Do you "chunk" your boxes or "disperse"

[Rebecca]

Okay ladies,
Do you chunk your boxes together... i.e. combine all of the reading at one time on the couch, all of the table work, all of the activity oriented boxes throughout your week.
Or do you alternate boxes: couch, table, activity, etc.

I would love to hear!

I have found myself chunking and that working much better for us...but I am always troubleshooting...
first year HOD here!
Rebecca

[inHistiming]

We do ours in "chunks" of time. I start in the morning with Bible study, music and poetry study. Then, we move to the table and they do their English, Math, Spelling, Handwriting or copy work, and any art or history/science activity. Once we do that, it's lunch time...sometimes we finish this after lunch. Once all the written work is complete, we move to the couch and do our history reading (which includes the extension pack, read aloud) for Bigger...and story time reading. If it is a day on which we need to do Health or ETC, etc. we add that to our "independent" time at the table.

My 5 yo ds- we do his in 1 "chunk" since LHTH only takes about 30 minutes.

[6timeboymom]

I give my boys an assignment card for the week, separated into the "independent" and the "together" work. Then they know what they can be doing on their own, and what they need to wait for their brothers to do. I don't mind if they work ahead on math, handwriting, etc. if they chose to do so.
Now my younger two, we do a quiet box, then an active box, then a quiet box, etc so that we can get some of those wiggles out after sitting through a story or a workbook page.

[mamas4bugs]

We tend to chunk, but I'm going to have to remember that quiet box/active box pattern when my littlest gets into LHTH.

[beandip71]

I am a "chunker" too. It works well for us because my dd likes to lay under the table when I read to her. I find it hard to get her back to the table when I am done, so I save all read-alouds for the end of school. HTH!

Gina

[water2wine]

I guess we chunk too. I do the read alouds all together and save the more independent stuff for later in the day. It just seems to work better when switching between two programs and also getting them into that mode of being still is hard to do over and over but easy for us to do in a chunk.

[Teena6]

I do mine in a chunk for LHFHG..... and we break it up for BHFHG for my dd.

It works that way for us. LHFHG doesn't take us very long...

[ncmomof5]

I'm gonna have to say that we don't chunk. I have a four year old in LHTH and a seven year old in Beyond and two fifth graders. I have tried many different ways to get school done with this "group", but for me the only thing that has worked is to have the older two do their independent stuff while I am doing LHTH and Beyond with the younger two. I go back and forth between the two younger boys and try to vary the subjects. It takes me about 2 and a half hours with the younger two, we take a break and then I come back and sit down with the older two and do their teaching time. But I try to vary that so that we are doing Bible/Poetry and then Lang. Arts, and then History. CM said it was a good idea to do short lessons and to vary the subject matter from lesson to lesson. But, hey, if chunking works for you, I say go with it. I just couldn't do it, because when I did, my four year old was getting neglected or my seven year old didn't know what to do with himself and so on. So there's my two cents. You've gotta find what works for you and your children at they age they are now. You may do fine chunking now, and do better "dispersing" in 6mo. Just one of the beauties of homeschooling.

[Kathleen]

I think we do "mini-chunks". I start with Bible/Poetry/History with my oldest. Then we move downstairs to do our hymn CD and do the corresponding history box for the day (which may or may not be active). Then I start him on some independent sit-down stuff while I go to do LHTH with the younger 2. Then with my oldest we do Storytime/Science/DITHOR to finish out the day. I'd lose my ds's attention if I did ALL the reading together, but moving through the Bible/Poetry/History chunk fits us about right before we change locations and sitting positions (while maximizing our time without moving around too much).

Kathleen

[Carrie]

We have done it both ways through the years depending on what ages my kiddos were and who needed me when!

The thing that I have actually found most helpful in the sequencing of the subjects is some advice from CM. She says to vary subjects that are inspirational with those that disciplinary.

Inspirational subjects are those that take thought while disciplinary subjects are those that can be painstaking, requiring repeated practice to acquire the skills.

Inspirational Subjects:
Bible
Music
Literature
Nature Study
Picture Study
Poetry
Read-Aloud
Science
History

Disciplinary Subjects:
Art
Composition
Dictation
Foreign Language
Geography
Grammar
Handwriting
Mathematics
P.E.
Handicrafts

Catherine Levison says, "We always vary the lessons to keep them fresh. It is invigorating to go from math to poetry, or from penmanship to history. Choose the school subjects so that they alternate from painstaking lessons (i.e. they already know the material but require further practice) and subjects that take thought."

While I do not always follow this to a "T", I find it very helpful when setting up my routine.

Blessings,
Carrie

[MamaMary]

Carrie, thank you for this reminder. I totally agree, but it's so easy to get busy and forget. I LOVE Catherine Levinson and now I can't find any of my her books? I don't know what I did with them. Those would be excellent for our support groups library!

[water2wine]

Hmm after reading Carries reply maybe I will try unchunking. That makes sense if I can get them to focus for read alouds more than once. It might actually make it easier on me as well. Carries post and Julie's schedule is making me think I might try doing things a bit different. I mean if all else fails what we have been doing works and we have fun with it but I am always up for more fun and I could see that this might actually help with focus and retention. I am trying to imagine though what an unchuncked schedule looks like?

[Rebecca]

Thanks for all these great replies!
Carrie- thanks for all that info!
You break it down so well!

Rebecca

[Carrie]

I can't take credit for the list... as it's CM's own! I just love to use it as a guideline. The Catherine Levison books are my favorite CM resource. I need to post more pearls of wisdom from CM, as there are so many that pertain to the day-to-day!

water2wine, if you enjoy chunking, there's no problems in that...especially if your schedule is going well. But, you may wish to alternate discplinary subjects with inspirational subjects during your chunk to get the same effect.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Natreez]

Well without realizing it I guess I don't chunk. It sounds like we are doing just what you mentioned Carrie as far as alternating inspirational and disciplinary subjects. Originally my goal when coming up with a schedule was to keep with my son's rhythm. He has a hard time getting his engine revved up so we begin each day getting warmed up with poetry, after this he's usually pretty alert and ready to go so we launch right into his most difficult subject which is math, I then just continue to alternate subjects that require him to sit still and concentrate with those allow him to wiggle. (As I've shared before...my son's quite the wiggler so if I alternate his schedule like this it keeps him focused and out of trouble.)
However...I totally agree with Carrie that you should do what works best for you and your children. Some children might find it distracting and too difficult to get settle back down into concentration mode. (My older son was like that.)

Natreez