Charolotte Mason people or folks who time their lessons...

[KIN]

Hello,

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to de-stress our school days. I keep thinking about timing my lessons - say math 30 minutes, SWR 30 mintues, etc. Then, when the time is up, we move on to the next lesson whether we are done with the lesson completely or not. I really think this would help us, but I'm concerned we won't be done in 180 days.

 

So, if you time your lessons and quit when the time is up, regardless of whether the lesson is done - do you school year round? More than 180 days? Any other advice? Does this really work????

[Tiffani]

I started doing this several years ago and it seemed to really help.

 

I don't have to count 180 days, so if you do for state regulations you may have to go another route than this. But what I've noticed is if it takes us longer on a certain lesson I have my boys finish it the next day. Later on in the book I may find that we can "skip" a lesson here or there for whatever reason so I've not really found this to be a problem. I think if you're doing something like ABeka that has a specific number of lessons that HAVE to be completed, you may not be able to do that.

 

When I did SWR I hated the fact that it took us some days an hour to do "just" spelling.

 

What I do more now, since my boys are older and some lessons just take more time, we'll work for 30-45 min. and then I'll let them take a break from that subject. My 13yo doesn't mind continuing though if he's "on-a-roll" say w/ his writing. But for my younger ones I tend to quit after 30 minutes just b/c they've had enough.

[Trivium Academy]

It works for us but we tend to finish the work that day, if we're having a problem (daydreaming, repetitive sloppiness, etc.) then we drop that problem subject and move on. We go back to the problem subject before we finish for the day.

 

We do homeschool year-round. Here's our proposed daily routine for 3rd, the afternoon stuff is completely dependent on the morning stuff and the items in yellow will happen daily no matter what. We've been doing short lessons for a while now and it's been wonderful, we have less behavior/attitude problems, dd is more engaged and eager to do her lessons. I also use more discernment concerning what books we'll read, making sure they are engaging books, living books and I see a huge difference in that regard as well.

 

Hth :)

[dragons in the flower bed]

So, if you time your lessons and quit when the time is up, regardless of whether the lesson is done - do you school year round? More than 180 days? Any other advice? Does this really work????

 

I school year round for 180 days. But this does really work. It works because it completely kills all dawdling.

[Lovedtodeath]

Threadjacking here, sorry but I feel it is the perfect place for this question. Emily does Handwriting, Math and ETC in about 20-25 minutes all together if I crack the whip. Am I doing something wrong? This is one page in each front and back. (She takes over an hour if she is fighting me the whole time.)

 

Then we generally read for another 30 minutes and have a bible lesson or vocabulary for about 15 minutes, but this is all later in the day.

[Trivium Academy]

If she's having a problem with all 3, split them up with something else. How about math, Bible, ETC, vocabulary and then handwriting? I had to rearrange what type of lessons we were doing, I couldn't put all the seatwork together when dd7 was younger, it's something she's worked up to. I don't know if that helps.

[Tiffani]

I school year round for 180 days. But this does really work. It works because it completely kills all dawdling.

 

Another threadjacker :D....how do you do that? I would love to school year round, but off and on....but I'm afraid I'd get too side-tracked and then we'd never finish. What's your "theory" or method of schooling this way? Since we started the summer (2 weeks ago) we've had VBS, sick kids, the cousins down the road are out for summer and they're here all the time etc...etc...etc....

 

So how's it done?

 

Jessica...any advice about your "year round" schooling too would be great!

 

Thanks,

Tiffani

[Trivium Academy]

It's a lifestyle. We can't take too much time off without losing ground, last year we just took time off as we needed, but I wanted a little more structure so...

 

We're 9 weeks on then 1-2 weeks off, we also have a week for Thanksgiving and a week for Christmas. Our "school year" is 40 weeks long, 6 weeks scheduled off and 6 weeks to either focus on a unit study, take off during the year or use as catch up time. Reading, math, science and memorization do not end for us, we may change approach but we're still doing it.

 

Our lessons end at lunch time and we take a light Friday where we get out of the house for most of the day. It makes a difference.

[Lovedtodeath]

If she's having a problem with all 3, split them up with something else. How about math, Bible, ETC, vocabulary and then handwriting? I had to rearrange what type of lessons we were doing, I couldn't put all the seatwork together when dd7 was younger, it's something she's worked up to. I don't know if that helps.

 

Thanks for helping. My main question is that the bulk of her work (for the three R's) is taking only 25-45 minutes, depending on whether we do a reader and/or OPG in with it. Are we not doing enough?

 

(She fights because handwriting is hard, she hates sounding out, she wants to do her work without me telling her how, she hates school, life, etc. etc. :lol:)

[Lovedtodeath]

Another threadjacker :D....how do you do that? I would love to school year round, but off and on....but I'm afraid I'd get too side-tracked and then we'd never finish. What's your "theory" or method of schooling this way? Since we started the summer (2 weeks ago) we've had VBS, sick kids, the cousins down the road are out for summer and they're here all the time etc...etc...etc....

 

So how's it done?

 

Jessica...any advice about your "year round" schooling too would be great!

 

Thanks,

Tiffani

 

Well, I am not one to talk, since I am asking questions, but our plan is 5 weeks on, one week off. In the summer if friends and cousins are over, we might take one day off that week, or only work for 30 minutes for the day. (which is my question above, LOL) I remind her that her cousins are in school from breakfast to dinner the rest of the year and that is why they do not have school in the summer.

[Tiffani]

Good point, Carmen. I'll have to use that one on my boys! (It's sad, isn't it?)

[Suzanne in ABQ]

That's perfectly acceptable for her age. In the early years, my rule of thumb has been "one hour per grade level". So, by fifth grade, it takes us about 5 hours to get everything done. But, first grade only takes an hour. 30-45 minutes of "seat work" for kindergarten is fine. This doesn't count time for you to read to her. Read to her a lot!

[Shelly in VA]

That sounds very similar to my dd last year when she was in K. I also have two older children, and I definitely agree with the 1 hour per grade rule of thumb. Now, my dd *wants* school to last longer, b/c her older siblings are working longer, so I fill the time with reading, workbooks, and crafts, trying to tailor it to what she is interested in on a given day.

 

But I'd say you're doing just fine if she is finishing up the work that quickly!

 

Shelly

[Peela]

Well my honest answer to the OP is that I am not 100% sure we will finish the books (maths in this case) by the end of the year, and I am slightly concerned, but i have seen the timing thing work quite well so I am going to breathe deeply and stick with it for now. My two (being 12 and 14) can stop maths after an hour. My older is mature enough to do two lessons if she can in an hour, to catch up on the times when she doesn't get a lesson finished- which has been a lot lately as she dives more deeply into algebra. I just don't think she can concentrate well after an hour. My son, well, he just either finishes the lesson or stops after an hour. Its actually not working so well with him because an hour is long enough to find plenty of time to dawdle anyway, but this is about how long a lesson takes.

I cant say it is the perfect scenario, but it beats taking all morning to do maths and crowding out other subjects. It keeps the day moving. And that is a higher priority for me for my not so mathy kids. Otherwise we get bogged down and miss out on the fun stuff. And it does help them focus and concentrate.

[Alice]

Thanks for helping. My main question is that the bulk of her work (for the three R's) is taking only 25-45 minutes, depending on whether we do a reader and/or OPG in with it. Are we not doing enough?

 

(She fights because handwriting is hard, she hates sounding out, she wants to do her work without me telling her how, she hates school, life, etc. etc. :lol:)

 

I think that's fine at her age. My son is 4 1/2 and I try to limit what we do to no more than 30 min. Sometimes he gets into Math and wants to do more and it might stretch to 45 min. That doesn't count read-aloud time or other fun crafts/activities we might do. The 30-45 min is just the phonics, math and handwriting.

 

I think at their age it's plenty.

[Testimony]

I try to keep to a certain time. I do not school year round. I take two years to do the lessons. I break up my curricula into two years then it does not overwhelm. I try to get done in the morning so that the afternoons are available for nature walks and field trips.

 

I try not to stress myself too much. My older son was in 4th grade. I give hime his schoolwork and tell him that he has a certain amount of time to do it. I tell him to relax it is not a race if he does not finish, he can do it tomorrow. He always likes to finish. My younger son, I have to do the opposite of my older son's schedule with him because I have to spend more time teaching him and helping him to learn his subjects.

 

Since both boys are readers, it helps me because while one is reading I can sit with the other one and work on desk work stuff. I try to make it interesting so that they want to get up and go do it.

 

Blessings to you in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony:001_smile:

[Tami]

I haven't read the other responses, but we actually finish early in the year. I attribute this to the slow and steady methodology! We don't put things off and rarely get off track because the lessons don't go on and on. If there is dawdling, dd will have "homework" that afternoon, while I am occupied doing other things: housework, free time, etc

 

PS: I allot the amount of time that one can realistically finish one complete lesson in the subject. I also shop for curriculum that is short-lesson friendly, or modify the curriculum I have.

 

It works for us! What do you have to lose by giving timed lessons a trial?

[Dayle in Guatemala]

We keep our lessons short. We do school year round with a slightly different schedule in the summer (not much, though) and we have a 4-day week. I try to make the lessons work to fit into a shorter time period. For example, Saxon math lessons are broken up into 2 days for 1 lesson.

 

If they don't finish a lesson (which is extremely rare), they have homework for the afternoon. It comes out of their free time. It's also understood that mom isn't "available" all day to help out if there is a question. That has been a hard one for them, but, I can tell you it motivates them to finish in a timely manner if they want/need my help.

[Pster]

this was supposed to be posted under "dragons in the flower bed" 's post.....

I school year round for 180 days. But this does really work. It works because it completely kills all dawdling.

 

specifically - how do you get it to "kill" all dawdling? I like doing the short lessons - has helped us keep moving which is what we needed BUT I still find dd8 gets day-dreamy or chatty and I have to keep prodding her to keep going.

 

I told her she can only talk about "math" if we are doing that subject or only talk about "ETC" if that's what we are doing..... - that helps a little. But I have such a hard time - most days - keeping her on track.

 

Any words of wisdom?:confused:

 

thanks!

[harmonyartmom]

The other idea behind CM's idea of short lessons is that you don't try to cover so much material. You are combining subjects by using oral and written narration and copywork instead of individual subjects like grammar, spelling, composition, etc. History and science are in bite-size pieces.

 

Slow reading of books cuts the number of books you read in a typical year. We take a whole year to read some literature selections. It was painful at first to read a few pages and then put the book down for a week but I have seen a great leap in areas of retention and comprehension and actual enjoyment of a book. We can savor it instead of speed through. (We used to use Sonlight so we would read a lot of books at a faster rate.)

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you are still having trouble getting your lesson done, maybe it was too long to begin with. I know that is not always the case but sometimes we could get the same results with less on the plate.

 

And the other very important aspect of a CM education is habit training....both for the parent and the child. :) I had to retrain myself to think in shorter lessons and keeping things simpler. Good habits come slowly but they do come. If you are constantly urging them along to hurry, they are not getting trained.

 

I say to give it a try and see how it goes. You may not end up as "behind" as you think. We always finish in a reasonable amount of time and we rarely even with upper grades go past noon with school. I agree with Tami above, slow and steady.

 

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

[Donna T.]

It works for us but we tend to finish the work that day, if we're having a problem (daydreaming, repetitive sloppiness, etc.) then we drop that problem subject and move on. We go back to the problem subject before we finish for the day.

 

Hth :)

 

 

That's what I do, too. We set things aside if necessary but come back to them that same day. And, I basically school year round.

[Leila]

This is our 2nd year of homeschooling. For our first year, I bought a boxed curriculum and we really didn't like it because it felt like you have to follow everything and finish everything at a certain time. Then I started reading about Classical Education and I thought this is it for us. I love it, my son is thriving on it really well. But since he's only 6 at that time, I want him to enjoy school and have fun. Then one day, I stumbled on one of the Charlotte Mason Curriculum websites. And I started reading her Educational phylosophy. I slowly incorporated it in our school, making our school time shorter. We finish before lunch. We read books a little at a time each day. And soon enough, I really found a big difference in my son's behavior and learning. Every lesson is short. But he gets it and retain it as well. CM way has been a blessing for us. I have two other young kids who loves playing with their brother and since lessons are kept short, they don't mind sitting with us. And they learn so much just by sitting and listening. It takes a while to embrace the whole short lesson schedule. But just try it. It really makes a difference. My son is more attentive in class, participate more, ask a lot of questions and can't wait for the next day for the next chapter of a book we are reading. He has ample time to play, read and draw, which he loves doing.

Regarding the schedule, we have to do 175 days of school. But we don't stop there. During summer, we still read the books we didn't finish, we still do math and science. In this way we retain a relax schedule for the next school year.

[dragons in the flower bed]

u get it to "kill" all dawdling? I like doing the short lessons - has helped us keep moving which is what we needed BUT I still find dd8 gets day-dreamy or chatty and I have to keep prodding her to keep going.

 

I'm not sure why it works. For a long time that prevented me from trying it. I aimed to catch my kid before the dawdling starts, and stop then. Eventually he got out of the habit? Or maybe it was that he knew this was it, particularly when we had the timer and I would stop counting down to stopping time whenever he started dawdling.