Planning question

[Shari]

:hi: Do most of you plan just one FIAR subject per day (i.e. Soc. St.-Monday, LA-Tuesday etc.) or do you mix it up? Just trying to learn from your experience which way you've found to work better, planning-wise, and teaching-wise.
Thanks!!:)

[AmandaW]

I've only hs for a year, but for what it's worth, here's what I do. I plan my FIAR topic based on how much time I think it will take to cover that topic and what other things are going on each day that week. Usually it ends up with LA topics together, but sometimes LA and Art will be on the same day and we'll do two days of science. I also don't do always do Soc St. on Monday, etc. I really like the flexibility and I think it help keep things fresh.

[Paige P]

I usually do things in "order" with some variations :lol:

First of all, my girls really like crafts, so I'd guess 4 days a week (sometimes less, sometimes more), we do something "crafty" with the book -- a coloring page, painting, cutting and pasting something, "building" something, cooking, etc.

Also, if I have *extras* like a word search or a notebooking page or something else related, I'll throw that in wherever it fits best or whenever dd1 needs something to do :D Based on our schedule, our FIAR time is separate from the rest of "school," so I may have dd1 do some writing about the topic in the morning.

Like Amanda mentioned, if I KNOW that if I have a busy day one certain day, I'll swap lessons out so that I can have the shortest lesson on that day. Also, there may be a day that we miss completely b/c of one reason or another, so I'll just "add" it onto another day (especially if it's mainly discussion).

Ultimately, I'd recommend using it how it works best for YOU and your family. I've heard people say this over and over again, and it's true -- YOU are the MASTER to any curriculum. Yes, there are things you have to cover, but, for example, if you know your child is "getting" a certain math concept, would you make him do 50 problems on that one topic? I wouldn't -- I'd circle 10 or 15, and if he gets them all right, then move on. Any other curriculum is the same, in my opinion -- do what works for YOU. Some days and weeks, we do lots and many "extras," and some days and weeks we follow the manual and enjoy that. You can't go "wrong" with FIAR :clap:

[Holly S]

We usually follow one subject per day, but I don't usually row Monday through Friday. My DC are still young, so we often take days off if something comes up and continue with the book the following week. I also sometimes move the subjects around if it works best that way. For example, if we only have a few minutes one day, I'll pick a shorter lesson even if I wasn't planning on it until later in the week.

[Melissa]

My ds really needs structure/routine. When I let that go too much, things really fall apart behaviorally around here.:unsure: So I plan in the daily order it's presented in the manuals. That being said, flexibility is also important. The week we did Katy, we were going to talk about weather (science) on Friday, as usual. However, a tropical storm rolled through our area the day before, and ds was very interested in the weather. So, we swapped days around, and talked about the weather while the interest was peaked, and did math on Friday. :D
This week, we both have head colds, so we're taking the mornings slow and getting started later than usual . . .

[Kendall in GA]

Typically, we do one subject per day; however, I will combine subjects if one lesson is particularly short AND I think that my dc can handle more.

[AndreaD]

This year we are only schooling 4 days a week- taking fridays off from structure for field trips, library trips, fun science projects, art, music, games etc. So I usually do mon- ss, tue- la, wed- art and math, thur- science. If the LA lessons are shorter, sometimes I'll add extra art or math lessons in that day. Whichever day looks shortest I will combine with another one.

[Kendra AU]

When we do four day weeks I usually do math and art in the same day because those are very simple lessons. Otherwise we just do one FIAR subject per day, usually in the order listed. I think when we did Garden themes we did science first that week so we could watch our seeds grow as we continued to learn.

Kendra

[Tricia O]

We mostly go in the order suggested in the book, but not tied to any particular day of the week. Last week we started a new book on Wednesday. So we did social studies on Wednesday, language arts on Thursday, art on Monday and math/science on Tuesday. We only do formal school 4 days a week so we skip Friday. The math was very easy this week so we combined it with science.