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My ds age 12 enjoys all of his independent work. He is currently working in Preparing with extensions, storytime and DITHOR - the full load, BUT I don't quite have enough time available every day for all of the teacher or semi-independent work. By the time we've done math, grammar, dictation and/or a writing assignment I can help him with one more thing which is either DITHOR, the science experiement or the history project. I'm trying to figure out how to keep him moving ahead and still complete all the work in the guide. Your thoughts?

deltagal wrote:My ds age 12 enjoys all of his independent work. He is currently working in Preparing with extensions, storytime and DITHOR - the full load, BUT I don't quite have enough time available every day for all of the teacher or semi-independent work. By the time we've done math, grammar, dictation and/or a writing assignment I can help him with one more thing which is either DITHOR, the science experiement or the history project. I'm trying to figure out how to keep him moving ahead and still complete all the work in the guide. Your thoughts?

I can tell you what we do!

We do Math, Grammar, Spelling, and Reading every day. BUT, the rest of the guide we sort of follow a "loop" schedule. By that I mean that we finish as much as we can each day, then we pick right up where we left off when we start the next day. (Most days, we're able to get everything done, but occasionally we just don't get to everything.) I hope that makes sense! I know that if I make it my highest priority to finish everything (as opposed to making loving God and others my highest aim), I tend to struggle with my attitude. This gives me an "out" so I don't get anxious when we have fallen a bit behind schedule.

HTH!

Thank you for your reply. Yes, you are doing what we need/want to do. And I completely agree with the priority. That's been my main goal this year to live and set a Christian example on the "small" things. Our focus this year is progress each day - not necessarily completion. Practically speaking I'm trying to figure out a way to make it "look" for my son. He likes for me to give him a list at the beginning of each week with his tasks for each day, which he then checks off. (It's basically a Monday through Friday grid.) I'm trying to figure out how to recognize our floating boxes on the grid, so he can feel on track and yet, recognize when he still needs to do more work on a certain day. Hmmm. Maybe I should create a row on the grid that has all the assignments that we tend to get backed up on (Science exploration and experiment, DITHOR w/mom, History writing, poetry Project, and History project. Or maybe I should just leave Friday open - other than math, grammar and dictation - to complete everything that's not been done.

Our current mo is he has kept of list of all the "skipped" assignments for the last month and we're using this week to complete them. I'm always looking for a better plan.

I would put DITHR at the top of the list. If he did Bigger last year then he should be able to do the Science box pretty independently. Hopefully if he isn't quite there yet, he will be soon so it shouldn't require much of your time. The history project is another thing that I think he will be able to do fairly independently. If you were able to take 5 or 10 minutes on Monday to look through the history project box for the week with him and help him figure out what he needs for it, then he should be able to take control of it for the rest of the week. I know both the science experiment and the history project are a bit scary to let our dc take over completely. It often times involves something messy like paint or clay or water. I know I left mine painting the other day and had to run errands that took a while. I was really nervous as to what I would find when I got home. I was pleasantly surprised that they hadn't made a mess and had cleaned things up fairly well! It's a work in progress but they are getting much better and I am trying to trust them with these things. So far, they have done their science experiments totally independent of me. I got out some of the items that they would need for the experiments because they wouldn't know where to find them but that is all I've done. So I'm thinking that soon your ds should be able to do those things fairly independently.

DITHR is something that might take more of your teaching time especially if this is your first year with it. We just started DITHR for this year today. I was waiting until we got in a good routine with everything else and until I was ready. In reading through the "Getting Started" section of DITHR again I noticed that it said that about 1/2 of the time in level 4/5, the student does their work independently. I was happy to read that! If you are still having problems getting the teaching time in for DITHR, you could use the "Emergency Options" in the student guide which makes it pretty independent. At least that way he would still be getting his DITHR done even if you don't have the time to do the teaching.

I think your idea of finishing up projects on Friday is a good idea too. So far our plan has been to try to complete everything in 4 days and then have Fridays for field trips or educational games, but if we don't complete something during the week then that has to be done on Friday before we can do the other things. I'm only doing the grammar and math (3Rs) four days a week this year as scheduled in Preparing. I really think my dc are enjoying having that one day a week off to pursue a different kind of learning in math and grammar and I'll admit, I am enjoying it too.

deltagal wrote:My ds age 12 enjoys all of his independent work. He is currently working in Preparing with extensions, storytime and DITHOR - the full load, BUT I don't quite have enough time available every day for all of the teacher or semi-independent work. By the time we've done math, grammar, dictation and/or a writing assignment I can help him with one more thing which is either DITHOR, the science experiement or the history project. I'm trying to figure out how to keep him moving ahead and still complete all the work in the guide. Your thoughts?

I'm so glad your ds is doing well with PHFHG. Teaching time becomes more streamlined in PHFHG on up with HOD, so helping dc learn skills at working independently is important to do (especially as you are a busy mom teaching multiple dc with a baby too) . So, the first thing I'd try to do is teach ds to do Science Exploration independently. It is an "I" box in PHFHG, and it will be from here on out, so teaching ds how to do that box independently will reap a harvest for not only now but also for years to come.

When we finished my teaching time for math, grammar, etc., at the end I'd have my ds read through the Science box with me. I'd have him tell me in his own words what he was going to have to do, and then ask if he had any questions. He then did it next. We did this for awhile until he took it over completely with success. We did the same for the History Projects. However, that box is "S" semi-independent, so that may be something he reads through, tells you in his own words what he'll do, and you'll take 5 min. to start him on it successfully. For DITHOR, is he doing Level 6/7/8? If he is, that is meant to be pretty independent. It is only 3 times a week, and teaching time is pretty stream-lined. It is important to do those teaching times. So, I agree that is a priority teaching-wise. If he is finishing out 4/5, then your teaching time will be longer. If he is ready for 6/7/8 and he is finishing out 4/5, he might just want to make the switch to 6/7/8 now, as that will naturally cut down on your teaching time. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Patty and Julie,

Thank you for your comments. You've given me some GREAT thoughts and ideas on how to move him to a higher level of performance. I'm grateful! I'll keep you posted.