Do you schedule by time or amount of work?

[lisabees]

Sorry - total, absolute newbie here. I am sure that veterans get a feeling for the amount of time needed for certain amounts of work. But...

 

For me, should I just follow WTM and say 1 hour for math and we just work until the hour is up? Or should I just plan for the amount of work I'd like to accomplish?

 

I went to friend's house last night to look at her planners/log. For 7th grade math (Math U See), she scheduled her son to do 2 pages in the workbook and then he moved on to another subject. It seemed way to easy for 7th grade. Or am I not realizing how long things actually take?

 

Help!

 

Lisa

[christielee7278]

I don't plan by the clock. I plan by the lesson. Most subjects are one lesson a day unless we need more review.

 

My planner is just a simple grid and has each subject at the top in columns and the days listed on the side in rows. I just put what material that needs to be completed each day in the appropriate box.

 

For example, my k'ner is doing OPGTR. Some days one lesson takes 10-15 minutes and other days it can take up to 30. I don't want to cut him off in the middle of a lesson because time is up and I would much rather just move on to the next thing if he finishes early.

 

We use a variation of the workbox system so if I'm working with my oldest on something and my 5 yr old comes to a folder that needs my help, he just skips it and goes to the next folder. Since they have the little number tabs to move from each folder to their workbox grid, we can easily keep up with what was skipped and come back to it when we can.

[Ester Maria]

Amount of work, or else they're focused on time and slack more.

They have the stuff they need to do that day, by subjects. Whether they're done in 30 or 60 minutes, it needs to be done.

[tristangrace]

I often use a "whatever comes first" approach--e.g. four pages or 40 minutes or whichever comes first.

 

Usually, I assign the day's lesson and my daughter works on it until it's done. If it's really easy and she breezes through the day's assignment, I may add extra drills in skills that need review . . . or I may move on to another subject, especially if I know we could use the extra time on something else. However, if it's really tough and it takes a long time, I'll stop her after 40 minutes or whatever.

 

Once you get into it, you'll get a feel for what works for your kid and the scope of the day.

[johnandtinagilbert]

I often use a "whatever comes first" approach--e.g. four pages or 40 minutes or whichever comes first.

 

 

:iagree: you have 40 min. to complete math, one lesson. If you go over that time, you have "homework." Homework is defined as using your personal free time to finish school.

 

So, I give time slots in order to function and run our home, but I also give the expectation of ___ amount of work per day.

 

I think, at this age, it has helped my children a great deal with time management.

[sweetTN]

They have the stuff they need to do that day, by subjects. Whether they're done in 30 or 60 minutes, it needs to be done.

 

:iagree:

 

This is what works for us.Dd is in control of how long her school day lasts. If she piddles around, it takes longer. She knows if she stays focused on her work she will have more free time.

[Carol in Cal.]

...for Bible, grammar, math, Phonetic Zoo, Latin, Editor in Chief, Science, and Writing Strands.

 

I assign by time for literature reading and history, generally, and sometimes for writing.

 

I try for 'reasonableness'. So, for instance, last year when DD was on a robotics team that had a project related to climate, we switched from the Science Explorer book I had been planning to the one on Weather and Climate. I assigned specific research questions in that book, and writing about them, by time, and lessons by amount of work. So she didn't have to do all her regular school work PLUS the robotics work--I made them fit together.

 

Also, last year when DD was in an opera, I assigned more reading and less writing for her to do doing long stretches of downtime during rehearsals.

 

But I'm pretty relentless in trying not to reward dawdling, and assigning lessons instead of time is the most effective way that I have found to enforce that.

[kmacnchs]

I think it depends on the age and each individual child (although I am a newbie too). When we began OPG, I did 1 lesson/day. Sometimes the lessons are difficult though and I felt as though I was forcing it (sometimes with tears in her eyes of frustration)...

 

Same thing happened with math, so now (with Math), I will do 30 min of math and stop, whether we are finished with the lesson or not. However, if we finish the lesson in 20-25 min, I will not go on to another lesson...does that make sense?

[rafiki]

.

[patchfire]

We have a schedule with the amount of time, but dd is assigned a certain amount of work. If it takes less time than scheduled - great! She has free time. If it takes longer than scheduled, then she needs to complete it later, in lieu of something more enjoyable. For the most part, I know how long she should take to complete a lesson, and usually I can tell if it's truly taking her longer or if she's dawdling. 99% of the time it's the latter.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We have a schedule with the amount of time, but dd is assigned a certain amount of work. If it takes less time than scheduled - great! She has free time. If it takes longer than scheduled, then she needs to complete it later, in lieu of something more enjoyable. For the most part, I know how long she should take to complete a lesson, and usually I can tell if it's truly taking her longer or if she's dawdling. 99% of the time it's the latter.

 

:iagree: This is what we do as well. When I first started, the schedule was based on the amount of work to be done that day. Once I have a feel for how long it takes, I started scheduling times.

[PollyOR]

Amount of work....but, if the child has spent a lot of time working on something without finishing and is getting frustrated, I'll tell her to move on. We come back to it the next day when she's fresh again.

[Hsmomto4]

This one of those hard things for me. I used the MOTH and blocked off times for each subject, bit some days it takes longer and some days it doesn't take but 5 minutes of the scheduled 45. Instead of doing it this way this year we are blocking off an amount of time for school work and just giving them their subjects to complete. If we get to the end of the day and they aren't done, then they have to complete it during study time that evening.

[beezus]

I do a schedule every week, with lessons set out for each day. I try to structure each lesson so I think it will take a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes they go quickly and sometimes they take longer. As we've worked with the schedule, I've made made adjustments based on how things were going.

 

The only time I've really been concerned with time is when my daughter is dawdling and not focusing on what she's supposed to do (usually math). Then I set the timer for "x" amount of time and tell her she's going to sit and do nothing but work on it until the timer goes off, so get your drink of water or go to the bathroom first, because once you start, you stay there and keep working until time is up. No jumping up to look in the fridge or wander around the house. I don't do this too much, but it did help to move us forward at times.

[Moni]

Do you schedule by time or amount of work

 

Time.

 

:seeya:

[AudreyTN]

I often use a "whatever comes first" approach--e.g. four pages or 40 minutes or whichever comes first.

 

:iagree:

[AngieW in Texas]

A lot of what my youngest does is time-based.

 

She does math for 20 minutes (bumping up to 25 minutes for 6th grade). When the timer beeps, she is free to move on. This has worked out much better than assigning an amount of work. She still manages to finish two Singapore books each calendar year.

 

She does free reading for 25 minutes. She can stop as soon as the timer beeps, but she usually reads a bit longer to get to a good stopping point. If she gets to a good stopping point some time between 20 and 25 minutes, she can go ahead and stop.

 

She reads out loud to me for 20 minutes from an assigned book. If she reaches a good stopping point at 17 minutes or later, she can stop there. Otherwise she reads all the way up until the timer goes off and then I read to her until the next good stopping point. I think more than 20 minutes of reading out loud would be pushing it.

 

Most of her other stuff is set up for one lesson each day.

 

My middle dd started off doing Algebra I for 40 minutes each day last year, but by January I dropped that down to 30 minutes each day. Her brain fried too fast when she was doing 40 minutes. She was young for algebra anyway. She's doing Geometry this year for 9th grade. Most of the time she does one lesson each day, but sometimes I split a lesson over two days.

 

My oldest (11th grade) just has amounts of work, not times.

[Storm Bay]

I schedule by the amount of work. This is because I have two huge lollygaggers and another who, once he gets going, likes to know how much he has to do. This goes for reading, too. Mine all like to read now, but if they have to do assigned reading, I just tell them how much to cover.

[MerryAtHope]

For me it depends on the subject. Many things I go by the lesson or page numbers--I just figure out how many lessons/pages they need to do daily or weekly to finish the subject in a year, divide it out & that's what I require. Some things I go by time because I want them to spend a certain amount of time on a subject & just see how far they can get, but I know that some pages/lessons will go faster than others.

 

Merry :-)

[Guest janainaz]

I plan by the lesson. We do a lesson a day in every subject. In History we cover one chapter per week, science is usually about 3 chapters a week. If my son completes his math in 30 minutes, we move on. Typically, this does not happen having 30 problems a day. Friday is our test day and it goes much quicker than any other day.

 

Math - 1 hour

History - Monday, Wednesday (1 hr), Tuesday, Friday (30 min)

Spelling - 20 - 30 min/day

Writing - (WWE) - 20 minutes

FLL4 - 20 minutes

Science - 30 min/day

Latin - 20 - 30 min/day

[johnandtinagilbert]

We have a schedule with the amount of time, but dd is assigned a certain amount of work. If it takes less time than scheduled - great! She has free time. If it takes longer than scheduled, then she needs to complete it later, in lieu of something more enjoyable. For the most part, I know how long she should take to complete a lesson, and usually I can tell if it's truly taking her longer or if she's dawdling. 99% of the time it's the latter.

Exactly.

[claire up north]

I try to plan a lesson that is going to take up the amount of time I want to spend on a subject. For example, I plan about 45 minutes of math each day. At the end of 45 minutes, I'm likely to call it quits, even if kiddo did not finish what I thought he would have.

 

If he finishes early, then I usually give him the choice of doing a bit more or starting something else. (Usually he picks starting something else.) If he finished ridiculously quickly, then I'm make him do a bit more & not give him a choice.

 

Often if a child finishes early, it means that I have a bit of breathing room in MY schedule to accomplish something extra. It's great when that happens!

[LindaOz]

We schedule by amount of work in every subject except for reading. For reading, they just read for a set amount of time.

[Melissa in Australia]

We schedule by amount of work in every subject except for reading. For reading, they just read for a set amount of time.

we do this as well, we also do Rosetta stone by time. everything else by amount. I just work out at the beginning of the year how much they will have to do to get through the books in one year, and that is how much I assign.

I know a family that do all their school work by time, they spend exactly twice as long doing their work, and only get half as much done.

[Peela]

I definitely plan by the amount of work because it motivates the kid to get in and do it. If they finish early, they get more free time.

I however watch how long things generally take, and schedule accordingly.

Reading is the only thing that is done by time.

[Gretchen in NJ]

Sorry - total, absolute newbie here. I am sure that veterans get a feeling for the amount of time needed for certain amounts of work. But...

 

For me, should I just follow WTM and say 1 hour for math and we just work until the hour is up? Or should I just plan for the amount of work I'd like to accomplish?

 

I went to friend's house last night to look at her planners/log. For 7th grade math (Math U See), she scheduled her son to do 2 pages in the workbook and then he moved on to another subject. It seemed way to easy for 7th grade. Or am I not realizing how long things actually take?

 

Help!

 

Lisa

 

I schedule for the work I wish to be completed. I use time as a guide as to how to schedule our outside activities. If my girls complete a math lesson in 20 minutes instead of taking 45 minutes, I do not punish them by giving them more work. ;) KWIM:001_smile: