is this too much?

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • July 17, 2015 at 12:07 pm
    caedmyn
    Participant

    These are my plans for 4th grade DD and 1st grade DS for next year. It seems like a lot…more than last year, and I felt like last year was too much. But when I schedule it out according to how long I think things will take I end up with around 3 hours of work for DD (which will take longer because she dawdles), and 1.5-2 hours for DS. I’d really like to have a nice, non-overwhelming year, with time to follow “rabbit trails”…last year I was too focused on getting things done and DD was so slow I was DONE by the time she finished for the day. Please give me some feedback on whether this seems like too much. (Also I have 2 YO and 4 YO boys in the mix who are not very good at sitting or being quiet in spite of my best efforts to teach them train them. Not sure it’s reasonable for me to schedule this much time for the 6 YO with him needing my focused attention all that time. Schooling at naptime for the 2 YO is NOT an option.)

    This is for a 4 day week with a Fun Friday of more optional stuff (just in case those things don’t actually happen). Number in parenthesis is the number of times a week these are scheduled. We’ll do a morning basket time for family devotions and character training…this takes 15-20 minutes.

    4th grade DD:
    English Lessons through Literature level 3 (3x)
    Math Mammoth (4x)
    Spelling–Spelling Wisdom marked like Spelling U See (4x)
    Bible reading (daily)
    memory work (daily)
    God’s Design for Life science (3x)
    Get Smart Grammar (2x)
    Literature (Stories of Beowulf, Robin Hood, King Arthur) (2x)
    Free reading from a booklist (2x)
    Story of the World 4 (2x)
    history go-alongs (2x)
    Story Starters (1x)
    Drawing (1x)
    Map drills (1x)
    Copywork in pen (1x)…this plus spelling is the only copywork I have planned
    Geography (1-2x)
    English From the Roots Up cards (1x)
    Health course (1x)

    How many subjects per day is a 4th grader supposed to narrate from?

    1st grade DS:
    Phonics–alternate between Pathway Readers grade 1 + Blend Phonics (4x)
    Math Mammoth 1 (4x)
    Copywork (3x)
    Memory work (4x)
    God’s Design for Life science (3x)
    Science go-along (1x)
    Pratt’s American History Stories audiobook (2x)
    History go-along (2x)
    English Lessons through Literature 1 (3x)…copywork will come from this
    Drawing (1x)
    Read-aloud books (4x)
    Literature (Paddle to the Sea, Herriot’s children’s treasury, Grimm’s Fairy Tales..one per term) (1x)

    Friday Family Stuff:
    Nature study
    Burgess Bird study
    Picture study
    Composer study
    Wisdom and the Millers
    ?science experiment (they never seemed to happen last year)

    July 17, 2015 at 1:06 pm
    sarah2106
    Participant

    My only thought is that some subjects seem doubled up…

    ELTL includes dictation, grammar and copy work, but you are using SW and Get Smart Grammar, why do ELTL too? ELTL also  has its own required reading, so just be sure not to require too much reading or narration at once.

    Personally I would use SW for copy work, not double up.

    I used ELTL last year, level 3, and I would just caution to not double up. I had to take a step back last year, because I did that for a few subjects.

    July 17, 2015 at 1:11 pm
    sarah2106
    Participant

    Oh and I was doing ELTL level 3 with DD last year and ELTL level 1 with ODS last year. It took time!

    Plan on only doing one set of picture study (if you use the ELTL picture study). Also some of the chapters get long in level 1, like the Jungle Book. We listened on Librovox, but some were 30 minutes. ODS was actually not a big fan of a lot of the book selections from level 1. He liked listening to his sister read the level 3 books though.

    July 17, 2015 at 1:30 pm
    HollyS
    Participant

    I also think it’s doubled up in some subjects.  We’ll be using ELTL as well and it can cover poetry, picture study, writing/written narrations, grammar, copywork, literature, and dictation.  I wouldn’t add extra to any of these…or if you do, maybe eliminate that portion of ELTL.

    July 17, 2015 at 2:23 pm
    caedmyn
    Participant

    Yes we aren’t planning to do everything in ELTL. No dictation, and I’ll pick and choose from the other stuff. We may not do much of the literature either…some was done last year, and what we do use will be listened to as audiobooks at lunchtime or during free time.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • The topic ‘is this too much?’ is closed to new replies.