How a Week Works
You've got the workbook, the sound cards, and a child who needs you. This lesson shows you the shape of a curriculum week — what happens on which day, how long it really takes, and the one rule that holds it all together.
The shape of every week
Every week of the curriculum has the same shape. One full lesson, four short practice days. Here's the whole week at a glance:
Monday is the engine — the new concept gets introduced once, properly, with you leading. The rest of the week is repetition in short, familiar bursts. Your child isn't relearning each day; they're wearing a groove. That's why the one rule is: Monday stays intact. Move it to Wednesday if piano owns your Monday — but don't split it, and don't skip it.
Checklist days are lighter than they sound
Tuesday through Friday, the Teacher Guide gives you a literal checklist — the same drills you already know from Module 2 (Short Vowel Posters, Quick Drill Decoding, phonemic awareness), a workbook page or two, and a short story re-read. Most activities run 2–3 minutes. You are not inventing anything; you're running a list.
What you need on the table
Everything the week asks for, from the Teacher Guide:
- Student Workbook
- Short Vowel Posters
- Sound Cards (letters & digraphs)
- Phonemic Awareness Mat
- Colored blocks or tiles, plus the Tile Mat with letter tiles
- The syllable songs queued up
Set up a practice basket
Everything in one basket or drawer means zero setup time — the difference between starting at 4:00 and negotiating until 4:20.
Pick your “Monday”
Look at your family's next seven days and pick your “Monday” — the one day you can protect 60 minutes. Write it down, plus the four ~30-minute slots around it. This is your real schedule, not the ideal one.
Inside the Monday Lesson
Sixty minutes sounds like a lot until you see that it's twelve small, familiar pieces — most of them 2 or 3 minutes long, and half of them drills you already know. Here's the whole Monday lesson, in order, with honest times.
The 12 components, in order
The order never changes — tap any step to see what it involves. The genuinely new parts of any Monday are just one concept and one sort.
Half of these you already know
Components 2, 3, 8, and 9 are the Module 2 drills. Component 12 is reading a story with your kid. The genuinely new parts of any Monday are one concept and one sort.
Name your three
Without looking, list the three activities you feel least ready to run. Those are exactly what Module 4 and the Teacher Guide's appendix videos cover — note them and watch those demos first.
Flexing Without Guilt
The schedule serves your family, not the other way around. The Teacher Guide builds in three official ways to bend the week — none of them are cheating, and none of them require confessing to anyone.
The three official flexes
Inside a session, flex the amount — never the order
Every activity has a time window, and the Guide is explicit that you're covering whatever fits in the window, not the whole list. Fewer sound cards, one word column, three sentences: all correct. Set a timer, move when it rings. Two exceptions run the other way — Introduce the Concept (never skip, the week depends on it) and Read a Story (never skip, the child depends on it).
The 30-minute question
On practice days, if it's fitting in about 30 minutes, you're doing it right. If it's regularly running 45+, you're covering too much per activity — shrink the lists, not the schedule.
Two of these moments have their own coaching cards: the long Monday and the tired hand, over in Kitchen Table Moments.
Name your flex
Which flex is your family's? Write one sentence: “Our week is ___ because ___.” Deciding this on purpose, tonight, is what kills the guilt on the day you need it.
Run the Practice Lesson first
Before you open Week 1, run the Guide's Practice Lesson with your child — it's the whole Monday shape in miniature, fully scripted, zero stakes. You'll both walk into Week 1 having already done it once.
Open the Practice LessonReady for your first week?
Five quick questions on Module 1. You'll get instant feedback on each.