full week's work in a day?

[deemk]

i have a 12 year old that has focus issues. he has a really hard time staying on task and has trouble with strict schedules that dictate when he has to start something and end something. he does need a schedule that reminds him what to do during the day, but he claims that it's hard for instance to sit and do grammar for 30 min and then have to stop and go to the next task because he loses his train of thought. of course i don't sit over him with a timer, but you get the idea.

 

he says he prefers to do the entire week's worth of math assignments in one day, then do the entire week's worth of grammar the next day, and so forth.

 

does anyone know how this affects learning? and is it hard on the brain this way? WTM is so good at explaining the reasons for the processes and how they help the brain to learn a certain way. i'm just wondering if this is bad at all to do 1 subject one day and then not come back to it again for a full week. personally i would forget things without the consistency. but my son seems to be having a hard time with small bites each day.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I don't think that will work, especially for 3R type things. Those things need daily (or close) practice. Some schools do a Day A and Day B switching off subjects, but I wouldn't go any longer than that.

[Barb_]

We've done this and it works beautifully. Some kids need to mix things up and have a little control in order to stay engaged. Why not try it on a probationary period? Give it a month with the agreement that if you don't think it's working you'll go back to the other way. Isn't this why we homeschool? To do what works best for our kids?

 

Barb

[deemk]

What does LCC stand for?

[Alana in Canada]

Latin Centered Curriculum. You want the second edition.

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Latin-Centered-Curriculum/dp/1930953712

[katemary63]

I really would not do this. I have no expertise or anything, but I just know how my brain works. The brain processes things overnight. You can gain insight and understanding from just sleeping on things. I have had this experience many times when I was in college. I have often been unable to understand something or get a clear answer to a problem and after having slept on it, wake up with the answer or the understanding. I KNOW my brain thinks for me during the night. So I think that learning a bit everyday or at least every couple of days is beneficial because you are giving your brain a chance in between to process the information. I know everyone is different, but from just my own experience alone, I would not let my kids do this. Maybe 3 X week but not just 1 X a week for a subject. IMO

[KristenS]

Is he getting an entire week's worth correct? If he can do it, it's worth the experiment. (And he can get some graphing practice, maybe, tracking how well he did before vs. how well after.)

 

For subjects I like, I prefer to do large chunks. For subjects I don't, I prefer smaller chunks.

 

And think of college all-nighters to finish papers and projects. LOL. Of course, we want them to learn to plan ahead better than that ... but clearly a lot of work can get done in a day's chunk of time. :-)