We have so many appointments right now that it is crazy! Thankfully we started early, so any days we have to miss, I can count against that. And most of the apts. are after noon, so I'm trying to get done what I can before that. My question is...have any of you have huge time constraints like this and how did you manage to do school work without getting behind? I don't want to get rid of the curriculum we have because 1-I can afford it and 2- I kind of like it. I'm trying to avoid having to make Saturday a school day, but I'm keeping that in mind as a back up plan. But I really hate the idea of having to school after dinner too. I wouldn't mind taking in school work to do while at the apts. but usually I have to go back with him, so it's not just sitting in the waiting rooms (although that does take up a lot of time). I'm thinking of taking the items that don't need extra equipment or teaching and having them do that during the waiting room (like cursive writing pages, etc). And their reading books (they are still reading aloud....if they could reliably go to independent reading that would help!) Maybe I'll just have to start toting a bookbag full of work everywhere we go. All ideas are appreciate!!!
My daughter is too distracted by people as she is a people person. Personally, I would just bring books to read on related subjects. When we go to the library--as if I don't have enough books in my house!--my daughter is allowed to get any fiction books (within reason) but she is also required to get at least three nonfiction: one about a person, one on any science, and one on a place. You know what I found, without forethought or planning, she actually read things that she related to in her studies often within the a few weeks or even days.
We recently spent a year with dh in and out of the hospital. The hospital was an hour away. We spent lots of time "car-schooling." The thing I learned from that experience is to not worry about the days we missed. Many people say life is school. My kids learned all kinds of medical things. The doctors and nurses had a great time teaching them things. My dd10 can bandage wounds like a professional. It wasn't ideal but they seem to still be at or above grade level. One thing I did was get the younger two complete curriculum workbooks. It was just busy work but it kept them busy and gave me some piece of mind. The near death experience of my husband put things into perspective. We no longer abide by a super strict schedule. We enjoy pretty days and the weekend days that Daddy has off from work. One of the many joys of homeschooling.
oooh, I hadn't thought about the complete curriculum workbooks. Those would be super easy to take along and provide practice while we go. And of course, they're only $10, that is always good! We could alternate between that and our regular work. I also love the idea of picking out the library books. We'll have to do that too. Thanks to you both for your input.
I agree with aggie. My daughter has done class in the car many times. I also work 2 mornings a week and she goes with me and takes her work and works while I work. So she carries a backpack - just like regular school kids, only better. If you can't fit in the core subjects, you could have them do their art (drawing, or coloring sheets, etc.), or alphabet I spy while waiting, or driving over. Do some math P.E. like if you touch your right toes 5 times and then touch your left toes 5 times, how many times did you touch your toes all together? or other easy p.e. games like Simon says punch like a boxer, march like a soldier, etc.
One idea is to back pack school every day. You keep the stuff ( work books etc) in a back pack, if you have an appointmetn its all there. When things get crazy we do that. Pack one for each child, and some snacks that wont perish, and a juice pack maybe? Or water bottle that can be refilled. Then bring it where ever they are home or apts, waiting rooms etc. Most of the work we did could always follow us, aside from cut and paste stuff.
We have also done alot of car schooling as we have appts one day each week over 1 hr away, takes us an entire afternoon. We have a portable dvd player for the car, we watch educational dvds while in the car- for example, this week its a standard deviants astronomy video on the way there and on the way back a magic school bus space video and another video on gravity. Before we got the dvd player, we used audio books from the library during this time. We also bring the leapster with educational games and our leappad phonics program and for my youngest, age 6. My older dd, age 12, has her creative writing notebook she brings with her along with any assignments we didnt get to during the week along with a book to read while her brother attends his 2 hours of therapy. She also downloads books to her mp3 player to listen to sometimes. Other times she uses music from the mp3 player to help drown out the distractions while she works. We are currently considering purchasing a laptop for schoolwork as well. That way, we could have even more options for learning on the go.
I did quite a bit of toting school with us when I had to go to appointments while I was pregnant. I just made sure to keep the backpacks filled with supplies (paper, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc) and then the night before I have the appointment I will put in the backpacks any work for the day that we can do while out. Take it with me and there ya go. The boys knew to grab the backpacks and be ready to work.
Autumn - In one year's time, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer and died, my sister was in a horrible head-on car crash which resulted in coma, sever brain injury and physical limitations...all while I was pregnant with child #4 and living 10 hrs away. I think we were traveling every third week. Our schoolwork went to crap that year. The kids year end test scores were the lowest I ever saw. But you know what? I dont care. What my kids learned that year, didn't come from books. The learned about family. They spent time with their grandpa and have memories that books would have never given them. They learned all about lightening since my Dad spent alot of time watching storms on the porch and patiently explaining it to two facinated little boys. They learned all about the hospitals, doctors, procedures, chemo, radiation and how "funny" grandpa looked without any hair. They learned about death. They learned about what a coma is and why their aunt was sleeping so much. They learned about rehabilitation, and the strength and determination it can take to learn to walk, to swallow, to talk again. They learned that all people have limitations: some you can see, some you cant. And, they learned the strength and love of family. I think they learned more "life lessons" that year than I could ever try to teach them. (((((((hugs)))))))) Autumn! Hang in there girl and use all the wonderful suggestions you've been given! And dont be too hard on yourself if a few days fall through the cracks.
Thank you all, these are wonderful suggestions. And thanks for the reminder peg. The life lessons are always the most important.
Autumn...(((hugs))) I think the complete book of... idea is great. another idea, since they are not completely independent readers is the audio books. (Librivox is free and you can download it to itunes and then to your ipod.) Hang in there, your kids will learn, they can hardly help it. That is what kids do.
I am going to use some of these ideas as well. Since we spend at least one day a week on the road as well. I would suggest working on memorization items. We use flash cards to learn vocab words that go along with science ( i.e. a few books about the topic of choice..bugs, reptiles, whales etc) math facts, site words, shapes and colors ( with my 3 yo) we are learning the books of the bible, verses. etc. Just things that it is good for them to know, We try to run over them once a day. I have one of those card holders and have the different ones seperated out. I have also used different colors, or the spiral bound card sets. Like the others have said use the time in the car to talk about lessons, and just talk to your kids. You will be amazed how much they do learn and know just from talking to them. As a last note. My library has story of the world on cd, we listen to that in the car too. But as a warning it means some pretty hardy discussions when the little ones ask about beheadings and such. LOL Ok maybe this will be the last note. We do school on Sat. as well. My kids don't know the difference between Sat and Tuesday. A day is just a day. We get out work done when it needs to be done. But we do take Sunday off without question, eveyrbody needs at least one day off. We only school 4 days a week. And when that doesn't fit well into the week we use Sat. But my days don't change much on the weekend either.
