Laura Cook Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I am trying to reduce the amount of subjects that we have to get to each week. I have already decided to move history and science into more of a block schedule, either alternating every 6 weeks or every 3 weeks. I am considering doing the same with spelling and grammar. Good idea or bad idea? The only pitfall I can see is that my weak speller might forget some of what he has learned. Anything else I'm missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 My kids do outsourced art classes and I do music theory with my kids in Summer. My kids find it less disjointed that way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rutheart Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 I've been alternating grammar and vocab weeks this year. Spelling and math are the only two subjects that need to be done daily, IMO. Ruth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 I've been alternating grammar and vocab weeks this year. Spelling and math are the only two subjects that need to be done daily, IMO. Ruth I'd add foreign language to the list of subjects I'd want to do daily, assuming one is covering that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 We have alternated days for spelling and grammar. Usually we would do grammar on M/W and spelling on T/Th. I think block scheduling is great for history, science, art, or other electives, but I don't think it provides enough consistency for a core subject like spelling, especially if you are working with poor speller. For our family, the subjects that must happen every single day are math, reading, and foreign language. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Next year my twelve year old seventh grader will do Daily Grams, math, Japanese, our unit study, and reading of a book every day. He will also do swim team and go for a walk. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 I am considering doing the same with spelling and grammar. Good idea or bad idea? The only pitfall I can see is that my weak speller might forget some of what he has learned. Anything else I'm missing? Could you do daily copywork, using the copywork as the backbone for spelling/grammar lessons, and then alternate the focus. Week 1 - Pick 3-5 words out of the copywork per day to analyze by phonogram/morpheme. Week 2 - Make a basic subject/verb diagram of all of the sentences. Week 3 - Study words. Week 4 - Focus on a different part of speech. (Find the adjectives.) Use a Thesarus to find synonyms and antonyms. ...and so on... You would have consistency with the daily copywork, and your brain could have a narrow focus on one skill at a time. They aren't going to backslide in either spelling or grammar this way b/c they are continuing the exposure even if not the focus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 I alternate days for my kids to do the different elements of LA. They do spelling and an English workbook on Mon, Wed and Fri, with grammar and (sometimes) dictation in between on Tues and Thurs. Also, for composition we use a program on 3 days and have free writing on the other two. This allows us to not have everything every day while maintaining an element of consistency. I tend to think that the skill subjects need to be done pretty consistently or you can lose momentum and jeopardise progress. The block schedule would work great with content subjects though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 I agree skill subjects need to be done very consistently. I am wondering, though, if it would help to just do the History and Science on a rotating basis but maybe do skills only 4 days a week. Have the fifth day for educational games, listening to audio books, gardening, cooking and other practical application learning, etc. What exactly is your need for reducing the number of subjects each day? Too many transitions or too long a day or you think you and the kids need a change of pace or...? Are all of your materials very teacher intense and time consuming? Might it help to find resources that are less so for at least one area of skills learning? For instance, with grammar you might look at Fix-It Grammar. Only 15 minutes a day 4 days a week and you could use the same material with all three kids (your DD might need some scaffolding) during the same 15 minutes each day. That 15 minutes includes grammar, basic writing skills, copywork, vocabulary building, etc. Maybe do that daily but just do the more intense writing material every other week or something. There are 6 books in the series and the material starts out very basic but builds up in intensity over time. A book can be completed in a year or in a half a year, depending on your scheduling needs. You only have to buy the TM. The student book automatically comes in electronic form if you buy the TM so you can just print pages as needed for each student. http://iew.com/fix 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Brooks Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 I try to maintain a small, but consistent, number of subject each week. Math, spelling/vocab, and grammar are daily. A weekly writing assignment. A monthly reading assignment (fiction or nonfiction). A chapter a week in science and several chapters a week in history. Music/piano is daily. Adding more, and it doesn't get done. I am not a fan of block scheduling. Too much is forgotten between sessions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternallytired Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 I got exhausted trying to plan and schedule all the subjects I wanted to cover all at the same time (even if I did alternate what we did on what day, it was still overwhelming to juggle), so I have switched completely to six-week block scheduling. We generally do 4-6 subjects at a time, depending how much time they each require for planning and execution--BUT one of our "subjects" is a Mom-mandated rotating review session, so each day we cover one of the topics I don't want them to forget. We manage to review each pertinent subject area 1-2 times each week. It may not be perfect, but I'm really enjoying it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Cook Posted May 13, 2016 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 I agree skill subjects need to be done very consistently. I am wondering, though, if it would help to just do the History and Science on a rotating basis but maybe do skills only 4 days a week. Have the fifth day for educational games, listening to audio books, gardening, cooking and other practical application learning, etc. What exactly is your need for reducing the number of subjects each day? Too many transitions or too long a day or you think you and the kids need a change of pace or...? Are all of your materials very teacher intense and time consuming? Might it help to find resources that are less so for at least one area of skills learning? For instance, with grammar you might look at Fix-It Grammar. Only 15 minutes a day 4 days a week and you could use the same material with all three kids (your DD might need some scaffolding) during the same 15 minutes each day. That 15 minutes includes grammar, basic writing skills, copywork, vocabulary building, etc. Maybe do that daily but just do the more intense writing material every other week or something. There are 6 books in the series and the material starts out very basic but builds up in intensity over time. A book can be completed in a year or in a half a year, depending on your scheduling needs. You only have to buy the TM. The student book automatically comes in electronic form if you buy the TM so you can just print pages as needed for each student. http://iew.com/fix I wanted to try to reduce the number of subjects each week because what we have been doing has begun to feel really chaotic. This is what we've been doing as far as skill work and content done together. I am not doing reading with all 3 kids, this is lessons done only with DS9, he's been a bit of a late bloomer in this area. The other two read on their own. The writing, spelling and grammar is what is bothering me the most. Mon. - math, reading, writing, spelling, history Tue. - math, reading, writing, grammar, science Wed. - math, reading, spelling, grammar, history Thu. - math, reading, writing, grammar, science Fri. - math, reading, writing, spelling All the switching! A lot of it is teacher intensive, my kids are not really fans of independent work. They are capable of some, but they just really like the one on one time with me. Plus we all really like what we are doing, except for grammar. Well DS10 likes FLL, the younger two don't seem to like it or be retaining much. Actually, now that I think about it, it doesn't really work at all for the younger two. Ugh, I don't know. I think we will do history and science in 3 week blocks. I think that I should probably move my oldest into more independent work for spelling and maybe grammar, that might help. And I need to figure out something else for grammar for the other two. I thing I may have started rambling, lol, I'm getting tired! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.