How much work should a 4th grade boy be doing? Help me give my boy more work. :)

[Carpe Diem]

Hello All,

 

How much work and how much time do you think a fourth grade boy (who is capable of doing lots of good work and reads above his grade level) should be doing? How little screen time should he have? I know replies will vary, especially on screen time. I will read the 4th grade threads later as that will be helpful, too. We are having issues with being too lax I think. I might need to consider some sort of online program to give him more structure and challenge especially for the day or two that I work.

[Carpe Diem]

Thanks!

[SilverMoon]

My fourth graders averaged about four hours of school work a day. That included math, literature, grammar, spelling, writing, science, history, and a language done every day. FWIW, even my gifted one who works well ahead of grade level was still doing advanced work in fourth grade sized pieces.

 

Screen time varied wildly depending on the kid, but I generally limit it tightly during school days and hand over the reigns on weekends. No screen whatsoever until every subject and your household tasks are done for the day.

[MinivanMom]

4th grade has been the year that we ramp up expectations. My kids have done about 2 hrs of daily work in 3rd grade, but then 3 1/2 - 4 hrs of work in 4th grade. Plus I increase the demands for output and writing.

 

My oldest son (who was a few days shy of his 9th birthday when he started 4th) complained a little when he made the jump, but I gently reminded him that he would be at school for 7 hrs per day if he were attending public school. I think that perspective helps.

 

We don't do media during the week. It's not really a rule; it's just what we've always done, and my kids don't question it. I do make sure that they spend a lot of time outside. I also plan our day so my older kids have a long break midday rather than trying to complete 4-5 hrs of schoolwork in one big chunk.

[sweetpea3829]

I'm finding that 4th grade has been a big jump in expectations for my 4th graders.  Especially this second half of 4th grade.  Previously, they would start around 10 and be done around 2 (including a lunch and quiet reading break).  Now...both of my 4th graders are often working right up "to the wire" in the afternoon.  My daughter has had a long few days these past two weeks and has had certain days where she hasn't gotten done until late evening (mostly because of her own distractedness).  

 

I'm still fine-tuning things and am not sure we'll stick with this pace.  

 

 

Screen time....are you referring to tablets/video games, etc? Or are you also including television.  Mine have about an hour a day of tablet time, assuming they complete their responsibilities and have earned tablet time by reading and/or completing book reports, depending on which of my kids we're talking about.

 

But if you add in TV time...it's a bit more.  We usually sit down as a family in the evenings and watch about a half hour to an hour.  Often, the TV is on in the evenings from about 7pm on, whether or not anybody is watching it.  (I know...not the greatest of habits...but it's a habit I grew up with in my childhood).  

Edited February 4, 2016 by Sweetpea3829

[TracyP]

My current 4th grader works for about 2 hrs per day. He is a bright kid - has always read far above grade level, will start AoPS Prealgebra this spring - but he does best with a lot of free time to pursue his interests.

 

My oldest spent a lot more time on school when she was in 4th, but still only about 3.5 hrs.

 

My kids watch TV for an hour every day while I make supper. We watch a documentary as a family a couple times per week. For the most part that is it during the week; the weekends are a different story... (this is not including time spent typing up a story or looking up information or using Mango Languages or watching math videos - he has free rein with that stuff and it goes in spurts with a lot of time spent doing one of those things some weeks and none on others)

 

 

[SkateLeft]

My youngest is a 4th grader. I've relaxed a lot over the years, so I require a lot less from him than I did from my oldest at this age. He gets OT, PT and speech each week, so I count those, along with the time spent working on those skills, as part of our school day.

 

He has a daily binder that he does first each morning. It includes speech practice, writing the date, month and day of the week, graphing the weather, a page from his critical thinking workbook (I put them in his binder each week) and handwriting practice.

 

Then he does math and language arts.

 

We do history and science pretty informally using Studies Weekly. Each week, he reads through them and we turn them into a sort of mini unit study. We do some of the online activities, maybe watch a video, look up some info in our extensive personal library of science and history books, etc. One week each month, he does a Tinker Crate which we also flesh out into a little unit study. He absolutely LOVES his Tinker Crates. We have a lot of science kits, building kits and tons of board and card games, and I count all of those as educational "school" time in my head.

 

He usually starts around 10am and by 3, he's playing with the dog or doing a board game with a sibling.

 

Once a week, my younger two go to our 4th-12th grade co-op for a few hours, where my 4th grader is taking a Lego architecture class and state history.

 

I don't do strict screen time limits. We've found that it works much better for us to model responsible behavior than to strictly moderate screen time. We're not TV watchers, and we don't have cable or satellite, just Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming. We are a very computer oriented family though, so those are our screens. Our rule is no recreational computer time until schoolwork is done, and none before 4pm. Basically, complete all your responsibilities before you sit down to goof off on the computer.

[Runningmom80]

My ds probably averages 3 hours a day. We are relaxed and interest led. This is not counting his "project time"

[Kathryn]

I'd say my fourth grader works 3-4 hours a day. Usually closer to four.

[blondeviolin]

My oldest works about four hours a day give or take.  Her morning work includes grammar, spelling, writing, math, reading, and Latin.  In the afternoon she comes back to complete history or science (and if we get to it, art/music).

 

As for screen time, my kids must complete three subjects and then they earn a break.  They may spend that 15 min break outside, doing extra chores to earn money, or playing an iPad with pre-approved school-ish apps. If their schoolwork and chores are accomplished, they're allowed 30 minutes of free time with whatever app of their choice (typically Animal Jam).

[Carpe Diem]

I am really enjoying reading all of the replies so far. It is confirming what I knew. We are too lax both in work expectations, structure, and discipline. Sigh. Time to amp up. He has extracurriculars covered though, which might be part of the problem. 2 instruments, computer, art, sport and we are starting a hobby activity.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion for a gentle but helpful online class that he could work on one day a week or so?

 

Thank you.

[MinivanMom]

My oldest daughter had 2 instruments plus a very time-intensive extracurricular activity at that age. It really helped to sit down with her and work out a schedule for when she would complete schoolwork versus practicing her instruments and having downtime. Then I made her a daily checklist with all of her schoolwork listed out in the order we had agreed on. I also included instrument practice, classes, and extracurricular stuff on the checklist. It really helped her to be able to look at the checklist and see everything at a glance. And she liked checking off the boxes.

[SanDiegoMom]

We're only in our second year of homeschooling, so take this with a grain of salt! Our method seems to work for us at the moment:  2-3 full days (not a ton of output, but the usual line up of grammar, spelling, copywork ( 1 day), narration (1 day), dictation (1 day) history written work (2-4 sentences) and science activity (1 day a week).  Math every day. All of our reading is in the morning for 1-2 hours, that's 4 days a week. And some weeks I make Friday a lower key day -- today we read (1.5 hours) and the kids are working on writing stories, we will do fun math, and then work on a project. I've noticed that I need at least 3 very structured days at least (M,T and TH). Wednesday is choir and the science activity with a friend, and Fridays are my relaxed days.  They are also each taking an online class through Gifted Homeschooler's Forum that has minimal homework but has required reading and is one hour a week. 

 

Next year I will work to ramp up expectations, but for now I am trying to strike a balance between input, standard written output, and allowing time for creativity and I feel like I am constantly tweaking! 

[Esse Quam Videri]

My fourth grade boy is gifted/accelerated and also likely has some kind of LD... He honestly does very little "formal work." Last year he was in a rigorous private school, and he met/exceeded expectations but was emotionally a wreck. This year homeschooling again, we are giving him lots more free time. He does SM daily, as much done orally as possible. We usually only go for 30 minutes. Some days he does 5-6 lessons, some just 1. He also reads from two books (his choice from 1000 good books list) daily, one as partner reading so I can hear his pronunciation (he often reads far too fast and skips words...). He narrates those orally and does copywork/dictation. He listens to/narrates SOTW and also follows his own interests for history projects. We are going through The Elements and Tiner's Chemistry book (me reading aloud, once a week usually). He is also writing two books based on his current interests-- one about Endangered Rhinos and one about NFL Quarterbacks. He does a logic workbook when he feels like it. Weekly we do picture study and we focus on one composer that we read about/listen to in the car a lot or during math. We spend one morning a week doing focused Bible (discussion based) and one morning doing focused art (The Virtual Instructor). He meets with a French tutor once a week and we try to use it at home as much as we can. He does Duolingo app when he feels like it, and sometimes plays Geography games with Geopuzzles, Sheppard Software, or the intelliglobe. And he spends LOTS of time outside. He's leading his sisters in his own "outdoor survival" class :-) Total, he spends 2-3 hours a day on school. He's accelerated in math/reading, is a Geography master, passionate about history, passionate about zoology... I feel happy with where he's at and what we're doing, even though on paper it looks like far less than others.

[Hobbes]

FWIW, in all my mom's years of homeschooling 5 of us, we only had around 1 hour of work in early elementary (plus a Bible/circle/morning time) and no one worked more than about 3 hours until high school. We were generally finished by lunch (so 9am-12ish). We were always working at or above grade level and she didn't feel that adding more structured work just for the sake of it was helpful. All of us had no problem going on to further academics as desired and when my brother entered PS in grade 8, he was placed a grade ahead in the gifted program.

 

All that to say, time doesn't necessarily = results. If you are covering the essential subjects and you see him growing, don't put too much weight on the time it all takes.

 

Re:screens... our home now and my home growing up are/were basically screen free. We watch/ed occasional movies, but no TV or screen games, etc. So what happens/happened in free time is/was a lot of reading and audiobooks, imaginative play, building/creating/art, Playmobil, LEGO, etc. They also have piano to practice, chores to do, and a couple of simple outside activities to attend in a week (ballet, swimming, co-op, depending on the season). I see all of those as greatly beneficial to elementary kids' minds, so I'm glad to leave a lot of space for them in the day. If the day was filled with a lot of screen time, I'd definitely be redirecting that time elsewhere.

Edited February 16, 2016 by indigoellen@gmail.com

[OneStepAtATime]

Have you written out what academic goals you have for him this year?  Have you considered what goals you have for him in other areas?  Have you both talked this through to see what his goals are for this year?  TBH, I would not just ramp up just to fill time.  Kids frequently need some extended, unstructured time to think thoughts, play, build, draw, stare into space, read books of their choosing, play with the animal or whatever.  In other words, I wouldn't just toss stuff at him without a reason.  Is he not meeting the academic goals or other goals you had wanted him to meet this year?  Is he behind in math or not getting through his language arts assignments?  Or is he ahead and needing more of a challenge?  Is he bored and complaining that he doesn't have enough to do?  Sorry to bombard you with questions.  I am just wondering what it is that you are seeing that is causing you concern.  Best wishes.

[RosieCotton]

I am really enjoying reading all of the replies so far. It is confirming what I knew. We are too lax both in work expectations, structure, and discipline. Sigh. Time to amp up. He has extracurriculars covered though, which might be part of the problem. 2 instruments, computer, art, sport and we are starting a hobby activity.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion for a gentle but helpful online class that he could work on one day a week or so?

 

Thank you.

 

I saw this reply, don't get frustrated. ! There is time for everything that you CHOOSE to do.

 

I was getting run a little ragged earlier in the year as we were out 6-9pm Tues-Thurs and it was just too much for us.

 

Now that we've cut that back we are getting more done, and realize the balance we have now is much better.

 

School and music comes first, then everything else. 3-4 hours for 4th grade is plenty.

 

Sit down a try out a check box schedule, fine tune it as you test it, and then stick to it.  I've heard from many that music and math should be done first in the morning, and I'll admit we do better with it when it's done early.

 

Good luck!