I had a few friends inquire about what a 4th grade homeschool schedule might look like. There are many out-of-the-box curricula that provide daily lesson plans for each subject. You just follow what they say for each day. That is a lot less work for you, the parent-teacher, and there are plenty of kids that this approach works well for. However, if you have a child with learning challenges like ADHD, dyslexia, or cognitive delays, set schedules for each day can actually add stress. It is difficult to find an all-in-one curriculum that meets the needs of such children. Even if you are lucky enough to find such a curriculum, you will still likely need to modify it in order to achieve your student's learning goals.
That need for modification, and flexibility, led me to suggest a few different "mix & match" curricula for my friends. I then suggested the following "1st week" schedule. Please keep in mind that this is for a child in Washington state who needs extra writing and reading support and plenty of breaks.
For this student, my suggested math program is Khan Academy 4th grade math. For science I recommended Harcourt 3/4 Science. Typical Washington 4th graders learn about the history of Washington state. Note how I tied his social studies and science classes together for this week. That "unit study" approach works well with kids who hyper-focus on one subject to the detriment of others. Washington state homeschooling regulations have subjects that are required to be taught (at some point). Health, music, and art are among those subjects. I easily included them into his day without having to spend a fortune on specific curricula.
As you can see, there is not a great deal of "sit down and read these 5 pages and answer these two worksheets" type work. That kind of teaching would not work for this particular student. He's an extrovert who learns by doing. This schedule is tailored to meet his needs as he adjusts to school at-home.
This schedule might look a little empty to those of you used to an 8 hour school day. Think about what happens during the typical elementary public school day: getting children into or out of coats when they enter or leave the building; taking attendance and morning announcements; moving from the classroom to a different location for electives; bathroom breaks; lunch; recess; second recess if your school is kind enough to provide that. All of these things take time that is multiplied by the number of students in a class. How much of the day is direct instruction of an individual student? If you're homeschooling, instructional time is always direct, tailored, instruction.
As always, if you have questions about this proposed schedule or anything discussed here, you can email me. I hope this sample 1st week schedule for one Washington 4th grader helps you better plan for your student.
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