complete the assignment. While they are working on math, then work with the 1st grader's LA. If your 1st grader is not an independent reader, read the directions for math and draw visual reminders on what the task requires after instruction. I would try to keep science and history under 30 mins each. If you do an hour+ of science and history each per day, the long term retention is going to be rather low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Not that I would ever claim that the public school model is one to cling to, but even ps usually chooses between 45(ish) minute classes with 6 or 7 subjects and longer classes with 3 or 4 subjects per day... at the high school level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Do I read that right, that you're spending a total of 4-1/2 hours a day JUST on the 3 R's? That's wayyyy too long at that age, even with two doing it. What are you using in those areas? Are you using the Bible and science lessons from MFW? If so, then I would drop Apologia Science OR the science in MFW, one or the other. Same with Bible... Bible in MFW and the Expl. Bible Study? Drop one or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornerstone Classical Posted August 26, 2008 Author Share Posted August 26, 2008 Just wanted to take a minute to let you ladies know I appreciate your feedback on the way my days have been panning out. I don't do the MFW science, I replaced it with Apologia. And I am going to be using the MFW bible during the morning, and use the Explorer's for before bed devotions. I am probably going to try and re-work the teachers manual schedule to where we are doing history Mon/Wed/Fri and Science Tue/Thurs. That should be easy to do, due to the fact that MFW is Mon-Thursday with content areas and nature walk only for Friday. So that gives me quite enough time on Fri to tie up loose ends on the last day. I am thinking about setting a time alottment on each subject, and if we don't get finished in that time period we will just pick up where we left off the next day. I need to be finished at a certain time each day because I am not getting anything else done during my day. I have been doing this Mon-Friday and then Saturday I do ALL my chores. I really feel like I've been away from home working a 9-5 job, KWIM? Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 I am thinking about setting a time alottment on each subject, and if we don't get finished in that time period we will just pick up where we left off the next day. This is what I do with my 6yo dd for math and LA, 30 min. for each. That said before we started doing that, I let her know my expectations for her to work diligently and not fool around. We start at 8:30 and we are finished the three r's along with bible usually by 10, which allows time to do history, science and read-alouds every day, along with free time in the afternoon. Just a side note, but one thing that has helped with my sanity is to institute an hour of rest time in the afternoon, dd is to play quietly in her room and not bother me until the alarm goes off. This allows me to accomplish what I need to and hopefully get some reading in also. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornerstone Classical Posted August 26, 2008 Author Share Posted August 26, 2008 We start at 8:30 and we are finished the three r's along with bible usually by 10, which allows time to do history, science and read-alouds every day, along with free time in the afternoon. Just a side note, but one thing that has helped with my sanity is to institute an hour of rest time in the afternoon, dd is to play quietly in her room and not bother me until the alarm goes off. This allows me to accomplish what I need to and hopefully get some reading in also. Hope that helps! I did this some last year. Dc went in their rooms for quiet time and listened to books on tape, just the other day they told me they wanted to do that again, they missed "room time"!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titus.Two.Five Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 8-8.30 Explorer's Bible Study 8.30-10.00 went back and forth with DD's LA(reading,phonics, ETC worksheets) ---DS's Math lesson 10-10.30 Break 10.30-1.30 Went between DD's Math lesson, DS's LA( spelling, grammar,) Then did penmanship and cursive with both 1.30-2.00 Lunch 2-4.30 My Father's World This is what *I* would do differently: 8-8:30: Bible 8:30-9:00 one on one meeting with DD while DS does handwriting/chores 9:00-9:30 one on one meeting with DS while DD is working independently 10:00 Break 10:30 back to work with you now available for any extra help while they are each working as independent as possible 11:30 Read Aloud portion of EITHER history OR science 12:00 Lunch 1:00 Finish projects of EITHER history OR science 1:30 DONE! I am homeschooling 5 kids, and we never go past 2:00. ;) I would do history 2 days per week, and science 2 days per week. During one on one meetings, I would do drills, review, introduce new concepts, give dictation if needed and get them working independently while you do the next meeting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornerstone Classical Posted August 26, 2008 Author Share Posted August 26, 2008 This is what *I* would do differently: 8-8:30: Bible 8:30-9:00 one on one meeting with DD while DS does handwriting/chores 9:00-9:30 one on one meeting with DS while DD is working independently 10:00 Break 10:30 back to work with you now available for any extra help while they are each working as independent as possible 11:30 Read Aloud portion of EITHER history OR science 12:00 Lunch 1:00 Finish projects of EITHER history OR science 1:30 DONE! I am homeschooling 5 kids, and we never go past 2:00. ;) I would do history 2 days per week, and science 2 days per week. During one on one meetings, I would do drills, review, introduce new concepts, give dictation if needed and get them working independently while you do the next meeting.... Thank you for giving "specifics". That helps my frame of reference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Just wanted to take a minute to let you ladies know I appreciate your feedback on the way my days have been panning out. I don't do the MFW science, I replaced it with Apologia. And I am going to be using the MFW bible during the morning, and use the Explorer's for before bed devotions. I am probably going to try and re-work the teachers manual schedule to where we are doing history Mon/Wed/Fri and Science Tue/Thurs. That should be easy to do, due to the fact that MFW is Mon-Thursday with content areas and nature walk only for Friday. So that gives me quite enough time on Fri to tie up loose ends on the last day. I am thinking about setting a time alottment on each subject, and if we don't get finished in that time period we will just pick up where we left off the next day. I need to be finished at a certain time each day because I am not getting anything else done during my day. I have been doing this Mon-Friday and then Saturday I do ALL my chores. I really feel like I've been away from home working a 9-5 job, KWIM?Thanks again! :thumbup: Way to go, mom! That sounds much better. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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