Slowly, slowly, slowly getting behind

[deltagal]

Hi all,

I had mapped out a schedule for each of my children this year, so they would complete their guides by the end of May. Everyone is already about 3 weeks off track to meet that mark and I anticipate the gap will widen in the coming weeks. I'm not so concerned with my 6 and 9 yo. and 11 yo. They are progressing well and can simply roll into the next guide when they are ready. BUT I really want my 14 yo to finish CTC no later than mid-June, so he can begin his high school studies in August.. He/We will be away the bulk of July and part of June. What would you do to "catch up?"

[GinainMD]

Hi Florence! How far along is your son right now? If he continued as he is when would he finish? Also, how many days per week is CTC?

[4Hispraise]

Hi Florence!
Just an idea, but I know CTC is only 4 days, so could you have your ds continue working five days a week? Then, every four weeks he will have completed an extra unit. I don't know if he is already doing that or is involved in other activities on the fifth day, so it is just an idea. I know some of the women have rotating schedules, i.e. do an extra science box on Monday, an extra History on Tuesday, etc. So each day of the week is adding only one extra box. It wouldn't for me right now, but worked great at other places in my life

Praying God's wisdom for you. May He show you what is best for your ds.

[John'smom]

I'm not familiar with the schedule in the guide you're using, but I too was going to suggest doing one extra subject each day as well. Monday- do 2 lessons in Math, Tuesday- do 2 lessons in English, etc.... I know we do this when I need school to be light on Friday and it really doesn't add much to our day at all. HTH!!!

[Carrie]

Florence,

I'd likely lean toward schooling 5 days a week to keep CTC manageable, but gain time. We did this last year ourselves, and it worked well. I'm not sure if this will work with your schedule though. I'm not sure I'd double up on anything though, as the days are pretty full in CTC already. So, if you can't school 5 days per week, I'd just keep doing a day in a day and see how far you get. In all honesty, sometimes finishing is not the most important thing but rather steady forward motion. So, at the end of the year you could assess again. For those kiddos in your family who can just pick back up their HOD guide next year, go ahead and do that. For your son who is on the brink of high school, you could likely stop CTC and just move on to what you have planned next instead. You may have to make up a bit of grammar or math in the summer, but otherwise you should be fine.

Blessings,
Carrie

[deltagal]

thank you everyone for your thoughts. Alas, the 5th day is not an option. My husband really needs my boys to WORK on the 5th day to keep our property in order. (Although everyone does get a 5th day of math.) I'm going to simply keep moving ahead and see where we are in the spring. We'll see where that gets us.

[my3sons]

What do you think is causing ds to get behind? Maybe it's something that can be changed, so he doesn't continue to slowly get more behind. It seems like a simple question, I know, but sometimes the answer is tricky. If you were to ask him what's causing him to get behind, what would he say? Maybe he'll have some ideas to problem solve a solution. I know your ds was pretty responsible - I think I remember him asking for a list to be responsible - maybe he would like to be part of figuring out a solution? Just thought I'd throw this idea out there in case it may help!

In Christ,
Julie

[deltagal]

Hi Julie,

It took us all of August, September and most of October to finally get into a groove where everyone could get a day's work of a unit done in a ...day!

So, now everyone seems to be moving along, but we are WEEKS behind where I had planned we would be and I must admit it is still quite challenging to get it all done. My oldest is behind not because of him, but because of me. I often just run out of time and can't do the teacher directed material with him. We seem to solidly be able to cover about 3 full days of a unit in 4 days. Our pattern has become we work for 3 days and use the 4th day to catch up. So, we are moving ahead, but...

[Lynnw]

Hi Florence,
I see you have four guides going - you are amazing! I don't know if you've ever posted your schedule.... I didn't search for it. If you're like me, you possibly start off with the youngest while they are fresh and get them finished first. I wonder if you and your oldest could do some of the teacher directed boxes before the others are up and ready to go? I know that's a long shot depending on what time everyone gets up - or maybe you're already doing something like that. I'm considering starting the day with my oldest when we start back up after our break. I think it could really help his lethargy if he has some time with me first and gets some of his least favorite subjects over with early (writing!). (Not that a lethargic attitude is the problem with your ds.... but it seems to be an issue here!)

Anyway, that might not be helpful at all - feel free to disregard!

[my3sons]

I am amazed you have 5 dc, one is a newborn, and you are doing 4 guides! Let me just say first that I think you are an INCREDIBLE person doing a TERRIFIC job of homeschooling your dc! My oldest has been getting up to do his Bible Time and his Independent Science boxes for RTR (his own decision). Then, he moves to his Independent history boxes next. After that, I meet with him and we have kind of a debriefing time. I quickly check the boxes he's done to be sure he did them and handed his things in for them, then I do my teaching time for all but the writing lesson or grammar lesson in the LA box, and finally we do a quick check through the remainder of the boxes to see if he knows what he's doing and can finish them out. He then finishes out the independent work in those boxes. We do this "check/debriefing/teaching thing 2 times within the time we're doing school, but the second time is really just for writing or grammar program part of the LA box. Then, he just finishes it out independently. He doesn't do any of his independent work with me looking on this way, so it goes very quickly. So, we do just the teacher part of math, and he does the workbook later alone. For his Bible quiet time, he finished out the Common Place book alone later, etc. This really streamlines my teaching time with him and allows him to work on without waiting for me. Maybe you are already doing this, but I thought I'd share it as it's really helped things clip along better. One other thing I thought of - could your dh possibly do 1 of the Teacher boxes a different time of the day? Maybe he could do this for a season. I hope something here helps!

In Christ,
Julie

[water2wine]

Just thinking about this. You do have a lot on your plate so I completely agree to realize you are doing a great job. Some things that I have done to keep things on track and save time are to go over LA and Math the night before and let them start on it on the morning first thing while I am working with others. My kids also do the self directed things before I read in the morning. So basically when I read things they are pretty much done or close to it. That saves tons of time. I do it for all that are in Preparing and beyond this way. My two doing Bigger are not quite to that stage but having the rest there really helps. I do go over their math and LA first thing when they are up so they will have something to work on while I read to the others. My older children rise earlier. If I could get them rolling easily and do theirs first I would but I have found it works best to just let them sleep and get going with the older kids since they really have more to do in the day.

Doing 4 guides would take some organization. I have never tried more than three. I am wondering if you tried working your day a few ways to see what flowed best for you. I found that was a huge help and really just keeping track of the time I spent on the boxes for two days really had me completely set on the best way to organize things. It was a huge help to me so I just offer that in case it would help you. I think if you have it working well now I would just go with it as you have it and trust they really are getting enough. Maybe just have them do any extra math and LA that they could do on the fifth day before their chores or something like that for the older one. To me it sounds like you are really doing great. Hang in there. You have a very full plate. Don't be too hard on yourself. God does wonders with our best effort even when we feel we are not cutting it He can multiply what we cannot.

[Tree House Academy]

Could your ds do a split 5th day? Maybe a couple of hours on Friday and then a couple of hours early Saturday morning? My ds decided to spend a week with his dad last week. That put him 6 days behind schedule for finishing CTC Unit 17 by Christmas (which is our goal). He will be doing some of the make-up work on Thursday once co-op ends and he will be finishing up Saturday mornings. We run a farm here, and my boys are needed on the farm too. We compromised with this schedule and all of his school work AND chores will still be done. Hope you can find something that works for your family too!

[deltagal]

okay ..here's the ebb and flow

[deltagal]

Simply wanted to give an update. This week we have taken a "break" from the routine, so we could focus on getting the house deep cleaned and in order for the upcoming season! However, each day I've had my 3 oldest do 1/2 hour of math after breakfast and a 1/2 hour of math after lunch. The oldest of the 3 has done an extra 1/2 hour before breakfast. We're only on the 3rd day of doing this and it has helped...immensely. They've been able to cover quite a bit of material and my oldest is almost "caught up." However, it has made me aware that the math is our issue during the week. They each seem to need me to not necessarily sit beside them, but be very available while they are doing their math and I've never been able to make that happen. I may try having them all do math at the same time from now on, and see where that takes us.

[my3sons]

Thank you for sharing your schedule! You are very organized, and I think you have a GOOD schedule. You are basically starting at 9AM (except for 13 yo math and 11 yo DITHOR) and finishing with HOD by 12:30 PM, except for 13 yo's Dictation and Review of Day. I think that's pretty incredible, Florence! Your schedule for 4 guides and 5 dc is busy, but then it would be no matter what - you are a busy mama in this stage of life. Is it going the way it's mapped out on paper each day for the most part? If so, I'm not sure it can go much more smoothly than how you've already got it planned out already. I am going to try offer some advice you can throw out in a heartbeat if you want to - because I think what you've got going is already pretty fantastic. And, I have about HALF the size of your family, so I don't want to assume I have answers when I'm not in your situation. However, I do want to attempt to help, so, here goes...

In general, I think the #1 thing that could be beneficial is helping 13 yo ds finish by lunchtime. However that can be done - I think this would be huge. There are some time saving ideas I'll share below, and if even just one of them was an option, I think you could get dictation and one other subject earlier in the day to somehow free up time to do your end of the day review with 13 yo right before lunch.

...I may try having them all do math at the same time from now on, and see where that takes us.

I think this is a good time saving idea! I believe Carrie does or did this with her older dc for the subjects of math and grammar. It went very well and stream-lined her time.

Could chores be done before breakfast? This is just an idea. For us, when I moved chores before breakfast, the time it took them to do their chores was cut in half. They were wanting to get to breakfast and eat! This was motivating to them and helped them hurry along more than when they were doing their chores after breakfast and before school. Also, can some of their chores be done before bed at night? We did that too, and again cut a bunch of time off the chore time. At night they are responsible for picking up the whole house, putting away their laundry, starting the dishwasher, etc.

Could you move your family time to evenings? Or before bedtime? Or maybe just a portion of your family time things? We do Bible all together as a family right before bed now, and really do enjoy that. I know you may not want to do this, but it is an idea. If you did do this, could dh instead help with teaching one subject in the morning? Maybe just giving dictation to each child or something he'd easily be able to pick up and do that wouldn't take much time?

Could your 13 yo do his extension reading in his room after bedtime during a portion of his personal reading time?

Could your 11 yo and 13 yo do DITHOR together?

Those are just a few thoughts that came to mind. As I said, I think you are doing so well already though! One other tiny thing I thought of - it takes a lot of stress out of my homeschooling when the youngers finish earlier. Having Emmett finish LHTH quite early in the day, and then Riley finish BHFHG earlier than Wyatt, and then finally just Wyatt have some to finish seems to really affect my level of tension. I think it's because I can think, "Okay, one guide is totally done, and I can now focus on the two guides; and then, now two guides are totally done, and I have just the one oldest child to focus on, etc." Maybe that's just me though! I truly hope something here can help!

In Christ,
Julie