I'm curious: does anyone here block by day?

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I'm interested in discovering whether anyone here blocks by day: dedicate one day/week to one subject. Say, Monday would be Language arts, Tuesdays for Math, Wednesdays for History, et c.

 

What does this look like in real life (outside of my brain/the fantasy I concocted)? I am interested in trying it out and I think it could really work well but there are two problems: 1) there aren't enough days in the week and 2) There are just some things I *have to* cover everyday (I can't help it, I was made that way, I guess).

 

On the "there aren't enough days in the week" problem I can see doubling up on some subjects like History and Geography but I'd still need a day or two more.

 

On the "there are just some things I *have to* cover everyday" problem I could possibly work that out by having memory work everyday. That way, we'd have music practice, memory, and subject study everyday. Under Memory, we'd practice catechism questions, math facts and mental problems, memory book (poetry and lists), geography facts, latin vocab/et c. and spelling words.

 

So a (fantasy) day would look something like this:

Get up and ready

Prayers

Violin

Memory

Break

Subject study

Break

Piano

 

I have this vision of getting so much more done: the fun stuff especially! Instead of getting a section of work done and having to hustle on to another thing, we would do the chapter, do something fun (work on a project, for example), do some practice problems, read a living book, more practice if necesary, finish off the project . . . something like that.

 

Would everything really get done? I struggle with the idea of having to review every week if she doesn't remember from week to week but with my girl, I don't worry too much. Still, is it a good idea?

 

and what about those missing days?

 

Anyone do this?

[Plaid Dad]

We do this for our non-core subjects (history, literature, science, geography, religion), but we do the core ones every day. Our core consists of classical languages, math, and writing. HTH!

[iquilt]

I agree with Plaid Dad; that's basically what we do, too. I love it because we have larger chunks of time to dig deeper with history, science, etc. Also we school M-Th with a lighter schedule on Fridays to allow for art projects and other fun opportunities.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I have never heard of anyone doing this with language arts or math. I think it would be difficult for a child to handle a week long gap between practice sessions. But, Waldorf schools do month long blocks of language arts and math, with daily memory work in those subjects, so maybe it could be made to work.

 

We do it the same way Plaid Dad does- skill subjects like Latin, Greek, music, writing and math are daily, but content areas like history, literature, religion, geography and science are one per day, one day per subject.

Edited November 3, 2008 by dragons in the flower bed

[mom31257]

Sometimes I do a modification of this, doing chunks of a small number of subjects a day. I like it because it's less to prepare for a day. The kids have never complained. I always start off every subject each day, but before long I'm back to chunks. It makes the age difference in mine seem more manageable. It also helps with our varied outside activity schedule. We go to boys/girls clubs 1 Friday a month, 4-H 1 Thursday a month, and usually a few outings with our homeschool groups. We belong to two different groups. I wanted more options and have friends in both.

 

This week (Field Trip Thursday, Clubs on Friday)

Son: Lots of math on Mon-Wed; History Mon-Wed; Phonics/Reading Every day; Lots of Science Friday

 

Daughter: Finish Election Project display board today; History Mon-Wed; Lots of Math on Tues-Wed; Reading every day; Lots of Science on Wed - Fri; Lots of English Tues - Wed

[birchbark]

This is a good idea. Sometimes I feel we are just moving too quickly from subject to subject for ds to get much depth. It would also do away with the nagging feeling that I've got to get it all in everyday.

 

I'm also considering leaving Fridays open for the things I find so hard to get to: art, music, science experiments, foreign language, etc. and not worrying about the core stuff that day.

[mom31257]

This is a good idea. Sometimes I feel we are just moving too quickly from subject to subject for ds to get much depth. It would also do away with the nagging feeling that I've got to get it all in everyday.

 

I'm also considering leaving Fridays open for the things I find so hard to get to: art, music, science experiments, foreign language, etc. and not worrying about the core stuff that day.

 

I like the idea of Fridays totally free for that stuff. If I can manage to get everything in during 4 days, I think I'll try to do that as well. There's so much I want to do, yet don't get to it. We're on staff at our church so I have outside responsibilities. I feel like the older I get (I'm 41), the worse I am at time management, too.

 

Thanks for suggesting it!

[angela in ohio]

This can work for older students. I teach several of dd's subjects one or two days a week, and then she has work to complete each day. It is basically like a college class - two hours of class teaching time and then a few hours of outside work between classes.

Edited November 4, 2008 by angela in ohio

[Harriet Vane]

For my kids this would suck the joy from school completely. I think my dd would shrivel up and die if she had to do a week's worth of grammar or math all in one day. Both my kids look forward to the content subjects so much--history and science and literature make the days pleasant for them.

 

We do make concessions to being able to do fun projects--if a content subject seems to need more time in a day we run with it. For example, if we get all involved in a history project, we might not do science that day. It's not scheduled or regimented. The ebb and flow works just fine--in the end we are progressing more or less evenly through all things.