x-post: Who here plans less than 36 weeks of formal academics per year?

[Colleen in NS]

I've wondered about trying to do this before, then saw a comment by momof7 saying she does 34 rigorous weeks. I'd like to know how others do it (you, too, momof7, if you have more to add), **esp.** as the kids get older. Things like: how do you spread the weeks out through the year? How do you schedule an academic week vs. non-academic? Or do you integrate academics with the rest of life and how do you do it and still feel like you aren't cramming too much activity into a period of time. Even if it's less than 34 weeks - I saw someone here one time mention 32 weeks.

 

I know how to do things like take how many lessons are in a book and divide them out, etc.. For example, R&S math (some of which is eliminated or done orally) takes 34 weeks if you do 5 lessons per week. R&S English (which we do orally as much as possible) takes 30 weeks or less if you do 4 lessons per week and include tests on review lesson days. LC2 takes 30 weeks if you do a lesson or review per week. But how about things like WTM style writing in science, lit., and history? Will anything bad happen if I have the kids practice this type of writing across the curriculum for less than 36 weeks per year, LOL? And, if you do less than 36, do you integrate art and music in there somehow? How?

 

I think I'm looking for a way to blend the best of WTM and unschooling. :) I very much want to teach the skills in WTM (writing, math, Latin, vocab, reading, observation and scientific method, analyzing, etc.), but don't feel I need to do every little thing in there anymore. As SWB said, the schedules were put in by the publisher. So if you can get really detailed and practical with me about how you do it, that would be really helpful in my thinking.

 

Just to give you a glimpse of my life, I use many WTM principles/skills/materials. We live a frugal ilfe on a small income so I spend much of my household time doing scratch cooking and cooking big batches to freeze, as well as weekly bookkeeping so I can keep track and stay out of debt. I spend time figuring out how to teach things so I can avoid buying more expensive already thought out curriculums as much as possible, though I'm open (I recently bought the WWE book because it was a fantastic price for 4 years worth of WTM style writing teaching which is all laid out for me). I spend time obtaining clothing at thrift stores and fixing when necessary. I spend time making things we need such as pillowcases, curtains, Christmas/birthday gifts, or whatever other needs come up (I need potholders right now - not gonna buy when I've got perfectly good material in the house), so that we can still live within our means. I also WANT to have time to do handskills/lifeskills, art, and music, and exercise, and hang out with my family, without feeling like all these things MUST be slotted in to one or two hour slots all year long. And I want to do all this and know that my kids are prepared for adult life and university if they so desire.

 

Thanks!

 

ETA: I school year round.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Colleen in NS

[Lori D.]

Sounds like what you'd really like is a shorter school day so you have more time for cooking from scratch each day, doing projects, etc.

 

Instead of jamming everything in for longer days in order to gain 2 weeks in your summer, have you considered year-round school? Shorter days, spread out over more weeks. Or, school in short bursts, then take a week off.

 

Here are some examples of year-round scheduling that I've seen other ladies on this board use:

 

- School 4 weeks, take one week off (that uses 45 weeks of your 52-week year). (When you set up your schedule, base it around Christmas, so your one week off falls then.) Use the remaining 7 weeks of vacation and plug them in where you like -- perhaps at Christmas use another 1-2 weeks, and in summer, take the rest.

 

- School 9 weeks, take 3 weeks off (that uses 48 of your 52 weeks of the year). Use the remaining 4 weeks for summer vacation, or to plug in holidays in your school year.

 

- Instead of schooling 36 weeks and taking 16 weeks off in various places of the school year, school for about 40-42 weeks (shorter period of time each day), and then scatter lots of days off throughout your year from the 10-12 weeks of vacation.

 

 

If you year-round school, I'd pick a time (say, summer break), and plan out a list (reasonable amount of material) of what you want to cover; then over the year, just "do the next lesson" or "read the next book", and when a subject is finished, check it off and you're done with it until the next year. This way you can be flexible to keep your days short -- you don't *have* to do every school subject every day -- in fact, you won't have time to with a shorter day, so you can focus on just a few subjects each day. And, you aren't tempted to keep adding "just one more book" or "just a little more supplement". (lol)

 

 

Just some ideas! BEST of luck in finding the schedule that works best for your family! Warmly, Lori D.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Lori D.
fixed typo; added info

[8filltheheart]

Colleen,

 

I used to schedule 36 weeks. Then one yr I noticed the ps calendar posted in the newspaper. I looked at it and realized they were starting later than we did and ending earlier than us. I sat down and counted up the number of days and they totaled 172 including about 8-10 1/2 days. Teacher inservice days were counted as academic school calendar days.

 

On top of that, I noticed if we went to 6 Flags or Dollywood, school kids were there. Ditto to the aquarium, battlegrounds, museums, etc. We love history and spend weekends hiking through historical sites, etc. I have never counted any of our "field trips" as school days. (BTW, I put it in quotation marks b/c for us this is simply part of our life. We would do it regardless of homeschooling or not.)

 

I know that our 34 weeks of all academic work exceeds the "36" weeks of ps (not really 36 weeks anyway, really since 172 days=34.4 weeks. Throw in the 1/2 days and field trips and our 34 weeks is actually a longer academic yr.)

 

Most standard textbooks have ~160 days worth of assignments. That allows extra days for tests, etc.

 

FWIW, I could not function long term w/o our weeks off. I do many of the things you mention (bake from scratch, etc). My days are extremely full. I need the weeks off to get all the detail oriented stuff under control b/c I simply run out of time during our scheduled school weeks.

Edited October 30, 2008 by 8FillTheHeart

[choirfarm]

Well, that is how I describe myself... a classical unschooler. Grin. We take many vacations throughout the year and we live on 50 acres with a huge garden. I've never kept track of days..until this year when I am trying to use homeschool tracker. It's been interesting. Basically, I just schedule around life. We school hard until May and then normally pick back up in July but we even did math during May and June this year. I have a blank schedule and use a different color for each subject and pencil out each one. I use TOG redesigned 2, but we are doing many weeks over 2 weeks. I'm thinking we will get almost done with Unit 3 by May. Science is with our local co-op so that gets pushed and done September through April. So my 8th grader who is doing Apologia Biology will be finished April 8th with the Biology. It's tough, but we do it and then we concentrate on other subjects that perhaps we let slide to get that done. We do math every day unless we are on the road(Yellowstone, Disney, etc.) But then they do Park Ranger activities, Park ranger talks, hikes, etc that I figure should count as school as well!!!

 

So I guess I have a goal in mind for each subject: study the Middle Ages and Renaissance in depth; finish TT Algebra II, finish Apologia Biology, write a 3-4 page paper research paper, 3 shorter reports, contrast/compare essay, etc. So I know what they need to do. I sketch out a VERY rough idea on my planning calendar. I try to check it at least monthly so I can see, "Oh my, they have only written 2 papers and I had them writing 4." So then I can concentrate on writing a little more heavily. It has worked pretty well. By May we have generally finished most subjects except math and writing. Many times I spend the last few weeks of May just having them assemble all of the papers we wrote and making a portfolio and final changes. It always seems like a few papers go unfinished throughout the year. Example, the boys did a research paper. My oldest finished it, but by the time I looked at my middle son's it was absolutely horrible. He had all of this research but it didn't follow a thesis and was 3 pages of facts/narration.. I cannot remember what was going on that week, but I couldn't help him fix it, so I just filed it as is and gave him a simpler assignment to do instead: write a persuasive letter to a friend to convince them to go on the Crusades (He did that one very well!).

 

Now next year, my oldest officially starts high school, so I'm not sure how I will do it with credits and such. I have always done it by goals not by actual time. We work on weekends sometimes. We generally take week to week and a half trips in August or September, November, February and April. We take off 2 weeks for Christmas and 1 week for Thanksgiving. (Although many times the kids are doing some school the first few days of Thanksgiving since we normally have a few things to finish.) The only think bad about this is that school never really ends. I have very few days that we don't do any school whatsoever. Sometimes I wish I could just take a week completely off. But we take so many vacations and such that it just isn't possible. The kids normally spend June in VBS (or now 2 of the 3 help as they are too old) science camps a the local college and then in July last year we went to Ethiopia on a mission trip. So we never really stop learning.

 

Christine

[Shasta Mom]

I found that we do 32 weeks of formal school. We usually leave for Alaska the beginning of May and stay until the end of August. While we are up there, we are continuing history - the readings, narration, and literature, but don't continue with our timeline. It's relaxed. Sometimes we do a little math each day, but that's about it. I've found that I can finish a full year's worth of curricula in the 32 weeks for the most part with the exception of history ( and perhaps Lively Latin - which we are new to this year). R&S English, Singapore Math, Writing Tales, Science-those are all do-able in 32 weeks easily.

 

My son is involved in music and attends several music events each year - probably a month's worth. So some weeks that we aren't "schooling" he is playing music for 6 hours a day at a camp. Also, while on the boat in Alaska, we sometimes use loosely some marine biology curricula to supplement what he is experientially learning.

 

We also only formally school 4 days/week during that 32 week period. On Fridays, we do math (only) and then do field trips. I don't think my ds is missing out on any academics and he has the opportunity to do the other activities in his life.

[Colleen in NS]

Throw in the 1/2 days and field trips and our 34 weeks is actually a longer academic yr.)

 

Most standard textbooks have ~160 days worth of assignments. That allows extra days for tests, etc.

 

FWIW, I could not function long term w/o our weeks off. I do many of the things you mention (bake from scratch, etc). My days are extremely full. I need the weeks off to get all the detail oriented stuff under control b/c I simply run out of time during our scheduled school weeks.

 

momof7 (and I'll be back with replies to others later today),

 

I've noticed all those same things, too, about the ps, and universities around here. I'm pretty sure the big local u. starts in Sept. and ends by the latest April 30, including exams. So then I wonder where 36 weeks even comes from amongst homeschoolers (probably state by state or province by province requirements?). The only text I have that has 36 weeks worth of work is WWE, and that would be *easy* to cut back on because it's easy to see where one skill is being worked on for several weeks, and I can cut out a week here and there. The rest have maximum 34 (and I suppose I could cut from there, though I'm not confident about cutting from or testing out of chapters or skipping lessons in R&S math which has 170 lessons......), some less.

 

Anyway, what do you think of the writing skill side of things.....do you think that students progressing over the years in writing skills NEED to practice for 36 weeks, or would 32 or 34 more than suffice? (I KNOW this is stupid question, I just need someone to affirm me, and give me some practical reassurance that it works out, and how it does, LOL!!) I have no problem with relaxing about history/science/lit. reading because my kids read all the time, school or not, but writing.....I'm not too sure about what would be too little amount of weeks of practicing skills. My goal is to equip them with good writing skills so that they will be able to and WANT to use them in later life for their reading and self-study. NOT to finish a curriculum just to say it's done. And it would be nice to see them start to use them for fun (like short narrations so far) during their off times, kind of like when they speak Latin to each other for fun, but ds mostly sees writing as "schoolwork" so far. No wonder. I've always made sure he practiced writing during our *36 weeks!*

 

I can't function without taking regular breaks, either. I don't know how people go from Sept. to June and just take a couple of weeks at Christmas, a week in March, and then the whole summer. I just can't do it. I've been going 6 on, two off, but sometimes even that is stretching it. I'm experimenting right now with 3 on, one off, which I've done before and regretted. But kids are older now, so maybe it will work. Eliminating a few more academic weeks would be nice, too. All I know is I don't want to feel like my life is swamped with academics and household stuff and prodding kids through every little task or that I have to cram other things into small pockets of time. I LIKE having an entire week or two to completely relax and do fun craft things and doing big cooking projects and just be Mom. We're off this week, and ds said I'm much nicer this week. Sigh.

 

ETA: You know, I just realized that another reason your reply encouraged me is that one time I asked pretty much this same question, but just on the high school board (and I know it varies around here as to who is reading and replying and various experiences), and mostly what I heard was, "no way, you need *at least* 36 weeks a year if not more, for the high school years." YOU have high schoolers, and I believe you have high standards for them - but you do it in less than 36 weeks - whoohooo!

Edited October 30, 2008 by Colleen in NS

[Rhondabee]

Hey, Colleen!

 

I took Momof7's advice a few years ago, and started schooling 6 weeks on/1 week off. I also only planned for 34 weeks of history/literature.

 

But, I also kept going in Math and Grammar/Writing until those books were done - maybe two or three weeks into the summer. We do usually skip the very last chapter of Math, which is mostly either Review or group activities. And, I've started saving the last chapter of R&S-English to do at the beginning of the next year, because it seems silly (to me) to study how to look things up in reference books the last week of school. But, I don't *plan* to have skills subjects done in 34 or 36 weeks, as I do history & lit. That way I don't freak out when ds just really needs some extra time with something.

 

Even though technically 6 weeks on/1 week off gives you 36 weeks, we are the family who picks up every sickness that gets within earshot! With allergies as well, I can tell you that I really appreciate knowing that I have some wiggle room in the schedule for sickness. I'm not sure that was Momof7's original intent, but that's how it works here.

 

=)

Rhonda

[Jill- OK]

...but this is also the first year of high school for us, and the first year I've had a *formal* schedule. (I don't really sweat formality much before high school).

 

I didn't fill up 36 weeks.

 

Some of the subjects will take almost that to complete (algebra, etc.), but I purposefully didn't make up a full year of plans for history, literature, etc., because I want my kids to have some of that time to follow their own interests.

 

We'll study literature all year...but only half of that will be what I pick. That's what I schedule...my 'picks'. The older kids plan their own electives (with some guidance and suggestions from me), and will fill in the rest of the year after my assignments are done with their own choices. (This goes for other subjects, too.)

 

We use a daily planner that's really more of a logbook, so that they can alternately plan and record what they've done/are doing, and be sure that we're meeting requirements.

 

Does that help any?

 

For my younger kids...I don't really 'plan' at all. We have core subjects, that I direct, and the rest is delight-led/delight-suggested.

 

(We also school year 'round, so that we can have a more relaxed daily schedule)

[katilac]

I got an idea from Simply Charlotte Mason that is working out really well for us this year: three weeks of bookwork, followed by project week.

 

Project week is not a 'no academics' week, but a week for doing all of the messy/complicated/needs supplies kind of projects that are hard to fit into the regular school day. This is when we delve into the SOTW activity guide, perform science experiments, work with math manipulatives, cook from scratch, and go on field trips and long nature walks. This is when we use all that educational software we own, and play the educational games.

 

It is SO much easier to dedicate an afternoon to science experiments instead of trying to fit them as we go along. More gets done, because you take out and put away all the science supplies (or art, etc) once, not again and again. It's great fun to have a week of no grammar or math worksheets, and it rejuvanates all of us. We get the same four weeks worth of academic work done; it's jus that the types of work are separated.

 

Another thing I like is that it makes it easy to plan in three-week chunks; I can adjust for the kids being ahead or behind in different subjects.

 

As far as number of weeks? I'd say we do 36-38. We take off a month in summer, two weeks at Christmas, two weeks for vacations, and a couple of weeks get taken a day or two at a time.

[Colleen in NS]

Sounds like what you'd really like is a shorter school day so you have more time for cooking from scratch each day, doing projects, etc.

 

Thank you, Lori! After I read your post, I realized I hadn't mentioned that we do school year round, so I edited my post to say that. Thanks for taking the time to write all that out for me! There are some nuggets in there that I will take away with me as I think......

 

You're right, I DO want a shorter day, AND a shorter year, lol! I've managed to shorten the day quite a bit, but the kids and I also thrive when we have a week of just nothing. I also think I could shorten the days more, too, if I can "buy" a few more weeks from the year.

 

Off to think some more....

Edited October 31, 2008 by Colleen in NS

[Colleen in NS]

Basically, I just schedule around life.

 

So I guess I have a goal in mind for each subject

 

The only think bad about this is that school never really ends. I have very few days that we don't do any school whatsoever. Sometimes I wish I could just take a week completely off.

 

Thank you for sharing how it works at your house. It always helps to hear how others do it.

 

I'm going to have to give that phrase, "scheduling around life," a good think. I've been putting academics before everything else (well, not completely), and while it's still important to me, I need to adjust some things somehow.

 

Goal for each subject - I do, too. I like to know *when* we're going to be done a book, so I guess I used 36 weeks to give some wiggle room to the scheduled out lessons like math and English. Guess I need to come up with a better goal for history/science/Lit. than just "read and write about them for 36 weeks." Yes? :lol:

 

Never done with school....this is why I desperately try to schedule out the year, so I know when I can have complete breaks.

[Colleen in NS]

I found that we do 32 weeks of formal school.

 

I've found that I can finish a full year's worth of curricula in the 32 weeks for the most part with the exception of history ( and perhaps Lively Latin - which we are new to this year). R&S English, Singapore Math, Writing Tales, Science-those are all do-able in 32 weeks easily.

 

We also only formally school 4 days/week during that 32 week period. On Fridays, we do math (only) and then do field trips. I don't think my ds is missing out on any academics and he has the opportunity to do the other activities in his life.

 

Phew, this is a breath of fresh air for someone to tell me 32 weeks (I know, I'm insanely obsessed with the numbers right now)!! I had to go look at your sig to see why history goes longer, and I see you have SOTW, so I assume you go through all the chapters and perhaps the activity guide. We use SOTW (without the AG), but I don't mind doubling up on chapters and still just doing one narration (or outline for ds) a week from them.

 

I think I need to go through everything I use and plan for that, instead of planning for a certain amount of weeks.

 

I also do just 4 day weeks, with math on 5 days.

 

Thank you for your help!

[Colleen in NS]

I also only planned for 34 weeks of history/literature.

 

OK, I feel like this gives me some more "permission" I've been looking for. :lol: Can't make my own decisions, need everything affirmed!!!!

 

But, I don't *plan* to have skills subjects done in 34 or 36 weeks, as I do history & lit. That way I don't freak out when ds just really needs some extra time with something.

 

This makes sense, it's why I've always scheduled 36 or more weeks. Hmmm......thinking.......

[Colleen in NS]

I didn't fill up 36 weeks.

 

Some of the subjects will take almost that to complete (algebra, etc.), but I purposefully didn't make up a full year of plans for history, literature, etc., because I want my kids to have some of that time to follow their own interests.

 

Ah, more permission granted to me, thank you!!

 

We'll study literature all year...but only half of that will be what I pick. That's what I schedule...my 'picks'. The older kids plan their own electives (with some guidance and suggestions from me), and will fill in the rest of the year after my assignments are done with their own choices. (This goes for other subjects, too.)

 

Hmmmm.....these are some things for me to consider for later on. This is great, thanks!

[Colleen in NS]

three weeks of bookwork, followed by project week.

 

Project week is not a 'no academics' week, but a week for doing all of the messy/complicated/needs supplies kind of projects that are hard to fit into the regular school day.

 

It is SO much easier to dedicate an afternoon to science experiments instead of trying to fit them as we go along. More gets done, because you take out and put away all the science supplies (or art, etc) once, not again and again. It's great fun to have a week of no grammar or math worksheets, and it rejuvanates all of us. We get the same four weeks worth of academic work done; it's jus that the types of work are separated.

 

Another thing I like is that it makes it easy to plan in three-week chunks; I can adjust for the kids being ahead or behind in different subjects.

 

Before I came back to read this thread, the phrase, "project week" popped into my head, with exactly all that you mentioned!! I've tried it before, and it failed (probably because I tried to schedule all sorts of details into THAT week, too, and failed my own expectations). But I'm going to have to rethink that. I see it better now, esp. with your explanation about science experiments. I've been lagging on ds' science experiments, because they are a little more involved now than before and I HATE that I've been lagging, because I KNOW if I put effort into doing them, he'd love them. I don't want to be the reason he loses interest in science. It's exactly as you said - they are harder to fit into a regular week now, because my mind is split into smaller chunks during each day and experiments are a burden. But if I do them on that 4th project week, that would work. Same with art projects/drawing lessons/crafts that I so badly want to do with them. And we definitely want to stay away from math/grammar/Latin/writing during those weeks, because we need the mental break. Another prob. I had before with project weeks is that they seemed so few, once we figured in Christmas prep and Christmas, visits, vacations. So I figure if I can cut down a little more on "formal academic" weeks (math, etc.), I can "buy" more project weeks.

 

As for 3 week chunks - I'm trying 3 on and 1 off right now - I used to hate that, too, because it took three weeks to get ds back into the swing of things, only to stop again for a week. But it might work this time, and be like you said. Nice 3 week chunks that aren't overwhelming, followed by a week of rejuvenation.

 

OK, I'm getting some hope here! Thanks!

[Colleen in NS]

:bigear: to anyone else who wants to chime in! I really appreciate all the input.