Do timed lessons really work, even for easily distracted dawdlers?

Hi Heather! I don’t have time for a lengthy response right now but I did want to say that many times children dawdle because they see no end in sight and they feel overwhelmed. When they know they will only have to do this particular assignment or subject for 15 or 20 minutes they often buckle down and get to business. When you talk to your child and explain that if they will really focus and apply their whole habit of attention to a subject that they will only be required to do it for a short amount of time, he/she might just step up to the plate and surprise you!

Heather – The thing that gets ‘pushed out’ is playtime.  When you have a certain amount of time for each subject, school is over at roughly the same time each day.   So pick a time that is almost always play time and keep that in your mind.  Lets just say you usually play a game together during nap time and then she is free to play with her toys.  You set her 5 min of copywork and NOTHING happens during that 5 min.  You have a vaguely sad look on your face, say that our copywork time is up and it’s time to do a picture study.  Move on, don’t dwell on it.  Nap time comes up and instead of playing a game or getting her situated for her quiet independent play you let her know that it’s copywork time again.  You aren’t angry or anything, just matter of fact.  Sympathetic works too.  I’ve put things off in my life, or had to redo things because I rushed through and it’s a pain to have to do it again.  So I’m sad with them, but we need to do it.  If you feel she’s likely to do NOTHING again.  I would either have unlimited time that she has to sit at the table till it’s done, assign chores till she changes her attitude, or try a 3rd time after dad is home for the evening.  I haven’t really had to do that much though because the calm and the sympathy really helps them to understand that they do need to get this done.

do you have your daughter come back to the subject after all the other subjects are complete? Not necessarily. Sometimes I just had her come back to it after a different subject that used a different part of her brain.

What gets pushed out when she has to repeat a subject? As said above: privileges. It’s natural consequences. Unless she completed it earlier as part of the switching of subjects based on brain usage mentioned above.

Are there times when she doesn’t complete what you had planned but she did apply herself — it was just harder for her than expected? Yes.

If so, how can you tell and what do you do in those cases? As the mom/teacher and using your observation skills, you will know. Just like you know when they aren’t applying themselves elsewhere in duties/life or when you expect too much (which I think this is the exception to the rule) If she hadn’t understood it as well as I thought and was truly doing her best, I spent a few minutes going over it with her again, asking her more questions and having her show me some examples of how she thinks she should do it now that I had explained/shown it to her (that way she didn’t become accustomed to me doing too much) and let her try again. (After that second go, I’d put it away till the next day, review with her then, and did she have any questions).

I confirmed to her that I’m here to help, but that she has to TELL me that she doesn’t understand it-I cannot read her mind! If she had spoken up earlier, then less time would have been wasted and she might have been finished with the subject already. So that helps to teach some assertiveness and personal responsibility for getting understanding for her material and learning-which is vital.

In my dd’s case, I realized eventually that her brain was not grasping math and the English I had put before her to do. So I had to go back a couple of levels. But that LD was different than when she was just obstinate with material she had shown understanding of previously.

Also, I did give her breaks to go jump on her rebounder, do stretches, ride her bike for 15-20 min., go feed chickens, etc., when it was obvious that she needed to get her body moving in order to help her brain concentrate better and to control her body, too. Getting the blood flowing is vital to proper brain function. HTH

Yes, it can work!  And you can sort of combine it with what you mentioned you already do (him having to work until the day’s load is finished).  Here is how:

Give him his assignments and have him set a timer for each.  When the timer beeps he is done and moves on to the next thing on the list (another assignment, a break, lunch, whatever it may be).  When he reaches the end of the day’s timed sections anything he didn’t complete during the assigned time is now his ‘homework’ to sit and complete.  At my house it works well to plan something fun for this afternoon ‘homework time’ that the child will miss out on.  For us, it is outside time.  The siblings head outside to play and enjoy because they got their work done and the dawdler is stuck inside still working.

Be sure that what you are asking them to do in a short lesson is really doable according to their abilities/age.  In the beginning you can even make the workload too easy for each time slot to be sure that there is no reason they shouldn’t get the work done in the allotted time.

Encourage and praise them for each time they get the work done in a time slot with no homework left over for the afternoon, too!

I know this post is a year old now, but I want you all to know how wonderfully helpful it was for me to read as I prepare for our second year of homeschool! We had a generally successful first year, but I do think I put too much stress on finishing certain assignments rather than truly judging what was reasonable and age-appropriate for my child. Thank you all again for taking the time to respond and give examples.  Newbies like me gain so much from those of you that have been around the block before!