i just started hs this august. i am determined to do well, i believe that hs is what God has called our family to do. i pray constantly for God's power to be able to teach 9 yr, 5 yr, (2 yr and 1 yr). i have a great schedule. and curriculum. so... why am i so grouchy? i forget to have fun, we get off track and i get irritated. the 2 yr is all over the place, so many interuptions, while i am tending to a discipline issue w/ 2 yr old, the bigger kids start running around, by lunch time i am so ready to have my quiet time(while babies nap and kids finish their math and english work) i feel DONE for the day!by bedtime, i FEEL like collapsing, i don't want to be irritated i want to be joyful.especially in the tone of my responses to the children. i get snippy. how do you ladies enjoy hs? what do i need to do? i feel very overwelmed, like hanging by a fingernail. i would NEVER admit this to anyone, cuz i had so many naysayers tell me that i could not handle the 2 little ones while hs. i do not want to prove them right. so i must overcome these troubles.please give some advice thanks
Is there maybe a play group or preschool the younger two could go to a couple days a week to relieve some of the stress? I know that pretty much squashes the reasons for hsling to begin with, but then you could spend more time on the older ones and when the younger two are more equipped with better attention spans it would be easier. I myself don't have as many kids as you do, however, I do have 5 three-year-olds to deal with (not all mine though-mine get sent home each day except for one). Do your youngest have a structured day? I have found whenever we go off of our structure they go bananas. You could try to structure each day and plan things around them so each child is getting the same amount of attention. Map out certain times of the day for each child or group of kids (two youngest, two oldest). Just a couple thoughts, don't know if I helped.
Huck~ Are you stressing over a schedule and making sure you get such and such done each day, because if you don't, your kids will get behind and you will be a bad teacher?! This is the way I was the first year I homeschooled. I don't know exactly how you do this, but you need to somehow train yourself to relax. It just comes with time, but the sooner you learn it, the better for both you and the kids. If you're getting stressed and feeling grouchy, then it's probably making them grouchy and stressed also. Try not to be so tied to that calendar or list of what needs done and let schooltime be funtime. Hope this helps,
When we first started I also felt like I was grouchy a lot. I still have days like that. However, now that my youngest is older he is able to do work with us so that makes it easier. When he was 2, I tried to find activities that would keep him busy during each subject. Every time we would switch a subject (w/ my 1st grader) I would switch the 2yo's activity also. This was a little time consuming trying to think of activities for him but it made my life easier in the long run. He would do wipe/off cards, puzzles, playdoh, file folder games, abc electronic games, educational videos (Leapfrog and such), musical instruments, use the rice box, lacing, play with unifix cubes, pattern blocks, dinosaur manipulatives, read books, LeapPad, Leapster, and more. You get the idea. Try to relax and it will fall in place. I think I was just trying to hard to make my "school" perfect. I wanted to do too much and didn't have time to fit it all in. I think my attitude improved when I cut back on all the extras and focused more on the basics.
Last week my youngest who is 13 told me, "I don't know how a person could get as grouchy as you in one lifetime". :shock: Well, if I didn't have to tell him 99 times to do something before he actually does it maybe I might be a bit more cheerful! :x This is our sixth year of hsing and I love the way my boys are learning. I love that their days are filled with constructive things and that I've been privileged to be with them everyday. I wouldn't want it to be any other way. But we all have "grouchy" days; days when nothing is going the way you had it all planned out to be. Actually, there are entire weeks that don't go so well. So I'll give you the same advice I give myself. Relax a little bit. Everything doesn't have to be perfect; you don't have to be perfect. The most important thing is the relationships you're building with your children. The rest of it is secondary. (((Hugs!!)))
Relaxing is the key ! Being called by God to homeschool is a blessing, you don't have anything to "prove". Hugs-a-bunch!
When I am struggling with finding joy I remind myself that I'm not looking in the right place . In the Lord's presence is fulness of joy and nowhere else. Make sure you are staying close to His side and talking with him all day long. That really helped me to think of my daily schooling that way. My daughter said to me one day, "Momma, we're being really nice to each other today, aren't we?!" :shock: I still struggle with it sometimes, but just recently I have begun to feel warm fuzzies about homeschooling and find it more rewarding than I ever have. I couldn't wait the past couple days to get home to teach my kids! It'll happen eventually when you least expect it!
Oh yeah! Toddlers and homeschool. Me and my girlfriend won't know how to "do" school when we don't have someone under three running wild. He hee!! I've had a toddler since the beginning I think. Add nursing babies, nauseous pregnancies, so on.... My five year old isn't doing much school. But she is my sixth child. When my fist was five she was reading Ribsy and Henry. I've relaxed. The other thing I might suggest, especially if your 9yr old is a boy, expect kids to get distracted. Try having school with one child before lunch (math, phonics, one-on-one stuff) and school with the other after lunch. That way you have someone who can play with the little guy. I used to have one of mine read to the little ones while I was doing intensive phonics with my first grader. My kids now are 16, 15, 12, 10, 9, 5, and almost 3. Only two more students for phonics!!! Yeah!!! That is the hardest part. But it is SO rewarding too. Hang in there. And I know what you mean. When I wanted to cry on my Mom's shoulder, I never could. She was totally against homeschooling. Deep down, she still is. She still doesn't realize that my kids are so wonderful *because* I homeschool, not *in spite of* it. He hee. Carrie
Huck, I'm exactly the same way. Nothing seems fun enough to me, and I pity Jeannie because of it. Do your best. You and I- and our kids- will hit our stride. What chaps my behind is when uninvolved daddy says ' Why are you yelling at her to get that stuff done? I thought you WANTED to teach her?' Of course I don't yell at her. But perhaps if daddy pulled a shift he'd understand the frustration of hearing 'I don't know..' as an answer to a simple question that I know she knows!!!
You know, I have found that breaking up the day with play times is fun for the younger ones. For example, teach math and then play computer. Next teach phonics in a workbook and then do a phonics game. Do a science experiment and then play outside for a little while. Come in and have a snack and watch an educational tv show like Magic Schoolbus. Read a story and have a cooking activity. We all know that you can find a million learning experiences in the fun times too. I just feel "required" to do the book work so I make sure we have lots of play time too.
I agree just relax it's hard but mix your day up with playtime. TV shows, give them time to be kids too. There are days we all want to pull our hair out but that's normal for anythng we do. Just relax remember you are a teacher and dad. But, try to mix things up try not to stick to any kind of schedule it will get done, just like the house work never goes away. Children learn in many different ways, books are not the only way of learning. GOOD Luck and let us know how it's going. I am with you huck I have no one to talk too when days are hard, I came here the ladies and everyone have been so helpful and support we will help you here. Don't give up.
Huck, home schooling and public schooling are two different ball games... I remember when I took Andrew out of school to home school him for the first time. I was very nitty pitty about everything - I had to have all my duckies lined up in a row and if we stepped into a zone I hadn't planned or scheduled...OML! I kept his day structured similar to what the school had been doing... that wasn't working at all. I very quickly learned a method that worked for us. I would pre-plan my weeks lessons on Saturday (keeping the same time frame that I had already put into place). Instead of saying on Monday I HAVE to have something completed, I set a weekly goal instead... by the end of the week I had hoped to accomplish ______. I also learned very early on that Andrew did not like to learn from text books (what a battle that was). He was a hands on learner and so we changed the learning format. I have found that it doesn't take half as long to teach a child when you're home schooling as it does in the public school system... kick your feet up and relax a little. Let them guide you (show you how they best learn, etc). Don't get too hung up on curriculum... there are opportunities all around you to teach different thngs (baking...math and reading). Most importantly, hang in there. This is a feeling that I think is common in the early days of home schooling and it does and will get better (I remember not too long ago wondering what I was doing and why).
I have to admit I fall in the grumpy mom mode a lot too, I do ok with most of the things but when the youngest has a "melt down" or my oldest son and I but heads, I can get flusterd in just seconds. I think if we switch gears and do something off task for a while we do better then we go back and finish what we were doing a different time.
Brenda, I've even had to do what you mentioned with my preschool/daycare kids. We have daily schedules, but I usually try to just finish it up by weeks end, not nec. days end. Esp. with Tanner I've noticed him just wanting to be comfortable and relaxed in his own home, and I don't blame him. What would be the point of homeschooling if it was exactly like public school? I don't want him to feel so robotic while he's home. I want the kids to learn, but I also want them to feel like they are in a home. We always accomplish our weekly plans, but I generally use our plans as a guideline and redo things as time passes.
I didn't read every post here so I hope I do not just resay everything already said but this is my 7th year and I still have some stressful days. Most of the time it is the load I put on myself more so than the kids. Yes, they do have their days just like ps kids do too. First don't plan out a schedule for very long ahead of time. It just doesn't work out that way. The second year I homeschooled someone told me just write down what you do when you finish it and look at the book about 2 or 3 and see what you have finished and then decided if you did enough for the day. Also have a make up day if you don't get it all done in one day. Sometimes we school on Saturday or Sunday for just a couple of hours to make up any unfinished work. Don't stress over it all. Easier said than done. My kids are strugglers so I have to listen and hear about every kid who could read at 4 or 5 chapter books to bed the bedsheets. Oh well mine didn't and my 8 year old still don't but I bet you money they can give an oral report or tell you loads about Bible characters. Many other thing that they can do at this age. Yes, they can read but not chapter books by the way. Yet that is!!!! One thing to do is at bed time read a book to the kids that could count as part of the school day. Yes, any reading can count but I mean like Magic Tree House books, Sisters in Time, etc. That teaches about history or science in a fun filled way. Don't feel that if you dont get that workbook or hard back book done that you failed your kids. Yes, I tell myself that still but it is true. Try to think each month what can they do now or know now that they didn't know last month. You will be surprised at the amount you can think of. 7 years later I still do have some bad days but plenty of good days too. And Brooke is right the closer you keep God the better things will go for your family too.
