Can't get it together this year/vent!

[Laura Cook]

Anyone else having a hard time getting it together this year? Our family life, housekeeping, outside activities, etc. are chugging along just fine, school is the issue! We started school in July and did 4 solid weeks of school. During that time my grandpa had a stroke, but because he was recovering well from it we kept on with school. Then at the beginning of August he had another stroke, deteriorated rapidly and passed away mid August. We didn't do school at all for the entire month. And I'm okay with that. Instead we focused on what we could do to help our family. I spent a lot of time cooking, cleaning, driving and visiting with family from out of town. My kids were able to say goodbye to their great grandpa and he was surrounded by family. It was a hard, yet also wonderful time and I don't regret taking the time off of school to focus on family. I think there was a lot of life learning during that month.

 

Since then we haven't been able to stay in a good groove with school. We did school all of September to November, except for 2 weeks we were sick and a week at Thanksgiving. We got it done, but it was in fits and starts. We did a little light school through December, but not much. We came back in the new year and did okay, except for the 2 weeks in February where NO ONE wanted to do school. Now its March and everyone is getting sick again! I can't decide if we should power through or take a day or two to rest. Right now, even though I know we need to get some work done, I don't want to. We will, but I'm having a hard time getting my attitude in the right place. Except for the occasional bad attitude (constantly from my middle child) about school from my kids, I think the problems this year have been mostly my fault. I am having a really hard time sticking to any sort of routine or schedule for very long. It seems like the smallest things are completely throwing me off track.

 

Winter has hit me pretty hard the last couple of months, so that is probably part of the problem. I'm so tired of the cold and the snow I could cry. We haven't had that much snow here compared to other places but I'm already sick of it! There is still snow on the ground today but at least the sun is shining! I'm going to go sit in a sunny spot on the couch and read to the kids, that would be a good way to ease into school.

 

Oh, and something completely trivial that has made me INSANE this year is science! The amount of head space and time I've spent worrying about it is ridiculous. We started out doing Elemental Science Chemistry, boring and way too much writing for my younger two. We did a few lessons from BFSU, we liked them for the most part but I didn't feel like I had the time to really pull things together for it like I wanted. We've done some of the activities from Adventures with Atoms and Molecules, the kids weren't interested. Right now we are going through the short lessons in the chemistry lapbook from Hands of a Child and calling chemistry done. I think that maybe we aren't that interested in chemistry and that is what the problem has been. After the chemistry lapbook the kids asked to do a short dinosaur study and then we are going to stop fussing over science for this year, by then it will be warm enough to spend time outside in nature and doing some gardening. It will be good enough.

 

This hasn't been a complete disaster of a year, and I know that people have had a much worse year, so I feel like I'm being a big whiney baby but this has been our hardest year so far. Granted, we are only about 4 years into homeschooling so there's still time to make this one look like a cake walk. Anyone else having a school year that isn't horrible, but certainly isn't going as well as you'd hoped? 

 

 

[Ellie]

:grouphug:

 

It happens to most of at one time or another. Not to worry: your children are still so young that there shouldn't be any long-term negative effects.

 

I once burned us out by Thanksgiving (a year when we hadn't been hsing year-round); I put the books away Thanksgiving weekend, which was normal for us, and didn't take them out again in January, which was not normal. Somewhere around February dds began looking at me out the corners of their eyes. Finally one of them asked if we were going to do school and I said no. They heaved sighs of relief and went on with their lives. We started KONOS that August; older dd began taking classes at the community college in January (she had her 14th bday in class) while I finished KONOS with younger dd, and life went on. :-) (Younger dd also started c.c. classes when she was 14; I'm thinking our year of jubilee didn't hurt anything.)

[73349]

So your science this year has been "eclectic." That's fine. Your elementary students are learning chemistry.

 

Now, you're in a better position to add it up than I am, but aren't you saying you've completed about 20 or 22 weeks of school? In that case, won't you finish a perfectly good school year in late June, 17 weeks from now?

 

You might be doing better than you're giving yourself credit for.

[Laura Cook]

So your science this year has been "eclectic." That's fine. Your elementary students are learning chemistry.

 

Now, you're in a better position to add it up than I am, but aren't you saying you've completed about 20 or 22 weeks of school? In that case, won't you finish a perfectly good school year in late June, 17 weeks from now?

 

You might be doing better than you're giving yourself credit for.

 

I went and added it all up, we've gotten 20 weeks done. So I guess you're right, its not awful! Why does it feel like we've accomplished very little? We usually take 6 weeks for a short summer break and I hate to take that away from them. Besides the fact that we will be busy with baseball/softball 4 nights a week, my kids usually come back from our summer break having made leaps in their learning and maturity. Maybe we will just switch to light school for part of those 6 weeks. Thanks!

[Momto4inSoCal]

We are a little scattered this year too. I feel like next year I need to buckle down a little more. Our social life and recreation classes are taking over school. I'm not very good at prioritizing. We are doing school but I feel like if I were more focused we could be getting more out of it. 

[Kiara.I]

I went and added it all up, we've gotten 20 weeks done. So I guess you're right, its not awful! Why does it feel like we've accomplished very little? We usually take 6 weeks for a short summer break and I hate to take that away from them. Besides the fact that we will be busy with baseball/softball 4 nights a week, my kids usually come back from our summer break having made leaps in their learning and maturity. Maybe we will just switch to light school for part of those 6 weeks. Thanks!

 

In my area, ending in late June would give you a full 9-10 weeks off.  School starts in September.  If you hate to take the break away from them, don't!  Easy.  ;)   (I'm guessing in your area school starts in August?  But it doesn't, everywhere, so you could do your official back to school in September this once if that works better for you.  Or partway through August.  Or something.)

[Critterfixer]

March is the month when I crawl out from under February, look around and say, "Where the heck did the school year go and why do I have all these lessons left to do? It's going to be May in two months!"

I forget everything I have done and get all worked up over what is left. I think it has something to do with the combination of longing for spring to get here and dealing with winter's leftovers at the same time.

 

 

I went and added it all up, we've gotten 20 weeks done. So I guess you're right, its not awful! Why does it feel like we've accomplished very little? We usually take 6 weeks for a short summer break and I hate to take that away from them. Besides the fact that we will be busy with baseball/softball 4 nights a week, my kids usually come back from our summer break having made leaps in their learning and maturity. Maybe we will just switch to light school for part of those 6 weeks. Thanks!

 

 

[KSinNS]

Hugs and don't panic. You are doing just fine. They have many years of school left to them. They will see chemistry, grammar, spelling and math many, many times. Take your time. 

[Laura Cook]

We are a little scattered this year too. I feel like next year I need to buckle down a little more. Our social life and recreation classes are taking over school. I'm not very good at prioritizing. We are doing school but I feel like if I were more focused we could be getting more out of it.

Scattered is exactly the word that describes it! I'm feeling the same about next year. I think I just need a better plan. I went into this year just sort of winging it and it's stressed me out.

[Laura Cook]

March is the month when I crawl out from under February, look around and say, "Where the heck did the school year go and why do I have all these lessons left to do? It's going to be May in two months!"

I forget everything I have done and get all worked up over what is left. I think it has something to do with the combination of longing for spring to get here and dealing with winter's leftovers at the same time.

Yep, I was looking at the calendar asking myself how it could possibly be March already! And started stressing about getting done before Memorial Day. I've calmed down and realized that we aren't as far off from where I wanted to be as I thought. So we are just going to do as much as we can until Memorial Day and then set it aside for our short summer break. Whatever we don't get done we can pick back up in July when it's so hot none of us want to be outside. We will continue with read alouds and their personal reading during our break. I am considering having them do some math 2-3 times a week.

 

Sometimes I forget that homeschooling doesn't have to be locked into certain days or weeks.

[Laura Cook]

Hugs and don't panic. You are doing just fine. They have many years of school left to them. They will see chemistry, grammar, spelling and math many, many times. Take your time.

Thank you! It's so easy to get into an everything, right now and all at the same time mindset. I need to remember to take a step back and appreciate what we have accomplished before I freak out!

[Garga]

Have you read this thread? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/543868-no-school-in-two-years/

[Amy M]

My will to homeschool is there, but we have had some really hard times lately that have absolutely prevented it. I just posted about that in another thread and then read this thread.  :grouphug: 

[Garga]

If it were me, the way I would get out of this funk would be to look ahead and make a schedule.  

 

If you do 180 days of school per school year, that's 36 weeks of school.  You've done 20. You're stuck with 16 more weeks which is 4 more months:  all of March, April, May and June.  And that's if you take no more days off. 

 

Look, to be honest, you took the time off earlier in the year and now it's time to make it up.  It's frustrating and unfortunate, but there you go.  You can't magically add another month to the calendar to account for the months missed.

 

You might want to look through the books for each subject and make a plan for how much needs to be done each day for the next 16 weeks to complete what you want to complete by the end of June.  

 

The kids can have off all of July and 1/2 of August for their 6 weeks off (I think that's what you wanted, right?)  It's the same amount of time--just a little later than previously hoped.  While all the other kids were in school, yours were out, and come summer it will be opposite for a few weeks.  That's what makes homeschooling so good.  You can take the time off when you want to, but you do need to make it up somewhere else.  It'll be ok.  You've done more than you thought.  You just need to see the rest through.  

 

I've learned that my end date is often later than I'd hoped because things happen throughout the year.  We just go a little longer to get it done.

[Laura Cook]

Have you read this thread? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/543868-no-school-in-two-years/

 

I did read that thread, and while we aren't having anywhere near the issues to cause us to not do school for two years, it did give me a nice little kick in the pants. My kids are all doing well with math, reading and writing. I have no worries there. I agree with those that said consistency is one of the keys to homeschooling successfully. I haven't been as consistent this year as I'd like to be. Starting now I'm working on changing that.

[Laura Cook]

If it were me, the way I would get out of this funk would be to look ahead and make a schedule.  

 

If you do 180 days of school per school year, that's 36 weeks of school.  You've done 20. You're stuck with 16 more weeks which is 4 more months:  all of March, April, May and June.  And that's if you take no more days off. 

 

Look, to be honest, you took the time off earlier in the year and now it's time to make it up.  It's frustrating and unfortunate, but there you go.  You can't magically add another month to the calendar to account for the months missed.

 

You might want to look through the books for each subject and make a plan for how much needs to be done each day for the next 16 weeks to complete what you want to complete by the end of June.  

 

The kids can have off all of July and 1/2 of August for their 6 weeks off (I think that's what you wanted, right?)  It's the same amount of time--just a little later than previously hoped.  While all the other kids were in school, yours were out, and come summer it will be opposite for a few weeks.  That's what makes homeschooling so good.  You can take the time off when you want to, but you do need to make it up somewhere else.  It'll be ok.  You've done more than you thought.  You just need to see the rest through.  

 

I've learned that my end date is often later than I'd hoped because things happen throughout the year.  We just go a little longer to get it done.

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm going to sit down this afternoon, after we are done with school for the day, and work out a plan for the rest of the year. Shouldn't be too hard!

[Miss Tick]

If you've kept up with reading and math, you may be able to tall your kids into adding a content subject on the weekend if the reward is a long-weekend for spring break, or moving the summer end date up.

[Laura Cook]

If you've kept up with reading and math, you may be able to tall your kids into adding a content subject on the weekend if the reward is a long-weekend for spring break, or moving the summer end date up.

Oooo, that's a good idea! Thanks!

[mom2scouts]

I have the opposite problem.  School is going well, but everything else is falling apart.  I can't keep the house clean, the bills paid on time,or all the other things straight.  One of my older sons needs surgery soon, my Dad was hospitalized, my mom needs more support, and I barely see or talk to my husband.  I think homeschoolers should get an extra day each week!

[sunflowerlady]

We have had a very strange and rough school year. Our English curriculum needed to be changed after a couple of months, so we did that.

 

Dd will be doing her English curriculum over the summer to catch up. It is what it is. 

 

I think we all have school years like this from time to time.

[RootAnn]

It sounds like you are doing just fine. I wouldn't do another 16 weeks of school. I'd see how much content stuff I wanted to do for the rest of the year (and it sounds like you already did that for science - yeah!) and then just stop doing the skill stuff at the end of your school year (Mem Day?)... and pick up the skill stuff in July or whenever you normally start up. 

 

FWIW, I never do 36 weeks of content stuff. We do around 32 weeks of "school" during the school year (+/- days off, sick days, testing days, field trips) and then add in some 'summer school' work in math, typing, and whatever stuff they need/want extra in. We are all over the place in our math books at any one time. I have two that are mid-book, one that just started a book, and one that is almost done. 

 

:grouphug: I think it is great that you are going to try to be more consistent. Some days (years), that is harder than others. Don't kick yourself too much. And don't punish the kids for sickness.