Breaks

[txmommyofboys]

Do you let your kids take a break when they want or is there a scheduled time for breaks?

[cindergretta]

We play it by ear, my ear. ;) If I can see they are antsy and they ask for a break, I let them. If they are stalling/procrastinating, I give them a concrete goal (something minimal) they have to complete before allowing the break. Most of mine, most of the time, don't want breaks. They want to GET DONE!! :D

[Mommy22alyns]

During the day? I like for them to finish morning work first before having lunch. If they're super hungry, though, I let them break early.

[txmommyofboys]

We play it by ear, my ear. ;) If I can see they are antsy and they ask for a break, I let them. If they are stalling/procrastinating, I give them a concrete goal (something minimal) they have to complete before allowing the break. Most of mine, most of the time, don't want breaks. They want to GET DONE!! :D

 

Thats how my oldest is! lol

[txmommyofboys]

During the day? I like for them to finish morning work first before having lunch. If they're super hungry, though, I let them break early.

 

Yes, during the day

[Cassy]

I'm fairly flexible. I do like to get through as much as possible during the morning as I begin to wilt from mid-afternoon onwards, but I don't think it's realistic to expect two bouncy little boys to sit still and focus for any great length of time. They usually whizz off after one subject and blast around the house and garden on some wild adventure before then coming back 15 or 20 minutes later for the next subject.

 

Sometimes, especially if we have a particularly bad math day, I need a 20 minute break :tongue_smilie:.

[abba12]

We're one of those finish by lunchtime families. If we took too many breaks things would just draaaaaaag on all day because we would lose momentum and motivation. We take a scheduled break for morning tea, that's it unless there's an unusual circumstance or a kid is especially fidgety.

[jamajo]

I require 6 hours of work per day 9-12 & 2-5 pm. There is a 10 min break during the first 3 hours and 10 min break in the second 3 hours. Lunch is pretty long but sometimes we read aloud during lunch time.

 

I had way too much flex time last year and we didn't finish all of our lessons.

[Farrar]

I like to play it by ear and be flexible. But sometimes we have external schedule things. And generally they don't need a break altogether - they need the work to be mixed up, a game, a read aloud, an independent read, a lesson, a worksheet, etc. all have different feels to them.

[JESSICAinMD]

I don't schedule a time for breaks. I can tell when they really need a break. We using take about ten minutes after math. They both need one after math. I let them snack while they work which cuts down on taking too many breaks during the rest of the subjects. (One of the great benefits of kitchen table home school.)

[NittanyJen]

We play it by ear, my ear. ;) If I can see they are antsy and they ask for a break, I let them. If they are stalling/procrastinating, I give them a concrete goal (something minimal) they have to complete before allowing the break. Most of mine, most of the time, don't want breaks. They want to GET DONE!! :D

 

:iagree: This.

 

My younger is going through . . . something. I give him a certain number of specific things to accomplish, and make sure he has what he needs to do it. Then he can play with the cat, go run laps, play with toys, roll around on the swiss ball, play tetherball, play catch on the rebounder, whatever it takes. Then we go again. If he is doodling around wasting time, however, he has to finish something concrete. If I can see he just cannot concentrate, I may give him a chore instead of schoolwork to do, then a snack, then we get back to work.

 

There is little productivity to be had with him if he has too many pent-up wiggles.

 

I expect more patience and self-restraint from his older brother, but he also gets plenty of physical activity and a few mental breaks through the day. Older brother would prefer to charge through the day and not even break for lunch until he is.just.done.

 

I figure I am preparing them for college, and most college semesters are set up with long walks between classes and frequently breaks between classes as well, not typically a long haul all at once. Most adults can't even sustain concentration for too long without some type of break (reading WTM boards, for instance :lol:).

[Mommy to monkeys]

Ugh. . .

 

My older son will do anything to put off doing work, so I set an amount he has to complete before he can take a break.

 

My daughter has no interest in taking a break. In fact she gets very frustrated when she wants to get finished and I'm not ready.

 

Breaktimes do NOT include time with their own personal toys. NO personal toys till schoolwork is completed.

[blondeviolin]

My oldest "breaks" in between math and language in the AM and then we do a content subject in the afternoon. It has to be that way because I have other kids to teach (okay, read with... ;)) and a toddler in the house.