How independent is the 4th-5th grade curriculum plans?

[Indygirl]

Next fall I will have a ds doing MPK and a ds doing the MP3 plans. How independent can my 5th grader be and can I really juggle it all? We are all new to Memoria Press and it looks like my 5th grader will need to do a combo of the 4th-5th grade plans.

Thanks

[Enigma]

You would need to teach the R&S math and english lessons along with Latin, if you are doing that. Other than that, you need to check their work before handing over the answer keys. This is pretty much what I do/did with mine.

[tanya]

Hello.

A 5th grader can be pretty independent, but our curriculum is teacher-directed, so our intent is that you spend some time making sure your standards are being met in the quality of the material your student is completing. I found (when I was teaching 5th grade) that if I let my guard down at all, I was getting one-word answers in study guides or very poorly written sentences. Obviously, a 5th grader should be able to read independently and complete some of the work independently, but students this young do need some guidance in writing good sentences and pulling the important information out of what they've read (which our study guides do help with). I'd say you won't need more than 2 hrs. a day devoted specifically to the 5th grader though, and that wouldn't be every day. (If you use our Latin dvds, that's one class you won't have to teach!) But I feel like it's important to talk with students about what they are studying and help bring it alive for them. I know that's impossible at times if you have lots of children needing you at one time. That's why it's nice if you can combine classes when possible.

Also, students are so different! I could leave my oldest alone to work in 5th grade, and he did fine, but I had to stay on top of my youngest or his work was really poor. His goal was to get to the end of the task, regardless of quality. And he didn't learn as well either. Since our curriculum steps it up academically, I ended up reading aloud to him a lot if I felt he wasn't comprehending difficult material. That's another reason why it's not a bad idea to slow it down and let them work at a lower level than we've graded our guides. It's plenty challenging, even a little below grade level.

Regards,

Tanya