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what should a day for a 1st grade boy look like?
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I am following Oak Meadow so I knwo what he should be doing each week, although in math he is well ahead, but what about time slots? He is not great at sitting still and since he is an auditory learner he often has to color or do something while I read to him.
Sorry, I’m not really familiar with Oak Meadow other than it is a secular curriculum, so I have know idea how CM it may be. If it’s a boxed curriculum, does it not give you some suggestions for how to organize your day? From a quick glance at their website I see that you have all the basics: Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science plus Arts and Crafts, Music & Health. Does it say how long each lesson will take or how often they should be done? That’d give you some clues. If they recommend lessons longer than 10-15 mins starting first grade I would break them up. You may have to do shorter lessons every day, or pick a subject each day to do twice: Like do 10 mins of math and then move on to LA, then do something physical, then a snack maybe and then Science, then Arts & Crafts, or Music, then back to another 10 mins of math later in the morning. In first grade your total time for formals lessons shouldn’t take much more than an hour and a half. Arts & Crafts might go longer than 15 mins depending on the project and if the child is really engaged. At this age time exploring out-doors and just generally playing is so important to their learning and developing.
Your son is still very young and it is especially difficult for boys to sit still. Gradually increase the length of lessons to 15 mins max, and offer frequent oppotunities for physical movement — even if it’s just counting how many jumping jacks he can do, or how many times he can hop on one foot, bounce a ball, or how long he can keep a balloon in the air. Reading a story with animals in it? You can encourage him to act out the different animals in the story. You can make it a game of it.
Hi! We’re doing Oak Meadow too, but at the kindergarten level. Here’s what we do with our day. (Keep in mind though that I am working with special needs.)
6:30–Get up. Free play.
7:30-8:00 (or so)–Breakfast and clean up, coffee for Mommy
8:15 or so–Circle time. We light our candle, say our morning verses, and do anywhere from 1 to 6 songs, depending on his mood and focus.
8:30–He is usually nice and focused and calm after circle time, so we go STRAIGHT to the couch for reading. We read our main story for the week, and also a couple of library books. Maybe some nursery rhymes or poetry. This is when the baby also goes down for her first nap.
9:00–We do table work…whatever is on for the theme that day. We do language arts/writing on MWF, math on T/Th.
9:30–Still focused work, but move away from the table. We might bake, do typing work, Meliss and Doug letter boards, poem word cards, or read some more.
10:00–Free time. I let him play and usually set out art materials for him. He plays or watches a DVD, baby is usually up by now, and I have time to take care of chores.
11:30–Lunch and clean up.
12:15–We read again, and I nurse. Baby goes down for nap 2.
12:45 or so–We begin afternoon hour, which usually takes till 2:00 or so. MWF is crafts/health/music and movement, T/Th. is science (which I usually pair with art to make it more interesting.)
2:00–Usually more art materials or outside time. We also do some speech therapy exercises.
And that’s it. Sometimes we get done earlier, sometimes later if the baby has nap issues. But generally I can get his two sessions of focused work done during or at least around her naptimes.
And keep in mind, during the focused work times, I move him pretty quickly from activity to activity to keep his attention. I.e., 10 minutes word cards, 10 minutes letter boards, 10 minutes block crayon writing of capital letters, 10 minutes poetry reading, etc.
HTH!
Thank you! I guess I just feel guilty b/c as a former first grade teacher OM is so much lighter than what I did with kids. His reading is not where I want it to be but I also realize that I am dealing with a child who struggles to use his eyes but can learn anything through his ears. I will keep plugging along and resist the urge to supplement with outside sources. He does love science so I need to keep going with Elemental Science because that seems to suit him. I also just got Jack’s Insects and I will buy the guide b/c he loves the Burgess animal stories so I know he will love that as well.
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