SWB's method of rest time for students

[thyme4tea]

I have been enjoying SWB's youtube videos (peace hill press channel on youtube) and the "nap time or quiet time" that she calls it when after lunch her kiddos go in their room for 2 hours (from 1-3) then start school again at 3 seemed very interesting to me. We tried it this week and it went very well.

 

I did have a problem with my middle son (almost 7) who doesn't like to be alone. He kept wanting to be with someone, I finally got him to listen to Adventures in Odessey but it was a struggle for him to be by himself. Since he is with his siblings all day, I thought this would be good for him. Anyone have an opinion on if it's okay for a child to not want to be alone, should I push it? Ideas for him to explore alone? Anyone have success with "rest time". I was thinking about doing some 1:1 time with the middle child during this time, but then that takes away from my break and I was starting to think my brain needed 2 hours off of talking with kids.

 

Also, it was great for me to not multi-task in the morning with the kiddos. I also felt like I have 2 hours to do what I need to get done later and so I was more focused to be with them during school. BUT it was hard to give up 2 hours of "school time" for them to play legos, play with their science kit, etc.

 

thoughts?

Edited February 4, 2012 by thyme4tea
it's peace hill not peach hill :) i type too fast

[meggie]

I think in Jessie Wise's talk, she mentioned how when SWB's sons were younger and sharing a room, they would do quiet time in the same room, but they were each confined to their own bed. Would it work to have him in the same room as the 8 year old but not have them talk to each other? If they each have their own mp3 player, they could listen with headphones. You would probably have to sit outside their door for a week to enforce the no talking to each other rule.

 

Or if the 8 year old wants some time alone, what about having the 7 year old do his quiet time on the couch? You could go about doing what you wanted and he could color or read or listen to audiobooks or something. Obviously I am no expert, we've been trying to figure out the quiet time here this past week. Good luck.

[ladydusk]

My kids, almost the same ages as yours, need that two hours of down time. They need to not have me or their siblings in their faces. They need to have time to think, explore their own interests, read their own books. They have time to reflect and make connections that I'm not making for them ("Education is the science of relations."). I don't let my kids take much in the way of toys (which they don't have in their rooms), generally. I also encourage them to sleep at least some of the time. My daughter listens to mp3 audio books most days or reads or writes notes or does her potholder loom or other crafts. My son reads, works on logic puzzles (kanoodle), or listens to audio books on CD, my little one listens to music or audio books and sometimes "reads" books (although, she's getting there).

 

I need that time to nap, read, study, think. In peace and quiet. I should probably clean and do laundry, too. [wry grin]

 

I don't know how your schedule goes, we do lessons from 8:30 until 2 with a half hour for lunch. A lot of people would tell (and have told) me we're doing too much, so I'm a little loathe to question you on this as you know what your family can handle, but am I reading your sig right? Latin Centered Curriculum, Ambleside, and Classical Conversations? Those are three complete curricular philosophies and plans, so I can only guess you're picking and choosing, but still that seems to be a lot.

[Dmmetler]

That 2 hours of "Quiet time" is essential for me. I actually never gave up DD's nap, except for the year she was in school, but converted it to "read quietly in your bed" when she stopped napping. We do ours from 2:00-4:00 most days. Sadly, I sleep more often than she does now.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

wish my kiddo would do that.......he doesn't like to "rest"/nap during the day--only does it if he's sick or extremely tired--thinks sleeping is for nights:glare:

[Momof3littles]

We do a 2 hour quiet time. My youngest is 22 months and still nurses down for a nap, so I use that time to recharge myself. As an introvert, this is soooo important to me, because I really get cranky and irritable if I'm with my children non stop all day and don't have a chance to hear my own thoughts.

 

My kids tend to read, draw, listen to books on CD (we started that around age 3), and DS1 will build contraptions or lego, or play with snapcircuits. I sometimes strew or suggest some things for DS1 but he's free to read whatever he'd like during that time. My older two are almost 8 years old and newly 5.

 

We school from 9 or 9:30 til 11:30 or 12, and then do a quick lunch and rest time from 1-3 roughly. We often do a read aloud, art appreciation, etc. type of thing after rest time. If we didn't get to everything on our schedule in the morning, we do it after rest time. If DS1 is really dilly dallying, I do sometimes have him wrap up or make corrections (mostly to math) during rest time, but that's only about 5% of the time or less.

 

I have them stay in their rooms separated because they get too silly or start arguing otherwise and then wake the baby or he won't fall asleep.