I am asking for your opinions here. I have a 1st grader and we will be doing Bible,Math,language arts, science and history this year. Those will be everyday except science and history. I'm trying to decide how often to teach them. I was thinking once a week but I was hoping for your opinions. Thank you. ~Shara.
I do science and history each twice a week (we only plan out 4 days a week). My son is in kindergarten.
I also have a 1st grader- we started beginning of July. We do both 3 days a week. We also do music history which was planned for 2 days a week but is really only done one day, the day I give a piano lesson. Everything else we do every day.
We do things really weird around here. :lol: This week we've done science everyday and not done any history. It just depends on the unit study we're working on. If I used more traditional methods, I would do each subject one time per week and see which one my student was eating up. Then, I would include that subject more (maybe 3x per week).
My daughter is in 1st, too. We're doing history every day and science most days. Sometimes science involves an experiment and sometimes it is just reading one page in an Usborne book and talking about it.
History and Geography is together and we do that each day. Science is taught each day also unless we are needing dad's help for something and then he takes over and usually does a big lesson on his day off.
I have a K'er and 1st grader - we do science everyday and geography every day. Somedays it is just a review of what we're studying and some days it is experiments/projects. I haven't started history yet because I haven't been able to find a good curriculum. I looked at a few, but they seemed so advanced. I wasn't sure they would be able to follow the reading parts and not sure they would be interested enough in it to get into it. What are you using for History at the 1st grade level? Jennifer
Thank you all for sharing how do your lessons. I'm sure I'll figure out what works best for us. As far as our history curriculum,l I haven't purchased it yet so I don't have any real experience with it but I am about to order "Mystery of History". In reading the review, I am really excited about it. Its the history of the bible. ~Shara.
When my kids were that age and up to this year I had science and history alternating, ( this year being 5th grader) so one week it was two the next it was three! They enjoyed both classes and do to today and I was not over whelmed with teaching all that Plus 3Rs!
DD (4th grade) does a lot of subjects, so in order to keep it from being overwhelming this is what we do: Daily - penmanship, Latin, Spanish, reading (both required reading & personal reading), music, Math Monday - World History & Geography Tuesday - U.S. History & Geography Wednesday - Science Thursday - Art Friday - Language Arts (Grammar & Writing) We do these subjects in the afternoon while my ds is taking his nap/quiet time. That gives us 2-3 hours. If we finish early, we'll do something extra from one of our other subjects. Also, if we're working on a project, we may work on it later in the day, regardless of what subject we covered that day. DS is in pre-k, so I do less work with him. Right now, we're focusing on reading & learning to write. I do toss in some art, music, and Science, but those are aren't formal. We listen to a variety of music during the day, he looks at works of art & does arts & crafts projects, and he watches as we do science experiments. Both of the kids also do Home Ec/Life Skills everyday, as well as logic, problem-solving skills, & organizational skills.
I try to alternate science and history but if we are really enjoying one subject, we keep on it until we are ready to move on to the other. Patty
Math, Science, History, Logic and Geography are done in a block format. One each day. It doesn't work for everyone but it works great for us. AM
We haven't yet started history/geography, but will soon. That will be every day as its the whole theme of our curriculum. We started science two weeks ago and were aiming for 2-3 times a week. Today lasted over 2 hours as she was so into it! I'm thinking I will continue to keep it every other day, but plan to do it for longer periods of time. That way we can do both reading and experiments (which is what took so long today). We're trying to get a huge portion of science done before the MN winter hits as the learning involves a lot of observing birds and insects. (even catching a few insects - like today!)
We do social studies (history and geography) once a week and we do science once a week. Here is what our schedule looks like: Monday: Math, Reading Comp, Spelling (which includes handwriting), Music and creative writing (which is spectrum writing workbook) Tuesday: Grammar, American History, Geography and map skills, Phys ed, critical thinking (either math word problems or brain teasers) Wednesday: Math, Reading Comp, Spelling, Health, Test prep (Spectrum, we have to test this year for the state) Thursday: Grammar, Science, Critical Thinking, Art Friday: Math, Reading, Spelling, time to revisit anything we feel we need to or want to do. We also do what ever comes up in day to day life, cooking, cleaning, shopping, auto mechanics, gardening, nature study, and have daily pleasure reading. The great thing about homeschooling is that we can make our own rules, and make school fit us, not our children fit the school.
I alternate history and science. If we are working on something big I may just do one that week. I do math, english, reading, and spelling everyday. Most other things are alternated 2 to 3 times a week.
I have a first grader as well. We are doing Story of the World twice a week and Science once a week. We just got started so I too will see which one he really likes and decide from their. We also do a separate Geography book once a week with 15 minute drills (basically looking things up in his Atlas) everyday. Rhonda
