Managing time

[lrivetz]

How do you divide your time between two children when you only have two hours before bedtime?



I have a first grader who can practically do his own homework and read by himself.

Now, if my first grader know the writer’s tone of voice when he is reading, then it would be great.



I have an Educable Mentally Handicap (EMH) second grader. My second grader cannot do his homework by himself. He can finish one of his math homework in 30minutes the least with major supervision. His spelling and reading is good and could be better if he tries. My oldest has to be in bed by eight or it would be like talking to a wall; except, the wall would be growling at me.



If you were in my situation; how would you manage you two hours time?



6pm to 7pm - I get home, cook food, and feed the children.

7pm to 8pm – I Give the children a shower, help with homework, check answers on their homework, check folders and planners, ( I run out of time for the remaining to do... – reading, spelling, and then double checking their answers on their homework).

[ajrsmom]

Is there a way you can shorten up dinner time? Maybe put dinner in the crockpot so it will be ready for you when you get home. All you would have to do is a side dish to it---something made ahead like a salad? Premade frozen casseroles with hot rolls would work too. That way you could start on homework while dinner is cooking.

My son reads to me while I'm cooking--killing 2 birds with one stone. If we dont do it then, he will read to me while Im bathing his sister. He is reading on his own to himself but I like to make sure that he is understanding what he is reading.

It looks like you need to focus on your older son's work more while not overlooking your younger son-- so can they do their homework at the table together while you help you son? You can check the youger one's homework now too.

Glance over folders and planners while they are in the tub. Boy, Do I understand about getting my 2nd grader in bed on time or I will have a monster on my hands too!

So that they arent overwhelmed, maybe you could set up a short bedtime routine--bath, in bed and storytime with brother reading to both of you?

Is there a way to squeeze in some review time in the morning? You can study for tests with them or have him retell the book he is reading. I do this with my son while waiting at the bus stop in the morning.


These things work for me. I hope they can help you too.

If I come up with anything else, I'll let you know.

Tami

[lrivetz]

Once in a while I would put something in my crockpot. When we get home they do their chores on the list, and then we eat. Sometimes, I would set the timer to 15minutes and when the timer rings it means we have to move to next thing on the list. This is whether they are finish or not. I kept reminding them more eating and less eating. We are not really into salad, but I know the children would really like the hot rolls.

They both can read; except, my oldest has a habit of reading a word which is not the correct word. For example, the word “leader” he might read it as “lake” and then he continue to read without asking me what the word was. So, I really have to look at the paper while my oldest read his reading story.

Review time in the morning is a great idea, but what if half of the problems of my oldest homework in math were wrong, and especially if the math problems have sentence problem? This is where our time get all used up. He always tried to do his homework fast and indeed up making so many mistakes. Then when he sees me erasing his wrong answers he gets all cranked. I tried explaining why he needed slow down, but it’s not going through to him.

Also, I like clean paper. I cannot leave my oldest son with his homework alone, or he will answer everything and half would be wrong. Then, I would have to erase all the wrong answers because when he erased the wrong answers the paper is just not clean enough for me. When he erased the wrong answer he does not erased it where when his first answer was one and the correct answer was zero and then when he put in the correct answer, now the answer looked like ten.

So, 30minutes with my oldest son’s math homework seems like five minutes.

[Jeannie]

Wow, you sure have a full plate..is there anyway to shorten your work day...?

With a special needs child, I know my friend was able to get the hours she wanted.... and be home for when her child came home... You have your hands full, is there not an agency to help you ?

[shirley12]

Who has the children after school and before you get home? Can they not start on their homework before you get home with this care giver and then have you follow-up when you get home? This works great for my granddaughters, they have all their homework done before their mom gets home from work. They are excellent readers now...they have had to read books twice their entire lives. Once to me then again to their mom while she prepared dinner. Then while they bathe you can go through their planners/homework and discuss it with them after they finish.
Children need a structured learning time, they need to be taught that the time for homework is a set time and have a set place for it. Right after school and at a certain place is best. That way they will be more inclined to get it done in a timely manner and get it done correctly so they can go play.

[lrivetz]

I am a full time worker, so if I shorten my work hours then I would have to change my status to part-time.

[lrivetz]

My children go to the daycare while I am at work. My oldest did work on his homework while at the day care at his first time in school, but I told him to stop after he started coming with no homework at all or his homework would get lost.

I figured something on what to do with his reading. I give him a pencil, and I told him to underline all the words that he had never seen before.