What do you think......

[bearnpurple]

My dd8 is in lets say 3rd grade.....I say that because she reads at a higher level and does math at a lower level......

 

I need some reassurance what I want to do is okay (not sure why.....).

 

She gives me a melt down everyday when we try to get our school work done. She LOVES her literature and spelling and english work...... Then we tackle math, social studies, handwriting and Bible......she doesn't mind social studies if we read aloud.....she hates math......Bible and Handwriting is so-so.....

 

I was wondering what you guys thought of this schedule.......Math and English everyday......Spelling and Lit MWF......Social Studies and Bible on TTH...........mainly changing the schedule to where she only has about 2 hours of work per day.....and the rest is reading and writing as her choice.

 

I am exhausted trying to get her to finish everything everyday......right now it takes us about 4 hours (without breaks) to finish because she cries, complains, and zones out on me......I still have an 8th grader and Kindergartener.....

 

My biggest concern is that we cover what we need for our "testing" at the end of the year......

 

I thought about the loop schedule but I don't understand it and not sure if that would work either.....

 

Any help or advice is appreciated (please don't be offended if I don't necessarily use it)......just at the end of my nerves.......and we are only on week 5! ugh!

 

Thanks!

[Joyofsixreboot]

If it would lowe the stress level I say go for it .

[ElizabethB]

My daughter used to complain a fair amount, she is also better at reading than math.

 

I instituted a new complaining policy near the beginning of last year: any complaints or whining, I would quietly add more work in a subject she didn't like, just adding the book/workbook to our stack of work for the day. After a few weeks, the whining stopped!

 

She also did a lot better once we switched to Singapore, and she's learning a lot more with it, she went up 25% points on the ITBS the first year after our switch, and 24% more the next year after the switch.

[NanceXToo]

It sounds fine to me. I did about 2 1/2 to 3 hours a day with my 9 y/o last year. We did language arts and math most every day, we did social studies 3X a week, science 2X a week, and art 2-3 times a week, depending on what we were working on.

[Mallory]

I also just don't put up with complaning or whining.

 

There are certain free time/fun things that we do every week. They get to stay home one morning while I volunteer (and mostly play video games) or get to spend the night or afternoon at grandpas, or go play at the neighbors, or play video games. BUT it depends on you getting school done this week.

 

I don't work with kids who are whining or pouting at the school table. They have weekly schedules, they know what needs to be done. When they come to the table pouting I calmly send them to thier room. Then on Thurs they have to come work at the food pantry instead of staying home or they watch thier brother go to grandpas or the nieghbors and they stay home.

 

Of course there are also times when I have planned too much work and need to cut something, but I make that decision because everyone has been working helpfully all week and we still can't get done, not because one of them has been pitching fits. I do think that 2 hours of school work a day is okay for a 3rd grader (especially if they are reading and writing some other time) but I still think the attitude needs some work.

[AngieW in Texas]

My youngest really doesn't like math at all. That's the subject that causes meltdowns for her.

 

I've mostly fixed that issue by splitting math into two sessions (15 minutes and 20 minutes) with nearly all of the rest of her schoolwork in between the two sessions.

 

I started doing using a timer for math with this dd in 4th grade. She was doing just 20 minutes back then and it was all in one chunk. There were issues when I bumped the time up to 25 minutes for 5th grade, so I split math into two sessions then - 5 minutes of review in the morning and 20 minutes of working in the math program in the afternoon. In 6th grade, 5 minutes of review and 25 minutes of the math program worked okay, but she was sometimes falling apart near the end of the 25 minutes, so I decided to split the math sessions up into two equal sessions of 15 minutes each. That solved most of the problems.

 

My dd just has serious issues with trying to work on math for more than about 20 minutes at a time. If we have to do math in three sessions to keep her session times down to 20 minutes, then that's what we'll do.

 

I'm adding 5 minutes to the time she has to spend on math each year, so 4th grade was 20 minutes, 7th grade is 35 minutes, 9th grade will be 45 minutes (and I'll probably have her do three 15 minute sessions then).

[m0mmaBuck]

Well, I have a constant complainer. I've tried a few different incentive programs for him. For us, punishing him with more school work is counterintuitive. I would like him to enjoy school, not see it as a punishment. That was one of our reasons for bringing him home. The PS system had squashed his love for learning and he had been "punished" (i.e. extra worksheets, sent to the reading corner, extra subjects) for being smart.

 

Our most effective tool for complaining has been the lego jar. The boy loves legos. I buy a small set of legos (100 pieces or less so that he can theoretically earn them within one month) and dump them in a clear jar labelled "Mom's." I set another clear jar next to it labelled "DS's." I put 5 pieces in his each morning. Each time he whines/complains/torments his sister, I take a piece from his jar and put it back in mine (up to 5/day). When all 100 pieces remain in his jar for a full school day, the box of legos is his for eternity.

 

I'm generally not one to reward kids with material things for doing what they should be doing, but in this case it is a small concession to make for a large reward (i.e. Mom's sanity).

[Create Your Ritual]

My 4th grader doesn't 'enjoy' math all that much either. We do it first thing every morning, and it's basically non negotiable. If she doesn't get done with the assigned problems for the day (which changes depending on content & whether or not she is spending the Math hour actually DOING math or maybe staring off and getting distracted repeatedly), then the remainder of the work is assigned as homework during her free time.

 

Her free time is important to her, so I will often find her blowing through the remaining problems during a morning break, or if she finishes other work early.

 

We also try to be very consistent Mon-Thur, then have Fun Math Fridays if all has went well during the week. She enjoys that, and so does my younger 1st grader. They get to do math games on the computer, math hopscotch outside or math board games.

[m0mmaBuck]

My dd8 is in lets say 3rd grade.....I say that because she reads at a higher level and does math at a lower level......

 

I need some reassurance what I want to do is okay (not sure why.....).

 

She gives me a melt down everyday when we try to get our school work done. She LOVES her literature and spelling and english work...... Then we tackle math, social studies, handwriting and Bible......she doesn't mind social studies if we read aloud.....she hates math......Bible and Handwriting is so-so.....

 

I was wondering what you guys thought of this schedule.......Math and English everyday......Spelling and Lit MWF......Social Studies and Bible on TTH...........mainly changing the schedule to where she only has about 2 hours of work per day.....and the rest is reading and writing as her choice.

 

I am exhausted trying to get her to finish everything everyday......right now it takes us about 4 hours (without breaks) to finish because she cries, complains, and zones out on me......I still have an 8th grader and Kindergartener.....

 

My biggest concern is that we cover what we need for our "testing" at the end of the year......

 

I thought about the loop schedule but I don't understand it and not sure if that would work either.....

 

Any help or advice is appreciated (please don't be offended if I don't necessarily use it)......just at the end of my nerves.......and we are only on week 5! ugh!

 

Thanks!

 

Came back to answer your original question since I went off on a complainer tangent. I guess you can see what caught my eye.

 

Last year was our first year (half-year actually). Since DS was not interested in school AT ALL, I stuck with short lessons (Math-30min, LA-30 min or less, Reading- 30min or less to include Lit, History, and Science topics either read out loud or independently), Spelling-15min). We touched on Math, LA, Lit, History, Science, and Spelling within 2 hrs. Those were on our "bad" days. On better days, we would do History or Science for 1-2 hrs as was his interest. We might choose a Lit readaloud and spend 1-2 hrs reading that. He might spend time building a pyramid or seige tower out of legos, or coloring in our Dover coloring books. In other words, time above the 2 hrs (which in reality was from 9 a.m.-12 a.m. because I allow a 15 min break between each topic) was spent doing things that I knew interested him and he would take some initiative to do independently.

 

So I'd say that given you have two other kids to work with and DD seems to require a lot of prodding and attention during her school time, then 2 hrs of intense one-on-one time with her is plenty.

[Lori D.]

I need some reassurance what I want to do is okay ... I was wondering what you guys thought of this schedule:

Math and English everyday.

Spelling and Lit = MWF.

Social Studies and Bible on TTH.

Mainly changing the schedule to where she only has about 2 hours of work per day and the rest is reading and writing as her choice.

 

 

First, YOU know your child best, so take anything I say with a grain of salt -- if it helps, great; if not, disregard, and I certainly won't be offended. :)

 

Yes, anything you can do to bring the workload to no more than 2 hours a day for your DD would certainly be a help! And re-scheduling subjects as you suggest could be a good starting point. :) Some more scheduling ideas:

 

- short burst of concentrated work (no more than 10-15 minutes), followed by a 5 minute break of some physical activity -- dance to an upbeat song; play hopscotch; scooter to the end of the block and back; sit on the big bouncy ball and bounce up and down the hallway several times -- and then move on to a different subject

 

- break hard topics such as math or writing into 2 or 3 short segments; do 1 segment, then do a completely different topic; then do 2nd segment of the hard topic; etc.

 

- simplifying English:

* formal spelling does not have to start until grade 3

* grammar does not have to start until as late as grade 5

* grammar can be done just 3x/week

* do a lot of grammar and spelling practice in the early grades ORALLY (faster, and then it doesn't become a battle about writing)

* learn vocabulary in context of reading; save vocabulary workbooks or programs for middle school/high school

 

And one non-scheduling thought: what's DD having for breakfast and/or snack? Making sure our DS had some protein at breakfast (eggs; cottage cheese), and again at a mid-morning snack (cheese and crackers; handful of nuts) also helped his blood sugar stay stable so he *could* concentrate.

 

 

 

My dd8 is in lets say 3rd grade.....I say that because she reads at a higher level and does math at a lower level.

 

 

Gently, I would just like to suggest you might want to rethink what grade level (and hence, the level of material) at which you have placed DD. The average 3rd grader is usually 9 years old; if the child has a spring or summer birthday, the child can even turn 10 while still finishing grade 3.

 

Currently, it sounds like you are of thinking of DD as a 3rd grade student because of one advanced skill (reading) -- but that might be putting her in the position of hating/struggling with math possibly because it is too advanced for her ability, AND only doing so-so with other subjects. Instead, how about calling her a 2nd grade student, so she works at a 2nd grade level for most subjects, but since she is advanced in reading, you give her reading at a grade 3, 4 or 5 level (whatever fits her reading ability).

 

Again, saying this with all gentleness and respect for your homeschooling decisions, if DD is currently having to constantly strain to work at a level that is too difficult for her, "right sizing" to 2nd grade material that is at the right level for her may be all it takes for the meltdowns and tears to cease -- PLUS it can give her a real sense of SUCCESS about school, and personal self-confidence ("Finally! I GET this! I can do this!"). Continuing to have to struggle so hard can lead to hating school (and it can be very difficult later on to "un-do" a hatred of school, or get a child to be willing to try after too many times of having tried and it was too hard...)

 

Generally, if a child is struggling in the early elementary grades, it not only doesn't get any easier for the child in subsequent grades, but by 6th grade they are REALLY struggling. Moving a child down a grade in material now is far easier on the child than in middle school (when friendships, sports levels, and budding adolescence make repeating a grade excruciating for a student). And, there's also a good chance all your DD's abilities in all school subjects (math, reading, writing, etc.) will all even out along about 5th or 6th grade, and then you could move DD ahead again if that is the best level for her to be working at that time.

 

 

 

She gives me a melt down everyday when we try to get our school work done....she hates math.... I am exhausted trying to get her to finish everything everyday......right now it takes us about 4 hours (without breaks) to finish because she cries, complains, and zones out on me..

 

 

Your use of the phrase "melt down" really jumped out at me. Whining is usually just an irritating attitude/discipline issue, but meltdowns are usually a sign that something is really wrong and the child, being too young to analyze and articulate specifically what it the problem, can't figure any other way of expressing that there's a problem than to completely lose it or zone out.

 

Major, daily meltdowns over math in grades 2,3,4 were a HUGE warning for us that our younger DS was not "getting" the math (DS really needed to be working almost 2 grade levels below where I had him, PLUS he really needed a different math program that better fit his learning style/learning issues -- he is a visual-spatial learner).

 

 

Things we did that specifically helped eliminate the math melt downs:

 

- changed math programs, and moved down to appropriate grade level of math (for us, that turned out to be Math-U-See, and to start him back 2 grade levels; incidentally, he was caught up and working at grade level 3 years later)

 

- scheduled math to do first thing in the morning while DS was at his most alert and concentrated -- saved the reading and enjoyable things for after lunch/later in the day

 

- stopped timed math fact drills -- DS absolutely flipped out every time he was "put under the gun" of a time deadline -- he completely shut down and couldn't even think

 

- switched to practicing math facts with skip count songs, Schoolhouse Rock: Multiplication, Times Tales math facts memorization book, and triangle fashcards (reduces amount of memorization by 3/4, as child learns a fact family which represents FOUR math facts -- ex: 3, 4, 7 in the corners of a triangle flashcard represents: 3+4 =7; 4+3 = 7; 7-4=3; 7-3=4)

 

 

 

She LOVES her literature and spelling and english work... she doesn't mind social studies if we read aloud... she hates math. Bible and Handwriting is so-so.

 

 

Another phrase that stuck out to me was that she "doesn't mind" social studies "if we read aloud". That could indicate that she needs to work more at a 2nd grade level (listening to reading), rather than a 3rd grade level (having to read herself, do worksheets, do solo work, etc.)

 

 

I am exhausted trying to get her to finish everything everyday. Right now it takes us about 4 hours (without breaks) to finish because she cries, complains, and zones out on me.

 

 

Another possibility for the math meltdowns and the preferring to have you read the social studies might be a "blocked learning gate" or two, as Dianne Craft calls it -- the child struggles so much to take in information through a method that does not at all connect for that child, that the child has used up all his/her "battery supply of energy" for that one topic, and has none left for the rest of the school day, and so totally loses it, cries, or zones out. Not knowing your child, I certainly wouldn't try to diagnose long distance :tongue_smilie:, but if you think this might be a possibility, check out these 2 articles:

 

"The 4 Learning Gates: Identifying Your Child’s Learning Block”

"Identifying & Correcting Blocked Learning Gates"

 

 

 

My biggest concern is that we cover what we need for our "testing" at the end of the year....

 

 

Can you put off standardized testing until 5th grade or so, or is it required by your state? If you don't HAVE to do testing, then don't; most kids are all over the place in their testing results in early elementary grades, and don't "settle" into a more accurate picture of their abilities/knowledge until along about 5th grade.

 

If you are required to test, DON'T worry about it -- DON'T be trying to "teach to the test" -- far better that your child has a year or two of lower test scores, but at home you are actually teaching your child how to learn, than to worry about trying to get your child to memorize specific test content to get a good score that is meaningless in the early elementary grades anyway, and not teaching your child what she most needs, which is HOW to learn. :)

 

 

Finally, it may just be a matter of "right sizing" the math level; orchanging how you schedule things; or moving to a program that is a better fit; but I wanted to also suggest other options and ideas in case this was more than a "hiccup" in your DD's homeschooling experiences. BEST of luck in discovering what works best for your family in your homeschooling journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited September 5, 2010 by Lori D.

[Krissi]

Yes the complaining needs to stop, but you don't want academics to suffer for it. This sounds like a great plan!

 

My daughter used to complain a fair amount, she is also better at reading than math.

 

I instituted a new complaining policy near the beginning of last year: any complaints or whining, I would quietly add more work in a subject she didn't like, just adding the book/workbook to our stack of work for the day. After a few weeks, the whining stopped!

 

She also did a lot better once we switched to Singapore, and she's learning a lot more with it, she went up 25% points on the ITBS the first year after our switch, and 24% more the next year after the switch.