Day two of school is when the rubber hits the road at our house (day one is more of introduction, glossary reading, etc.) I addressed my daughter's pokiness. The first thing I did ... I took away the music she prefers to listen to. She likes gaming music which I have concluded might be a distraction to her mind since it reminds her of games. So.. Rule one: Absolutely no gaming music during school time ...After the feathers settled from taking away her music I explained why speed is important to her. At this moment she is taking 1/2 of a practice ACT test so that she can get the feel of working fast while working well. She will HAVE to learn to discipline her roving mind. I hope this works. I plan to give her several practice timed tests this year as well as do a few other things designed to speed her up.. possibly giving her time limits for her assignments (time limits is something I tried in the past and she really objected to them).

This is a tough one. I wish you luck with it. My ds can be this way. The more I push, the more frusterated he seems to become. It is almost a losing battle with him. Although, I must say, every year, it seems to improve. I wish you well. Let us know how she makes out. my version of fast

That's a really great idea. It gives her a real picture of what is going to be expected when she takes the test. Plus when she goes to take the test hopefully she will be so comfortable working on these type of problems at a fast pace she can breeze through it I'm writing this one down

Sounds like a good plan, Donna. I hope it works well w/your DD.

My daughter is already overwhelmed with school work. I see that this will be me------> for the rest of the year. Abeka 8th grade has tons of work...........I mean tons, and I have already pared it down to the bare necessities, and it is still a good 1/3 more than what she did last year......... The boy...........well, he is whizzing through..........

That is a fantastic idea. I was always amazed during exam time at University how many people lost so many points because they worked so slow. Our university had a habit of posting statistics on exams, like percentages with number of students, number of questions on various exams... average number answered and what the marks would have been if they were marked on the number of questions answered.. ie. If you did 25 out of 30 questions and got 21 right, your mark is 21 of 30, but what would it have been if it was based on the ones you did answer it would be 21 out of 25, does a difference for percentages...

I think I need to take that test . I have the opposite problem with my daughter; she works faster than I can drink my morning cup of coffee She usually has all of her workbooks finished in less than 45-60 minutes(phonics, handwriting manuscript, hand writing cursive, spelling, and her reading workbook). The rest is more hands on for both of us to do together(math, history, language arts, reading out loud, and science); which takes us quite awhile to get through on some days, because we have so many conversations about what we are reading/learning during our lessons . I'm getting homeschooling fever; I keep reading how everyone else is doing and I can't wait to start our full school days

I remember my 6th grade teacher telling us that we had so much more work in 6th grade then we did in 5th because she wanted to get us ready for juniorhigh school.... and then in 8th grade our home room teacher told us the same thing ..... "to get us ready for what lies ahead in highschool..." For some reason your post made me think of that!!! I hope you don't have to many bad days!!!!

I'm going through the same thing here, but for some reason my mind is not thinking clearly and the cause/effect did not register with me. We are having problems with sleeping in and listening to music as well. Just a bit too laid back for junior/senior high around here. I've been contemplating a stricter schedule. I hate to do it, but...

And I was just thinking that some "white noise" would help the girl..........was contemplating purchasing a White noise CD......

Funny you said that Tanya. Yesterday, during one of the boy's distractible moments, Jenna dragged a toy into the kitchen - it is one of those things that turns a gear in the center and you can link up other gears to it to make a chain effect. She left the motor running, and puttered off to the play room. I thought the noise would bother the boy and moved to switch it off but he stopped me. He told me the noise is actually helping him. I suppose it actually cuts out other distracting sounds. I didn't know there was a white noise cd you could purchase for this.

I may have to start instituting timed workbook pages. My dd's mind wanders everywhere. She does best when I tell her to have that page done by the time I come back (from switching laundry, taking the puppy out, etc.). Usually that is when she gets her work done. If I sit there with her I have to watch her doodle, play with the pencil, stare off into space... I thought normally this happens the other way around.

I think anyplace would have them...

Cool, that might be a great help for him! (and me)

That's a great idea, Donna. I had read somewhere on a message board that classical music actually helped this homeschooling family accomplish more. Well, I tried it...it didn't go over too well. DJ found it way too distracting. Maybe because he wasn't used to it?

I'll do that. It plays quietly in the background. I keep the volume so low that it can't be heard unless she is doing workbooks or something of that nature.

When the kids were younger we listened to classical music in the background sometimes all day and sometimes during an hour that was educational. I actually considered trying classical music again since we get it without chatter via satellite, but then I remember that when she has to jump through the burning hoop of the college entrance exams, she will be in a room with random noises going on. I need her to learn to concentrate in that environment. She did OK on her timed test today .. just OK though. She finished no parts in the alloted time. She realizes now just how hard that she needs to work on this. I am hoping that she continues with this productive frame of mind and works hard toward improving. She was so interested in her timed test challenge that afterwards she told me what she needs to improve. It seems that taking this test helped.

My DD is going into the 4th grade this year, and we have always had a problem with attention span/daydreaming. I have tried to time assignments/work with her, but then she makes alot more mistakes. So, I really am not sure what to do about it this year. Maybe the white noise thing could work for her too. It's worth a try.

I just got our first SOS CD in the mail yesterday ( I'm buying them off of ebay, helping keep costs down ) This one is in Lang Arts for 6th grade. I installed it last night, had him do the first lesson today. Took him all of 25 minutes, and he complained that it was too long!!!!!! I reminded him that if he was in PS, he would be having to do double that amount of time on the subject, so quit complaining! He quieted down after that. Only took him about 10 minutes to get his handwriting assignment done. His hs group has a 750 challenge..... from now until Nov 17, read 750 pages, do 750 minutes of exercise, do 7.5 hrs volunteer work. Whoever accomplishes this gets to join the party at The Playground ( inside roller rink, laser tag, rock climbing, etc ) and will be presented with an award, so he's going to be doing a lot more reading, too. He's turning into a speed reader, but can tell me everything he's read from every book in the last year! He retains so much, that he is just whipping thru assignments, and I hope to keep the momentum going

This is an interesting topic. My daughter has a tendency to day dream, too and she panics during timed tests. She gets one every day in math and she had been improving last year. It seems that we are starting over from scratch this year. But, I think it is good practice to get used to have a time frame. Sometimes, I will tell my son that he has X number of minutes to finish or he gets to finish it after dinner. He usually gets it done.

I tried many things with my daughter years ago but it seems I was not diligent or vigorous enough. I never tried white noise. She has a white noise machine in her room that she used to use to go to sleep at night, (it no longer works) I never thought about using it for school time.

Donna, hope your ideas work. My 10yr old doesn't do things in a timely matter either. I have been putting a timer on her desk while she works. It used to intimidate her. I don't know now, but it seems to be working. Hope to have this problem licked soon myself.

Oops! I almost forgot. A few months ago, I took dd to a nutritionist and she was given enzymes to help her concentration. The brand can be found at a healthfood store near me. I haven't tried online. I gave her the capsules 15 mins before school. They are to help her concentration. I guess they worked because she is better now. She just works too slow. If you're interested let me know and I will post the name for you.

I hope it works for you. I think I'm going to have to do something similar with my kids.

I've decided to institute a more rigorous schedule for dc. Especially for dd. She is required to wake herself, shower, dress, morning chores and eat an "iron-rich" breakfast in enough time to digest and be ready to work at 8am.

I had a son who was this way, and I am glad he has graduated. However, it carries over into the rest of his life too. He gets caught up so much in the little details of things, that he looses track of time. It really bothers him too...he knows it happens, and he has tried to change it. Using alarms on his watch, you name it. It isn't that he doesn't work, because he does. He keeps going, and going, and going, but he is very slow at the progress. I never heard of using enzymes for this. I wonder how it works? I would be interested in knowing more about this, if nothing else to learn how enzymes can help concentration.

hmmm, I just read somewhere about the benefits of enzymes. I can't remember where or what though. I will try to remember and post it later. Oh I hate it when that happens.

Maybe you need some enzymes as well........

Luckily, my boys are only prek and k, so if I am skipping something, it is not going to mess them up too much. The reason I am asking the question is that right now, I am pretty much looking through everything I have every day and pulling out what I want them to do for that day.

This is not too big of a problem except that I just started working a few weeks ago (mostly nights so I can still be home with them during the day). I have noticed that I am getting a bit behind and it would make it a lot easier if I planned for each week. I am thinking one folder for each day (son #1 on one side, son #2 on the other side) with what we should do that day and printed pages for their work or workbook pages already put in. This would make it easy for dh to help with schoolwork when I am busy also.

How do you do it? I can use all the advice I can get at this point. I am looking into subscribing to ed helper and enchanted learning soon. From what I have seen so far, that would help a lot too.

Do you have any other tips and tricks of the trade?

I wish I were better at planning. I am a "sit down and do the next lesson in the book" kind of homeschooler. I realize this probably doesn't help you very much.

I like your idea of the folders. I wish I could help you more. :-)

My son does better when everything is planned out for him, but I'm not that kind of person. I am a do the next lesson in the book, planning the night before and that doesn't always happen because sometimes I'm lazy.

I need to plan more, I try to plan out for the week. I do use folders one for each day of the week (one side is work to be done and the other side is completed work). My son loves the folders he decorates them every year and knows where his work should be. (That is, when mom puts it in there). I also have a crate that I put all of his books in, so he knows where to find them. I got both of these ideas from this forum. :-D

Well, Okay, this I CAN answer with what/how I did.

When I got the okay to home school, I went nuts. Partially because my husband said the kids had to finish 2 + months of their regular school. I actually had over 8 weeks of worksheets planned. I used a 3 ring binder for each kid and filled it oldest to newest. Then I had weekly plans with which sheets and which order and what my goals were for the week. That went well, but I had a hard time if we missed a day or something as I had "very" structured weeks.

Then I ran into the fact that ... well ... I just couldn't spend that amount of time planning once I got past those weeks. Also... printing off and organizing all those materials, even thought they were mostly free... was actually very pricey. I decided to go with curriculum. Some is very cheap stuff from stores. I found I had to go up several grades sometimes...

Now what I do is on Friday's I sit down and kind of do the "next 2 pages thing." But I also note what supplies I need, and where I am going. If I don't finish the week, we just put those on Monday's schedule. However, I erased the days of the week and just date the day that we do it where the weekday would be. That being said, there are some subjects, like spelling, that I don't do the week's worth because if he test's great on the pre-test, we move on... So I plan about 2 -3 hours per week on Friday's... usually while we are schooling. At that time I go through the web and grab supplemental stuff as well.

I plan the entire year in advance during the summer. The plan is all entered into my computer, printed and bound in a three ring binder. If I didn't have this all scheduled out I'd forget to do things like art, music, crafts. I don't function well flying by the seat of my pants at the beginning of the year. By about November, routine has become habit and I can loosen up quite a bit.

I plan every two weeks...this way I'm not planning every week...BUT if we don't get everything done, I can bump it up and not feel too bad about it.

I think I am leaning towards the 2-weeks at a time. I have a big block of days off every two weeks (pretty much a long weekend off and work the next weekend). I am not at the point where I can plan ahead more than that. Once we buy an actual curriculum (which my husband is pushing towards) I will plan ahead more, I think.

Thanks for all of your ideas!

I make lots of plans during the summer, and then I ignore them.

Do you use any of Donna's planners? They are fantastic! (You're fantastic Donna for taking the time to create and putting them on your website).

I use the excel 6 week planner for my KinderKid. It gives me the dates and days, and objective sections. Then I created a planning routine for homeschooling (using concepts from FlyLady- see the Flying moms section of family life to learn about FlyLady)

I spent 15 minutes in the evening pulling the supplies I need for the next day (including computer printouts), and clearing off the homeschooling space (our kitchen table); in the morning, I take 15 minutes to pull out everything I need. After each learning session is done ( I break it up throughout the day with my pre-K and K) I take 5 minutes to clear off items I file items away for my KinderKid. Then after the last session of the day, my kids and I spent 15 minutes putting supplies away and general pick-up. Then I just do my evening routine after doing the dinner dishes for the next day

I spend about 70 minutes on Saturday mornings planning while the DH takes the boys out to play or run errands. This is my weekly homeschool blessing routine (just spend 10 minutes doing each thing):

1. put away anything homeschool materials that are out, collect up teacher guides and planning materials and put next to computer, turn on computer, make coffee and a bagel, get put a pad of paper and a pen, write down Sunday-Thursday on the paper.
2. Review my goals and objectives, modify anything, check last week's plans and make any changes if you didn't get to something.
3. plan the reading lessons and handwriting for the week- type in the lesson plan and write down any preprep you need to do the evening before.
4. plan the math lessons (and when I hit 1st grade- language arts lessons)
5. type in theme of the week activity (eventually history and science)
6. Fine/arts/PE/field trips- this rarely takes the full ten minutes so anytime I have left I use setting up the next 6 week term file and planning objectives or future theme units
7. library check: what needs to go back, what do I need to get; online research; print out the weekly plan and post it with the list I can list on the refrigerator so I can look at it each evening while gathering up supplies.
   If I need to do any additional planning: then do it 15 minutes at a time during the weekend. However, I am trying to get to the point where if I can't type it up in 1o minutes then I am making it too complicated. Sorry if this post is too long.

Right there w/you Melanie!

This is what I did. I kept a folder for each one, and marked on the papers what day I'd use them. Anything extra that came to mind, I'd write on the outside of the folder, then add it in whenever.
I like you're planning Jill, Thanks for sharing .

Thank you Jill. :)

Heavy planning starts now for next fall school year. I get goals set and then during July lay out the year. As for weekly I spend probably 1-1.5 hour per week updating the tracker, rescheduling, or whatever I need to do.

I also will spend a few hours if I shift the planning around. I did this with Esther and her lapbboking for weather and Texas History.

I LOVE to plan. I usually start in Feb/March and take a few months to plan the upcoming year.

Me too. Like Jill & Ber, I spend a little bit of time each week preparing for the week. I try to do this on Saturday (my weekly chore for that day), but sometimes it may be Sunday or whenever I can fit it in. If my kids were as young as yours, I doubt I would plan the entire year, mine are much older. I lay it all out in Excel by the number of the school day, it's actually very flexible.

I developed agenda pages for the kids to feed off my lesson plans, so I update that each week and they put that into their "agenda books".

We have a folder system in letter trays. There are 4 trays: Handouts, Completed Work, Graded Work, Work to Record & File. Any handouts I have for them including agenda pages, tests, art lessons, quizzes, etc. are put in the handout folder for that particular child prior to Monday morning. etc. etc.

I'm not quite as structured as I sound. I do fly by the seat of my pants sometimes. I just like to have a system in place so I don't completely bury myself.