No matter HOW hard I try, I can NOT get away from the idea that my children MUST learn the way the public school kids learn.. Although, it does not work for them, I still push them to do workbook page after workbook page trying to keep them "caught up" with their public school friends... Dd9 is always begging to do "research" and write a report on various topics.. I feel she is too young so I say no.. :/ ya, throw a tomato at me.. I diserve it... This is the same one that recites poems from memory and drives me INSANE while doing it because she feels she needs to twirl around in circles.. And she DOES, It's Just the way she works.. Sitting still is NOT and WILL NOT ever work for her.. Even when she is reading she has to be swinging her feet or her hands are fidgeting.. I have GOT to get outside "the box" and find other ways to engage this youngster in learning.. Yes, books are there for me to use, but as a "guide".. I don't want to be a slave to them anymore.. I don't want to feel that every single page has to be done in every single workbook we have in our curriculum.. Or that every single lesson be taught the way the book says.. I'm tired of mundane weeks of work.. We have STACKS AND STACKS of workbook pages that they have completed, but have they really learned anything?? How is completing workbook pages concreteing a concept??? Instead of cultivating a love of learning I am burning them out.. Why is it SO hard to get away from the public school way of thinking?? I'm so DONE with this!! We want new, we want FRESH, We want fun AND rewarding learning!! My girls have been begging for "fun Fridays".. They want to have a day to play WHILE learning!! WHY is that so hard for me to give them.. Surely, I'm not the only one who feels stuck in "the box".. Anyone ever escape? LOL! HOW DID YOU DO IT?? Please SHARE.. Thanks.
Have you read my thread about who I am trying to kid??? Yeah I'm totally the opposite sort of. I keep trying to do things "outside of the box" and my kids are more "inside of the box". They do like workbooks fairly well, their favorite things to learn from is technology... you know videos like teachers in classrooms show. I want them to want to listen to hours of read alouds, even if I don't really want to read aloud (how flipping crazy is that????), I want them to be anything but "mainstream". We need to remember why we are doing this... we are doing this so that their education fits the kids needs, not the kids fit the education needs. You are doing fine, and your kids will be fine. Relax, follow their lead and enjoy the ride.
tossing tomatoes at you! hahaha, Let the kid research, who knows what will come of it but if my dd did ask to do school at 3 she would not have three years of college and be stressing me out about how to transfer to a University and get a job out of it. Boxes re okay but think about how many kids you have and each of them wants to learn the way that works for them, thats one reason we home schooled!
Well, I am in the box and my son has never set foot in a box. OK, he did but only to make it a fort or something... He is now 18 and I have not given up on all the "box" type of learning. I have however relaxed quite a bit and made both of our lives better. Have I found "THE" way to homeschool? NO, I need about another decade to do that and he graduates this year. So, I am going to have to resign myself to the fact that I didn't do it all right. Sometimes this causes me to panic and other days I feel fine.
I'm "in the box" too. Don't worry. You have to do what is comfortable for you and your kids. Luckily my kids seem to like the traditional school setting. They don't complain about textbooks and worksheets so I go with it.
My husband is in the box.... I have 1 foot in and 1 foot out..... and I don't have any tomatoes to throw so I won't I have a cabbage though! *but that's for dinner this week so forget it* Funny thing is - my dh in his little box - doesn't LIKE school... didn't LIKE school... and doesn't understand the box mentality - yet when I step too far outside the box.... HE freaks seriously he cracks me up.... I always get nervous going outside the box TOO far... but listening to my kids - they seem to have learned more that way (don't get me started about PINK dolphins - and if you go back probably 4 years of my posts you'll see the start of that topic).... So I want to be outside the box - yet somethings I'm more comfortable with INSIDE the box (math - definite inside box subject)
It is hard to break out of the box! Start small. You don't have to throw out all of the workbooks, but since they are asking for a "Fun Friday," let them have it. That's actually what I started doing with DD12 when she left private school. I thought I had to keep her "on track" with her schooled peers. Poor kid was bogged down with hours of algebra, Latin, French, science, history, etc... I was afraid, though, to lighten the load. I started with Fun Friday. I found a book of Family Math Activities for Middle School years and started implementing that on Fridays. We bake cool treats and desserts, play any myriad of games, work on writing and videotaping plays, go on extended nature walks, etc... Once I allowed Fun Friday, it was easy to start implementing some of those same activities into other days of the week, so that now, we are much more relaxed than we were at this point last year (but not completely relaxed!)
we have almost always done Fridays off, we have it as make up day for sheduled work, so if they want it free they must do work over time to get it done. Some weeks dd got several in a row cause she would work way ahead. lol
My boys are 12 and 14, so I grade their work. They earn video game time for the weekend, based on how well they did in school that week - behavior wise and grade wise. They can earn a maximum of 3 hrs video game time to use on Fri and Sat only, so they work hard to earn as much time as they can. I am not above bribery or the reward system, if it means they try harder. Lol. English papers are the hardest to grade. I talked to their old teachers and they both told me that they use a rubic system. They decide what they will be looking for in each English assignment. Then they make up a percentage system. Maybe like 50% for content. 20% of spelling, and grammar, 20% for creativity, and 10% for neatness. Or something like that. My boys are both working on trying to use expanded sentences and making their essays and reports interesting, so I am giving 25% towards expanded sentences on their current research papers that they are working on. They have examples of rubrics on the internet or you can make up your own. At the start of each big paper, I let the kids know what I am looking for, and what everything is worth. For younger kids, I agree with everyone else - grades aren't too important, but my kids are both in middle school, so am preparing for highschool. Plus they are from the public school, so they are used to grades.
Faith is not just believing God can; It is knowing he will! This is your quote fron the bottom of your post...I know its hard to actually do this sometimes, but follow your own lead here...God can & will help you out of the box..LOL It is hard to throw caution to the wind but your kids are screaming for it. We, as adults tend to not trust that kids know anything besides what we have taught them...funny thing is is that my kids have taught me WAY more than I have them..lol Ask yourself if you are basing your kids education on their happiness & fulfillment in life & God or for the satisfaction of those public school folks around you. I, personally, cannot push my kids to keep up with the Jones's...tried a little in the early h.school yrs. I learned that it didnt work for them or me, one LARGE reason that we pulled out of public school to begin with. I am still coming out of the box a little at a time. Some days I lean more toward the unschooling side of education now where before I started out using Abeka which is the exact opposite. Abeka is simply public school work at home for us. It feels good to let go & let God be our guide. I do structure a lot of their learning but I am much more relaxed than before now that I look to God for guidance. Seek ye first the kingdom of God & His righteousness & all these things shall be added unto you. Matt 6:33
I'm researching and will start my first HSing year this fall. I am finding it HARD to get out of the PS mindset. My mom and MANY of my family members are PS teachers...so I grew up with that as *the* learning environment. So this is hard for me to be so laid back. I'm know that I will have an eclectic style of teaching as I have an ADHD boy that I will need to get creative with. He is almost 6 and has been bouncing off the walls since he started walking at 10months! I've gotten used to the fact that he NEEDS to be moving at all times. It used to bother me to no end..still does sometimes...but I keep reminding myself that he is a kinesthetic learner and moving while me reading to him is helping the blood flow to his brain and is helping him remember what is being said. he could be jumping up and down, playing with legos, coloring a sheet.... God has given us the tools to teach our children. Trust in HIM, lean on HIM. He will show you the way. Let your DD do a research paper...that is no harm in that! She will excel at it because she is WANTING to do that! Give her all the helps she wants with it. Maybe you can move to a more unit themed HSing approach? Where you still get all the core subjects each week, but they are all tied together through one umbrella subject. I'll pray for you. You are doing a great thing already for your children...keep it up, mama.
