I am feeling like our school days are SOOOO boring. I am tired of feeling stressed over not finishing something. I am tired of feeling guilty about not doing something with my preschooler, spending too much time with my 7 y/o and not being able to get to my 12 y/o's work. I think i know the problem. You see i did not plan anything. My first grader I had stuff for, but I did not plan anything out. My 12 y/o only came home in March, so I had NOTHING for him. I also did not plan anything for my preschooler. Next year i need to do some serious planning, but i can NEVER seem to find the time. My kids play nice on their own, but I still feel like we need to accomplish something every day. I then get discouraged when I read all the hours and hours of work some people complete with their children. I read one mom's blog and she said that she did between 5-6 hours of work a day with her children. The oldest is 8. I keep thinking, "wow how does she get her kids to do so much work?" and "When does she have time to organize so much work." I guess I am feeling discouraged and burned out. I feel like I don't have time to do all the things that need to be done. I need a break from the guilt.
I completely understand. My children range from 2 1/2-17 yr. 4 boys! This past year of school was awful and I only HS two of the four. So I am starting now to organize for next school year starting after Labor Day. Hope to be much more prepared than in the past. Also, I am going to try to start some HSing with my 4 yr old this summer to get him into a routine, while I am not HSing my older two. That way when our offical year rolls around maybe it will run like clock work. Don't know if this helps, but I did want you to know that you are not alone and give a few suggestions. Hang in there, and PRAY!!
It's entirely possible that the mom you read about meant that SHE did 5-6 hours a day, including her planning time, not that each kid did that much! unless the kids were working independently on a project that they could take their time at. It definitely helps to have a plan. Some folks will say that it's not really homeschooling if you use textbooks/workbooks, but I could not do without them! I don't know if you're Christian or secular or prefer a mix of materials. But some work that can be done independently of you would definitely help. The 12yo especially should be able to do most work independently, then you can just be available for questions, checking, discussing, and planning. The 7yo will need more guidance, but even at that age can do more than you might think independently. That way while they're working independently, you can do things with the preschooler. Then when they're done, they can play with the preschooler while you do the checking and planning for tomorrow. I prefer materials that come divided up into daily lesson plans, or else at the beginning of the year I divide it up myself into at least weekly chunks. Currently we're schooling Other People's Kids. I've had anywhere between 1 and 9 at a time, all different grade and ability levels, but I give them their assignments, and they do them independently. I do all the checking so I can keep in touch with where they are and what they need to do next, but some of the older ones could check their daily work themselves. I seldom end up with any two kids doing the same subject at the same level! The only way I would be able to get around to 9 kids (most of the time there are between 3 and 6) would be if they did most of their work independently. After I check the work, I give it back for corrections, which they do independently. If they miss it twice, we have to discuss. With reading, they generally work one day (or two) and we discuss the whole thing the next before they start on the next lesson. The more kids we have, the less time there is for doing science experiments, but somehow it works out. My favorites are CLE and R&S, but I've also used ACE, Abeka, AlphaOmega, and a lot of the rest of the alphabet!
I just came back from a conference where the themes were: making your own goals for your family, and not looking at other people; doing what you (and your kids enjoy), with interest led learning; fighting burn out by taking time for yourself and your marriage. Sounds like you need to take a step back, refresh, make some reasonable goals, and find out what you might enjoy next year. You'll make it! PS - You don't have to finish every text. It's okay to stop if it's not working for one or all of you.
For me I just assignment a # of pages. We use workbooks, textbook and free printables from online. So I assign my 14 yr old 6-8 pages of Math (both sides so 12-16 excersises total) because she is really good at Math and I assign my 12 yr old 4-6 pages because she struggles with Math and needs more time with it. Its a need base for that subject. the rest are pretty equal. English : 6-8 pages (a mix of printables and textbook exercises). Monthly book report (work due last day of month) Read poems, make 2-3 of their own Spelling : one list per week 15-20 words 4x each everday and tests on Fridays Math: 6-8 pgs/4-6 for younger plus math games Science: One chapter a week plus experiments for that chapter on Fridays Art: 2-3 days a week . Right now we are doing the series..What makes a .... a ....( What makes a Dega , a Dega ...is the title) so we are on Dega right now. We study about him , look at his work and then they try to copy his work or similar piece to his work. At the end of the month we go to an art gallery that is displaying some of the artist pieces. History is : 3 days a week with geography incld. Its all American history now and we are in depth with the Civil War. We do a timeline, study what states were with what side and what states were just territories then, and 1 dd is on the Confederate side and one is on the Union side and they have to research that and give a report later. We are also reading books written in that time period as well. PE is everyday : walking the dog, going to the gym with me or playing soccer/volleyball at the park. I don't sit and plan. I have been doing this for 8+ years now and I maybe spend 1 week out of the year planning. I buy stuff throughout the year but I mainly use free printables and lesson plans online, library books ( borrowed and on the sale shelves) and thriftstores. In the summer I look over the guidelines, see where my dd's are at and then look at what I have and plot from there. Doing it page by page or chapter a week is what works best for me. We also school year round and we only spend 4 hours a day doing "school" the rest is free time for them to finish any reports, play with friends or go to their outside classes.
Definitely dont feel stressed. Who cares about what some other family, no matter how good or bad, is doing in its attempt to educate their children? Your kids need your attention, and not as much of it as you might believe. Try simplifying some things. Preschooler doesn't need much work, at that stage, they tend to learn as much from play and life as they would in even the best school. I recommend you get some work they can do independantly. Wait, FIRST simplify your curriculum. No need to stress and freak out about every little thing, you can cover only so many subjects in a life. Go for quality, over quantity. Depending on their abilities, they probably need the most help in reading, writing and arithmetic (and religion) depending on your belief and educational philosophy. SECOND--Dont be afraid to delegate. Have 1 or 2 projects a week (or a day) that the 12 year can supervise the 7 and pre-k doing. Or even a project that the 7 can do with/for the pre k. For example, I'm using The Reading Lesson and today I had the 6yo do a page with the 4yo, 6 supervised 4. I just observed. When we get a few lessons in, I'm probably going to let the 8yo direct their review time with the book. I let the 6 and 8 work together for math. You might assign the 7 and pre k to play a game like Candy land everyday and keep a running tally of their results. It can help the prek learn colors and counting and more importantly, keep them busy for about 15 minutes a morning. You should look into Independant Study Projects that they can do for a long time, like perhaps make them plant and tend a small garden. Or watch birds, or even do a study on commercials during cartoons. Help them design a project, or better yet dont help. But make sure you make it an important think and stay on top of them. Give them 20 days to track their progress and see if they learned something. Have them design a clubhouse and then price lumber, measure space and do an entire project on how much it would costs to build, paint and keep a clubhouse. LEt them see why they can or cant do something. Have them learn about pet care, or track a fictional budget. Sign them up for lessons, or task them to learn something on their own. Get a DIY book on a foriegn language or HTML from the library and see how far your 2 oldest can get on their own within x amount of time. Dont just think outside the box, get your mind off the ground and do what works for your family. Cut some days back to a bare minimum day. Where you do one page of phonics/reading, 5 spelling words and some manipulative based math. (3rs) then go out and play. If your kids play video games. Buy an educational game that they have to play every now and then.
Hi Robin, Please don't feel discouraged. It is hard to find time to plan when you have a busy family. I can't help but wonder if it was my blog you saw. I'm sorry it left you feeling discouraged. I think some picture my kids sitting down at a table and working for that long each school day. We have been having shorter school days as we approach the end of the school year too. My yesterday: We spent one hour on Bible. We watched different Christian music videos on YouTube for most of that time (45 minutes at least) including time where my kids ran around the room to the music. We did some memory work and practiced looking up texts in the Bible. My younger son worked on his phonics workbook for 30 minutes while my older son did Sequential Spelling with me. We listed to a French audio book and songs for 30 minutes together. My younger son read to me for 30 minutes while my older son practiced handwriting. We then played Wii boxing (yes, I count that as school) And right now my boys are watching a movie. My older son just finished A Wrinkle in Time and they are watching the movie by that name. This past school year I spent weeks planning out the school year during the summer and then a little each week because adjustments were needed to the schedule. I find it very hard to plan while you are in the middle of a school year.
My advice: don't read that blog anymore! I am SO guilty of reading about (and then feeling less than) homeschool families who have seemingly non-stop activity packed days, they bake their own bread, make their own clothes, raise animals, etc...nothing absolutely nothing against that at all - to each his own...it's just not what we do. I don't know what is happening but I am going to hit the big 5-0 in October and have just been getting lots of clarity about so many things. There will always be someone that's younger, smarter, thinner, more interesting, more______(insert your own insecurity) - I have one child, who has Aspergers, we just finished our 4th year of homeschooling and upon reviewing our year it was pretty good - could it have been better? Always! But my son did learn some things, got to go on some cool field trips and did some fun activities so now we move on to 8th grade. I know homeschoolers who tell me "my son did school from 8:00 -3:00 and he loved it" and my response a few years ago would be "Oh great -my son finished all his work in 2 hours and I spend the rest of the day fretting that we don't do enough" but now my response (to my self) is "good for him my son is an only child and homeschooling allows him to do everything quickly -we are doing all the subjects required in our state - we do get out and do some activities and aren't always in the house but sometimes we don't - and that is OK"! I just flashed on the book from the 70's "I'm OK, you're OK" I think we all should put this on our bathroom mirror, fridge wherever we can see it and BELIEVE IT, LIVE IT, KNOW IT. The fact that you are in distress about this means you care, you are a good mom and you are doing good enough by your kids....you can change things up if you're bored -that's the gift of homeschooling. I hereby absolve you of any guilt :love: Jane
You know, public and private schools have at least 4 months off where they do nothing. Take a month off and figure out a schedule that will work for you. Keep in mind that different ages/grades will work radically different amounts of time. PreK will be done in probably 30 minutes to an hour, depending on what you do. A first grader will also be finished pretty quickly. I think mine were always done within 2-3 hours--- and that was with every subject in the mix. A twelve year old will probably work longer amounts of time, but much of that work can be and should be self-directed. You might look at setting up a college-type schedule with certain courses on certain days. NAUMS-type private schools do this. It's actually a good way to prepare for the way college-scheduling works if your kids end up going the college route. Plus, it's a nice way of keeping yourself organized more easily as you'll know that math/language/science are on MWF and history/reading/etc. are on T/Th.
Breath! ((hugs)) I think all of us can relate. One thing I am learning to do is not get to caught up in what others are doing. We hs can get trapped in wanting to do what others are doing. That takes away from the beauty of hs. I can not stress enough how planning really really helped me and still I stress sometimes. (My husband thinks I am slightly OCD about hs) Once your year ends take some time to plan your year. Perhaps a workbox system may work for you. You can use that for your older children who are more self directed and you can check their things at night. Also if there are topics that can be taught together combine those and customize the assignments based on the age. Personally I would not stress so much over the preschooler. Let them enjoy being a preschooler. There will be so much time for school later. I have a preschool box that is full of motor skill activities peg boards, blocks, foam puzzels etc. This box only comes out during school time. If my K son is working on a worksheet then I get a plain sheet of paper out for my preschooler. Sometimes I can pull him aside and work with him personally but just by observing he is learning so much. I know its stressfull sometimes, trust me I there are days when I get overwhelmed because my5 month old wont nap and is crying constantly. Or my two year old is being a two year old. (Did I mention I am in the middle of potty training him) It can be a bit much but I am learning (key word learning) to give myself some grace. Finish the year take some time off and develop a solid plan that works for you and your family. While you are planning for the next year analyze what worked and what did not work and how you can improve. Remeber we are here for you at the spot.
mmmm...you should probably come back in Aug when we start full swing and read my blog, my guess is it'll make you feel better LOL Seriously, don't compare yourself to other moms. Don't compare your kids to other kids. My guess is one reason you homeschool is for individualized education, so why compare to others! (I know, I know, easier said than done LOL we've all done it) Take a day for yourself. Kid free. Indulge in something you love but don't normally do/get. Bubble bath, starbucks, window shopping, mani/pedi, girl talk, whatever. Then take a day with the kids and just have fun. No school. Just fun. Water gun fight, go swimming, have a picnic, play games and watch movies while cuddling on the couch. Then try again.
I agree do not compare your school/family/ kids /or self to anyone else. You will be more stressed than you started off as. Also you will second guess yourself way too much! Never a good thing. Remember you just started off everyone has a rough time. Whether they have been at it for one week or sixteen years, we all have a hard time with stuff. Also remember this is why you homeschool to go at the pace that is right for YOUR family not the Jones's. My dad with a 1st grader only lasts about 2 hours at the most. Now this includes our reading also. Now if we have a science project of nature walk of course it will be longer, but for the most part 2 hours is plenty. I suggest you take a month off! You need to get all your stuff lined out. Figure out what books/curriculum you are going to use, get it ordered. Once it is there you can fall in love with all your new books and read though what needs to be read, schedule out other stuff, search our projects or read a loud books you want to add. Then when it is all done, take a week off for you before you start. Then you will be refreshed the kids will be refreshed and it will be a nice fresh start for all of you. Also the key about scheduling is do NOT let the schedule rule you! Let it be a guide/outline of what you want to do, but do not make it make you feel as if you are behind in anyway. I do not put dates or days in my scheduling. I just put the lessons down and mark a date by each lesson when we finish. If you write it out to the point of x pages of math, x pages of la, x amount of chapters in this book must be done monday then do it for the next day and life gets in the way, like it does for all of us. Then you will end up feeling just like you do now. Which is not a wonderful place to be. So, breath relax and take it slow. You will get it all in place one of these days. Hey I have been doing this for 3 going on 4 years now and still do not have it all together.
It's hard not to look at what others are doing and compare yourself to them. But each family/child is differant. this is going on our 4th year and I have SO felt the same way you do now. I never planned anything up until this year. I sat down and scheduled everything. I also looked at specific goals I had for my kids. My 9 year old needed help with her handwriting so I made that a huge priority. She improved DRASTICALLY!! 6 year old WANTED to read. So we accomplished that. Start with small goals like those. You don't have to schedule EVERYTHING unless it helps keep you on track. That's why I did it.. Just look at specific things that they need to work on and go from there. I feel like we have accomplished so much this year and I think doing the "baby steps" helped me see all of it. Angie
I haven't had time to read all the posts as I'm heading out the door to dd's volleyball camp, but I have recently been very encouraged by Barbara Shelton's book High School: A Home Designed Form+U+LA. She talks about high school specifically, but the principles of "redeeming the time" are fantastic. I have always felt that we waste so much time spoon feeding information that there must be a better way. For my family, we do not thrive on workbooks--and we've tried. We will be setting goals next year for things we want/need to learn and then checking off the goal when it is met. I can't wait to be relaxed and organized at the same time! As far as our daily schedule, we make sure that math is scheduled daily. When they were younger, it was math and reading daily. The other subjects we rarely schedule since the kids gravitate toward curiosities in science and history (ds), art and literature (dd). There are times when ds is watching a documentary...or Myth Busters ...and dd, who isn't typically into that kinda stuff, will watch it and learn because she is interested in it at that time. We do have science and history curriculum dd will be using as a 6th grader next year, but that is because it is heavy on the crafts which she loves. Sorry if that was off topic a bit, but I wanted to include things we do to "get it done" that don't seem burdensome to me or the kids. It'll all fall together for you as you figure out what it is your family needs and go from there.
I agree with the other ladies don't compare yourself or your kids to others. God made us all different... Also, I like Crystal lay out plan look over that it works great. Also, when the kids are doing paper work that is your time to do your planning... that is what most mothers do.. give there child work and they do there work... ((((((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))) hang in there it will work out
