Do you allow your teens to set their own schedule??

[missesd]

Or do you set aside school hours for the whole family?? That is what I want to do, from after breakfast till before lunch. It would be about 5 hours. I figure if they need more, they can take advantage of the quiet time in the afternoon, or get it done after Seminary in the early morning hours. I thought, of course, my idea sounded terrific... LOL However, it is being met with some dissent. The eldest boy, whom I believe I can trust, wants to do all his early morning after he gets home from Seminary. It is quieter then. But his driving force is being able to have his afternoon free with his homeschooled girlfriend on the texting machine, and work in the late afternoon. My eldest daughter is a nightowl. While I understand her dilemma, because I am one too, I am not sure I want to encourage that. Being a nightowl, has really been a downfall for me. Fighting your body's natural cycle is not easy, and a constant struggle. But the world just doesn't work on "night owl hours". She says she thinks better later at night (10 or so on), and of course it's quiet, too. I do trust her to get her stuff done, so that's not my reluctance.

 

The other ones are either too irresponsible or too young to really get a say. But as I fight for "my way", I am reminded that part of homeschooling is the ability to fit things more to the child... dang kids... LOL So I thought I'd come here and see if I was being unreasonable, or I just need to buckle down and let them know from the get-go this is non-negotiable.

[Liza Q]

My 10yo is on my schedule. I let my 12yo start early because she is a morning person and I am not - with the understanding that I won't be available till 9ish if she needs help. My 17yo does most of her school work in the afternoons as she has a part time job and works 6-12 2 mornings a week and likes to sleep in a bit on the other mornings. My oldest is in college (living at home) and she does her studying in the evening so the rest of us are almost always done by then.

 

So yes, I do let my teens set their own schedule!

[anneofalamo]

We worked the schedule together.

Every 6 weeks we tweak it.

Usually he comes to me, and says this is not working and gives cause, or I ask aren't you supposed to be doing Spanish? He says, finished already and am 2 days ahead. :tongue_smilie:

My goal is to bring my other 3 to that point...and relax!

[jld]

Yes, totally. That's one of the rewards for taking responsibility for your own education, imo.

[Elizabeth in WA]

In theory I want to let my older two set their own schedule. But in practice, my ds12 has gymnastics from 3:30 until 8 PM every night and does not seem to have the concentration for most subjects when he gets home. Since the older two have six hours of school per day and we don't get up extremely early, in practice they do school from after breakfast until time to go to gymnastics, with gymnastics taking up most of what would otherwise be ds12's free time during the week.

 

(Thinking out loud here) If they wanted to get up early and do their academics, I wouldn't object, but they would have to wait until I was up and had coffee to ask for help. I'd be reluctant to let them try working very late in the day because in my experience with my kids, they need to be checked up on daily to ensure work is actually being done and material is actually be learned not just read over once. Since I don't want to do that checking of work and oral (and written at times) quizzing late at night, they'd have to work a day ahead and be able to demonstrate the learning to me on the day it was due.

[Lolly]

My 16 yos schedule is dictated by their swim practice schedule. They generally school with me available from 8-12. They then are in pretty much independent mode until 3 when they leave for afternoon practice.

 

My 18 yo has to have time available for the classes she is doing with her sisters. She usually sleeps until 10, does schoolwork and has lunch between 10 and 1, works 1-5, and finishes everything from then until about 1 or 2 a.m. when she usually goes to bed.

 

My 13yo's is tucked in around his sisters' schedules. I usually wake him up around 11. He does schoolwork from 12-3 or 4 with me. He may have to finish up some on his own after that. Not usually though. He seems to be able to finish fairly quickly.

[Cedarmom]

A mixture of both. Things we did together had to fit into both ourschedules. On his own-he could do what worked for him. If he wanted my help it had to be at a workable time for me. And a couple of times he slacked off and just didn't do school (i'll do it later)When he did that then he had to do my schedule until I felt I could trust him.

[J-rap]

***

 

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by J-rap

[stansclan89]

I let them set their own schedule if they have proven that they will get the work done by the end of the week, but I only help on my schedule. When I have time they better be doing the things that they might need help on, because I probably won't be available later.

 

17ds used to be a morning person but now seems to be able to be morning or night depending on how he wants to swing it. He wants to read for pleasure while it's quiet and locks himself in his room for schoolwork later. 15dd goes to bed early and sleeps late if she can. She goes back to bed after seminary and does her school work in the afternoon. She locks herself in the RV so shes not bothered. Quiet seems to be important and our house is not.

 

Sometimes I think it would be nice to be on a schedule together to be able to do a devotional or something like that. But I also hate being on a schedule so it never works out :lol:.

[creekland]

Yes, totally. That's one of the rewards for taking responsibility for your own education, imo.

 

:iagree: but with my oldest and youngest we occasionally had to remind them that they should be working on something when they had free time (and hadn't done much work).

 

My middle son sometimes needs reminders to take a break from working on academics.