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THE TIMER I don't know why I didn't think to use it at first. I think I actually assume my younger dc will somehow just naturally learn the time management skills my older ds now has in place on their own. No luck there. I actually made myself rewind in my mind back to when I was first teaching PHFHG to my oldest. I remember setting the timer for each box and letting him know that was about the amount of time he should be spending on an activity. I also remember helping him learn to read each box's directions very carefully and diligently teaching him how to do each box for the first time. So, after a longer day than usual of PHFHG with my middle ds, I pulled out the timer the next day, and took the time to lovingly show him the ins and outs of each PHFHG box, as well as help him learn to manage his time with the timer. It took an entire hour off of our day! WOW! He was Mr. Organized, even tucking his pencil behind his ear, and saying, "Now let's see, I have about 10 minutes left here, so I'd better wrap this one up, Mom!". I use the timer as a training tool at the start of a guide, and usually within 2-4 weeks, it's not necessary anymore, but I somehow didn't think to do that this year with Riley. I just thought I'd share this, as it may help someone else teach their dc how to better manage their time, as well as shave some time off the day!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks Julie! What a great tool to use. I think we will pull ours back out.

my3sons wrote:THE TIMER I don't know why I didn't think to use it at first. I think I actually assume my younger dc will somehow just naturally learn the time management skills my older ds now has in place on their own. No luck there. I actually made myself rewind in my mind back to when I was first teaching PHFHG to my oldest. I remember setting the timer for each box and letting him know that was about the amount of time he should be spending on an activity. I also remember helping him learn to read each box's directions very carefully and diligently teaching him how to do each box for the first time. So, after a longer day than usual of PHFHG with my middle ds, I pulled out the timer the next day, and took the time to lovingly show him the ins and outs of each PHFHG box, as well as help him learn to manage his time with the timer. It took an entire hour off of our day! WOW! He was Mr. Organized, even tucking his pencil behind his ear, and saying, "Now let's see, I have about 10 minutes left here, so I'd better wrap this one up, Mom!". I use the timer as a training tool at the start of a guide, and usually within 2-4 weeks, it's not necessary anymore, but I somehow didn't think to do that this year with Riley. I just thought I'd share this, as it may help someone else teach their dc how to better manage their time, as well as shave some time off the day!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for sharing this, Julie! We're planning on doing Preparing next year, and I think this will help us out LOTS!!!!

That's a good idea to keep in my back pocket in the years ahead. I have a daydreamer.

Thanks for sharing that. I was thinking just today that I need to get a clock back in our school room. Our old one died and I haven't replaced it. Maybe the timer would work just as well or better. I have one that loves trying to beat the clock and another who needs the clock to remind her to get back on task. For their independent work we've been going through how long each item should take and writing it on the board next to the item. I've had them timing each task and letting me know when they've completed each one. That has helped quite a bit, but I think a timer might help even more. We're doing better with our time, but we still could use to shave a bit more time off and be more efficient.

Thanks for sharing! I want to remember this for next year!

It's nice to know we're not the only ones with time issues. I used it on math just yesterday and it's amazing what they get done, isn't it?

KristinBeth wrote:That's a good idea to keep in my back pocket in the years ahead. I have a daydreamer.

Haha, Kristin, me too! I was thinking I need to tuck this idea back when I saw your post! It's a good thing our girls are not doing school together, or they'd get nothing done!!!

I also use the timer...but for some mysterious reason it has disappeared!! Hmm (no one ever uses that smiley) Hee! Hee!

That's a great idea Julie! Thanks!

Does anyone have problems with a dc who will just ignore the timer-daydreaming or doodling their time away until it goes off and they only have 2 math problems done with a whole margin filled with artwork, and lots of minutes spent in whining that they cannot do it? It's really not too hard-I kept backing her up to "easier" stuff as this year started to hopefully find something that she could get her feet under her and begin to move forward. She's now a 4th grader doing 2nd grade level math-the same stuff that she flew through at the beginning of last year. My husband has said not to move her back anymore. He's given her plenty of "principal" talks lately, and she's still giving me fits. We finally took the rest of this week off from schoolwork because we were all so burned out and frustrated with eachother, but now I'm dreading Monday...Any thoughts?

my3sons wrote: I don't know why I didn't think to use it at first. I think I actually assume my younger dc will somehow just naturally learn the time management skills my older ds now has in place on their own. No luck there. I actually made myself rewind in my mind back to when I was first teaching PHFHG to my oldest.

This is so true. There are SO many things that I find with my youngers that I somehow just assume they will automatically know or pick up, just because my older does. I often forget the (sometimes lengthy) training periods I went through with older dd before she got to that point. I guess I just think that once we jump a hurdle one time, I'm done, and it often takes me by surprise when I have to do it again when the next kid in line comes up.

mom23 wrote:Does anyone have problems with a dc who will just ignore the timer-daydreaming or doodling their time away until it goes off and they only have 2 math problems done with a whole margin filled with artwork, and lots of minutes spent in whining that they cannot do it?

Setting a timer always worked great for most of my kiddos. They will glance at it occasionally and keep up with where they stand. HOWEVER, my oldest is my highly distractable dd. What worked well for her was two timers. One for the main time and one for intervals. It sounds complicated, but it really wasn't. And we only had to do this for a few weeks to see vast improvement. If an assignment was to take 20 minutes, I would set the "real" timer for 20 minutes. We would set the "other" timer for 7 minutes. At the end of 7 minutes, the one timer would go off and alarm her to the fact that she was not staying focused. She simply hit the reset button on that timer and got back to work. (It would automatically reset itself for another 7 minutes). And the process was repeated. It worked very well for several weeks. When the "interval" timer started interrupting her working (rather than her daydreaming), we knew it was time to do away with it. She is still a daydreamer, highly distractable little gal, but she has developed the self-discipline to reign it in at least enough to accomplish her tasks in a fairly reasonable amount of time.

My timer is officially off of vacation as has returned to it's rightful place with our school books

holdinon wrote:

my3sons wrote: I don't know why I didn't think to use it at first. I think I actually assume my younger dc will somehow just naturally learn the time management skills my older ds now has in place on their own. No luck there. I actually made myself rewind in my mind back to when I was first teaching PHFHG to my oldest.

This is so true. There are SO many things that I find with my youngers that I somehow just assume they will automatically know or pick up, just because my older does. I often forget the (sometimes lengthy) training periods I went through with older dd before she got to that point. I guess I just think that once we jump a hurdle one time, I'm done, and it often takes me by surprise when I have to do it again when the next kid in line comes up.

mom23 wrote:Does anyone have problems with a dc who will just ignore the timer-daydreaming or doodling their time away until it goes off and they only have 2 math problems done with a whole margin filled with artwork, and lots of minutes spent in whining that they cannot do it?

Setting a timer always worked great for most of my kiddos. They will glance at it occasionally and keep up with where they stand. HOWEVER, my oldest is my highly distractable dd. What worked well for her was two timers. One for the main time and one for intervals. It sounds complicated, but it really wasn't. And we only had to do this for a few weeks to see vast improvement. If an assignment was to take 20 minutes, I would set the "real" timer for 20 minutes. We would set the "other" timer for 7 minutes. At the end of 7 minutes, the one timer would go off and alarm her to the fact that she was not staying focused. She simply hit the reset button on that timer and got back to work. (It would automatically reset itself for another 7 minutes). And the process was repeated. It worked very well for several weeks. When the "interval" timer started interrupting her working (rather than her daydreaming), we knew it was time to do away with it. She is still a daydreamer, highly distractable little gal, but she has developed the self-discipline to reign it in at least enough to accomplish her tasks in a fairly reasonable amount of time.

LOVE it! I've got a timer that is very visual and has a little thing at the top the rises as it's closer to time being up...it's red and says "time is up". Even that hasn't proven to be enough for my oldest who is a daydreamer, but it did make a big improvement! I love the idea of the intervals!!

holdinon wrote:...What worked well for her was two timers. One for the main time and one for intervals. It sounds complicated, but it really wasn't. And we only had to do this for a few weeks to see vast improvement. If an assignment was to take 20 minutes, I would set the "real" timer for 20 minutes. We would set the "other" timer for 7 minutes. At the end of 7 minutes, the one timer would go off and alarm her to the fact that she was not staying focused. She simply hit the reset button on that timer and got back to work. (It would automatically reset itself for another 7 minutes). And the process was repeated. It worked very well for several weeks. When the "interval" timer started interrupting her working (rather than her daydreaming), we knew it was time to do away with it. She is still a daydreamer, highly distractable little gal, but she has developed the self-discipline to reign it in at least enough to accomplish her tasks in a fairly reasonable amount of time.

This is such a good idea! I am putting this one in my memory bank. I think that this would be great for the highly distractible child, and I can see how you'd be able to phase it out then eventually too. Thanks for sharing this great tip!

In Christ,
Julie