High school level schedules

[Kathie in VA]

My first thought on considering curriculum is how it meets the subjects I want/need to cover and how my dc will be able to work with it. But the very next thing that quickly arises is whether it will fit into a day/week or will it overload us. So how much is too much? Can someone tell me if my very general estimates are about right?

 

math- (Algebra 1 w/Jacobs? Foeresters?): ~1 hr/day, 5 days/wk

LA- (grammar, writing w/CW Diagenes-?Poetry): ~1hr/day, 4 days/wk

science- (Biology w/?Apologia): ~1 hr/day, 5 days/wk [? + co-op class]

logic- (?informal w/thinking toolbox)

or (?formal w/Traditional Logic): ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk?

foreign language- (w/Rosetta Stone): ~20min/day, 5 days/wk??

 

Then there's the big question of how much time to allow for:

history

literature

?theology/bible

 

Plus there's the smaller stuff that would be nice to fit in like:

vocabulary- (roots study w/VfCR ): ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk?

spelling- (if still needed): ~30min/day, 3 days/wk?

 

And last but not least the electives:

art (?drawing w/outside class?) ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk plus class

music (?back to piano w/outside tutor?) ~1hr/day? 4-5 days/wk?

PE/sports (soccer w/team) ~1-1/5 hrs/day 2days/wk plus game on Sat

 

So I'm looking at about a 4-5 hr day BEFORE adding in history/literature and ? theology not to mention LUNCH time and small breaks! Then near the end of the school year I like to add in some test taking skills like Reading Detective and/or test prep books.

 

Curr. like Omni cover hist/lit/theology and expect about 2-3 hrs/day, 5 days/wk but then most say to add some more history reading to that! Notgrass history is similar in their time estimates (although I don't know if additional history reading would be needed). To me homework is what they do when they can't get the work done during the day... which we hit often enough lately. So I try to at least fit it all in on paper. This means we are looking at about 8-9 hr days!?? And this is for my oldest who isn't doing Latin... my next dc might include it! ug.

[Beth in SW WA]

It depends on the student's reading pace. Ds 8th/13 is slow reader and won't get as far in Omni readings as my dd 11 (who can buzz through an Austen novel in a weekend -- for fun).

 

Look at the thread below by Quiver who asked what curriculum folks are using next year. That will give you an idea of what we are all doing.

[TxMama]

My highschoolers usually spent ~3-4 hours per day on schoolwork. I do not know the specific daily timetable because they were in charge of the daily schedule. I do know that they didn't spend anywhere near 5 hours a week on Apologia biology.....I'm guessing about half that.

 

My dd estimates...

 

30min per day with any subject that she uses a textbook ....such as math/science. A little longer if she has difficulty understanding or when doing experiments....

 

For the remaining subjects that we did not use a textbook the hours per week depended on if she wanted to earn a full or 1/2 credit for that year.

 

She spends about 2 hours on English but that is by her choice....her final transcript will have 7+ English type credits.

 

Many of your electives she completely in 1/2 a year- ie. logic.

 

Art/music/pe etc. didn't get figured into our daily schedule .....it is something that they did on their own.....If they wanted credit for it they logged the hours they spent on these subjects and when they did the required number they earned the credit.

 

HTH

[Chris in VA]

My son read the primary readings in Omnibus 1 and 2, and some supplemental reading--he was usually reading around an hour or an hour and a half everyday, and sometimes had to catch up on the weekend.

Apologia Bio has a lot of memorization--so it took him longer than the chemistry.

His math was his nemesis--but he didn't study, just did his work. We had to emphasize that they were two different things.

 

I think most kids in public school would say they spend 6 hours in class, with 2 to 3 hours of homework. I know my ds17, when actually in school, would have 4 classes one day and 4 the next--6 classes were every other day for an hour and a half, and one class was everyday for 45 mins. The rest of the time was spent changing classes and having lunch. He was in school from 7:20am until 2:05pm, and had roughly 2 to 2.5 hours of homework. Just to give you some perspective.

[Nan in Mass]

We work slowly, so we might not be a good example, but even my math-bright son takes more than an hour a day to do math. He's been doing NEM. It takes me half to one hour to do out any problems he's had trouble with, read the next lesson, work the example problems, and then possibly watch him try to solve one or two. Then he does another half to one hour of problems in the evening. The evening seldom takes less that 3/4 hour, and might take up to 1 1/2 hours. I would plan on at least 1 1/2 hours to do math. If the student struggles, then you might try demonstrating more problems. Public school students watch their teachers solve LOTS of problems.

 

You also might want to rethink the amount of time for art. If you are actually doing the art, not just reading about it, you probably need more time than half an hour. Doing art usually takes largish chunks of time.

 

It has been a long time since my children did Rosetta Stone, but 20 minutes sounds about right for that. On the other hand, I have had no luck at getting my children to retain any foreign language unless they saw it at least twice a day. Anyway, it is somehting to consider when scheduling. Same with math; mine need to see it twice a day.

 

Mine probably spend about 2 hours a day on great books, including history, and writing, sometimes more.

 

My children spend from 6 hours on school during the day (excluding breaks), then do an hour or two or three of homework. They do some school in the summer, too, mostly reading. If there has been extended travel that year, then sometimes math or other things get finished up in the summer. Because I don't feel that we work very efficiently (we stop and smell the flowers GRIN), I sort of try to make sure we are hitting the same number of hours as a typical school/homework day. It helps keep me from worrying. I usually figure out what we want to try to do, make up a rough daily schedule and divide up the books into weekly or daily chunks, and then try it. I inevitably wind up readjusting a few times as the year goes by. I try to be very clear with myself what our priorities are this month, so I don't wind up skimping on something like math. we'll work on writing especially hard until they seem to be doing better, and then we'll switch to getting that science project finished up, and then we'll work on doing that usually-skipped-even-though-it-only-takes-20-minutes whatever every day. If I didn't reassess constantly, I think we'd be in trouble at the end of the year, with lots things half done. The trick, for us, is to drop enough things fairly early on that we actually do what we have left.

 

Hopefully people who have done your particular subjects will chime in with their times.

-Nan

[FloridaLisa]

Here are my gross estimates based on our experience.

math- (Algebra 1 w/Jacobs? Foeresters?): ~1 hr/day, 5 days/wk

 

My oldest three dc have each spent about 1 - 1 1/2 hours doing Alg I and up. However, we've used Saxon Alg. I, not Jacobs Alg. I, so the lesson may be broken up differently. By the time my dc watched the DIVE CD (or sat with me for the lesson) and then worked the problems, it was a good 1 1/2 hours.

 

science- (Biology w/?Apologia): ~1 hr/day, 5 days/wk [? + co-op class]

 

I have a schedule for Apologia biology which requires 3 days a week, including a co-op day once every two weeks for the lab work, studying for and taking the tests. So 1 hour/3 days per week is more our mileage.

 

logic- (?informal w/thinking toolbox)

or (?formal w/Traditional Logic): ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk?

 

My dc one chapter of the Thinking Toolbox in about 30 minutes. The last few chapters are a bit longer and can be done over a period of days if you want to keep the lesson to 30 minutes. We've used Introduction to Logic by Wilson, not Traditional Logic, so I can't speak to how long that may take.

 

Then there's the big question of how much time to allow for:

history

literature

?theology/bible

 

This can vary widely depending on what you choose or create for these subjects. The good news is that if you are doing this at home, then you may be able to allow some flexibility and adjust these areas depending on the overall workload.

 

Plus there's the smaller stuff that would be nice to fit in like:

vocabulary- (roots study w/VfCR ): ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk?

spelling- (if still needed): ~30min/day, 3 days/wk?

 

That looks about right.

 

So I'm looking at about a 4-5 hr day BEFORE adding in history/literature and ? theology not to mention LUNCH time and small breaks! Then near the end of the school year I like to add in some test taking skills like Reading Detective and/or test prep books.

 

My high schoolers work about 7 - 8 hours a day. It's a lot. And part of the trickiness to high school is finding the balance for your particular child and your family. It's great to challenge our kids so they are ready for college, but it can easily become too much. For my kids, it has helped to up the ante a bit every year. So that 9th grade becomes just one more step up from 8th grade (with lots of documentation!). You may be able to estimate your dc's workload based on what she's doing now and what you will change/add.

 

HTH,

Lisa

[74Heaven]

 

My high schoolers work about 7 - 8 hours a day. It's a lot. And part of the trickiness to high school is finding the balance for your particular child and your family. It's great to challenge our kids so they are ready for college, but it can easily become too much. For my kids, it has helped to up the ante a bit every year. So that 9th grade becomes just one more step up from 8th grade (with lots of documentation!). You may be able to estimate your dc's workload based on what she's doing now and what you will change/add.

 

HTH,

Lisa

 

 

Unless your kids are gifted in math in a big way, I would sugg appprox 1.5 hrs a day for high schhol math. Many days around here it goes over, but I also encourage math vocab terminology and we correct nearly every problem.

 

Any weekly writing assignment of one page or more takes my two dtrs 2-4 hours. The lesson on it, the brainstorming , outlining ,rough and final draft (typed). The review of mom's edits (maybe rewriting here?), etc. This is usually in addition to our continuing English grammar lessons. If you are doing Literature instead of grammar - well I would guess the reading, rereading for comprehension and discussion would once again add to the 20-45minute "lesson" of the day.

 

I agree that balance is tricky and we have yet to achieve it! But... add in AWANA, p.E., youth group, church, devotions, Bible class and one co op morning a week, and the hours are really long with most high schoolers I know, etc

 

Btw, our courses are: Spanish, Henle II MP Latin, Chemistry, Geom, Engl & Lit (1 sem ea), U.S. History, Bible (1 sem), piano (30-45min/day - 1 sem credit) and swimming P.E. (1 yr-1 hr/day); so our sked is 7.5 credits instead of the traditonal 6.

If you can keep workload as reasonable as possible, that will help - as you can add more in.

 

Lisaj

[mamaof2andtwins]

We also take about 90 minutes to do math here. My son corrects his work. I check it. He watches his lesson and then works the lesson's problems. It is about 90 minutes. This was quite a shock to him at first because he only spend 45 minutes in math per day.

 

I also plan based on what it takes to earn a credit hour. On my paper work from the state it says that one credit equals 6,480 minutes or 108 hours per course. This might assist your planning as well.

 

Jennie

[Beth in SW WA]

I would sugg appprox 1.5 hrs a day for high schhol math. Many days around here it goes over,

 

Same here. And we're only in Alg 1. I'm assuming it will take longer as we progress to higher levels of math.