Guided and Independent Work

Hi, anneric, and welcome! Guided is any activity/subject that needs your hands-on-working-side-by-side attention. Independent work is any activity/subject that the child can do on his or her own. Usually the younger the child, the more “guided” is needed. As the child gets older and can read on his own, more subjects can become “independent” with just a check-in with mom for narrations and such.

So for specifics, copywork will need to be guided with young children who are still learning the mechanics of writing; but as they get older and master handwriting, they could be given the responsibility to do five or ten minutes of copywork on their own, with the understanding that they will give their best effort and attention to it. (That’s where those all-important habits come in. 🙂 )

Depending on which math curriculum you use, you might be doing a guided session with an older child early in the week to introduce a new concept, then assign them the practice and review exercises as independent work the rest of the week (being ready to step in as needed, of course).

With reading, if the child is fluent you can assign independent reading and check on comprehension by requiring a narration from him after he finishes. But if the child needs more practice reading, you would want to make that a guided activity and work together with him.

Does that make sense?