how often should we be doing each subject? (2nd and K)

[omishev]

Right now the only subjects we consistently do every day are Bible, math and reading. We do phonics 2-3 times a week, handwriting 2x a week, and writing/journaling 1-2x. For whatever science topic we are currently learning about we do an experiment, craft/project, book, video, or activity of some sort a couple days a week. I had hoped to work on it every day. We don't do any formal history or geography, some happens via readalouds. I do have curriculum for art and music but we never get to it. DD practices her instrument every day and we do the occasional craft, usually to go along with our science topic. We do a lot of readalouds and they listen to audiobooks during rest time. I had planned to do phonics every day, some kind of writing every day and work on our science topic every day but it seems I am way off! Are we doing enough? Have I prioritized the right subjects?

[Susan in TX]

My priority for K and 2nd is learning how to read. I have used different methods with different kids but the end goal is reading fluently and that is our number one priority until that goal is reached. Since that is the priority, that is the skill that we would work on every day. Included in this, but somewhat less of a priority in the early grades, is penmanship. So penmanship is also something we do every day. 

Math is the 2nd priority. I don't start a formal math curriculum until the second half of first grade. I think one could wait even longer. I have found that a lot of early elementary math can be learned naturally in the course of everyday living and playing games. Once we start a formal math curriculum that is also done every day.

So for K and 2nd that's it for formal school. Anything else we do is "extra" and I try to keep it child-led and fun. 

Susan in TX

[Momto6inIN]

I think your week sounds delightful! In addition to daily reading aloud, skill subjects like math and handwriting and phonics and music/instrument practice probably should happen very consistently. Other areas are content subjects and can be less predictable.

[wendyroo]

When you say you do "reading" everyday, what exactly do you mean?  I just wonder because until a child can fluently read, I would expect "reading" to be phonics...which you list separately as only happening 2-3 times a week.

For kindergarten the only subjects I do every single day are handwriting for 10ish minutes and phonics  for 20ish minutes, split into two sessions if necessary.  They work on some type of math every day, but only a few days are book work and the others are natural parts of the day like games, measuring, playing with pattern blocks, etc.  They listen to a ton of read alouds and do large and small muscle activities every day.

By 2nd grade my kids are fluently readers, so they spend a solid 2.5ish hours on a variety of subjects.  Last year my second son was in 2nd and he did: Math (6 days a week), problem solving (6), math fact practice (3), handwriting (4), literature (6), writing (2), spelling (2), grammar (2), memorization (3), science OR history (4), Spanish (6), piano (6), typing (4), programming (2), art (2), and morning time (poetry + vocab + current events) (5).  It seems like a lot, but we use the Charlotte Mason philosophy of short lessons.  On average he would have about 12 subjects scheduled each day: normally 3 longer ones taking 20ish minutes each and the rest taking 5-10 minutes each....plus waiting and dawdling and transition time = just about 2.5 hours of seat work each day.

Wendy

[Mommyof1]

My DD is 1st grade and an only child.

She does math, phonics, spelling and penmanship 4 days a week.

She reads to us daily and reads on her own at bedtime nightly.

We read to her and she hears audiobooks daily. Of a variety of subjects.

We talk and work on the states. We live in a college town and we see lots of out of state licenses plates. We make a game out of it. Puzzle on the states. Tv programs on the states.

We read books on state history and watch programs on it. We have a museum in town that is all about the history of our town. They have a homeschool class once a month.

Those we do when we can.

Storytime twice a week.

Parktime as often as weather and time permit.

Last night she join family choir (for Christmas) along with Dad. So they are singing and practicing their songs together.  They will be doing that daily.

Science and nature we do as often as possible. 

 

Edited October 3, 2019 by Mommyof1

[Farrar]

I think what you're doing sounds fine. I do think I'd aim for phonics every day. And math every day for the 2nd grader. But a really tiny amount of every day. Certainly 20-30 minutes is plenty. And don't beat yourself up if that's not happening. It's really okay. Your day sounds really good. Read alouds. Relaxed. Audiobooks. Occasional projects. Some phonics and math. Lovely.

[EKS]

I would do reading/phonics, math, and handwriting every day.  I would also read several things aloud each day (including literature, history, and science).  For writing, I'd the K'er dictate a few sentences for you to write down a few times per week, and for the 2nd grader, a paragraph a few times per week.  

[Clemsondana]

That looks fine to me.  The biggest thing that I did differently was to do history/geography and science as alternating modules - 3-8 weeks of one, then switch to several weeks of the other.  At the younger ages, it was hard for us to switch gears to do both in one day. You could also do units on art or music - some years we did those, and other years my kids were taking an art or choir class at co-op and I decided that was enough.  How we did those units - read-aloud, independent reading, hands-on projects, etc - depended on the particular kid.  

[ElizabethB]

Math and Phonics daily.  I keep doing phonics until my children are reading at the 12th grade level, with Webster's Speller, my syllables program teaches how to teach it:

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

[carriede]

For K: We do reading instruction (phonics with leveled readers), math, and handwriting (usually copywork from the readers) every weekday. The rest is done on a rotating cycle. I aim for 4-5 "lessons" a day, so reading, writing, math, + 1 or 2 (a science picture book for example). We also do Morning Time as a family where we do prayer and a read aloud chapter book.

For 2nd: reading+phonics, copywork, and math everyday. Grammar and composition (we use FFL amd WWE at that age) get woven into that. History, science, geography, and catechism get done 1-2 days a week each.

The Takeaway: reading, writing, and math are skill subjects. They happen everyday. Content subjects like history and science get cycled through during the week, however often you want to do them - frequency is up to you, there's no real standard.

[PeterPan]

18 hours ago, omishev said:

handwriting 2x a week, and writing/journaling 1-2x.

That still means you're writing something every day with maybe 1 day a week off to go do field trips or co-op.

18 hours ago, omishev said:

I had planned to do phonics every day, some kind of writing every day and work on our science topic every day but it seems I am way off!

Is life happening or is your work taking the full, normal amount of time? Science does not need to be done daily at this age.

They should be writing *something* daily, but copywork vs. narrative vs. something in their science/history vs. handwriting page doesn't matter. 

[omishev]

20 hours ago, wendyroo said:

When you say you do "reading" everyday, what exactly do you mean?  I just wonder because until a child can fluently read, I would expect "reading" to be phonics...which you list separately as only happening 2-3 times a week.

What I call phonics is their phonics worksheets or instruction from me. My 2nd grader is reading to me from the My Father's World Bible Reader. Sometimes we have to stop and review a rule but mostly she just reads right through. She tolerates about 5-10 min. My K-er is doing the alphabetti books (progressive phonics) where the child reads a few words and the adult reads the rest. This does involve a lot of stopping to sound out words. He does 10-20 min and would happily do more. My 2nd grader loves the series so she sits with us and follows along, usually whispering the words along with us so that makes me feel better about how little she does.

[2_girls_mommy]

I think it all sounds good!

My ker does her math curric everyday that we are home doing school (some weeks five days a week, others 3 or 4 because of homeschool group days and field trips.) And some type of writing. I'm very informal here for k. Some days we do copywork on a topic we are learning about or from her readers. Some days she has writing pages in her little k workbooks. She has her little Rod and Staff workbooks that cover a variety of prewriting, math, prereading, and motor skills pages. We'll do 1-4 pages of those, depending on how many she wants to do a few times a week. My older kids are having a big history year, so she watches videos, colors coloring sheets, and I read to her from related picture books. 

We have no formal plan for science for k. We read from books, go to the zoo, look at field guides in nature, do little crafty science kits that she gets as gifts, and so forth for now. We follow up in anything she is interested in. 

We do lots of art and drawing and crafty stuff. She has lots of free play during the day, but no screens until teens are done with school. She practices reading from leveled phonics readers in bed most nights, and gets speech therapy and does that practice. We're starting longer chapter books for read alouds and poetry this year, and she's loving it. She has a twice a month homeschool group with field trips and crafts, weekly dance class, Sunday school,candy girl scouts where she gets a lot more social studies and science.

[omishev]

22 hours ago, wendyroo said:

solid 2.5ish hours on a variety of subjects.  Last year my second son was in 2nd and he did: Math (6 days a week), problem solving (6), math fact practice (3), handwriting (4), literature (6), writing (2), spelling (2), grammar (2), memorization (3), science OR history (4), Spanish (6), piano (6), typing (4), programming (2), art (2), and morning time (poetry + vocab + current events) (5).  It seems like a lot, but we use the Charlotte Mason philosophy of short lessons.  On average he would have about 12 subjects scheduled each day: normally 3 longer ones taking 20ish minutes each and the rest taking 5-10 minutes each....plus waiting and dawdling and transition time = just about 2.5 hours of seat work each day.

 

Wow. Ok I am trying not to get overwhelmed! I think we are taking too long on each subject but I feel like my 2nd grader is only productive for, at best, 50% of that time. She takes about an hour to do math and phonics with a short break in between. Science can take over an hour if we are doing an experiment or project/craft to go along with the topic. Some days we just read a book about the topic or watch a short youtube clip but I like to have them write/draw in their lab notebooks as well. Science is my favorite subject, the kids love it and it is easy for my little one to tag along so at the beginning I was favoring science at the expense of other subjects. I have had to back off to make sure we prioritize the 3Rs but I want to get back to doing a bit more.

We typically spend about 1-1.5 hrs in the morning on school, 20-40 min when the little one is napping, and 20-40 min after rest time on formal school. 

[omishev]

11 hours ago, PeterPan said:

That still means you're writing something every day with maybe 1 day a week off to go do field trips or co-op.

Is life happening or is your work taking the full, normal amount of time? Science does not need to be done daily at this age.

They should be writing *something* daily, but copywork vs. narrative vs. something in their science/history vs. handwriting page doesn't matter. 

There is some "life" happening, like messes or behavior issues, and I'm in my third trimester so I see the midwife and chiropractor frequently but try to schedule appointments for times we would be taking a break anyway. But really it's just that my 2nd grader takes a long time to get through anything (you may have seen my other post about helping her stay focused). 

I feel confident in my ability to teach K without curriculum, more based on life and games. I know the basic math skills and reading that he needs to master. With my 2nd grader I feel much more dependent upon the curriculum because it's my first time through and I have not been prepping far ahead. Perhaps getting a better understanding of what major skills she needs to learn by the end of the year will help me break away from worksheets a bit or at least not feel compelled to have her complete every problem.

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, omishev said:

But really it's just that my 2nd grader takes a long time to get through anything (you may have seen my other post about helping her stay focused). 

Sorry, I missed that thread! We didn't start meds for my dd's ADHD till she was 16, so I did that, sigh. I think roll with your gut, but I'm a lot freakish about meds now than I was then. I'd tell my then self to put the kid on meds and be done with it. Just something short acting like a 4 hour ritalin.

And I'm not saying what you're doing is not enough, not good, whatever. I'm just saying my hindsight is it's ok to use the meds, even good. My dd likes who she is on the meds. I think you'll find that about a lot of ADHD kids.

Edited October 5, 2019 by PeterPan