I'm getting ready to start hsing my DDs, grades 2 and 3. I am feeling a bit stressed about fitting everything in. I'm wondering how long I should spend on each subject per day - particularly Math and English. (We are doing Horizons and Rod and Staff, respectively) I have been reading about schedules and most people have said that a strict schedule really doesn't work for them. That's fine, but I would just like to have an idea of how long to spend on a subject each day. We are following the school year and hoping to hs 4-5 days per week. Thanks! ~Jessica
You will find that everyone has a different answer for this. And you will also find that not everyone does every subject every day. Here are some things I have tried in the past: We have done a subject each day.. yep just one (Monday~math, Tuesday~reading, Wednesday~grammar, Thursday~science, Friday~history) with the extras spread out too (M~spelling, T~art, W~music, T~PE and health, F~spelling), it worked great for us, the main subject would be about an hour maybe an hour and a half and the extra would be about a half an hour. Now we do math, reading, grammar and sign language everyday (M~F), Some days each one takes 5 minutes, some days one or more may take an hour or longer. We then divide up science and history/geography. We have science on M,W,F and history and geography on T,T. These some days may take 15 minutes some days they may take an hour or even longer, it just depends on what we are doing. The extras health, art, music, pe and home ec are split up, one a day and each takes at most a half hour, except sometimes cooking can go much longer obviously. Don't worry about the time you put into it, I know it's hard not to with all the "Am I doing enough" thoughts running through your head, instead focus on keeping your eyes and ears open to your DDs and you will be surprised at how much they pick up on just from life, let alone the 5 minutes of grammer you happened to squeeze in last week
Jess, I'll e-mail you our "schedule". It does have time limits but what subjects I want to accomplish on what day. For us, this is working better this year (we didn't do this last year and now I wish we had). Anytime I've ever tried to do a "time" one it's blown in an hour :lol: Check your personal e-mail....it's on its way! Rhonda C.
I started 2nd grade with my kids in July. We typically just do a lesson per subject per day--- usually amounts to one worksheet [math for my son is the exception---it's usually a few pages]. We do math, English, spelling, handwriting in the morning--- generally takes between 1 1/2 to 2 hours; then, we do a lunch break and pick up in the afternoon with Bible/history [ours is Veritas press and so runs on the same basic curriculum], reading, and science. Again, it usually amounts to around a couple of hours or less. I like to hit the 'core' areas in the morning when the kids are fresher. The schedule works for us and keeps us on task.
we were given a state schedule of hours back when I started , so I have always had one hour for both Engish, one hour for Math. The rest of the subjects vary mostly 30 mins, but alternating, because math and english are every day lessons.
Like everyone else said, it varies with each family. If a subject is done everyday, you may be able to spend less time on it each day. If it's only done once or twice a week, you may want to do longer sessions. I tried setting time limits, but it didn't work for us. My dd has ADHD & tends to take longer to do some stuff (even though I planned for that & had extra time planned for those subjects, she still went over). So, now I just decide how much work I want done. She works through each assignment taking as long as she needs. Math tends to take the longest (because it's her least favorite subject) at about 1 1/2hrs (though sometimes she'll spend 3-4hrs because she just sits there staring at the wall instead of working). History & Science depend on how interested she is in the topic. I won't tell her she has to stop working on it if she's really into it & doing more than was expected. In general for 2nd & 3rd grades though, I would say 30-45 min for each Math & English should be enough. It could take more or less time depending on how much you have them do & how fast they work, but that would probably be a good time to start with. Then, you can adjust time for each depending on how much time they're actually taking to do the work.
My son did second grade Horizons math last year. I usually spent less than five minutes explaining to him what to do. Sometimes, when it was something new, it would take ten or fifteen minutes. Then he would spend about 15-20 minutes doing the two pages. I rarely did any of the stuff in the TM. We are starting R&S this year. Last year, we probably spent about 5-10 minutes doing language with me, then another 15-20 on his own. Please DO NOT stress about how much time! One day will take a long time, but the next you'll be done really fast. Keep in mind that what takes an hour in a "regular" school we can accomlish in 20 minutes, because we don't have to waste the time disciplining a classroom of 30!
I skimmed the messages. I'd say that for a ballpark figure, about 20 minutes per subject each day is a good place to start. If you only do science three times a week, then you might want to spend a little longer on it each day, and that kind of thing, but in general at the gr2-3 stage I think 20 minute lessons is a good guideline. I could post our schedule, but - like everyone else said - that totally varies by family and by student.
The first part of our day is spent on subjects that are worked on daily. The remaining part of the day is for the m-w-f and t-th subjects. Each day is ended with a longer period that we call lab. Each day of the week the lab is a different subject. Lanquage arts lab is spent writing or working on a writing project and doing some games to drill spelling phonics or whatever needs worked on. Math is hands on with manipulatives, and games and speed drills. Science-experiments, nature walks etc. Social studies, role playing, projects, games, movies, and so on and so forth. We start with Bible and that takes 15-20 minutes. Then we have two other similarly short periods for vocab and spelling. We then do math then lanquage arts then social studies. These are all about 30 minutes each. We take a break snacks etc then we do Science or Art, and PE or Music depending on the day of the week. After that we close with our lab period. Depending on the schedule there might be a larger break in the middle for lunch, library time or something like that and science and the lab period are done in the afternoon. We integrate computer time and online resources into the lab time. Some labs run hours if we get busy others are short. I like having a time for all the unpredictable stuff where it can go with the flow and not mess up our regularly scheduled subjects. I started the lab thing because we would get in the middle of things and loose track and end up not getting to some subjects for a day or more at a time. This kept us unorganized and kept things too unstructured for us. My dd wants structure and needs to have order so this allows both these things and time to just explore and get into stuff and have fun. The day looks sort of like this 15mins 15mins 15 mins 30 mins 30 mins ( 1.75 to 2 hours total ) Break 30 30 45-90 (1.5 to 2 hours total ) We also have a homework folder. Exercises that run over, and extra drill materials are put in the folder and are collected a couple times each week, or the next day depending on what goes in. I do this so the student can start building some time management and accountability. I never put more than 20 to 30 minutes of work for a single day and we usually only have "homework" a couple days a week.
I think the reason I can make english and math take so long is the amount of time I spend instructing then reinstructing with the two or three kids at the same time, I had them do the same subject same time, but they were on three diferent levels... makes a difference if you are going back and forth from three locations.
well it depends on the age, child and what you do a day. I never really go by a clock when we are done we are done, some days we are done with everything faster then others. It just depends what they have to do, and how eager they are to get done. KWIM.
I don't really operate by a time schedule either. The state says we have to do 4.5 hours of school daily, but since lots of things count as schooltime, I don't worry about it that much. If anything, by the time you add in reading, PE time, etc. we're doing way more than 4.5 hours of something educational each day. We try to start hitting the books by 10:00 a.m, take a lunch break around 1-ish, then go until 3:00 or so. Anyway, what I do is figure out how much I want to accomplish in each subject. Some of them are easy, like Zach's math and spelling. Each book has basically one unit per week for 35 weeks, with four or five lessons per unit. So he does one lesson a day. As the others have said, how long that takes him varies greatly from day to day! We do science, history, spanish, vocabulary, and computer lessons twice a week each, so I just assign them to a day and we get it done. Again, sometimes it's 5 minutes on a subject; sometimes, such as when we do experiments, it's an hour. (Edited to add that some families I know DO set time limits. Like they'll give a kid 30 minutes to finish a subject; if they don't finish in that timeframe, it's homework later on that night.)
on a sunday i look through all the books and make a list of what i want her to do each day, and tick it off as its done, but i try to get all the work done in the morning so we can spend the rest of the day socialising, doing sport and art.
I have to laugh, I am backwards of most people here!! I don't have a schedule ( I only have a kindy so I don't need one) but I start school in the afternoon, because we play outside while it is cool, then we work while it is hot. My boy does alot better also after lunch. He is not a morning kid.
When I get all my books in for the year I set up a spreadsheet and break down each subject into daily assignments. Some days it takes us only 2 hours to do everything, some days 5 hours. We're supposed to average 3 hours a day for 170-180 days per year according to the umbrella school we use. Here's what a couple of days looks like.... I had to leave Science as a blank because there are so many experiments thrown in they are hard to predict how long they will take so we'll just work on science for 30-45 mins and see how far we get each day. I do know that it's 16 modules (chapters) and each one should take approximately 2 weeks to complete. PE is also blank because that depends on weather =) It looks like a lot of work, but many of them will take less than 20 minutes so it's really not that much. It did take me quite awhile to get this schedule set up, but it really helps us stay on task, and finish each subject by the end of the year. We've actually typically finished before the 180 days I plan out is over. Day Subject Assignment 1 Bible Lesson 209 Math Section 1.1 Grammar Plan & Draft Book Jacket (22-23) Heritage Studies Read thru pg.6 do pg.6 Science Health Vocabulary 7 words & MV & Objectives Literature Pgs. 2-3 Vocabulary/Spelling Pg. 2 Music Singing Praise & Worship VDB 6 Timed Attempts 2 Math Section 1.2 Grammar Pgs. xii-5 Heritage Studies Read pgs.7-9 do pg. 9 Science Health Vocabulary 6 words & MV & Intro Literature Pgs. 4-8 Vocabulary/Spelling Pg. 3 Art Origami Ladybug pgs. 1-2 P.E. VDB 6 Timed Attempts 3 Bible Lesson 210 Math Section 1.3 Grammar Pgs. 5-8 Heritage Studies Read pgs. 10-12 do pg. 12 Science Health Vocabulary 6 words & MV Literature Pgs. 9-10 Vocabulary/Spelling Pg. 3 Music Recorder Practice VDB 6 Timed Attempts
see now this is not something I have ever done, set htings up on Sunday, I always waited till AM EARLY Monday morning, when I set up the week etc... This year I am trying to get things organised early.. I may have to start a thread to get more organizational ideas from you folks!
it takes me about an hour on a sunday, when dh takes dd1 and ds outside playing and dd2 is sleeping, but this really helps us to stay on track, i have a notebook and do a page a day.
When properly functioning, I should spend about 2 hours a week going over completed work and planning. I should then spend about an hour or two month on longer range planning and going over my objectives lists to see that we are staying on track, and marking off what we have done.
I would say we spend about 20-30min a day on each subject unless it turns into a different subject along with what we're talking about. On the days I work we do the basic's, math and some writing..science is done in the spring-fall season..wehen we can get outside. in the winter I do the history and other stuff like that. I dont make it to long cause she will get bored easily.
