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Follow-up on assignments: what works & what doesn't?
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I need some new routines because I am just not doing the kind of follow-up I want on my kiddos’ work (math, copywork, anything written, etc.) Well, I do it, but not in a timely enough fashion and it feels too chaotic. Sometimes I’m sitting with them and I can comment as they go, but since there’s only one of me that doesn’t happen for everything all the time! 🙂
Right now I tend to look over things at night…after they are in bed…but it feels like soooo much time has past by the next day if there are things that need to be discussed or corrected. Obviously something earlier in the day would help with that, but I haven’t been able to hit on a consistent and workable system. And then there is the issue of loose papers or notebooks not being put away when they just generally leaving stuff out for me to check, or things being put away without leaving them to be checked. lol What works (or doesn’t) for you?
I’d love to hear more on this, too. I only have two boys, but I work mornings away from home. They do independent work in the mornings but I’m having a really hard time getting a routine going for our afternoons, especially after the Christmas break.
This may not be what you want to hear, but I find it absolutely necessary to remain in the same room with the children while they do their school work. We do all of our family subjects first, so that’s hands-on for me. Then I sit across the room from them at my own desk while they work on independent studies. I am right there to make sure no one is dawdling, arguing, or not giving their best effort as well as to answer questions that arise as they work on assignments. I check all of their work as soon as they finish it, ask for narrations immediately after a reading, etc. This works well for all of us.
I enjoy being present while they work. I know that I’m doing my job, and they are learning every day to be more independent. I’m sure in a year or so, they’ll be almost totally independent. That’s my goal anyway. But for now, our mornings go along at a relaxed pace and everything in our Organizer gets accomplished most days.
For the record, I don’t work outside the home. I have two children, so it’s probably much easier for me to stay on top of assignments than it is for those with 4 or more children. School time for us is mornings only at this point. I don’t allow school work to carry over to the afternoons. I know that eventually this will be the case, but right now 2.5 to 3 hours of school time per day is plenty for what we need to accomplish. My kids are 8.5 and 10. I like getting it done, having lunch, doing chores, and then having the rest of the afternoon and evening to do whatever we like, run errands, take a nap, etc.
The children have to clean their work areas when the school day is over. This means desks are cleaned off, books are put away, pencils are stored, blocks and notebooks are returned to shelves. That is when our school day is officially over.
So that’s what works for all of us. I stay on top of checking assignments, they stay on top of their work, and we all reap the benefits of having the rest of the day to do as we like.
Blessings,
Lindsey
Lindsey that sounds so…pleasant! It seems like one of the big advantages to having a school room such as yours is you have few disctractions. We school on the couch/table and while in many ways I love it, the Legos and cardboard box and dog, etc are always competing for their attention. My children also don’t do anything independently yet (ages 7 and 8 but not strong readers yet) and so while I work with one the other is immersed in play which provides its own distractions for the day. Anyway, I’ll use your peaceful sounding schedule to inspire me in creating my own!
I can’t remember, do you have your daily schedule (subjects and amounts of time but also when you do cleaning, cooking, etc) posted on your blog? I don’t think I’ve read it but would love to!
Best,
Shannon
Shannon,
Thank you for thinking our school time sounds pleasant! Most days, it is! Like ALL of you, we still have our …ahem… moments.
I don’t believe I’ve ever posted a complete daily schedule that includes our school work, chores, and other responsibilities, but I’m happy to share!
We are usually up and going between 8:30-9:00 a.m. Before anyone leaves a bedroom, they must be dressed, have their hair combed, and have beds made (this includes dh and me). We all make breakfast together–usually me cooking eggs or oatmeal while children unload the dishwasher or make toast or sweeten yogurt. If the day is on-schedule, we’re eating by 9:15, and having a short reading and lesson from Baby Rails or other Bible devotional that daddy chooses. School begins whenever breakfast is over and dishes have been loaded into the dishwasher.
Family subjects are first for us, beginning with singing a hymn and folk song, followed by history read aloud and whatever other family subjects we have that day (Map Study and Science on Mondays, Picture Study on Tuesday, Science on Wednesday, Map Drill on Thursday, etc.) School was finished today by 11:45 a.m. which included putting supplies and books back where they belong.
Right now, both children are working on their daily chore for today. Ds is cleaning out the van, sweeping the porch, and shaking rugs. Dd is doing her laundry. Here are their daily chores:
Monday:
Ryan–vacuum the hardwood floors (kitchen, living room, and dining room) and dust the living room
Addie–clean the bathroom, empty the bathroom trash, and vacuum the bathroom floorTuesday:
Ryan–clean out the van, sweep the front porch, and shake out the rugs
Addie–laundry (clothes and sheets)Wednesday:
Ryan–laundry (clothes and sheets)
Addie–vacuum the hardwood floors (kitchen, living room, dining room)Thursday:
Ryan–dust and vacuum bedroom
Addie–dust and vacuum bedroomFriday:
Ryan and Addie together clean up the backyard (scoop dog poop, put away toys, pick up limbs or leaves, etc.)They usually complete part of their chores before lunch and finish up after lunch. I make lunch, and they do not help since they are choring. We all clean up together and have our literature reading during or after lunch. Then it’s free time!
Lately, because of not having much energy with some health issues, I’ve been laying on the couch. They can have quiet reading time in their beds or play quietly with a toy. On the days when I don’t feel the need to lay down, they can still read or go out to play, weather permitting. If there’s a nice day following several cold and/or windy days, I often have to push them outside and tell them not to come back in until they’re called! In the fall, spring, and summer, I’ll go out with them and lay on the grass to rest. In the winter, I prefer the couch.
My children are clock-watchers when it comes to snack time. At 3:00 on the dot, they are announcing that it’s time for a snack. Typically, they help themselves to fruit, yogurt, peanut butter, raisins, or whatever’s available. If I have had the energy and not rested, I’ll make muffins or a quick bread of some sort for a snack. I eat my snack and start on dinner (if it wasn’t already in the crock pot).
Daddy is home by 5:00 (sometimes a bit earlier), and we are usually sitting down to eat no later than 6:00. Our evenings also have themes. This ensures that we are spending quality and quantity time together as a family and not resorting to always watching movies or sending the children off to play.
Monday: game night. We all play a game together. Typically, this lasts an hour. Skip-Bo, Clue, Dominoes, Guess Who, and Checkers are favorites.
Tuesday: piano lessons and family prayer time. Dd’s piano lesson is from 6:30-7:00. Afteward, we go for a drive around town and pray over our town. We do this for 20-30 minutes, then come home and get ready for bed.
Wednesday: family movie night. Right now, we are watching 19 Kids and Counting on Netflix.
Thursday: life group. We have a group that meets in our home from 6:30-8:30. Couples bring their kids, so my kids really enjoy this night. Starting this week, we are going to begin asking children to stay for part of the group.
Friday: Dh and I try to have a date night once a month, and our children will spend the night at a grandparents’ house. On non-date Fridays, we drive to the big city an hour away and go grocery shopping, run errands, go to a movie, go out to eat, etc.
Saturday: family project around the house. Last Saturday we cleaned out the garage. During the summer, the children worked on a treehouse with Daddy. Or we’ll have a garage sale, paint a room, install some trim. Typically this is our work-on-the-house and catch up on projects day.
Sunday: We go to church. My husband is the worship pastor. After church, we warm up leftovers for lunch. Then everyone gets to do whatever they like. Children can play, read, watch movies, nap, whatever. I typically try to take a quick nap, and then watch Netflix from my bed most of the day. It’s my guilty pleasure, and I don’t watch TV in the daytime during the week. Hubby usually tries to catch a game or works on the computer. He enjoys programming, and finds it very relaxing.
Baths in the winter happen 2-3 times per week. In the summer, they’re everyday. We read something aloud before bed. Lately it’s been a story from Prudence and the Millers. In December it was Jesse Tree devotionals. In the past we’ve read Little House, Narnia, and other children’s classics. Bedtime is no later than 8:30 p.m.
Whew! That’s our schedule. Hope it helps you out!
I’ve used a few different methods for this. For awhile I had a wooden box that they would put their finished assignments into. When I had a spare minute, I would check them, we could discuss and then they could put it away.
Another method we used was to have their assignments for the day written on individual notecards. For example, one notecard would say, ‘math’ another would say, ‘copywork’. The cards would be in a small tray and could be put back into a file box when the assignment was finished and checked by me. I could then just look at their tray to see what still needed to be looked over. When their tray was empty, they were done. The downside to that system was that I needed to be proactive in getting their assignements put into their trays each day. It was our modification of the workbox system.
Our current system doubles as a planner and checklist. I’ve set up our daily schedule in Open Office using the tables. The complete schedule for all our family work and each child’s individual work fits on a half page. Since we do formal studies for four days a week, and save Fridays for coop, house cleaning, catch-up and errands, this means our weekly schedule fits on two pages that face each other in my 3-ring binder. When an assignment is finished and checked by me, each child is supposed to mark it off with a highlighter. That means that I can see at a glance what is finished and what isn’t.
Thank you Lindsey! This is really helpful! If I have more questions I’ll PM you so as to not distract from the OP. (Sorry, MLiP! 🙂 )
A few random things come to mind for me, not sure if any will spark an idea that works for you. I have 8 children from age 12 down to the baby, 1 special needs (medical needs that take my time and assistance multiple times per day). We don’t have a school room, we have a shelf for school books/notebooks.
– All work goes in a notebook. All notebooks go on a shelf. Period. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. 😉 You may prefer to have notebooks land on a desk or corner table when they finish, as your reminder to check their work ASAP.
– I try to check work regularly. For me that usually means snack time and quiet time.
– When that is not working out I have the children bring me their work directly for things I need to check (esp. math!). Then I make time to check it right away so they can go back to work.
Mine work extremely well independently thanks to their notebooks and assignment sheets. It’s a huge blessing but one we had to work toward.
No apologies, Shannon, I’m thrilled that Lindsey posted her schedule. I love that stuff! I don’t mind if you post questions here on that (or start a new thread if you think that’s better), but if you PM her then I won’t get to see it. 🙁
I really appreciate the ideas and examples shared already. Actually I haven’t had time yet to focus on the responses just yet, but will do so later today.
Tristan, when you refer to notebooks, does that mean 3-ring binders? Spirals? I think of a notebook meaning spiral-bound notebook like the cheap ones at back to school time, but since you said all their work goes in notebooks then I thought maybe you’re talking about binders.
We’re using 3 ring binders. I also own a ProClick and you can use click open/shut spines OR spiral binding, but tend to use that for smaller (short term) projects or end of the year binding of work. Here is a whole post about our notebooks with photos of the inside.
And Tristan, what do you use for ‘assignment sheets’. Is this something you purchased or created and fill in each week? I am struggling to get my older kids more independent with history and science, so I would love to know what you are using and how it helps them stay accountable.
Also, how do you ladies deal with questions the older kids have while you are doing a lesson with youngers? Right now, my older kids are constantly interrupting my kindergartner’s phonics lesson. It is frustrating for him (and for me) but I want to be able to help them when they have a question about their work.
On the op – I am a ‘floater’ during most of my kids school. In other words, I stay close by and check over their shoulder quite a bit. And they have to turn in their work for checking before they are excused in the morning. I don’t like them to do something incorrectly and then have it ‘stick’ in their heads that way before it is checked. So we check, and correct, before dismissal.
The assignment sheets are pictured and explained in that post about our notebooks. It is just something I typed up in Word in a table. Easy peasy and all I do each week now is put the new week’s assignments in each box and save on my computer, then print out. It is really helpful for independence.
For older kid’s questions while I’m working one on one with younger children – they have to wait. They can move on to something else on the page (if it is math) or a different assignment, then I will help them after I finish with the younger one. We’ve talked about how the little ones have a hard time not getting distracted so they have to help me by waiting until I’m done with them. It also means before I work one on one with a new child I check with the group to see if anyone needs me to answer a question. 🙂
Lindsey, your method does sound lovely. I’ve learned the hard way that allowing the children to go off in to other rooms does not always produce efficient use of their time! Isn’t that a nice way of saying it?! This term I’ve been more insistent that we stay at the table together or at least very close by so that I can watch over them while they work.
I’m afraid I’m terrible about getting little things done around the house while they work too … which I really find is just a way for me to get distracted. I’m not as good of a teacher when I do that nor am I able to keep as nice of an atmosphere in our homeschool when I do that.
Thank you, Claire!
I definitely believe that it is grossly unfair to the children to leave them to their work while I do other things and then get upset with them when the work isn’t finished or done correctly. This sets the children up to fail. Even if I have worked with them to develop the habit of attention, one slip-up while I’m out of the room can mean an entire day of poor attitudes, strife, and an overall feeling of failure around the home. When we schooled at the kitchen table, I often found excuses to leave the children and work on something in the kitchen. And every time, I ended up getting on to them and feeling guilty about it because they weren’t getting their work done. Instead they would play or talk and distract each other, and I would be frustrated and mad. I shouldn’t have been upset with them, but with myself.
I, personally, have chosen to homeschool my children. That means I have chosen to place other things lower on my priority list. If I can be present during our 2-3 hour homeschooling time and give it MY full attention, then I have the reward of time to do what I like later in the day. It’s the same principle we try to instill in the children! 🙂
So, I think our schedule works so well because I refuse to allow myself to be pulled in a hundred different directions. Even answering a phone call in the middle of a school time throws us off. Not that I don’t ever answer the phone…but I’m selective about who I’m willing to talk to during that time. I always have the afternoon to call them back. Getting our schedule to where it is today took more self-discipline and sacrifice on my part than it took work to train the children. My presence is enough to get them motivated to work and learn. Yes, we still work on the habit of attention, and one day–when they’re maybe 12 and 14–I hope to be at the point of not needing to always be present. But, developmentally, I just don’t think you get children are capable of blocks of unsupervised work that is successful. I hope that makes sense!
And to clarify, I’m not suggesting that any of you are leaving your children to their own devices during school time!
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