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Bookswithtea
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I didn't think I planned too much, but we are on week two of 9th grade now, and ds is working from about 8:30 to noon straight, and then 12:30 to anywhere from 3:30 to 5pm. Very little dawdling and distraction. I am wondering if I planned too much/made it too hard or maybe its because we don't have a rhythm with it all yet?
He's got these subjects:
Grammer/Vocab: Wordly Wise and Easy Grammar. This is probably takeing 45 min. total, 4 days a week.
Natural History (MODG syllabus). 45-50 min. a day/3 days a week. Going well so far. Love the books!
American History-This is taking 2-2.5 hrs a day/5 days a week, easily. Read a chapter, look up additional information in books with different viewpoints, write one to two 3/4 pg summaries a week. Its the additional information and outlining and writing that is taking forever.
Religion--1.5 hrs a day/4 days a week. Read a short chapter, write a summary. Its the summary, again, that is taking the time. Learning how to pull information from a Peter Kreeft book rather than a book that has the points spelled out, I guess...
Intro to Lit--currently the poetry unit. 1 hr...not in the reading time, but in being able to answer questions and discuss this with me intelligently.
Algebra 1--teaching textbooks--1/5-2 hrs a day. Last 40 minutes is in reworking problems, mostly.
How do I help him to stick to an hour a day per subject? He's written summaries before, but never this many a week. Maybe I'm expecting too much?
Help???
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Tami
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Books, would it help to move some things to later - like the re-working of math problems, say, after dinner? It might not take so long at that point (because he's had a break from it).
And is he doing one religion summary each day? Maybe alternate days for those with his history summaries, with discussion on the off days, for the first 6 weeks or so.
It's good that you have him writing like this - can you give him some assistance with the outlining/organizing until he gets the hang of it? Then he can focus his time on the writing.
I'll also add that I've seen the 9th grade year, for my children that I've hs'd, as well as those I didn't, take quite a bit of time to adjust to. Like several months. Literally. It really is quite a transition to that level of work. It can take some time for them to be able to get the work done in 1 hour's time, give-or-take a bit. 
Otherwise, the time frame you listed for your day really is not that different from any high school level schedule. It doesn't sound too hard to me. It just really takes a bit longer.
Hope this helps! 
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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Bookswithtea
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Tami wrote:
And is he doing one religion summary each day? |
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Its supposed to be two a week, one on Mon. one on Wed. I don't have the history summaries scheduled in a daily format (its weekly). I could make the point to schedule those on Tues and Thurs. Is 4 summaries a week total too much? I have been helping a lot with outlining/organizing. I kind of expected that I would need to.
Tami wrote:
| I'll also add that I've seen the 9th grade year, for my children that I've hs'd, as well as those I didn't, take quite a bit of time to adjust to. Like several months. Literally. It really is quite a transition to that level of work. It can take some time for them to be able to get the work done in 1 hour's time, give-or-take a bit. |
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Well, if this is the case, then maybe its not a big deal?
Tami wrote:
Otherwise, the time frame you listed for your day really is not that different from any high school level schedule. It doesn't sound too hard to me. It just really takes a bit longer.
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In every other year I've taught (this child started hs with K) hsing was more efficient and took less time than traditional schooling. I guess I was thinking it would be a full 8ish to 3ish school day but without evening work and rarely weekend work? Is that unrealistic?
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Barb.b
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Books,
Just some quick thoughts:
American history- last year my son had seton 8th grade american history. We ended up trying numerous things for him to do after his readings. Instead of summeries we decided that he would make what we called a study guide for each chapter. This took the form of a very loose outline. Have him type the main word (place, idea, law, person . . ) and under it type a numbered list of facts and significances or consequences of it. This was a lot easier for him to study from then a paragraph form summary. It also required him to be able to pull out the main ideas for the chapters.
Religion - instead of some of those summeries you can try discussions.
Math - my son and I meet for correction of pervious days lesson. Then on to the new lesson that we do together. Going over a lesson together is so importand to algebra. If I am correct, the math you are using has a computer cd "teaching" the lessons. I don't think this works well for math. As a teacher you can catch problem areas so much quicker. Doing the lesson together may lesson some of his reworking time. I give my son 1 hour to do math (not including our time together) and what he doesn't accomplish he does in the evening for homework.
Last year in 8th my son worked from 8:30 - about 4:00. He was in a homeschool biology class and this work he preferred to do in the evenings -for at least 1 hour (maybe more) each night.
Barb
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folklaur
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Barb.b wrote:
Last year in 8th my son worked from 8:30 - about 4:00. He was in a homeschool biology class and this work he preferred to do in the evenings -for at least 1 hour (maybe more) each night.
Barb
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Did he work from 8:30 - 4 every day, and then he had homework besides?
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Barb.b
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Laura,
Pretty much. Of course 2 days per week he has to go to science for 1 1/2 hours ea. day (one of these days is his class, the other is his sisters where he assists the teacher). It takes only about 20 minutes one way but that takes a little over 2 hours out of our day 2 times each week. He usually completed his math in one hour - so rarely had to finish that for homework. That means he had his science that he did each night. I must say that science is his favorite subject. So this nightly studying was his choice. He liked to study it, I think he also felt studying in the evening to be less distracting - more quiet.
I feel that most public or private school kids go to school for 8 hours plus several hours of homework each night. So he still is accomplishing more in less time.
Barb
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Bookswithtea
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Well, I've been asking around in several places, online and IRL, and I guess its pretty normal for a 9th grader to take this long, especially at the beginning of the year? Who knew?  I reworked the history a little bit this afternoon and stretched out the religion course from 4 to 5 days in order to make the day feel a little bit lighter...hopefully that will help, but I guess this is just how it is, now, eh???
Homeschooling high school is really different from elem. school...
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Tami
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Books, sorry it took me so long to post back.
Yes, your schedule looks very realistic for high school. And I think making history 5 days instead of 4 is a great move!  It should lighten his/your day a bit.
And yes, I've found that hs'ing high school is really very different, just like attending a brick-and-mortar high school is very different. It's a big step forward toward young adulthood.
I'll pray that the transition to this level of work is a grace-filled one. He will get the hang of it all, I'm confident!
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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StephanieA
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Dear Books,
I will just say that this is much more than my 3 high schoolers did/do.
You have basically 2.45 hours of English a day: poetry, grammar, and vocab. and that many hours of religion would have burnt my boys to a crisp.
True - schools have homework, but I didn't want to be like the schools. Yet I still wanted competant, educated kids. Both of the older boys received full scholarships, but I seldom had more than 1 hour classes per 5 day week. Latin took a little longer and maybe math on SOME days, but one hour a day per subject was the goal.
Our religion was more like 1/2 hour a day. With holy hour a week, rosary at night, etc., this was sufficient, I thought for a 15 year old. My senior this year has religion 3 days a week with one day reserved for an extra weekday Mass that counts as his religion for the day
I want him to know his religion, and live it. He can drive. Therefore, he can get himself to Communion more often than I am able to.
So, my freshmen this year looks like this five days a week:
Math - one hour or so
Religion - 1/2 hour
English - one hour
History - one hour
Science - one hour
Piano - 30-45 minutes
Assigned Reading - one hour - this is a book coordinated with history or science or just a lit book that I want him to read, but not necessarily one he would pick up and read on his own.
Spanish - together with the family on those days that we get to it. He won't get a credit this year on the language, but will get a start on learning it for a credit starting next year.
And when I say one hour, I really schedule around 45-50 minutes. This gives a short break between 1 or 2 classes...his choice. Studies show that even adults have to work hard to study straight for over 40 minutes. Better to truly concentrate, than drift.
I pushed my oldest with too much work freshmen year (with a history day project and a tough Latin course), but it burnt him out by junior year. Now doesn't that sound like a lot of kids in PS (including me as a kid?)
We have 4 year of high school and we don't have to push it all into the first years. It is a temptation, but I don't think it overall bears the fruit that a more relaxed, less full schedule does.
Just a different opinion.
Blesssings,
Stephanie
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Bookswithtea
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***Both of the older boys received full scholarships, but I seldom had more than 1 hour classes per 5 day week. Latin took a little longer and maybe math on SOME days, but one hour a day per subject was the goal.***
This is my goal too. I tweaked history and religion both and already we are shortening the time spent. Phew!
***Our religion was more like 1/2 hour a day. With holy hour a week, rosary at night, etc., this was sufficient, I thought for a 15 year old. My senior this year has religion 3 days a week with one day reserved for an extra weekday Mass that counts as his religion for the day
I want him to know his religion, and live it. He can drive. Therefore, he can get himself to Communion more often than I am able to.***
We live far from everything, including our parish, so we don't have holy hour and Mass opportunities during the week. I would count that too if it was an option in our home. I'll take what you said to heart though, about the amount of time spent on formal religion...something to think about...
***I pushed my oldest with too much work freshmen year (with a history day project and a tough Latin course), but it burnt him out by junior year. Now doesn't that sound like a lot of kids in PS (including me as a kid?)
We have 4 year of high school and we don't have to push it all into the first years. It is a temptation, but I don't think it overall bears the fruit that a more relaxed, less full schedule does.***
I feel very torn between two opposing philosophies, and I confess high school is making me nervous. I'm going to consider what you've shared, Stephanie.
Thank you.
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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folklaur
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Books - you know from conversations we have had about me feeling like my highscooler was never doing enough, and wasn't very consistent. I had real accountability issues with her as far as schoolwork goes, I thought.
Well, last semester she took two classes at our community college. The CCs here work very closely with Arizona State University (just a few miles away) as many many classes transfer over. She took English 101, and Geology, as the lab science would count as dual credit for college/HS. She did great. I mean, really great. And this was really only the second formal Science I had ever had her do (first was Chem at the local HS.)
So even though we never really had a ton of schoolwork or super intensive writing, she did fine with college level work. Yay. And - with Geology - she really likes it too. And the English teacher loved her writing. (Mom breathing sigh of relief here!)
I have to admit, since we homeschool, I never really thought that using the PS system as a model for time. She is in Marching Band there, and I know from talking to the some of the other kids that they rarely do a ton of homework at night - most teachers give them time in class. Also - if you knock out lunch time, and the time for changing classes (at our local high school, they change classes 6 times, with 7 minutes each time -- so that's like another 45 minutes!), plus "settle in time". Those kids have much less than 8 hours. And so being homeschooled and having the "teacher's" more direct attention, it is easy to cover more in less time.
The only class I say "work for an hour and just get as far as you can" is Math. The others, I just have her do her assignment, and as she has always been a fast worker, it rarely would take her an hour to complete a "regular" assignment. What would take the most time would be all the complaints about the assignment, not the actual work 
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Tami
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Stepahnie, you make some really good points, esp. about burn-out, and how much children can learn spending less time on subjects. "Less is more" is a good philosophy in many areas, and one I try to embrace as I can! I've owned the cook-book since I was single! And like you, I'm not trying to re-create school in my home.
I don't know that Books' son is headed towarded burn-out just yet (he's only in his 2nd week), and it looks from her original post that not all subjects were scheduled daily, but that some were taking more time than really necessary (math, for instance).
I was more interested in encouraging her in what I believe is a step-up in the educational process, and helping her be patient that the struggle may not be the work exactly (I honestly don't know what his particular assignments are to say that) but rather him adjusting to the amount of work, and that he will become more efficient at this. And her spreading some of these classes out over 5 days is great solution!
And I was thinking of 1 hour/class in a general way - 45, 50 minutes would be the same for me. I just figured that would be understood. Suggesting that he do his math corrections later was my attempt at explaining this (tho rather poorly, perhaps) because I know that fatigue can take what is normally 25 minutes of work and make it 40!
So, I don't think we're all that different in our approach or goals. I perhaps could have been more articulate.
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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Barb.b
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Hi all,
I feel I need to clear up possible confusion with my post. When I say 8:30-4-00- you must consider that 2 days per week he was out of the house at his science class or helping with a younger science class. This took him out of the house for a little over 2 hours 2 days per week. So instead of 8 hours of work like it sounds it is really 6. Take that 6 and take out 1/2 hour for lunch. I tried to go to Mass on Thursdays - this takes us possibly 1 hour 15 minutes from leaving the house to getting back home. Also fridays is guitar lesson. This takes 1 hour from leaving the house to getting back home. I think that probably has us averaging maybe 6 hours per day.
I'll try to break it down per class:
1. Math - 1 1/2 hours total
2. religion (including family devotions) 45 minutes?
3. language arts - 1 1/2 hours (this includes comp., 4. grammar,spelling, roots up, literature.)
5. Science - hour
6. spanish 1/2 hour
7. History - 40 minutes
These are estimations based on his average work time last year. Math is usually less then 1/2 hour of time together, leaving 1 hour to complete his lesson. Most of the time he finishes it. The only thing he did at night was to study his science some more. This was by his choice. The is his area and he may just have a major in college in science. Last year in 8th grade he was in a biology class here locally and had a ending year grade of 98! It is so funny. Moms and kids alike think that came easy to him. Little did they know that he spent sometime 1 - 1 1/2 hours per day on it. He was motivated to do this so I wasn't one to object!
I really don't think 6 hours of work is too much. I know some homeschool high schoolers who work 2 - 3 hours per day. Really, I don't see how! Half that time is math!
Hope that clears things up.
Barb
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folklaur
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Oh, Barb - I hope my post didn't sound like I thought you were working your child too hard! That isn't what I meant at all! And every child is going to work differently too.
If I caused any offense at all I am really, really sorry! 
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Barb.b
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No offense taken. I just wanted to clarify! I love hearing about the differences in each of our schooling days. Hey - that is why we all like homeschooling - we can school how and when we want! Actually I agree with you the Math is really the only class that consistently (spelling?) takes one hour or more. The only reason I listed Language arts as 1 1/2 hours is that it really is a combination of many things.
Barb
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StephanieA
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Certainly, no criticism was meant here either. But when I read 1.5 hours of religion 5 days a week, 2 hours of history 5 days a week, and English over 3 hours 4 days a week, it sounded like quite a lot.
My oldest son didn't "burn out" until junior year. I can't honestly say it was the school schedules, hormones, or 4 hour a day swim practice  . I never scheduled more than 1 hour class periods. Latin was a killer for him and math didn't come easy. Math was easily 1.5 hours a day by the time we graded and recorrected.(Ironically, he choose math as part of his major in college. Go figure.)
My real point was that too much work doesn't necessarily equal academic success. It can work into overload, depending on the child. Some kids eat up schoolwork and some kids simply don't. My 3rd is a balancing act. I eased him up on the "extras" (less time-consuming vocab, for example), for an exchange of giving him more time in other areas in which he has more interest.) Hopefully, he will step up to the plate.
It is tough to know exactly what to expect, because not only are expectations different, but every child is different. My second son wanted room/board at the college and worked just hard enough to get it. My oldest still doesn't "get" how much he has to study to keep his grades up (and he's a 2nd semester junior). He keeps getting dangerously close to 3.49 and loosing it.
I keep thinking, what could I have done differently to have changed this? I realize now....nothing, really. It is not about me and what I can do as much as what God has planned for this child. This is where our mothering instincts kick in if we let them. And where the Charlotte Mason approach "feels" so right for our family even if we throw a little classical studies into the mix.
I appreciate this forum so much even though I have so little time to post since I have been ill since Dominic's birth. When school starts I will have so much less time. But my thoughts are here, even if my posts aren't
Blessings,
Stephanie
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Cay Gibson
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Books,
My son is an inbetween 8th/9th grader (he's 14) and I just lined up his daily "to do" schedule. I've tried cutting it back to allow him more free time but I think, the fact of the matter is, Mon-Thur his days will be quite full.
I have him starting at 8:30 AM and he'll be ending around 4:30 PM plus doing some math with his father some evenings.
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Cay Gibson
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wife to Mark '86
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Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: How many hours for 9th grade?
