MrsMe Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Are you completing these weeks? I am so completely frustrated with the time it's taking us to complete it. I LOVE this program and dd is really eating the books. But it's taking us f.o.r.e.v.e.r. We start at 10 and today ended at 4. Usually we end around 3:30 3:45, starting at 4 with a 1/2 hour break in the middle. I've saved day 5 for completion but it's truly another full day. I'm finding some things duplicated. I feel like I'm going to have to read the entire program over and delete anything that is duplicated. We do use a spelling program, CLE Math and a different reading program, but I think this is way, way too long. We're already at the top age limit and she is placed just fine. She has zero problems doing the work and frankly I don't see her wasting much time. How long was it taking you? Is it just me? It is frustrating me to no end as I can't imagine being this frustrated all year. We didn't get to reading or the history project today. Multiply 2, sometimes 3 subjects every day that we didn't get to and we have a Friday that is chalked full and this is supposed to be a 4-day program. :banghead: Having dd hurry up all time is really losing it's appeal. I wanted to enjoy our day, not every single day making sure we start on time, on the button, monitoring every break, because we don't finish. It's really stealing the joy, because it's a great program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I'd start by setting a timer and seeing how long she is taking for each box thorughout the week, to see where the time is being used. It should NOT take that long at all! Did she complete PHFHG last year? Did she have trouble with doing the I boxes onher own ? I'd back to half speed if needed, and train her...really train her...how to do each box and do it well, then work up to full speed again once each box is taking the alloted time. We always take way less time for any level, including the short time we did prepraing...I now combine my oldest two, but my oldest went into it right from the start well under the allotted time and she is not a fast worker....very much a dawdler. In looking at CTC, I just don't see where it would take that amount of time, or where there's a lot of duplication unless it's b/c the skills are covered in your non-HOD choices. Youmight be better off changing to HOD suggestions for some/all of those if those are what's causing duplication or eating up the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evergreen Academy Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 We're in week 5, and while we're not having those quick days done by noon I see people writing about on their message boards, we are having perhaps an average school day - start at 9, done around three. It seems long to me and I wish it were shorter; I'm trying to look for duplication in things. I don't feel a separate reading program is necessary, and it's truly not CM to do so, so they each have classics they're reading independently; that is the extent of our reading program, with narration of course. On days like today, when they had a written assignment in Bible study time, I let that be English; I really felt that was sufficient, along with dictation, and I used the first stanza of the Robert Frost poem for dictation, and we had fun discussing the poem. I generally read the read-aloud during lunch and the Bible study or geography reading during snack, and that keeps the day moving along too. We 're also using CLE math and are doing our own science, and I suspect the science they've scheduled would include a lot more work added to the day. Does your spelling program add a lot of time? Some days I note HOD schedules a lot of writing between history, geography, etc. Reading up on CM philosophy has given me courage to rearrange things in a way that suits us and doesn't feel too "heavy" for the school day. In general, I believe CM had the kids doing 1-2 written narrattions a week by age 10. One other thing - we are really having to work here with at least one particular ds to be diligent and not dawdle; that has made some days dreadfully long and he is learning to organize his time better. Don't know if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dassah Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Alilac, You single handedly encouraged me to join the WTM forums after years of faithful reading. :001_smile: We are doing HOD CtC this year and let me encourage you for a moment. Doing 5-6 hours of school work a day for a 10-11 year old, I believe, is right on target. We start school by 8 am and finish around 1:30 pm with a quick lunch break at 11:30. Now, that does include Foreign Language at my house; and, we double up on math (we do CLE btw) so we should be pretty close to your time frame. I think you'll find it very helpful to start much earlier in the day when attitudes and minds are fresh and develop a habit of early working times. Also, if you give your child a written schedule with expectations to stay on task and perhaps reward him/her after a week of good work-ethic, you'll find the work times can be greatly reduced. The other piece of your email included the repetition of studies. I'm assuming you are talking about the Bible and History. Yes, it can be repetitive but we've grown to love it. We read the Bible study together as a family each morning (just the main scripture) and then my dd reads the history independently. Therefore, the repetition is solely on the child and I find that dd really understands the history much better and retains much more thanks to this element of CtC. The history is much more difficult reading and it helps to have a strong idea of what the story is about before reading this eloquently-versed older literature. Storytime: often times we do storytime at bedtime if we want or need to get ahead or cut down on hours spent working the next day. This might really help you right now as Storytime can add a good 20-30 minutes to the day. It sounds to me that this might be your first year with HOD. Hang in there. We've all felt the frustrations of starting a new curriculum. :grouphug: If you look at all of the subject areas you are getting accomplished each day with HOD, it's truly remarkable. If you have prayed for God's direction and HOD is where you landed, rest easy in this provision. If you haven't, ask God to give you peace with HOD if that is His will for your homeschool and see where that leads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Thanks for your replies. I know HOD says CTC is 4-4-1/2 hours and I suppose with a break, we're right on schedule. But it feels long. We're starting DITHOR, and I'm not really sure she needs to read yet another chapter book. I know we do CLE but it's only a semester program and I wanted to switch off. She's just finished reading an entire Scout series on her own for her own amusement. Then there's the storytime and rest of the reading in CTC. I suppose I can't get away from all the critical thinking that a reading program gives that narration doesn't. Sort of gets to more of the grit IMO. She's reading the Storytime on her own and perhaps I should use that for reading instead. I know they say not to, but other than a higher reading level, I'm not sure why not. Certainly would save time. But frankly, as I started Dithor today, I can't fathom having her start yet another chapter book. Another reason I liked CLE reading because it could all be done in school time and now Dithor's book seems to need to be done afterward because of the student book work. Seems longer than CLE. I'd say she's a bit over time on a few things. 5 or 10 minutes here and there. Maybe the fact that I start at 10 seems like it's so long. Last year we started at 11. Perhaps starting at 9 would get her to focus better if she knew play was "ALL" after. I usually let her play a bit before we start. She gets the energy out of the dog. ;) Today also not only did we not do the two things I mentioned, but we're on pick a poem for memory week, so it's not a project. I skipped it. I want her to focus on her Philippians up to this point. But math/spelling/english corrections. Add another 1/2 hour. When do you do corrections? Those seem to really add time. I need to think on the reading thing.... ;) Our storytime this time is a bible study and requires writing. More time. I'll chuck looking for duplications. You're right. For kids, it's practical. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 CTC is a full program, no doubt about that. We skipped Bible Study, DITHOR, and occasionally a history project, and it took us a solid 3-1/2 hours. Spanish and piano added another hour. Our days were REALLY long when we first started, and I would often shorten the writing assignments to keep moving along. After a couple months, DS understood what was expected and things sped up to a decent amount of time. If I were you I would drop the spelling and reading programs, and maybe even pass on DITHOR. I'm sure it is an excellent program but I honestly have never felt like anything was missing from our HoD education without it. In fact, there is some lit analysis in Bigger's Storytime and now again in RTR's. Just some things to consider. You can always add in later if your day shortens up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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