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the "extra stuff"


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other than the basic subjects, do any of you give you kids "extra" stuff for your kids to do...logic activities for example. It just seems like my daughter (age 10) gets done with her basic subjects so quickly that I am questioning if I am either not giving her enough basic subject work, or if I should be giving her extra stuff to do. My other fear is falling into the trap of giving her busywork trying to make it seem like she is doing more. When she is done she usually works on a craft item or reads or listens to music or stories on CD...so it's not like she causing havoc or something...is what she doing ok?

 

Oh, just for information...she does one lesson of math, phonics, handwriting, grammar, latin, geography on her own and then we do science and history as a family later.

 

So, what do you think??

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When ds was younger we did "extra" type subjects (for us that was Logic, Geography, arts & crafts/projects, different music stuff) primarily on Fridays. We still had math, Latin, and English on that day, but did not do any other "regular" subjects on that day. We could also do a "field trip" or outing on Friday afternoons. That sort of forced a bit more of the basic subject work into M-Th, so I didn't feel like we were finishing too early AND it gave us a lighter, different day on Fridays to look forward to. FWIW, we also made Fridays fun by having either fast food or meeting Dad for pizza buffet. He is older now, and we no longer have the luxury of "Fun Fridays." I just didn't like trying to schedule the "extras" during the week. However, another option is to have a different subject each of your five school days. For example, Monday could be Music Appreciation, Tuesday - art, Wednesday - logic, Thursday - library day, etc. I tried that for awhile, too, but we settled on Fun Fridays.

 

If I were guessing, I imagine your dd is doing plenty. One of the great things about home schooling is how efficient it is!

 

HTH.

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If she's not doing an appreciable amount of reading on her own, I'd add that in. I think I would add logic games at her age and spelling if it's not included in the phonics or grammar you're doing. I'd also include read alouds of good lit.

 

Handwork, arts and crafts, sewing, etc. might be other things you'd like to add in, as well as music....

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I agree, as long as she is also getting in an hour ro so of reading (combo of Mom-assigned and her choice) then ASK her if she'd like to also study something else. Let her have a logic puzzle book like Mind Benders to see if she likes it. Or would she like to add in a crafty subject like knitting or cooking or wood working or ???? Is she working on writing a journal or family newspaper or ???

 

Back in the day I would save Friday afternoons for a big art lesson from the Atelier Arts Attack program (could eat up close to three hours when the kids really got into it - it was a treat for them!)

 

http://www.artsattack.com/contact_us.html

Edited by JFSinIL
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Last year, my kids were able to do a full schedule of 3rd and 5th grade in just 16 hours a week. Some kids are just fast.

 

This year we are up to about 25 hours a week thanks to DS8 requesting a whole bunch of additional subjects and my addition of more activities/experiments/art.

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we do have spelling too and she is reading all of the time...I can't keep her in books. She is also taking piano and accordian lessons, so there is practice with that. She also crafts all of the time. Her day is usally filled with school, reading, crafting and music. I guess I was wondring if I needed to have her do less of those things and more "school" work...

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We've gotten back into the swing of finishing by 1. You could not pay me to extend our day :p It took me this long (almost two years) to figure out that we weren't cheating or doing anything wrong by getting our work done early and calling it a day.

 

 

oh good...then I won't feel bad...we have the little PS just down the road from us and it is really hard to think it's ok to let my kids outside to play that early...I feel guilty or something...

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She is only 10, she needs a lot of free time to explore, play, imagine, etc. She will have 4 years in highschool to focus more on the academics. I think having time to explore her own interests is just as important as the academics. It sounds to me like she is a very well rounded, efficient little girl.

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oh good...then I won't feel bad...we have the little PS just down the road from us and it is really hard to think it's ok to let my kids outside to play that early...I feel guilty or something...

I sympathize completely! There's a private school down the street and I try to time our bike ride so they are not outside. Dh and I joke that I put off the hallway wondering, line standing, and fidgeting until the end of the school day. It looks like the kids are not working, but they're really practicing their "social skills." :lol:

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