The Child Who Takes Forever to Finish
Mom, you have a set lesson plan that you worked hard on, but Johnny is taking forever to finish. Susie whips through her work and is impatiently waiting for Johnny to finish.
What do you do?
Take a deep breath. Count to ten, if needed.
I like to start with the underlying cause.
Does the child understand the work?
Is s/he having trouble focusing/concentrating?
Has there been too much time spent on seatwork?
I am NOT a big proponent of seatwork, especially for young children. Some worksheets are needed, but there are other ways to learn skills. Save the worksheets for skill assessment, if necessary.
Sometimes file folder games can teach the same skills. Or a board game.
If focus is the problem, I always recommend beginning with diet. Many of the artificial food coloring chemicals can cause behavior and learning challenges. Processed sugars and ultra-processed foods can affect the hippocampus, which affects learning. (I offer more information in my Food & Behavior training on my Skool page, Living Ready Collective.)
What I did for my ‘slow’ worker:
- I started with a timer set for 20 minutes. If he could stay on task for 20 minutes, then he earned a 15-minute time card for either a computer game or TV show (within daily time limits). Then he had a 5-minute break.
- We had school four days a week. Friday was a free day unless he did not finish everything. It was a catch-up day then. Since I gave him his lessons for the week on Monday, he knew how much needed to be completed by the end of the day on Thursday if he wanted the free time on Friday. *This worked better than anything else I tried.
- I made sure to mix up activities for each subject. He might have some written work, but there were also documentaries to watch and discuss. There were books to read and projects to do based on the books.
Because he did have some challenges, I tried to offer as many hands-on options as possible. We read books together even in his teen years. We discussed everything. I would ask processing questions, rather than having him write everything out.
- With my other older children, they were given a set time before we moved to another activity/subject. If they did not finish, then they knew they would lose their free time either that afternoon or on Friday.
I would always look for the underlying cause. Assess dietary changes to improve learning/behavior issues. Vary the activity under the same subject. Then offer them a measure of control with the understanding that they will forfeit future free time.
For more information, check out my Skool page, Living Ready Collective.