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Getting done so fast?
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Ok.. so my kids do all the necessary independent studies and they get done so fast. Is this ok? Normal? My kids do: math, religion, copywork, grammar, scripture work (memorizing), spelling, typing, personal development – all daily and it takes them maybe about an hour. This is for a 3rd, 5th & 6th grade students. This doesn’t seem long enough? But its’ done and really minimal mistakes.
What are your thoughts? MIsty
Hi Misty, I would say that I would not worry if the quality of the work is good, and the retention is the same. I would be sure to have correct any of their errors and then if they narrate well and seem to have got it, then maybe it is fine. Having not had that experience (lol) I cannot be sure – but I go by the quality of work my daughters do and leave it at that. Linda
I too would also say that as long as the quality of work is good then it’s fine. My other thought would also be that maybe some of the work is too easy? Is everything challenging enough for the boys?
My boys (8 & 9) tend to go through their work fast also. They are both very focused on getting their work done so they can be free to play rest of the day. LOL So they tend to buckle down each morning and work quickly. It takes us close to 2 hours to get through our school day. We generally do Literature read alouds (I have two books we are currently reading from), they each have language arts work to do (copywork, EFTC, LLLO, Spelling Wisdom… those vary each day), personal reading work, family science & history (3-4 days a week), math, Bible. Then arts/crafts/music 3-4 days a week. Narrations are generally done right after readings, they vary on how they do narrations though. Sometimes orally or by a drawing, maybe acting it out with men/toys.
My point though is that we have a lot to get through each day also. The boys are very quick with it all. It is challenging to them, they are learning and retaining the information. So if your boys are doing the same, then great!
~ Carrie
Misty, I wouldn’t worry about this at all for your younger children, for example, your third-grader. As long as the quality is good, I’d leave it be. However, for the fifth and especially for the sixth graders, you may need to rethink how much work to give them. IF they do decide to go to college, then when they are the general neighborhood of 18, they will be needing to be able to work steadily at schoolwork for several hours a day, on top of attending classes part of the day. If they don’t go to college but instead get jobs, they will likewise need to be concentrating and working for 8+ hours a day. You don’t want to go from one hour a day of schoolwork to 8+ hours a day of work in too quick a time frame. That would be a rather abrupt jolt into adulthood. 🙂 You might need to adjust what you assign so that it is taking them longer. At that age, I expect a copywork or dicatation lesson to last fifteen minutes. If it doesn’t, then it was too short. I expect math work to last 20 to 30 minutes. If it doesn’t, then I add more work or up the difficulty level. It’s my job to train them not only in academic knowledge but in the work habits they will need as adults. And adults have to work longer than an hour. So. We gradually increase the time we expect the kids to work as they get older, from just a couple hours total, increasing gradually through the last elementary and the junior high years. My oldest son now “finishes” his regular school in about six hours, but still attends one class, has an hour reading time, and works an hour on piano, per day. (The piano is his choice–it’s his handiwork, music and hobby all rolled into one). He is, btw, 17 and a junior in high school. My 14yo son has less–about five to six hours per day, and my 10yo works about four hours per day in total.
Misty, I thought I would jump in here too because my boys are in grade 7 and grade 5…and it’s funny because I was just thinking this morning how they seem to “fly” through their work so quickly and what are we missing, etc?
Bookworm, I am curious…what would be a typical daily schedule (what work/subjects, etc) would your 14 and 10 year olds do? I am wondering also what we are missing?
Shelli
Bookworm made some good points for the older kids – I do know that from 7th grade onward the girls were doing 4-5 hours a day and then their own activities after that – and that increased a little more in the 10-12th – because they had more studying they wanted to do. Prior to 7th I cannot say – because they were in PS. So for the older ones I would make sure the work is not too easy and I would make sure they were being challenged.
Shelli,
My 10yo does every day: Scripture reading (on his own), Latin, Spanish, Math, all for about 20 minutes a day. He also has various English activities–reading, dictation, copywork, some beginning written narration–and we spend maybe 30-60 minutes a day on the variety of those things. Then he and/or he and I together do about two additional subjects/readings, like history, science, etc, per day, for an additional about 20 minutes apiece. Then he has free reading and recorder practice time. All adds up to about 4 hours. He is usually done with everything but free reading before lunch.
My 14yo is a freshman. He is more complicated. 🙂 He does an early morning scripture class for one hour, then reads for that for about a half hour. Then he does Latin, Math, and German for about thirty to forty minutes each, spends about an hour on various English activities (I’ve been using Total Language Plus for high school) including reading, dictation, writing, etc. Oh, he also does Apologia Biology, takes about 30-45 minutes a day. Then he has about two additional subjects or readings a day, like history, etc. and those take about half an hour each. My 17yo’s schedule is similar, except he spends much longer on English, probably an hour and a half to two hours a day, since he is writing a lot more.
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