Tips for transitioning to more independent work?

[songsparrow]

For my 8th grade daughter this year, I've been dividing her work for each class into "class time" work that we do together and "independent work" for her to do on her own.  We meet for our class time in the morning, and then after lunch is her time to work independently.  So when we're done with our class time, she has her independent work assignments written in her planner and she has her stack of books and notebooks that she'll need.  I'm assigning what I'd estimate to be around 2-3 hours of independent work daily.  

 

This is a significant change from how we handled this in past years.  In the past, she had significantly less independent work and I tended to give her time to complete each subject before we moved on to the next subject, which kept her on track.

 

What I've noticed over the last few days is that it's taking her much longer to complete her independent work than I think it should be taking.  I'm thinking that, although by the end of the year I'd like her to be able to take a stack of work and have her manage her own time, for right now it seems that I need to help her build the skills to be able to do that.  

 

I am considering asking her to work in 30 minute blocks, using a timer, and I'll discuss with her before the time starts what she wants to accomplish in those 30 minutes, and at the end of the 30 minutes I'll check in with her and see if she accomplished her goals, and if not what was the issue - did she get distracted?  did she struggle with the work?  did she stay focused but underestimated how long it would take? etc.  Then repeat for the next 30 minutes, etc.  Hopefully this way I'll also get an idea if I am assigning too much homework and underestimating how long it will take to complete.

 

Does anyone have any opinions/advice on whether that would be a good strategy, other suggestions, or tips on how to build the skills for her to work independently?  

 

A secondary problem that we have is that once her sister gets home from school, she is a chatterbox.  I try to remind her to be quiet and get her focused on her own homework, but she wants to tell me about her day and she often has questions about her homework, etc.  All of this distracts her sister.  Both usually do their homework at our dining room table or sometimes on the sofa (we have a large combined living room and dining room).  We don't really have anywhere else to work except upstairs in their bedroom, and I don't like having them working up there - I think they're much more likely to get distracted in their room.  Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Luckymama]

You definitely have to help her learn how to work independently.

 

At first I sat at the table with dd, doing my own reading or whatever. Then I started leaving the room for 15-30 minutes at a time while she worked. Then I'd ask what she was planning on working on for the next hour, nod my head or offer suggestions, and disappear into the basement for an hour of exercise.

 

In every instance I'd check what she had done during that period of time. If I thought she had not done as much work as I had anticipated, I would ask why----maybe the reading was more complicated or she did more research into the topic (esp for history---she has supplemental books she can read) or she was distracted or the subject was so booooooooring or...

 

This process spanned seventh and eighth grades.

 

She's in ninth grade now (third week ending today). On Mondays she writes out her assignments using the various class syllabi as guides. Each morning after breakfast she tells me what her plans for the day are. We discuss when she wants us to work on our "together" subjects and when she'd rather work independently. Some days she does her independent work in a block, while other days she likes to alternate as much as possible (my schedule allows this).

 

I think she bit more off than she thought this week, but I'm trying to hold my tongue. She must complete the work for her outsourced classes first. After that we'll discuss what she scheduled vs the time she has. She may be spending time on the weekend to finish up what I consider to be important. Of course, if she were attending building high school she'd be doing s lot of work on the weekend anyway!

[wintermom]

It definitely is a process to learn to do quality work independently. Perhaps you can build up her confidence by giving shorter more finite tasks.  Tasks where there is a easy "right or wrong" answer. Math, science work-sheets, vocabulary/grammar assignments are great for this.  Writing is such a difficult and, in some ways, never quite completed process, that it's a really tough subject to begin working on independent work.

 

Also piling too many assignments all at once may be overwhelming. Build up gradually to where she has the confidence and experience to know that she can move quickly through some assignments, get those "check off and out of the way" before tackling the more challenging assignments.

 

Make sure that there are plenty of breaks in the day - breaks to move around, get some food, talk with other people.