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Question about expectations and workloads
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Okay, I am wondering if those with older children can give me some thoughts. My 11yo son began Apologia’s General Science course this last week. He loves it. He loves science in general and I felt he was ready for a more advanced and formal program even though I realize he is a bit young for it according to Apologia’s website.
Anywho, while he is really enjoying it, he is starting to become overwhelmed by the pace that the program has him going at in addition to all of his other work (which is also becoming slightly more demanding as he’s getting older). He was only able to complete 2 days of their schedule over the whole week and now, because he’s a bit of a perfectionist, he’s already stressed because he’s 2 days “behind” (even though I keep telling him not to worry about it and just enjoy the program).
I’m thinking of just having him do science 2 days a week instead of 4 but I’m not sure if that would be wise because while I want him to enjoy the material, I also want him to step up to the more challenging requirements of advanced work. I know that if he were in public school he would be in 6th grade and those kids are kept crazy busy with tons of assignments, schedules and demanding work loads. Not that I want to mimic the failing system, but I keep wondering if maybe I’m not requiring enough of him; that maybe he should be able to handle more than he currently is.
I hope this makes sense. If your children went through these courses, did you follow a pre-planned schedule? We are using My Father’s World’s schedule and I can’t tell if it really is a tough workload or if I’m just not expecting enough. Oh the joys of the firstborn! I just don’t know what is realistic to expect from him as he is getting older. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I echo your concerns regarding giving our children a balanced workload. It is difficult to find the key to giving enough to challenge without making education into a competitive sport. It sounds as if your son is one of those children who is willing to challenge himself, Those kids can be a homeschool mom’s dream, but they also change our job description a bit. Instead of making sure he keeps on task, it sounds more as if your job needs to be to make sure he learns to also enjoy the journey.
A few things: Hide the schedule. Instead of sticking to the schedule, just have him work on his science for a specified amount of time each day. You can peek at the schedule in a few weeks and get a feel for whether the schedule is too much for him or not.
He is young for General, but the first one or two chapters in that book are by far the hardest ones, imo. You may find the next ones will go more quickly. It seems as if many people allow two years for General Science if they begin their kids in it earlier. Looking back, I wish I would have done it that way, allowing Gen. to span two years and adding in more living books. In fact, I think that’s what I’ll do with my last three children. It would make a good transition to upper level science classes.
When my 11yo ds is ready for Gen., I plan to do the same as Jeaninpa described. My oldest started Gen in 7th grade (not exactly sure when) and I thought it could be done in a year but we took our time and added in many other materials along the way (including some nature study/videos/books). That made it take much longer. Like I mentioned, I plan to do the same with my 11yo when the time is right, but with the expectation to have it take 1 1/2-2 years.
I had heard that the first few chapters were challenging and your thoughts on taking 1.5-2yrs make me feel better about maybe stretching it out a bit.
Yes, Jeaninpa, my son can be very rigid regarding “the schedule”. It is way too easy for him to get caught up in just checking off the little boxes and not really enjoying/learning the material. I’m afraid he’s a lot like me in this area *sigh*.
Thanks for your suggestions. I feel more confident now in just letting him work through the book at his own pace. Thanks!
Are you trying to follow the program as is, including all the On Your Own questions, study guide, tests, vocabulary, etc.? If so, maybe you could take a different approach and just have him read and narrate as he reads the module. You could also just pick and choose some of the vocabulary and some of the On Your Own questions instead of doing them all. And something I did when we used Apologia was I didn’t do the study guides or tests. I made my own CM style tests. Anyway, those are just some additional thoughts. 🙂
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