What do you consider seatwork?

[konglish]

This is something I've wanted to know for years and finally got around to asking.  I've heard the general guideline to plan on an hour of "seatwork" per grade (i.e. 3 hours for 3rd grade, 4 hours for 4th), but what counts as seatwork?  It seems obvious to include skill work like math, writing, penmanship, spelling, grammar, etc.  But what about:  read alouds, memory work, "morning time" stuff, nature study, science, history, art, music, and reading to self?  Does it depend on whether there is output (oral/written narration, mapwork, etc.)?

 

I'm mostly thinking about this in terms of my rising 3rd grader.  On reflecting on our last year, I feel like a) we spent too  much time on curricula, while simultaneously b) not finishing the (reasonable, I think) amount of work I planned on.  She was sick A LOT this winter and spring.  My tentative plans for next year:

 

Rightstart D (we are finishing C over the summer)

math fact practice (something like Reflex math done independently)

WWE 2 (wanted to get through half of this in 2nd grade, we got through 3 weeks)

AAS 3

ZB cursive 3 (after finishing 2B)

read to me several times a week

independent reading of literature, history, and science (not sure if these will be completely interest led or from a limited amount of choices)

 

Other things I'd like to get to (including my rising 1st grader):  Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization, The Sentence Family, nature study, SOTW 1 (just listening to CD's mostly), lots of read alouds, field trips, and unit studies on insects, simple machines, and rocks/minerals.  The kids do go to a learning center through our homeschool charter school once per week and do art, music, and unit studies.

 

So...I guess I would be interested in general replies as to what you consider seatwork and/or more specific replies to my plan above.  Does it seem like a reasonable amount for a 3rd grader?  Which parts would you include in the 3 hours of seatwork?  I'd really like to get all of this done by lunch, even though we only school 4 days/week.

 

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

Warmly,

 

Konglish

[Jackie]

Well, I have two definitions. The first is what I personally define it as, which would be time spent sitting at her desk working directly on assigned work. The second, which I usually call "school time" includes all non-optional schooling, whatever the format may be. When I think of the rule of thumb of one hour per grade, I'm thinking of the "school time" definition.

[HomeAgain]

Anything that requires the body to be still, concentrate, and most likely writing is seatwork in our house.  Studying, flashcards, workbooks.......these are all seatwork in our house.  I alternate subjects: active/sitting, and plan each subject accordingly.  If math is all working with objects and play, it's okay for science reading to come next.  I find it helps us to get to the fun stuff, too, because the seatwork lessons tend to be much shorter and done well if we know something active is coming next.

[regentrude]

seat work: sitting at the table reading and writing for required school work. This includes math problems, worksheets, assigned reading, handwriting practice, copy work.

not seat work: experiments, arts activities, nature walks, field trips, instrument practice, sing along, listen to read aloud while playing with blocks, PE

 

Recreational reading, creative writing for pleasure, drawing and painting for enjoyment all do not count as seat work, even though they are done sitting down.

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 30, 2016 by cathey

[freelylearned]

I don't think in terms of "seatwork" when I plan my kids' days, I think in terms of "structured learning time." Structured learning time includes anything I tell my kids to learn or practice: worksheets, assigned reading, science labs, PE, field trips, learning new life skills, handwriting, drawing a diagram, writing in a journal, history, read whatever you want for 30 minutes, brainstorming for a writing assignment, art, computer games to reinforce skills, filling in a map, learning a song, and so on. 

 

While it seems to me that it would be more efficient to sit down and get all the workbooky and reading stuff out of the way first and then move onto all of the hands on projects. My kids do best with a Charlotte Mason approach with a lot of short and varied lessons. I try to mix PE, science labs and demos, creative activities, read alouds while drawing or playing with pattern blocks, and hands-on activities in with what I consider seatwork (workbooks, assigned reading, math, and writing.) 

 

I reserve the afternoons for classes, pulling out art supplies, fun read alouds, free reading, teaching life skills like following recipes, going to the library, playing music, lego building, and other fun, informal learning activities.

 

 

 

[J&JMom]

I consider school work to be work specifically related to school assignments while hobbies and life skills are extracurricular and thus not school work.  Seat work would be in the category of school work for me. I give lessons, videos, field trips, projects, and written assignments all under the classification of school work.  If they do an art project I assign = schoolwork. If they use the same technique to create a new poster for their room = recreation. Recreational reading doesn't happen in this house, however. The boys will only pick up a book if it is assigned - never of their own volition. Free read books are self-selected but scheduled. Bottom line, I don't differentiate schoolwork from seatwork.

[katilac]

Seat work is, to me, anything that requires butts on seats, sitting at a table. 

 

So doing a workbook page in science was seat work, experiments with dry ice were not. 

 

Grammar and handwriting were seat work, but listening to mom read while coloring or playing with legos was not. 

 

Field trips, nature study, and action drills were not. Action drills are just what they sound like, drill work with action - run to the swing set if the sum equals 7, run to the slide if it equals 10. Sit if I say a noun, stand if I say a verb, run in a circle for adjectives. 

 

Seat work as I defined it was very limited in the early years. We would never have done 3 hours in 3rd grade - we would be finished with all assigned work in that time almost every day (keeping in mind that my kids have always been fairly fast workers, and we do a longish school year).

 

It's tough to generalize in the early years, though - do you count independent reading? I didn't, but I could have called it Silent Sustained Reading and added an hour to the school day. 

[konglish]

Thanks for the replies so far!  The seatwork vs. total school time was a good distinction for me--thank you.  That is the crux of my issue.  I don't think my rising 3rd grader could do seatwork (as described by various posters above) for 3 hours a day.  She has limited patience for the teacher-led stuff, she is not a fast worker, and her concentration gets broken by a rambunctious younger brother.  On the other hand, she has a long attention span for read-alouds, loves science projects, and loves to read.  She will read field guides, history books, geography books, a thesaurus, Magic Tree House books, etc. on her own.  So I think we could meet 3 hours of structured learning time easily.  I guess I've been wondering if I am "supposed" to crank up the seat work time (to get to grammar and Latin, or make faster progress on other subjects), but my gut tells me we are not there yet.

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by cathey

[boscopup]

I've always heard the recommendation as one hour of school per grade level, including non seatwork. Sometimes people will read aloud longer, especially in the younger years, but you don't really need to count how many hours you're doing. Teach your child. The guideline is just a suggestion, and it's usually there to keep you from doing an 8 hour school day with a first grader. :)

 

If you are teaching the basics, your child is learning, and everyone is happy, carry on! Only you know your child.

[Arcadia]

I count all school work as seat work even though my DS10 prefers to stand or sprawl on the carpet while doing work.

 

For 3rd grade which was a few years ago, my kids did daily approximately

15 mins grammar

15 mins vocab

15 mins literature

10 mins handwriting

30 mins math

10 mins German

 

Twice a week for history. science, music and art.

 

They also do an hour of leisure reading daily year round but that is my requirement.

[katilac]

  The guideline is just a suggestion, and it's usually there to keep you from doing an 8 hour school day with a first grader. :)

 

 

Yes, it is meant as a maximum limit, not a minimum. 

[luuknam]

Seat work is, to me, anything that requires butts on seats, sitting at a table.

 

In my house, the only seat work my kids do is eat, lol.

 

(they do write etc, just not sitting on chairs at the table - sorry I don't have anything useful to add)