What a day's work looks like

We're descending into the holiday break.

Ancient China and Human Body (2nd unit) ended the week before Thanksgiving. Although the load is a bit lighter, there's enough to occupy us for half a day. To supplement daily work --and to add a useful skill-- the kids began typing practice. As for "what else" we do in a day...

A partial lesson of Vocab Smarts (Critical Thinking Co.)

N & M take turns reading the word sets, identifying a relationship between two of the four words, and then we each write a sentence using at least two of the four words. If they're ornery, they get hatch marks. Three hatch marks = a  household chore. They can erase a hatch mark by writing a sentence using all four words. After the lesson, they close their notebooks and I ask them to spell the words from that day. This takes about 20 minutes.

N's math for a day (typical lesson). Math Mammoth, 4th grade

They do math five days/week. Each lesson is two - four pages long. Time spent: 15 minutes to 45 minutes.

Reading Detective (Critical Thinking Co.) for reading comprehension/discernment

To expand our writing scope, I purchased Reading Detective for each child. We started to use this workbook last month. It asks a reader to find proof in the text for whichever answer is given.

Prior to this, we did writing only as a creative exercise. We will toggle between Writing Magic (creative) and Reading Detective (academic). This takes about ten minutes plus another ten minutes for corrections (they're still "getting" how to sift through text for precisely the right sentence or paragraph to cite).

We also exercise most days: running a mile (having worked up to that over about three weeks) and then hitting the tennis ball for the dog to chase. The kids either run after the dog or dribble a soccer ball (N) or wander around the grounds...meandering. It's good to just GET OUT. This takes about 45 minutes.

They each read for 30 minutes a day, and they listen to a chapter (or two) of a book I read. We're in Prince Caspian now. (10 - 20 minutes).

A day's work adds up like this:
Typing - 10 minutes
Vocabulary/Spelling -- 20 minutes
Math -- 30 - 45 minutes
Exercise -- 20 - 45 minutes
Reading Detective -- 20 minutes
Reading (fun) -- 30 minutes
Listening -- 20 minutes
Housework -- 10 - 20 minutes (laundry, put away dishes, change bedding, wipe down bathroom)

150 - 210 minutes

Once we're in 2012, we'll resume science/history every other day (add 20 - 45 minutes per day).