6th Grade Summer Course. Daily Routine

August is finally here.
Ten days of the cram school summer course have also passed.
That means about one-third is finished.

We have a routine of home study in the morning and the cram school summer course in the afternoon.
I'd like to write down our daily schedule here as a reminder.

After waking up in the morning

Wake up at 6:40 AM.
Since he is allowed to watch 15 minutes of his favorite YouTube videos,
he wakes up on his own every morning when the alarm clock rings, using that as motivation.

After finishing breakfast, we have a family meeting starting at 7:30 AM.
We check Tsuta's tasks for the day and decide on the menu for lunch, dinner, and the cram school bento.
Since we are tackling Tsuta's entrance exams as a team, this is our strategy meeting time.

Morning home study

At 7:35 AM, it's finally time to start studying.
■ Calculations and 6 one-line problems (from the summer course textbook)
■ Kanji and vocabulary (from the summer course textbook)
■ 2 units of Social Studies and Science Memory Checks
■ Math Common Problems 428 (12 problems; plus alpha if there is time to spare)
■ Review of the previous day's course (correcting problems that were missed)
■ Preparation for the day's course (reading Memory Checks or textbooks for Science/Social Studies, and checking the textbooks for Japanese/Math to see what to pay attention to during class)
■ Reading practice (reading one Japanese passage from the special course textbook while underlining)
■ If there is time left after doing all this, proceed with strengthening weaknesses in Japanese and Social Studies, and working on Memory Checks and Math 428.

That's how it feels.
The morning session lasts until 11:45 AM.
From there, we have lunch, take a break with some light gaming and TV, and then head to cram school.

After returning home from cram school until bedtime

Return home after 9:00 PM.
After eating the leftovers from the bento and taking a bath,
while drying his hair,
■ A light review of the day's class (just checking missed problems and asking what was covered)
■ One sheet of vocabulary practice

He does a little reading on his Kindle and goes to bed at 10:00 PM.

That is our daily flow.

How we spend days without the summer course

On days without the summer course, during the afternoon hours, we include:

■ Memory Checks
■ Math Common Problems 428
■ Playing baseball in the neighborhood with my husband, Wanta
■ Creating the schedule for the following week
■ "Reading Comprehension Training" with all four family members

We include these.

Points of focus

There are two things we are careful about overall.

1. Basically the same routine whether there is cram school or not.

The time he wakes up, how he spends the morning, meal times, and bedtime are the same regardless of whether there is a course or not.

2. Get plenty of sleep.

I sometimes think it would be better to spend a little more time reviewing the day's lessons after getting home. However, the summer course is long and the days are hot.
I believe the most important thing is managing physical health, so I make sure they go to bed early.

Other than that, while keeping an eye on their motivation and physical condition, I've managed to get through these 10 days by taking more breaks,
changing the order of tasks, and adding a game-like element to how they approach their work,
somehow making it through.

Things I'm careful about regarding meals

Since the cram school classes go until 8:35 PM, I pack a bento for them to take to school.

However, in this day and age,
I don't think it's ideal to take off a mask and leisurely enjoy a bento in a very cramped classroom, so I only pack side dishes that can be eaten quickly with a fork, rice balls, and miso soup or soup in a thermal jar.

Since that might be nutritionally lacking, I decided to make lunch about the same volume as a regular dinner to make up for the nutrition.

By making the cram school bento rice balls, it seems they eat just the rice balls if they get a little hungry during the break.
If they don't finish it at school and bring leftovers home, they only have to eat the miso soup, so it doesn't put a strain on their body even if they go to sleep right away, and I feel like they wake up feeling refreshed the next day.

Continuing into the second term...

I have divided the summer vacation into four terms for scheduling.
The first term is during July. The second term is until the Obon holiday. The third term is during the Obon period. The fourth term is from after Obon until the end of summer vacation.
(I used this video by Mr. Daisuke Ogawa as a reference.)

Since it was just when the first term ended, I asked them,
'How was it looking back?'
They said, 'It felt long, but also short. But I did my best!'
Since they said they wanted to continue with the same content and pace,
I plan to proceed with the same schedule for the second term.

People say things like 'Summer is the Tennozan (decisive battle)' or 'He who controls the summer controls the entrance exam,' butI am just desperately repeating what is said to be important every day (thorough mastery of the basics)is all.

There are summer course tests, but it's hard to see if what we are doing every day is really becoming a strength, so I can't help but feel anxious: Is this really okay? Will it ever lead to results? Am I wasting time?

But I want to first acknowledge that Tsuta is working hard, and I want to get through August with the stance of 'This is fine, Tsuta will be fine.'

I also write about our family's experiences with middle school entrance exams elsewhere.

＼Written by／
Cherishing what is important
Life Coach Sakura Shiihashi