Getting through school too fast?

[twoforjoy]

I'm not sure if this is a problem or a blessing. ;)

 

DS and I get done with school really, really quickly. I was surprised to see how many people here do school in the early elementary years for 3-4 hours a day. DS is 7 and we started second grade about a month ago, and we sometimes go for an hour and twenty minutes or so, but most days we only go for an hour.

 

I feel like we do quite a bit each day, in terms of content. Our typical schedule would be:

 

Some work on a memory poem

Math--a lesson in CLE, and a page or two from Math Mammoth

Latin--we're going through Prima Latina orally

Language Arts--a lesson from R&S Grammar, a lesson from WWE 1 (we started that about halfway through last year), and a few pages from Spelling Workout

Handwriting--a few lines from Getty-Dubay (DS hates handwriting, and giving him more than that would be asking for a lot of grumbling and stress at this point)

History--a chapter from SOTW or CHOW and maybe a library book on the same topic

Some art or music

 

Fridays we just do a unit from RSO Life and math.

 

Anyway, I feel like we're doing quite a bit, but we still often just take an hour, and almost never go over an hour and a half unless DS is really, really complaining.

 

On the one hand, I'm inclined to see this as a positive for right now. We have a one year old and a baby due in August, and getting through the basics in a short period of time will certainly make doing school this year easier than if I needed to figure out how to fit in 3-4 hours of instruction. On the other hand, I don't want to shortchange DS.

 

I do plan on having a more rigorous 3rd grade year, with more writing. One of the issues, I think, is that since handwriting is stressful and unpleasant for DS right now, I don't insist on as much of it as he could do; we go over Prima Latina's workbook work orally, I make him worksheets for the Rod and Staff lessons rather than having him rewrite all of the exercises, and in general I just don't force a ton of handwriting. That would certainly add more time, but I also feel like it would make both of us miserable. I'm seeing improvements in his handwriting, and his ability to tolerate it, so I'm inclined to not push for more, but just let him get more comfortable with it so that next year we can begin to include substantially more writing from him.

 

ETA: He does do educational things outside of formal school time. He reads, he plays with Snap Circuits and his microscope, he writes stories and makes board games and does lots of things like that. I don't count that stuff as school, though.

 

Anyway, am I shortchanging DS by having such a short school day? Should I not worry about it? Are there areas where we could beef things up?

Edited May 24, 2011 by twoforjoy

[Momling]

If you've got a quick worker, an hour in second grade is probably just fine. I think the answers to how much time is spent homeschooling can never be very accurate. Some people consider only direct instructional time, others include time that kids spend reading or working independently, some people add in history projects, science experiments or art projects that take considerable time, others include piano practice, or time spent doing home economics, or physical activity, or watching an interesting documentary...

 

So... as long as you feel that your child is happy and learning... it's not worth comparing with anyone else.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

 

So... as long as you feel that your child is happy and learning... it's not worth comparing with anyone else.

This is the main thing.

 

For my youngest, we school in 10-15 min. segments through out the day. For a while I felt I needed to keep adding more because it felt like we were not spending much time on school (added up it was about 90 mins). After realizing she was doing more then the normal subjects I figured I had a fast worker and would not pile it on. She loves school but she loves to play more. So she sits down and gets the work done without dawdling. She will even fuss at me if I drag the subject on.

 

So enjoy the short days and don't worry. If you know he is learning his lessons then that is the main thing.

[boscopup]

If we were schooling without distractions (little brothers) and were fully focused the whole time, we'd probably finish that quick too. Maybe a little longer because of AAS for spelling (15 minutes), but we use several of the same programs, and they are pretty quick. I do have him writing his R&S lesson now, so that takes a bit longer. I've also added more challenging math (Singapore IP and CWP, PCM), so we have another 15ish minutes of math in the afternoon.

 

For history, are you just reading the chapter, or are you also doing mapwork and narrating? We narrate each section of the chapter, so that takes a little extra time (not a lot, but a little). We do a lot of narrations each week, and it's really showing. Yesterday I was thrilled when DS actually gave a main topic sentence, then 3 supporting sentences, and it all summed up the section we'd read very well. I about fell off my chair. :lol:

[Deniseibase]

That sounds fine to me. I've heard other experienced homeschool moms says that about an hour per grade level up to about 6th to 8th grade is a good rule of thumb; I personally always found that we took less time than that unless dd was playing around. I think we spent about 90 minutes a day in second grade, and she is now in fifth and we do about four hours per day. I don't think she is shortchanged, she studies several subjects (as you can see from my sig) and two languages, and her test scores are more than sufficient in every area. Some kids are just speedier than others. Let him use the extra time to explore what he likes, read, play, or do enrichment activities.

[2smartones]

I've always said/done about 30 minutes per grade level. I think probably the only times I've spent 3-4 hours on 2nd was (1) an uncooperative day or (2) a catch-up day.

[JudoMom]

I'm not sure if this is a problem or a blessing. ;)

 

DS and I get done with school really, really quickly. I was surprised to see how many people here do school in the early elementary years for 3-4 hours a day. DS is 7 and we started second grade about a month ago, and we sometimes go for an hour and twenty minutes or so, but most days we only go for an hour.

 

I feel like we do quite a bit each day, in terms of content. Our typical schedule would be:

 

Some work on a memory poem

Math--a lesson in CLE, and a page or two from Math Mammoth

Latin--we're going through Prima Latina orally

Language Arts--a lesson from R&S Grammar, a lesson from WWE 1 (we started that about halfway through last year), and a few pages from Spelling Workout

Handwriting--a few lines from Getty-Dubay (DS hates handwriting, and giving him more than that would be asking for a lot of grumbling and stress at this point)

History--a chapter from SOTW or CHOW and maybe a library book on the same topic

Some art or music

 

Fridays we just do a unit from RSO Life and math.

 

Anyway, I feel like we're doing quite a bit, but we still often just take an hour, and almost never go over an hour and a half unless DS is really, really complaining.

 

On the one hand, I'm inclined to see this as a positive for right now. We have a one year old and a baby due in August, and getting through the basics in a short period of time will certainly make doing school this year easier than if I needed to figure out how to fit in 3-4 hours of instruction. On the other hand, I don't want to shortchange DS.

 

I do plan on having a more rigorous 3rd grade year, with more writing. One of the issues, I think, is that since handwriting is stressful and unpleasant for DS right now, I don't insist on as much of it as he could do; we go over Prima Latina's workbook work orally, I make him worksheets for the Rod and Staff lessons rather than having him rewrite all of the exercises, and in general I just don't force a ton of handwriting. That would certainly add more time, but I also feel like it would make both of us miserable. I'm seeing improvements in his handwriting, and his ability to tolerate it, so I'm inclined to not push for more, but just let him get more comfortable with it so that next year we can begin to include substantially more writing from him.

 

ETA: He does do educational things outside of formal school time. He reads, he plays with Snap Circuits and his microscope, he writes stories and makes board games and does lots of things like that. I don't count that stuff as school, though.

 

Anyway, am I shortchanging DS by having such a short school day? Should I not worry about it? Are there areas where we could beef things up?

 

As long as you are happy with what he's learning (and it looks great to me), then don't worry about it.

 

We average about 1 hour/day/grade level. My ds7 (heading into 2nd grade) could probably finish in an hour, but because he's #4, his school day looks different and the history we do takes longer than if he were my oldest.

[Mommamia]

If you've got a quick worker, an hour in second grade is probably just fine. I think the answers to how much time is spent homeschooling can never be very accurate. Some people consider only direct instructional time, others include time that kids spend reading or working independently, some people add in history projects, science experiments or art projects that take considerable time, others include piano practice, or time spent doing home economics, or physical activity, or watching an interesting documentary...

 

So... as long as you feel that your child is happy and learning... it's not worth comparing with anyone else.

 

:iagree: We complete our work fairly quickly, too. I then look at the list of what we have accomplished and think "wow!". Also, we break up our reading time. Read alouds and quiet reading time is randomly throughout the day. That always adds in hidden minutes. Enjoy, it sounds like you have a nice routine.

[twoforjoy]

We average about 1 hour/day/grade level. My ds7 (heading into 2nd grade) could probably finish in an hour, but because he's #4, his school day looks different and the history we do takes longer than if he were my oldest.

 

You know, I hadn't considered that, but DS being the only kid I'm schooling right now is probably part of why we finish so quickly. I'm sitting next to him the entire time, and he has my pretty-much-undivided attention (unless DD needs something), and there isn't a sibling sitting there to distract him.

[lmrich]

That sounds fine. Somedays with my third grader we can finish that quickly too.

Enjoy your days with him.

[TracyP]

I feel like we do quite a bit each day, in terms of content. Our typical schedule would be:

 

Some work on a memory poem

Math--a lesson in CLE, and a page or two from Math Mammoth

Latin--we're going through Prima Latina orally

Language Arts--a lesson from R&S Grammar, a lesson from WWE 1 (we started that about halfway through last year), and a few pages from Spelling Workout

Handwriting--a few lines from Getty-Dubay (DS hates handwriting, and giving him more than that would be asking for a lot of grumbling and stress at this point)

History--a chapter from SOTW or CHOW and maybe a library book on the same topic

Some art or music

 

Fridays we just do a unit from RSO Life and math.

 

Anyway, am I shortchanging DS by having such a short school day? Should I not worry about it? Are there areas where we could beef things up?

 

I don't think you need to but if you want to beef it up a little, I would think about upping the challenge a bit in math and LA. IMO, if you are getting through two math programs, WWE, R&S Grammar, SWO, and handwriting in 40 minutes (that gives only 5 minutes each for every other thing listed) then I suspect those two subjects are too easy. Just a thought, you know best.:001_smile:

[twoforjoy]

I don't think you need to but if you want to beef it up a little, I would think about upping the challenge a bit in math and LA. IMO, if you are getting through two math programs, WWE, R&S Grammar, SWO, and handwriting in 40 minutes (that gives only 5 minutes each for every other thing listed) then I suspect those two subjects are too easy. Just a thought, you know best.:001_smile:

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he could be working at a higher level in both math and language arts. But, while he's great at mental math, he's not all that solid on his math facts, so I wanted to make sure he had a really solid grounding in that before we moved on, so that I wouldn't have to do remedial work later. It's definitely meaning that he's doing work less challenging than he could be doing, though. If I do want to up the time, though, I think we could easily get through two CLE lessons per day. (He isn't a huge fan of Math Mammoth, although he will tolerate it, so I probably wouldn't want to up the amount of that we're doing.)

 

The LA issue has mainly been balancing his skill level with his handwriting ability. I think he could easily be working at a 3rd or even 4th grade level with R&S, writing, and spelling, but he is still definitely at a 2nd or even 1st grade level with his handwriting, and that's kind of the limiting factor. I'm seeing him make slow but steady progress with his handwriting lately, but my concern is that upping the level he's working at would also up the amount of handwriting required, and that he'd get frustrated and overwhelmed at that part of it. Again, though, we could get through two R&S lessons and probably manage both a narration and a copywork exercise from WWE 1 each day without much problem, which is an option I hadn't considered. I don't think that would increase the handwriting to a level that would frustrate him, but it would probably put us in a position to move into more challenging work for him in four or five months when, if he continues to make good progress, he should be able to handle more writing.

[alpidarkomama]

Our secular 2nd grade studies only take about 90 minutes a day for our main subjects (not counting music, art, etc.). We have 2 hours of Jewish studies, so 90 minutes is PLENTY! :)

[boscopup]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he could be working at a higher level in both math and language arts. But, while he's great at mental math, he's not all that solid on his math facts, so I wanted to make sure he had a really solid grounding in that before we moved on, so that I wouldn't have to do remedial work later. It's definitely meaning that he's doing work less challenging than he could be doing, though. If I do want to up the time, though, I think we could easily get through two CLE lessons per day. (He isn't a huge fan of Math Mammoth, although he will tolerate it, so I probably wouldn't want to up the amount of that we're doing.)

 

Our math time took less time when we were working below level as well. Could you move ahead but continue with daily work on math facts in some manner? That way, you're still getting solid on the facts, but you're also still able to do more challenging math. I'm not sure what level you're in and whether it's easy to do that at that level, but just a thought.

 

Another thing we've done is adding in more challenging math. DS loves Primary Challenge Math, and we also are doing Singapore IP and CWP. Our main curriculum is Math Mammoth, so these others are a nice break from that. He likes MM as long as we're working at a challenging level. I adjust the problems assigned as needed (there are a LOT of problems), do some orally, etc. He still writes quite a bit, but it's a more manageable amount. Today, he even did 2 lessons, just because he wanted to do the word problems lesson. :D

 

The LA issue has mainly been balancing his skill level with his handwriting ability. I think he could easily be working at a 3rd or even 4th grade level with R&S, writing, and spelling, but he is still definitely at a 2nd or even 1st grade level with his handwriting, and that's kind of the limiting factor.

We've been in the same boat. I started R&S English 2 in January (halfway through first grade), but had to do it all orally because he wasn't ready to write that much. Now, less than 6 months later, he's able to do the writing in that book. I ordered R&S English 3 yesterday, as the samples look like it's a similar amount of writing. R&S 2 is just a little too simple at this stage. I'm hoping R&S 3 will be better in that regard (I ordered 4 as well, but I don't want to get TOO far ahead due to the writing issue - I think he can handle the writing in 3).

 

It seems like just recently, the writing ability really picked up. He's about to turn 7 next month. I've been doing a lot more sentence dictation in AAS, which we do on the white board, and I think that has helped - getting him writing more without it being physically difficult. You might try incorporating some white board work (big or small). It uses different muscles, so make sure you're still doing plenty of pencil work, but I've found that a combination of the two has helped us greatly increase our writing. DS is writing paragraphs with a pencil from the R&S 2 unit 5 without any trouble (well, there is the distraction issue again... little brothers today, analyzing words for how they're spelled yesterday :tongue_smilie:).

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

From my Right Start book: "In Japan the goal of the math lesson is that the student has understood a concept, not necessarily has done something (a worksheet.)"

 

I think this applies to your situation. It's not about whether you've spent a specific amount of time, but that your child is learning.

[LisaKinVA]

When my 7yo is focused and attentive, 2 hours is plenty. We just won't talk about how often he's focused and attentive :glare:.

 

My dd could get her work done pretty quickly too... and then she spends the remainder of her free time reading, writing in her journal or one art/drawing project or another. Cant' complain about it too much.

 

With regard to math facts... I wouldn't hold up a child conceptually simply to "solidify" facts. I have one child who just refused to learn his facts until he realized he could get through math faster if he knew them. While my dd just learned them, my older son dug in his heels until he started Pre-Algebra, and my younger son has *at last* declared he wants to "know his facts" before we move on (he's 7... and going into Math Mammoth 5 :sigh:) We're going to do some MM structured drills, and he's going to play math games all summer long.

 

I have bumped my kids up a level in LA... but not necessarilly output. I have one child who is also 2 years accelerated in science, but that was his choice. I don't normally bump the kids up in history or science...other than maybe some higher-level reading (but my 7yo is still a kid, and if he wants to read the picture books in his free time...that's perfectly fine. Everything doesn't have to be challenging!)

 

It's such a difficult balance sometimes. You want them to be challenged enough to grow and learn, but they should also have time to enjoy pursuing their own interests.