It's not child-led learning. It's not workboxes. What is it?

[domestic_engineer]

Does anyone have experience in letting their lower elementary children set their own schedule for their school day? If so, would you be willing to share how it went and what it looked like?

 

As the parent, I would tell them what must be done for the week, but then I would expect the child to pick which subjects to do and which day of the week to do it. So if the child wants to get all their math done on Monday and Tuesday, so be it.

 

It's not child-led learning since I dictate what will be covered for the week. And it's not workboxes, because the child can choose which subjects to do each day and what order to do it. What is it? I don't even know the term for this kind of "structure" so I'm having a hard time Google-ing it.

 

Help, please!

[laf919]

My elementary did something similar to this - we had weekly learning contracts for math and language arts and met with the teacher in small, ability-based groups a few times a week (I think it was close to daily in 1st grade, once a week for longer in 5th). The rest of the math and LA time was for independent work based on the learning contracts.

I did something similar with my 3rd grader this last semester. She had a weekly plan that I gave her each week that listed what needed to be done. The first section was independent work, the second section listed work "with Mom." She was always allowed to ask for me to go over independent work if she got stuck - but the responsibility for doing the work by Friday was with her. Of course, we looked at her list during the week and talked through what to do when so she would finish the list by Friday - I think you would need to help the kids learn to use the list for it to work (most lower elementary kids aren't going to be able to take a weekly list and plan their own time with no guidance). But, I found it a great way to balance things and give my dd some control over her own learning. HTH.

[Ellie]

I don't think it has a name. I don't think it needs one. :-)

[birchbark]

It sounds like "Self-Propelled Learning" as taught by Joanne Calderwood. Her book and website are here and here. However, she does not take this approach with early elementary, but starts in fourth grade.

[126bugeyes]

Do you use an assignment sheet or something for accountability, or just verbal? I know what you mean about finding helpful search terms. That can be the trick to finding ideas.

[Farrar]

I tried this and it actually caused a lot of stress for my kids. It was too open-ended for them and the idea that there was this huge amount of stuff that had to be done in the course of a week was really scary. At the time, I was trying a system where we checked things off all week until they were done. I think a lot of the stress around it was a lack of conception of how long a week is or how long two pages of math would actually take. So I don't think it was a bad idea, it just didn't work for us. Now we set the schedule together at the start of the day and that works better.

[Alice]

We do this, sort of, but with my 4th grader. I recently posted the details on another thread but can’t find it. It has worked well for my oldest who likes the independence and is a natural list-maker/box checker (like his mother). I write everything he has to do for the week in a spiral notebook and he chooses what he wants to do and when for the most part. I still give him some guidance because I know he might think it sounds ok to save all of a subject he dislikes for Friday, he’s not going to be happy on Friday. I’m trying to teach him time management but not totally turning him loose yet.

 

I write it all out for my 1st grader also but don’t give him as much choice. I do let him choose what order he does things in each day, but I dictate what needs to get done that day.

 

On Monday we start with a discussion of what needs to get done that week and what other outside activities need to happen. Then I let them pick what to start with. I alternate who gets to pick first and who is working directly with me vs. doing something more on their own. I let the 1st grader have some choice as to whether he wants to keep working or take breaks, although if the break is going on too long or being unproductive (he’s fighting with his sister or complaining of being bored) I’ll call him back to do more work.

[domestic_engineer]

Thanks so much for the replies! They were all very helpful. I'll probably check out Calderwood's book; she has some free audio files available for the summer, too!

 

Last year for a few weeks, I had each subject on a post-it note and then let my child decide the order of the school day, similar to what Alice described. It seemed to work OK and allowed the child to have a little bit of control over his school day.

 

I agree that it may be difficult for a young child to break up a week's worth of assignments into good chunks; so I'm imagining having a week's lesson plan grid cut up and then letting the child rearrange it as he wishes.

[coffeegal]

My 4th grader and I would sit down on Fridays to plan his school for the next week. At first we'd talk and I'd write down what he decided, but by the end of the year he was able to plan his week for himself. I had a daily time to sit and double check his skill work, then on Fridays we'd discuss his science and history studies... before planning the following week's schoolwork. I'm planning on doing the same thing this year, although he'll likely do all the planning himself and I'll just double check his plan when he's finished.

[TechWife]

In my world, it's just a schedule, not a particular method or anything.

[lewelma]

For my younger, I choose the curriculum and generally what is considered a day's work in each subject (1 lesson in Latin = 10 minutes, 1 lesson in SM IP = 45 minutes). Every day he must do 10 subjects. Math and Writing and non-fiction reading must be done every day, but the rest is up to him. This means that on days he is feeling really excited about learning, he will pick harder subjects, and on days he is tired, he will choose lighter ones. If he lets something slip for too long, I give him a bit of a reminder. He does know that his violin and mandarin tutors give him a weekly assignment sheet that must be completed on time.

 

He gets a reward after 100 subjects done with a good attitude.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Maela]

It does sound like The Self-Propelled Advantage by Joanne Calderwood. I recently read the book and really like it. I don't have any experience with it yet, as Dd is only starting first grade this coming school year, but we're going to slowly ease into it (self-learning/planning) over the next three years.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

This book sounds really interesting!

 

I only have one hesitation, and that is skill subjects, especially math. In order to transfer from working memory to long term memory, it is much better to do a bit teach day rather than cram once a week. So if your child decides he wants to get all his math out of the way on Monday and then not see it again for a week, he will possibly make slower or more painful progress than if he did math 3-5x a week. You might have to think about setting some minimal limits for that sort of thing.

[Laura Corin]

We worked towards this as the children grew older. They were each designing their week (from lists) by the time they were nine or so.

 

The one pitfall that I found was organising my own time: I had to put limits on their decision-making to ensure that I was available for the teacher-intensive portions.

 

One of Calvin's weekly lists is in my siggy.

 

Laura

[La Texican]

Self-paced learning.