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Does anyone do a four days week?
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We do a 4 day week. Our day off changes depending what activity we are commited to. Mostly Fridays off – that’s when we do horse riding or surfing in the morning and then spend the afternoon shopping and cooking to get ready for the weekend so we can relax with everyone and be free to do whatever comes up.
Everything is over and done with by lunch time. Mon through Thurs we spend the mornings doing reading, LA, Math and then Sci x 1 day/wk, Nature Study x 1 day/wk, Art x 1 day/wk, Music 4 days/wk, Hist/Geo x 2 days/wk, Bible most days.
Our lessons are short and sometimes so short we’ll do a couple of lessons from the same subject easily. Our weeks are really full of alot of things outside these subject areas. It’s all about quality not quantity that’s for sure.
Warmest wishes, Renelle
We typically do a more academic schedule four days a week and reserve one day for “extras”. For example, on that day we might do poetry study, artist or composer studies, an art project, lapbooking, sewing class, a nature walk, etc.
We do four days a week, with the fifth day reserved for co-op, and we use that afternoon for anything we might have “leftover” from the week; usually things like grammar, history or a math lesson we might not have gotten to because of an appointment during the week.
The kids do most of their subjects every day (history, science, literature, Bible, English, instrument practice, math), and we break at 10:30 for specials – music on Monday, Poet-Teas on Tuesday, Picture Study on Wednesday. Thursday was gym class day last year, but the specials usually last 15-30 minutes and we incorporate snack and often Bible as well.
We are not done by lunch time – our school day looks more like a “typical” school day, lasting until about 2:30, though the youngest, 9, is often done sooner (we atart at about 9). I was feeling badly about this because I hear others talking about being done by noon and having the afternoons free (as CM recommended), but our local CM study group leader reassured me. She reminded me that CM’s students did have afternoons free, but that they were schooled 6 days per week. Given my kids’ ages (schooling ages 9-14) and the fact that we do four days, she felt the length of the days was about right. Phew!
Blessings,
AImee
We do 4 days a week and then Fridays are off. On this day we do running, library, and our baking needs for the week. So though it isn’t our sit down subjects it is all very educational. From grocerys (math/reading), to the library(how to usei it), to getting milk (seeing new life from the cows, or hearing about an issue in the barn). Everything is educational if you turn it into that. Baking is all about math, reading, comprehension, etc. So though it is not MUS book, History book.. it is just as much a 5th day of school. I have 7 children in age this school year from 14-2. So their days very from done by 11am to done sometime shortly after lunch. Depends on everything, and they do an hour of school in the evening when the littler ones are in bed and it’s quiet here! :0)
We did 4 day weeks this past year. We reserved Fridays for Co op twice a month and off days were special projects, trips to the park, or cleaning project days as needed. Mon – Thur we did a full schedule but still usually ended at noon. I found that it worked great for us except I really could have used that extra day of reading. This summer and probably next year we are switching to five days but we will still keep Fridays free of math and copywork 🙂 I will have a much fuller schedule this year with the children so I think the extra day would be nice.
Twenty years ago we did school four days a week year round. They had Fridays off because I was getting ready for Weekend College for me, which began on Friday night. I liked the schedule but my children did not. They wanted to be on the same schedule as the public school kids in the neighborhood.
We usually do 4 days a week too (except math on the 5th day as well) – If the kids had all their schoolwork done – then we did something fun (swimming, library, nature study, etc) on Friday…. if they weren’t done, we stayed home to finish. This was motivational for them. I have to admit, that Friday has slowly been turning into an errand day… sigh.
I would love to do a four day week and have it all planned out how to make that work, but reality doesn’t work that way for me as I work mornings Mon-Fri. I schedule independent work for mornings, and sometimes I can get my younger ds’s guided work done in the AM if he’s up early enough. I have been trying to figure out a way to make year round school work, but it won’t as long as I have to keep morning office hours. I do try to have a short day on afternoon so that we can run any necessary errands. I try to make that day Friday, but sometimes something else comes up that means a trip to town midweek, so I try to make those days flexible.
We started 4 days a week last year when dh’s work schedule changed and he was home on Fridays. It’s basically an errand day for us. Granted, I only have 2 dc and they’re still young enough we finish early. I try to start the Mommy read aloud subjects by 8am (I’m an early riser by choice so I can get some quiet time; for some reason the dc generally are early risers, too; usually by 6:30). Bible/geography/science/poetry/picture books/1 chapter from 3rd grade lit usually take 30-40 min. When I first started homeschooling, dd was still taking naps, so I got into the habit of waiting til naptime to do “table subjects.” While I don’t wait that long anymore, we do take off 2-2 1/2 hours for midweek errands, storytime at the library (we get books on Friday; this is extra if I remember), or for laundry and making lunch and stuff like that. Ds also watches one episode of Salsa per week during this time or I will play one episode of Classics for Kids each week. After lunch ds does math and copywork somewhat daily and language and picture study 1x each. If he cooperates and does his math w/o incident, we’re finished well before noon. I’ll be working dd into the after lunch schedule, and I’ll be doing in-home speech therapy activities with both, but we should still finish early.
We do 4 days a week year round (with breaks when we need them, we take off a few weeks during holiday travel, we take of birthday week – all my kids birthdays are the same week, and some vacation). We do all our “book” work on M-H and on “Fun Friday” we do any craft projects that go along with history, update our Book of Centuries, science experiments, art, math games, language games, etc. We still read aloud a few things but mostly do hands on activities this day. This has worked well for us because being a small house, using the kitchen table for school (and Daddy eats lunch with us every day), I found myself leaving off alot of fun things because I didn’t want the extra mess. If I commit to one messy day a week, I don’t leave these things out as often and it gives everyone something to look forward to each week.
We also do a 4 day with Friday off. I guess you could call it off. We usually listen to History on tape on the way to the library. We also do computer at the Library, Book Club, and educational games. 🙂 So, we could call it a school day bonus…. Tehe he.
Blessings!
We “technically”, on paper school 4 days a week year round. Fridays are our off day. We use that day for grocery shopping, library, post office, appointments, etc. We take tons of breaks throughout the year. My husband likes to take short, sometimes educational, trips a couple of times a year and his vacation weeks sometimes have to be taken during “off season”. So, we have done this schedule for 3 years now and it works great for us. We rarely miss “school” days for other things because we always have our off day. However, like some others said, we could technically count that as educational because they learn so much still!
We also do four days year round, but we do Long Days and Short Day. For the Long Days (4 days a week) we do all our regular subjects. Our Short Day has math, logic, living math, map drill, Fairy Tale and family scripture study. They are also responsible to read their personal scriptures and practice the piano that day. It takes less than 2 hours and we have the rest of the day for errands, appointments or play. If we have time on Short Day we’re trying to add Family Game (playing all those educational games I never have time for) and on-line or DVD art lesson. It’s usually Friday but I move it around as needed. On top of this we are also trying a 4-week On, 1-week Off schedule.
I am contemplating a 4-day/week school year for the coming year. In the past we have done 3 weeks on/1 week off. It has worked well for us, but recently my husband changed jobs and now has Fridays and Saturdays off. He has graciously offered to give me Fridays to myself, for running errands, having lunch with a friend, sleeping in, or whatever I want to do. I’m not about to pass up this offer!
He will use Fridays to have good times with the children, playing, going swimming, working in the yard, or the park, or whatever.I’m noticing that most of you who do a 4-day week still have some sort of school on Fridays, even if it’s shortened or somewhat easier.
Does anyone strictly school only 4 days and leave the fifth day totally open? Not for catching up or independent assignments or art/composer study, but just nothing?
My dc are 7 and 8, and this will be Year 4 for our homeschooling.
Blessings,
Lindsey
He will use Fridays to have good times with the children, playing, going swimming, working in the yard, or the park, or whatever.- The topic ‘Does anyone do a four days week?’ is closed to new replies.