It’s good to be reminded of encouraging and helpful ideas. So this week we’re bringing you a reprise of one of our most popular articles. We hope you enjoy this best-of post.

Once you know which subjects you want to do each day, think about the order in which you schedule them. I want to share a little secret with you that will either help your child to pay attention throughout the day or make it more difficult for him to pay attention.

Charlotte Mason explained the situation this way: “…this much is certain, and is very important to the educator: the brain, or some portion of the brain, becomes exhausted when any given function has been exercised too long” (Home Education, p. 24).

You’ve probably experienced this for yourself. I often see it at homeschool conventions. The breakout sessions are so good, and there are so many of them, that the parents spend three full days finding the right room, sitting in chairs, listening to the speaker talk, and taking notes. Then they find the next room, sit in the chairs, listen to that speaker talk, and take notes. Then the next one, and the next one. By the end of the weekend, I can see that the listen-and-take-notes part of their brains has been exercised too long. It’s exhausted. And the more exhausted it becomes, the harder it is for them to pay full attention. They get distracted more easily; they don’t comprehend as quickly.

Now many of us would assume, “They need to take a break.” And we would be partially correct. The listen-and-take-notes part of the brain needs a break, but that doesn’t mean they have to stop completely. And it’s the same with our children.

We see a child starting to go into a mental fog, and our first thought is, “Let’s take a break.” But taking a complete break has its own set of problems. We all know how difficult it can be when we’re in a groove with our lessons and then decide to take a break. We can lose a lot of time trying to rein the children back in and regain focus after a break.

Happily, there is a better way. There is a way to make sure you don’t exhaust your child’s brain and still keep in a groove with your lessons.