skipping to term two?

Start where you want!

For fun math games, multiplication.com has bunches and they are categorized by math function (addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc).  Even better, often the game lets you choose what fact families to use for that game that day so they can focus in on a specific set of facts.

School doesn’t take us 5 hours a day (8 kids from 9th grader on down) but some people DO take that long, to each their own.

Use your timer to get through your schedule quickly!  That makes a huge difference!   Keep in mind some of your subjects won’t be each day.  We do poetry, copywork, and grammar 3 times per week.  Dictation is done 2 times and picture study is once a week.  We are using the Burgess study twice a week, but have daily science (living science book readings on 2 days, and nature study on the remaining day).  We can usually finish up our basic school in the mornings (as long as we get a decent start).  That leaves plenty of time in the afternoons for extra projects and chores.  Some days our “extra projects” are laundry and yardwork.  😉

Here is the absolute most time I’d allow per lesson:

Bible– 15-20 minutes

History Early Modern–20 minutes

alternating Poetry and picture study–10 minutes

Geography on Fridays–20 minutes (including time for read alouds, just map drill won’t take this long)

scripture memory–5 minutes

literature–20 minutes

Then dd7 schedule:

Copy work–5 minutes

Math–20 minutes

McGuffy reader Primer–10 minutes

Science 2 days a week–20 minutes

DD10 schedule:

Math–20 minutes

Grammar–20 minutes

Reading Abeka books–10-20 minutes

copy work/dictation–5-10 minutes

For your 10 yo, you could have her read from Mcguffey’s readers as well.  My older DC are just reading their history readings plus their ELTL readings. For reading aloud, I’ve been having them read some of the Bible readings and a poem each week.  On their own, they have 4-5 readings from history plus 3 readings from ELTL per week.  Each reading is usually (but not always) one chapter.

For math, learning math facts is fine for now.  We used MUS and most of the Gamma book was focused on multiplication facts.  You don’t want to move on to more complicated  multiplication (or division) until they have mastered these facts.  My DD struggles with math too and she spent months learning these!

Renee, I spent quite a bit of time earlier this year trying to figure out how much time to schedule for each subject.  I looked at several CM schedules and this seemed to be a good “average” for each subject.  I’m glad it was a help for you…it’s made a huge difference in how much we accomplish each day!

I don’t time every subject everyday, but it’s been great to figure out how much material we can get through in that time.  We do (almost) always set a timer for math, piano, and copywork.  For the first few days of school, I timed each subject to give me an idea of whether or not we were on track.

I tried to post a couple links, but I think it got caught in the spam trap.  If you search for Sabbath Mood Homeschool, there are some really great schedule posts on her blog.  She also has a helpful video on creating your own schedule based on the PNEU schedules.   I mostly used this for creating my own schedule.

Other than that site, I mostly looked at other CM homeschooler’s schedules or advice on the SCM website or boards.  There isn’t really a set time for each subject…you can spend more or less time as needed.

Most CM HSers recommend lessons no longer than 20 minutes for elementary ages.  I add a bit of time for math since I have 4 DC doing math lessons, and it takes a bit of time for everyone to get out their books, get our math blocks, set up the MUS DVD, etc.  It also gives me more time to help them one-on-one if needed.  Same with copywork…My DC do 5 minutes of copywork, but I schedule 10 minutes since it takes a bit of time to get out pens, copywork folders, and passages to copy.