Done before lunch??

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  • April 29, 2021 at 2:46 am
    GrammaTink1961
    Participant

    We follow the schedule somewhat, topical subjects together in the morning, and that takes about 2 1/2 hours. (Scripture memory, Spanish, Bible, Personal Development, Habits, Literature, artists/poets/composers, geography workbook, geography reading, Shakespeare, nature study, family history, GITW) Some days less if we don’t need two sessions for GITW.  But I do not see how I can get their core subjects (math, science and language arts) done in the morning as well.  We only do scripture memory and literature everyday and the classes are 20-30 minutes with a break.  I have 5 students, 7th – 10th grades.  With all the state requirements for a HS diploma and also wanting to offer music, arts, Spanish and crafts, keeping lessons short, we are still in school from 8:00am until 4:30 pm, with an hour for lunch and an hour for PE 3x/wk.  We listen to our current composer during one craft class and the hymns the next craft class.  To complete their textbooks they have to do math, science and grammar everyday.  Spelling 2x/wk, compositions 3x/wk.  Then they have individual history books to read and narrate, so those times have to be spaced so I am available to listen.  This is our second year doing CM and I love it but getting done with most things before lunch is just a dream.  I have already begun scheduling for next year.  One of the (soon to be) 11th graders wants to take Algebra II – we use math-u-see – and in order for her to complete the workbook she will have to begin before we actually start the school year and do lessons on the weekends.  Her choice, but again, I’m not sure how to fit in a complete year of math by only having lessons a few days each week.  Same with Science, especially on experiment days.  If you have some practical ideas, please share.  I’m sure they would love more time for nature and crafts.  I also have them doing a handwriting lesson everyday for homework just to keep their skills sharp and they’re informative.

    April 30, 2021 at 9:29 am
    MissusLeata
    Participant

    What is GITW?

    I try to keep our “Family Time” to an hour, though I think it sometimes goes a little longer. I can’t imagine going for 2.5 hours!  It looks to me like you are doubling up on things. For example: I wouldn’t do Shakespeare and Literature and Poetry all in the same term. I’d only pick one of those at a time. Shakespeare IS poetry and literature! I would do Personal Development independently because it’s personal. 🙂

    I don’t know what you include in a “handwriting lesson,” but at that age, 5 minutes of copy work is plenty and you can have them copy the Scripture you are memorizing and then you kill two birds with one stone. 🙂

    CM did Geography with  simply map study. I like to do it with literature and then just look on the map to find where the locations are, but you are doing reading and workbooks and you might be able to simplify that.

    I do Scripture memory by daily reading the passage we are working on. I’m always amazed at how quickly kids learn that way and it takes about 2 minutes.  (I have also laminated a copy of the passage and just laid on the table to read at every meal. That works really well, too!)

    I try to schedule our together time so we do Bible, singing, memory work and just one read aloud (that could be history or literature or habit study or geography) and then we can read a poem or do a picture study or something small, but it keeps it short. Then we move to independent study.

    My oldest isn’t done by noon (he’s just finishing 8th grade) but he does his work from, depending on the day, about 10-3. But he’s also been doing 3 classes from a co-op and some of them include writing papers.  I can’t imagine going from 8 to 4:30.

    April 30, 2021 at 12:19 pm
    ErinD
    Participant

    I like all of MissusLeata’s suggestions.

    One more question: I’m not sure why Algebra II should take so long. Are you expecting that she will complete every single page in the workbook? I ask because Math U See is set up for the student to do as many pages as they need in a lesson in order to thoroughly understand the concept, so she wouldn’t have to complete every page. Try to aim for a lesson a week (unless she needs more time for some, and there is one lesson – 5 maybe? – that is longer) and then you should easily finish. There are 31 lessons, so about one a week makes the course very doable in a year.

    To actually answer the question, my kids are usually done by lunch, but when they are in high school, we don’t do any “together” subjects anymore. All of their work is independent, aside from discussions and going over completed work. Occasionally, my high schoolers need more time and work after lunch. I should also add that my current two are very early risers and are sometimes doing school work by 6:30 a.m.

    April 30, 2021 at 6:16 pm
    CrystalN
    Participant

    I have three students, 11th, 9th, 6th, but only the 9th and 6th grader doing family subjects.  I don’t know what GITW is, but it seems like we do basically the same subjects.  We have about 1 to 1 1/2 hours of family subjects and then the students have 1 – 3 hours of independent work.  We school about 4-5 hours a day total.  Here is my typical schedule (I will leave out actual times so I am not embarrassed by my late rising habits…)

    Scripture memory 5 min
    Bible 15 – 30 minutes
    Picture Study or Geography or Hymn or Composer -15 min
    Latin 2x week – 20 min
    History – 15 – 30 minutes
    Composition or poet or art lesson 15 – 30 minutes
    Morning Read Aloud – 20 minutes (rotating between history/bio/geography/Shakespeare/extra poetry)
    Literature (this includes my 11th grader_- fun book while kids are eating lunch 30 minutes

    Independent work:

    Math daily – 30 minutes max
    Independent Bible – 15 minutes
    Independent History – 15 – 30 minutes
    Science – 20 minutes for 6th grader, as long as it takes for 9th grader she is in a class with due dates
    Language Arts – 20 – 30 minutes for 6th grader; 45 minutes for 9th Grader, includes reading literature, spelling, written narration, grammar
    Personal Development – for 9th grader 15 minutes, 2X per week
    Worldviews/apologetics – for 9th grader – 1X per week

    I think that is about it.  It seems like a lot but we rotate subjects. Bible, history, math and science are the only thing we do every day.  We arent finished by lunch, but if we started at a decent hour we would be mostly finished, with maybe my high schooler finishing a few things up.

    Have you checked out some sample schedules on this site.  I use them to help me stay on track.  Also the high school planning book SCM sells is super helpful.

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