“I wanted to ask you if you can send some work suggestions for my child that are a bit more challenging. We are having a hard time coming up with ideas. I am also having a hard time…
…keeping him focused on previously started projects. Roughly, what percent of a work day do you recommend for new work versus continuing previously started projects?
I loved the article you added to the Google Drive about spending time at home doing ‘real’ things and to not try to replicate the classroom. We are trying our best to do that. But I do have some concern about him regressing particularly as he is moving up to Upper Elementary in the fall.” -BK
Hi BK -
Thanks so much for reaching out. I want to start by saying that not only do I know you are doing your best, but that I know without a doubt that your best (on any day in any circumstance) is absolutely amazing. He is lucky to have you and his Dad as his loving guides.
I have a couple of thoughts -
While you have these emails coming in from me each day, I would focus more on helping him come up with his next best idea. The information I'm sending over is definitely a starting point. In the classroom for example, I'll give a lesson and then sometimes offer one specific way to practice that concept (that's like what I'm sending in the emails). Other times though, and especially for more experienced children, I'll give a lesson and then ask "What would you like to do to show me your practice?" This invites the children to come up with their own idea and potentially take it to their level of complexity. Sometimes the answer is "I'm not going to do anything" and sometimes that is ok. So, I would say that beyond the concepts themselves, his work is coming up with his version of how to practice and master a concept.
Which leads to your next question, and I alluded to it a bit in my morning message to everyone today. I don't know that there is a perfect split between new work and existing work, but that maybe he starts with at least 1 day a week where he at least checks in with himself to plan what that balance may be for the week. Maybe Fridays or Mondays will always be the days he looks at all he has started and uses time on those days to finish up loose ends or work on a big chunk of a project. In one of our recent conferences he wrote a list of his projects in the order of their completion and decided he would try to finish the projects that were the 'most complete'. Perhaps he'll do this at home too - in a weekly conference with you! A support you can provide is helping him to verbalize the specific chunk of work he's planning to do (what's included and what's not included in that part).
At this time of year in the classroom we're winding down on new concept instruction - instead we're reviewing, solidifying, wrapping up, putting together portfolios and focusing on events. All of the work in the classroom is a spiral in a sense - so if he is a bit rusty in the Fall, his lessons will be a refresher and then a continuation. His next teacher likes to give a lot of little lessons in one, so the children can get a sense that they "know what they know" and she keeps going until she hits the sweet spot to be able to introduce the next concept.
I hope this helps - keep me posted.
