How much do you schedule for your 9th grader?

[sierramv1]

Do you give them a list of things that need to be done for the day or week?

 

Do you 'recommend' a daily schedule? I think he will get into a groove that works for him once he gets going, I'm just trying to 

get him started on the right foot. 

 

He will be coming home from two years of public school, so I think keeping his school work between the hours of 8-3 would be best to start off with. 

 

Secondly, would you plan more up front and drop something if it was too much, or vice versa. I'm worried about 'push-back' from him if I ask him to add something into his daily schedule if it happens he's moving through stuff quickly.

 

He was placed for his High School public school classes in the following:

 

Honors English

Honors Earth Science (required here)

Honors Biology

Advanced Honors Geometry

US History (no Honors option here)

Honors Spanish 1

Creative Writing

Piano

 

My plan for him is a little on the light side because my husband is worried about over-whelming him, but I'm worried about not challenging him enough! 

[theelfqueen]

For my 9th grader, who we brought home this year after being in public school from Kinder... I give him a daily list.

 

For a while I had him practicing how to break those assignments up through the course of the day using a block system ie. block 1 8:15-10:15 AM, block 2 10:30 am-12:30 pm, block 3 1-3 PM and dividing up the tasks based on his time estimates for them. We don't do this formally together any more, now he has a better idea of how to do this on his own and we're not running into crazy-long days and rabbit-trails nearly as often.

 

I find that I am having to give him really specific guidance in breaking a large project down... ie. Do 2-4 slides for your powerpoint presentation not 'work on economics project' KWIM? He doesn't have the independent skills that he might have if he had been homeschooled all along so I'm having to scaffold steps for him. Or he needs guidance in what kind of notes to take (outline this, make a vocab list for that, diagram/chart that)  He's making progress on that front, hoping to move toward a less task oriented model and a more subject oriented one in time.

 

edited because am and pm are different ;)

Edited March 17, 2016 by theelfqueen

[Liza Q]

Spanish, US History, and Geometry and then both Biology and Earth Science AND English and Creative Writing seem like a lot for 9th grade.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Liza Q

[SilverMoon]

My oldest two were in very different places in 9th grade. Either way, during the summer beforehand I drew up plans for each individual subject to keep it on track for the school year and make them open and go.

 

DS/11th and I filled out his planner for the week every Monday, together. We looked at the syllabi and expectations, and discussed the practicality as we wrote out his schedule. In 10th I started handing over more control and letting him experiment with good/bad choices. Mid/end of 10th and beginning of 11th he was ready to do it without my constant input.

 

DD/10th has always been far more independent than her older brother. I started holding her hand like mentioned above, and worked myself out of the job by Christmas. By the beginning of 10th I could just hand her the syllabi.

 

They could not be more polar opposite in nearly every academic arena if they tried. I think most kids are somewhere in the middle.

[sierramv1]

For my 9th grader, who we brought home this year after being in public school from Kinder... I give him a daily list.

 

For a while I had him practicing how to break those assignments up through the course of the day using a block system ie. block 1 8:15-10:15 AM, block 2 10:30 am-12:30 pm, block 3 1-3 PM and dividing up the tasks based on his time estimates for them. We don't do this formally together any more, now he has a better idea of how to do this on his own and we're not running into crazy-long days and rabbit-trails nearly as often.

 

I find that I am having to give him really specific guidance in breaking a large project down... ie. Do 2-4 slides for your powerpoint presentation not 'work on economics project' KWIM? He doesn't have the independent skills that he might have if he had been homeschooled all along so I'm having to scaffold steps for him. Or he needs guidance in what kind of notes to take (outline this, make a vocab list for that, diagram/chart that)  He's making progress on that front, hoping to move toward a less task oriented model and a more subject oriented one in time.

 

edited because am and pm are different ;)

 

I was thinking something similar to the block system, he will be taking two (maybe three) online classes, so I was going to use those as my outline for scheduling the rest of his classes. I'm hoping for more of an on-going conversation for what works for him and what doesn't, but I want to have something in place, just in case. He went to PS in 6th grade because our relationship was suffering, so I want to be clear about expectations, etc. Luckily he realizes that he is in charge of his education, and he is very proactive in getting the information he needs to complete assignments (at least he is in PS!) ty

 

 

My oldest two were in very different places in 9th grade. Either way, during the summer beforehand I drew up plans for each individual subject to keep it on track for the school year and make them open and go.

 

DS/11th and I filled out his planner for the week every Monday, together. We looked at the syllabi and expectations, and discussed the practicality as we wrote out his schedule. In 10th I started handing over more control and letting him experiment with good/bad choices. Mid/end of 10th and beginning of 11th he was ready to do it without my constant input.

 

DD/10th has always been far more independent than her older brother. I started holding her hand like mentioned above, and worked myself out of the job by Christmas. By the beginning of 10th I could just hand her the syllabi.

 

They could not be more polar opposite in nearly every academic arena if they tried. I think most kids are somewhere in the middle.

I love this Monday morning meeting idea!! I think that will work out great for him, as he has many other interests and his schedule may need weekly tweaking, this would allow us to make adjustments for things coming up during the week, without getting too far behind! ty

[AEC]

We've done the following, for the past few years...

I sit down w/ each kid every few months and we lay out a rough schedule...want to finish Bio by July1st - here's what you'll need to have done each week, etc.

 

Weekly (on Sunday nights) I make a 1-page list / child.  Some items on it are 'to be done sometime this week'.  Most are broken and and listed under a specific day.

 

Our rising 9th grader is responsible enough to get each day's, and the week's, items without any reminders or nagging.  As he's getting older, I move more items from the 'scheduled per day' to the 'sometime this week' bucket and am more flexible with him pushing the odd item from one day to the next - because we both know he'll get it all done by the end of the week.

 

I still schedule them per-day only because I know if everything was in the 'sometime this week' bucket he'll feel like he has to get it all done by Tuesday, then freak out that it's too much work.   <_<   We'll work on that.  I'm just starting to get him involved in the process of making his 'school list'.  We'll see how it goes.

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2016 by AEC

[birchbark]

I provide my 9th-grader with a list of the year's goals and a blank student planner. On Sundays or Mondays he uses the list to fill out his week in the planner as he wishes. DH or I check it over to make sure he has his bases reasonably covered. :)

 

We worked on this skill together during middle school.

 

I always opt for beginning with fewer subjects (the priorities) and adding in more as we are able.

 

Edited March 17, 2016 by birchbark

[sierramv1]

Spanish, US History, and Geometry and then both Biology and Earth Science AND English and Creative Writing seem like a lot for 9th grade.

 

I thought it was too. I talked with my son and his teachers and they all thought he could more than handle the course load. Our schedule is still in development but we are looking at

 

Ancient History

Ancient Lit (possibly through Center for Lit)

Bravewriter (if we do the Center for Lit, we will round out his English credit with three of these classes....Kidwrite Intermediate (?),Expository Essay, and a creative writing class maybe

Physics (Clover Creek) My DS picked this instead of Bio - we will probably do AP Bio next year (he is a very strong STEM kid)

Earth Science (it's required in our state - probably using Mr.Q, not sure about our spine, and some Great Courses if I can find some to line up) there isn't a lot of Earth Science curriculum out there for this age.

Geometry (www.myhomeschoolmathclass.com) with the added material to make it an Honors class

Spanish (?? - maybe La Clase Divertida - I haven't fully explored these options yet)

 

His extras are: piano, fencing, and Boy Scouts

[Haiku]

My daughter is only in 8th grade this year, but we recently switched from me giving her a day-by-day schedule to me giving her a weekly list of what needs to be done by subject and having her plan how and when to accomplish it.

 

I am always available to provide suggestions and encouragement, and I do encourage her to front-load her week so that she's not in a mad dash to finish too much on Friday.

 

The high schools I have experience with leave very little to the student's responsibility. They schedule very tightly and give kids step-by-step instructions on when to do things.

 

I would like for my dd to have more responsibility for herself than just marching along to someone else's dictates.

 

ETA: I would start with fewer things and add more in as you're able. It's defeating to start with way too much, and I know form experience that what looks doable on paper often is too much in practice.

Edited March 17, 2016 by TaraTheLiberator

[Haiku]

My plan for him is a little on the light side because my husband is worried about over-whelming him, but I'm worried about not challenging him enough! 

 

Multiple honors and multiple online classes is not light.

[SparklyUnicorn]

My daughter is only in 8th grade this year, but we recently switched from me giving her a day-by-day schedule to me giving her a weekly list of what needs to be done by subject and having her plan how and when to accomplish it.

 

I am always available to provide suggestions and encouragement, and I do encourage her to front-load her week so that she's not in a mad dash to finish too much on Friday.

 

The high schools I have experience with leave very little to the student's responsibility. They schedule very tightly and give kids step-by-step instructions on when to do things.

 

I would like for my dd to have more responsibility for herself than just marching along to someone else's dictates.

 

ETA: I would start with fewer things and add more in as you're able. It's defeating to start with way too much, and I know form experience that what looks doable on paper often is too much in practice.

 

I like this idea.  Mine is in 8th too, and I've been experimenting with various ideas.  This year has been so um...experimental for lack of a better word.  It's been an adjustment for "me".  I still have a 10 year old. I just can't seem to get to everything I want to get to.  Not enough time and energy in the day!

[SparklyUnicorn]

To add, he's taking a class too at this point.  It is such a damn time suck though.  Twice a week and that kills 2 and a half hours on Tuesday and Thursday.  That's not even counting homework. 

 

I know a public schooled kid would probably laugh.  LOL  I've gotten used to having plenty of time so I didn't have to be so organized. 

 

 

[Matryoshka]

I've been giving her a weekly list with things broken down by day - but then if she doesn't get things done on the day they're supposed to, she'll need to finish then by the weekend.  Unless they're vocab, apparently - on the last list she just crossed them all out and declared she knew enough vocabulary. :glare:

[Garga]

My guy will be in 9th next year. It hadn't crossed my mind to have him schedule his own day/week. See, this year I've been able to have my two sons work together on the majority of their subjects--one boy at a higher level than the other--and I've been actively teaching the classes. We are all on the exact same schedule and working closely together.

 

I'm watching this thread with interest, because next year a number of classes will not involve me as a teacher and my boys will not be working together at all. My guy isn't used to planning his own time At All. Next year will be a good year to get started on that. So far when I give him tasks to do on his own (tidy a room or something), he forgets or does it half way, etc. I'll need a good 4 years to prepare him for independent work at college. :)

[flyingaway]

My 9th grader will not yet be capable of scheduling her week or even her day. She knows this about herself and has asked for a detailed schedule for each of her subjects.

 

And, I always schedule more upfront than is humanly possible, and we cut back from there once I can see what a more realistic workload is.

[Liza Q]

I've been giving her a weekly list with things broken down by day - but then if she doesn't get things done on the day they're supposed to, she'll need to finish then by the weekend. 

 

I've done this with all my kids for High School. But I leave it up to them to decide what they want to do first and what they want to save for "homework" before bed. I am on my son more than ever was with my daughters - he does need more supervision. Then again, my daughters did not have Minecraft and Youtube videos about Minecraft beckoning every second - sigh

 

[RootAnn]

I did a weekly list last year (8th) & it bombed with this kid. This year, I fully intended to have her schedule out her classes & do her own lists on a 5-day week-at-a-glance. Didn't happen. I put it together. She feel behind almost immediately.

 

So, I give her the 'suggested pacing' to get the subjects done by the end of May. She knows what she needs to get done (with a math book or level of Latin, for instance) to be finished. It is up to her to figure out what that means on a day-to-day basis. So far, it looks like some subjects will go into June & some into July. We'll see.  :lol:

 

When she's done with those, she gets to put together next year's schedule for the classes that aren't online -- Math, Latin, History, and Greek or Italian. The online classes (Writing/Lit, Chemistry, Spanish) have their own schedules & syllabi.

[LisaKinVA]

We are now doing an alternating day block schedule.  Four classes on an "A" day, and four on a "B" day for my middle-high schoolers.  It really helps focus the lessons and also helps when we have to spend a day at the library to work around various schedules (fewer books to take).  

 

For their lessons, I use an excel spreadsheet (for each subject) with the following columns:

 

Lesson #

Supplies

Assignment

Date Completed

Checked By

Grade

 

I highlight tests/quizzes.  For some subjects (AP -- which must be completed by a certain date) I may put actual "Complete by" dates at certain points in the lesson plan, simply to help us remain on track.

 

The excel sheets go into a home-made book with dividers for each subject.

 

Once a week, we make a daily lesson schedule (school planner) in which we make daily assignments referencing the lesson #'s.

 

This has given us the freedom of being able to "do the next thing," while also remaining flexible with ever-changing schedules.

 

We start this process in about 5th grade.  The master "lesson book" then becomes my grade book, and a way to look back over assignments as a master of what we actually accomplished.  I can also edit the excel to add/subtract/change lessons as needed.

 

When it comes to how much, that is very much student dependent.

 

It is too much to ask one of my children to take two or three math courses and two science courses, plus English, history, electives, etc. -- because he is not interested in that much math or science.

 

If you have a child who LOVES math or science, it may not be too much (assuming, the math isn't reliant on a previous subject, such as doubling up on Geometry with Algebra 2, or doing the AoPS Number Theory books after Algebra 1, or doing AP Statistics alongside Precalculus).  Doing two sciences may also not be too much (dd will be doing AP Physics 1 alongside Marine Biology next year...but she LOVES Marine Biology). 

 

It is important to have a list of "requirements" -- but it's also important to have flexibility in the high school range.  I feel strongly that the ability to study areas of interest in the middle/high school years is extremely helpful in assisting the child finding future areas of study, as well as becoming well-rounded.

 

For us, we have the following requirements:

 

4 years of math (going as far as they can)

4 years of science (to include at least Biology and IPC, with labs)

4 years of English/Lit/Composition

4 years of Social Science (to include Western Civ, US History, US Gov't)

4 years of Foreign Language (either the same or 2 years each of 2)

1 year of PE/Health

1 year of Fine Arts (Art History, Music Appreciation...)

at least 12 credits of electives (one credit is a one-year course, or two half-year courses)

 

So, there are certain bases that must be covered, but there is plenty of room for branching out.  If they start this coursework before high school, they have more room to branch out.  I do go through this with my kids each year starting about mid-way through 6th grade.  This gives them a sense of ownership of their high school path.  But, these are the requirements.  

 

 

 

[Loesje22000]

As I was very strict scheduling in grade 8 due to required exams, it didn't seem wise to do the opposite at once.

She knows my goal is she will be able to handle the grade 12 exams herself. (These have no consequences opposited to the grade 8 exams)

I see grade 9 in our context as a transition year with some loosening here, and some failing there.

[sierramv1]

My daughter is only in 8th grade this year, but we recently switched from me giving her a day-by-day schedule to me giving her a weekly list of what needs to be done by subject and having her plan how and when to accomplish it.

 

I am always available to provide suggestions and encouragement, and I do encourage her to front-load her week so that she's not in a mad dash to finish too much on Friday.

 

The high schools I have experience with leave very little to the student's responsibility. They schedule very tightly and give kids step-by-step instructions on when to do things.

 

I would like for my dd to have more responsibility for herself than just marching along to someone else's dictates.

 

ETA: I would start with fewer things and add more in as you're able. It's defeating to start with way too much, and I know form experience that what looks doable on paper often is too much in practice.

 

This is what I am hoping for with my DS, he is great about knowing what he has to get done for PS currently, and I never have to 'remind' him to get it done. He's proactive about seeking help if he doesn't understand something, which his teachers LOVE about him, and hence why they think he can handle the load he was recommended for in HS. 

 

He typically will finish homework before the due date, depending on his extra curricular activities (which currently are volleyball, fencing, piano, boy scouts, and OWL - religious education through our UU church.)

[sierramv1]

My 9th grader will not yet be capable of scheduling her week or even her day. She knows this about herself and has asked for a detailed schedule for each of her subjects.

 

And, I always schedule more upfront than is humanly possible, and we cut back from there once I can see what a more realistic workload is.

 

I think for my DS, it will be easier to schedule more upfront as well. If I try to add in a subject after the beginning of the school year, he will bark about school pushing into his 'free time', and he has a lot of interests that he wants to pursue, so I need to keep that in mind as well. If I tell him we are going to schedule it heavy and flush out what doesn't work, I am hoping this will lead to more open conversation.

[sierramv1]

We are now doing an alternating day block schedule.  Four classes on an "A" day, and four on a "B" day for my middle-high schoolers.  It really helps focus the lessons and also helps when we have to spend a day at the library to work around various schedules (fewer books to take).  

 

 

Our HS does this same thing! 4 classes a day, and it rotates throughout the week. This would work for him with science and history, because he loves both, but not for the other subject. hmmm

[sierramv1]

Multiple honors and multiple online classes is not light.

 

I'm not sure we will do multiple Honors courses at home, but I think we will still probably cover as much material as they do in the Honors classes at school.

 

From what I've been reading from his PS Honors classes, they cover a greater depth and breadth of material than the College 1 classes. They delve a little deeper into the how and why and require more independent work because they cover things so quickly. 

 

I imagine with him homeschooling, this will be a natural procession of things, he will move through things quickly. I'm trying to get the scope of work from his Honors classes so I can compare it to what we have planned. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

My 9th grader will not yet be capable of scheduling her week or even her day. She knows this about herself and has asked for a detailed schedule for each of her subjects.

 

And, I always schedule more upfront than is humanly possible, and we cut back from there once I can see what a more realistic workload is.

 

I suspect mine might need a lot of nudging with this.  Which is fine.  High school students in school aren't expected to completely schedule their days on their own.

[Mom22ns]

I provided a weekly schedule/list. The subjects that were "scheduled" were those we worked on together. We had scheduled meeting times for those classes. The classes they did independently they worked off the list.

 

In 9th my oldest needed me to run his schedule for him. I asked questions like, what did you do for the last hour? What are you working on next? If he had no plan, I helped him make one. As he got older, we transitioned to him making himself a daily plan and me making sure he had the plan and checking to see if he followed it. 

 

Dd was better at being independent. She likes to organize and took my schedule and made her own. In 9th, we did what I said at the beginning, but with very little support on the independent classes, just me checking work/grading and helping if she had questions.

[theelfqueen]

When I mention the blocks above...we don't have a schedule per se.... just a way to break up the day (and a break around 10:15/lunch at 12:30) ... he divides his list into the blocks. So he says "Algebra will take about 1 hour 15 minutes, Vocab will take about 15 minutes, this biology video will take 30 minutes; so that will be block". While DS generally places Algebra in block 1 the rest of the day is pretty open to whatever order and schedule he wants.

 

 I do ask that our 'together' stuff is done in one of  the morning blocks because that works better for Me!

 

My plan for next year when I have both of them at home is that we'll continue with the blocks and one block will be LG's mom block, one block will be MB's mom block (even if they don't need Mom for the whole block -- I'll be primarily available to that kid in their block) and one block will be our block for the classes they're doing in parallel (Geography and Earth/Space Science). At least that's my theoretical plan.

[Pistachio mom]

Hi. I think your schedule sounds very challenging. It looks like 7 very full classes. To work 45 - 1:15 per subject, and still do the required reading for the next day will be challenging. For my 9th grader, we had to realize that some of her subjects do require outside of class time.

 

As far as scheduling goes, I used a study system course from Victus Study Skills to teach my daughter about time management. We still have a long way to go. That course was helpful because she could watch the video teacher (not me) tell her how to plan ahead for projects. The routine that works for us work on math early at 7 - 8:30. Sometimes Earth Science review is also included in this time. After this, she takes a breakfast break, music practice, getting ready for the day, family devotions....  She has to start the rest of her work by 9:45 or so. We have her day divided into flexible chunks of time. She has to schedule the rest of her subjects which include foreign language, online integrated history/English/theology, finish Earth Science, and work on writing projects. I give her 20 points per day for scheduling subjects, specific time blocks, adjusting the schedule, and timing her breaks. I require her to write it in her academic planner. At the end of the week, she can earn 100 points for a grade for a study skills course. If I do not make her accountable, she will waste her time. I have had to give her very specific measurable requirements to help her accomplish her work. This is an ongoing challenge for us, but helping our young people manage their own time is a very valuable skill. She would rather just make a list and ignore the clock. But for us, sticking to time chunks is invaluable!