Focusing on one problem at a time (or all at once)?

[nd293]

I couldn't think of a better way to title this!

 

We have not been at all focused with out afterschooling this year, and I need to get back on track. Ds7 needs to work on his handwriting, his spelling and his writing skills. Given available time and his willingness to work with me, I could probably manage handwriting twice a week, spelling twice a week and writing skills once a week, if I really stay focused. That would be the approach I usually use. I could also tie these together, of course, but I'd risk overwhelming him.

 

I am wondering whether it might not be best to instead work on one weak area for a block of time, perhaps 3 weeks, then move onto something else, and circle back later. If for instance, we are focusing on writing skills, I can have him narrate to me, and work on how to structure a piece of writing and keep that skill separate from handwriting and spelling concerns. We can blitz writing, and hopefully build competence in that area. He can then apply that at school, while we move onto another area such as letter formation to improve his handwriting.

 

Has anyone tried really honing in on one weak area and focusing on that exclusively for a while? Did you get good results?

 

Nikki

 

ETA: The school gives no homework.

 

 

[Arcadia]

For summer schooling yes because we are on our own schedule. For after-schooling no.

My older boy's teachers (k&1st) use the weekly spelling list as handwriting homework in the weekly homework packet. For writing, he also gets homework like book report, writing sentence from vocabulary words. So after schooling writing was kind of dictated by the school's sequence. Like if the focus was on narrative then we work on narrative after school. I didn't after-school handwriting or spelling.

[nd293]

Thanks Arcadia. To clarify, in your "summer-schooling" have you decided to focus on just one area at a time?

 

The school doesn't give any homework until high school, so there's no conflict there. They tend to give mixed messages about whether parents should be involved at all, but I have very clear ideas of what I want his education to look like, so I just do my own thing!

 

We're approaching our two week winter holiday here, so I want to start working on a few areas ds is weak in.

[Arcadia]

 To clarify, in your "summer-schooling" have you decided to focus on just one area at a time?

 

My kids have a 8 week summer break and 3 week winter (pre-Christmas to post New Year) break for our school district. They have two 1 week breaks too but I don't do anything for those.

For summer schooling since 2010, I had focus on only one problem area at a time.  This summer, my 4th grader would be writing and my 2nd grader would be geography facts and maps.  We afterschool music, math and other languages year round on a regular daily dose. So far doing intensive review/practice on only the problem area has work well for my boys.  It gets done without taking much time so they still have plenty of play time left.

 

I did their spelling on the way to school. Handwriting took us 10 minutes daily for script or cursive.