Teaching Tip: Short Lessons and Frequent Breaks

When my children are pre-k to third grade I limit our learning time to twenty minute sessions. I borrowed this idea from Charlotte Mason and it has always brought a breath of fresh air into our homeschooling. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way.

Once upon a time, I had a third grader on the autism spectrum who couldn't focus, and dealt with stress induced tics...similar to that in Tourette's Sydrome. Chronic squinting, finger popping, tugging at a shirt sleeve, nose wrinkling, sniffling, etc... Then there were meltdowns and rages at the drop of a hat along with constant performance anxiety. All of this occurred in third grade, with my autism spectrum son.

Me? Stressed? No...not me!

In came Charlotte Mason's twenty minute lesson idea. After two weeks, the tics had decreased. Within a year, they were gone. Gone. Never to return. We practiced twenty minute learning until late fourth grade and then gradually extended the time, while still taking frequent breaks throughout the day. The result has been a child who learns independently and confidently and who is now homeschooling high school with a 3.8 GPA.

Pre-K to Third Grade - twenty minute lessons per subject with a nice five minute break inbetween.

Fourth to sixth grade - 30 to 40 minutes per subject. Be gentle, wean them into this.

Seventh grade and up - one hour per subject...and longer if interest led.

After each subject is accomplished, we purpose ourselves to really "take five." For some of my students, that means that they step outside and breathe deeply. For others, that means a cup of cocoa. For one of my children, cartwheels and somersaults are necessary for building a positive learning experience.

I find short lessons keeps things fresh and interesting while frequent breaks provide our minds with needed down time. Both things work in conjunction to create successful learning.



Many blessings,





©2008 Y.M.F.