help with ctc & bigger schedule.

[netpea]

Hi, today was our first full day using CTC and Bigger and it didn't go as planned. I tried searching but didn't find it. Does anyone have a good routine for doing CTC and Bigger effectively?

[seekhimfirst]

Hi there. I'm not on here much but we are halfway through ctc and bigger (as well as lhfhg) and I saw no one had responded yet. Until this year I was very structured with a schedule to mark off every bit of our day and I hopped around doing one or two boxes with a child then moving on. It worked great last year but this year we have more of a routine that just flows and is much less rigid and is actually less stressful for me not to be watching the clock! I start out with my little hearts guy but that doesn't help you so... basically I do the left side of bigger with my middle while my oldest is doing all the independent CTC boxes. Then I mark a few things that my bigger child can do independently such as cursive, practice the memory verse, practice the hymn, and sometimes she does the vocab on her own now. Lots of times she really enjoys the history activity (such as the card game "war" this week) and will do it again for fun with her younger brother. This is when I work with my oldest in CTC. We go over his work thus far and I do the bible study/geography and storytime with him. After this we take a snack break while I read one of the storytime selections (of one of the younger two) aloud to everyone. This has been great this year. We have a good breakfast at 7 and school starts by 8. Then we usually have our snack about 10:30-11. It's more like a mini lunch really. Pb&j, pb crackers, veggies, fruit, cottage cheese - things that will give them a good boost and hold their tummies. Last year we took out an hour for lunch and chores which made our days longer so I determined this year that we would not have lunch until school is done...it's a good motivator for my dawdler. After snack I begin the right side of the guides working youngest to oldest again. It doesn't take long to do the lhfhg guy so my waiting bigger gal usually does a quick chore or...she's highly motivated so sometimes she even tries to begin her math. My ctc guy usually has some things to finish up but if not he can go ahead and begin his afternoon chores or take one of his two 15 minute educational computer times and do math games. He is also to go ahead and read over the R&S lesson for the day.

I hope that makes sense! I must say our days are so enjoyable this year and they were last year too but it just seems so much more natural like this.

[netpea]

Thank you, that sounds like what I wanted to try. Yesterday was our first full day doing both, we went from 8am to 5:30pm with only a lunch break. Today took just as long. Granted we have a toddler running around. But school for two kids should not take that long! I will try something along these lines tomorrow and see how it goes.

[seekhimfirst]

I forgot to say that we finish up by about 1:30 now doing all 3 guides. But give yourself some grace here - it takes a few weeks to get things going like you want it. I have a 6th grader in CTC too and I love the independence he now has with it and so does he! Hang in there!

[my3sons]

Hi netpea! I don't know if this would help, but here is my schedule for when I taught CTC and Beyond a few years back...


My first day, and often first week, doesn't always go like I thought it would either, so don't be discouraged. Each day gets better, each day gets easier, as dc (and mom) get back into the routine of school again. I will say that taking our summers off does make the transition of starting up again take longer, but to me it is worth it, as summers are some of our only nice weather in SD. I hope your days continue to go more and more smoothly - if there is anything else I can do to help - be sure to let me know!

In Christ,
Julie

[Mom of Three]

Every day is so different. I have to look at the activities and see what's going to need my help and what the kids do on their own --which may be different from the way it's labelled in the guide. Every kid is so different! And some activities take longer than others. So as my oldest works on things independently, I do the things with the youngers that need my help...and when dd needs my help, I have the youngers do things that don't need my help.

And the first week, I never do everything that's scheduled in the guide. We ease into school.

[netpea]

Thanks Julie and MomOfThree,
We just got back from camping and will start school again tomorrow so I'm hoping we get back into the groove easily. Have a great week and I'll let you know how we are doing here!