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Specifying due dates?
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OK, I am really starting to like how the CM Organizer works, for the most part, even though I am finding it hard to let go of the “future scheduling” idea. I think I will have to create a school year calendar separate that will let me plan when we are “OFF” school and when we are “ON” so that I know we have enough days scheduled for the year. But I digress…
If I want to assign 1-2 chapters of a book to be read throughout the week, but should be completed by Friday, how to I specify that in the Organizer? Where should I indicate to the boys the “due date” of when they should have an assignment completed?
Thanks,
This isn’t an “organizer” solution, but I just estimate what I want them to read per week==2 chapters, or 15 pages, or whatever, and then put it on a stickynote on the inside cover of the book. Then the boys just check off when they are done.
Then the boys just check off when they are done.
And check off “Worked on” each day they do the reading? Until they are finished and more it complete?
Well, I don’t require them to do that. For my boys, that would be micromanaging them (they are teens) I don’t care which days they work on something, or how many days it takes them–just when they get it done, I want to know. So we don’t go into that much detail.
So you don’t have to keep track of hours for your teens in order to track credits/units? And your teens are diligent enough not to have to set due dates? My boys just turned 12 last week (fraternal twins) so I am not sure just HOW independent teens can be trusted to be. I hope quite!
Cindy,
I do create a separate school schedule on paper before I enter anything into the Organizer; I use Sonya’s five-part planning system to get the ‘future’ planning and the finishing dates that I’m shooting for. I follow the 5 parts, enter my items into the Organizer and some things have specific pages to be “finished” everytime it’s scheduled, other things have no divisions and are just marked as “worked on” . Mine are 9, so I still enter them in, but when they get old enough and are doing their own entering, I will want them to mark as ‘worked on’ or ‘finished’, personally. They’re required to mark it on their print out sheet now, which is preparing them for entering it in themsleves when they’re older.
But you don’t have to let go go of future scheduling using Sonya’s 5-part plan:http://simplycharlottemason.com/2008/03/12/new-planning-series/ when you scroll down, you can access the remaining posts and then get all the scheduling organized.
Rachel
Cindy,
No, I don’t track hours. I decide in advance what work will constitute a credit, and then I set up the course and put it in the planner. I don’t set “due dates” per se. They have the work set up on their section of the Organizer. Each week or day (for convenience’ sake, I often put some things on different days–but I no longer “tell” them on what days they have to do things. I can easily see if they have worked on a particular thing–all I have to do is look at the computer, it’ll show me what the last day was that they did, say, history. So I’d know if they were trying to sneak off a month without doing any. 🙂 They haven’t tried that really yet. I glance each day at what they’ve accomplished before they get extra things like their ipods or computer time, and that’s pretty motivating, so they seem to do the work most of the time with no trouble.
And, in my experience, with teens–most of the time, what you expect is what you get. When they fail, it’s probably an issue needing some training and teaching. But if I’ve taught them the skills, and told them what I expect, then I just expect it. In my experience, teen boys LIKE to have more responsibility and want less managing. Mine are now 16 and 14 (and a 10yo trying to act like big brothers) and we’ve been working on it for a while, but it seems to be going OK most of the time. (Now, don’t ask me on a bad day, lol. )
In my experience, teen boys LIKE to have more responsibility and want less managing. Mine are now 16 and 14 (and a 10yo trying to act like big brothers) and we’ve been working on it for a while, but it seems to be going OK most of the time.
I am hoping that we are on the right track for this, too.
- I have allowed them the freedom to choose what order to do their subjects in each day, which often changed from day-to-day, even when I was at home with them.
- This past year, they have had to decide when to actually START their school for the day, with the occasional reminder from their dad to “get going!” and the corresponding consequences of still doing work in the evenings if they started too late in the day.
- I have worked with them to design the weekly schedule in such a way as they felt they would work best, involving them in the design process.
- We were trying to follow a more CM approach for most of this year trying to do short lessons and I tried to teach them about alternating the “skill-based” versus the “inspirational” subjects, but they often didn’t take that advice! The many short lessons each day was causing problems with them being able to focus on some tasks.
- Late this past school year, we switched to a more “block schedule” to try for a while and they are loving it! Especially my LD son who has a difficult time with too many transitions each day. Following a more “block schedule” for the major subjects, but still having math, spelling, and handwriting 4 days/week, means they have fewer transitions from subject to subject each day.
So I hope we are on the right track such that when they reach high school in 2 years, they will be able to have a list of tasks for the week and just get them done on their own time/schedule. And yes, computer time is a great motivator!
I use Sonya’s five-part planning system to get the ‘future’ planning and the finishing dates that I’m shooting for. I follow the 5 parts, enter my items into the Organizer…
Thank you, Rachel. I have the Simply CM Planner as well, and have found it extremely helpful to get a clearer picture on how to schedule resources throughout the year. Before reading the planner, I would easily get overwhelmed the amount I wanted to accomplish with what was realistic! It was very helpful to start being able to do regular picture and composer study which I wasn’t able to do before. I need to go back to it and make sure it’s up to date with my current plans and apply that to my CM Organizer. And see how that works with creating a school year schedule showing when we plan to take time off and track when we actually do take time off.
Thanks for your input!
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