Does anyone else here has a speedy child. DS has always finshed all his work in 1-2 hours. Unless it's something he doesn't understand or we are learning something new. I have no problems with him finshing early, but I am wondering if this is a normal thing with other HS kids? This morning DS was up at 8:15 doing his work. Here it is 9:25 and he is done. There were no new concepts but there was a lot of work in his binder.I didn't believe him at first, because I put extra work in there. I just went over everything and did the Q&A with him and sure enough he got everything right. I tried to set times like school is from 9-12 but he is like some sort of information sponge. I can't keep up, so I just put work in his binder and that's that. Now he is reading. I only ask for 30 min of reading per day, but DS will probably read until noon. Just wondering if anyone else has kids like this?
Ok dd is not normally that quick but she has her days. Most days we start at 9 and are done by 11:30. Be very happy that he has that type of motivation to get it done. You might also think of adding some additional subjects on for him next year especially if there is something specific he would want to learn (maybe a unit study or a foreign language). If not just enjoy the fact that he can do this and use the extra time for feild trips or such.
I would say its pretty common with homeschooling to finish fast. Mainly because there is less waiting time and if your ds is getting the questions right, and he wants to do more Id let him work on some of the next days work or do some extra reading time.. I used to let my kids do educational games if they finished early, but when I started out i had a strict schedule to follow. I made the kids focus on certain subjects (math and English) for a hour becuase that is what my homeschool friends said I was supposed to do. For two of my kids that was needed, as they were easier to be frustrated or distracted by toys or noise outside or whatever, but the other one would be done with a weeks work that fast at times, so Ihad to change my way of thinking and give them more breaks and free time to get my schedule to fit thier learning abilities. So if he is finishing too fast for you-- check his work, is he doing it right, if so ask if he wants more work, incase its too easy ask if he wants harder work. Don't let him think its a punishment but a bonus! If he is getting it mostly correct in that time, reward him with a new book to read or a computer game to play that is educational. Something toencourage this behavior of getting it done right away each day and getting the Joy of Homeschooling in that he gets to play now!
Not common here. I have daydreamers. Most of their work isn't independent though. We usually spend about 6 hours a day.
See, I wonder about this. In GA my laws say 4.5 hours a day 180 days a year. But 4.5 hours seems like a long time for a 6 year old LOL We're doing co-op classes once a week next year, which will cover his science and social studies (and one 'day' of school for the year). So all I HAVE to do are the 3R's. How/what would you do for the 3 R's for 4.5 hours a day for a 6 year old??? LOL
My dd is speedy, but upon further research, her work is sloppy, and often wrong. So she has to redo that kind of stuff. Otherwise if she finishes early I find more for her to do tomorrow so she isn't idly wasting time. I figure if it's that easy, she needs more/harder work.
One thing to think about: unless it says that all the 4.5 hours have to be seatwork and worksheets and stuff like that you can be very flexible. For example all these activities could be considered school: (IMO) cooking-- math, home economics drawing, painting, coloring-- art playing games--math, logic, etc. watching "valuable" shows, movies, documentaries-- whatever subject it is about There are too many things that kids learn from to describe here, but more learning comes from experiencing than reading about things.
Lots of reading and computer games then add in eduational videos about whatever they are studying.. studying letters, do a letter video, addition an addition video.. for science class co op whatever they are studying get a video from library on it! This will take up time, give them some relaxing but learning stuff.. sometiimes we would eat lunch in the family /school room while watching the videos like a pic nic too! Made lots of fun in ourlearnning, the computer games theydon't realise that they are doing school still either!
Wanna trade kids? kidding...mostly. today was the first day my ds ever finished math entirely on his own,correctly,and in a reasonable amount of time. be thankful every little thing is not a battle. If he's doing well, getting new concepts, and enjoying the learning process, don't sweat the time factor.
Yes I have one daughter that is done consitantly early.... even though her brother has the exact same work. .......... I just tell her to go clean her room:lol:
That's my plan! And luckily, he likes documentaries, like weird, above his age ones...but ok LOL And I know I just have to SAY we did 4.5 hours 180 days a year, but I'm a stickler for rules/laws so I can't just do 2 hours a day and mark it as a full day, I'd feel too guilty LOL Hopefully if hubby's job he got today works out, we will be able to afford lots of field trips!
Ok so it's not just my DS! He has been like this since we started. His work is neater than it used to be and most of the time his answers are correct. If he doesn't know or isn't sure how to do something he's not the kind of kid that will guess. He will just put it aside and wait for me. ( and no he doesn't want more work). I really loaded it up today and he still finished early. He does have it in his mind that school isn't over until 12, because that it how it used to be. I think this is why he reads until noon. On the other hand he likes to read. I am fine with him finishing early, I was just wondering if it was common with Homeschoolers. Most of my HS friends don't allow their kids to finish early. They all think I am nuts. BTW- I don't follow rules. Just Kidding. HA HA! We used Calvert this year, so we don't even have to deal with the state at all. All we were required to do was complete the course, which we did.I don't even know how many hours my state requires. Technically he is done with school for the year, but I do year around. So what we are doing now is all for fun and the next grade level. (not required learning this year)
cool circutmaster, this is how my dd got two years ahead mindyou, I just let her go at her own pace. reading is great! And Sonita you can find many feild trips that only cost the gas it takes!
I WISH!!! Actually once they actually get to the work, both are very fast. And my DD - who is not actually schooled yet, but does "work" and refuses to say any different is pretty quick at picking things up. Nowadays - I spend most of our time getting them to cooperate and listen (one autistic, and one ADD/possibly dyslexic....so not bad kids just, ahem, issues...) To be honest-when we first started and they were doing what they were supposed to really fast, I added stuff (geography, spanish, history {they're only required social studies starting in 4th grade....no history and a petty little science} and upped their science to more interesting units.) They actually liked "school" more because they were blowing thru all sorts of cool stuff after the required work was done. I like that you let them finish when they're finished-he sounds happy. What a great job!!
Spend lots of time doing hands-on activities, games, and reading books. Times goes by pretty quick that way.
My oldest drags his feet. It takes him nearly 7 hours to finish 3 hours worth of work. But my dd who is 7 can whiz right through her work and finish in half the time.
Oh see Minthia my oldest DS is like that. Dragging his feet when it comes to work. We tried a year with HS over the summer with him and it didn't go over well at all. I think he is more typical and he likes PS. He has a lot of friends and is very outgoing. He does academically well in PS too. Younger DS gets in his moods too. Even though he is clearly the more academically inclined one, he does give me attitude sometimes. A threat to return to PS normally does the trick because he hated it so much.
My oldest is a speedy kid. At least on her independent work. She does Grammar, Spelling, Writing, Math, News Current (a Christian current events magazine) reading, Bible usually in about an hour to an hour and a half. And she seems to be neat, complete, etc. My middle is a little bit more of a day-dreamer - but he's a boy and I wonder sometimes if he is ADD. LOL My youngest I haven't figured out yet. We'll see though. History/Geography and Read-aloud time with L/A extras takes about an hour or so. My kids read, play games, do art stuff, watch educational videos or TV shows, play educational video games, etc. So if I added up the time that they do things that are educational, then they do "school" for about 10 hours a day! LOL I think if you're cultivating a love of learning, school time is not limited to seat time.
My guys would finish early too but then they would start on additional work to stay ahead of schedule.
