Scheduling Discussion times for dialectic students

[Beth Walker]

I am trying to plan for our next school year when my two oldest will both move up to D level. I am trying to figure out how to schedule the discussion times and would love some advice/suggestions from others. My oldest does most of her history and literature "reading" with books on tape so it typically takes her longer to finish than her younger sister who is a strong reader. Would it work to have them read their history on Mon. and Tues. and do the Accountablity and Thinking Questions, then on Wed. and Thurs. they can do their literature reading along with the Thinking Questions. Then Friday I can hold both history and lit. discussions with them? I am not sure about doing all the discussions on the same day and if that would be too much for them. Is it better to have the history discussion on a different day from the literature discussion?

Thanks for the help!

Beth

[Renaissance Mom]

For the dialectic level, it is possible to do both discussions on the same day. We did it that way for several years because we were doing our discussions with another family. However, it is more relaxed to do them on different days. If your kids are finishing their history reading and questions on Monday and Tuesday, I would go ahead and do their discussion on Wed AM. Then they could still do Lit on Wed/Thurs to discuss on Friday.

I do have to say, however, that my oldest has found that she prefers to work on a bit of each subject every day rather than spend a few days on each subject. We've tried both ways and she says it's better for her to spread everything out over 4 days. Since she does her own scheduling, I told her to do what works for her. She just knows what day or days we are discussing and plans accordingly. So you may have to try any schedule out and be willing to tweak and adapt to what you and your kids discover works for all of you. My experience has always been that no matter how much thought I put into this kind of thing ahead of time, I always end up changing something after we actually start doing it. In other words, don't overthink this! Try what you think might work and be willing to be flexible. It'll all come together.

Enjoy your children!
Monica

[Pat]

We did D level discussions on the same day when I only had D level student.

I can also suggest that your students consider doing some reading over the weekend to help them get on target for their work. I always gave next week's assignments out at the end of the last discussion each week not waiting until Monday.

[Beth Walker]

Thanks ladies. That is helpful. I like the idea of giving them their next week's reading on Friday. I am realizing I will just have to get started and tweak the schedule as we go. Reminding myelf to remain flexible is important!