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I've tried doing my own thing, I've tried the Loop, I've tried MOTH, I've tried Charlotte Mason PNEU schedules ... nothing seems to work in getting everything accomplished. Could someone show me your schedule incorporating all the WTM Logic stage subjects? In addition to Math, LA, TOG, and Science, we've got a bi-weekly co-op, Spanish, Typing, Awana ... and I'm about to add Latin and Logic to the mix. eeek!

 

Ideas??

 

 

It's so hard when there are so many great programs, so many great school subjects -- and you want to do it all! I totally empathize! : ) But unless your family WANTS to school 8 hours a day, I suggest some general tips on scheduling below, plus a sample of our schedule when our boys were 4th/5th grade and did a bi-weekly co-op and typing. (We weren't doing TOG or Latin, though). Hope something here helps! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

1. pray/think about/write out priorities for each child for the year

(i.e., what they really NEED; what are their interests/skills you want to develop; and what 1-2 (no more!) new things do you want to introduce into the schedule -- and this probably means dropping most of the new things from last year in order to have time this year to try new things)

 

2. limit your choices to JUST the programs that will satisfy those priorities

(only ONE history book on Columbus, not three; only ONE logic program, not TWO; etc)

 

3. determine how many days a week you really *need* to cover a subject

(ex: we only needed to do grammar 3 times a week; however one child struggled with spelling, so he did it every day; logic and vocabulary worked well as part of our morning together time 2-3 times a week -- not needed every day)

 

4. don't feel you have to read every single book, do every single workbook page, check off every single box

- if your child understands the math concept, do only every other problem, or skip on to the next lesson

- if the child spells all the words right on a day 4 "pre-test", skip spelling on day 5

- if it takes longer to do a science experiment or history project or math lesson one day, consider dropping something else out of the schedule (a geography or grammar lesson), or pushing it to another day

 

5. do some of your read alouds in the evening as part of a family read aloud time several nights a week -- but make sure they are fun and engaging works; don't drag out a textbook or dry work and turn an enjoyable family time into "homework"

 

6. ::radical alert::

TOG is an extensive program; be choosy and only use parts of it (gasp!) -- the BEST parts, the parts that will work for your family (unless your family REALLY loves to read). It's okay to skip parts of history; no one ever knows it all, we ALL have "knowledge gaps"; so give yourself permission to decide how much time a week you WANT to do TOG, then make cuts and skips accordingly to fit YOUR plan and schedule.

 

7. determine what is do-able for YOUR family as far as school hours per day, then schedule/cut/skip to make the programs fit your needs

For us: 4.5 hours of school a day, 4 days a week, and then finish up and co-op on the fifth day a week is was what worked for our family back in 4th/5th grade. Once you decide what is reasonable for your family, you'll be able to make a schedule that works for your family! : )

 

 

 

5 days a week (5 hr/week)

- Bible (30 min.)

- read alouds (30 min.)

 

4 days a week (7 hr/week)

- math (30 min.)

- reading (30 min.)

- writing (30 min.)

- handwriting (5 min.)

- spelling (10 min.)

 

3 days a week (5.25 hr/week)

- grammar (20 min.)

- geography (30 min.)

- typing (10 min.)

- logic (10 min.)

- vocab (5 min.)

- recorder (15 min.)

- miscellaneous (15 min.)

 

2 days a week (4 hr/week)

- science (60 min.)

- history (60 min.)

 

1 day a week -- .75 hr/week

- art/music appreciation (45 min.)

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Lori....

 

I just had to write and say THANK YOU!!!!!! I have been stressing over my 5th and 6th grader for 2 weeks now. Reading your post was like a light bulb going off.. I know what I need to do now.. I needed a radical way to think about it... I needed permission to leave some stuff out...

 

I have printed it out, and keeping it in my binder as a reminder!!!! Thank again, you don't know how much spinning you have saved me from!!

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I've tried doing my own thing, I've tried the Loop, I've tried MOTH, I've tried Charlotte Mason PNEU schedules ... nothing seems to work in getting everything accomplished. Could someone show me your schedule incorporating all the WTM Logic stage subjects? In addition to Math, LA, TOG, and Science, we've got a bi-weekly co-op, Spanish, Typing, Awana ... and I'm about to add Latin and Logic to the mix. eeek!

 

Ideas??

 

I've worked and reworked my schedules several times, too. The Loop wouldn't work for me, because I need to KNOW ahead of time how we will get the stuff done and when, and MOTH sort of works, in that I plan huge blocks of time, but not little blocks like 30 min. for math, etc.. I *think* I have something that will work for us now, and include all the stuff I want to include, but not take up tons of time every day. I also use lists to work through in the big blocks of time.

 

Basically, I've taken the principles in WTM, and fleshed them out in my own time arrangements, with a focus on developing skills first. For example, in history, we use the WTM recommended materials and activities (timeline, outlining, extra reading, etc.), but we don't spend 3 hours a week "doing history" together. I read a very interesting thread a few weeks ago on the high school board that just confirmed my thinking about this - people were asked if they could do it over again in grammar and logic stage, would they focus more on content or on skills, and most people said skills, and that *really* digging into content would come in high school if skills were good and mastered. That also is my interpretation of WTM principles, amongst all the great ideas in it for implementing wonderful history/science/lit. programs.

 

I spend about 1.5 hours a day, Monday to Thursday, tutoring my son through his skill subjects (math, poetry/Bible/history/science memory work, English grammar, Latin vocab. and grammar, vocab. flashcards, logic puzzles, writing skills - dictations/narrations/outlines, lit. discussion, and science experiment/record results).

 

Then I give him an assignment sheet with the rest of the activities I want him to do on his own (complete these math problems, diagram these sentences, record these dates on your timeline, pick something from the science book to sketch and label, do these Latin exercises, do these vocab. exercises, pick some more topics from your history/science reading and do some more reading from encyclopedias or the lib. books that I stocked on the shelf, pick a lit. book to read this afternoon - and not all of these activities are done every day - only if they come up in the program). I have given up on trying to put together the perfect history/science/lit. program - instead I just focus on the skills of reading/writing/discussing these content areas, and stock the bookshelves with content, which he happily reads and absorbs and gets topics to write about from. I stay on a general course (ancient history with SOTW and KF generally guiding, biology with the RD How......Work series, and ancient lit. picked from the WTM booklist - meaning I pick a bunch out, and he reads what interests him from that), but I don't try to coordinate this reading book with that history text, etc.. It got to be too much for me. But he is learning content, and he is learning writing skills to process that content. Anyway, he has the rest of the morning and rest time after lunch to complete these items.

 

On Friday mornings we just do a math lesson, Bible memory, read a poem, and either read aloud to me or write a letter. Then go to pool, library, or bargain shopping. :)

 

We cover Spanish, music, art, and reading aloud after supper. Again in a condensed version, but one that focuses on skill. He listens to Learnables and looks over the Spanish grammar book 3 nights a week (we are not as intense about Spanish as we are about Latin, but I'm happy with some exposure for now), music appr. reading/timeline or demonstrating piano skills to me on Tuesday night, and art appr. reading/timeline or drawing lesson on Thursday night. I combine my kids for these evening activities.

 

Typing - we just finally found a program that works with our old computer. Right now he is eager to learn to type, so I'm keeping it as a "fun" activity he can do in his free time - so far so good. :)

 

Basically the way I do all this is to have a 3 hour block of time in the morning, 2 hours of rest time after lunch, and about an hour or a little more after supper, and I work my way through a list each day. My part is done in the morning and evening, and his part is done during those times plus rest time if needed. Then there is a big block of time before supper for free time. He also spends an hour before lunch with Dad, doing piano lesson and Bible study - but he considers this "time with Dad" instead of "boring schoolwork."

 

Here it is all scheduled out.

 

Monday 8:30-10 a.m.

 

listen to poem

poetry/Bible/history mem. work

math (and math fact review)

English grammar (orally with R&S, except diagraming)

Latin flashcards or teach new lesson or quiz

vocab. flashcards or go over new lesson

logic puzzle

writing: lit. or history dictation, history outline

 

Monday 10-11:30 a.m. and after lunch

 

math problems

English diagraming (if there is any)

Latin exercises or drill sheets

vocab. exercises

read KF hist. pages

record KF dates on timeline

read further about KF topics of interest

read lit. book and put any dates on timeline (birth/death of author, pub. date)

 

Monday 6:30-7:45 p.m. or so

 

listen to Spanish lesson on CD

look over new grammar book section, get familiar with vocab. and grammar

listen to Mom read aloud

 

Tuesday 8:30-10 a.m.

 

listen to poem

poetry/Bible/history mem. work

math (and math fact review)

English grammar (orally with R&S, except diagraming)

Latin flashcards or teach new lesson or quiz

vocab. flashcards or go over new lesson

logic puzzle

writing: two narrations on history topics of choice

 

Tuesday 10-11:30 a.m. and after lunch

 

math problems

English diagraming (if there is any)

Latin exercises or drill sheets

vocab. exercises

compare KF map to globe and atlas - notice changes

complete KQ maps

read corresponding SOTW chapter

read lit. book and put any dates on timeline (birth/death of author, pub. date)

 

Tuesday 6:30-7:45 p.m. or so

 

alternate music skills (they demonstrate piano skills learned with Dad) with music appreciation (which is basically reading from a book and talking about what we read about, like orchestra or composer, and putting dates on timeline - we listen to music anytime while playing, working, etc.)

listen to Mom read aloud

 

Wednesday 8:30-10 a.m.

 

listen to poem

poetry/Bible/science mem. work

math (and math fact review)

English grammar (orally with R&S, except diagraming)

Latin flashcards or teach new lesson or quiz

vocab. flashcards or go over new lesson

logic puzzle

writing: lit. or science dictation, science outline

 

Wednesday 10-11:30 a.m. and after lunch

 

math problems

English diagraming (if there is any)

Latin exercises or drill sheets

vocab. exercises

read experiment pages

read further about experiment topic in at least 2 science encyclopedias, compare how they are written by two different authors

read lit. book and put any dates on timeline (birth/death of author, pub. date)

 

Wednesday 6:30-7:45 p.m. or so

 

listen to Spanish lesson on CD

look over new grammar book section, get familiar with vocab. and grammar

listen to Mom read aloud

 

Thursday 8:30-10 a.m.

 

listen to poem

poetry/Bible/science mem. work

math (and math fact review)

English grammar (orally with R&S, except diagraming)

Latin flashcards or teach new lesson or quiz

vocab. flashcards or go over new lesson

logic puzzle

writing: science topic narration, lit. discussion and narration

 

Thursday 10-11:30 a.m. and after lunch

 

math problems

English diagraming (if there is any)

Latin exercises or drill sheets

vocab. exercises

record science dates from How.....Works book on date sheet and timeline if applicable

pick something from science exp. or topic pages to sketch - colour in and label parts

read lit. book and put any dates on timeline (birth/death of author, pub. date)

 

Thursday 6:30-7:45 p.m. or so

 

alternate art skills (drawing lesson, DWC) with art appreciation (reading from books, talking about the matter, putting dates on timeline)

listen to Mom read aloud

 

Friday 8:30-9:30 a.m.

 

listen to poem

math lesson

Bible memory

read to Mom OR write a letter

 

Friday 6:30-7:45 p.m. or so

 

listen to Spanish lesson on CD

look over new grammar book section, get familiar with vocab. and grammar

listen to Mom read aloud

 

Note that not all of these things will be done all the time - such as, literature timeline. He only puts dates on if he is starting a new book, which might not be every day. Or there might not be vocab. exercises to do, or Latin exercises, or English exercises. Or we might be sick (like last week) which means that only math and English grammar will get done for a couple of days, since I want to finish those books by June - I can make up for lost time in Latin and vocab., and I can skip a science experiment or a writing project for a few days without long term problems.

 

Hope something here helps! :)

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This is for Monday - Wednesday and Friday. We have Community Bible Study on Thursdays, and only do math and writing when we get home.

 

We start about 9AM.

 

Bible Devotional (15 min)

Piano Practice (15 min)

Journal Writing (15 min)

History (30 min)

Writing and Grammar (45 min)

Math (45 min)

Independent Reading (45 min)

CBS homework and AWANA verses (30 min)

LUNCH

Piano Practice (15 min)

German (15 min)

Typing (10 min)

 

My 5th grader uses R & S math and grammar, Imitations in Writing, and Rosetta Stone German. Science is Apologia Zoology 2 and is read independently during 1/2 of the reading time. Activities and notebooking for it are done on Fridays during the writing time. History is with Ambleside and Truthquest selections and done together with read alouds. Timelines are done on Fridays.

 

I hope this helps!

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Here's what I schedule and what's actually happening thus far, this year:

 

(R = Thursdays)

 

Bible/Character - 8-8:30, M-F

We went through a character curriculum (A Child's Book of Character Building), and two manners' books, then started back in on the Memoria Press Christian Studies book we began last year.

 

Math - 8:30-9, M-R (Singapore); M-F (MUS)

Singapore and MUS

 

Spelling/Word Study - 9-9:30, M-F (Spelling - test only on Friday); M-R (word study)

Working through Spelling Workout level G.

Currently working in a workbook by World Teacher's Press called Word Study, Improving Usage and Meaning, for grades 4-5. Will follow this with work in a Dictionary Skills workbook, then continue with a Wordly Wise program we began last year.

 

Handwriting/Writing - 9:30-10, M-R (generally; may need to do some writing on Friday for catch up if the week is busy).

Getty-Dubay level F.

Currently using World Book Language Skills workbook entitled Ideas for Writing to help us cover some writing topics. Will be moving into using a workbook on summarizing following this, and then into WordSmith Apprentice. We've already completed a workbook covering outlining skills.

 

Grammar - 10-10:30, M-R (mostly; sometimes finish up a chapter if there's an odd page out on a Friday). We cover an exercise in Oral Language Lessons daily, as well as covering generally two pages in the Abeka level B book, daily.

 

Literature - 10:30-11, M-F

Using Eyewitness Mythology; Goddesses, Heroes, and Shamans; and other books covering the mythology and folklore of the ancient periods we're studying during the year. Using notes and work pages I printed off the web to cover literary elements pertinent to the stories as we read. He's also reading a lot of mythology on his own and writing reports on some of those stories.

 

Geography - 11-11:30, M,W,F

Using Beautiful Feet study guide along with Paddle to the Sea right now. I wrote out the questions/prompts from the guide and made a notebook. He's answering these questions and writing reports as we go along through the book. I also have the large maps that come with this program and he's filling in the map as he goes along.

 

Logic - 11-11:30, T,R

Have finished Mind Benders Warm-up and almost finished with the Beg. Book 1. Will continue with Beg. Book 2 and then the A series of books.

 

Latin/Spanish - 11:30-12, alternating with one done M,W,F of one week, then T,R of the next. So five classes of each language are done every two weeks. It's slower, but it's okay with me for now.

Latin Primer I

Espanol Para Chicos y Grandes

 

12-1 Lunch

 

Reading - 1-1:30

Time for Liam to read on his own (see lit, above). He's also reading a lot of science related books on his own this year.

 

History - 1:30 - 3:30, M,W

Using Kingfisher and other history encyclopedia type books as my spines, or jumping off points, along with lots of living books on topic. My son is reading SOTW on his own and outlining at least one section from one chapter each week. He's also writing reports on a regular basis. We're doing mapwork and some of the other written things from SOTW that were more appropriate for older children. He's doing much of this written work during his morning seatwork time, rather than during history time.

 

Science - 1:30-3:30 T,R

I pulled together my own stuff using How Nature Works. We're reading, he's outlining the intro sections as we come to them. We're doing some of the projects/experiments; we're reading lots of living books on topic; he's doing related workbook pages for the topics being covered that I've pulled from online or out of workbooks I own for science (such as McGraw Hill's Complete book of Science 5/6, etc.); we're doing lots of field trips that are related to the topics we're studying.

 

Extra, outside things we do:

 

Piano lessons in our neighborhood on Mondays at 10:30 for thirty minutes. It only takes a couple of minutes to get there and back.

 

Spanish lessons in a group with a native speaker on Tuesdays for an hour. This is only about 5 minutes from our house. They are utilizing a workbook that we mostly had already completed on our own last year. He's reviewing this and she's giving him some extra homework, as well. This is just supplementing our home programming and helping to reinforce correct pronunciation and to help get him speaking in Spanish.

 

Wednesdays we're doing most of our field trips and these can vary from about an hour or ninety minutes total, to all day for out of town things. I try to plan for these by trying to get extra work done the day before or make it up afterward. I often put some of my reading on tape so he can listen to it in the car as we're driving to and from, etc. This is one reason I actually write down a schedule. It helps keep me accountable to make up things that we miss.

 

Fridays we're doing some art classes at 10 for about ninety minutes and they're also playing games together afterward and having lunch together. This is not every week. Some weeks we have theatre dates on this day, instead (same time). He has a homeschool gym and swim class from 2:15-4:15 on these days. Fridays are mostly light on written work, as you can see from above. And we use this day mostly to finish up, catch up, and just read more.

 

He's playing soccer. Practice is 2-3 days per week, from 6-8. Games are usually on both Saturdays and Sundays. That will be over in just a couple of weeks. They will play indoor this winter, but I don't think that starts until sometime in November.

 

He's in Cub Scouts as a Webelo II. They meet on Tuesday nights from about 6:15-7:15. There is some weekend camping involved. He'll cross over to Scouts in December.

 

The reality:

 

Although I have only 30 minutes scheduled for any reading time (outside Bible) before lunch, he really runs through all the written work, plus more (see history; also does some science workbook pages at this time, corrections, etc.) in about 2 hours every day. This leaves more time for reading. I tend to have him do the written work first and then I read around his piano and Spanish lesson; around our field trip for the week, etc.

 

If we're going to be out of the house for the afternoon and miss history/science time, then I try to bring along books and read some over lunch, while we wait for my older son to get out of school, etc. Or I incorporate some of that reading into our morning reading time, rather than just reading lit at that time. Or, I try to record some reading on tape and let him listen to it while we're driving back and forth. (You can really get an amazing amount of work done in this way!) I put my comments and questions right on there just as if we were reading together. He can stop the tape and talk to me about things, ask questions or whatever.

 

So that's how our days look. Hope that helps you some,

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Here's what I do:

 

I schedule some subjects to be completed in the first semester, then move on to a different subject the second semester. For example, it's easy to complete most handwriting programs in a single semester, then move on to typing. You might be able to do the same with your grammar and writing program (noted in sig line).

 

Mind Benders combines nicely with lighter co-op days.

 

HTH.

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