5LittleMonkeys Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 My dd6th is about 12 weeks into her school year and has become very comfortable with our schedule. She is self motivated and an extremely efficient worker. She is the type that likes to get up at the crack of dawn and get her work done before anyone else is even out of bed. In the last few weeks she has been getting her math-MUS, grammar-EG, writing-WS, penmanship and spelling completed in about 1 hour. Her history-SOTW\HO and science-Aplogia GS take her another 1 to 1 1/2 hours. We do literature read aloud for 30 minutes during the day and she reads for 1 hour before bed. Since the math, grammar, writing and spelling are only taking her about 1 hour combined it leaves me to wonder if they are to easy for her. Do any of you have a child that works this efficiently? I have nothing to compare this to since my dd5th takes 1 hour just to find what page she should be on and my dd1st can't even start her lessons until she has the proper tutu on. I don't want to penalize her by giving her extra work to do just because she is quick about getting it done but on the other hand I want her brain to be getting somewhat of a work-out. Anyone in the same boat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I don't want to penalize her by giving her extra work to do just because she is quick about getting it done but on the other hand I want her brain to be getting somewhat of a work-out. Anyone in the same boat? Ohhhhh Yes!!! My dd7th sounds so much like this. She can be done with her assigned work, had her 1 hour required reading time, done violin practice, and all before lunch. Like you, I wondered whether she should be doing more, but I have decided that giving her more was not the way to go. She finishes early because of her personality and her efficient work strategies, NOT because she doesn't have enough work. She loves to cook, so this gives her more time in the afternoons to fiddle around in the kitchen filling our cookie tin or trying new things. She also loves to write and is working on a sequel to a series of books that she wanted to continue. This is all part of learning, living and growing too. She also still just loves to get outside and play with her younger siblings. This too is valuable. Anyway, that's the conclusion I came to for my dd. I had to laugh though at the descriptions of your other dc :lol: . Isn't it funny how they can be so completely different and be part of the same family. I also have one who is just as likely to start her school day with 'Um, where was my book again......?' :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Oh...gee ....never punish a kid for being efficient!!! Trust me! Reward her with free time to do what she loves to do. By all means...be glad! You could be sitting with me at 9:30 at night going over math with Mr. Slow-Poke....UGH!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 If my 6th grade dd could get math, grammar, writing, spelling and penmanship done in one hour or less I would certainly assume her work was too easy. Sorry. :leaving: (The history/science/literature would be fine.) If you feel good about the schedule though, you might want to add a foreign language? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiff in TX Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 ...and my dd1st can't even start her lessons until she has the proper tutu on. :lol: Yay! for girly girls... I have one of these too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 If my 6th grade dd could get math, grammar, writing, spelling and penmanship done in one hour or less I would certainly assume her work was too easy. Sorry. :leaving: (The history/science/literature would be fine.) :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in CO Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I agree that you don't want to give extra work for the sake of filling in the time. But I would be concerned about finishing math and language arts in an hour. I would think that it should take about 2 hours. My son is also very efficient and it takes him at least 1 1/2 hours to do those subjects. One thought I just had about the math, is she still at the beginning lessons where it is all review? For my kids, I always had them double up on the first lessons because they were so simple and reviewed what they already knew. Then as new things were introduced, they would slow back down to one lesson daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I'm jealous!!! Math alone takes my dd about 2 hours, often more. She literally does school ALL DAY LONG because she is soooo pokey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pageta Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I was a student like your daughter when I was her age. Only I was in school, either the only one in my grade or with one other person who was very average. I would have my work done for the day by 10:00 (in about an hour and a half) and then I could do whatever I wanted for the rest of the day as long as I sat at my desk and was quiet. So I sat in my seat and read whatever I found in the school library for the rest of the day. That would be one of the reasons behind my passion for homeschooling. I wish I had been given more challenging work to do rather than having to plod along at whatever gradelevel I was at because the teacher didn't want to come up with things for me to do. There are all sorts of things that i could have done to get ahead which would have made high school and college courses so much easier. I think Ambelside Online has lots of suggestions for readings about history, science, geography, literature, etc. that had someone given them to me when I was in school, I would have enjoyed those years so much more. I would certainly let her have her afternoons free to pursue her own interests, and I would let her have input in what extras she might take on. It's great that she's efficient, but she should be rewarded for that by getting more interesting above-and-beyond things to do rather than just lots of free time. That's just my opinion, based on personal experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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