Jonathan not only has workbooks left to finish but he also was having a very hard time focusing on his work so we needed to find a solution. I did some brainstorming with my Mom and between our ideas this is the solution that has worked:
My kids are racing to get their schoolwork done each day. Each morning we start out with Jonathan and Mara reading through their Math lesson and doing their practice problems while Aaron reads aloud to me. For that we do not race. But then they all come to the living room and I say "On your Mark get set, GO!" and off they race to their desk and Jonathan does 10 Math problems (1/3 of his lesson), Mara does 12 problems (1/2 of her lesson) and Aaron does one page. Whoever gets done first can have 5 chocolate or butterscotch chips. We continue to race through the rest of their work.
I have divided their work into pretty short sections so the races go pretty fast. They do have to correct any problems they get wrong so they aren't hurrying to the point of not doing a good job. The races have simply helped them (Jonathan especially- the other two generally already did a pretty good job) to stay focused and concentrate.
We have all loved the result as now we are all done with schoolwork (except our fun read aloud learning books which we do year round after lunch) anytime from 10:30-11:30 and we are starting our workbook time around 9:15-9:30 (after we pray, sing, memorize and read a little). That really frees us up for the rest of the day to get other stuff done. We have always tried to get done before lunch (which can sometimes be at 1:30 pm) but this extra hour or two of time is very nice!
Anyway- for now racing with our schoolwork is working very well for us!
My kids are so far behind in book work. We sort of took all of Dec. off and many other days, but now when it is nice out we are in (or out and doing the work outside.)
ReplyDeleteMy kids are 2nd and 7th grade. At this point they do need to do some reading and book work, but they do other things and it has become a really bad situation.
As it stands now we will not be done until the end of July, but I started watching my baby nephew which is a lot for me so I am not on them as much and so far this week they have not done any school work.
Please pray for me, I have started to yell, which helps no one. Pray they would listen and actually do their school work as well.
I homeschool also. We use an online curriculum. So my boys age 7 and 10 only have to have 90% done to be completed for the year. My youngest is a grade ahead in math and reading. I don't make them finish history, art, music, and science since those subjects are repeated every year. I do make them finish math and reading though. My youngest is done with school. My oldest has a few lessons left and then he is done!!! That gives us time to work on 4-H projects and garden and just have fun!!
ReplyDeleteReagan is all done with her PACEs but Javon still has around 2 in each subject to complete. I also have him work until they are done. :-) The public school system in WA goes through the end of June so it's not a big deal to have them work into June but it has been soooo nice that we've really scaled back the past few days and spent lots of outside time. When the rain comes back we'll race for the finish line. :-) Have a great day and please tell Ken that I said Hi.
ReplyDelete