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Something I can't grasp: transitions between subjects


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Transitions between subjects kill our momentum, but if I keep plowing through, they shut down.  I am all about breaks between subjects, but keeping up with multiple kids and reigning them back in is proving to be too much for me.  For instance, we finish grammar and my options are to move to writing or spelling or have them take a break.  If we plow through and do writing, their minds won't engage, but if I take a break, it's hard to pull them back in.  Are you following?

 

How do you all do it?  

 

I'm a "just crank it out and be done" type of person so not finishing up already just kills me!

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With 3 young boys and an active girl, it's a necessity to take a physical break between subjects. Yes, it's not fun to get back on task again, but it's something we all must learn.  Here are some things that work for us:

 

- have a set time limit or definite task for the break (e.g., bike around the block, 5 minutes jumping on the mini-tramp)

- as the teacher/facilitator, don't let yourself get distracted and not call the dc back to task. With too long a break it's a lot tougher to start up again. 

- have something physical to do to move onto the next subject (e.g., sit on sofa for family read-aloud, go collect notebook and pencil and sit at table, bring math to desk in own room)

- give clear instructions about expectations next subject (e.g., do these questions in your next math lesson then bring it back to me for correcting. If you have questions, please ask for my help)

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We have had this same problem in the past so I changed up our routine now so they do one or two subjects than take a "break" to do a short chore like fold laundry. 

So each kids has a list that looks something like this: Math, take out garbage, Reading, Clean bathroom, Grammar, Lunch, Geography.  I find this gives them enough of a break they can focus without the battle of bringing them back from free time.

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We time our breaks.  We take a 15 minute break between certain subjects which the boys refer to as their "fifteen minutes of fun".  They can do whatever on their break, but we have to set a timer or we all get distracted and have trouble bringing it back together.  I am also open to other breaks as needed.  Like this morning my middle needed a break because he was getting frustrated with stuff, so I sent him outside to smell the grass.  It helped him calm down and then get back to work.

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One thing I've learned is how to alternate between different things. So, after something independent is a good time to do something together, after something more focused and bookworky is a good time to do something high interest or artsy, after something with words is a good time for something with numbers, after something from a book is a good time for something hands on...

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Other than getting a drink of water or using the bathroom, my children don’t take breaks between subjects.  They would rather finish their work and have a single long break before lunch and an earlier end in the afternoon.   We do shift locations, sofa for reading, floor or table for seatwork.  My children choose the order of subjects for seatwork.  My only caveat is that when I am working with one child, the other must do something he can do independently.   

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I find that I can call "break" at any time, and we are all willing to take a break! :lol:

 

If I am determined to begin again with Subject X in Y minutes, and if I clearly communicate this AND the fact that I mean business, my children realize there is no way out. :toetap05:

 

However, if I am ambivalent about starting back up (with something at some point), if I don't clearly communicate my expectations AND the fact that I mean them, LOL, my children sense this.

 

Like sharks that smell blood in the water from miles away, my children sense my weakness. :001_unsure:

 

If I sit down at the computer to "just check my email," then I hear them whisper, "Come on, let's go downstairs and play! Maybe Mommy will forget to start back up to school if we leave her alone."

 

Moral: Don't sit down, don't back down, don't be ambivalent about what you want and when you want it.

 

Sometimes, instead of a full-fledged, leave-the-room break, we do jumping jacks or stretches. We saw this once on a Families of the World video, where the kids in Russia were stretching and doing exercises in between subjects (still in class). So now I just say, "Russian stretch break!" and they all eagerly jump up and contort themselves for two minutes. :D

 

Sometimes, on a fair weather day, I will surprise them and say, "Recess!" They know they have 20 minutes to get their shoes on and go outside. I set a timer and put in on the back porch. When the timer goes off, they have to head right in, put shoes away, use the bathroom, wash hands, and get back to work. So that's really a 30 minute break, but they love it.

 

Sometimes, I give one or two of them a break, and work with the other one or two of them.

 

Sometimes, one child will take a break with her rabbit. It's on her list: "Spend 20 minutes with your rabbit, grooming and exercising."

 

Sometimes, one child will call my mother. Also on her list: "Call Grammy. Do NOT wear her out."

 

Sometimes, I will give a child a "break" by saying, "Here, come and hang up (or fold) this laundry." They love to hang it up on the lines outside. Folding, eh, not so much, but they do it.

 

Sometimes, a child has "Exercise for 20 minutes" on her list of independent work. So, in a way, that's a break, too, at least from sit-down work.

 

And, at least 2-3 times a week, they have a Quiet Time/Nap Time for about 2 hours. My kids all eventually fall apart without this midday rest period a few times a week, no matter how much they sleep at night.

 

I'll also say that taking breaks between "things" depends on what those "things" are, and how draining they are. If we have a knock-down, drag-out Grammar or Latin lesson, I am not going to follow that right up with a long Math lesson, unless that's the only way to fit it in (and I think the student will still be able to focus). The harder things get interspersed with the easier stuff, and sometimes we do a few easy things to ramp up (and check them off the list), then do the hard thing, then take a break, and then come back for something else. We do have to make ourselves get back to work, myself included!

 

I read somewhere (on here) a few years ago that we want to try to build up our "school work" muscles, and work towards doing more, instead of less. For some reason, that stuck with me, and I think of that advice from time to time. It's like exercise -- sure, it's easy to do less, but we're working towards being stronger at sticking with it. And yet, there is a time to take a break and have a rest. So, there's a balance. HTH.

 

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We take 5 minute breaks, bounce on exercise ball, and change venues a lot - at the table for math, then in the kitchen to hear the Latin memory work CD, then back to the table for Latin worksheet, then roll around on the floor with the baby for grammar, then table for working on a draft of a paragraph, then jumping around trying to beat me at Latin vocab flash cards, etc. we never seem to sit still but we can plow through a morning of skill subjects really well this way.

 

Never underestimate how effective a brief mental break can be either. Sometimes I say, why don't you hang out right there (I.e. This is not permission to wander off and play) and make faces at the baby and I will get you a snack. 60 seconds later, everyone is refreshed and laughing and there are apple slices or a glass of vanilla almond milk and whatever seemed impossible is now much easier.

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This is my first year homeschooling AND I'm only homeschooling one, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but here's what's working for us so far:

 

  • A 10-minute genuine, physical, "go run around" break after math (his most brain-stretching subject) every day.
  • Changing venues throughout the day, as mentioned above. Reading on the living room sofa, grammar at the desk in the den, Latin in the family room.
  • Using "fun subjects" as transitions. My DS loves doing Latin, Reading, and logic puzzles, so I intersperse them among other, not as well-loved subjects. It feels like a break without actually being a break.
  • Specific, 2-minute, "go get a drink and then back to work" breaks after a stretch. For example, we'll try to knock out all our language arts...then go get a drink before diving back in to the next thing.
  • Incorporating activity into subjects when possible. We've gone for a walk while reviewing what we're learning in History. I let him bounce on an exercise ball while going over math facts.

 

Plus, my son is really motivated to finish the bulk of our work before lunch (he has some independent reading and writing to do on his own later in the day). After about 5 weeks of school, he can tell if we're on track to finish by lunch and he'll buckle down if needed. So he has some "crank it out" in him, but needs the variety and little breaks to keep his mind fresh and engaged.

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The other thing that is helpful is breaking up the really big honkin subjects into many small ones, each with its own name.

That avoids the Great Dread that would ensue should a 90 minute 'subject' be put on the table.

 

No, no, first it's Calendar Time.  Then it's Math Facts Practice.  Then it's Math Lesson Time.  Then it's Mental Math.  Then it's Written Math.  See?  5 *different* subjects.  Why this helps I not entirely sure, but it helps A LOT.

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I totally hear you. Last year, we took a break for a snack and some outside time from 10 to 10:30, and we always dragged getting back to work (and occasionally never did.) I've shortened it up and made outside time a time for walking around the block, but the biggest change is that I moved snack to after being outside. It's so much easier it is to get them back to work from a snack than it is from free play--and they're much more likely to rush inside for a snack than for grammar. 

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We either do a really quick gym thing.  ("OK, lets see how many push ups we can do!  Then we are doing spelling.'  Or "I want everyone to run around the block as fast as you can and meet me back at this table.")

 

OR we alternate chores.   "I am going to set the timer and we are all going to put everything away in this room as quick as we can.   On your mark, get set, go!!"  (On the blog Simply Convivial, Mystie Winkler calls this EHAPing a room.   EHAP stands for everything has a place.)   or "Go up and strip the sheets off your bed and put new sheets on and join me."  or "Go up and wipe down a bathroom and we will continue on."

 

OR we alternate content / skill subjects.   30 minutes of seat work, then come to the couch while mommy reads history to you.   Then 30 minutes of seat work, the come to the couch while I read science to you.  etc. etc.

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I have very carefully structured our day so that they bounce from a difficult subject to an easy subject, back to difficult. I save the very easiest subjects for last.

 

We have timed 5 minute breaks between subjects. That's all. They don't have time to get too far away mentally, if you know what I mean, but they still get a little break to move around.

 

I used to be more flexible in the past, but I've tightened up considerably this year and it's going much better now.

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In my house growing up we didn't do breaks. We started over breakfast, we might take a 15 minute break at mid-morning, then we would work through to lunchtime and be DONE (aside from hands-on stuff which always waited until afternoon). For us, breaks made us lose momentum. 

 

We would move from one subject to a totally different subject, then back again. 

So, instead of going from writing to grammar, we would go from writing to history to grammar.

 

Also, we would minimize the number of subjects per day. My siblings and I could sit at a subject for an hour just fine, because we were 'in the groove', but try to switch to 10 minutes of something else and we would totally disconnect and not engage. So, instead of doing 15 mins of writing a day, and 15 mins of grammar a day, which simply would not have ever worked for me personally, we did an hour or writing on monday, then an hour of grammar on tuesday. History and science we tended to do in a full afternoon once a week each. Math was supposed to be done daily for retention, and there's a good argument for that, but I'll admit to doing double lessons two or three times a week for most of high school.  My eldest probably has.... about 8 different subjects, but she only does 4 a day.

 

I realize my advice contradicts many people above though, so, the point to take away from this is every family is different, and you might have to experiment a bit to find what works for yours. 

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We never took breaks except for lunch. However, as Farrar suggested I structured the day for variety. For example, after a brain intensive subject, we might have a read aloud or they might do some reading on their own. A hands on activity in science might provide a chance to move after an English lesson. Changes in physical position are also refreshing. Reading or listening to me reading might be done cuddled on the couch or laying on the floor. Math was done sitting up. Moving from couch to chair to exercise ball and back again really made a big difference. As they got older their beds also became a school location where they did independent work. Both my kids had desks in their rooms, but when they went to their rooms to work, they did it on their beds. :)

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I put hard/concentration required subjects followed by easier things. I also build in physical activity. If the child knows he's going to run around the house two times and then come back for math, it seems to work here. But my kids know what subjects are going to be done before lunch. Then I pick up after lunch for the rest. Things like meals feel like natural breaks.

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Also, we would minimize the number of subjects per day. My siblings and I could sit at a subject for an hour just fine, because we were 'in the groove', but try to switch to 10 minutes of something else and we would totally disconnect and not engage. So, instead of doing 15 mins of writing a day, and 15 mins of grammar a day, which simply would not have ever worked for me personally, we did an hour or writing on monday, then an hour of grammar on tuesday. History and science we tended to do in a full afternoon once a week each. Math was supposed to be done daily for retention, and there's a good argument for that, but I'll admit to doing double lessons two or three times a week for most of high school.  My eldest probably has.... about 8 different subjects, but she only does 4 a day.

 

I realize my advice contradicts many people above though, so, the point to take away from this is every family is different, and you might have to experiment a bit to find what works for yours. 

 

This is similar to what we do as well. Transitions eat out whole day. Sometimes we get a wiggly spot in the middle of a lesson, and that can mean we need a break, but sometimes it's just a wiggly spot and it goes away quickly if ignored. :-)

 

Days that are just bad all around--I keep a lot of "bad day" work on hand for days when the kids are too distracted, too brain dead, too whatever to do a good job. 

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I provide continual updates- "Ok, after we finish this, we are going to start X.  You can take a break or work on your checklist (of assignments) while you wait, but we'll be starting X as soon as everyone is ready." Or I might say, "You have time to go get a snack and watch one of the videos I've assigned but then we are going to do X."

 

 

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Just now getting a chance to read all of these replies.  So what the consensus seems to be is to take short breaks, no longer than 5 minutes.  I'll give that a go.  It's so hard when kids finish their work at different times!

 

The consensus I see reading everyone is take short breaks (or none at all - nearly half of people seem to be saying they don't really do breaks or don't do unstructured ones and instead do something physical together or a snack) AND use variety (of presentation, of subjects, of place in the house, etc.) to help kids keep going with less break time yet still feel engaged.

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We have blocks of work, followed by unstructured breaks.

We start with handwriting, spelling and math. Then they get (up to a) 30 minute break, which may include snack. Then they run off and play whatever they want.

 

Then we do reading and history, before breaking for lunch (1 hr).

After lunch: grammar, writing, and science or art.

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The consensus I see reading everyone is take short breaks (or none at all - nearly half of people seem to be saying they don't really do breaks or don't do unstructured ones and instead do something physical together or a snack) AND use variety (of presentation, of subjects, of place in the house, etc.) to help kids keep going with less break time yet still feel engaged.

Yes, absolutely.  With kids the ages of mine (oldest is 9 and I have 4), getting it all to fit together that nicely seems unlikely, especially they finish things at different times.  I'll just stick with a short break, unstructured or not.  I like the idea of something physical.

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Could you have a fun independent project for them to work on if they finish their main assignment before break time rolls around? For example, a coloring page or a cut and paste project. Fun, but it works on fine motor skills and visual discrimination, which are both important for academics. And it will keep them occupied until the other kids are ready for their break. Although I was never consistent enough, I did this for my group of four, and it was helpful.

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we did it a bit different. The children knew exactly what subjects  etc they had/have to get through each day. They could choose when and what order they did them in the morning. in the afternoon we always do history or science (depending on the day).

 each child approached it differently. 2 would get up early and do them morning work before 9 am then have the whole morning to do their own thing. another one would sleep in and then spend the rest of the day studying hard.  DD disperses lots of craft work throughout  the day and gets all her work done. DS11 atm does all his morning schoolwork the evening before so he can help the twins develop.

 

the older three have expressed to me that this has really helped them develop great time management skills. DS21 has told me many times that he thought this approach prepared him well for university where he has to manage all his study himself and sees others who have everything micromanaged go to pieces when they had to manage their own time.

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