Subjects and schedules?

[floiejo2]

For those of you not following an exact curriculum and just mixing your own things, how many "subjects" do you cover in one day? Do you do them all every day, or break them up, like math 2 days/week, reading 2 days/week or some mix? I'm trying to figure out how to get everything in our schedule. Often times we end up doing one thing for an hour if she's interested and then don't have time to accomplish all subjects on the same day. Tia!

[AAK]

For my first grader: math and reading daily (not always workbooks-this can include games, etc.). I sprinkle in the other subjects kinda randomly.

For my fourth grader: I recently started giving her "weeklies" on Mondays. This means that of her 'core' subjects, I wrote down my expectations of what she needs to accomplish during the week. She is figuring out how to implement the scheduling. She would prefer to do all Language one day, all math the next, etc. I did say that she needs to break up the math into two days simply because I think math is better learned if visited more frequently rather than longer duration. But, right now she is doing a section that comes very easy to her, so she would rather just get it done. I must say, she is learning time management skills and how to prioritize. I still sprinkle in extensions of learning throughout the week.

Amy

[theretohere]

We do phonics 5/days week.
Math3-4 days/week.
Everything else is as desired.

[MyLittleWonders]

We are following the scheduling ideas from Latin Centered Curriculum. For us, that means we do Latin, Math, Spelling/Phonics (our spelling program is based on direct phonics instruction and spelling rules), copywork/composition, and grammar 4-5 days a week (the fifth day is only if we need to make up a shorted day/missed day, or just to finish up something we were working on in writing).

Reading is five days a week.

Once a week we do the following: history/geography, science, Spanish (sometimes 2x a week), art, and religion. I've scheduled history/geography on Mondays, Spanish on Tuesdays, art & religion on Wednesdays, Science on Thursdays, and Spanish and any other topics on Fridays (Fridays are hit and miss here too as ds#2 has skating lessons some Fridays, plus we have an art coop 1x a month on Fridays).

[elizawill]

for my daughter, the 3 r's are 5 days a week, but we take every other friday off for co-op. we rotate science/nature & history/geography. art & music are once a week.

for my ds, the main focus is the 3 r's and everything else has no schedule.

hth.

[nov05mama]

Pretty much ditto the others. We are still relaxed even with the 3R's at this point b/c he's only 4, but since he asks for school, those are our 'dailies' on the days we do work. The other subjects are based on desire. We do science and nature a LOT between doing the "Outdoor Hour" with the Handbook of Nature Study as well as Letterboxing.
DS is also extremely interested in drawing, so I recently got Draw Write Now as well and he does a page a couple of times a week

[annethcz]

For early elementary age children, my ideal is to do some sort of math and language arts each day, as well as read some books. Anything else is gravy.

[earthmama369]

I have a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old.

I aim for 5 piano practices a week for my oldest, maybe 15 minutes at a time, for her piano lessons. It's one of those skills that really requires practice to build muscle memory and make the lessons we're paying for worthwhile. Right now she also listens to her Anansi cd every day because the homeschool drama club she's in has their play coming up in two weeks and her director asked everyone to practice daily until then. Since she's not a fluent reader yet, she learns her lines by listening to them.

My youngest has OT (occupational therapy) at home twice a week and I try to work in some sensory activities every day to help his days go smoother.

That's about it. We do cover a range of subjects in a week, but like food, I don't track it too closely day by day. Over the course of a week they generally seek out what they need. I just keep a mental eye on what the kids are doing and what they're interested in, and we pursue those things. I have a 5-year-old who is just learning how to read words and numerals but who can explain the water cycle, does some multiplication, and is figuring out properties like 3+2=5 and 2+3=5. "Mama, check this out! It doesn't matter what position the adding numbers are in!" She has these leaps of intuition and then works her way backwards to pick up the skills she needs to play with her new realizations. And I have a 3-year-old who is flat out convinced that a B is drawn like an 8 and will not budge on the matter, and who is convinced that shrieking loudly is the way to get his big sister to do what he wants despite all evidence to the contrary, but who also has the vocabulary of your average 9-year-old and thinks geometric shapes are nifty and can rattle off their names better than I can.

Since both kids are pretty asynchronous in how they learn, relaxed eclectic homeschooling seems to be the way to go for us. ETA: I should say that the one thing that absolutely happens every single day is reading. We read a chapter from a classic (right now, The Neverending Story) and a shorter book or two every bedtime and usually at least a couple other short books during the day. Poems, riddles, fairy tales, science books, history, Clifford the Big Red Dog, whatever catches our fancy.