we have been in our house for almost 2 weeks now, most everything is unpacked the kids rooms are compleatly painted and most of my carpentry projects are in their final stages, with all that work it goes with out saying weve done just about squat school wise the past 2 weeks... not for lack of trying tho, i think i have really stressed myself and the kids out by trying to continue school while making so many changes..we have been doing 'half days' school before lunch unpacking and moving in after lunch but we are all burned out. i anounced today that we are having a "new house break" and will be taking the next week off from school work... i made it sound like i have some big master plan to take this break and come back fresh in a week but honestly its just a last ditch effort to keep everyone, including myself, from going crazy. my question for you is how do i "reset" i need somthing new and diffrent to spark everyones attention agian, the break is a much needed one but i will need somthing to pull everyone back after a week off and the "same ol' same ol'" isnt going to cut it! currently we are using an eclectic mix of unit stuides and classic education but im open for anything at this point... today was the first time since we have started homeschooling that we all sat down at the table this morning and not one of us wanted to be there any more than the next person..we all have an off day now and agian but the fact that we were ALL having an off day (week!) told me it was time to do somthing... im open to any suggestions! ok im sending myself to my room...its 1am and im still up rambling onthe keyboard, ill spare you any more of my sleep deprived rants! i appriciate everyones help -Connie
Can you pick a unit study that all your kids will want to run with (as opposed to run FROM, lol!)? Something that you can incorporate across the curriculum, with lots of hands on? I don't know! Right now we're starting the Middle Ages in history. Phillip is chomping at the bit to make a little cardboard catapult, and this medieval helmet he found in a book.
Connie, what about a unit study on Indians for Thanksgiving or one for Christmas do different Christmas around the world. There is alot out there. Do some more field trips now you are in a new area, get a phone book look over the book and see what they have to offer, and do a field trip here and there.
Funny you should mention this. We have been doing the opposite, going gangbusters, but in reality we need a change of pace. Do something VERY unsual to break up the pace is what I say. We are taking a 'teachers in service day' today I think......maybe you could finish out this week with NO school at all, and go from half and kind of to full next week. I do better either 100% or 0% it seems. Maybe?
When we first moved we also took a break. The stress of the move worked it self out as we just enjoyed being a family and our new house.
Connie- take a breath! Then, can you remind us how old your kids are please? That might help with ideas on what to do. Thanks, and hang in there- momandteacherx3
Yes, ages would help. My first thoughts are to educate them in exactly what is going on in your life. Teach them to paint rooms, to plant things in the yard, to plan out how to place furniture, etc. Those are great life lessons. Another thing is that often when moving you have to find out where things are. Go on drives and have the kids make maps of locations of important places. Have them write lists of places they would like to visit in the future. Make each day a new activity. Such as visiting a nursery and learning about plants. Just one-day unit studies. Let their curiosity lead them. Questions will come to mind automatically while looking at things, let those questions lead them to more info and then keep going. Its' an exciting way to learn and removes nearly all lesson planning. The internet is a real gift in this style. The holidays are coming, don't forget cooking days as lessons. All sorts of thought goes into cooking, and that takes care of a whole day of teaching. There are plenty of fun ways to educate kids during times of upheaval or stress. Stick a textbook day in there once in a while, and before you know it a month has gone by and you are ready to settle into some table work again.
I would just put them doing cruise control stuff like reading and watching educational tv or movies, videos for a few days instead of quitting altogether. Have them study spelling words and test each others or other stuff like that. Then as long as they are safe, press forward and get the house situation under control. During those days I would get enough stuff done that the critical stuff was in place to make the household functional. THen the rest could be worked away at a couple of hours a day. Take some time to get used to the new area also. Do you have new library cards yet. Feild trips to new things in the area, if only to get a preview for later might be a nice way to kick off the first few days back. Have the kids help make up a plan/schedule of activities for the next few weeks. Work on this to kick off school each day to draw attention. You might plan mini trips that tie into your lessons. Do not feel bad about having the house in disarray. Moving is one of the largest live stresses, and compares to divorce and career change. At this point if everyone is getting fed and wearing reasonable clean clothes, you are doing quite well. Send the kids to the park with dad, or put them in front of a movie then take a couple of hours to look over the home school materials, and make a plan for the next week or two. Change what you did at the other house as needed to accomodate your new situation. You do not have to "fix" the entire school year right now. Just make the next few days work, then regroup and move forward. Be encouraged by the fact that Christmas break and summer vacation are optional as are Saturdays off. You can make up the two weeks or three or more later.
I agree with a bunch of the other post. Maybe join together and all do a fun unit study. I like the ones that combine reading with history, vocab, spelling and writing. Something geared towards Thanksgiving or Christmas might be nice. Take turns reading the book aloud. Then you can do crafts around it or reinact it. If you get together with family for Thanksgiving have the kids put together a presentation of what they learned. They can do a mini play, with a poem and the history that they have learned. These are so much fun and really involve everyone!
thanks for all the encougrment and ideas! someone asked how old my kids are: Luke is 9, Jordan is 7, Sam is 5 Noah is 4, but developmentaly he is more around 2-2.5 and Katie is 8 months.
Connie- with your kids the ages they are, I agree with many of the other ideas already posted. Take them for a walk around the neighborhood- give the oldest two their own notebooks and let them "map" the area. How many houses down from you is the biggest maple tree? How many blue houses are on this block? Which side of the street has odd/even numbers? Which direction are we going if we turn left here? How many dogs did we see today? (graphing skills) If you are in a more "outdoorsy" neighborhood- have them collect leaves, make tree rubbings, gather things for a "matter" box (all things are matter), look for animal markings (dog, cat, bird), etc. For the matter box, bring them home (my boys take big ziplocs and put them in their backpacks)- and then they can identify/label all the items. Small unit studies would be good- but don't overburden yourself on the idea. Rent a Peanuts movie and pop popcorn, then let the kids use the comics from the paper as a guide and they each try to draw one box from the comic. (This is good for quite a long time!!) Snoopy or Garfield can be traced from the paper even, and then colored. I'll keep thinking, but try to take it easy, and remember that once you are back in control of the house a little more, the schooling will come with it. And just because public school kids aren't in class on a rainy Saturday afternoon, doesn't mean you can't catch up on a day of math or science, etc. (Taking this reminder to heart too- as I have been stressed about things lately too!) momandteacherx3
Oh, let me add about the walk- the five year old could have his own notebook too- but he will have different things to "map"- like making a mark for every mailbox you pass, or make a color chart and he puts a mark every time he sees a white car, etc. momandteacherx3
thanks for all the wonderful ideas... we actually had a very nice day today. i love the walk ideas, so everyone got their own notebook this morning and we packed a backpack full of markers pens cameras water and snacks and set off to explore the land around our house.. we have just short of 12 acers and the nearest house is over a mile away so no mailboxes to count lol!!! DP and i took the little two in backpack carriers and we used old fasioned mapping techniques that ds read about to map the area around our house and used a compas to stay on course. we discovered a small pool in the creek that runs through our property that looks like it gets a good deal of water in it in the spring (wadeing? fishing?!!) we found a tree where erosion has exposed the roots with enough room to crawl through them and the kids collected 12 diffrent kinds of leaves and are currently working on figuing out wich leaf belongs to which kind of tree and putting it in their nature notebook! i
Connie- sounds like a great day with your walk! And I'm sure the fresh air and not thinking about those boxes was a plus for you!! I just thought I would share what I think we are going to work on for the next week or so. I haven't gone to the library yet for the books so can't give you specific titles yet, but will share the idea. We are going to work on elections and government. With the elections coming up the kids have noticed the signs in peoples' yards and seen some of the ads on tv. (My kids are 11, 9 and 6). I would like to have them read a couple of books about certain areas of government (mayor, governor, president)- and then I noticed a book a while ago that explains the three sections of government. We are going to do some graphing, some research, build a voting booth, and one day we are going to build a mock-up of the state capitol building. I have a wordsearch and a cross-word puzzle that are related, and can make another if need be. (If anyone has other ideas I would love to hear them!!) Oh, and the oldest two are going to write a "campaign speech"- to see what things might be important as a campaign "promise" and why. We even know an "ex-mayor" who may be willing to be interviewed by the kids. Sorry that got so long- have you decided on where things are heading at your house this week? momandteacherx3
Momandteacherx3, during the presidential campaign, my oldest was "for" Bush. So I asked her WHY. Because he's the best man. Why? Well, you and Daddy think so.... But WHY do we think so? So I decided to teach my Co-op unit on the elections. All our kids were "pro-Bush", and I really wanted them to understand that those that supported Kerry had some very valid reasons for doing so. They had very strong beliefs, just like "we" did, and felt Kerry would be the best person for the job. They were voting their convictions, just like "us". So one assignment I gave the kids was to ask ten different people who they were voting for and WHY. We then listed on the board reasons why people were voting for Bush, and reasons why they were voting for Kerry. We also found out that many of those reasons were the same. For example abortion. Pro-Kerry had often had strong feelings concerning abortion, and so did pro-Bush. Gay rights and Iraq were also on both sides. It was very good for the kids.
that sounds like a great unit to study, we touched on the elections a little last year when we were doing local elections. i think this week we are going to stick with the laid back stuff, spelling, math and journals in the morning and with an extra tap class this week we shouldnt be lacking for anything to do. i got a new phonics computer game for ds 4 and ds 5. we went to the library last week and have finished all our books, we usually try to go every other week but were going to go tomorrow and take out a bunch of books and just spend the week reading. ive given all the kids one assignment for the week, Read as many books as you want and come up with your own story, everyone has to write a story, illustrate it and put it together in a book by friday. the only rule is you cant copy a story straight out of another book... you can use ideas but not word for word. so far everyone is being very secritive about their books so im not sure what they are writing about. Luke was staring off into space today and i asked him what he was thinking about he said "not a whole lot mom, im just not sure what direction to take my protaganist in" LOL sounds like they will be working hard even without any formal school! thanks agian for all your support and encourgment. even on the worst days im so glad we are homeschooling, but i know i couldnt stick it out with out support!!!
