Doing enough

[pecangrove]

How do you know when you're doing enough each day? Do you go strictly by how many pages of this or that gets done, or by how your child is feeling, or by the clock?
Today was our first day of school (he's in K, doing 1st g work). I had gone through last week and taken each day's folder and put in the pages I wanted done that day. It seemed to be plenty, but when we did the work today he finished it all in about an hour and half. Is that enough, or does that sound right?
He did 2 lessons from his Letters and Sounds (a beka) book, 2 pages from his Handbook for Reading (abeka), 3 sheets of addition, his daily calendar math, our free reading (I read short stories to him, or he reads a reader to me), one page from his Health, Safety and Manners book and then he watched a LeapFrog dvd.
Does that sound adequate, or should I add more somewhere?
Thank you!

[MamaBear]

How do you know when you're doing enough each day? Do you go strictly by how many pages of this or that gets done, or by how your child is feeling, or by the clock?
Today was our first day of school (he's in K, doing 1st g work). I had gone through last week and taken each day's folder and put in the pages I wanted done that day. It seemed to be plenty, but when we did the work today he finished it all in about an hour and half. Is that enough, or does that sound right?
He did 2 lessons from his Letters and Sounds (a beka) book, 2 pages from his Handbook for Reading (abeka), 3 sheets of addition, his daily calendar math, our free reading (I read short stories to him, or he reads a reader to me), one page from his Health, Safety and Manners book and then he watched a LeapFrog dvd.
Does that sound adequate, or should I add more somewhere?
Thank you!

Sounds like your ds is doing well. Reading about him doing Abeka Letters and sounds and the Handbook for Reading brought back fond memories of my ds doing Abeka.

What I did with our curriculum was take how many days we were required to do per year and then look at how many pages were in the work book and divide that out . If he finishes early and is up to doing more assignments there is nothing getting ahead of himself in case you have a sick day or something.

Great job!

[pecangrove]

I know with the letters and sounds book there are 150 lessons, but each one is only 1 page. That's why we did 2 today. Each day of the week will be a little different; for example, tomorrow will be reading/writing, math and science, with misc. stuff like free reading, computer games, etc.
We'll do science and SS each 2x a week with L. Arts and math being our daily base.
I just want to make sure I'm doing enough, and it's hard to tell, esp. at the first of the year.

[MamaBear]

I know with the letters and sounds book there are 150 lessons, but each one is only 1 page. That's why we did 2 today. Each day of the week will be a little different; for example, tomorrow will be reading/writing, math and science, with misc. stuff like free reading, computer games, etc.
We'll do science and SS each 2x a week with L. Arts and math being our daily base.
I just want to make sure I'm doing enough, and it's hard to tell, esp. at the first of the year.

Are you using the entire curriculum from Abeka?

[pecangrove]

No, just the Letters and Sounds set, Handbook for Reading set, and then a couple of other books. One is a Health, Safety and Manners and the other is a SS book - can't think of the name of it right this moment! :)
We have a handwriting workbook, for math we do a calendar math set I made and Miquon, for science we have a workbook and then lots of experiment sets. Then we also have random activity books, arts/crafts, a DVD based guitar lessons thing that DH bought, computer games, Leap Pad books and all kinds of reading books.

[MamaBear]

Sounds like you have the entire curr covered.

When my ds' were in that grade they would finish early too. We were required to do four hours per day.

[Actressdancer]

K was at most a 2 hour event each day for us.

Don't stress about Kindergarten. Seriously. Remember that most school districts don't even require it.

[ColoradoMom]

I can honestly say that we've never gone over 3 or 4 hours for any of the grades we've done, and that pretty much includes k-12.

Last year it was about 2 to 2.5 hours (5th grade)

Next year it will be more like 3 to 4 horus, but only because he wants to do Japanese and it adds 30 minutes to his day everday.

I've heard of families doing homeschool hours like a regular school day - I just don't know what they do with all that time. :confused:

[Deena]

That's about right for K. Sometimes we did only a few minutes, sometimes we did 3 hours. I went with the flow of how the child felt.

This is important: If you assign an amount that you think is adequate for him to get done in a day to get things done in the school year, and he gets it done, does it matter whether it takes 45 minutes or 5 hours? He got stuff done in 1 1/2 hours which is good for K. DON'T "PUNISH" HIM FOR DOING A GOOD JOB AND GETTING HIS WORK DONE, BY GIVING HIM MORE WORK!

It'll work out well. He's still little. Let him be a kid still as much as possible. K doesn't have to be too hard or structured, because they learn so well with hands-on stuff and following their lead to a certain extent!

But it sounds like your plans are good, and solid, and he'll do fine!

[Birbitt]

That sounds great to me, my boys are also both doing Kinder this year and our days take from 1-2 hours. We do bible, math, phonics, handwriting daily, with science and ss each on two days a week, and we have art and music (which we don't really plan at this age it just happens) they play outside or swim each day as well but I don't include that in school time. So it sounds right to me.

[kbabe1968]

YES...it is enough!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!

[pecangrove]

Great - I feel much better now. Here we don't have an hours restriction, until you get to highschool, that is.
We just have to do 180 days per year. I couldn't imagine having to do 4 hours - I have no idea what I would do to fill in that time. I felt he did more than enough work today and that only took that short time.
I was mainly concerned bc we are doing 1st grade work, even though he's technically in K bc of his birthday. I just want to be sure we're doing enough for first grade, if that makes sense.
I'm with you - I think they should be allowed to be kids, as long as they can. Once they're grown it's just over.
Thanks for the advice/opinions/support!!!

[ami*]

Most of our K days (last year) were about one hour (90 minutes at most). I believe in short lessons and focusing on learning to love to learn more than anything else in the elementary years. ;)

Of course, there was quite a bit of independent learning that went on well after "school" was over... drawing, building, reading, listening to Jim Weiss or Ann Rachlin on CD while playing, exploring outside, cooking, doing puzzles/mazes/Madlibs, etc.

I think it's hard to put school in a neat little package. I am sure you are doing plenty. :)

[ami*]

[QUOTE=pecangrove;199530]I was mainly concerned bc we are doing 1st grade work, even though he's technically in K bc of his birthday. I just want to be sure we're doing enough for first grade, if that makes sense.
QUOTE]

I anticipate our first grade days to look something like this~

Morning Work ~
Bible Memory/Topics from Instruction in Righteousness (over breakfast)

Handwriting/Copywork/Draw Write Now 5-15 minutes
Math- 15 minutes
Read book of choice to me- 10 minutes
Picture Study - 5-10 minutes
Unit Study- 30-45 minutes

Afternoon "work" ~
Independent Reading- 1 hour (my son does this on his own free will)
One day per week (rain or shine)- Nature Study/Journal
One day per week - Tea time with poetry
One day per week- He is in charge of planning a meal and making it (with a little help from me)

I usually play books on tape or other good CDs (scripture, Jim Weiss, Ann Rachlin, Classical Kids, etc.) while he builds things/plays in his room.

Family Worship with dad

Bedtime - Read aloud
This counts as school, too! :D I have a read aloud schedule made out for the year, and I'm really hoping to stick to it!

So, our structured school time (at most) is still under the 2 hour mark. :)

[Emma's#1fan]

I agree, you are doing fine!:D

[pecangrove]

Like you, we are always "in school", in the way that he is always learning. He helps me cook, shop, wash dishes, fold laundry, we go on walks, he plays outside, we listen to all sorts of music and read all sorts of books. I don't count that in my school time - just the bookwork-type of stuff... you know, the things that the school officials would want to see if they ever come and check-up on us. After reading your responses I feel good now about our "schedule." Thank you so much!!

[kbabe1968]

Like you, we are always "in school", in the way that he is always learning. He helps me cook, shop, wash dishes, fold laundry, we go on walks, he plays outside, we listen to all sorts of music and read all sorts of books. I don't count that in my school time - just the bookwork-type of stuff... you know, the things that the school officials would want to see if they ever come and check-up on us. After reading your responses I feel good now about our "schedule." Thank you so much!!

But something that you need to remember is that those life skills ARE SCHOOL! :D Life is learning, and learning is life when you are homeschooler. Yes, we do need to quantify that education for the bureaucrats....but...Those things count...

Cooking is Math and life skills, reading is well, READING. Shopping is Math/economics, planning, etc. Playing with legos is engineering/logic...etc...

I'm not an unschooler, and we have organized school time (8 y/o does about 3 sit down hours a day, 6 y/o does about 2). I count everyting. Running around in the backyard for 1/2 hour or more is PE! Setting the table, clearing the table, cleaning around the house and doing laundry (which yes, my kids have chores), are community service! :D

Anyway....

Thinking outside the "schoolhouse" box. :D

[TeacherMom]

How do you know when you're doing enough each day? Do you go strictly by how many pages of this or that gets done, or by how your child is feeling, or by the clock?
Today was our first day of school (he's in K, doing 1st g work). I had gone through last week and taken each day's folder and put in the pages I wanted done that day. It seemed to be plenty, but when we did the work today he finished it all in about an hour and half. Is that enough, or does that sound right?
He did 2 lessons from his Letters and Sounds (a beka) book, 2 pages from his Handbook for Reading (abeka), 3 sheets of addition, his daily calendar math, our free reading (I read short stories to him, or he reads a reader to me), one page from his Health, Safety and Manners book and then he watched a LeapFrog dvd.
Does that sound adequate, or should I add more somewhere?
Thank you!
Uhmmm.. Yes?
ALl of the above!
We do it by how many pages is in the assigned books for each day, and cover that with how ds or dd are doing with attitudes and focus. If they are having a hard time somedays I cut the lesson in half if they are trying really hard. If its trouble because they are being bratty, I tend to load on a nother page or worksheet.
Not always but often.
Sometimes when there is trouble I switch orders of the work and do a page down the road and the come back tomorrow to the one that was a problem too.
But for the most part I have a schedule of time on my wall and dh likes us to go by it so he knows if he sees them goffing off they are supposed to or not.

[mamamuse]

I also look at the books and divide out what we need to accomplish daily & weekly to complete a subject by the end of the year, then assign that much to stay on track.

Here we are required to do 4.5 hours each day, which is absolutely RIDICULOUS, in my opinion, for early elementary grades. But, thankfully, lots of things count as school time, such as free reading, playing outside (PE), cooking, cleaning (life skills), board games, educational TV, etc.

I'd say that last year in kindergarten, Eli spent less than 2 hours a day on bookwork. Zach usually takes at least 3 hours to do all his assignments, but as others have said, some days he drags it out much longer than that. Other days, he finishes early.

I read a lot of teacher message boards to get ideas to use in our homeschool, and I am shocked by how much time they spend on "rules and procedures". So I figure whether we're doing the "required" 4.5 hours each day, we're still doing more or at least as much as the public schools.

[MonkeyMamma]

It sounds like you will be just fine! I am no where near as structured as some of you for K and I think you all are doing great. I have no schedule for my K student. We have a math book and phonics program and tons of other books and games and she has planted a garden and will raise ladybugs and butterflies. She helps me cook, do laundry, shop, set the table, you get the idea. Life is our homeschool I guess you could say and we believe you can learn from things all around you. Again sounds like your doing great.

[Deena]

If its trouble because they are being bratty, I tend to load on a nother page or worksheet.
Not always but often.Be careful with that though. You want them to enjoy learning as much as possible. Using schoolwork as a "punishment" could start making them dislike or resent doing schoolwork.

Just a thought...

Course your kids are older, so they're more able to handle that. I wouldn't do that for youngers though.

[TeacherMom]

I have only had to do that once or twice with ds10, he looked at it and said OKay wait, if I am obedient and do my two pages with out fussing I get to be done with ti, if I fuss I get more worksheets.. hmm, no I wont fuss mom! Lol
so it worked for me but yes its true it could back fire on you too.