Kids scheduling their own work…how?

My girls have both done larger blocks for a subject instead of doing each subject each day. It actually works better that way for some. The only subjects I limit math as the brain can only aborb so many new concepts in a day and I limit composition as you need time for your writing to sit before moving to the next step. But for my 11th grader this year I tell her what asignments I am expecting at the end of the week and she figures out when she is going to get them done.

I don’t see anything wrong with doing all of a subject in one day IF

– they are doing their work with excellence, not just doing the bare minimum and doing it sloppily.

– they are retaining the concepts/information for an extended time period, not just long enough to pass the test so to speak. For example I can’t see that working with Apologia General Science or with Math, both which Makayla has this year.

Handing over choosing their own curriculum – Makayla had huge input into what she is using this year. She was given the limitation of the time period we’re in for history, but there is so much in any time period there is going to be something they can enjoy. Also, I offered a lot of books, she read what each was about and chose a certain number. I put those in chronological order for her. They’ll last half the year. The second half she can follow rabbit trails to her heart’s content. For science, she chose. Math is my pick but there are extras she can do if she chooses. Her focuses on art and writing were her choice, as well as what to use/do for them. I try to offer her a buffet of options and she picks what sounds to her the most enjoyable way to tackle that subject for the year.

By early/mid high school I expect she’ll be choosing it all. And I’ll be okay if she moves out of the family time period as she’ll have already read many of the titles her younger siblings will be doing and can still participate in the family conversation.

I also agree with Bookworm.  Though my 10yo will be choosing how to get her assignments done in a day, I will still be telling her on what days she must do the assignments.  Eventually we will move to me giving her a list like you are doing, but I will still want her mixing it up, not just doing it all in one sitting.  It’s tiring on the brain to do a whole day, or even several hours, of just one subject.  Even with breaks between assignments in the subject, it’s still tiring to focus on one type of thing the whole time.

I’m going to add in that I think whether a person studies a bit from all/most subjects every day vs heavy focuses of only 1-3 subjects a day (once they hit puberty/high school…I don’t know an exact time but at some level of maturity) that is a personal preference and learning style. I know I work better with a strong focus on only a few topics at a time. I LOVED summer school the one time I took it in college because I only had two classes and I could really dive into them. I think the whole ‘it is too tiring on the brain to focus on history all day’ is false. I totally think it depends on the person. I have such a hard time limiting our history now to a short period. I’d love nothing more than to sit and read to them for two or three hours at a time, but they are only 7 and I limit myself. 🙂

I read someone describe this preference recently as ‘small vs large productivity brainspace’. I don’t like the words she chose but I totally get the concept. Some people do better with several things to work on at once and switching between topics energizes them, while others prefer to really have one or at most a few things they are working on at once and they get energized by really digging deep into what they are working on. There isn’t a ‘right’ way, only realizing what works best for you and organizing your life as much as possible to take advantage of your own preferences.

I’d say let your child experiment and together reflect on how it is working. I like the idea that Tristan brought up – make a checklist of what you (both) think is important (retaining information, integrating it with other knowledge, quality work, etc) and during your weekly meetings do a thorough check on how this is going. Give it a few months and see how your child does.

Freedom is an incredible thing when it comes to education. We all want our children to be responsible for their own learning as that is what they will carry into adulthood.

Best~shannon

I think if your student wants to try it, and can prove that works for him, then let him try it.  Let him prove to that it works by producing quality work.  If he does all his science or history reading, quiz him on it at the end of the week to ensure he is retaining the info.  If it doesn’t work (I expect you’ll figure it out pretty fast) then tell him it’s time to take another approach.  Maybe something like working in a min number of subjects per day or a certain number of times per week, still allowing him the option of when those days are.y

No toe stepping done, Kati. Thanks for sharing. It suprises me that your college courses are like that though. The ones I have seen are only 2 or 3 times per week. The classes in the evening are about 4 hours long (daytime ones are shorter). A total of 12-15 credits is a full-time load with many classes being 3 credits making for 4-5 classes per semester. This is a very similar workload to what my high schoolers carry (6 classes but less hours required per class).

Your 12 year old sounds just like me! I can orally say what I have read, but to write takes great concentration and work! I have no idea why I have a brain hand barrier but not a brain mouth barrier! 

HiddenJewel, I am taking 19 credits, my 4 credit Greek class meets 4 times a week, Discipleship and Christian Evidences and Appologetics 3, Hermeneutics 2, Personal Evangelism and Counseling and Mentoring Women once a week. It is just that the scheduling boggles my brain sometimes that is all!