If you are having serious emotional problems and maritial difficulties, is it better for your kids to be in public school or to essentially unschool until things are resolved? My kids are 7, 6, 4, and almost-2, and we've basically been unschooling anyway. I was planning to formalize things a little more with my daughter next year, as she will be in 3rd grade, but not significantly. We hit the library once a week and bring home close to 60 topic-specific books that I've reserved on their subjects. But things have been tough around here, and I've been struggling to keep it together and letting school time slide; I've had days where I've just had to fight to get out of bed. I hate the idea of sending my kids, even just my older one, to public school, but I'm not sure I'm up to the effort behind schooling. I am hoping to get things sorted out by the end of summer - hopefully long before then - but I'm wondering if I should consider enrolling her and maybe even my first grade in public school. We have good schools (ie "excellent test scores") around here, and we're fairly rural so the environment isn't *too* bad, but obviously not comporable to home. But my kids both love to read and put together their own projects and, frankly, I think they might be able to pick up more on their own than they would in public school. But at the same time, I know I'm not being the best HS mom I can be while I sort through these things. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. SG
<<<<HUGS>>>> Sorry you are going through a rough period. Maybe doing some stuff through reading and literature would still work for you. Online activities if at all possible. We are doing a video week right now - watching at least 1 video per day and tell me about it. Do what is best for your family. If you enroll her - you can ALWAYS pull her out!!
I'm sorry to hear you are dealing with so much stress. I hope things work out soon for you guys. I don't think I personally would enroll my kids in public school at this time of year. There are only a couple months of school left. So I think I would let things be relaxed for awhile and then make the decision of what was best for the next school year. From your other posts it seems that your chldren have been thriving and learning well on a mostly unschooling plan so I would think that even if it is more relaxed they will continue to learn and grow. The most important thing is to take care of yourself so that you can take care of your kids, too. <<<<HUGS>>>>
<<<<hugs!>>>>> I know exactly what you're talking about. We're going through some things here and I was just now looking at switched on schoolhouse so they'll at least be doing more than what I'm able to do with them right now. I'd been thinking of enrolling them in school also, but I am really fighting to not have to. I'm like you, would it be better? I don't know, I just want what is best for them. I did decide that I'll make no decisions until summer since there are only 3 months of school left this year anyway. All the best hon and I hope all works out for you! If you wanna pm to talk anytime, please do.
Scottie, ((( ))). I am so sorry. You are in my prayers tonight. With regard to enrolling in ps...I want to make sure I read this right...you ARE talking about in the Fall? If that is the case, I would certainly wait as long as you can to decide. Perhaps by August you may have some solutions. If not, the school is there. Since it is public school, there is no registration deadline, and I would think you would not want to enroll her now, then change your mind and re-withdraw, and have them give you a hard time about it. As for 3rd grade...that is generally amped up reading & related activities (harder chapter books, journaling & writing, etc.),(You have a good handle on anyway), multiplication tables (easy drills they do over & over), and an introduction to history/social studies (again, you have covered in their reading. Only you can know if the timing is best for them to go into formal school, but stay encouraged... Miller:angel:
I had a friend who was in a similar situtation. She was battling depression and needed to get herself well. She enrolled her children in school for the last three months of one year even though they'd always been homeschooled. It really helped her; she was ready to start again even before the school year was up. (She did let them finish the year.) If you think that enrolling your children in school will enable you to better address the problems you are facing, then do it. They will be fine, and if they are like my friends children, they will come home with a greater appreciation of homeschooling (which translated into fewer complaints at my friend's house!).
My husband was reading over my shoulder last night (trying to hurry me up, as we were closing down the house and going to bed). As one of those guys that see everything in black and white. His first off-the-wall comment (and he did NOT mean this seriously!!!) was "Oh, they unschool, so they're lazy!" :roll: When I gave him what-for for that, he got serious and told me that actually, it was easy. "She really needs to just continue with what she's doing. She's doing fine with it!" And I think I agree with that. Since they are use to doing so much on their own (which shows they've been taught to be independent, NOT that anyone is "lazy" :roll, they can manage if you have to step back a bit, or if life circumstances aren't allowing you to be as involved as you might like. Of course, as a mom, you DO worry. We ALL do, but try to cut yourself some slack. You're doing fine, and even your gut tells you the kids will learn more on their own than they will in a school.
(((((((((((( HUGS))))))))))))))))) I hang in there I hope things get better soon. Have you thought of doing lapbooks with them? That would help them spread there learning out... if you know what I mean. in differnet areas. Lapbooking is something they can do themself too.
I would not send them to school. I am sorsorry for what your family is going through. However, I think school would be a difficult on the kids. I am not sure of your particular situation but if the kids are aware of the stress (which most likely they are) then sending them off to school may send the wrong message or push the family further apart. I am sure you are doing fine as far as schooling. Keep doing what you are doing. You may want to add in dvds...lapbooking...maybe a konos unit study (the konos in a box that comes with everything..no work on your part).
As hard as it might be to do, I would consider all of the problems that were taking place in the household. I would then try to itemize those things that I was contributing in a negative way, or that I was not contributing in a positive way. If anything on this list was impacting both homeschooling and the marital relationship, I would attack that with priority, and kill two birds with one stone. When we are stressed, some times just getting rid of some of the smaller stressers can free up energy and improve mood, and we can then more easily proceed with the remaining challenges. There was a theory about stress that assigned point values to various stesses and stated that the average person could handle so many points. (dont remember the numbers in this system) It stated that reducing a certain amount of points was equally effective whether a large item or several smaller ones were removed from the total. While most of us are commited to homeschooling and would only put our kids in PS under dire crisis if at all. Putting your kids in public school is not a crime, if it is what is best for them and the family. If things are so bad that there is marital strife that threatens the household, your kids will be better off in public school with married parents than homeschooled in a broken home situations. For that matter most broken families cannot do the homeschool thing, so in many situations it could be a matter of put them in before or after it is too late. I am not saying that this is you situation, just that these things can happen and there should be no guilt if they do. If you health is at risk, you need to address that. You kids need you. They can better survive PS with a healthy mom, than they can whatever situation with an unhealthy one, so if extreme measures are warranted take them. In the mean time, perhaps you can evaluate them and find that you are further along and that things are better than you think academically and that things can remain as they are. I pray that you will find the strength and wisdom to make the changes that are needed if any to the school situation and that the stresses in your household will be resolved, leaving the family stronger for having been through them.
First let me say that I am sorry you are having a rough time---I hope things get better soon. Second, as you are talking about next fall, I think you should continue as you are for now. However, first and foremost you must consider your health and the health of your family. Have you talked to your family dr. about what is going on with you? I think you really need to if you haven't. Many times there is help out there for things that we think we should be able to fix ourselves. If by the end of summer you haven't sorted things out, I would say public school may be the way to go. Once they are enrolled you can take the time it sounds like you need to really focus on you (this does not make you selfish or a bad mom....it means you do what you need to do today to make tomorrow better). You do not have to keep them in public school forever, just until you feel you are back to your old self. And you can still be very active in their education. No one here is in your shoes and even if we think we "have been there", we aren't you and only you can decide what is best for your family. Personally, If find we usually already know the answer, we just have to have faith that it is the right one.
I feel like it's very hard on homeschooled kids when there's upset in the home. I'm talking depression, marriage trouble, sickness, income issues. It's even worse, in my opinion, when it affects their schooling. Only you know how badly their education is being affected. Enroll them if you need to, and maybe down the road plans will change? I actually changed school this late in the year, in 4th grade. It wasn't difficult at all. It was actually like going home Friday, then going back Monday as usual. The new school was doing very similar curriculum to my old school.
MY husband? Nah, he just has this off-the-wall humor. He's trying to keep it under control, because he will say something rather in a flippant way, and people don't know how to take it. They don't always realize he's teasing.
So sorry that things are rough for you right now! I know a bit of that right now myself. Our income was recently reduced around the same time that some unexpected expenses came in and it was rough staying focused on the good aspects of our life, but my DH is such a blessing and helped me to get back into a good perspective. I am praying for you. I was homeschooled from first through twelfth grades and am currently excited about beginning a homeschooling adventure with my husband, our three year old daughter and our baby on the way. As someone who was homeschooled in a very unschooling type environment for many years and is a pretty confirmed proponent of unschooling, my advice would be to keep them out of public school. As someone else mentioned above, your gut is telling you that they will probably learn more on their own than in a more formal setting. My personal opinion of the typical form that public schools take is that they are so structured and so oriented toward only one or two types of learning that they end up killing the natural curiosity that children have and ultimately stunt the learning process. That's just my 2 cents!
