HELP ! We are homeschooling to 8pm

[happycc]

HELP!

 

What am I doing wrong? We get started 7:30-8pm now and we still end late.

 

 

Can someone help me figure out what is taking so long?

 

 

I have three children I am homeschooling and one 2yrs old running around. Kids take a lot of breaks entertaining him while I am working with one of the kids.

 

Child 1 (9yrs)uses WWE3 -4times a week, FLL2- 4 times a week, Math packets(everyday) I print off about 3 pages, Spelling Power, Journal writing (everyday), Cursive 2 pages of Handwriting without Tears(everyday), Bible/Awanas(everyday), PE (everyday), Music(everyday-just listen to the songs they sing for choir-THEY LISTEN DURING LUNCH OR BREAK), Chores (everyday), State studies (twice a week), Pronto Lesson Science-same lesson for all three (twice a week), Reading 30 minutes with notebooking, For their state studies and science they take notes because for some reason they dont listen or follow when I just read to them. I also give them worksheets from superteacherworksheets and education.com to go with the pronto lessons. Also vocabulary.com twice a week. Geography-consists of one page of mapskill once a week.

 

Child 2 (9 yrs too) uses AAS2 (4 times a week) INSTEAD OF SPELLING POWER and the same as above.

 

Child 3 (7yrs) uses AAS1 (4 times a week) and the same as above plus reading two pages of Phonics Pathways (4 times a WEEK) and not cursive but printing and not FLL2 but FLL 1 (the old version) AND WITH WWE1 not 3. She uses Abeka 1 for Social studies rather than other siblings State history studies. She does not have vocabulary.com. She uses Right Start B for math.

We have been schooling for about 6 weeks now.

For Bible/Awanas they just review the verse they are going over but right now they are learning the list of the books of the Bible. On Thursday Mornings they have Homeschool Choir from 10-12pm.

 

WE ARE HOMESCHOOLING WITH A CHARTER SCHOOL in California.

Edited September 25, 2011 by happycc
typo: changed days to four times a week for reading phonics pathwaysand she child 3 uses WWE1 not WWE3. No separate time for

[cara]

Honestly you are trying to do too much in one day and way too many worksheets / book work for my taste. You need to block schedule and condense. There is no reason it should be taking you 13 1\2 hours to do school.

 

Honestly, I would let go of some of the worksheets. For science and history I would combine all 3 and do hands on activities and experiments. I would also drop one of the three WWE, handwriting or journal writing. Or alternate them. All 3 four times a week is overkill.

 

It doesn't have to look like school to be school.

Edited September 24, 2011 by cara

[ondreeuh]

Is the 2 year old causing a lot of disruptions? Are the 9 y/o's able to work for at least 30 minutes at a time? I assume you are losing a lot of time in transitions. Having all the materials on the table, ready to go, will help you move from one thing to another. You can even set a timer and tell them that bathroom & water breaks can wait until the timer goes off.

 

Write out how much time each individual thing takes. The stuff that is mom-intensive, do while the 2 y/o sleeps or watches a video. The stuff that does not require you to lead (chores, music, vocabulary, HWT), have them do that while you are busy with the 2 y/o or your own chores.

 

It's definitely a learning curve as you figure out which things can be grouped together. You may decide you can safely drop something or cut back (only 1 handwriting page per day, no notebooking with the literature).

[warneral]

Sounds like they are writing a LOT! I recently watched a Susan Wise Bauer Q&A where she said a 9 y/o can usually only handle writing 4-5 sentences per day developmentally.

 

We are writing more than that but it looks like you are also over that guideline. Are you saying they are schooling 12 hours a day? Her explanation starts at 6:10

[warneral]

Do they need 2 pages of cursive per day? My kiddos are doing one measly letter per day (1 page per day). It's slow going, but I'm not in a rush with it.

[veggiegal]

I'd suggest doing some soul-searching about what is most important to you in their education (because as much we'd like to, we simply can't do everything), and how many hours per day would be comfortable for you to HS. Also, look over the materials you have and estimate both how long you are expecting the work to take, and then see how long the work is actually taking. Are your estimates accurate? Do certain subjects take WAY longer than you'd anticipated? If so, what seems to be the issue?--too much work? child cannot do it independently? not a good fit for this child? child distracted?

 

What I did was look at the material I wanted my kids to cover this year, worked out how often we'd do the material (daily, twice per week, whatever), planned on a 30 week full-time year round schedule (we actually do 42 weeks, but 12 of those weeks are half-time/part-time school...you need some wiggle room in there for travel, illness, rabbit trails, etc.). I then calculated how many pages / lessons my kids would have to do each 'lesson' to finish the material by year's end. For some subjects, it was clear that this was doable and reasonable--MUS, for example, with 30 lessons per level, and we do MUS twice per week, meant we had to finish one lesson per week. OK. Doable. Sometimes we need both lessons to understand the material, but sometimes not; if the kids understand it after the first lesson, we move on. This again builds in more 'wiggle room' later if we hit a tough topic that takes 3 or 4 days worth of work to understand.

 

For other materials, though--like CTC's Building Thinking Skills, we'd either have to do the book every day (4-5 pages per day), or do 10+ pages each time on our usual twice per week schedule! I realized that was unrealistic and adjusted; in this case, I am choosing to spread each book over 2 years. I also cull liberally--if there are 6 pages on analogies, and my child shows me clearly that he understands the material after a page or two, we drop the other 4 and move on. Teach the child, not the curriculum. I have also been known to circle the 2-3 hardest questions on each page, and have my sons selectively do those. If they can, we need not spend our time filling in every other blank on the page.

 

I also had to balance other things in my life (I am back to work PT this year; I help hubby run our own business as well), and other priorities for my kids (art classes, karate, drama) and our love of traveling. It is important to me to make time for friends and playdates, to have 'down days' where we watch movies in our pjs, where we can take a day off during peak birding migration (my passion), or the first real snowfall to go tobogganing, or to go hear one of my kids' favourite people unexpectedly coming to town (we're going to see Bill Nye in January. My science-loving kids are soooo excited!) :D As much as my kids would love it if we did science every day, this just isn't possible; for MY comfort level, I need our mornings dedicated to math, LA, gym and logic. The solution? We do science once or twice per week in the afternoon, and my kids have free access to science books, videos, magazines and so on. They often do something science-related in their 'free time' in the late afternoon or evening, while I get my own work done.

 

I'd also suggest giving some thought to combining subjects, at least some of the time. Does handwriting need to be a separate subject? Does it need to be daily? Does it need to be 2 pages? If the answer to this is yes--fine--that's your family priority. But you'll need to figure out how to balance that against other things. My older son does his cursive practice during our AAS lessons, for example, when writing out spelling words. Yes, it is very brief and nowhere near the 2 pages per day your child is doing, but he can write neat and legible cursive without help now, and both he and younger (who has been watching big brother) can read cursive. And that's enough for my personal educational goals. YMMV.

 

Good luck. It took me ages to get a handle on these issues, but I consider it to be among the best time I spent this past summer.

[mamatohaleybug]

I would cut out quite a bit. Less worksheets, less handwriting.

 

We block schedule and it works really, really well. Each day we do about 10-12 subjects but our lessons are short. For example, today we did cursive, read aloud, creative writing, geography, literature, art, music listening, artist study, scripture, math, vocabulary and reading. All of that only took 3 hours. We do have longer days during the week but we're still talking less than 4 or 5 hours.

 

Is this your first year? If not, how did things go last year?

Edited September 24, 2011 by mamatohaleybug

[warneral]

I meant to include the SWB quote that starts at 6:10

[5LittleMonkeys]

I think you need to write out a schedule and put some time limits on your subjects in order to get a realistic idea of what you can expect for a day's work.

 

First decide what subjects will be done on what days. Use this form. Use one for each day of the week to get you started.

1. Write your starting time in the column at the left then go down in 30 minute increments until you get to the time of the day you want to be finished.

2. Across the top you will write each child's name in each column.

3. Now, start plugging in your one on one subjects (the subjects you have to teach) in 30 minute increments.

4. Plug in what the other dc will be doing while your working one on one with 1 of them. If they can be taught at the same time then just write that subject in their cell as well. (At their ages they can go play...it doesn't need to be busy work. However, there is probably a lot they can be doing semi-independently while sitting at the same table where you are working. Also, don't forget to enlist the help of the two that aren't being taught one on one by watching the 2yo.)

5. Keep filling in cells until you have a full day. Don't forget to fill in cells for lunch and short breaks. If you have a short 15 minute subject stick it in the same cell as a 15 minute break.

6. Go back and highlight all of the cells that have you teaching. There should be a highlighted cell for each time except for lunch and break. If there is a time without a highlighted cell in it then you aren't teaching efficiently and you need to go back and adjust.

 

Do this for everyday of the week. Now, follow this as closely as you can for two weeks. Stick to the times. Jot down in each cell how much work you actually got done during that time. This will give you an accurate picture of what you can expect to get done each day. You may decide that completing two pages of handwriting is important to you, so this chart will let you easily see what you need to adjust in order to accomplish that.

 

 

 

We start our first hour with dd8 working one on one with me doing math for the first 30 minutes and working independently on math for the second 40 minutes, dd12 doing logic and spelling the first 30 and one on one with me for grammar for the second 30, dd13 watching the 2yo and ds5 either still in bed or playing.

 

Our second hour has dd8 rotating daily between one on one work with me on CLE Reading and Time Travelers, dd12 watching the 2yo, dd13 doing math and ds5 getting his breakfast or doing Reading Eggs and other computer learning.

 

Our third hour has dd8 watching the 2yo, dd12 doing science, dd13 doing Latin, and grammar and ds5 working one on one with me on phonics and math.

 

The last 30 minutes before lunch has dd8 doing reading and copywork, dd12 doing CLE Reading, dd13 doing history, ds5 working one on one with me for read aloud and activity board and the 2yo in her chair with an activity.

 

Lunch is next for everyone except for dd12 and myself. She and I sit down together and go over her morning work then we have lunch.

 

In the afternoon the 2yo and ds5 have quiet time and I continue rotating through the other three, getting the youngest done first, then the next, and the oldest finishing up last.

 

 

Keep distractions to a minimum. Turn off the phone, stay home, don't worry about cleaning or doing laundry during the day...it can wait. Try to keep lunches simple.

 

Don't be a salve to your curriculum. If the recommendations of your program have you doing more per day than you can keep up with or that you feel are appropriate for your student then re-write the schedule. If you feel you won't finish a program by the end of the year don't panic about it. Cut out redundant work. If your student forms her B perfectly then you don't need to do another 2 pages of it...throw them away. If she gets a math concept and can teach it back to you after a page then don't worry about the other page. Math programs build upon skills so your student will still be practicing that skill as you progress in the program.

 

Chores...if chores are causing your schoolwork to run into the evening then maybe you might want to re-adjust when you do your chores.

 

Your dc are doing A LOT of writing\worksheets. If they are slow writers, as in the act of writing takes them a lot of time, I could see why it is taking forever for you to get done. I'm wondering if you could just get rid of the writing program and teach them penmanship during the coarse of all this other writing they are doing. Remember, reduce redundant work.

 

From the information you've given it's hard to say why it is taking you so long to complete school each day. Hopefully you can find some help in all of the advice your getting on this thread and come up with some solutions. I'm surprised your dc aren't discussing mutiny! Hang in there.:grouphug:

[ChrissySC]

I agree that you need to simplify. Reconsider your choices. You can just read your way through history. You don't have to have a handwriting book. You can use copywork. Certainly, I would never try and do three different writing tasks in a day that cover three different standards.

 

You don't have to do everything.

 

Set time limits.

 

School first. Chores last. Chores are not part of the academic day. While they may be a part of your day as a whole, they are not a structured academic study.

[Five More Minutes]

I'd probably reboot in your shoes.

 

Decide what the absolute essentials are for each child (this will probably be math and reading / writing.) just do those for a week and see how much time they're taking and why. Determine your ideal length of time for each subject. (For example, I know that our ideal timeframe for math is 40 min.; for spelling 15 min.) Set the timer and stop each subject within your ideal timeframe.

 

Once you get those essential subjects working for you all within a reasonable amount of time, then slowly add in other subjects over the course of 2-3 weeks. Never let your days go past a set time (3 would be my cutoff with your ages); if a non-essential doesn't happen before 3, then it gets pushed to the next day.

 

As others have said, I'd also move from worksheets to group hands-on stuff wherever possible.

 

Good luck!

 

Good luck!

[hil]

Hi,

 

My son is also seven. This is his second year of homeschool.

 

He has been very motivated lately to manage his own time in order to earn time off. I'd been incrementalizing the reward, 20 minutes of video game time per 'module', but what he really wanted was whole days off.

 

The lessons are immeasurably easier when he's motivated to focus.

 

We're using the Khan Academy for math and science. Each new concept for math is accompanied by a module of exercises that need ten problems answered correctly.

A chapter of a book we're reading is also worth a module. I want it to be about an hour's worth of work, but it's incredibly variable, and that's okay. (Ten modules equals one day off.) I think this mimics the adult world, where you have certain stuff to do each day, and once it's complete, you can rest.

 

I tried to rig the system for two days of school and one day off, but he has been outpacing me.

 

I do like a casual set-up: never formally at the table, and at odd hours, so we do school at five in the morning, if we want, and sometimes at 9:30 at night. He's fallen asleep to our history being read aloud many times. (Ideal!) With difficult concepts, I've had success reducing my expectation to him just having laser focus for a tiny amount of time.

 

 

Hilary

home-schooled son, 7

baby girl, 1

Edited September 25, 2011 by hil

[Tigger]

If I have this right, your schedule from another view looks like this:

 

Child 1 & 2 - 9yo

 

Reading with Notebooking 30-min 5x/wk

 

WWE3 4x/wk

FLL2 4x/wk

Spelling Power 5x/wk (child 2 + AAS2 4x/wk)

Journal Writing 5x/wk

Cursive Writing (HWOT) 5x/wk

Vocabulary 2x/wk

 

Math Packets, 3 pages, 5x/wk

 

Bible/Awanas

 

PE

 

Music

 

State Studies with Note Taking 2x/wk

Geography Map Skills 1x/wk

 

Pronto Science with Worksheets 2x/wk

 

Child 3 - 7yo

 

Reading with Notebooking 30-min 5x/wk

 

AAS1 4x/wk

Phonics Pathways 5x/wk, 2-pages 4x/day!

WWE3 (?) 4x/wk

FLL1 4x/wk

Journal Writing 5x/wk

Print Writing (HWOT) 5x/wk

 

Abeka 1 Social Studies 3x/wk

 

PE 5x/wk

 

IMO, you're overloading both ages with lots of busy work and especially the seven year old, and since I don't know when you're doing what, streamlining may help some.

 

What I'd do:

 

PE is a given for kids if they're active, I don't think you need to formally make time for it if your getting your kids breaks and times for open play and activity. Take it off your schedule as a time-slot for school and if you need to log it, just log it days that the kids do something active, like ride bikes, swim or whatever.

 

I'd set the schedule to start in the morning, say 8:30 (or whatever time works for you) and for the 9yo's plan they'll do 3-4 hours of school work each day; the 7yo will do 2-3 hours. Your 7yo, IMO, should not being doing the same load as your 9yo's.

 

I'd start the day with your 9yo's doing reading while you work with your 7yo on phonics and reading skills (30-minutes). I'd stop the notebooking with the 9yo's - have them read independently and then at some point later in the day, just discuss what they're reading with them.

 

Next 30-minutes for the 7yo is math, the 9yo's would do 45-minutes. You're available to all to help with the lessons, concepts and problems to solve. I wouldn't set up a particular number of worksheets per day - but instead would look to do things that are focused on what needs to be learned and use worksheets and problems as reinforcement, not busy work. At the 30-minute mark, the 7yo gets recess, and you finish up with your 9yo's....then they get recess too, 15-minutes. So your 7yo gets 30-minutes to break, your 9yo's get 15-minutes downtime.

 

So, now if you started at the hypothetical 8:30, you've gotten in two subjects (reading and math) and after recess, it's now 10:00.

 

Resume for 1-hour with either science or history/social studies with all, alternating days. MWF for History/Social Studies, TTH for Science or vice versa.

 

Now you're to 11:00.

 

I'd alternate FLL and WWE - one week FLL 3x, the next it goes to 2x, and same with WWE. That way you're still moving along, but it's alternating days and you can do that daily, alternating, for 30-45 minutes.

 

At 11:30-11:45, when you finish up the WWE or FLL, have the kids all do their 2-pages of HWOT and then break for lunch.

 

Resume again around 1:00, for one hour, for the 9yo's to do vocabulary and journal writing. Then be done for the day. During this hour, your 7yo has free play and/or something crafty to do.

 

I'd integrate the Bible studies into the bedtime routine instead of making it a longer day at the front, but you could start your day with it too - 15-20 minutes on the front.

 

Music can be something you do in the car, or later in the afternoon for 15-20 minutes - no longer "formal" time, but a fun thing you do to add some downtime to play and activity.

 

HTH

[cara]

AAS1 4x/wk Phonics Pathways 5x/wk, 2-pages 4x/day! WWE3 (?) 4x/wk FLL1 4x/wkournal Writing 5x/wk Print Writing (HWOT) 5x/wk

 

 

This is overkill. Chose a spelling program that incorporates phonics. Use the copy work from FLL to practice handwriting. If he is working in FLL 1, then I really think WWE 3 would be way too advanced and fustrating for a 7 yr old. I would do the WWE level that matches his grammar level or drop it all together.

 

And if you are doing WWE, I would drop the journal writing. I would also drop the notebooking. Like the pp said you can't read and write your way through history and science.

 

I agree with the pp, way too much busy work here.

[foxbridgeacademy]

We used to have that problem, I ended up cutting a bunch of stuff. I dropped WWE lessons instead they narrate from their History reading which is only 2X per week, no latin, no extra busy work. They sometimes do outlining from Science reading 1X per week at the most as well as some kind of hands on activity. They also do about 10-20 minutes of AHA science (best money I ever spent!) We do geography that coincides with History NOT a seperate subject (too confusing). History is T/R, Science W/F, we have co-op on Mondays. The first thing we do every morning is Math, then spelling(I get the words from our spectrum Word Study workbook). I write their words on flashcards(3X5 index cards) that they practice daily, then they choose 5 of the words and write a sentence on the back of the card each day. Next we do Grammar, MCT, I read aloud we talk about it, if there's a written lesson I can "manufacture" (like:write 10 action verbs) we'll do that too. Handwriting has been pretty much dropped in lieu of the spelling senteces. They read independantly for 1/2 to 1 hour a day then tell me about it. There are also lots of Science and History Doc's that we watch on Netflix Discovery Streaming or that I've DVR'd. Counting the reading (but not video's) we spend 3 hours on school or less. I do add in a few things here and there to round us out (logic countdown/liftoff, Typing Mat, ect..). At the age of your children I would do 1 of 2 things. If I were you I would start cutting and combining work/activities until I had it under 5 hours per day.

Edited September 24, 2011 by foxbridgeacademy

[Penelope]

I think there is overlap in the writing. You could cut down the cursive to a couple of times a week, or at least forget about journal writing until the letter forms are mastered. After that cursive practice could be accomplished with copywork 1-2 times per week OR as part of journal writing 1-2 x/week, and then eventually just done in their other writing.

 

I'm still not sure why that much would take 12 hours. Are there are lot of interruptions in the day? Are they taking a long time with the written work because there is just too much of it and they are spent by the afternoon?

 

I try to stay close to, or slightly more than, what TWTM gives as guidelines, and the amount of writing my fourth grader does looks something like this:

 

Mon.: WWE dictation, history narration, whatever writing is part of FLL4, spelling lesson. Many weeks we do a history worksheet (answering questions from the VP card), Latin- one page short worksheet.

 

Tues.: WWE narration, spelling lesson, science page--mostly answering questions/definitions but sometimes a short narration, grammar lesson, Latin worksheet page.

 

Wed. : WWE dictation, science experiment write-up, short narration from a book he is reading for history or literature, spelling lesson, Latin worksheet.

 

Thurs.: WWE narration, grammar lesson, history "test" worksheet, Latin worksheet some weeks.

 

Friday: dictation from literature (some weeks we double up and do this on Thursday), spelling lesson, writing of choice (write a letter, type an email to grandparents, write a story, create a snack and write directions on how to make it, that kind of thing).

 

Every other week I give a longer assignment from CW Aesop or Writing Strands, broken up into small chunks each day. I will reduce the other writing depending on how he is doing with this; I cut out a dictation and/or experiment write-up and eliminate the free writing if it's too much.

[happycc]

Why am I doing two pages of HWOT?

 

The kids learned some other form at their school last year and the years before and two of them have really bad handwriting-printing. I am using HWOT cursive for the fourth graders because they did not learn to form their cursive letters properly and they said whatever the form they used at school was too confusing or hard.

My aim is for them to do HWOT and get their cursive down so they can transition to all cursive writing in their other subjects. I was planning for them to finish HWOT quickly and they would no longer have handwriting as a subject.

At this point they struggle using cursive with their other subjects because it requires too much for them to think about what to write and then do it in cursive.

 

I must admit...handwriting has improved greatly since I put them through this schedule. I can finally read their writing. But you guys may be right and I will cut down handwriting to one page.

[happycc]

Ok ....so I am doing all the writing in FLL as well as what is required in WWE1/2.

Isn;t that what the books suggests?

 

Or should I stop the dictation exercises on FLL since it says Optional?

 

Ok I can just have them stop Journaling four days a week and just have them do it on the one day they do not do FLL and WWE.

 

The journaling was just a composition book they write whatever they want. I don;t necessary read it or grade.

 

I do like the idea of them doing their AWANAS/Bible first thing in the morning although I have been using that as Calendar time as my youngest still struggles with that. That way everyone knows the date and properly date their papers. :tongue_smilie:

 

Spelling: again at this point they struggle keeping handwriting neat while remembering how to spell but yes I will go ahead and start incorporating neat handwriting/cursive with spelling.

With AAS I suppose we can discard the tile building and just do the writing things on paper. For one session I have been doing the whole lesson. Now I will just have them write the phonograms to be review and their spelling words to be reviewed, skip the building with tiles and have them just write out their spelling words, phrases and sentences (no sentences for the AAS1 yet). Or do you think I should have them do their spelling words on one day and phrases and sentences another day. That would definitely slow down the speed of things.

Edited September 25, 2011 by happycc

[Five More Minutes]

Ok ....so I am doing all the writing in FLL as well as what is required in WWE1/2.

Isn;t that what the books suggests?

 

With AAS I suppose we can discard the tile building and just do the writing things on paper. For one session I have been doing the whole lesson. Now I will just have them write the phonograms to be review and their spelling words to be reviewed, skip the building with tiles and have them just write out their spelling words, phrases and sentences (no sentences for the AAS1 yet). Or do you think I should have them do their spelling words on one day and phrases and sentences another day. That would definitely slow down the speed of things.

 

Slowing down with AAS makes sense. I cover one step a week: first day is an intro to the step's concepts, and the next 3 days are spent on dictation. Each day we do about 4 words, 2 phrases, and 2 sentences.

 

Also, FLL is a 2-3 day/week program, isn't it? Can you cut it back to give you more breathing room on some days?

 

One final question: why journal at all? If you're going to 8 pm and it's not something you review or assess, then is it really, deeply worth adding in? You're covering writing thoroughly with WWE and FLL.

 

And I agree with your idea: drop anything in FLL that is labelled optional until the school day is at a manageable length! :-)

[warneral]

First, listen to this video in regards to copywork & dictation. Also consider you are doing dictation with your AAS for those doing that.

 

 

 

Slowing down with AAS makes sense. I cover one step a week: first day is an intro to the step's concepts, and the next 3 days are spent on dictation. Each day we do about 4 words, 2 phrases, and 2 sentences.

 

Also, FLL is a 2-3 day/week program, isn't it? Can you cut it back to give you more breathing room on some days?

 

One final question: why journal at all? If you're going to 8 pm and it's not something you review or assess, then is it really, deeply worth adding in? You're covering writing thoroughly with WWE and FLL.

 

And I agree with your idea: drop anything in FLL that is labelled optional until the school day is at a manageable length! :-)

 

I agree - drop journaling. It could even cement errors if you aren't helping them edit it. Just drop it and get your day more manageable.

 

Time management and moving quickly can be encouraged once their workload is more reasonable! You may want to use a timer, etc.

[Critterfixer]

Try figuring out where your day is going. Keep a piece of paper handy and try to write down approximate times for each child, and rough estimates on time per subject. That will give you a better idea of what you need to cut or reduce. It will also give you an indication of where each child may be dawdling over something, or becoming bogged down.

Once you know where the time went you will have a better idea of how to manage it.

[happycc]

My 7yrs old really needs it to slow down more. How have you broken your Rightstart B lessons so that the child gets a lot of repetition?

[happycc]

She requires so much time and attention.

 

Her memory is gone it seems. She takes a long time getting the poems memorized. I mean A LONG time. We have done copy work, reciting line by line-one line per week.

I have been working on FLL 1 with her since beginning of 1st grade and she is in second grade and she still looks at me like I am crazy when I talk to her about common and proper nouns. I have used tons of examples. Can someone else give me some ideas and helping her get down common and proper nouns and I know FLL goes over over and over and over and she still glazes over.

 

Her attention span is like a gnat.

 

People saw to ignore the optional activities but I think the optional activities-the kids actually like. They saw it is fun with all the drawing and such.

[happycc]

The kid that I am working with is distracted when the other kids are not engaged in something that is work related. The child I am working with want to play with what the other kids are doing.

 

The kids are easily distracted and I spend much of the time redirecting them.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

She requires so much time and attention.

 

Her memory is gone it seems. She takes a long time getting the poems memorized. I mean A LONG time. We have done copy work, reciting line by line-one line per week.

I have been working on FLL 1 with her since beginning of 1st grade and she is in second grade and she still looks at me like I am crazy when I talk to her about common and proper nouns. I have used tons of examples. Can someone else give me some ideas and helping her get down common and proper nouns and I know FLL goes over over and over and over and she still glazes over.

 

Her attention span is like a gnat.

 

People saw to ignore the optional activities but I think the optional activities-the kids actually like. They saw it is fun with all the drawing and such.

 

 

I would suggest just moving on at this point. She might surprise you once you get past the common and proper noun point. She's probably bored out of her mind. Also, since your kids like drawing, I'd incorporate that into your FLL lessons. I do that with my kids, because they'd much rather draw than write. So, I bought this kind of paper and I let them draw pictures to illustrate their narrations and dictations.

 

I also am working on cursive with the kids, instructing 1-2 letters per week. But instead of making them do more worksheets, I work with their handwriting in the process of other writing. If it's not legible, I make them go back and rewrite.

[duckens]

I'd probably reboot in your shoes.

 

Decide what the absolute essentials are for each child (this will probably be math and reading / writing.) just do those for a week and see how much time they're taking and why. Determine your ideal length of time for each subject. (For example, I know that our ideal timeframe for math is 40 min.; for spelling 15 min.) Set the timer and stop each subject within your ideal timeframe.

 

Once you get those essential subjects working for you all within a reasonable amount of time, then slowly add in other subjects over the course of 2-3 weeks. Never let your days go past a set time (3 would be my cutoff with your ages); if a non-essential doesn't happen before 3, then it gets pushed to the next day.

1):iagree:

 

2) Can you organize workboxes or work folders for your kids to work independently when you are not available? Do a search of the hive for threads on this.

 

3) If you work with your older, and the 7yo needs a break, set a timer for how much she can play before returning to work.

 

4) Create busy boxes to keep your 2yo entertained some of the time. Previous parents have created 5 boxes (M-T-W-R-F), with different treasure in each box. Stringing wood beads, wood puzzles, and special coloring books are things that may be in a specific box that only comes out at school time. Again, do a hive search for ways to entertain toddlers while doing school work. Then, make it clear that when the toddler sleeps or is doing his special boxes, EVERYONE WORKS!

[Alison in KY]

Spelling: again at this point they struggle keeping handwriting neat while remembering how to spell but yes I will go ahead and start incorporating neat handwriting/cursive with spelling.

With AAS I suppose we can discard the tile building and just do the writing things on paper. For one session I have been doing the whole lesson. Now I will just have them write the phonograms to be review and their spelling words to be reviewed, skip the building with tiles and have them just write out their spelling words, phrases and sentences (no sentences for the AAS1 yet). Or do you think I should have them do their spelling words on one day and phrases and sentences another day. That would definitely slow down the speed of things.

 

I think you are saying that you have them write out everything on their spelling in one day. Sorry if I've gotten it wrong. If so, I think that's way to much. I'd keep the lessons down to between 10 and 15 minutes daily. You'd be surprised how well it works and they are still learning their words....remember, the point isn't to hit the finish line first, it's for them to learn.

 

I do AAS between 10 and 15 min. (sometimes 20 minutes for my oldest).

I orally review their sounds, but mostly the ones they need work on, if they have it mastered then I put it back and occasionally go through them.

 

I do not have them write the sounds out that often, but I probably should...once a week or two...but they never seem to have a problem with the sounds so I guess that's why we skip this a lot.

 

Every day I grab about 10 or 15 cards and call them out orally for them to spell out loud to me (no paperwork). That is our review, and those cards go in back of the stack unless there was a card that was missed....which would then be gone over and put in front of the stack for the next day.

 

Next, we go over our new words. Again, I do not go over every single word for that day. We only do this for the time I mentioned above...total time, which means I'm typically setting a timer and stopping after 15 min. total. My kids do not like using the tiles, so they either write their words on our white board, or in a notebook. I prefer the whiteboard because it's easier for me to read. If they miss something I tell them how to spell it and I put a little mark on the missed one. We stop whenever our time is up. Next day is a repeat of sounds, rule cards, oral review of words...then start back where we stopped the day before. If they have missed any words then we go over them first.

 

This works great for us...short and sweet and they don't have to write out so much that they get frustrated at me.

 

Alison

[LuvToRead]

She requires so much time and attention.

 

Her memory is gone it seems. She takes a long time getting the poems memorized. I mean A LONG time. We have done copy work, reciting line by line-one line per week.

I have been working on FLL 1 with her since beginning of 1st grade and she is in second grade and she still looks at me like I am crazy when I talk to her about common and proper nouns. I have used tons of examples. Can someone else give me some ideas and helping her get down common and proper nouns and I know FLL goes over over and over and over and she still glazes over.

 

Her attention span is like a gnat.

 

People saw to ignore the optional activities but I think the optional activities-the kids actually like. They saw it is fun with all the drawing and such.

 

I think it's OK if a seven year old still doesn't know the difference between and common and proper noun, so that I wouldn't worry about.

 

If your 9 year olds are struggling to keep their handwriting neat, it may be because they are writing too much. Little hands get tired (big hands too:)).

 

If you seven year old is still using phonics, then I would drop spelling and any formal writing. I like to wait until they can read fluently until I require any writing. I would also drop journal writing for all three. Personally, I am not a big fan of keeping a journal. I think journals are fine if your child wants to do it, but I wouldn't require it. I think another poster mentioned it can cement errors, which I agree with.

[Alison in KY]

My 8 year old has no idea what a common or proper noun are...and it really doesn't bother me :001_smile:. I don't really begin grammar until 9 or 10. Maybe you could wait awhile, or just slow down and if she is stuck on a concept stop it for awhile and pick it up in a month.

 

Alison

[Five More Minutes]

She requires so much time and attention.

 

People saw to ignore the optional activities but I think the optional activities-the kids actually like. They saw it is fun with all the drawing and such.

 

I'm sure that the kids enjoy the optional activities, but I think that they are just that: optional. Until you are able to get the essentials into your day within a reasonable timeframe, then the optionals need to be set aside (or incorporated into other activities).

 

I would agree with other posters that your 7 yo can just move on in FLL, as she is probably bored to tears with it and really ... she has lots of time to learn about nouns and pronouns yet. Also, if school days can start to be shortened, it's possible that she'll have more mental energy to give to subjects.

[Critterfixer]

Once you figure out where the time is going (7 year old takes the most of it, which makes sense) then you need to figure out what would be the right amount of time to spend schooling each child. If you are having to educate everyone in a very hands on fashion and are not able to combine, it would likely take you all day! And it does.

 

If we estimate 30 min per subject, with 1 hr for math would work out like this. I'm including your music, PE, Bible, etc all as subjects and assuming that at least one day everything gets done.

 

1st 9 year old came out to 7.5 hours.

2nd 9 year old 7.5 hours (assuming ASS doesn't eat more than thirty minutes of time to set up, do and tear down)

7 year old-7 hours

 

That's not counting lunch, or any breaks except for your reading and note-booking time.

 

So, what do you want the day to look like? When do you want the 7 year old to be done? The 9 year olds? That may help you set the times for each subject to reflect a reasonable time for both you and them.

[silliness7]

HELP!

 

What am I doing wrong? We get started 7:30-8pm now and we still end late.

 

 

Can someone help me figure out what is taking so long?

 

 

I have three children I am homeschooling and one 2yrs old running around. Kids take a lot of breaks entertaining him while I am working with one of the kids.

 

Child 1 (9yrs)uses WWE3 -4times a week, FLL2- 4 times a week, Math packets(everyday) I print off about 3 pages, Spelling Power, Journal writing (everyday), Cursive 2 pages of Handwriting without Tears(everyday), Bible/Awanas(everyday), PE (everyday), Music(everyday-just listen to the songs they sing for choir-THEY LISTEN DURING LUNCH OR BREAK), Chores (everyday), State studies (twice a week), Pronto Lesson Science-same lesson for all three (twice a week), Reading 30 minutes with notebooking, For their state studies and science they take notes because for some reason they dont listen or follow when I just read to them. I also give them worksheets from superteacherworksheets and education.com to go with the pronto lessons. Also vocabulary.com twice a week. Geography-consists of one page of mapskill once a week.

 

Child 2 (9 yrs too) uses AAS2 (4 times a week) INSTEAD OF SPELLING POWER and the same as above.

 

Child 3 (7yrs) uses AAS1 (4 times a week) and the same as above plus reading two pages of Phonics Pathways (4 times a WEEK) and not cursive but printing and not FLL2 but FLL 1 (the old version) AND WITH WWE1 not 3. She uses Abeka 1 for Social studies rather than other siblings State history studies. She does not have vocabulary.com. She uses Right Start B for math.

 

We have been schooling for about 6 weeks now.

 

For Bible/Awanas they just review the verse they are going over but right now they are learning the list of the books of the Bible. On Thursday Mornings they have Homeschool Choir from 10-12pm.

 

WE ARE HOMESCHOOLING WITH A CHARTER SCHOOL in California.

 

It seems like a reasonable amount of stuff to me but I don't know how long each thing is taking. Assign a TIME to each subject and see what that looks like. It's possible there are a couple subjects that are time eaters or that you're eating up a lot of time transitioning between subjects.

 

Here's what I came up with. But I have no idea how long it takes you to do some things. So I'm just guessing. But this gives you an idea how I organize our day. I also don't know what your students can do independently. For example, maybe journal writing is independent. Then you can schedule yourself to work with child #2 WWE or AAS or whatever during the oldest's journal writing time. That reminds me. I write out my schedule first to make sure that there are enough hours in my day to sit down and do what I need to do with each child. If you feel inclined to schedule purposeful time with your toddler, do that too.

 

Anyway, here's the sample:

 

WWE3 (4times a week) 8:00-8:20

FLL2 (4 times a week) 8:20 - 8:40

Math packets(everyday) 8:40 - 9:20

Spelling Power 9:20 - 9:40

Journal writing (everyday) 9:40 - 10:00

Cursive 2 pages of Handwriting without Tears(everyday) 10:00-10:20

Bible/Awanas(everyday) 10:20-10:40

PE (everyday) 10:40 - 11:00

Chores (everyday) 11:00 - 11:20

State studies (twice a week) OR Pronto Lesson Science-same lesson for all three (twice a week) 11:20 - 12:00

 

Music(everyday-just listen to the songs they sing for choir-THEY LISTEN DURING LUNCH OR BREAK) 12:00-1:00 (lunch break)

 

 

Reading 30 minutes with notebooking 1:00-1:40

 

vocabulary.com (twice a week) OR Geography (once a week) 1:40-2:00

 

Voila, 9yo is finished!! I don't think you have too much at all. It's quite possible I've overscheduled my 9 yo but she goes from 8:20 - 3:40. But she has no homework. EVER. and she's a fast worker and generally gets finished with her assignments in less time than I've allotted which makes for lots of little breaks throughout her day.

[silliness7]

I'm reading through some of the replies and I don't understand the many suggestions to trade the worksheets for more hands-on activities.

 

Ime, hands-on activities take much longer than a worksheet. Now there may be personal preference for hands-on due to a mom's teaching philosophy or a child's learning style or special needs but that would be better discussed in a thread about how to make school more "fun" or whatever. It seems weird to me in a thread asking to save time.

:confused:

 

I'm also reminded of an article I read in Memoria Press's Classical Teacher that I found quite inspiring. The premise was that writing was the ultimate hands-on activity. I wish I had required more of it when my olders were younger.

[2squared]

My 7yrs old really needs it to slow down more. How have you broken your Rightstart B lessons so that the child gets a lot of repetition?

 

I wanted to respond to this piece of your post. Absolutely slow down until your 7yo is ready to move on! The goal is for your child to understand the math, not to move through the lessons at a particular speed. When we were in Level B, I spent 20-25 minutes/day on math with my dc (includes teaching time, games, and any worksheet activities). My focus was spending that time on quality math teaching and learning, and I didn't care if we went through 2 lessons in 20 minutes or if it took days to get through one lesson. If my dc wasn't learning, I wasn't moving on.

 

On the RS forums, I read a lot about people who camp out at different times in B waiting for their dc to be ready to move on. They camp out playing games and working with the content until the child is ready.

 

At that level, I sat with my dc while they did the worksheets so I could immediately see when they made errors. If they made an error, I helped them correct that problem before they moved on. Level B is so foundational that I didn't want to risk them internalizing math errors.

[happycc]

We have moved on to PRONOUNS for the 7yrs old.

 

We did NOT do WWE or FLL or the 9yrs old girls. No WWE for the 7yrs old.

We did not do ANY spelling today. No journal and no notebooking. No vocabulary although one of the 9yrs old requested it. I dropped geography and it is just added into their state study and social studies.

 

We just did state study for the two nine years old and science for the three girls. Social studies for the 2nd grader. Math for all three and handwriting for the three. They recorded what they read the night before and read in between during waiting time.

 

For writing I did have one child write a paper on photosynthesis and I will have another child write a recipe on making an edible plant cell that we made over the weekend. You think it is wrong to make the kids do more school work on the weekends?

 

I am having the kids do a lot of the hands on activity on weekends when Dad is home..:001_smile:

We made a pizza animal cell and a jello candy plant cells.

I want to make a 3 D model of a virus.

 

 

HOWEVER I DID ADD TWO MORE ACTIVITIES as part of their wait time activity which is GET A GRIP! (Tops Curriculum) and I had the two nine years do 2 problem solving problems out of Math Ties (Critical Thinking Press).

[happycc]

Ok I regret not doing spelling everyday for 7yrs old. She forgot everything.

ARGH!

 

Looks like I will have to do spelling on Tuesdays and Thursdays for her as well as FLL.

 

One of my 9yrs old wants to do vocab everyday now.

The other only MWF.

 

In WWE, the week one, week 2 throws me off because I feel like I can't skip any days.

[happycc]

Once the toddler starts at home ABA therapy. Has anyone had this for their child while homeschooling the other chldren? How has it worked.