Our schedule?

How do we schedule our school day?

Like many who begin home schooling with lofty ideas and big plans, I overestimated what we could do each day.  Back in August, I sat down with the wonderful book "The Well-Trained Mind".  The author has specific times allotted for the subjects along with details of what the student should be doing.  Terrific!  I thought, as I simply copied the plan in different time slots for the week.

Then, when September came and we began our first couple weeks of school, I was determined to begin slowly.  I did not want to push my son, causing us both to be frustrated and fighting from the start.  So, we began slowly, by talking about our overall plans, doing small assignments, and allowing for lots of playtime and outdoor fun.   He loves to read, and I found it wonderful that he spent a great deal of time working through a stack of books he had chosen from the library.

As we continued, I realized that the "ideal" hourly schedule that I had prepared so thoughtfully was obsolete.  Of course, it provided me with a guideline of topics to cover, but the reality so far is that we have not had one week where we have followed my little schedule exactly.

Now that life has really been disrupted by plans to move to London, I've found that I need more independent work for Jonah. 

Here's our basic plan at the Larson home school:


Monday:  Journal writing - Math - History - Science - English - French
Tuesday:  TEACH CO-OP (gym/science, art, writing) 9am - noon, Math and English 
Wednesday:  Journal writing - History - French - Math - English - Gym/Health club
Thursday:  Journal writing - Math - History - French - English - Science
Friday:  Journal writing - Math - English - History - French - Science
Consumer Sciences in the form of household tasks, cooking, errands
Health through library books

Most of the above "classes" last one hour.  However I've learned that the beauty of home schooling is the flexibility!!  Sometimes Jonah wants an hourly schedule for the day; we'll write it on the wipe-off board that we have in our dining area "classroom".  Other times when he is not working well, we will take a big break and push some work into the evening hours. 

I've decided that each day, our priority should be the basics:  mathematics, writing, reading - if we work hard on those, I feel that we hit the most important skills.  Usually the reading overlaps into history and science. 

Basic Curriculum:

Math – 5-7 hours per week:  “Singapore Primary” 5B, 6A, 6B  “Key to Percents books 1-3”, “Singapore Word Problems, Grade 6”

 

History – 4 hours per week:  “The Story of the World” by Susan Wise Bauer, “Kingfisher History Encyclopedia”, “A Little History of the World”, by Gombrich, library books such as “Riddle of the Rosetta Stone”, “Seeker of Knowledge”, Greek and Roman Myths, “The Iliad and the Odyssey” by Karen Spies, “Confucius:  The Golden Rule”

 

Science – 3 hours per week:  TEACH Co-op (http://www.teachct.org/), “Handbook of Nature Study” & nature journal, “Foundations of Science” workbook, library books and Science Museum visits

 

English – 6-8 hours per week:  Journal Writing, “Spelling Power”, “Core Skills Language Arts” 5&6, “Analogies & Idioms” 5&6, Poetry of Choice, book reports, Fiction of Choice, TEACH co-op writing (Institute for Excellence in Writing http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/).

 

French – 3-4 hours per week, « Grammaire Progressive du francais », «Geographie » & « Histoire » Nathan Collection Guilliver Cycle 3, fiction of choice, conversation with native speakers

 

Health – 1 hour per week:  Kingfisher Encyclopedia, library books

 

Phy-Ed – 1 hour per week :  TEACH Co-op, health club, sports clubs

 

Art – 1 hour per week :  TEACH co-op