Good morning! Or afternoon. Or whatever time it is you’re reading this. Good day!
Today I’m sharing our 6th grade homeschool schedule. This is basically an outline of our day and things do change up a bit here and there. But for the most part, this is the schedule that Strawberry Shortcake is following this year. She has had the pleasure of completing a photography class so she’s excited about that, and I think I’ll allow everyone to pick one elective next year since this one went so well.
Strawberry Shortcake is currently 12 years old, and in the 6th grade. She definitely has a filled schedule this year, but she’s doing great and enjoying school!
Download a copy:
- 6th Grade Daily Schedule PDF
- 6th Grade Daily Schedule Word Doc (Editable)
Here is our basic 6th Grade Schedule:
- 8:30am – Breakfast / Family Devotions
- 9:00am – Daily Learning Notebook
- 9:15am – Bible
- 9:30am – Math
- 10:30am – English
- 11:00am – Handwriting
- 11:20am – Reading
- 11:30am – Spelling
- 11:45am – Vocabulary
- 12:00 – Lunch/PE
- 1:00pm – History / Science
- 1:30pm – Fine arts
- 2:00pm – Writing / Literature (2x per week)
- 2:30pm – Free
- 4pm – Swimming
As you’ll probably notice, Strawberry Shortcake’s schedule is virtually identical to Turbo’s. I find it works well to keep their schedule’s in line with one another. That way neither feel that they’re doing more or less work even though the work level is different. Since they’re only 1 grade apart it makes it easier to teach them together as well.
As I mentioned we are currently doing Bible, History, Science, and Literature as a group which makes it a bit easier on me. And this year Tinker Bell, Turbo, and Strawberry Shortcake all do IEW writing together too.
I received several comments on when we do chores. We mostly do chores in the afternoon after school. Since we have sports almost everyday, we each do one thing between 2:30-4. So for example Turbo will empty the top of the dishwasher, Teeny Tot will empty the bottom, Strawberry Shortcake and Tinker Bell will fold laundry together, and I’ll sweep the kitchen floor.
We do an all family house clean on one of our weekend days. Everyone gets 1 job and we all clean together.
Here is our 6th grade curriculum for the year:
- Art: World’s Greatest Artists 2 and See the Light Art DVDs
- Bible: Picture Smart Bible & Grapevine Studies
- English/Grammar: BJU English 6
- History: The Middle Ages – Time Traveler Unit & my Colorado State Study
- Literature: Classical Literature Units
- Math: Math U See Zeta
- P.E.: Family Time Fitness
- Photography: The Foto Finch Composition & Photojournalism (Review coming soon!)
- Reading: Abeka Reading 6 & Read & Comprehend Skill Sheets 5
- Robotics: LEGO Education We’re continuing with our co-op group and the Simple Mechanisms set this year.
- Science: Abeka Science 5 & one of my scientist units if we can fit it in!
- Spelling: All About Spelling Level 7 & Spelling You See D
- Typing: Typing Instructor Platinum (CD Version)
- Vocabulary: Vocabulary Workshop (This is our first year trying this per a friend’s suggestion.)
- Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing
Extra-Curricular Activities:
- Keepers of the Faith
- Contenders of the Faith
- LEGO Education We’re continuing with our co-op group and the Simple Mechanisms set this year.
This was very helpful 🙂
I’m curious, how do you do lego ed? My son saw that and got very excited, he loves legos! 🙂
My son is going into 6th and my daughter is going into 4th. He’s a little slower and she’s a little ahead, which means they do a lot of the same stuff. My question is, when you say you do literature, history, etc. together, what do you mean by that exactly?? Just that they’re doing the same thing, or do they literally work together when some kind of worksheet or workbook is being implemented? Could you elaborate on that a little? Thanks!!
They usually work together. So for example if we do a history lesson, I teach them as a group so they all listen to the reading together, then they will all work on a coordinating project, recipe, art project or whatever is called for in the lessons.
I really appreciate the colorful daily schedule. Thank you for sharing the free editable printable. We are starting home school early this year, August 1st, so my schedule is already framed and up.
How did you like the vocabulary workshop? I am looking for a curriculum for my 6th grade daughter and came across your blog:)
It’s not my favorite, and honestly I feel like there are almost too many words each week. So it seems like it’s hard to really learn any of them very well. This year I’m going to use Fix It Grammar and they have a word a day to learn. If that seems too easy I might add in a supplemental vocab. But between vocabulary workshop and wordly wise it just seemed like a lot to me.
Hi Erica! I first of all want to thank you for your blog. It has helped me so much in navigating this homeschooling experience. I have a question though about IEW. Is it a complicated curriculum to get started? I feel that my son (6th grade) has more potential in writing but I’m a little overwhelmed with what this has to offer. I’m afraid that I won’t know how to introduce him to it properly and possibly waste lots of money in the process.
No it’s not hard to get started with. I have a video review here that might help you out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FID979PDusk
Hi,
Thank you for sharing good ideas and information. I’ve started homeschooling two kids grade 6 and grade 4 from September, 2016 and I love it. But!!! I didn’t realize that it would be extremely hard to homeschool with 2.5y.o. toddler and 8 months baby. The toddler gets into everything and takes 100% of our time or…he would just watchcartoons all day long. I don’t want him to watch cartoon and try to read him, or to play with construction toys or whatever different. But still, he is extremely active! I’ve tryed “busy box” and it just worked for 15 minutes. He always tryes to get our attention. I can’t read aloud to older kids as he brings his book about cars (which we’ve read gazillion times) and will distract us. My little one has another attitude, but he just started crawling and we’ve too watch him carefully as he also gets everything -but in his mouth)). I also cook and bake a bread everyday, of course do laundry, shopping, errands and take older kids to sport activities every evening. Could you please share some ideas how to deal with a toddler while homeschooling ? He seems to be a smart boy, just wants to get everything in the same time with his siblings. If I give him a chance to draw, he would do it at first on his paper and than in all our staff. Just need some clues. Thank you!
Hi Olga,
I do have a post on homeschooling with babies & toddlers that might help here:
http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2016/10/how-to-homeschool-with-babies-toddlers.html
I would also suggest that you post your question on my forum here to see what other people suggest as well!
https://community.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/
Regarding your 6th grader – writing with IEW. We studied IEW last year with Classical Conversations…and used the Ancient History Student book. It took us a lot more than 2 days a week @ 30 min. each! More like 5 days a week 30-45 minutes. It was So intense I hate to put it back on the calendar for next year. He needs writing, but the time we put into it, along with the many other subjects and activities (scouts, piano, baseball) causes stress just thinking about it! How did you do it in two short lessons? Thank you…I love your heart and the wonderful information and advice!
We haven’t used the history units yet. We were using the student writing intensive units. We watch the video on Mon, then they get a writing assignment for the rest of the week. I spread it out a bit because I wanted it to last longer since it was so expensive. And I figured they’re still writing so I’m fine doing it that way.
Do you kids take any breaks between subjects? I find it tricky to manage their study time. So often I feel like I could squeeze in more but my children have enough. Often they complain about having to work more than they used to in school. 🙄🤔😟
How many breaks do you usually give? And how long?
(Especially for 6th grade, 4th grade and 2nd grade)
I am so grateful for your blog.
Thank you,
Anna
Hello, I was wondering about your options program, I think those are electives. Where do you get them from? I saw you had a lot of electives for one child. Are they paid or free? Thank you. My daughter is going into 6th grade next year and it will be our first year homeschooling. She will be taking a cooking class at the co-op next school year but we can only afford one class. Any info on electives would be great. Thank you so much. She also wants to do ballet, so she will be starting that soon. Would that be considered PE for that day? I didn’t think so but couldn’t hurt to ask. Thank you.
Our local school district provides a program for homeschoolers where they can go and take classes. Some are core, some are electives it just depends on what you choose to take. We tend to do elective classes there so I can make sure they’re getting what I want for our core classes. It is $25/yr per family so it’s fairly inexpensive for us. You might want to check with your local district to see if they have something like this available in your area. In most states you can count electives like dance as PE yes.