Moms of 13yos... We can't get it all done - please comment on our schedule!!

[Robin in Tx]

Hey everybody,

 

We are having a terrible time settling into a routine this year, and getteing everything done.

 

I've tried to come up with an exact schedule to follow but I'm not sure what I'm trying to do is reasonable.

 

Here's what I've allotted:

 

15 minutes for vocabulary or spelling every day (alternate). Workbook for the vocabulary, Spelling Power for the spelling.

 

1 Hour for math - Chalkdust prealgebra. Think we can reduce that to 45 min?

 

1 Hour for English - R&S Grammar (finishing 6, will start 7), a couple of resources for composition (sentence composing, etc) - I'm thinking I might need to whittle this down to 45 minutes or less because of the amount of time we're spending on latin, and this time frame is not intended to include the entire time spent on composition, just composition *instruction*.

 

1.5 hours American History/Literature unity study. Read aloud and discuss Hakim, outline important chapters; Critical Thinking series; timeline; occassional composition; a few American lit studies in depth; other literature; map work; memorization work, some arts and crafts stuff.

 

30 min - Latin. Henle. MODG syllabus.

 

45 min/1 hr - Music. Violin. She is an advanced student and we are making a huge compromise by cutting back to an hour or less, but it's the only way I know to do it. Most her friends at her level practice about 2 hours a day.

 

45 min - Physical Science. Apologia. She is taking this course outside the home, so all I oversee is the homework.

 

20/30 min. Starting Points. Again, course outside the home, all I oversee is homework. He doesn't assign everything so it's not a heavy course.

 

Leftover time in the evenings, etc., to do homework and writing assignments.

 

 

Here are my complications:

 

Wednesday night is an awesome youth program at church and we're keeping high priority on it. So we stay up late on Wednesday nights. We are not home on Thursdays. Mornings are the outside classes, afternoons are at violin lesson and Christian Youth THeater classes. Fridays we are so exhausted from the Wednesday night/Thursday schedule, we sleep in a couple of hours and there goes the routine :). All our courses have to be completed in four days, not five, since Thursday is out. Dd is in the production at CYT and has rehearsals on Saturdays, so that day is not available to us for catching up. We had our heart set on Tennis two days a week (I can not overemphasize how much she needs the exercise), but it is at 2:30 in the afternoons and we're having trouble getting finished by then.

 

So, we have Mon, Tues, Wed to do school in earnest, and squeeze in a couple of hours of tennis two days if we are willing to cut into homework time... Thursday is out... Friday would be a good "catch up" day to relax, do assignments/projects/wrap-ups since we're so tired, but I'm concerned about not having that fourth full day of school.

 

Is it reasonable to expect that we will complete everything this year using my schedule above, knowing that we're only going to follow it in earnest on three days? (we'll still work on Friday, just not as intensely, and we really do a lot of oral work in the car on the way to CYT and music lessons... yesterday we knocked out a latin translation exercise in the car, for example).

 

I want to get it all done, but I don't want to have an unreasonable schedule, either. And I'm concerned that I'm not allowing her enough time for pleasure reading/homework/composition by allowinig the outside activities (tennis, youth group, etc.).

 

Thanks for any feedback!!!

 

Robin

[susie in tx]

Hey everybody,

 

 

15 minutes for vocabulary or spelling every day (alternate). Workbook for the vocabulary, Spelling Power for the spelling.

 

1 Hour for math - Chalkdust prealgebra. Think we can reduce that to 45 min?

 

 

I'm not real big on skimping on math, these days, but we are playing catch up here. If you cna get it done in 45 min, ok, but otherwise, I'd skip other places.

 

1 Hour for English - R&S Grammar (finishing 6, will start 7), a couple of resources for composition (sentence composing, etc) - I'm thinking I might need to whittle this down to 45 minutes or less because of the amount of time we're spending on latin, and this time frame is not intended to include the entire time spent on composition, just composition *instruction*.

 

How much time is spent writing? I think this seems like a lot especially since you are doing Latin.

 

1.5 hours American History/Literature unity study. Read aloud and discuss Hakim, outline important chapters; Critical Thinking series; timeline; occassional composition; a few American lit studies in depth; other literature; map work; memorization work, some arts and crafts stuff.

This seems ok. We are doing something similar and I really wish I could take it to 1 hour, but I've not been able to, either.

 

30 min - Latin. Henle. MODG syllabus.

 

45 min/1 hr - Music. Violin. She is an advanced student and we are making a huge compromise by cutting back to an hour or less, but it's the only way I know to do it. Most her friends at her level practice about 2 hours a day.

 

Why is the music included in your school day? We don't include it in ours. I consider it extra curricular.

 

45 min - Physical Science. Apologia. She is taking this course outside the home, so all I oversee is the homework.

 

20/30 min. Starting Points. Again, course outside the home, all I oversee is homework. He doesn't assign everything so it's not a heavy course.

 

Leftover time in the evenings, etc., to do homework and writing assignments.

 

I would put music in the evening and any extra writing assignments, but perhaps give some time during the school day to do writing.

 

I didn't add it up, but how long is your day? We have a Wednesday similar to your Thursday and if I also try to use Friday afternoon as a catch up day. It doesn't always work, but I'm trying. My 13 yo schools from around 8:30 until 3. We have an hour for lunch.

[readwithem]

Hey Robin! :)

 

This is going to be quick because the St. Thomas grad at TCU is coming to work with dd on dance - but I wanted to comment on two things - maybe we can flesh it out later -

 

There have been years when we did a "push" on Mon. and Tues. because of having a heavier outside schedule later in the week. So we tried to get 3 days of school done in two or whatever.

 

Also I would have a conversation with dd about what *she* wants to do. Maybe you do school year round, so in the summer (when it's too hot to be outside plus the outside activities usually end) you do a push on the academics - with the carrot being you will have a "lighter" load during the "school year".

 

Hugs :grouphug:

[Robin in Tx]

How much time is spent writing? I think this seems like a lot especially since you are doing Latin.

 

I agree... I think I've got too much time allowed for English. Right now, no writing is getting done and I want to nix that right away. We do most of R&S oral - she does the worksheets and sentence diagramming exercises.

 

 

Why is the music included in your school day? We don't include it in ours. I consider it extra curricular.

 

Well, music for us is a non-negotiable, and if she were in school she would be in orchestra every day... Whenever we relegate it to the evening it either gets short shrift or she's too tired to do it well. She needs to practice when she's not tired, because it is a physically demanding activity. The ability to prioritize violin like this is one of the things that we've enjoyed most about homeschooling... I will definitely consider your thoughts, though. Maybe it's time to rethink the order of things.

 

Thanks so much for the feedback... I'll look at the english and music blocks for tweeking.

 

Robin

[Robin in Tx]

 

Also I would have a conversation with dd about what *she* wants to do. Maybe you do school year round, so in the summer (when it's too hot to be outside plus the outside activities usually end) you do a push on the academics - with the carrot being you will have a "lighter" load during the "school year".

 

This is an excellent idea. It may be time for us to look at spreading it out over the year if she really wants to do all this...

 

Of course, I can't ask her what she wants to do subject-wise because she'll probably say nothing! LOL Except for latin, which she loves... but truly, if she wants to do the CYT thing, and wants to take outside courses (which she does), then she needs to be involved in finding the solution to all this. Thanks for the reminder! I tend to not get her involved in the decision making process enough...

 

Thank you!

[susie in tx]

 

 

 

Well, music for us is a non-negotiable, and if she were in school she would be in orchestra every day... Whenever we relegate it to the evening it either gets short shrift or she's too tired to do it well.

 

I played violin from 6th grade through my junior year in high school. I was in the school orchestra and often in an extra orchestra. I also had a couple of other extra curricular activities. While I know that violin needs to be a priority, it might be that she needs to double up on practice on those days that she doesn't have as demanding of a school schedule. Or, she can practice on the weekends, if she is not already.

 

What about tweaking the history and lit? Are those huge priorities? Would she do just as well reading and outlining for a couple of hours a week? Does she need to diagram sentences on paper when she is working on Latin?

 

She needs to practice when she's not tired, because it is a physically demanding activity.

 

I used to practice runs a lot when I was tired as they are the same thing over and over and don't require as much thinking. Once your fingers go where they are supposed to, then it just kind of "flows". I agree, it is physically demanding and it does require that she not be exhausted.

 

Hmmm.

 

What time are you getting up? Would she practice first thing in the morning? Or get up 15 to 30 minutes early to do a first practice of the day? She might be able to spread out her practicing throughout the day on those days that you really need to get things done.

 

I'm just thinking out loud, so take what you need and throw out the rest.;)

[readwithem]

This is an excellent idea. It may be time for us to look at spreading it out over the year if she really wants to do all this...

 

Of course, I can't ask her what she wants to do subject-wise because she'll probably say nothing! LOL Except for latin, which she loves... but truly, if she wants to do the CYT thing, and wants to take outside courses (which she does), then she needs to be involved in finding the solution to all this. Thanks for the reminder! I tend to not get her involved in the decision making process enough...

 

Thank you!

 

LOL I didn't mean getting her input on school :) although she might be involved in the scheduling if everybody recognizes that "getting it all done" is a challenge.

 

And I would just acknowledge to her that ALL of what you are doing - music, theatre - *all* are good things - you could have the issue that she wants to IM her friends and work on her Myspace - not degrading those at all - just recognizing that music and theatre are better uses of her time.

 

We all just have 24 hours in each day. Sigh I often wish we didn't need sleep! ;)

[momee]

We too are having a hard time fitting everything in. There's only so many slots to fill.

Just from reading your orig post quickly, for me, I would be stressed with all the activity.

 

If you're going to have outside commitments as priorities that can't go anywhere - then free yourself from the obligation of doing some of the other things.

 

Vocab, some history, stuff like that can be done next year.

[readwithem]

 

Well, music for us is a non-negotiable, and if she were in school she would be in orchestra every day... Whenever we relegate it to the evening it either gets short shrift or she's too tired to do it well. She needs to practice when she's not tired, because it is a physically demanding activity. The ability to prioritize violin like this is one of the things that we've enjoyed most about homeschooling...

 

:iagree: I don't think we would have stuck with piano as long as we have - or done as well as she has - if we couldn't break it up during the day, mix it up, etc. If she had to do it after school - and let's face it, most likely after 3 hours of homework - it would have fallen off the schedule years ago.

[Robin in Tx]

Thanks so much Susie... you definitely understand that this is a physical issue...

 

She had an awful left wrist injury last year that kept her in a cast for months and physical therapy afterwards. Her endurance level is not where it used to be... she claims that she doesn't want to do violin first in the morning because she feels like she's just not awake and warmed up enough yet. The stuff she is doing now is pretty demanding of that left wrist - very high positions, songs with lots of continuous vibrato (Meditation from Thais for example). Maybe what I should do is break up her violin practice into chunks... scales and etudes in the morning, vibrato exercise and new assignment right after lunch, repertoire review later in the day, and about ten minutes or so of bowing exercises in the evening... that way, the work in the later part of the day is the work that is less taxing, especially to her left wrist, and the most taxing work is not first thing in the morning, either.

 

Okay, that's something to think about... thanks for getting the juices flowing :). Yeah, I could probably cut back on the history/lit but we really like the read aloud time together... it's so precious, I don't want to give it up yet!

 

If only we didn't have to eat or sleep... or wash clothes :).

 

Thanks again,

Robin

[Robin in Tx]

If you're going to have outside commitments as priorities that can't go anywhere - then free yourself from the obligation of doing some of the other things.

 

That's probably what I need to do... let go of some of the pressure I'm putting on myself.

 

FWIW (if this helps), my dd is an only child - I do realize that I can commit to a little more than larger families can simply because she is the only one I have to deal with.

 

Tennis is the most negotiable item on the list... but it is less than five minutes away, and since she doesn't have siblings or neighborhood kids to play with, she gets NO physical activity to speak of. She is a little heavy because of that, and that is the one thing I've made a promise to myself about this year - I am going to see to it that she gets good quality exercise this year and gets into a little bit better shape. Evening walks, etc., just don't seem to be doing anything for us in that regard. To me, her health is more important than history, so maybe I do need to cut back on that "ideal" history unit study and settle for just a decent us history course, so that there is time in the schedule for p.e.

 

Thanks for the comment...

 

Robin

[susie in tx]

Thanks so much Susie... you definitely understand that this is a physical issue...

 

She had an awful left wrist injury last year that kept her in a cast for months and physical therapy afterwards.

 

I had wrist issues too.

 

However, mine was the right wrist, so it didn't keep me from the violin as much.

 

Have her do scales and etudes without vibrato in the morning. See how that goes. As she builds up strength in her wrist, have her do the vibrato. I don't know that I would have her do a lot of vibrato until the wrist was more healed. In fact, can she play with her brace? Or with a wrap? It might give her some more time when playing. And, I would definitely have her try to play for short periods throughout the day rather than long periods. It's really hard to play for long periods of time, but even more so when there is an injury involved.

 

She can also practice the bowing and fingering without actually playing. That would put less pressure on her left hand. Do you know what I mean? She would be holding the violin, but only sort of playing, kind of like what she does prior to a concert when she is practicing before the concert begins and has to be quiet.

 

See what she has to say about breaking up the practice. She may have some very good ideas on how she can work so that she builds up her wrist without doing any further harm.

 

 

If only we didn't have to eat or sleep... or wash clothes :).

 

Gosh, I know. We just started going to an activity on Wed nights as well, and I can see how this is going to mess up Thursdays. LOL

 

I wish all the best to your dd. I loved playing the violin and really want my girls to play, but haven't made the time to teach them.

[H.S. Burrow]

This is what we do. Take what will help you and ignore the rest! ;)

 

We had issues with scheduling school work and extra-curricular activities. Our extra activities are piano (DD would play all day if I let her ;), soccer, basketball, youth on Wednesday nights, 4-H and park day (each Thursday afternoon). Our key words became "school work" and "extra-curricular". Yes, we chose to homeschool and that *does* give us flexibility BUT we are educating our children for college. DD (13 & 8th grade) has decided that she wants to be a vet....so *our* emphasis is on academics. If your child is going to major in music (assuming your child is college bound) then your emphasis should be on music.

 

All that to say, if our DD was in public school, she would have about 30 minutes of actual class time to complete *any* subject and anything not completed would be homework. I had to limit to 30 minutes because the kids would procrastinate and waste time. This is how we have our schedule set up.

 

30 minutes for - Religion (Journey through the Old & New Testaments)

30 minutes for - English (includes R&S grammar, Writing Strands, Vocabulary from Classical Roots)

30 minutes for - Saxon Algebra I

30 minutes for - Latin (Latina Christiana I)

30 minutes for - Logic (Traditional Logic I & II)

30 minutes for - Science (Campbell's Biology: Concepts & Connections)

30 minutes for - History (American History to 1877 - includes geography AND re-reading all volumes of SOTW in prep to start the History of the Ancient World next year)

 

 

I use a timer and set it for the 30 minutes. Then we move on to the next subject. Whatever is not completed becomes "homework" and must be finished BEFORE all extra-curricular activities with the ONLY exception being Wednesday night youth group at church. We do not sleep in because we would not sleep in if the kids were in public school.

 

We also do not participate in our local Co-Op because I don't feel that the curriculum is up to our standards. If they used a different curriculum then we might reconsider.

 

If *I* were creating your schedule, I would schedule violin practice twice a day 30 minutes each....one in the morning before everything else and again after lunch. Those would be the "regular class time" and then I would schedule another 30 minutes to 1 hour AFTER all other subjects were completed........but that is ME!

 

Like I said, take what will help you and ignore the rest! ;)

[Robin in Tx]

thanks for the ideas... she is not allowed to vibrato her scales and etudes anyway, which is why I thought they might be the better morning activity... yes, the bowing exercises she needs to practice daily (sautille for Czardas, as an example) can be done without using the left hand at all (except to hold the instrument). That's why I thought about making that the last thing she does in the evenings. Other things, too... certain shifting exercises, etc., could probably be done when she is tired. I need to sit down with her and ask her which of her daily practice points require the least and the most amount of energy and let her decide which to do when. I can maybe let her try doing some things sitting down (like sight reading).

 

Her wrist is completely healed, but the damage is likely permanent (torn cartilige) which is why her endurance is compromised...

 

But as this relates to my original question, I can see how breaking it out like this might help our day quite a bit. It is easier to grab a few minutes here and there than it is to block out an hour.

 

Thanks again!

[Robin in Tx]

I use a timer and set it for the 30 minutes. Then we move on to the next subject. Whatever is not completed becomes "homework" and must be finished BEFORE all extra-curricular activities with the ONLY exception being Wednesday night youth group at church. We do not sleep in because we would not sleep in if the kids were in public school.

 

I like the idea of a timer. I really do. We do tend to get carried away and caught up in something and before we know it, much more time has gone by than what I originally allotted.

 

I'm not sure I can by pass the sleeping in on Friday thing... just a couple of hours. As it is, she only gets around 7 hours of sleep Wednesday night, she goes from 8:30a.m. until almost 10:00pm on Thursdays... if she didn't catch up on her sleep Thursday night, I think she would get sick because Saturday is another heavy day. I was planning on my rule being "no going anywhere Fridays at all... relaxing day of catching up and getting our work for the next week organized... maybe watching a history related movie in the evenings, etc." Hard to do, though, since Friday nights are such big "social" nights with teens.

 

Thanks for the ideas. You are right about public school - I am allowing WAY more time for each subject than what she'd get if she were in school. Maybe I need to back off all the way around.

 

I appreciate your response!

Robin

[JennW in SoCal]

Hi Robin!!

 

I'm so glad your dd is playing again after her wrist injury and I'm glad to hear she is doing CYT! My kids are both involved in CYT here and we also have a great church program that eats up Wednesday nights. So your life sounds very familiar to me.

 

We've just started school this week, so we haven't hit our stride yet, but I just wanted to say that over the years school has often fallen into 3 or 4 intense days per week because of outside commitments. This year for my 13yo my plan is to have the more intense math and Latin on the 3 days at home with new lessons and concepts, and give shorter assignments on the other 2 days that reinforce the new concepts. We too enjoy our literature and history time together, so we'll make time for that on the 3 days at home, but he is on his own in finding time to do his writing assignments! Its like homework -- I assign what needs to be done and when it is due, but he has to find the time to do it.

 

I'm also working on grammar review, vocabulary and discussing essays once a week with both kids. It's going to be a special "tea time" kind of thing, only my boys don't do tea, but we'll do something to make it a fun time together while going over tedious things.

 

Has your dd been in a theater production before? "Tech week" is grueling with nightly rehearsals that tend to go late. We get very little done that week, but often get back to school after the show is over, feeling re-energized as if we'd taken a vacation.

 

Tell your dd that I just bought the Meditation music as I had never played it. I'm playing next month at a wedding for a friend and will probably play that and some other schmaltzy romantic stuff for the prelude. Definitely break up the violin practice throughout the day as you and Susie have already discussed. Leave the violin case open so all she has to do is tighten the bow. All violinists have to take care of their bodies -- if it isn't a wrist it is arthritic fingers and sore shoulders (ask me how I know!) Consistent and focused practice is more important than the total amount of time.

 

I feel like this is long and disjointed, but I was playing at a final dress rehearsal last night until almost 11pm and I'm a bit groggy this morning!

[Reya]

By 8th grade, I'd be done with grammar forever. Really, there is NOT that much to grammar!

 

Writing *instruction* should take no more than 30 min a day, twice a week. Reading will take an hour a day, at least, (and can often enough double count for English/history) and writing itself should be across the curriculum--an assignment of at least a substantial paragraph every day and a short paper every week. You can do one assignment for science, two for history, and two for English every week, and you get more depth in your studies even as you get breadth in your writing. I plan to do half lit analysis and half genre work (writing different verse forms, different kinds of essays--expository, persuasive, etc., etc.) for my English assignments when I get there.

 

Doubling up like this cuts down time investment tremendously!

[Nan in Mass]

I picked math and Latin to do first, every day, with "homework" in the car going someplace in the evening or afternoon. That gave us a base. I took the reading list and set aside all the most fun books to read in the summer, lit, history, and science. I had my children read for 2 hours every single day in the summer. That eased up the schedule a lot, and my children didn't object because the books weren't difficult or unhappy ones and they didn't have to do anything but read them. They didn't think of it as "doing school". I also read aloud during the summer and during vacations. I kept Fridays as a relaxed day when school ran late and put history that day, and reading aloud. We did math and Latin and then history. Or some years, history and science. That left us with a much easier Mon through Thursday schedule. I know that people talk about how wonderful short subject periods are, but we were totally unable to learn when our day was chopped up into little bits. We need biggish chunks to get anything done. That would mean, if I were trying to do your curriculums, that I might do spelling for 1/2 an hour a day for one half of the year, and then vocab the other half, rather than 15 minutes a day for each.

 

I also picked something to emphasize each year. We do skills sorts of things every year, but I concentrate on a different content subject. One year we'd do more science and then the next, I'd do more history, and the next, more writing. You can have it all, but you can't have it all every year.

 

I also combined some things to be more efficient. I did writing instruction once a week for about half an hour, and then just had them write stuff for the other subjects to practise. After a little rudimentary English grammar, I dropped grammar and just relied on our Latin. We sound a little funny when we are discussing how to punctuate a complicated sentence, talking about the nominative rather than the subject, but it hasn't been a problem. Dictation is a pretty efficient way of covering punctuation, writing, and spelling all at once.

 

After struggling a whole bunch, I decided that if we were going to do put a high priority on something other than the English, math, history, and science, like art or music or gymnastics or travel or foreign languages, then something had to give. That meant that we wouldn't read as many literature books, or we wouldn't do as much history, or we wouldn't do as much science. Since I didn't want to compromise the science, or the reading aloud together, that left us skimping on history. And you know what? My children have managed to get much more history than most public school children, despite skimping on it. The big advantage of homeschooling is that you can put the emphasis where you want it. Your daughter can learn history later in her life, if she finds she needs it or wants it. Right now, she needs lots of music. I wouldn't sacrifice your cozy reading aloud time, or whatever you are doing to develop higher level thinking, but something has to give. Maybe it is science in your case? Could you only do science on your more academic days and just resign yourself to taking two years to cover a one year science curriculum? Science tends to be one of those things that is retaught with more details each year (until you get to high school bio, chem, and physics), so if you don't do every year, it isn't disasterous.

 

I let my son pick his piano practice times. He gets to do some during the school day at whichever time he feels he can concentrate best (instead of putting math in that spot LOL), and then he does more on his own time later.

 

Hope something in all this is helpful.

-Nan

[NCMom]

We have a similar schedule w/1 day a week in classes and swimming, 4H, another outside class for Spanish, etc.. It's a lot! Here are some things my 13dd is trying as we wind down from week 4. It still needs a lot of tweaking but it has gone more smoothly each week.

 

She and I write up her assignment list together asap each week. She can see every thing on that one page.

 

No grammar. Grammar is done through writing and Latin at this point.

 

2-4 hours done on the weekends. Have to do it or she would have to drop something during the week.

 

She does her Latin, Logic and Spanish written work in large chunks of time. For Latin and Logic (usually 3-4 lessons a week) she does all of the lessons in one day. Then she makes flashcards/writes definitions. She then reviews these every single day. We have been doing Waldorf style blocks for a while so it comes naturally. She is the best student in both of these classes so far, so it works for her. Maybe as the difficulty level picks up she will have to split it into two or more sessions per subject.

 

Writing is a huge part of her day. When classes are over, she gets her source material that day as soon as we get home and snack time is over, before anything else is done.

Then each day she does a different task. Day 1 read it and study it, day 2 outline and make note cards, day three write, day 4 rewrite, day 5 type and do bibliography is her schedule. She staggers it so that the 2-3 writing assignments due in a week are usually on different stages at a different times, hence the weekend work.

 

She reads her Lit books at night.

 

She reads and studies in the car - swim is 25-30 min each way. Uuggh, I get car sick just thinking about it!

 

The last day before class is for review, typing papers and finishing math. ONLY. No last minute stuff. This is my rule for my sanity.

 

No doubt you'll both soon find some tricks that make it easier. :001_smile: Next week we are going to tackle how to make her report typing go faster,lol.

 

hth,

Georgia

[Robin in Tx]

Thanks for all the responses. Lots of good ideas, and I'm going to sit down with them all and rework our schedule starting Monday morning... Thank you all so much for helping me think through this and for the ideas for scheduling our days a little differently.

 

Wish me luck next week!

 

Robin

[wyomom]

My dd will be 13 next month and is dieing to be a part of some outside classes. I am fighting this tooth and nail however because it ALWAYS blows our schedule. Especially the night stuff. We are too tired to get anything done the next day. By next week, we will be gone on Tues night, and Thurs night then she is gone Wed afternoon for piano and now wants a journalism class and art classes on thurs. I am trying to find a balance here because so far we are able to wrap most of her stuff up by noon with just history or science left in the afternoons. When we start doing outside afternoon classes, that will suffer.

 

One area we have shaved off alot of time is English. She has done R&S since 3rd grade and is in 7th this year. She complains that it is all too easy and hates the constant review but she got a B on the chapter 1 test so I know she still needs it. I have compromised with her on this subject by doing half of it with her orally and letting her do the odds or evens in the book or if she has a lesson where they have A, B, C, D or E to do, I let her skip some of those and we only pick two for her to write out and go over the rest together. She is getting it done in 15 min and we aren't getting as many tears over english now.

 

I'm not sure where else you could save time in your schedule. I do sympathize with you on this however. I struggle with this every year. Especially once the year is in full swing and I start caving on letting her do more outside the house. UGH!

 

Dh annd I always laugh at the whole debate and criticism about homeschoolers not being socialized enough. Since we started homeschooling, we are doing so much "socializing" we can barely fit in the schoolwork. LOL! There are just so many things out there to take advantage of it is really hard for us to pick and choose.

 

Good luck this year. I hope you can strike a balance soon!

[Murphy101]

By 8th grade, I'd be done with grammar forever. Really, there is NOT that much to grammar!

 

Writing *instruction* should take no more than 30 min a day, twice a week. Reading will take an hour a day, at least, (and can often enough double count for English/history) and writing itself should be across the curriculum--an assignment of at least a substantial paragraph every day and a short paper every week. You can do one assignment for science, two for history, and two for English every week, and you get more depth in your studies even as you get breadth in your writing. I plan to do half lit analysis and half genre work (writing different verse forms, different kinds of essays--expository, persuasive, etc., etc.) for my English assignments when I get there.

 

Doubling up like this cuts down time investment tremendously!

 

AMEN! The editing process of writing involves plenty of grammar/spelling too.

I am really seeing some regret on MY part for not pushing writing harder prior to now. Don't get me wrong, he can do it. But he is very much not prepared for the high level of writing required of upper grades and lacks confidence. Grammar is part of writing, but writing is not part of grammar. Unless she's way behind and needing to catch up in some way, I'd require LOTS of writing in her courses and editing of papers as a better use of her time.

 

I'd insist on cutting the nights short. Still go to whatever event if you feel it's truely neccessary, but make a rule that you have to be home no later than 10:00 or 10:30. I think this is very reasonable. Think of what curfew you'd set for a 16 yr old going out on their own. If you are staying out just as late as that - then you might want to reconsider that it's just too late?

 

I'd cut tennis and instead go for a walk after dinner.

 

Sleeping in is not an option anymore it looks like. She needs 4 full days devoted to her academics. Make sure she's eating VERY healthy to keep her energy up. She may have to accept that if she's going to have outside activities during the school days, then the other evenings she is home are going to be spent making up the time. Don't know if you already do that or not? Monday and Tuesday nights may have to be spent doing work that just won't get done during the day or evening the rest of the week. NO tv, no movies or company and such. Just dinner in and continue the school day.

 

I don't know how this would work for you, but timed sessions doesn't work for us as well as lessons required. I don't say "work for 30 minutes" on this. I say, I need these lessons done daily and these done weekly. That seems to keep us focused better. Time goals get lost much easier than the more concrete goal of "do 1 lesson in math daily".

 

Make sure your schooling can travel? How much time is she just sitting in the car going to and from these places? Surely at least a couple hours? That's at least 1 or 2 lessons that she could do in the car?

 

Oh and maybe block scheduling for non-core subjects to help free up some time without lowering academic standards? For example 1 year of science one semester, and 1 year of history the other semester. That could shave an hour a day off!

 

Not sure if you already do this, but evaluate hw much time is being lost to whatever when you are home. Phone calls? Turn the ringer off. TV? No tv allowed until assignments are completed. Computer? Turn it off when not being used for assignments. Visitors? Sorry. Come again later. Grocery errands? Try to have dh grab stuff on the way home or only go while student is at an activity. Getting stuff together? Keep all schooling materials in one location to eliminate search and rescue time.

 

Anyhow. Those are my newbie thoughts. My oldest is 13! And we are aiming for 4 hours a day 5 days a week, plus 1 hour in the evening after the little ones go to bed 3 days a week. We have outside activities on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Any assignments not completed during those times are done on Saturday.

[Kim in SouthGa]

T DD (13 & 8th grade) has decided that she wants to be a vet....so *our* emphasis is on academics. If your child is going to major in music (assuming your child is college bound) then your emphasis should be on music.

 

 

 

I think this is the key, and I am "getting it" more and more as the kids get older. My oldest is not a math person. I was so stressed because all our private school friends with kids his age were going into AP math, preAlgebra, etc at 7th grade. My husband said...does he love math? is he talented in math? is he going to want to major in math/science? NO!! so just get him through Algebra II and Geometry and be done with it.

 

Is your daughter planning on a career in the arts? If so, and it sounds like she is moving that way, maybe you could cut down on things like history and Latin. Another suggestion would be to cut back on violin just until the production is over. What time do you all get started? My 12ds is an earlier riser, and likes to get started before the little ones get up. He is usually working by 7am, and done by 2 or 3pm (he takes several breaks).

 

I know it is really hard to choose with so many good activities out there. We are in the same situation. We don't do school at home at all on Thursdays, because we attend the Master's Academy of Fine Arts. So we end up with a longer school year. I try to start in July (didn't make it this year), and finish in late May. Whatever we don't get done during the week we finish on weekends, or else they have double lessons in those subjects the next week.

 

hth:grouphug:

[Plaid Dad]

I only scanned the other responses, so this may already have been mentioned, but one simple thing would be to alternate days of history/lit with days of science. I don't think it's necessary to do these subjects every day at this age (or at any age, actually!). I agree that you can probably cut down on language arts quite a bit since you're using Henle.

[Beth in IN]

Our schedule is quite similiar to yours...so I wanted to quick give you some ideas I had. Feel free to ignore any or all. I have a 12.5 yod who takes 10+ hours of ballet/week in the evenings and Saturday mornings. We also lose every other Tuesday for co-op.

 

In regards to grammar, have you thought about Analytical Grammar which you do for about 10 weeks and then do just a review and reinforcement once a week throughout the year? If I had been smart I would have had dd do during the summer and be done with it now. So that would free up some time during the day.

 

Also, I use IEW for wrtitng and icorporate that into history so I can "kill two birds with one stone".

 

My last suggestion would be *gasp* to do some things on Saturday. Maybe whatever doesn't get done during the week. We do that if we have a busier week and I really want to try to stay on "schedule". I only say this if you are uncomfortable letting something go., which I don't think could hurt. It sounds like your daughter is getting a very well rounded education which I think is more improtant then finishing every lesson in every book.

 

BTW-how is your DD liking Starting Points? That is the one thing I would love to add to my schedule but can't really decide if we could do anymore right now. We will probably wait until next year but I would love to know how your dd is enjoying. That is great you have a class for it.

 

Again, just my $.02

 

Beth

[Storm Bay]

Well, my 13 yo is a "walking stem" much of the time. Allotting a certain amount of time per subject has never worked. I allot a certain amount of work to be done per day. Removing privileges and extracurriculars has had limited success most of the time. Also, if I take that away (swimming) she is much crankier because my dd NEEDS that physical outlet in a big way. So much so that I just bought her a membership at the local YMCA so she can go swim laps 3 times a week while her swim team's pool is being repaired. Other excercise is harder to get her to do for 90-180 minutes. Plus there's something soothing to her about swimming.

 

We just plug on through. If she doesn't finish during the week, she has to finish on the weekends. She has to finish one grade per year, etc. I have no magic time formulas, but have to stay on her to work while my younger two are doing theirs in different rooms. We're not a model homeschool family--my kids are strong willed, all like to sing while they work, and none of them can stand hearing the other one sing...Okay, it's not all that bad all the time, but we're off to a rough start after taking most of August off.

[Beth in IN]

Are any of you other moms with children in this age group struggling with "lazy learners". This year it seems that if my dd has to do anything that takes some time and effort, it becomes a struggle. I know the time she spends on school work is half the time that the ps kids spend, yet it is still "too much work".

 

Sorry if this needed to be a new thread. I just thought I'd post to this group that has all the same age kids. Please let me know if I should repost as a new thread and lease forgive my greenness when it comes to posting.:001_smile:

[lwilliams1922]

This is an excellent idea. It may be time for us to look at spreading it out over the year if she really wants to do all this...

 

Of course, I can't ask her what she wants to do subject-wise because she'll probably say nothing! LOL Except for latin, which she loves... but truly, if she wants to do the CYT thing, and wants to take outside courses (which she does), then she needs to be involved in finding the solution to all this. Thanks for the reminder! I tend to not get her involved in the decision making process enough...

 

Thank you!

 

I'm LOL

not becase it's funny but because my dd would say the same thing if i asked her.

 

We are doing school year round july 1-june 30 this year. It gives me more days to get things done and i can cover any days that something comes up.

 

good luck

 

Lara

[Murphy101]

yea. my oldest son is normally easy going although he might be quick to note he'd rather not do something he'd still do it as best he could

 

this year has been he**.

every. single. thing. is. debatable.

Why do I have to read that book?

Do I have to write this?

Why can't I just tell you?

Why do I have to... is pretty much the beginning of every single assignment these days.

And it's not because he can't do it.

He just doesn't want to do it.

Any of it.

Even the subjects he likes with materials he enjoys - he'd rather just read it and be done.

I think it's a phase? A "why can't I just be grown up yet" combined with "why can't I still just play like the little kids do" phase?

It stinks.

I have great sympathy although I don't let it get him off the hook.

I remember middle school ages as being very difficult for me.

:grouphug: