Help me with my planning dilemma - pretty please?

[ELaurie]

I've been reading the soon-to-be infamous filing thread . . . and although we tend to finish most of what I have planned for the year, in a relatively timely fashion, I really like the idea of organizing more of our school work in advance. Our dc will be in 5th and 3rd grade this year, which will involve significant increases in academic work for both of them.

 

Ds 10 (11 in September) is a diligent student, but a struggling learner. Ds 8 learns easily, but resists anything that requires significant effort on his part (basically, anything that involves using a pencil :tongue_smilie:).

 

So my dilemma is that I never really know in advance how much time something will take - sometimes it takes ds 10 an hour to do three math problems (when doing multiple digit multiplication or long division). On other days, he flies through a "Bridge" in LOF.

 

Sometimes it takes ds 8 an hour to complete a WWE lesson (narration plus dictation) because he is dawdling, and I don't want to let him "off the hook" if he's clearly not making a reasonable effort.

 

As a result, I feel like I end up simply doing as much as we can each day, and picking up where we left off the next day.

 

We tend to stay "on track," more or less, with LA, Math and History, which are the ones I view as most important, but we tend to accomplish less than I had hoped in Science, Art, Music and Languages.

 

I think being more organized would help, but I don't want to do a lot of planning / filing, only to find that I have set unrealistic goals and now we are "behind."

 

:confused:

 

ETA: Hmmm . . . well now I see that perhpas I just hadn't read far enough . . . I was initailly able to open only 4 pages of this now 70 page thread; I am now past page 4 and I see that this topic has been discussed. Back to reading . . .

Edited July 31, 2010 by ELaurie

[fhjmom]

I have not used it, but do search for the threads on "Loop" scheduling. It sounds like maybe that would work well for y'all. On some of the ones I read, some posters mentioned doing one loop for the core stuff (math, LA, and history for you) and another loop for the rest.

 

Instead of daily, I tend to think of our schedule as a week's worth of work. The kids know if they want some fun down time, they have to finish their lessons first (last year we did "Fun Fridays" but since we are doing a co-op on Fridays this year I am going to have to rethink). I have been know to carry school work that was not finished for the week through the weekend. The only exception is if they are really trying but not getting it and then I readjust the schedule. Also, no TV or playing with friends until school work is done.

 

I am also going to implement a reward system this year. Still thinking through how it will work but DD really wanted our school to have a treadure box, LOL! There is another thread on that topic if you want ideas along that line.

[lauracolumbus]

I think your dilemma was discussed during the filing system thread. At some point you have to make the decision of whether the material you're skipping is important enough to go over fully, skim orally, or drop altogether. Plus, I believe the next year you'll have a better picture of what's feasible to accomplish. I'm building wiggle room into our plans to cover this scenario, esp. since I'm more ambitious in my plans than my kids are in their execution.

 

And as the PP mentioned, loop scheduling is another alternative.

 

Laura

[cindylulu]

I don't know if this will help, but here is what we are going to do this year. I am going to schedule a certain amount of time for subjects that seem to drag on too long (like math here too). If the work is not finished in the set amount of time, it becomes homework for the day. I will present the new material/information. Then the kids will start their independent work for that lesson (for us, this is CLE math and MCT language arts). If the worksheet or lesson doesn't get finished they have to finish it later (homework). Only time will tell if this works. I'm sure there will be times when it doesn't. I guess if they finish early, then they can start on the next subject (great for loops). Good luck.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I don't know if this will help, but here is what we are going to do this year. I am going to schedule a certain amount of time for subjects that seem to drag on too long (like math here too). If the work is not finished in the set amount of time, it becomes homework for the day. I will present the new material/information. Then the kids will start their independent work for that lesson (for us, this is CLE math and MCT language arts). If the worksheet or lesson doesn't get finished they have to finish it later (homework). Only time will tell if this works. I'm sure there will be times when it doesn't. I guess if they finish early, then they can start on the next subject (great for loops). Good luck.

 

This is what I did last year and it worked great! My oldest amazingly started finishing everything in a more timely fashion. :tongue_smilie: Especially when faced with taking school work to the park.;)

[MerryAtHope]

I like to set time limits for subjects. This way I can schedule out a basic day and know that we can get to everything. I still have the freedom to decide to spend more time on one subject and skip another for that day if I want, but the decision is more conscious this way. If I want, we can stop when time is up and go on to the next subject. This way we get something done rather than skipping the subject.

 

If I do tend to miss a subject often, then I do that subject first for awhile. Kind of like the thinking behind the loop schedule.

 

We switched to workboxes about 1.5 years ago & that helps us to stay on track better. It also keeps my kids from dawdling as much (I wouldn't say they NEVER dawdle, LOL, but less than they used to because they see what the day looks like). I don't have to plan out every week ahead of time to do workboxes--I can still kind of go with the flow of a general plan for a quarter or a year.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[ELaurie]

and coming to the conclusion that the shift I need to make has to do with transferring more of the responsibility for completing school work to my dc, so that when ds 10 needs more time to complete his work, or ds 8 is dawdling, it will impact their schedules instead of mine.

 

Implementing the filing system and / or "workboxes" so they see exactly what need to be done for the day (rather than simply seeing a written list, which doesn't really help them conceptualize what I expect, or how long each task might take) and requiring them to do homework if their work is incomplete at the end of the day are great suggestions, and I think both will help with scheduling for this year :001_smile:

[MerryAtHope]

and coming to the conclusion that the shift I need to make has to do with transferring more of the responsibility for completing school work to my dc, so that when ds 10 needs more time to complete his work, or ds 8 is dawdling, it will impact their schedules instead of mine.

 

 

Yes! This can really make a big difference. I have even been known to tell them time is up, and that anything left is "homework" after the rest of school is done. When school time should be done, I say it's free time--unless they have homework (due to dawdling etc...). "Homework" is to be done at the table--not in any comfy chair or bed or floor etc...

 

By saying they have to do it during their free time, they really get a concrete idea that they are losing out on their own play time. I've found that helps them be more diligent during the day!

 

Another idea that has helped here is to "race" them. I'll say, "who do you think can get done first--you with your math, or me with this laundry? Ready...Go!" I make it so they can "win" if they try. I do let them know it has to be careful & accurate still :-). Somehow a little competition motivated mine, especially in 1st-4th grades.

 

Merry :-)