Do any of you do modular units with your high schoolers?

[Leslie Nelsen]

Taking half a year to finish a course instead of spreading it over a year? Or focusing on finishing several years of a subject while neglecting others? Does this make sense? Has anyone done it?

I'm wondering about the benefit of focusing on fewer subjects but more in-depth. Wondering if this might be helpful for some of mine with dyslexia too.

Would love to hear your experiences? Or thoughts on which subjects this might work best with? I'm thinking science and history could be done this way. Electives too. Thinking Math and foreign language might still need to be done all the way through.

[Paige P]

Leslie, I have not done this, but I definitely think it would work. It's like block scheduling at school -- they spend 2 hours in a classroom each day on a subject, and then that subject is completed at the semester. I definitely agree that math and foreign language should not be done this way

I've actually encouraged my girls to jam out Health over the summer and be DONE with it, but for some reason neither of them have taken me up on that Their choice.

Katie actually did Environmental Science somewhat this way. She was doing 4-H Forestry, and when they won state, they had to work HARD to prepare for National Competition. They literally had to memorize a college textbook, they spent hours and hours in the field doing things, they went to Auburn University and worked with an Insect and Disease professor, etc., etc. I started tracking her hours, and she had over 160 hours of time two or three weeks before they went to West Virginia for competition. So, I gave her a science credit for Environmental Science. I assure you she knows more about all of this subject that she ever would had she just sat through a 1 year class (Mind you, she started "gently" in November, but was intense from May through July). She spent hours and hours and hours each day between studying and all of the above activities.

OH -- another example .... K. was focusing on Chemistry and math at one point last year (those were outsourced classes), and she fell behind with her history, so at the end, once math and chemistry were finished, she spent two or three weeks intently finishing up her history.

So, while I haven't intentionally "done" this, we've definitely incorporated some of those ideas. Thus far, my dc have been fairly self-monitoring about what needs to be done when and figure out time-wise what best works for them, and they've managed, so I've let them

Hope that helps!

OH -- I THINK Joy in AL has done "block scheduling" with some of her dc. If she doesn't respond soon, ask her

[Laura F]

Agreeing with Paige that block scheduling is what you're describing. I also agree that I wouldn't tackle math this way. Foreign language might be tricky, too.

I'm not sure how many subjects you're currently teaching, but a high school that uses a 4x4 block allows students to complete 8 classes in a year. Students take 4 classes each semester, and classes are 90 minutes long.

[Melissa Crabtree]

We did it by accident last year with Jacob's science. Basically, he got way behind and had 2/3 of the year to finish in 1/3 of the time. He powered through, ended up ahead of the modified schedule and did really well.
I agree that foreign language wouldn't work this way. I think for a math strong student, it would work just fine, but not for a math struggler. (I finished all of my second grade math before November when I was in public school, b/c my teacher gave me an assignment box with all I had to do. I was in heaven! )
I think it helps with transitions and how much they have to keep up with. My brain is one that functions well when I compartmentalize, so I definitely see the benefit!

[Michele]

I have tried this with Electives and History/Science. In my experience, it is most effective with motivated, independent type students. It has created joy filled, experience enriched learning and has truly been a blessing. With a more reluctant learner, it has been NOT successful. I don't like nagging, constant reminders, generally negative interactions over and over...I wouldn't be able to do it with math because in my state, high school students must take a standardized test every year so I'd be concerned that content would be forgotten.

[Joy in Alabama]

I’ve had a couple of kids do this. Carrie did one subject at a time. I think Anna may have, too. Carrie loved it because she said she didn’t have to switch her brain between subjects all day. She was a VERY motivated student (please stop having school now, Carrie, and do something fun!) but I don’t know if that contributed to the success of modules or not. It was just what she chose to do. Anna did it in a limited way and some of my others did, too, although not with math. We tried math and that didn’t work well for retention.