Recently school is taking far less time

[GSOchristie]

At the beginning of the year, our schedule was perfect, it took 1.5-2 hours to complete everything, not too long, not too short, not much complaining.  I feel we had a good balance.  Now he can get through that same amount of work in 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes.  We have not taken anything away, he writes faster and neater, he doesn't draw ninjas on his paper during math, he does his phonics quickly without falling out of the chair.  So basically, he matured and realized it's more fun to do free reading, drawing, and Legos than piddle around during school time.  So do we just continue doing the same amount of work?  We already do 2-3 math lessons a day, he just is very mathy.  I have added dictation and copywork, but it takes 5 minutes to get that done.  He is reading on his own for another 1-2 hours a day. Is that short amount of time okay for first grade?  I feel like a slacker  :001_unsure:

[MinivanMom]

Sounds like a great problem to have! He's a first grader? I think the natural result of academic progress and a little more maturity is that sort of compression, where you start to get more done in less time. I also think the natural consequence of learning to focus and work quickly should be the reward of more time to read and play not the punishment of additional work. If he's working ahead of grade level and reading plenty on his own then I would leave it alone for now.

 

Personally, I would want a 2nd grader to be doing closer to 2 hrs of seatwork each day so you might want to start looking at curriculum for next year that will stretch him a bit more. Maybe he needs to accelerate more in math. Maybe he needs to go deeper by adding additional enrichment in math or other subjects. Maybe he needs to go broader by adding a language or additional music or art instruction. I think there are a lot of directions you could go depending on his strengths and interests.

[MerryAtHope]

If you add anything on, I would pursue his interests. Does he have an interest in sharks or rockets, or other science-related topics? Get a book from the library and read it to him. Maybe find a related experiment or activity to do. Has he had any introduction to history? You could pick some short books to read to him and talk about them with him. My son at this age was very interested in history. My daughter was not as much, but I remember she was fascinated by Ancient Egyptian art. 

 

So, you could easily add in 15-30 minutes by alternating history and science topics if you want to add something. 

 

You don't mention reading aloud to him, and that's something that's always been a cornerstone here, even now that my kids are in high school. We love to read great books and discuss them. We did that at bedtime, so it never seemed like "school," but is.

 

Things like games, puzzles, and other hands-on activiites are also educational--you may be doing more school than you think, since he reads so much on his own, builds with Legos, and so on. 

 

I do think it's better to keep school short and build in good habits (getting work done, not dawdling etc...) than to have school be long and overwhelming so that a child gets sluggish. Kids learn so much through play at this age--don't discount that!

 

It really sounds like he's doing fantastic, and I definitely wouldn't feel like you must add something on. A child who reads and writes well and excels in math can pursue his interests and self-educate a lot.

[dbmamaz]

My 10 yo has also started getting his work done faster.  I only added some fiction reading (he was a late reader), but next year we'll step up a bit.  I dont want it to feel like I'm punishing him for working harder!  

[My3girls]

The additional 1-2 hours he reads on his own definitely counts so don't discredit it. How about some interest led science activities, reading, DVDs, nature walk...? Growing a garden was super exciting this summer. Dd7 is obsessed with sharks so I have found tons of readers about them, have found some documentaries, and we have a trip to the aquarium scheduled. We're reading Burgess Birds, and she loves looking up pictures of the birds we read about and hearing heir songs... amazing what you can find on you tube. She now tries to identify birds she sees outside. In the spring, we're planning to observe a tad pole and possibly a caterpillar metamorphosis. At this age science is really fun... Middle school not so much. :-/

[GSOchristie]

Great ideas, thank you!  We do read to him quite a bit still, I read during the day, and his dad at bedtime.  I realized that the reason school is taking less time in part because CC is out for break  :lol: .  About 20 minute of lapbooking will be added back in January.  The science ideas are great, we have no formal science curriculum this year, we are kind of just following the CC science sentence for the week, reading library books.  He would love to do some more experiments, I'm sure.  We go to the science center about once a week, also, so that would be another set of science ideas I could flesh out.  Thank you again :).