A day at our table

I have hesitated to write what a day in first grade looks like at our house because it is still so new BUT I am seeing patterns and I think we have our schedule "somewhat" figured out. We don't start at a typical time, after sister gets up we get started once she has had some time to wake up. She is a slow starter in the morning like her mother so I try to show her lots and lots of grace. We start with Bible time. That includes reading from A Child's Story Bible or her Bible and going over scripture memory and catechism questions, this takes us 20-30 minutes most mornings. 

Following that we do a calendar time which she keeps in a binder. Calendar time consists of some print offs that she answers daily questions about the day and the weather. We also talk about what we are thankful for and she writes that on her monthly calendar. This takes about 5-10 minutes.

What we do next is still a work in progress, yesterday we did everything "teacher" intensive first and then she went back and completed the work for each subject after it was all done. In the past I teach, she does the work, I teach and she does the work. I think most days I prefer to do all my teaching at once and then give her independent work to complete at the end. That doesn't mean I am done for the day but it gives her independence and a goal to complete.  

We usually do math first, if it is the first day of a new subject it takes a bit longer. I usually introduce the lesson and we work on it until she has it down. Day one usually has 1 worksheet to complete. Other days I briefly review and ask questions about the lesson. If she is having issues I re-teach the subject and we do the work together, if she knows her stuff she completes two worksheets during her work period on days 2-4.  This can take anywhere from 20 minutes - 45 minutes.

Following this is spelling using All About Spelling. I am dividing these lessons into 2-3 lessons. This takes us 10-15 minutes a day. 

After spelling we start our PAL Writing. This consists of an entry into our classroom journal, a story summary, possible grammar lesson (I introduced nouns yesterday), and handwriting practice is saved for her work period. Handwriting is often simple sentences from words she has learned in our reading program or her scripture memory. This takes about 20-30 minutes.

Following writing is our PAL Reading. We first read our poem with our lesson and discuss what we see in the poem and new helpers to learn. She also learns new words that I write on index cards and we place those in a box and often play a lightening game with those. We usually play 1-2 file folder games that go along with our lesson and visit the phonetic farm and review the helpers that we have learned. She also has some reading practice pages to read from along with a worksheet to complete. She usually does this during her work period. I have her read from the notebook often while I am making lunch. This takes us about 30 minutes to complete.

 

We will also review Classical Conversations daily with an emphasis on one or two subjects daily. This will usually be at the end or placed somewhere in the middle. I talked about what I plan to do for enrichment for the first six weeks. Review plus additional activity should take us 30 minutes.

If we save her work for the end of the day she has to complete 1 or 2 math worksheets, handwriting, and a reading worksheet. This shouldn't take too long, it depends on her staying on task to get the job done. 

All these times are rough estimates and probably on the long side of things.

I am also trying to incorporate a read aloud time after lunch. The only thing this doesn't include is art. That will probably be after lunch and little man is down for a nap and/or on Friday! 

More about our art plans soon!

Brother usually bops in and out, I have a few activities for him to do if he wants or we pop in an educational video for him to watch while he plays. 

Typing this all out makes it seem like a lot but when we stay on task it takes us about 3ish hours to plow through these things. My goal is to make Fridays a catch-up, review & art day! 

My sanity comes from lots of Jesus and sweet tea in a glass jar with a bendy straw! Joking! I kid about the sweet tea but I do need LOTS and LOTS of Jesus!

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