2nd grade DD's neuropsych testing was yesterday and one of the recommendations was to consider block scheduling for her...has anyone done this for 2nd/4th grades and have any insight for me? I would love to know what your week looks like! Thanks!
I really think that most homeschoolers do this naturally without a formal name for it. For example: Daily we do our core subjects: LA and Math, then we do big chunks of our content subjects: Science and Social Sudies (2 times a week each), Art and Music (1 time a week each), Physical Education and Health (3 times a week) I do feel that they need to do reading and math daily, maybe spelling too if they struggle (otherwise we do spelling 3 times a week.. words M, practice W, test F), grammar and writing I kind of block too.. 2 days a week for each. I know some do all of it on a rotating schedule.. They may have it like: Math Reading Spelling Grammar Science PE Math Reading Writing Social Studies Art Math Reading Spelling Grammar Science PE Math Reading Writing Social Studies Music Math Reading Spelling Health/Safety Then they just work down the list, they set a time limit for the day, the next day the stop wherever they stopped. With this though, you have to decide how much is a lesson.. some things are easier than others.. content subjects, if you aren't using a "lesson" style curricula esp. (do you read for an hour for science or do you read x amount of chapters for example) If you can define what you think each "class" includes for a subject then this would be an ok way to go.
I have a friend that says her son does so much better if they focus on one subject at a time. He'll do a day of math, a day of LA, etc. He's older though. Sometimes he'll do zero science and just work on finishing a math book. Then when that's done do a science book. Kind of like doing semeseters in high school.
Being a sandwich generation homeschooler, I've had to rethink our schedule so that when my mom calls and throws a wrench in our plans for the day at the last minute I'm not sacrificing my children's education. We started doing core (Bible, reading & math) daily and everything else has a weekly focus. My boys are K and 3rd grade. Here is how ours looks Orange subjects done every week. Yellow subjects are done the 1st full week of the month, blue subjects are done week 2 of the month, purple are done week 3 of each month and pink subjects are done on those not full weeks of the month. White lessons they do together, light blue lessons are for my Kindergarten son and light blue lessons are for m y 3rd grade son. Homeschool Lesson Plans by SonitaLewis, on Flickr My calendar for 2013 looks like this block calendar by SonitaLewis, on Flickr
Josie, do you think that you have to review before you move on with doing the content subjects by the week?
That is pretty cool Josie. My son takes a couple classes at the high school here...and they block schedule. So, instead of 8 classes a day (like I had in high school)...there are only 4 a day. The classes are 1.5 hours long instead of 45 minutes. Classes are done and switched with the start of 2nd semester.
Thanks for all the input, and Josie - wow! That looks like such a great and organized plan! I am having reservations about block scheduling- I worry that my 2nd grader will forget things. As it is, we do history 2-4x/week just to keep things fresh. Part of me is so worried about going out of the box and not seeing any possible regression with her skills. I will keep thinking about what might be best for her...perhaps having grammar, Spanish, Science, and history on a block schedule, then keeping math, reading, and spelling everyday with long enough breaks in between?
Happyfamily-- I say try it and see. It's homeschooling, if it doesn't work, you can go back to your old way. Sommer-well, Friday's we are out and about a LOT, so I just try to fit school in around life. It's usually just discussion and educational games and videos on Friday, I try to do just enough that I can count it as a school day for attendance. If we fall short we add time on the weekend to make Friday a full school day for attendance. It's a 30 minute drive to the grocery store, so it's easy to discuss what we did over the last 4 days, tie up any loose ends, do a little oral quiz while driving down the road, etc. The schedule is my goal, but it's flexible. It has to be! LOL For one thing my kids want to do science every day, they'd easily sacrifice any and all other subjects for science. There are days that we skip math or reading here and there, but not often and never 2 days in a row. For another thing I just never know how much time I'll have to devote to my parents any given day/week. I also have extra days scheduled in our year so we can take off a day here or there or even a week. I actually have 5 extra weeks scheduled for this school year. So if we have school all days scheduled, we'd be able to take of May as well as June-though there is no way my kids could handle a 2 month break....
