All academics in three days??

[3Rivers]

Do you all think it is possible to get everything done in 3 6-hour days? I'm thinking of doing all outside activities in 2 days so we can be home and just concentrate on regular school work and projects the remaining three days.

 

I have three children, ages 4, 7 and 10. I combine where I can, and then work with each of them on their specific subjects.

 

From your experience, not speculation, do you think that is a reasonable schedule?

 

We take off 1 month for Thanksgiving/Christmas, 1 week at Easter, and July and August during the summer, at least in the past. I'm hoping we can still keep that schedule.

 

What do you think?

 

Jamie

[Shasta Mom]

The hours are there, but can the kids focus that long? Even my 9 yo ds, who does well academically, starts to get glossy-eyed at hour 4........I think it would be hard..............

[Colleen in NS]

Do you all think it is possible to get everything done in 3 6-hour days? I'm thinking of doing all outside activities in 2 days so we can be home and just concentrate on regular school work and projects the remaining three days.

 

I have three children, ages 4, 7 and 10. I combine where I can, and then work with each of them on their specific subjects.

 

From your experience, not speculation, do you think that is a reasonable schedule?

 

We take off 1 month for Thanksgiving/Christmas, 1 week at Easter, and July and August during the summer, at least in the past. I'm hoping we can still keep that schedule.

 

What do you think?

 

Jamie

 

It's definitely possible - you've got 18 hours there for schoolwork (we have about 17 or 18 hours per week, too). You'll just have to try it for a few weeks and see how you all handle the longer days and figure out how to schedule your lessons. I'm constantly tweaking my schedule, both weekly and yearly, so I say go for it and give it a try!

[dragons in the flower bed]

From your experience, not speculation, do you think that is a reasonable schedule?

 

 

Funny, I just blogged about doing this. My 8yo, 6yo and I have been kind of loopy, high-energy, and manic, trying to cram it all in this week. They're learning, but it's taking longer than usual to get through lessons because our brains are tired and tempers are on edge. What should have been a six hour schedule became a nine hour schedule as we all took frequent high-potency breaks, locking ourselves in isolation with media sources to shut our brains off for a while. We did great Tues., did great Wed., and I really expected that we would do well today, too... but none of us can bring ourselves to start schoolwork. We're tired. We want to do something else. I guess two days of this is as much as we can personally handle. YMMV, as always. It probably can't hurt to give it a try for a day or three, see how it goes.

[HollyinNNV]

From your experience, not speculation, do you think that is a reasonable schedule?

 

 

What do you think?

 

Jamie

 

From my experience, this is not a reasonable schedule.

Holly

[Murphy101]

Yes. I've done it for the same reasons. It's not that hard at those ages.

 

Some tips:

You will have to be militant about your schedule. If whatever doesn't land on days disignated for outside activities then you have to adamently say NO. I found this actually rather freeing, but then I really don't feel much pressure to have my younger kids in outside activities either.

 

Mix up the school work to keep focus. a reading session should be followed by something more stimulating such as a science experiment or art. math followed by a history project. or get the table work done in the morning, then spend the afternoon on projects and such that let them spend more physical/creative energy.

 

Now that my olders are getting into higher grade level work, this is MUCH harder to do successfully and still balance their valid need for social networking. We are finding that we MUST be home until lunch every day and really can't spare more than 2 afternoons on outside activites a week. If possible, we limit to evening activities so academics don't have to be side-lined for an afternoon.

[Haiku]

Based on my experiences with my three kids, I think six hours at those ages is too much. I don't think you will find the kids doing a lot of quality work or retaining much with the expectation of focus for six hours. Even kids who go to school don't do schoolwork for six hours a day ... much of their time is frittered away in group management. I think six hours is too much for young kids.

 

Tara

[Ali in OR]

I've always done school 4 days a week with 1 day for errands and my bible study. Last year and this I have made math 5 days a week. As my kids get older, I am re-thinking the 4 day schedule. I think I need to be spending our most productive hours at home, and I'm thinking of keeping the 9am-2pm hours as our at-home school time 5 days a week. It's just getting a little stressful to lose that one day a week. Errands will have to be worked around that time. Other than piano lessons, the kids' activities are already in the after school hours.

 

You could probably do just three days a week with the younger two. I would not want 2 days out of the house while schooling a 10 yo. The best use of our time is to be at home--that's where we do our best schooling.

[Peela]

I have done it at times, but what I would rather do is even if we have activities on 2 days, if we can do some maths and anything else first thing in the morning, we do. If we dont have to be somewhere till 10 or 11, it still gives us an hour or two to do some basics. I would rather hit maths daily than only 3 days a week.

Also, I tend to agree 6 hours is a bit long for those ages- but it depends on how intense those 6 hours are, how academic. If they include sitting on the couch doing read alouds, art and colouring in- well, its easier than if its all bookwork.

 

Last year I lost almost a whole day to Science classes- but we managed to get some maths in- and another whole afternoon to a coop, which meant we had to leave home, already eaten lunch, by 11.30. It still allowed us to do several basic subjects in the morning, though.

 

This year, I have 5 mornings at home, and only one afteroon out- I feel very relieved.

[Stacy in NJ]

I think it's possible because of the ages of your children. It would be much more difficult with older kiddos.

[Aurelia]

I know I couldn't do it. We get tired and it starts feeling like punishment for both of us to keep going for more than a couple of hours at a time. For us more days with shorter hours works better.

[lmrich]

I would do math for all five days, even if just on the two "off" days it is a practice/review. I would also listen to a book on tape in the car. I would also use those two days for projects and require silent reading. I would never tell my kids they only had to "work" three days. Let us know if it works.

[3Rivers]

I probably should have been more clear. The children won't be hard at work studying for 6 hours straight. Their schoolwork is interspersed with a lot of play time (for the younger two especially). I'm actually more concerned that they won't have enough school time.

I'm frustrated that I have two commitments that are longstanding, and they are right smack in the middle of the week and in the morning. I hate to lose those times, but I may have to make a change, especially as DD is getting older.

Thanks for the input. At least for this week I think I'm going to try it and see what happens. It doesn't look like an ideal schedule, though, which most of you have confirmed. So...we'll see. :confused:

 

J

[katilac]

I have a 10 yr old, and I can't imagine taking off two full days a week. "10" could mean either 4th or 5th grade; mine is a 5th grader, but I'm pretty sure we couldn't have done it last year, either!

 

Rather than all or nothing, why not schedule independent work for those two days, and things that can be done in the car?

 

Independently, my kids do stuff like spelling, math drill sheets or review, and grammar when I'm not readily available to help. My 5th grader also does stuff like work on her essays/compositions - - she knows these are times for her to do what she can on her own, rather than the time to show it to me and discuss it.

 

It's rather amazing what you can get done in the car. This is one place where technology is your friend.

 

If you do anything on dvd, this is a great time - - we often watch Latin on the way to home school group. With the cd or mp3 player, we can go over Latin vocabulary, listen to Greek myths, and listen to our history chapter. We use Story of the World, and we have a routine of listening to the chapter in the car one day, and doing the map work and such the next day. Both kids (10 and 8) got Crammers for Christmas, so we'll also be able to do flashcards on the go (you can take along normal ones, of course, but they tend to get lost or diry or out of order!).

 

I think the tech is well worth the investment, but if you don't have it, you can still do a few things in the car. My kids do simple worksheets, where neatness is not crucial. Sometimes I have them read out loud, and of course they can read to themselves.

 

We probably get 2 to 3 hours of listening and review done in the car each week, a huge time savings - - about a half day's work!

[bettyandbob]

I don't think I could reasonably do this. I'm sort of doing it now because I work 2 mornings a week, not because dd has activities that could actually be considered part of school. I think if on our off days dd were involved in an activity with other homeschoolers and possibly an activity that could be counted toward a subject the schedule might be a little easier. I'm making an assumption that you are cramming homeschool coops and gym programs, field trips and music lessons on those days.

 

I wouldn't drop all academic work on those days. I'd break down the academic work and find assignments that can be done in the car, while waiting, etc. Extra practice pages for math, spelling workbook. Latin chants. History books on cd that are supplemental. Both my older ds and dd have done homeschool gymnastics and both have had assignments they had to finish in the car before going in for the class.

 

Like another poster said, you will have to guard your schedule. No activities that fall on academic days. Then you will have to monitor your schedule within those days to keep your dc attn span.

[Mere2]

I think it is possible, however I would look at other options first.....there is another 2 days in the week that you can use for homeschooling. Unfortuately I cant do soley academic days with my children. So we do a 7 day a week schedule and sometimes that needs to be some in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening. Not ideal, however something that I just have to do. I would look at your other two days that are free and try and massage some time into that.

 

You could think of your two days of activities as the actual weekend.

 

Good luck

Fi

[Hoggirl]

I've always done school 4 days a week with 1 day for errands and my bible study. Last year and this I have made math 5 days a week. As my kids get older, I am re-thinking the 4 day schedule. I think I need to be spending our most productive hours at home, and I'm thinking of keeping the 9am-2pm hours as our at-home school time 5 days a week. It's just getting a little stressful to lose that one day a week. Errands will have to be worked around that time. Other than piano lessons, the kids' activities are already in the after school hours.

 

You could probably do just three days a week with the younger two. I would not want 2 days out of the house while schooling a 10 yo. The best use of our time is to be at home--that's where we do our best schooling.

 

:iagree:

 

While I think the OP's schedule might work *this year*, I cannot see it as a viable option long-term. I think four days with one day of activities could work longer, but eventually, you are going to need five days a week for schooling. Just my $0.02.

[Plaid Dad]

Dd is in a three-day-a-week cottage school. The younger students have about 3 hours a day of classes. The older students have 4-5 hours a day. The younger students are almost always able to get all their work done in that time; if they have homework, it's memory work or a stray worksheet that didn't get done because the child was goofing off. (I can say that, because it's usually my child! ;)) The older ones - ages 10-13 - have reading and written assignments for the off days.

[In The Great White North]

It can definitely work.

 

Dd(12) in 6th grade is scheduled to do academics four mornings a week but usually finishes ahead, in three. Afternoons are art, music and swimming. Fridays are housecleaning (supposedly) and field trips/play-dates.

 

Car rides are fair game for memory work of any kind, any day of the week.

 

She considers reading to be play, not school, for most books.

 

It would definitely NOT work for ds(17).

[Jen in PA]

I think you can make it work, you just might have to be creative with the schedule. We dedicate 2 weekdays to outside activities, and have 3 weekdays at home doing our full schedule (pre-K and 1st grade). A couple of weekends each month I end up grabbing half a day to do more hands-on things like science projects or messy art stuff that didn't get fit in during the week. Just in the past couple of months, I've started carrying along some of dd's work to do on those days out of the house. Sometimes I have her do some oral reading while her brother is in dance class, or we just practice math facts while we're scooting from one activity to another. This schedule works really well for us, as I find that all of us benefit so much from the socialization, museum visits, library time, etc., that we fit into those 2 days. All of the scheduled PE occurs then, too, as well as dd's science classes, so we really do get some "school" done.

[3Rivers]

AAAAAGGHH! I just wrote this long reply and it's GONE! I don't know what I did!:banghead: I wrote out this nice looong paragraph with my activities and scheduling challenges...and then poof!

 

Okay.....in essence....thank you for all your great thoughts and your honesty especially, which is why I asked.

I will calmly now go back to my scheduling and tweaking, without saying even one. bad. word. at my :cursing: laptop.

 

Jamie

[debbielong]

Technology can be so frustrating!

 

I have enjoyed reading the different replies to your question.

 

I tried to pull off fewer, long days, and it didn't work out very well. I'm sure if I had to I could.

 

I can also tell you that, over the years, I have slowly eliminated all our daytime activities. We now reserve 9-2 as sacred school time M-F, with strict rules for exceptions. School is now much, much, much better for all of us.

 

The year I eliminated the majority of our activities was a very difficult transition - FOR ME! I never wanted to be school-at-home. But, structure and consistency is what my children work best with. And, when I am being totally honest, I work better that way, too.

 

So, I do think it depends on the personalities of you and your children. It depends on your academic goals, why you are homeschooling, and what your priorities are.

 

It can be difficult to eliminate commitments. Try to think about each commitment individually. Why are you doing it? Is it really something you should be doing? Can someone else do it in your place? If it weren't a long-standing commitment, would you take it up now? What else could/would you be doing instead?

 

These posts provide excellent fodder for contemplation. But, ultimately, you know your family best:)!

 

Good luck!

[Jenny in Florida]

Well, my son is 10. We're on a very short schedule this year, only 30 full, regular weeks of school work. He carries a pretty full academic load (see my signature line). But most of the time, he does all of the academic stuff in four days.

 

So, I would assume that it would be perfectly possible to do what you want in three days each week, as long as you plan for it.