Which subject would you drop?

[LilyGrace]

I sat down to plan out the first few weeks yesterday and found out my 9yo is working on 10 subjects this year! Eek! I need to figure out which to drop, or if I need to any, but right now the planner is overcrowded with stuff he wanted to do. So, here goes:

5 days a week

Math
Language Arts
Reading

4 days a week
History

3 days a week
Science
Latin

Undecided # of days
Piano practice (class once a week)
Foreign language practice (class once a week)
Typing (he's really excited about this one)
Working on a national fitness challenge (every day, probably)

Too much for a 9yo? Last year his schedule was much easier, this year it seems to have exploded.

[mommy68]

I don't think it looks like too much as far as courses but the scheduling may need to be changed a bit. The last 4 items are things he will only do once or twice per week so I don't see how they will take up too much time.

My middle schooler is only doing History and Science on alternating days during the week. I do require him to do math, reading and lang arts 5 days a week. But he does music every day and we require him to get some sort of exercise or PE in every single day. Later on we will be adding in the homeschool co-op classes so I will have to change things around again.

I guess it depends on the child. Maybe you could tweak the schedule a little bit and change it from week to week to see what works best. That's what we did in the beginning.

[LilyGrace]

Yeah, we probably are going to spend the first few weeks tweaking the schedule. *sigh* I just want to be able to picture it all in my mind, get a flow going.

The foreign language practice will probably every day, though, or at least 3 times a week. It's an intensive course - not the abc/123 thing that most kids are exposed to. This is designed to get adults conversing with the outside community in as little as 2 months. He will need all the practice he can get to keep up and that is one class that cannot be dropped.

[greenmama]

I would probably put the Latin on hold while you do the intensive foreign language program. Of course foreign languages were not my strong point as a student and have not really worked with my 8yo. I would ask dc what he wants in his schedule.

I have had a similar issue only my problem is with the community activities. I am only really up for 3 a week and scouts, ukulele, and Odyssey of the Mind are probably winning, but dd will be heartbroken to drop drama.

[anywaybecause]

Originally Posted by greenmama

I would probably put the Latin on hold while you do the intensive foreign language program. Of course foreign languages were not my strong point as a student and have not really worked with my 8yo. I would ask dc what he wants in his schedule.

I agree w/ this. As far as college prep is concerned Latin *is* a foreign language. If you want it for eventual SAT prep, save it until DS is older and closer to that test.

Also, maybe bumping History down to 3x/week would feel less crowded. Keep in mind, too, that there are areas where subjects can overlap. Depending on exactly what you are covering, you might be able to study (for example) the Greeks and Romans, and cover mythology in Reading, and have DC write his own myth for Language Arts. The connectedness will make it less busy. Heck, even *Math* can fit in with the Greeks & Romans! Okay, and Latin . . . .

At 9, DS can have some input on what his schedule looks like . . . talk with him & ask him to help you priortize the electives.

This list of what my 5 1/2 year olds want to learn -- NOW, Mom! -- is absolutely outrageous, so I know that <gulp> feeling . . . .

[LovemyBoo]

Personally, I would drop math and language to 4 days a week, but that's because we have one day off a week for homeschool group. But even if we didn't have group, I would only do reading 5 days a week. If there's no group we take Friday's off and it works well for everyone.

Otherwise your schedule looks fine to me. Give it a go and if it doesn't work, fix it. That's one of beauties of hsing after all. You're free to try stuff and change it if it doesn't work out.

[phathui5]

I'd change history to three days a week and science to two, or alternate so that you do two days of one and three of the other each week.

[Ruthla]

How about starting out doing all that you've got planned, but keep yourself open to rescheduling things if it turns out to be too much for your child.

It's hard to say from that schedule just how long this whole routine is going to take, or whether your child would prefer to "switch gears" less often and have longer lessons on some days. Do you really need to do math, reading, and language arts daily, or can the same curriculum be divided into fewer days? Do you really need the language arts, or is your child learning plenty from reading alone?