We have enjoyed the block schedule that we have been using the last several months. With the new year approaching I have considered changing things a little. During our last 10 weeks of school I played around with different schedules to see how they would work for us. My oldest child is ready to have most of his day involved in independent studies so I have moved his work area to his bedroom. I needed a schedule that was a little longer to incorporate the needs of my oldest, but not too demanding for my younger children. This is the schedule that won out over everything else we tried. This block schedule allows us to get everything covered without a hectic pace. It also allows us to cover our basics and drop the afternoon to accommodate play dates or other activities that come up.
2 hour morning block –
5th grader – Bible 30 minutes, 3 languages one-on-one (20 minutes each), and Speech (1 day a week for 30 minutes) and Handwriting/Typing (4 days a week for 30 minutes)
3rd grader – Bible 30 minutes, 2 languages one-on-one (15 minutes each), and Handwriting/Typing (30 minutes), and a 30 minute break.
K4 – Bible 30 minutes, Speech 30 minutes (1 day a week), free time
Me – One-on-one foreign language instruction (1 hour for 5th grader, 30 minutes for 3rd grader), 30 minutes on Bible or Speech.
2.25 hour late morning block – Math and Language Arts rotate with Math on one day and Language Arts on the next day. My 3rd grader and 5th grader will work the entire time with one-on-one instruction with each child for some areas. K4 will get about 20-40 minutes one-on-one in math, phonics, handwriting, and reading.
Lunch
1 hour exercise – All 3 kids, but the youngest doesn’t usually exercise the entire time.
2 hour afternoon block – Rotating subjects. Science gets twice a week with the other subjects filling the other 3 spots (Computer Science, Logic/Chess, History, Geography, Art/Music). K4 will participate in our geography studies and have 2 afternoons a week dedicated to a crafty unit study (when 5th grader and 3rd grader are working independently). K4 will also work with me on Arabic and Mandarin a couple times per week while the older two are working independently.
Reading – 5th grader reads in bed at night for about 45-60 minutes.
K4 – Read alouds at bedtime.
You’re a great teacher!! Brings back fun memories of my homeschooling days..and figuring out each year what worked best for our family! Soak it up..they grow up fast! Ryan turns 18..and has only 1 year left of highschool..then it is off to college!