How many breaks would you give first grader during school time?

[Alaska Mom]

I need guidance from experienced home schoolers on how many breaks (number of breaks and duration in minutes) - would be reasonable for my first grader (I guess as long as I'm asking, also you could comment on how much time you'd spend a day on school). We're currently aiming for 2 1/2 to 3 hours of school per day with the goal to be finished by noon, but we are taking so many breaks we've yet to meet that goal.

 

We typically take a break after each subject, say anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on what it is we're doing. I set our kitchen timer for 5 minutes and she goes and runs around while transition to next subject or get my ds3 doing something else, but it often leads into distractions that then push us longer than 5 minutes. We're probably just not yet into a routine yet and I'm part of the problem with allowing (or creating!) distractions once we break, but it would be helpful to have an idea of what a reasonable schedule would be - thank you :)!

[Joanne]

Frequent short lessons.

 

10 minutes here, 15 minutes there, 15 minutes in between.

 

I expected a short capacity for work that needed less "wiggle", and for formal academics.

 

I didn't time school, but I always finished at lunch.

[8filltheheart]

My 1st grader works non-stop for about an hour to an hour and a half. I have found over the yrs that it is easier to alternate subject material than give breaks b/c once my little ones take a break, it takes 2x as long to get them re-focused.

 

A typical day is math first, followed by me reading her a nature book, then phonics, then my reading to her, her doing copywork, her reading to me.

 

It has been a good mix for her. She is definitely a wiggle worm, but alternating b/t her being "responsible" for the work vs my reading/teaching her or her needing to write vs her needing to listen, etc. helps keep her focused and moving forward.

[Trivium Academy]

This worked for us too, the breaks were detrimental to our overall time spent with lessons. I found keeping key subjects first and alternating the type of work was best for us. I make sure to keep our core subjects (the things that need to happen everyday) first on the agenda. Other things that helped was providing something to look forward to after lessons, which depends on your child's interest. My dd is always excited to do some type of art project, science experiment or a game.

[Jen in PA]

My kids are similar ages, and I decided to split the day into two big chunks. I would prefer to be "done" by lunchtime, but this approach seems to be working better for us this year. The kids have about an hour to eat, dress, and watch pbs or play, then my 5 year old dd (doing 1st this year) sits down to do her math (with me) while my 3 year old ds works on a floor puzzle nearby. Once she gets working on problems, I do a counting activity with the 3 year old. They each have a page of copywork, although the little one really just traces his name and draws while she copies a sentence and her spelling words. Then he's allowed to wander off to play or practice using the computer, while I sit with her to do some phonics and grammar. Then we all snuggle on the couch and she reads aloud from a chapter book, then I read a picture book to both of them. Even on a rough day, that usually takes no more than an hour and a half. Then I give them a snack, and we head outside for a walk and "recess." We take a long break (two and a half hours) for this recess/lunch period, and that's when I get some housework or reading done and get dinner prepped. I give them a late lunch, then we get back to work.

 

In the afternoon we spend about another hour and a half on school, and I have the kids do as much together as the younger one feels up to We start with about 10 minutes of Spanish, then either do history/music (2 days per week), or science and art (also 2 days per week). The Spanish lesson always involves a movement activity, and the music and art sessions are pretty active and unstructured as well, so the afternoons are usually lots of hands-on fun. One day each week I make sure I have an interesting dvd to go along with either the history or science so that they get a break from hearing me:001_smile:

 

We finish the day with silent reading, then they join me for another snack and some milky tea, and we use this "tea time" to discuss their reading and review what we did during the day. If my dd had any work in math/phonics/spelling that did not get finished in the morning, she knows that it has to be done now as homework before she moves on to any other activities. I still also spend about an hour each evening reading aloud to both of them, but I don't count that as school, so I guess you could say that school for us is about 3 hours a day, 4 days per week. We spend another day doing field trips and classes, and I only require a chapter of oral reading and a review of spelling words on that day. Physical education is done through dance classes, swimming, and a weekly playgroup at the park.

 

I intend to add in more structured grammar and some Latin mid-way through the year, but so far we seem to be covering all our bases doing this.

[Laura Corin]

I used to give my boys a 45 minute break half way through the morning. We did something like an hour of combined English and maths, followed by a 45 minute break, then the other subjects (history and science) for another hour or so. The rest of the day included reading and PE.

 

Laura

[Plaid Dad]

Our formal seat work time never took more than 90 minutes, so the only breaks we had were for bathroom or a drink. I would sometimes give my dd five minutes to clear her head if she was getting frustrated with math, but honestly that was as much for me as for her. Are you counting read-aloud time in your 2.5-3 hours? I'm having a hard time imagining filling up that much time with a first grader! :)

[Pata]

Here's what we do (my dd is 6yo)...

 

 

• Bible during breakfast
  
• Then 30 min or so of math (we do this at the table so I have the books there so that we can start right after we finish eating)
  
• Then move to couch for reading time-20 min (she reads to me then I do our read-aloud, again I have the books there ready to go)
  
• Next we take a break for 15-20 min (I prepare the next stack of books and look over the plans)
  
• We come back to the table and do language arts-20 min (grammar, spelling, creative writing, copywork-depends on the day as to which one we are doing)
  
• Next we do history and science-40-50 min for both (if I have a project planned, we will do that last)
  
• Then if we have art or music that day we will do that.
  

 

 

We start between 8:30 and 9:00 and are usually done by 11:30, noon at the latest. The key for me is to lay out the books in stacks where we will be working on them. This way the transition time is cut down and I don't lose her between subjects. Hope that helps!

[momtolgd]

Breaks don't work too well here either. They make it so much harder to get back on track and focused. I instead try to keep lessons short to try to prevent a problem from starting. We stop between 11:30 and 12 when dh calls me on his lunch break. After lunch we finish up with history/science/read alouds. That's the only break we do and it is generally for 1 to 1.5 hours depending on the day.

 

I do however add in a few minutes of physical activity if I sense some restlessness starting. Like maybe "stand up and do 15 jumping jacks before you sit back down to do this."

 

HTH.

[RoughCollie]

When DS2 was in first grade, his brothers were at PS and DD was in half-day K. We took DS2 out of PS halfway through 1st grade.

 

Our schedule was:

 

Breakfast & Bible, after I got the other 3 kids off to school.

 

FIAR -- we did everything in the book and read supplemental books. DS2 would have done FIAR all day if it were up to him. This took 1-1.5 hours.

 

Break - 1/2 hour of play time for DS2.

 

Math - 1/2 hour.

 

Then DD came home, we ate lunch. After lunch, I taught reading, individually, to the 4 kids. We took a break for snack time when the other DS came home from school.

 

DS2 did penmanship sometime during the afternoon.

 

I did not teach grammar, writing, or spelling in first grade. For many years, my kids thought "school" was grammar, math, spelling, and penmanship. Everything else was fun. We read a lot of history and science books during first grade, wedged into the afternoon and evening hours so everyone would benefit. We also watched many children's educational videos, which they enjoyed and learned from.

 

RC

[hsmamainva]

I give my 1st grader transition breaks between 'seat work' and 'hands-on work'.

 

She finishes her math and language arts (which consists of phonics and handwriting) first -- which takes about 45 minutes to an hour ....

 

then there's a break ....

 

then we work on art / history / science (I don't do all three every day; I vary it from day to day) - and that's about 30-40 minutes...

 

then we take another, final break (because I usually have to clean up *something*, especially after art and science! ...

 

then we sit down on the couch and do our reading (I read to her / she reads to me) - and that takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

[beansprouts]

Years ago a wise woman on this board told me to "watch the eyes". (I wish I knew who you were now because it is about the best homeschooling advice I have ever recieved.) I learned to see when my dd was becoming fatigued before she reached meltdown stage, and was able to end the lesson on a positive note. Sometimes it meant stopping in the middle of a worksheet, and resisting the temptation to just finish "one more problem". I learned to be okay with this. At this stage it is more important to teach the kids that learning is fun and easy. HTH

[JFSinIL]

A break after a big lesson, like math, otherwise a break after every three things, depending on length. A break after each subject is too, too much. He wouldn't get that many breaks in public school.

[ChemMommy]

I really haven't been able to get my first graders to sit at the table for more than 30 minutes without a significant break. And it that 30 minutes, there's a lot of wiggling being done. It helps if I'm at the table with them to redirect. It helps if we are switching subjects during that 30 minutes. I do long breaks....30 minutes or so.

 

We kind of do 30 minutes on, 30-60 minutes off most of the day.

 

Homeschooling is very intensive. At ps, they'd have that left over time in math class to doodle or go to a play station. It's easy to forget that the wiggle time in ps classes is missing in hs. I know that I tend to hand them the next subject as soon as they are done with the first!

 

Our aim is for 60-90 minutes of academic time in the morning and another 60 in the afternoon.

 

You might want to divide your academic plans into two categories: critical and non-critical. Since you are just learning about homeschooling, spend several weeks just doing the critical work. Be faithful at it and it will become routine.

 

Then, start adding in the non-critical activities, one at a time, and allow yourself and your child to adjust to the workload.

 

And truly, your child would NOT be getting 3 hours of major academic work in a ps classroom. That's just not feasible with 20 1st graders of various academic levels!

 

Hsing should not be a drudgery to the mom or the child in 1st grade. Consider that the major part of 1st grade is to teach reading and math and to lay a foundation of good work ethic. Be careful not to burden the child with huge academic demands. It is easy to outwork a 1st grader and teach them to hate school. BTDT! LOL

[kalanamak]

I ask for concentrated hard work, because I work full time and kiddo will NOT be able to diddle around half the day with my tutoring. Because of this, I don't do more than 30 minutes in a stretch (kiddo is only 6 weeks into being 6).

 

If we are doing "math facts rummy" etc, if I'm reading aloud to him, if we are just looking through an exciting DK book (lots of photos) or if we are doing a hands on thing, it can go on longer, but for seated at the desk, esp with pencil in hand, 30 minutes and we get a real break: food, run in the park, bath, something.

 

My goal is to break on a good note, but get all our work done.

 

I am, I admit, not a seasoned HSer, but so far, I think we are doing well. For me the only trick is sussing out the "I'm fine but it is nice out so I'm going to act distracted" from the "I really am tired and too wiggly to go on". Now that kiddo is understanding the clock better and better, he's pretty good at seeing that 10 more minutes is just 10 more minutes and he forges on. I also, time willing, allow him to stop and color some of his math problems, but tell him that means the lesson will go on a little longer. Putting that little bit of control in his hands has made his outlook sweeter as well. HTH.

[Carrie12345]

I mostly go by my kids' moods. My 5 and 6 year olds do pretty well with about an hour of seat work in the morning (as long as I'm sitting with them) and then they get a chance to have a snack and run around for a bit. I usually try to get history or science in before lunch, but I don't have a problem with doing it after. At some point in the afternoon, we'll do some more reading, and maybe an art project or music.

 

All together, it's probably around 3 hours of "school," but we could be done before lunch or just before bed. And sometimes those long days are the result of a *good day, meaning everyone is happy and enjoying themselves, not because school work was torturous!

[Jill- OK]

My 1st grader works non-stop for about an hour to an hour and a half.

 

My six-year-old worked for about an hour this morning, doing 'book work'; spelling, ETC, math, and cursive practice. We had to leave for a little while, so she still needs to do piano practice, read to me (history or science-related; I'll read to her, too), do copywork (from a narration), and listen to some Spanish songs/watch a French DVD. (Nature study is usually looking up specimens we find on walks/bike rides, and pressing/drawing them in her nature journal).

 

That's it.

 

Getting all the skill subjects done at one whack, in short lessons, yields more, IME, than trying to negotiate breaks in between long spates of time. (All kids have the potential to be different; I'm just talking about what I've observed in mine). Keeping the overall time short means that even if we do have to take a significant break (run an errand, keep an appointment), we can still finish our day when we come back, in a relatively short amount of time.

[Susan in TX]

If I let my kids have breaks during school we would never get done. It takes them about two and a half hours to do all their school. Once we start, we don't stop until we are done. I do allow them to go to the bathroom or quickly get a drink but that is all. Sometimes we don't get started early enough and then we have to take a break for lunch, but I really try to avoid that. We either start early enough to get done before lunch or I wait and start after lunch.

 

Susan in TX

[dcjlkplus3]

Last year when we did 1st grade. I would let her take a break after 3 subjects (same plan this year). In theory the breaks were only auposed to be 15 minutes, but I wasn't good at enforcing it. Also all 3 kids have quiet time for 2 hours (how long the youngest was sleeping) after lunch. We rarely finished before 4 or so, unless she was reallly ambitious. For example today we finished most of school in three hours (still have history, piano and drawing) with one 15 minute break and 1 ten minute break. (1st day of 2nd grade)