Mom's with teens doing a rigorous education

[Jean in Newcastle]

It's hard to define rigor so let's just define it as more than 4 hours of schoolwork for the purposes of this thread. What I really want to know is how much of those hours are you involved as the teacher? And is it everyday? Just when they get stuck? Each subject or just some?

[elfgivas]

hi jean -

 

okay, i'll try to answer that.... its a lot.

 

math: i teach a 10-5 minute lesson each day. she does her exercises. i am available to answer questions. i check her work about four questions in to make sure she's on track.

 

language arts: i do 20 minutes with her each day. she does her exercises. i check them.

 

science: i teach a 40 minute lesson 3 times a week.

 

foreign language: i teach latin every day, she does the work. i teach french every day. she does the work and uses the computer to check pronunciation.

 

music: someone else gives her a lesson every week. she practises every day. i am available to accompany if asked.

 

logic: on her own, except i often do it as well because its, well, fun...

 

grammar: on her own

 

literature: we read together, she answers questions on her own

 

writing: she does writeathome.com on her own. i proofread when asked.

 

history: she does historyatourhouse.com on her own. i proofread when asked and supplement when asked.

 

geography: part of historyatourhouse.com on her own.

 

dance: i drive, she dances, every day ; )

[Wendi]

I might not be the best example, as I have one teen (14 years old), but he's an Aspie and still rather high-maintenance (at least compared to many of his friends).

 

My son will be taking 6 full credits this year, and I expect him to spend 5-6 hours a day on average. (Including reading.) Right now, he still needs me to keep tabs on him a lot. I'm hoping by the end of the year that he'll be working more independently. He does need help with math, and I expect to do a lot of teaching/discussing literature and writing. We'll be studying Japanese together. The rest (science, art, history) should be much more independent for him once we get his daily schedule really figured out.

 

He does go to an outside class for math and science (3 hours a week for each), and does the homework independently for the most part. I anticipate teaching/tutoring for 2 hours a day on average. Hopefully. And until he gets used to his new classes and schedule, I'll need to be right there with him more, helping him use his time well.

 

Wendi

[regentrude]

It's hard to define rigor so let's just define it as more than 4 hours of schoolwork for the purposes of this thread. What I really want to know is how much of those hours are you involved as the teacher? And is it everyday? Just when they get stuck? Each subject or just some?

 

DD did 5 hours in 9th grade, will do 6 hours in 10th grade.

I am directly involved, to a varying degree, for maybe two hours per day.

I am present for more (either at home, of the kids come to work with me), but she does not need my active participation for the whole time.

 

My kids are very independent; I am there to help when they get stuck (math and science), discuss literature and history (we do take our time for that, often while we are in the car together), to make sure that French gets done. I participate fully in the weekly French lesson.

[Lolly]

I am teaching or helping from 8-4 or 5 every weekday. (This is for 4 kids.) For science and Spanish, this involves me watching the BJUP dvd along with them. That's almost 2 hours right there. I teach 2 of them math and need to be VERY available for questions while they do their work. I teach the other subjects also, but less involved. Maybe 20 minutes teaching time for each. I usually need to spend an hour or so in the evening preparing. It is a full time job.

[speedmom4]

My oldest daughter is very independent. I have everything planned out for her and I spend time each day going over her assignments. I am available to her when she needs help.

 

I would like to spend more time with her. My youngest two children need quite a bit of my help. They are getting more independent but much of their school work is teacher intensive. My second child (younger daughter) needs me for a few subjects and the rest is independent.

 

I typically spend the hours between 9-4 doing something school related. Much of it for my oldest two is just checking/grading. It's not ideal but that's the way it is.

 

God Bless,

Elise in NC

[MSNative]

Great answers so far. I'll add reviewing, editing and then redirecting. I'm finding most of my time is actually spent after they do their initial work. This is obvious in writing - outlines, drafts, editing, etc. I didn't think it would happen in the other subjects. For example, after the boys do their math, we work through the problems on the board. Never did this before but last year tried it and realized that it helped ME figure out where they were having problems. I am now very focused on making sure that I set aside time to review every bit of work and go over it with each boy. That has been almost more effective than the original teaching time - and also lots more time consuming.

[Anita in NC]

A full school day means 6 hours for work for my 10th grader and 6th grader. I do school from 10 until 5 pm. With an hour for lunch and we usually watch something educational while we eat.

 

I also have a 2nd grader that does work on and off throughout the day.

 

I am involved in most of those hours. Probably 5 of the 6 hours because I have to squeeze in doing dishes and fixing lunch and snacks.

 

The older two are also required to read for a couple of hours each night by themselves.

 

I try to rotate between the kids. My oldest is most definitely the most independent of the 3 kids. We will be doing philosophy together, even if that means adding an additional hour to our school day, because half the fun is the discussions and you a least two people doing the class.

 

Throughout the day I am working with one or a couple of the kids at a time.

[Cindy in C-ville]

Jean, although my high schoolers are doing 4-6 hours each day, my direct teaching time with them is very limited. I just have too many kids. Now, we're using Classical Conversations this year because we need the structure, the accountability, and the relationships. Basically, I have a "meeting" with each one of the kids to check work from the day before, answer any questions, and make sure they are on track for the day/week. If they hit a glitch and need help, they can catch me between "meetings," or if it's super-fast, I'll pause the "meeting" to give a little support.

[Onceuponatime]

I teach my high school students math, foreign language, and the more intensive sciences. Everything else they do on their own. I help when asked and go over corrections and revisions with them. I don't feel the necessity to teach everything. I purposely plan their younger years so we can get to that point. I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't plan discussion times. Discussions just seem to happen naturally when we are reading good books and keep aware of what is going on in the world.

[elegantlion]

We do between 4-5 hours, not quite sure as we'll start up again in two weeks. I am directly involved with most of it.

 

My son is not very independent and that's not really our goal. He does his own reading, and if he has reading in history or science he does some of that on his own. We work through math and then he'll do his work independently (sometimes). However, I'm always in the room for math as he talks through problems and sometimes needs help, or refocused.

 

I'm working toward requiring more independence in each subject. However, I plan on being directly involved in most subjects, except computers programming and design. Our school dynamic works best with lots of interaction.

[AngieW in Texas]

I'll go with last year's schedule for you.

 

My oldest was a senior did almost everything at the cc (only did Thinkwell government and economics at home). I was involved only as a reminder and a pusher. My dd did learn that she couldn't work on English papers at home. The games on her computer were far too distracting, so she went to the cc campus to work on her papers there. She had to make it past the jigsaw puzzle at the library entrance (she's ADHD and Aspie, so making it past the puzzle was HARD), but once she made it past the puzzle, she was able to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time. Several times I dropped her off and picked her up 3 hours later to find out that she hadn't made it past the puzzle. She's leaving for college in 2.5 weeks and will not be taking any puzzles with her.

 

My middle dd was in 10th grade last year. The only thing I actually taught her was physics. We did physics as a formal class that met 2x/week and I had another student who came to my house for it as well. That class met for 1.5 hours. They both took the AP Physics B test and passed. She did all her other classes independently until she needed help with something. I had to help with math for maybe 30 minutes/week. My dd checked her own work, but when she couldn't see how they got their answer, she'd call me to come explain it. She was doing Kinetic Books Algebra II, so the end-of-unit problems were the only ones she really needed me to explain. She worked from 9am-6pm on M/Tu, 9am-4pm on W/Th, and 9am-2pm on F. She took an hour for lunch and also took a 10 minute break about every 1.5-2 hours to do something very active. The classes she did were OM English 10, OM World History, Kinetic Books Algebra II, Giancoli's Physics, Piano (on her own for one semester and with a teacher for the other semester), and Visual Link Spanish.

 

For this upcoming year, my middle dd will be in 11th grade. She will be taking my Honors Chemistry class with 6 other students that will meet 1x/week for 2 hours and will include labs. She will be taking Spanish (meets 5 hours/week) and English (meets 3 hours/week) at the cc. She will be doing OM World Geography independently at home. She will be doing Lial's Precalculus with me as a formal class that meets 2x/week. I won't have any other students for this, so I don't have a set time, but I think I'll probably spend 30-45 minutes going over each lesson and then she'll have two days to do the work. She will be busy.

 

ETA:

Okay, I just saw that this was on the general board rather than the high school board, so I'm going to add my youngest in as well. She just turned 13yo two months ago and will be starting 8th grade.

 

My youngest doesn't do anything independently except for music practice. She loves the guitar and wants to also pick up banjo and bouzouki. She wants to work up to 2 hours practice/day. She also enjoys sewing and will be taking a sewing class. She is very interested in photography and I had her all lined up for a photography class that had great reviews and then the teacher backed out. I'm trying to find a photography class that meets weekly and has other teens in it for her.

 

She is hard to fit. I still don't know for sure what we're doing and we're starting school in just a few weeks. Right now I'm using Uncle Dan's Algebra I with her. This is the first program that has gone well in the past few years. She does best with black print on white paper with lots of white space, few illustrations, and terse wording. She won't touch a math program that's on the computer. I'm thinking about using Glencoe Reader's Choice with her for English. She won't like it, but she won't like anything I can find for English. I'm going to let her decide between CPO Physical Science and Prentice Hall Physical Science (I own both). I'm still trying to figure out history. She likes SOTW better than anything else I've found. We need to cover SOTW3-4 this year, but I'd like to do it in more depth, so I've been trying to find documentary videos that cover the same material.

 

I hope that some day she will do something else independently in addition to music, but I know that's not happening now.

Edited July 30, 2011 by AngieW in Texas

[ereks mom]

hi jean -

 

okay, i'll try to answer that.... its a lot.

 

math: i teach a 10-5 minute lesson each day. she does her exercises. i am available to answer questions. i check her work about four questions in to make sure she's on track.

 

language arts: i do 20 minutes with her each day. she does her exercises. i check them.

 

science: i teach a 40 minute lesson 3 times a week.

 

foreign language: i teach latin every day, she does the work. i teach french every day. she does the work and uses the computer to check pronunciation.

 

music: someone else gives her a lesson every week. she practises every day. i am available to accompany if asked.

 

logic: on her own, except i often do it as well because its, well, fun...

 

grammar: on her own

 

literature: we read together, she answers questions on her own

 

writing: she does writeathome.com on her own. i proofread when asked.

 

history: she does historyatourhouse.com on her own. i proofread when asked and supplement when asked.

 

geography: part of historyatourhouse.com on her own.

 

dance: i drive, she dances, every day ; )

 

This sounds a lot like what happens at my house. The materials are different in some cases, and she does drama instead of dance, but the rest is mostly the same.

[EKS]

I have a 15yo son. Last year (9th grade) he worked 6-8 hours per day and I was involved for 2-3 hours of that.

[ChemMommy]

Mom to 4 here, two in high school.

 

My older two spend a minimum of 4 hours per day on school, probably more like 6 hours per day. I help them for 15-30 minutes on math each day (child #2 is always at 30 minutes SIGH!!!!).

 

The two younger ones need me for 5 minutes a day for math.

 

I do some kind of writing instruction or grading for language arts with all four each try (or try to). That can take an hour or an hour and 15 minutes.

 

Everything else is on an "as needed" basis. I work part-time or I think I would do more direct instruction and follow-up on the rest of the subject, however, the kids are very good now at learning on their own and being independent. That will pay off in the future.

[Miss Marple]

I have a 15yo son. Last year (9th grade) he worked 6-8 hours per day and I was involved for 2-3 hours of that.

 

This is about the same for us. Except I have 2 teens going into 10th and 11th. The most time I spend is on science, math, and English. For science and English they are working in the same program so I can cover 2 kids at the same time. For math, though, they are in different programs so that means about 30 minutes each per day - sometimes less. I would estimate 2-3 hours per day as well.

[WTMCassandra]

Well, I will have a 9th grader and a 7th grader in the fall. Here's what will happen:

 

Great Books (history and literature): This will be my most active teaching time. Even the the 7th grader is a little young for this, I want to be able to do us all at the same time. A lot of the works we will be reading out loud together because they are more difficult than what they are used to. We will be using a WTM-purist approach.

 

Writing/Grammar: I will also be actively teaching these, although there will be times when they go off and do an assignment.

 

Logic: I will finish up teaching what we were working on last year, and then we will be doing a video course.

 

Math: I am totally hands off and incompetent here. I make sure they do 45 minutes a day and produce SOMETHING, and then my husband checks them once a week.

 

Science: I will be assigning reading and study questions and administering tests. My husband will be doing experiments one evening a week.

 

Latin: They work fairly independently on this now. I just make sure they do it, check it, and then report to me.

 

Greek: I hired a tutor for this. I just make sure they do their homework.

 

Music: We outsource this too. I just make sure they practice.

 

We have a daily schedule, and they report in at the end of each subject about what they have done. Sometimes I make them show me.

Edited July 30, 2011 by WTMCassandra

[FaithManor]

Homeschooling a high schooler basically owns me. It is my full time job. When dd (now graduated) was in high school, I directly taught and was always available to drop everything and answer questions. Though she was very independent for getting the assignments done and I was tough on deadlines, I felt it was my job as her teacher to make this successful for her by making sure I was thorough and available.

 

I spent at least 30 minutes and up to an hour teaching math and working through the examples with her.

 

She studied biology independently, but I lectured on chemistry and physics topics for 30 minutes each.

 

Tutored directly for grammar and then literary discussions took 30-45 minutes.

 

Foreign language - 1 hr. intensive with me every day.

 

I made reading assignments, but then lectured for 30 -45 minutes while she took notes...lecture topics were always included in my exams.

 

Electives- this varied according to the topic. She was completely independent when she studied astronomy and art...if she had questions about art, she went to my sister-in-law who majored in art in college. For Anatomy and Physiology - she went to granny's house (my mil is a retired professor of nursing).

 

But, I also had the grading and transcripting to do and my history exams were all writing...paragraph summaries of cultures, historical events, comparison/contrast, etc. and two or three essays for each one...for world history we used Spielvogel (22 chapters I believe) and I gave a chapter exam as described above for each one. I determined two percentages - content and grammar/syntax/writing style. Since it was history and not English, I weighted the content just a little heavier 60/40 and then averaged the grades together. This all took time. I also kept a portfolio organized by subject and year, plus extensive grades for figuring transcripts later and I also took some exams, essays, and other writing assignments to an outside grader (dear friend of mine that taught English and History at an LAC before having her kidlets) for extra imput and so that person would later be able to write letter of recommendation for dd.

 

Addtionally, I did the driving to and from extra-curriculars for dd though she took piano lessons from me which did help.

 

Ds (14) is now a freshman and I also have an eighth grader as well as a sixth grader who is gifted in math and science and will be doing Algebra 1 and high school astronomy this fall. So, my hands are very full this year and I expect that my life will very largely revolve around the homeschooling and grading. Additionally, dh and I are both content coverage plus project rigorous in terms of history and science, so there will be many lab experiences in the sciences throughout the year, plus end of year science projects and history research papers to supervise during the last quarter.

 

We school from the first Monday in August through the third week of June unless kids really want to get motivated to be finished early. Last year the boys all doubled up on assignments during April and were done by the end of the second week of May. But, I don't see ds managing that now that he's in high school. I make deadlines known well in advance for projects and writing assignments; projects are often worked with on Saturday mornings.

 

Ds is finishing algebra 1 and will be going on to geometry by the end of December. (He was struggling with confidence, so I ended up doing an extra round of pre-algebra with him through March of 2011, hence seven chapters of algebra 1 left.) He has Biology, English Comp and Great Books Study, U.S. History, Practical Drafting - he'll be able to do a lot of that independently and will consult dh when stumped - Art History (specifically focused on architecture and unfortunately taught by me because my sister-in-law is traveling a huge amount this year), Latin - Henle year 3, and Introduction to Java Programming. If he doesn't feel stressed and can carve out the time, he wants to complete the M.I.T. Opencourseware "Art of Color" for another art elective. Bible study/devotions begins the day and doesn't count for credit. But, I do this will all of the boys together and it takes about 15-20 minutes - Bible reading and discussion or memory work, hymn singing, and prayer time.

 

So, I expect to teach him directly for up to four hrs. per day min. plus devotions and spend 2 hrs. grading. I'll be teaching the 8th grader probably 2 hrs. per day, but only one hr. with the sixth grader who has the kind of intellect where having a teacher is one of those superfluous perks but not highly necessary. I look forward to his high school years because he'll be doing calculus and college level physics with dh along with all kinds of crazy computer programming, engineering, and drafting that I won't have to take part in. He'll self teach foreign language and so the only thing I may be necessary for will be English/Literature, History, and the odd elective. I plan on quilting a lot!

 

I think so much of how time-intensive it is depends on the student's personality and natural abilities, plus parental objectives. We teach Socratically to begin with which, as a method, is teacher intensive, and we aren't prone to choosing student lead/independent courses. Plus, we want the kids to be very comfortable in lecture environments, so I do a lot of lecturing plus Great Courses DVD lectures so that they will learn to take excellent notes quickly, and learn to study from those notes.

 

Faith

Edited July 30, 2011 by FaithManor
spelling

[G5052]

For the oldest, 6-8 hours a day, and I just need to be available. He and I work out an assignment sheet that he works from all week. Because I'm working from home more in the fall, there will be certain hours when I'm not available. He has one online class and outside classes on Fridays.

 

The younger one will need more attention, but mostly works independently as well.

 

It is a very different picture than it was 10 years ago!

[Jean in Newcastle]

All your answers are so helpful! Thank you!

[ma23peas]

Foreign language (on their own, but I check every 2 weeks to make sure they've advanced to where they need to be -Rosetta Stone)

 

Math (I sit and teach 80% of the lesson, they work the problems on their own and I check)

 

Writing/Lit...I teach once a week and help them if they need it

 

Science..Another teacher has 3 hours with them and I help them study for their exams

 

Grammar...I teach the lesson and we sit for 2-3 hours weekly going over them and grading

 

History...I read aloud and they have readings on their own

 

HTH!

[shanvan]

Jean, thanks for asking this question. It's very helpful to read the responses. I have an additional question, which I hope is okay to ask here. I thought about starting a new thread, but was afraid it wouldn't get noticed.

 

Along with all of Jean's questions, I am also wondering....how much time do you have for outside activities? Or, how many outside activities can your rigorously educated teen handle?

 

Kick me out of this thread if you think this is too much of a hijack! :001_smile:

 

 

Shannon

[KAR120C]

It's hard to define rigor so let's just define it as more than 4 hours of schoolwork for the purposes of this thread. What I really want to know is how much of those hours are you involved as the teacher? And is it everyday? Just when they get stuck? Each subject or just some?

Last year DS had full days that went into the 10-11 hour range (not all year, but for a good chunk of it....)

 

When it was an outside class I was more "tech support" than teacher, with occasional bits of help. For math I jumped in a couple times with explanations, and asked questions about his finished problem sets (like "how did you get from this step to the next one?" if he hadn't written as full an answer as I would have liked), but most of the time he just had the class and the homework. For languages I would go through his flashcards with him... the sort of thing a trained monkey could do, if only we had a trained monkey... And I proctor quizzes and tests.

 

Writing I'm still very much involved in, but not in a looking-over-his-shoulder way. More in a guiding-from-the-next-room way. If I'm in the room with him, he's more than happy to let me do too much, but if I refuse to look at it until he's got a finished draft he does very well on his own. So my job is more in the line of "did you finish the paragraph? have you read through it for places you could improve the order or the phrasing? have you made those improvements? have you checked your spelling?" and when he's done with all of that we discuss any phrasing he got stuck on. He's getting better about doing all that without the nagging, but he's not 100% there yet.

 

Literature and history we discuss at length. Science too.... but some of that is schoolwork and some of it is dinner-table or car-ride conversation.

 

I still teach some of his co-op classes, and coach the math team, so for those I'm fully involved - lesson planning, teaching, whiteboard, discussion, homework, grading, etc. For classes we do at home alone I put a lot of effort into choosing materials, writing a syllabus and course description, and designing assignments, but it's rarely a stand-up-and-teach kind of thing... more often it's discuss and then assign/nag/grade papers.

 

In any one day, I need to be around for a good bit of it (I can leave him to work for a couple hours while I have a meeting, but it wouldn't be great if I were gone all day)... if you want a number I'd say I need to be available for 2/3 - 3/4 of the day, but I can get my own work done too as long as it's nothing that can't be interrupted occasionally.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

Jean, thanks for asking this question. It's very helpful to read the responses. I have an additional question, which I hope is okay to ask here. I thought about starting a new thread, but was afraid it wouldn't get noticed.

 

Along with all of Jean's questions, I am also wondering....how much time do you have for outside activities? Or, how many outside activities can your rigorously educated teen handle?

 

Kick me out of this thread if you think this is too much of a hijack! :001_smile:

 

 

Shannon

 

My 9th grade son's schoolwork takes 7-8 hours per day. He is also heavily involved with Civil Air Patrol, goes to TKD three times per week, and performs in the city with a folk music group several times per month. He gets together with friends and does church-related activities on weekends.

 

We planned his schedule to include exercise and very rigorous study all day, and nothing else, really, so that he can have most evenings and weekends free. Even with this weighty workload, he has more time for his interests than his public-schooled friends.

[BarbaraL in OK]

My approach is much like WTMCassandra's. I'll have a 10th grader and a 6th grader in the fall. After two year of family stresses (two grandparents dying 10 months apart, and everything that went along with it, before & after) during which my sons worked more independently, we are all ready for more Mom involvement.

 

I will directly teach history/social studies, literature, and writing. I'll touch base daily on the skill subjects and help as needed, and then spend time with them exploring the content subjects. I will probably spend two hours daily (or more? not sure yet) on my own, reviewing their work, grading, editing, etc., and preparing for history/social studies, literature, and writing.

 

Great Books (history and literature): This will be my most active teaching time... Same here. I'm really investing a lot of time and energy in this area for my 10th grader, including learning about Socratic questioning. My 6th grader may join us for the book discussion. My 10th grader will also do a homegrown social studies course with me (social concerns through video gaming).

 

Writing/Grammar: I will also be actively teaching these... Ditto. My 10th grader will be studying argument, rhetoric, and essay writing, and my 6th grader the progymnasmata, both without a curriculum. Wheee!

 

We have a daily schedule, and they report in at the end of each subject about what they have done. Sometimes I make them show me. Ditto!

 

Math & Science: We touch base daily and I'll help/teach as needed. We enjoy math & science. I'm thinking Dad will be a good resource for physics labs...

 

Latin & foreign language: We touch base daily and I'll help/teach to whatever extent needed (this could be how to drill vocabulary, or the idea of using previous lessons as reference, or talking down a panic at being stuck, ...).

 

I don't know how to multi-quote, but I am right there with this description by KAR120C:

In any one day, I need to be around for a good bit of it (I can leave him to work for a couple hours while I have a meeting, but it wouldn't be great if I were gone all day)... if you want a number I'd say I need to be available for 2/3 - 3/4 of the day, but I can get my own work done too as long as it's nothing that can't be interrupted occasionally.

[BarbaraL in OK]

Along with all of Jean's questions, I am also wondering....how much time do you have for outside activities? Or, how many outside activities can your rigorously educated teen handle?

 

My 15yo son spends Monday afternoon at activities, Tuesday evening, a good number of Saturdays or weekends, and Sunday mornings and evenings. He is pretty involved in Boy Scouts (was in patrol leadership, now a den leader) and church (Sunday school group, youth group, acolytes). He also gets together with friends every week or two for a movie outing, game night, gaming, basketball, ping pong, whatever.

 

In general that seems good, though sometimes he doesn't go on Boy Scout campouts because he wants some down time, and last year in general he was too busy, due to a huge church commitment.

 

(That year he was committed to a lot of fundraising activities and community-building activities in preparation for a Sunday school group pilgrimage to Scotland, and it was just too much -- he was nearly sick of it. This was the first pilgrimage that called for serious funds, and they were unsure of how much work they'd need to do to raise enough. Thankfully we parents got the teachers to stop scheduling the kids for stuff after the money was raised (!), and the trip was awesome. Whew. We parents have many thoughts for the debriefing we are pushing for.)

 

This year he will spend some time on Boy Scout merit badges that require exercise -- Physical Fitness and Bicycling -- and one or maybe two other merit badges. He will also be learning to drive and practicing a lot (ulp).

[FaithManor]

Jean, thanks for asking this question. It's very helpful to read the responses. I have an additional question, which I hope is okay to ask here. I thought about starting a new thread, but was afraid it wouldn't get noticed.

 

Along with all of Jean's questions, I am also wondering....how much time do you have for outside activities? Or, how many outside activities can your rigorously educated teen handle?

 

Kick me out of this thread if you think this is too much of a hijack! :001_smile:

 

 

Shannon

 

 

DD practiced the piano for 1 to 1.5 hrs. per day, saw veterinary practice 4 hrs. per week, occasionally farm sat (I had to make her assignments ahead of time and touch base with her during those times since she was on her own), sang in the church choir (2 hrs. per week mid-September through April), tutored in chemistry 2 hrs. per week, and was involved with the youth group at church and their activities. She lead a full life though she never seemed stressed by it.

 

Faith

[KAR120C]

Along with all of Jean's questions, I am also wondering....how much time do you have for outside activities? Or, how many outside activities can your rigorously educated teen handle?

On top of a lot of schoolwork, DS has flute lessons and one sports team (cricket). That's another hour a day of flute practice, an hour-long lesson each week, and Saturday morning cricket practice (plus sometimes an extra mid-week evening practice). Fortunately cricket season ends in the fall and picks up again in the spring, so it's mostly not an issue during the school year, but flute is year round. It does make for long days... On the other hand, it's a rare weekend that he has substantial homework - he gets most of it done during the week - so other than Sunday morning church, he has a nice long expanse of downtime.

 

He does have some things during school time that we count as school rather than extra-curricular (but which could really go either way)... art class, science projects, math team. We do tend to restrict mid-week evening activities though. Between homework, projects, family time, occasional youth group activities.... it's hard for us to commit to anything that meets in the evenings.

[Lolly]

Jean, thanks for asking this question. It's very helpful to read the responses. I have an additional question, which I hope is okay to ask here. I thought about starting a new thread, but was afraid it wouldn't get noticed.

 

Along with all of Jean's questions, I am also wondering....how much time do you have for outside activities? Or, how many outside activities can your rigorously educated teen handle?

 

Kick me out of this thread if you think this is too much of a hijack! :001_smile:

 

 

Shannon

 

Ds has Civil Air Patrol. That requires a few hours a week; studying, meetings, activities. He flies (yes, planes) usually once a week. He is in the air an hour but is usually at the airport for at least 2. He has swim practice 3 or 4 days a week on a recreational (summer league) team.

 

The dd16s are competitive swimmers. They practice about 20 hours a week. It also involves a lot of driving time. Meets are one weekend a month and quite often involve travel.

[angela in ohio]

Question 1:

 

I spend several hours each day teaching my girls. This includes discussion, lecturing, answering questions, etc. I teach each subject 1-2 times a week, in one chunk of time, like a university model. So for this year, as I am planning my schedule, I'm looking at:

 

2 days x 30 min. (they use the DIVE, so that is their lecture) - science discussion

1 day x 3 hours - science lab

 

2 days x 2 hours - history/lit/writing

 

2 days x 1 hour - AP Comp Sci lecture

1 day x 2 hours - AP Comp Sci lab

 

2 days x 1 hour (they use VTI, so that is their lecture) - math discussion and enrichment (contest math, etc.)

 

3 days x 30 min - Latin

 

2 days x 30 min - general meeting: checking in on other subjects, co-op classes, etc.

 

Mondays we have co-op, and I have one of them in my writing class. Thursdays, we meet with another family for me to teach writing, and the other dd is in that. So they each get another hour of me teaching writing that way.

 

This doesn't include my grading time or my prep. If I didn't use the DIVE and VTI, I'd have to add another few hours (which would mean probably never getting to the 9 yo :001_smile:.)

 

Question 2:

 

We do a lot of outside activities, and they still manage to complete a rigorous course load. They don't do a lot of TV, gaming, reading popular novels, or "hanging out," so I think that helps.

 

The girls each have youth symphony one night, plus lessons on another day, plus daily practice time, concerts, auditions, etc. My middle dd takes two instruments, so she has another lesson and double the practice. They take art lessons for 2 1/2 hours per week. They volunteer for 5 hours with special needs students each week, plus other little volunteer stuff here and there. We do a co-op one day a week that is mostly enrichment courses. And they do LEGO robotics teams: older will do a FIRST team and middle is staying on their FLL team.

[Jenny in Florida]

I am present for more (either at home, of the kids come to work with me), but she does not need my active participation for the whole time.

 

My kids are very independent; I am there to help when they get stuck (math and science), discuss literature and history (we do take our time for that, often while we are in the car together), to make sure that French gets done. I participate fully in the weekly French lesson.

 

I've found that, for my son, I really need to stay physically present, even when I'm not actually working with him.

 

He's pretty independent about actually doing the work, but he needs me there for company and to bounce ideas and so on.

 

Last year (8th grade), he did most of his classwork online and was stuck at the computer for five or so hours a day. I hated it, and this coming year we're going to cut back on the online classes.

 

Here's how I suspect it's going to go, in terms of my actual involvement:

 

- Reading aloud over breakfast - As much as 30 minutes.

- Math - Probably 20 - 30 minutes most days, although it might run longer one day a week.

- English - He'll be doing most of the reading on his own (except for the plays, which are much more fun to read aloud together), but I'm actually "teaching" this subject. So, between discussing and correcting his writing and discussing what he's reading and so on, I'll probably be actively involved about 30 minutes per day.

- Spanish - He'll be taking this online. So, I won't be involved except to answer a question now and then and make sure he's on pace.

- History/Geography/Science/World Religions - These are all going to be student-driven subjects this year. So, my role will be to get him to the library and suggest resources and listen when he talks and make sure he has supplies for and is doing whatever projects he chooses. I'll just be facilitating and don't expect to spend more than a few minutes a day on each one.

 

He'll also get a credit for music, but that is based on him singing with a choir and taking private voice lessons. So, my only involvement there is driving.

 

Adding it up, it looks like I'll be actively involved for an average of as much as two hours a day, most of the time.

 

As I said, though, he really needs me to be physically present.

[Jenny in Florida]

....how much time do you have for outside activities? Or, how many outside activities can your rigorously educated teen handle?

 

My son is 13. He did 8th grade last year and will be starting 9th this fall.

 

The answer to your question is his case is that he does more outside than he probably should.

 

Last year, he had four dance classes each week (one hour each), a private voice less (one hour), choir rehearsal (two and a half hours), performace group rehearsals (two hours), plus religious education classes and youth group meetings (two and a half hour) each week. He also did two youth theatre productions (rehearsals for three hours each weekend), an opera (rehearsals for three hours per week for two months) and a community theatre production (rehearsals for four or more hours per week for two months). The youth group built and ran our church's haunted house, which took time in addition to the regular meetings. And in the spring, they had a variety show to raise money for charity.

 

That was the baseline, a regular week, 15 or more hours per week.

 

But that doesn't take into account tech week for any of the shows, when he would be at the theatre every day for several hours, or the actual shows or performances by any of the groups. Most of them were only a weekend of performances, but the community theatre one ran for nine performances over three weekends.

 

We got through it, but the truth is that he was tired even after we dropped a subject or two, and his schoolwork dragged on into the summer in order to make up for all of those hours.

 

This coming year, we're hoping to streamline a bit. So far, he has on the calendar as regularly occurring committments five dance and theatre classes, choir rehearsals, voice lessons and church stuff. He will audition for some shows, and we're considering adding a youth theatre production for fall. All but one dance class will be at the same studio, though, where he will also take his voice lesson. And we moved downtown a few months ago, meaning all of these things are now 10 minutes each way in the car instead of 45. And, at least as of this moment, most of these things are concentrated on three days of the week.

 

Oh, I just remembered, he's also hoping to volunteer at the local science center, which would require a committment of one half day per week.

 

So, actually, it will probably be similar in terms of hours.

 

It's a lot. It's more than we should probably allow or encourage. But this kid really isn't an academic, and he's happier when he's busy. So, we just forge ahead and do our best to balance it all.

[Negin]

Jean, thank you for starting this thread. It's comforting, reassuring, and most of all informative and extremely helpful for me.

Thank you all for the very helpful responses. Copied, pasted, printed out to read later. :)

[Teachin'Mine]

My dd is learning independently - her choice. So, out of a day, we spend maybe half an hour or so correcting together. More time is spent when there's more to correct or for test prep.