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Feeling Rushed through subjects
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Hi, we are doing SCM Keep it Simple for the first time. Second year homeschooling, first year with CM. Last year, doing some school subjects dragged on and on and my daughter (now 1st grader) and I got fatigued. I liked the idea of doing very short lessons with CM. But, in this first week, I’m feeling like I am rushing through every subject. The suggested time limits do not seem like enough time to get anything significant done. After explaining the directions and getting started it’s time to quit. We are using a timer and that is making me feel more rushed, but if I counted on just watching the clock, I know time would get away from me. Any suggestions on how to manage the timing of the lessons?
I just follow my daughter’s cues. If I start losing her attention, it’s time to move on to something else. It’s a tough balance sometimes because I have to discern between “that’s enough” and “I’m just not in the mood to pay attention right now.”
Can you do less material for each subject? Maybe only 1/2 lesson at a time. We read living science books 2 days per week and I only read about 5 pages at a time (and there are usually pictures on those 5 pages, making it even less reading). Even with that short number of pages, I have plans to finish 5 science books during the year on those 2 days per week. I think a big part of a CM education is going through less material, but in a more thorough way.
Like Kelley, I try to watch for cues and change around our lesson plans if needed. A couple years ago we switched Apologia from 2 long lessons per week to shorter daily lessons. I couldn’t believe the difference it made! Before the switch, their eyes would glaze over and I would lose their attention. After we switched, I had their full attention for the entire lesson.
Another possible factor is that she just needs a little more time to adjust. It seems like our first few weeks of school always take more time to get through our material. We seem to get through more material after those first few weeks. I often just stop in the middle of our plans (and start where we left off the next day) or cut out some subjects for the first few weeks. Once they better understand the instructions and what’s expected of them, you spend less time getting going and can dive right in.
Akeana, I’m right there with you. I didn’t expect to have so many (small) problems within the first 2 weeks. I love CM but I’m questioning the short lessons with so many subjects to cover. I think you are saying it’s not necessarily your child but you who are feeling rushed? I don’t think it’s necessarily completing the lesson but there doesn’t leave a lot for exploring the topic. I think this works well for phonics and reading (enough to practice) but not so well with science or math… maybe it’s just me. I considered doing the basic copywork, reading/phonics, and math then only one other subject per day/per week. Monday history, Tuesday science, and so on. That’s not really following CM but it seems like it’ll give more time to explore a topic and maybe do some follow-up to it (like a science project) without burning out the child. Honestly by the time we do the first three basics he’s ready to be done. We are Y1, so coming from CM’s idea of Kindergarten which is mostly outside play all day, well this is a lot.
Rose, you can definitely do fewer subjects. When switching over to CM methods (or starting out with young DC), it’s nice to just start with a few subjects and gradually add them in. Whatever subjects you don’t fit in can be added next month, next term, or even next year. I think your plan sounds fine for 1st grade.
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