2 dc in Preparing- take turns or work together on ind. subj?

[sharonb]

Today dd and ds had their first day of Preparing. When it came to the Independent History and Independent Science boxes, it seemed like there was a lot of time wasted. History was okay, because one of them read the selection aloud, and then both of them worked on their drawings. dd was not finished before I wanted them to move on to Science, so I told her she'd have to work on her drawing later (she was taking her time and doing a wonderful job). For science, they decided they would each read it silently. Well, that meant dd was waiting for the book while ds read it to himself. Then he was waiting for her while she read it. Then she was waiting for him while he traced the map. And then I was waiting for both of them because it was time to start the teacher-directed boxes!

I'm thinking I need to make some changes with the schedule (good thing my post-it note schedule is still up on the wall so I can move things around!). First of all, it might work better to move Independent History and Science to the end of the school day, because that way my dd in particular can take as long as she wants. Secondly, I'm considering telling them that they have to take turns with the books, meaning one will do science while the other does history, and then switch.

Any thoughts on this?

[Tidbits of Learning]

I do our independent subjects separately. This way they don't have to share books, wait on each other, or compare their weak spots and strengths. I am unsure what the independent boxes are in Preparing, but for us I have dd11 do History while dd10 does Bible quiet time, then dd11 does Bible quiet time while dd10 does Science. I just do this with all of the independent boxes. I schedule all of CTC's independent boxes (with the girls working on different boxes) while I am working with BLHFHG and LHFHG with my ds's. We then do all of the T&I boxes after I am done with the boys.

[beverett]

I have my boys alternate like you said at the end of your post! One will do the history while the other does the science. Sometimes though, there will still be a wait. One may take longer than the other? Not sure what to do here either?

[Tidbits of Learning]

I set a timer for the amount of time it is supposed to take for the box. If they don't finish in the time given, then they put it away and move on to their next subject. They get a chance to go back and finish up at the end of the day.

[water2wine]

I have my boys alternate like you said at the end of your post! One will do the history while the other does the science. Sometimes though, there will still be a wait. One may take longer than the other? Not sure what to do here either?

Same thing here and alternating not just with history and science but also they can do math and LA while they wait. There is a enough independent stuff that you really should not have wasted time. I think you are on track with altering your schedule a bit. Also know that it can take a few weeks to find your groove and then after that it will flow easily.

[sharonb]

Thanks for the replies. I decided they will NOT work on the independent subjects together. I also decided that instead of a strict schedule with everything in specific blocks of time, they will have checklists. That way, they can complete the their individual subjects in whatever order they want. If one of them is already using one of the books they need, then they can do something else while they wait for it. This worked fine today.

[Today I started by doing the left side of Beyond with my 1st grader; my older 2 were told to work on whatever they wanted (math, history project, etc). Then I did the teacher-directed boxes of Preparing with my oldest 2 while my 1st grader did poetry copywork and his ETC workbook (and then he had free time until I was able to work on math with him). Everyone worked through their subjects, checking them off the list as they were completed. No one had to wait for anyone else. I helped as needed. I waited to do LHTH with the 3yo and 5yo until the oldest 3 were working independently. That worked great, BTW. They were having fun playing and coloring before that, so I didn't want to interrupt them to do LHTH earlier in the morning. So, I think i might stick with taking care of the olders first for a while; for some reason the youngers behaved better when I didn't do their school first thing!]

[pjdobro]

Our schedule around here is similar to what you last posted. The night before, I write on the white board some independent things for my dc to do. This usually includes a math assignment, the independent history, independent science, and sometimes another item or two. They start on these before we start on our work together. They work on everything independently during the week except the science experiment. They usually work that out so they can do that together. It's worked out for us since my ds usually likes to get up and get started right away. My dd takes a little more time to wake up and get going. So they have worked out the sharing of the books on their own. In a typical day, my ds has the majority of his independent work done before breakfast so he has very little to do after our time together. My dd doesn't get much done before our time together so she is usually working later in the day. This works well for each of them and so far we haven't had a conflict over who and when is using a particular book. The checklist works well for us here!