Sample Daily Schedules

Below is a first grader’s schedule from one of our families.

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Hi there,

I am almost embarrassed to send you our schedule! It is not as organized as the ones you have posted. But I guess this is what you want – to hear from real moms doing the Great Books curriculum! We do not keep hours with our daily work – we only look at the clock for our lunch break. We start as soon as we can in the morning and take breaks as needed. We sometimes do not get to some of the lessons until after dinner. I have the schedule below in poster format on the wall of our homeschool room. The schedule below has worked well for our 3^rd grader, 5^th grader and 6^th grader this past school year. Hope this helps some of your new parents!

Work to be completed on your own:

1. Saxon Math – one lesson daily
   2.     History – Read lesson & take notes
   3.     Reading (Good Books) – write down the pages you read
   4.     Reading Thinking Skills – one lesson
   5.     Map Essentials – one lesson & answer questions

Homeschooling Five Children Using the Great Books Curriculum

Grade Levels of My Children

10th Grade, 9th Grade, 7th Grade, 3rd Grade, and 1st Grade

I have been using the Great Books Academy for five school years. My days are busy, but I know my children are getting the best education possible at home.  The Great Books  curriculum is very flexible, the Great Books  staff even more so. I can quit a course if it is too much during the school year or add a course – it is completely up to me. There are no deadlines for me to meet – I never feel rushed to finish at a certain time. This makes learning fun for the children and relaxing for me while keeping us all on a realistic schedule we can follow during the school year. I really appreciate this flexible because I do have five children to teach.

8am-9am: MATH with all five children

Saxon math is best completed first thing in the morning for our family. It is a somewhat difficult subject for most kids – mine being no exception. I have found that if I read the Saxon lessons along with my children, I can relearn (if need be!) the math even in the higher levels. Saxon is very easy-to-use and I really appreciate its repetitive nature. I spend this hour teaching my 7th, 3rd and 1st graders. My 9th and 10th graders can easily do the Saxon math on their own because they have both used Saxon since kindergarten.

9am-10am: GRAMMAR AND WRITING with all five children

I like to spend a lot of time with English and Writing. I take this hour to study Shurley English with my 1st, 3rd and 7th graders and then Grammar for Writing with my 9th and 10th graders. Shurley is a subject that is really hands-on for the parent. I can never just give the Shurley workbook to one of my kids and expect the child to be able to do a day’s work alone. Shurley simply does not work that way. Shurley English requires a parent to do each lesson with the child. We start with the jingles and move into classifying sentences then complete the day’s lesson in the workbook. It is an excellent English program. I am always amazed at how easy it is for my 1st grader to know and understand the parts of speech! We then write in our journals. At the start of the school year, I take the kids to B&N and let them pick a nice journal to encourage them to keep up with the journal throughout the year. After the journal writing, we move into our paragraphs and essay writing. We then take the rest of the time for spelling and handwriting. I have the children write out the weekly spelling words on notecards so they can keep them in their rooms for easy studying throughout the week.

10am-11pm: SCIENCE with all five children

My kids love the Great Books  science program. Not only it is very up-to-date, it is very easy-to-follow. I do one hands-on science project or science lab during the week with the children. I have found this to be enough hands-on experience for them to understand science well. My 9th and 10th graders often come to me with questions about science. I either read the lesson and explain it to them or, if I do not have time, find the topic at http://www.khanacademy.org/ and tell them to watch the video. I do not hesitate to let the high schoolers get on the internet to find the answers they need. EB.com (free with our enrollment) is also an excellent resource for all of the children.

11-1pm LUNCH BREAK for all

We take a two hour break mid-day. One hour is simply not enough for us. The kids need the time to eat, play, relax, catch up on emails, etc.

1pm-2pm HISTORY and GOOD BOOKS READINGS for 1st, 3rd, and7th graders

1pm-2pm GREAT BOOKS readings for the 9th and 10th graders

In the afternoon, I like to let the kids read the history and Good Books/Great Books lessons. They prefer to read in their rooms or living room for these lessons, which is fine with me. They often go to 4pm reading the Good Books or Great Books – depending on where they are in the book. My 9th and 10th graders have online Great Books classes once a week for two hours – these online classes are without a doubt their favorite time of the school week. My 3rd and 7th graders have their Socratic classes every other week – which they also enjoy.

We have a Spanish tutor come once week for all five children. We also do various sports and music lessons throughout the year.