The totally worthless hour: aka, the Twilight Zone

[Critterfixer]

Does anyone else have an hour in the day that might as well be consigned to the wasted time bin? An hour in your school day where either you or your DC have little motivation or concentrating ability to focus on anything? The rest of your day is highly productive, and scheduled, but for one little bit of time you are in a twilight zone?

 

I have one. It's the hour before lunch. I can't figure out what to do with it to make it better. It's not being too hungry to concentrate. We snack well at ten, with math. There are always fruits, veggies and cheese snacks to eat. I'll make anyone a cup of tea at any hour. It's not that.

I don't know what it is! It could be distractions I suppose, because at lunch we all go out, walk dogs, ride bikes and that's a lot of fun. But they have even more fun at the end of the school day, and the hour before the school day ends is pretty productive. So I'm not sure it is that.

I thought it might be the fact that we do so much of our heavy work in the morning. And hour of Latin, an hour to hour and a a half of math. I think we might all be just brain-dead. I'm just as bad as they are. I lack energy then, I don't want to do anything, and it's all I can do to get lunch. But this week we are done with our Latin for the year, so it's just Math, and I swear, we are just as dead as before. So it might not be that.

I tried moving lunch up, to see if that would help. It just bumped the twilight zone up by about 30 minutes. So that didn't help.

 

If you have a twilight zone in your day, my sympathies. I'd love to hear thoughts on what might be contributing to it for your family.

If you have solved one, I'd love to hear your solutions

 

[NancyNellen]

This very thing used to happen to us. We switched our outside time to mid-morning (10:30ish) and found that helped immensely. The fresh air, sun, and exercise seemed to help get us through that last 90 minutes before lunch with more focus.

[Violet Crown]

Summer afternoons. Sometime shortly after lunch .... The house is hot and drowsy ... the cicadas outside are buzzing ... the fan whirrs rhythmically as it stirs the stagnant air ... Heads begin to nod, eyelids droop....

[mathnerd]

This very thing used to happen to us. We switched our outside time to mid-morning (10:30ish) and found that helped immensely. The fresh air, sun, and exercise seemed to help get us through that last 90 minutes before lunch with more focus.

This works. When nothing gets done and everyone is not motivated, just go outside for 20 minutes and play or exercise - fresh air helps :)

[Critterfixer]

We have tried the healthful fresh air bit. No go. After math, which usually ends at 10:30, the boys go out to ride bikes, or build things in the creek. I change laundry and go outside to just walk around, see the chickens, the flowers, visit my bees. We come in at 11:00, sit down anddddd....down we go.

We can usually pull it together for Spelling. Sort of. But forget grammar. We get through it, but I'm flippant, grouchy and nobody really wants to do ANYTHING. 

 

We usually start school around 8:00 and spend about 45 minutes on Latin. Then it is outside for 15 minutes. Math starts at 9:00 and most mornings with Saxon we are done around 10:30. I don't take math past an hour and a half. The lesson spills on to the next day, fine. So 10:30-11:00 is our morning recess, and as I said, we have a mid morning snack with Math. I'd like to get Spelling and Grammar done before lunch, and most days we get through Spelling. We get through it. And only because it is SWO, virtually independent and requires very little thinking. Grammar, on the other hand, requires thinking..most days I have to plop it over into the afternoon, because what with goofing off, giggling and staring out the windows Spelling is all that gets done. 

 

I'd just like to eliminate or use the twilight zone more effectively next year. I'm just not sure what is causing it (because it isn't just the kids, it's me too!) or how to fix it.

 

[Kelly1730]

Fresh air is always good, although I am usually the one who can't get back to work after that:) Charlotte Mason recommends alternating between inspirational subjects (History) and disciplinary subjects (Math). They are supposed to work the brain differently. 

[Kelly1730]

I wonder if next year since they will be a little older you could power through and save the break until right before lunch? I can see taking the 15 minute break after Latin, "I" can use a 15 minute break after 45 minutes of Latin too!;)

[Critterfixer]

My sister thinks it is the anticipation of lunchtime activities (the dog walk, afternoon tea, the bike ride) that is killing our pre-lunch hour. I may try to pull that routine apart and see what happens to the pre-noon twilight zone. I'd be doing it anyway with summer coming, because a ride or walk up the hill at noon in July would end up in heatstroke. 

 

Could it be anticipation? Are we letting our minds go into the future so we can't work in the present? It really is a twilight zone! Cue the music.

 

Some other ideas I'm bouncing around:

 

1) High interest, self-driven project work right before lunch. Maybe ongoing science experiment that needs observation and recording. 

2) Something with major visual interest. My sister suggested a science video, or Ted Talks for Kids.

3) Morning time, as described in some of the Circe threads. Maybe pre-noon is the time to sit down together, do a little reading, discussion, and talk about how the morning went, and what we need to work on, as well as go over the independent work for the rest of the afternoon. To do this, I've got to figure out how to have lunch do itself, and that might not be a bad thing, as they are old enough now to start doing for themselves in the kitchen for basic meals. I'm thinking soup/sandwich kind of stuff. Will require more planning to execute.

4)Putting art or music before lunch-something more contemplative.

5)Keeping dead dull stuff before lunch-current practice and I'm not liking it. But it is familiar.

[Sahamamama]

Hmm... this happens to me regularly, all day, off and on. With me it's the rain. I could never live in Seattle. I'd be asleep all the time.

 

My husband, now. He lives on the edge of the cliff, perpetually poised to nap at any moment.

[Critterfixer]

Well, rainy days are always a bust. As are gray days. Might as well be curled up on the bed with the cats. I'm fine with that.

And it may be fine to have an hour in our day where we just can't do squat...

Except I don't want it to spread into the rest of the day. It has been worse this month, no doubt due to the anticipation of summer break.

[ondreeuh]

It sounds like you are doing so much fun, creative, active stuff in that 30 minute break that it is hard to transition back to school mode. Can you save the free play until lunch break? Maybe if you stick to a regular walk or bike ride, the structured outdoor time will segue better into structured school time.

[LindaOz]

Our before-lunch time used to be somewhat like that. We had a mid-morning break then back in to work but it would often feel hassly. It seemed to be really hard to get focus back after that break and it wasted so much time. So I changed our schedule somewhat so that we start with some reading together as a family followed by 2 hours straight of very focussed work. After that it is free time for own projects etc. So that hour or more before lunch becomes self directed and doesn't drag.

 

After lunch and jobs everyone goes to read while I settle my little ones in bed then I come to do more work with whoever I'm up to. This is working fine.

 

Yesterday, for example, in our pre-lunch time, I did painting with my little girls so dd11 came and painted too. Ds9 was playing outside, dd14 worked on some patchwork, dd15 played piano, dd17 played violin and worked on getting lunch. Dd19, who is studying at home, works her own schedule so she just kept working. Everyone was productive but nothing was forced or stressful. Sometimes we do other things like go for a walk, play in the park, go for a picnic etc. I use this time to focus on my little girls and do preschooly things and my others get to follow interests. Somehow afternoon work goes more smoothly after this time so it's been win-win.

[Critterfixer]

Some good things to think about. We are coming up on our summer break for about six weeks and then summer term begins. That should give me opportunity to see what I can do to alter the schedule to change that break around a bit.

 

I'm seeing two problems with it right now:

1) It seems to be very necessary for me, as much as for the boys. Honestly, I feel worn out after Latin and Math back to back. I'm in no shape to teach anything after those two subjects. It isn't that they are stressful as much as mother-intensive.

2)Therefore, I've a tendency to be distracted even when it is over. And the distraction is catching.

3)Typically, we are really looking forward to our bike ride and dog walking mid-day break. If the boys are walking with me, both are typically playing pretend or composing stories (we talk to ourselves when we walk-good thing the neighbors aren't around to see!) Since we are already wandering off into our fantasy worlds, it seems I might better employ the twilight zone for artistic/creative purposes, either drawing, painting, or writing. Sounds like a great place to put thirty minutes of free writing. Typically, I tend to wander off while they are working on spelling to do just that.

 

I'll keep thinking on it. Good ideas everyone, thanks!

[Hypatia.]

For me it's the hour (or two) right after I get up.  I'm no longer a morning person (thanks to still getting up during the night), so I just need to sit there with caffeine and not have anybody talk to me for a while.