Parents who after school - how do you get it all done?
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Anonymous
Do your children ever go outside? |
Anonymous
You asked the wrong person. Holistic mom who believes in the benefits of sunshine and vitamin D. I shove them outside...black mother 
That was a joke. |
Anonymous
+ 1. That is my go-to book for what the kid needs to know till 6th grade. Buy 2nd hand from Amazon.com - runs from KG - 6th. |
Anonymous
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Don't let your schooling interfere with your education.
- Mark Twain |
Anonymous
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We are doing science and a foreign language over the summer--45 minutes after camp and swimming.
During the school year we focus on reading high quality books and working math problems into our every day world. |
Anonymous
+1. My FIL (who's an educated doctor by the way) thought Malaysia was part of China. I loved geography and maps as a kid, and it was something that stuck with me over the years. |
Anonymous
| I remember having to fill out a map of Africa. Sadly, I could not do that today--it has changed. I don't think my kids ever had to do that. They are grown now. |
Anonymous
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I’m poster 12:39. This is a rough approximation of our weekly schedule for OP who asked specifically how we fit everything in and for the posters who seem concerned that supplemental academics mean the kids don’t get enough sleep, free time, or physical activity. I think it seems like a pretty balanced schedule and it works well for our family so far. The oldest would have between 15 and 45 minutes more free time each day without the extras and the youngest would have between 5 and 35.
Morning Routine (every weekday) Wake both girls up at 7:15 Girls make bed, get dressed, and brush teeth by around 7:30 Everybody's hair is done by around 7:50 Breakfast 7:50 - 8:15 *the daily schedule briefing and a short discussion of current events is typical at breakfast Leave for school at 8:20 School Hours 8:50 am to 3:05 pm We do afternoon snack in the car because they’re usually pretty hungry by dismissal. Monday Home by 3:45 (usually by 3:30 but traffic is unpredictable) DD5.5 homework and 5 minutes penmanship practice – usually done before 4:15 DD7 homework and 10-15 minutes supplemental writing – usually done by 4:30 or 4:45 Both girls – free time until around 5:30, inside or in the yard depending on the weather and their mood Both girls – organized logic games/activities in the kitchen with me while I start dinner (5:30 to around 6, unless they decide to continue with it until dinner) Dinner at 6:30 Start evening routine at 7:30 Lights out at 8:45 Tuesday Activity after school until 4:30 DD5.5 (K) – Engineering Club DD7 (Grade 2) – Tennis Home by 5 DD5.5 homework and penmanship practice – usually done before 5:30 DD 7 homework and supplemental writing – usually done before 6 Dinner at 6:30 Start evening routine at 7:30 Lights out at 8:45 Wednesday Home by 3:45 (usually by 3:30 but traffic is unpredictable) DD5.5 homework and 5 minutes penmanship practice – usually done before 4:15 DD7 homework and 10-15 minutes supplemental writing – usually done by 4:30 or 4:45 Both girls – free time until around 5:30, inside or in the yard depending on the weather and their mood Both girls – organized logic games/activities in the kitchen with me while I start dinner (5:30 to around 6, unless they decide to continue with it until dinner) Dinner at 6:30 Start evening routine at 7:30 Lights out at 8:45 Thursday Activity after school until 4:30 DD5.5 – Basketball DD7 – art class Home by 5 DD5.5 homework and penmanship practice – usually done before 5:30 DD 7 homework and supplemental writing – usually done before 6 Dinner at 6:30 Start evening routine at 7:30 Lights out at 8:45 Friday Home by 3:45 (usually by 3:30 but traffic is unpredictable) DD5.5 homework and 5 minutes penmanship practice – usually done before 4:15 DD7 homework and 10-15 minutes supplemental writing – usually done by 4:30 or 4:45 Both girls – free time until around 5:30, inside or in the yard depending on the weather and their mood Both girls – organized logic games/activities in the kitchen with me while I start dinner (5:30 to around 6, unless they decide to continue with it until dinner) Dinner at 6:30 Start evening routine at 7:30 Lights out at 8:45 |
Anonymous
I think you missed the OP saying she works FT that means she can't get her kids that early. I am the PP who said we were going back to private. If I was able to come home this early, I would like have stuck it out in private as it would have given us more time. For us, this is the rough schedule we had: Two days a week - pick up from aftercare at 5pm and home by 5:15. Finish any homework not done at aftercare. If none, 20 minutes of reading while dinner is prepared. Dinner, then extra Math work for 15 minutes, writing practice - one paragraph a day, and then 20 minutes of additional work in science, history, or geography. 20 minutes of ballet practice. Possibly a couple rounds of an educational or logic game. Nighttime routine and bed by 8:30 if we are lucky. Two days per week - pick up from aftercare at 5pm and go to activities until about 8. Come home, finish any left over homework, Math or writing practice for 10 minutes, possibly an educational game, nighttime routine and bed by 9:30 if we are lucky. Friday - nothing educational Sat & Sun - soccer games or basketball (depends on season) and ballet (2 hours on the weekends) |
Anonymous
Oops, you're right I did miss that. My apologies. OP, is there any chance your kids could get their actual school homework done during aftercare? Then you would only need somewhere around 30 minutes to an hour of time for supplemental stuff once you got home, and that might be manageable depending on your schedule. |
Anonymous
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To the last 2 PPs, this is exactly the sort of detail I was looking for. The kids do some homework with the sitter, but she mostly takes them to the park or to their after school activity ( swim, piano, basketball etc). The brunt of the academic enrichment falls on me as my husband works long hours and travels.
I'm interested to hear what sort of logic puzzles you use? Are they from a book or do you make them up? I need to be better about using the time I cook - it is usually my down time, but I can get that once their in bed
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Anonymous
I use a combination of formal things out of books, games, and the occasional online activity. All of them somehow require use of logic or strategic thinking, and as a bonus some of them also reinforce other skills. Some of the logic books we use are: Logic Links (different levels for different grades/ages) Code Breakers (level A for DD7) Lollipop Logic (for DD5) and Logic Safari (for DD7) Some of the games we like for this: Mastermind (or the junior version) – classic but brilliant Colorku (Sudoku with colors instead of numbers) – I have them work together to beat their time record, otherwise it can be a bit much for DD5 to do on her own. Rush Hour Stuff we use from online: I will print off easy grid puzzles and help DD5 with hers while DD7 independently works on another one Occasionally I will let the girls play with the games from certain websites. Right now we like http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/ |
Anonymous
| Sunshine Math is a good resource. We get logic and challenge workbooks from mindware.com |
Anonymous
| Mastermind sounds kind of like Battleships. We have fun with Battleships and Chess. |
Anonymous
Those are all great games, we have and love all 3 although DD5 hasn't quite grasped chess yet. I'm not really sure mastermind is all that similar to Battleship, though. Battleship is a lot of guessing at first to find the ship while in mastermind you are supposed to use clues and small bits of information to reason through the solution. It's still guessing in a way but the guess is supposed to be supported by logic. In mastermind the point is for one player (or in my girls' case both of them together) to figure out a color pattern that the other player (me) has hidden beforehand. The color options are white, red, blue, and green. They start by guessing the pattern, and then they are told how many colors they have correct and how many are in the right order. They have a limited number of tries to guess the pattern. For example, lets say the hidden color pattern is (Blue Green Red Red). Their first guess is Red White Blue Green. I tell them that they have 3 of the four colors correct, but none in the right order. So next they have to guess which is the wrong color and get rid of it. Maybe they guess green is wrong, because they know I don't like that color, and replace it with a blue. Their new guess is Red White Blue Blue. So I tell them they have 2 of the four colors correct now. Since 2 is one less than last time, they should realize that taking away green was wrong. They put back the green and take away the white. DD5.5 points out that red is one of my favorite colors so maybe I used that. They replace the white with red. Now their guess is Red Red Blue Green. I tell them they have all 4 colors right but the order all wrong. Now they spend several turns trying to figure out the order. If they get the right answer before they run out of space on the game board, they win the game. It's loads of fun, but sometimes they get frustrated still so I will give them hints or ask leading questions to suggest how they might solve it if that happens. The junior version is easier and probably a safer bet to start out with at this age, actually, but they learned about the regular version from their grandfather and would not settle for the junior version after that. |