7th grader doing Preparing independently?

[Sue G in PA]

Could my 7th grader do most of Preparing independently? If you have done this could you give me some advice on how to do this? Should I photocopy the manual for ds to use on his own? Or perhaps make him his own weekly schedule? I imagine he will enjoy sitting with us for some of the reading (as he is not an avid reader) but the rest I think he can do independently. And, honestly, I need for him to be 80% independent this year to make it easier on me. Any bits of advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[inHistiming]

I think a 7th grader could certainly do Preparing...independently. It has two boxes that are marked I for independent for each day, some that are semi-independent, and others that are teacher-led but you could create a schedule for him to be able to use it on his own. As far as photocopying, I don't think that would be absolutely necessary. You could arrange your schedule so that he uses the manual while you are doing other subjects with your other dc where it is not needed, then he could do his 'other subjects' while you are using the manual with them....and all of you could do any story time or history readings together that you choose. There are extensions available as well so you could have the 7th grader read those and follow the suggested activities in the appendix, such as oral narration, written narration, etc. HTH, and I'm sure others will be along to offer their suggestions as well.

[deltagal]

Hi Sue,

My 7th grade son did Preparing independently with ease. The challenge is checking up on the work and making sure they're not cutting corners!

[Sue G in PA]

Yes, Florence, I can definitely see that being that case with ds12! Thanks for the responses. Anything that you did to facilitate the independence? Did you make up a weekly schedule just for him? That is what I plan to do....and refer him to the TM for experiments and instructions that are detailed and already in the TM.

[deltagal]

Yes, Florence, I can definitely see that being that case with ds12! Thanks for the responses. Anything that you did to facilitate the independence? Did you make up a weekly schedule just for him? That is what I plan to do....and refer him to the TM for experiments and instructions that are detailed and already in the TM.

I worked with him pretty closely for the first several weeks helping him get into the rhythm of Preparing. Then, he pretty much took off on his own - we would meet first thing before breakfast to get him going and then I would check in with him between my meetings with my other 2 boys and then we would wrap up items at the end of the day. I found it best to meet with him on the teacher directed items first thing, because he would sometimes get over involved in research and independent reading and make the day last too long. I never really developed a schedule as many of the others have. We tend to simply "roll" through our day and I work with each child in blocks of time.