Where can I add more writing time to this schedule?

[Wendy in ME]

This seem okay for now but in about 10 weeks we will finish WT 2 and start CW Homer and I think to do it all we will need and hour a day for writing. After the recent writing post I am wondering if we are doing enough.

 

For the reading times we are following the Ambleside year 4 schedule very closely.

 

8-8:45 M-F: Reading then oral narration

 

8:45-9:00 M,W,F: MP Latin copywork T,Th: Latin recitation

 

9-10 M,W,F: Latin T,TH: WT 2

 

10-11 M,W,F: RS Geometry T,Th: History notebook (written narrations, maps, timeline, etc using History Scribe)

 

11-12 M-F: Reading

 

12-12:30 Lunch and composer study

 

12:30-1:00: Elementary Greek 1 (this was his choice for this year. I think I would have given him another year of Latin first but he is loving it.)

 

1-2 M: Drawing with Children

T: BF geography maps

W: Nature study

Th: Science lab and notebook

F: Writing (This is when he will write his rough or final draft. I work on Fridays so this day has to be independent work.)

 

2-2:30 M-Th: Meeting with Mom (This is to go over any independent work, do oral narrations on the day's readings, and discuss the next day's plan.)

 

This is working well for us right now but I just don't know where to add additional writing time. I would love some suggestions. I just want to keep the day to 6hrs or less and other than work that doesn't get done due to goofing off, I don't want to give him homework. I want him to have plenty of free time to pursue his hobbies.:001_smile:

[8filltheheart]

Your schedule is nothing like I would ever do in our homeschool b/c my priorities are much different than yours, so take my post with a block of salt!! :)

 

I don't think I would devote an hour and 15 mins to Latin even 3 days a week and a half hour to Greek daily. I would probably par down to 15 mins of Latin and 15 mins of Greek daily and devote a complete hour to writing every day.

[Wendy in ME]

We actually started the year with just 30 minutes a day of Latin but it is actually one of his favorite subjects and he was getting stressed about not having enough time to work on it. I tried to adopt the philosophy that any Latin at all in 6th grade is beyond what most kids get and there is really no hurry to get through the entire program but he just couldn't cope with this. He is such a perfectionist. We are also using Latin as our grammar program along with what he gets from WT. Thanks for your opinion though. It might be something that we have to try again when WT is done.

[8filltheheart]

Well, the only other suggestion I would make then would be for you to sort out your priorities as the teacher and weigh them against his needs.

 

My kids would absolutely NEVER choose to spend time writing, but it isn't even an option. It is a daily requirement. So are reading, math, science, history, and religion. Foreign language is something we do typically every day, but on days that get overwhelmed, it is the one I am willing to let go.

 

Those are my priorities. My kids don't get a vote. So, perhaps you need to decide out of the things you have listed, how do you rank their necessity? Is there a way to combine some of your materials (for example, geography for us is done in the context of our history studies) Our writing assessments come from our other subjects so they are doing double duty. That is harder to do using a program like Homer.

 

Another suggestion might be to move that hour of reading you have in the middle of the day to earlier in the morning or bedtime and use that hour for writing.

 

The main reality is that just b/c your homeschooling does not mean that every subject of interest can be covered equally b/c time is finite.

 

Good luck in making your decisions.

[Wendy in ME]

Thanks for your help. You have given me some things to think about. This is why I love this board. It is helpful to see things from another point of view.

[rafiki]

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[Wendy in ME]

I feel that, since we are using Ambleside, the reading is the basis of our curriculum and therefore it should be scheduled. How would it be if I replaced the mid morning reading with writing and added an hour of reading at the end of the day from 2-3 and just informally have our meeting at some point during the day? The evenings get really busy with dinner, evening chores, and family time that reading doesn't always get done in the evening. When we do read at night is a non-school read aloud so we can all enjoy the same story. I was also thinking that the current writing times could be used for more written narration and discussion about the literature books we are reading. I just seems that everyone else has a much shorter day.:confused:

[Sahamamama]

What I see is that Reading/ON and Latin take up the bulk of your time. Currently you have scheduled as follows:

 

• Latin drill (CW/Rec) -- 15 mins x 5 days = 75 mins (1 hr 15 min)
  
• Latin lesson -- 60 mins x 3 days = 180 mins (3 hrs) -- this divides out to 36 mins/day for a 5 day week
  
• Reading/Oral Narration -- 45 mins x 5 days = 225 mins (3 hrs 45 mins)
  
• Reading -- 60 mins x 5 days = 300 mins (5 hrs)

You want to make more room for writing. You could move Latin up to first thing in the morning, shorten it, and make it daily, thusly:

 

• 8:00-8:15 Latin Drill -- 5 days/week
  
• 8:15-8:45 Latin Lesson -- 5 days/week

 

If you do this, you will have the same amount of time for drill, and although Latin Lesson time is reduced to 30 min/day, you are really only cutting out 30 minutes per week (150 min/week vs. 180 min/week). Perhaps in the long run your son will make better, steadier progress if he "meets with Latin" daily. Or, you could simply do Latin Lessons for 45 minutes and have a bit less writing time.

 

I think you could perhaps find time for your writing program if you move the Reading w/Oral Narration to the 11-12 time slot (which is currently Reading w/o Narration). He could do more independent reading in the afternoons/evenings when he is relaxing.

 

This frees up the time slot from 8:45/9:00-10:00 for writing every day, 5 days per week. So...

 

8:00-8:15 Latin Drill, 5 days

8:15-8:45/9:00 Latin Lesson, 5 days

8:45/9:00-10:00 Writing, 5 days

10:00-11:00 Math/History

11:00-12:00 Reading -- insert narration HERE ;)

 

Keep the rest of the schedule as is, and in the afternoons/evenings, he can read on his own. He needs to begin doing this as he moves up, anyway. HTH.

[8filltheheart]

My kids are unhappy finishing that late in the day. But, they are willing to get up early and start working independently. My kids will get up and start reading at 6:30 so they can finish by 1.

 

My young middle schoolers typically do 5 solid hours of work daily. Some days are longer, some are shorter.

[Wendy in ME]

Breaking it down by minutes really helps. Thanks for crunching all those numbers for me. I really don't want to add to the length of our day but we do consider Latin to be quite important and he really loves it. :001_smile:

[Peela]

It's interesting seeing how others do things. I also use Ambleside, but I prioritise writing so that there is at least a 30-45r slot of writing a day, 3-4 days a week, although I vary what subject that writing is connected with- sometimes I will have them work on a longer assignment over several days, sometimes they will do a shorter history assignment, or literature, basic narration or a freewrite, or a writing program. At the moment I have made space for my older to do an online writing course which takes her an hour a day.

Writing is a priority- higher than Latin, for example, even though Latin is also important to us. So we have a half hour slot per day for Latin OR French.

I think Ambleside is already a very, very full curriculum and if you are trying to do Ambleside, realise you cant add to it, without making your day very long- unless you are willing to take away from it as well. I am constantly wanting to add to Ambleside and constantly reshuffling and having to drop from it too. Altohugh CM advocated shorter days, Ambleside done as is, is not a particularly short day once you get into the older years. So, you have added a lot of foreign language to a basic Ambleside....something has to give. If your son loves Latin and Greek, perhaps he can do some in his own time? I believe older children at Ambleside did have work they did in the evenings- reading for example. Of course, they had more time in the sense that they didnt have such rushed lives, no TV and computers.

Another possibility is to do some of the reading in 'free time', rather than school time.

I think we all go through this issue- prioritising, realising the hours in the day are finite, and having to work within them. I remember the surprise I got when I did the schedules in Managers of Our Homes- like, wow, no wonder I was feeling so stressed, I just couldnt do it all.

[Wendy in ME]

Because I need more time to get ready for school in the morning, we will continue with and hour of reading from the Ambleside assignments from 8-9 every day. Here's the rest of the schedule:

 

9-10 M,W,F: Latin (This will include all lessons and drill. He just does better with a longer lesson than he does changing directions several times a day.)

 

T,Th: History notebooking (written narrations, maps and timeline)

 

10-11 M-F: Writing using CW Homer and Harvey's Grammar

 

11-12 M,W,F: RS Geometry (3 days is enough for this child because he is so natural at math and does additional math activities on his own. We are just having a fun year this year since he is a bit ahead before we tackle algebra in 7th grade next year.

 

T,Th: Ambleside Reading

 

12-12:30 M-Th: Lunch and composer study

 

12:30-1:00 M-F: Greek

 

1-2 M: Ambleside geography reading with the BF maps

T: Drawing with Children

W: Nature walk and journal

Th: Science lab and notebook

F: Ambleside reading

 

2-2:30 M-Th: Ambleside literature reading with me because Robinson Crusoe and Age of Fable are very challenging. We will also add one piece of literature writing each week.

 

This is still a 6hr day but there is no planned homework and the afternoon classes should be enjoyable.

[Sahamamama]

:hurray:Wendy, this looks GREAT! I don't know why I didn't see that you could move it around that way, but I did have the feeling that your son prefers/does better with longer chunks of time for a subject. That's why I didn't think the schedule I had would really be the right "fit," KWIM? But I couldn't see any other way for you to fit it all in! :001_smile: I'm glad you did see the way through this labyrinth, and I'm glad you have a scholarly, motivated learner in your homeschool! That really speaks volumes!