I can see why people quit by high school.

[JessReplanted]

I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to keep going. :svengo:  My 7th grader's work is getting more difficult. He's not a natural student and requires a lot of my time. I feel like I'm always trying to squeeze the middle two kids in, and we are always playing catch up. The toddler is not happy just going along with the flow. Trying to manage her while teaching the others seems impossible.

 

And, I'm not having any fun. Really, this is just not enjoyable.

 

I dread the complications and issues we would face if we put them in school. (Who wants to do homework at night?)

We can't afford private school and the thought of throwing them in public school makes me feel sick.

 

Anyway... who wants to commiserate with me?

[madteaparty]

I outsourced most of his classes and I somehow find my work load has not decreased. We always planned on brick and mortar for high school, in fact we are moving for it. There's no great options.

[OneStepAtATime]

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

Have you actually LOOKED at the public schools in your area?  Like taken a tour?  I find that a lot of people hear third hand one horror story or another and think the entire school district is abysmal.  You might be pleasantly surprised.  

 

That being said, I am sending you hugs of support.  Are there any good co-ops in your area, with some solid academic courses you could outsource, or maybe University model 2-3 day a week schools?  A teenage or college age tutor that could help out?

[Garga]

I'll commiserate! I only have 2; a 5th and an 8th grader. I am able to combine a lot of things this year: art, music, history, bible, writing, science.

 

But next year, my oldest is in 9th and I'm worried about finding time for both of them. I won't be combining classes next year because I'm upping the ante for the oldest too much for the youngest to follow along.

 

I hate schooling where I just hand them books and say, "read this." We love reading the books together and discussing as we go. Like, I don't have my son just read his logic book alone. We read it together and pause and discuss. I only see that happening more and more in high school. (Wanting to read and discuss together.)

 

I feel for you guys with little kids. I really do. If I had more kids, I'd have to let go of my idea of reading the lessons along with the boys and would just have to hand them books to read and then quiz them later to make sure they were comprehending. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have to let go of that next year because there just aren't enough hours in the day. Since I won't be combining any classes, how do I teach 12 classes a day (6 for each boy)???

 

I'm going to plug ahead with my 2 students, but I often wonder how in the world people with more kids pull it off.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Garga

[fairfarmhand]

Teaching Textbooks for math really saved my bacon.

 

Open and go curriculum for almost everything else. It is a struggle and I needed something that took little to no prep work for me. Lots of streamlining. Chedcklists for everyone so if I was working with someone they could pick up something they could work indpendently on till I could get to help them.

[TammyS]

I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to keep going. :svengo:  My 7th grader's work is getting more difficult. He's not a natural student and requires a lot of my time. I feel like I'm always trying to squeeze the middle two kids in, and we are always playing catch up. The toddler is not happy just going along with the flow. Trying to manage her while teaching the others seems impossible.

 

And, I'm not having any fun. Really, this is just not enjoyable.

 

I dread the complications and issues we would face if we put them in school. (Who wants to do homework at night?)

We can't afford private school and the thought of throwing them in public school makes me feel sick.

 

Anyway... who wants to commiserate with me?

 

12-14 years old is the worst.  Seriously.  Looking back now (with my teen heading to college in the fall), if I had it to do over, I would have sent him fishing for those two years, with a copy of Tom Sawyer tucked in his tackle box.  He did learn some things (not much), but our relationship suffered for it, and the learning wasn't even sorta worth it.  If I had realized then the extent to which intelligence does not match maturity, and just how much growing was going on....I would never again put either of us through those two years.  Not for anything.  12-14, IMO, are the years to embrace some variant of unschooling.  In our case, it would include lots of "strewing", outdoors time, exploration time, and little/no TV or video games.

 

Hugs.  If you can get to 15, it gets so much better.

[Night Elf]

We used an online school so we had the support from teachers. Also, we're very lucky that my DH knew a lot of the material that my kids were working on. I could help through about 10th grade, then I couldn't help much anymore. It just got to be too much for me. Ds learning Japanese was quite interesting. I did the first half of the class with him but then it just took off and I had no clue what was going on. And don't even get me started on Math. Yikes! Thank goodness for DH.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

:grouphug:   No experience in your shoes yet, just wanted to send a hug.  

[Miss Mousie]

 

Hugs.  If you can get to 15, it gets so much better.

 

Promise?  How about pinky-swear? 

 

DS is a few months away from 15, and part of me wants to start counting the days....

[Seasider]

12-14 years old is the worst. Seriously. Looking back now (with my teen heading to college in the fall), if I had it to do over, I would have sent him fishing for those two years, with a copy of Tom Sawyer tucked in his tackle box. He did learn some things (not much), but our relationship suffered for it, and the learning wasn't even sorta worth it. If I had realized then the extent to which intelligence does not match maturity, and just how much growing was going on....I would never again put either of us through those two years. Not for anything. 12-14, IMO, are the years to embrace some variant of unschooling. In our case, it would include lots of "strewing", outdoors time, exploration time, and little/no TV or video games.

 

Hugs. If you can get to 15, it gets so much better.

I agree! These are years where boys seem to need things like scouting or organized sports - places to be with other guys and burn off some of that tween hormonal angst (it's not just for girls, y'know - and often boys suffer for lack of an outlet).

[fairfarmhand]

BTW, My GIRLS are older, and even with them, they focus better and just all around have better attitudes on days when they have some sort of intese physical exertion. It really knocked the rough edges off of their personalities at that point.

 

Oh, and Hats off to middle school teachers. Wouldnt trade places with them for a million dollars.

[JudoMom]

It is so hard.  There are days I want to quit, but there are no viable alternatives for full time, out of the house schooling. Honestly, this hasn't been fun for me for a long time, but I do think it will be worth it in the end.  My boys are great learners when it's something they deem important; unfortunately, what they deem important and what I deem important don't often intersect.  

 

I feel like Sisyphus--pushing my boys to the top of the hill of knowledge only to have them tumble back down.  

[Miss Mousie]

I only have one kid, but DH and I both work full-time.  We've had to make quite a few compromises to make it work, such as:

 

*  We do science labs on Sundays, because I can't guarantee we'll have enough time on a weekday before I need to leave for work.

 

*  I have had to let some lit selections go completely because of time constraints, and just this week I resigned myself to watching the Don Quixote film with John Lithgow instead of reading the novel aloud together, because it would have taken us 6 weeks and I just can't spare that much time.  Sigh, we would have had so much more fun reading it.

 

*  I have had to delay Python (which DS really wanted to learn) until next year, because our semester of logic is going to take us the whole year to complete.  There just isn't time for everything.

 

I am lucky that DS has been pretty flexible, especially when it comes to having to work on weekends.

 

Now if only I could get him to care about doing a good job the first time, instead of having to re-do assignments again and again....

 

 

 

 

[Heatherwith4]

My oldest is 10, and with all 3 of them being "school age" this year, it makes me wonder how you moms with bigger families make it work! I am outsourcing quite a bit for my oldest next year, and I think it will be a big help. With my rising first grader, I will be teaching a lot of curriculum I've already taught, and that should help some.

 

Anyway, just wanted to sympathize and send :grouphug:

[catz]

My kid is newly 15, a freshman, and this year is considerably better than the last couple.  He's more on top of things.  I've gotten more organized.  I do almost no face to face teaching with him.  We discuss current events and are doing a book club.  But co-op/outsourcing is working for us.  I would have sent him happily to high school if he would have wanted to go.  We toured a couple.  But I felt like he had to be invested and I did say if stuff wasn't getting done, we'd re-evaluate.   I don't think he's a kid that would jump through hoops well at school even though he's academically ahead.

 

I hate to sound like a commercial, but we're using Homeschool Planet, an somewhat expensive online planner.  It is effort for me to keep it up to date but it makes me much more capable of being sure my kids are keeping up to where they're supposed to be and my son is much more efficient with a definitive daily work task list.  It's probably the best $70ish (that ballpark) I've spent this year.  It's not perfect but it's pretty good. 

[Bluegoat]

Iwill commiserate!  My dd is just 11 but starting to give occasionaly angsty pushback.  But mostly it is just that next year she will be in 6th, and dd8 will be in 3rd which I consider the beginning of "real" school.  And myds6 will be starting k/1 work, plus I will have a 1.5 year old and possibly a five year old needing to do work with hthe 6 year old.

 

And the 8 year old is super-stubborn.

 

It really is the squeeze - if it was just the oldest I could hacve fun and do a good job, but I feel like I will be giving someone short shrift.  I think what makes me feel particularly annoyed is that the real issue is that they won't just do their work for me the way they do for outside teachers, or even their dad.

 

I've been seriously considering sending dd11 to school instead - she'll being going for grade 7 anyway.  But - I really wanted to use that year to get her solid on a few things before she heads to ps which will not cover them. 

 

[AppleGreen]

I am pretty sure this thread will deplete my likes.

 

Um, yes. To all of it.

 

I am really grappling with this right now. We have hit the point where school takes all day, and even then keeps going. I do not enjoy teaching my big kid. We are butting heads a little, and I just feel like it is time for little birdy to stretch his wings a bit. FWIW, 15 has not been a magic cure, if anything it is feeling more angst and challenging. Sigh.

 

I miss enjoying the learning process with my little peeps. I feel like they are getting the short end of the stick. We have done some on-line classes for the oldest, but executive function issues have kept those from being the hand off I was hoping for. And I think I should retract the "I don't like teaching him statement." I actually enjoy it quite a bit (we are doing a really fun poetry unit right now and it is fun to hear the thoughts process!), but with all these kids and interruptions, it just doesn't feel like enough. 

 

I am struggling with the question-is it better for my kid to be in a less academically challenging environment that will be a bit of a drive for us than to continue sucking the life out of me? Ug. It just is not fun anymore, but I do see gains being made and learning happening; it is just taking all of me to make it happen.

 

 

[Mbelle]

I'm sending our oldest two to a 2 day week hybrid next year.  Both will High school age at that time.  We are all happy about the decision.

It feels great to have someone else to help share the load. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

It does have its challenges for sure.  My kid is pretty cooperative at this point though.  He just turned 14 so not officially high school, but he is a lot better than say when he was in 7th.  He is taking math at the CC, but doing the rest at home.  As we go along I do plan to have him do more and more courses at the CC.  And since he so badly wants to do more CC course and loves that he can do that I tell him that he must take his studies seriously and put in his best effort otherwise more courses is out of the question because it's not cheap.  So he is highly motivated. 

 

I'm finding my 10 year old harder to work with these days.  I'm bored redoing the same stuff.  He hates math.  It's just blahhhh.  With the older kid I find the material more interesting. 

[Spryte]

12-14 years old is the worst.  Seriously.  Looking back now (with my teen heading to college in the fall), if I had it to do over, I would have sent him fishing for those two years, with a copy of Tom Sawyer tucked in his tackle box.  He did learn some things (not much), but our relationship suffered for it, and the learning wasn't even sorta worth it.  If I had realized then the extent to which intelligence does not match maturity, and just how much growing was going on....I would never again put either of us through those two years.  Not for anything.  12-14, IMO, are the years to embrace some variant of unschooling.  In our case, it would include lots of "strewing", outdoors time, exploration time, and little/no TV or video games.

 

Hugs.  If you can get to 15, it gets so much better.

 

Thank you for posting this.  I'm fascinated.  And relieved to read this.

 

DS just turned 12.  This year has been hard.  Hard.  Hard.

 

I keep remembering when DSS(24 now) was in 7th grade.  He was in PS, and it was just the most horrible year ever.  So, even with PS, there are no guarantees - that's all that keeps me going every day.

 

Right now, I'll freely admit that unschooling looks better and better for these hormonal years.

[Anne in CA]

I only home schooled one through high school. The oldest was not a motivated student and she had to be forced to do anything. She went to high school. My youngest is now in high school and while it's not perfect, it's working well.

[Rebecca]

I completely agree with Tammy S!!! I stopped reading there to post in solidarity!

 

My oldest is 15...turning 16 in April, next son is 14. Newly fledged 13 year old son is third.

 

Oh!!!! My 14 1/2 has turned the corner, praise the Lord.

 

I have always heard 14 is a tough year for boys. In my house, it is 13 as the hardest. Hard.

 

We do start out sourcing in high school...still figuring it all out.

 

It gets so much better!!!

Edited February 4, 2016 by Rebecca

[laundrycrisis]

Ours are almost 13 and 10.5.   They have always been homeschooled.  We have specific LD issues, ADHD and some other non-NT stuff going on.  I look back and know that home has been the best solution for it all for both of them, but it has at times been very difficult.  It has not been fun, but it has been rewarding.  Going forward, I'm outsourcing high school - most likely American School of Correspondence.  This year - 4 and 7th grades - is Calvert for both of them, with the ATS for the 7th grader, because I needed one year of knowing he was doing grade level work that meets someone's standards besides just mine.  I could not do this if we had younger kids at home also.  I am at my limit now.  If I thought public school would be a good solution for either of them, they would be there.  Private is financially out of reach and I don't think it would work for us anyway.  Continuing to homeschool is a choice I look at as a way to avoid a bunch of problems we don't want to deal with - not because it's wonderful doing it at home.  The freedom and flexibility are wonderful, but the work of putting it all together and making it happen is hard.  

[KrissiK]

Oh, I commiserate. In fact, that is exactly why we put DS in Catholic School this year. I just couldn't take it. He was taking up every bit of my time and energy with a bad attitude, and unwillingness to do his work and bugging his siblings. And he's only in 7th grade. We are not Catholic, but the school has been a very good fit for him. And the tuition is very reasonable.

Edited February 4, 2016 by KrissiK

[TianXiaXueXiao]

I started panicking a few months ago with my 7th grader's time consuming school work (and tween 'tude!), so I started looking at schools (public and private) and was pretty disturbed by what I saw in our local brick and mortar options. Then I decided to look into online options. Dd started courses with an online Orthodox homeschooling program last month and I'm relieved that I don't have to do all the grading and assessing by myself anymore. She really likes it and I like that I only have to focus on a few courses of study and not the whole shabang. I also like that she is reading Don Quixote after finishing The Sword in the Stone. They use CTC Math which isn't half bad. I recommend outsourcing. I have heard really good things about Veritas Press and WTM Academy.

Edited February 4, 2016 by TianXiaXueXiao

[DawnM]

Ok, well, here is my 02.  

 

This is the first year I have kids in a B&M school.   Oldest just started CC classes and middle is going to a charter high school.   

 

For the most part, I am pretty hands off.  He (middle son) seems to be handling himself well, getting very good grades, and if he needs any help, he comes and asks me.

 

I am finding it SO MUCH EASIER!  

[Zoo Keeper]

Oh dear sweet me, what a large load of sympathy I have for you.  I am right in the middle of it, too. :rolleyes:

 

No joke-- I spent over an hour yesterday trying to help my 14 year old remember how to solve 2(x+2).  He did not remember one ounce of how to do this.  Even after he had spent over an hour doing pages of similar problems the day before... :banghead:  

 

He was hoping the goddess of math would come and bless him.  I am not the goddess of math.  :001_tt2:   This has been a very hard week for both of us.

 

His brain is the Bermuda Triangle right now...information sails in, and is never heard from again...

 

 

[Halftime Hope]

This seems like the place to say that with girls, 16 is sometimes awful, awful, awful.  We lived through it with my highly motivated student, but just barely.  She's a joy and a delight now, and has been since she was 17, but for awhile there I thought we'd make headlines.

[SparklyUnicorn]

12-14 years old is the worst.  Seriously.  Looking back now (with my teen heading to college in the fall), if I had it to do over, I would have sent him fishing for those two years, with a copy of Tom Sawyer tucked in his tackle box.  He did learn some things (not much), but our relationship suffered for it, and the learning wasn't even sorta worth it.  If I had realized then the extent to which intelligence does not match maturity, and just how much growing was going on....I would never again put either of us through those two years.  Not for anything.  12-14, IMO, are the years to embrace some variant of unschooling.  In our case, it would include lots of "strewing", outdoors time, exploration time, and little/no TV or video games.

 

Hugs.  If you can get to 15, it gets so much better.

 

So far this has been my experience.  Although I think this hit my older kid a bit sooner and ended a bit sooner.

[Valley Girl]

I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to keep going. :svengo:  My 7th grader's work is getting more difficult. He's not a natural student and requires a lot of my time. I feel like I'm always trying to squeeze the middle two kids in, and we are always playing catch up. The toddler is not happy just going along with the flow. Trying to manage her while teaching the others seems impossible.

 

And, I'm not having any fun. Really, this is just not enjoyable.

 

I dread the complications and issues we would face if we put them in school. (Who wants to do homework at night?)

We can't afford private school and the thought of throwing them in public school makes me feel sick.

 

Anyway... who wants to commiserate with me?

 

I don't know what the quality of your public schools are. Ours have issues. Despite that, we opted for public high school for one of our kids for a variety of reasons. I'm happy to say that after a bumpy transition year, he is thriving and challenged in a way he could not have been if we had continued to homeschool him. My point is that even if the school itself raises concerns--and certainly those issues need to examined--your particular child may still do quite well depending on which teachers he gets, which courses he chooses, and what extracurriculars he opts to participate in. If you're looking at high school, start talking to people at the school now. Find out what the district offers and ask lots of questions. If may help quell the queasy feeling. Good luck.

[Zoo Keeper]

This thread seems like the right place to put this thought:  Michael Stipe must be a homeschooling mama. 

 

 

:confused:

 

Stay with me...

 

How else could REM have made this song?  I mean, read the words, people!!  Is that not the cri de coeur of a homeschooling mother with a teenager! 

 

Oh life, it's bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I've said enough

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt, lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I've said enough

Consider this
Consider this, the hint of the century
Consider this, the slip
That brought me to my knees, failed
What if all these fantasies come
Flailing around
Now I've said too much

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
Try, cry, why try
That was just a dream
Just a dream
Just a dream, dream

 

:001_cool:

 

 

 

[fairfarmhand]

And for girls...

 

Reliant K's Mood Ring might help.

 

(Funny: My daughter chose this song herself for her graduation slide show song.)

 

We all know the girls that I am talking about
Well they are time bombs and they are ticking
And the only questions when they'll blow up
And they'll blow up, we know that without a doubt

'Cause they're those girls, yeah, you know those girls
That let their emotions get the best of them, go

And I've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
Let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
So we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off

'Cause we'll know just what they're thinking
'Cause what they're thinking

 

She's so pretty but she doesn't always act that way
Her moods out swinging on the swing set almost every day
She said to me that she's so happy, it's depressing
And all I said was someone get that girl a mood ring

 

If it's drama you want then look no further
They're like the real world meets boy meets world
Meets days of our lives
And it just kills me how they get away with murder
They'll anger you then bat their eyes
Those pretty eyes that watch you sympathize, go

 

And I've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
Let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
So we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off

'Cause we'll know just what they're thinking
'Cause what they're thinking

 

She's so pretty but she doesn't always act that way
Her moods out swinging on the swing set almost every day
She said to me that she's so stressed out that it's soothing
And all I said was someone get that girl a mood ring

 

'Cause when it's black it means watch your back
Because you're probably
The last person in the world right now she wants to see
And when it's blue it means that you should call her up immediately
And ask her out because she'll most likely agree

And when it's green it simply means that she is really stressed
And when it's clear it means she's completely emotionless
And that's all right I must confess

 

We all know the girls that I am talking about
She liked you Wednesday but now its Friday
And she has to wash her hair
And it just figures that we'll never figure them out
First she's Jekyll and then she's Hyde
At least she makes a lovely pair

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

This might work for peri menopause too...

 

:lol:

 

And for girls...

 

Reliant K's Mood Ring might help.

 

(Funny: My daughter chose this song herself for her graduation slide show song.)

 

We all know the girls that I am talking about
Well they are time bombs and they are ticking
And the only questions when they'll blow up
And they'll blow up, we know that without a doubt

'Cause they're those girls, yeah, you know those girls
That let their emotions get the best of them, go

And I've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
Let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
So we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off

'Cause we'll know just what they're thinking
'Cause what they're thinking

 

She's so pretty but she doesn't always act that way
Her moods out swinging on the swing set almost every day
She said to me that she's so happy, it's depressing
And all I said was someone get that girl a mood ring

 

If it's drama you want then look no further
They're like the real world meets boy meets world
Meets days of our lives
And it just kills me how they get away with murder
They'll anger you then bat their eyes
Those pretty eyes that watch you sympathize, go

 

And I've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
Let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
So we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off

'Cause we'll know just what they're thinking
'Cause what they're thinking

 

She's so pretty but she doesn't always act that way
Her moods out swinging on the swing set almost every day
She said to me that she's so stressed out that it's soothing
And all I said was someone get that girl a mood ring

 

'Cause when it's black it means watch your back
Because you're probably
The last person in the world right now she wants to see
And when it's blue it means that you should call her up immediately
And ask her out because she'll most likely agree

And when it's green it simply means that she is really stressed
And when it's clear it means she's completely emotionless
And that's all right I must confess

 

We all know the girls that I am talking about
She liked you Wednesday but now its Friday
And she has to wash her hair
And it just figures that we'll never figure them out
First she's Jekyll and then she's Hyde
At least she makes a lovely pair

 

 

 

[trulycrabby]

DS12 is still very sweet, but I am already struggling with algebra, physics, composition, etc, and the knowledge I need to teach it all well. I can do it, but it is exhausting. My prep time takes as long as the teaching. We are looking at private schools for next year.

[SparklyUnicorn]

It's hard too because when you have more than one (or several) I imagine you really REALLY need your older kid to be more independent, but they really might not be yet.  And I don't think that is unusual or means there is some sort of serious problem with your kid.  One way I got my kid to be more cooperative was to explain to him that I need him to be a bit more independent because he isn't the only kid.  I said if he can't handle that then we should possibly consider school for him.  He is so so so anti school that he is willing to do his best.  I didn't want to make it seem like a threat, but I just explained that I'm one person and I can't be "on" for everyone all day long.  So we need to get into a routine that works for all of us. 

 

 

[SweetandSimple]

Fabulous thread! I am so glad that I am not the only one struggling and looking at schools. Four kids is feeling like A LOT all of a sudden. 

 

[Katy]

Hard exercise in the mornings and self-teaching curriculum.  Both are underrated.

[GinaPagnato]

M'kay, someone just needs to say it...

 

it's February.

 

 

[JessReplanted]

M'kay, someone just needs to say it...

 

it's February.

 

I have thought of this. And, I'm trying very hard to stick to my  "Make no homeschool decisions in February" rule (which is very similar to my rule of "Don't decide to move out of TX in August" -  when it is 110*).

 

Rules are rules for a reason. :willy_nilly:

[Guest]

It is so hard. There are days I want to quit, but there are no viable alternatives for full time, out of the house schooling. Honestly, this hasn't been fun for me for a long time, but I do think it will be worth it in the end. My boys are great learners when it's something they deem important; unfortunately, what they deem important and what I deem important don't often intersect.

 

I feel like Sisyphus--pushing my boys to the top of the hill of knowledge only to have them tumble back down.

Well said, unfortunately.

 

And I am a QbHS Mom.

[Ausmumof3]

You are all making me laugh so much today. I might not laugh so much in two years when my oldest hits eleven.

[Guest]

Hard exercise in the mornings and self-teaching curriculum. Both are underrated.

True. It's not for nothing that my MIL bought a dairy cow that would need milking early every morning....

[SweetandSimple]

 

This thread seems like the right place to put this thought:  Michael Stipe must be a homeschooling mama. 

 

 

:confused:

 

Stay with me...

 

How else could REM have made this song?  I mean, read the words, people!!  Is that not the cri de coeur of a homeschooling mother with a teenager! 

 

Oh life, it's bigger

It's bigger than you

And you are not me

The lengths that I will go to

The distance in your eyes

Oh no, I've said too much

I've said enough

 

 

 

 

I will always think of this interpretation now whenever I hear that song.

 

You're right! Some of the lyrics are simply uncanny.

 

[Dmmetler]

Is it good or bad that I'm getting this with my 11 yr old? Dare I hope that means that she'll become easier to deal with sooner?

[kroe1]

The smartest thing I ever did was fire myself after 10th grade. DD started a video streaming program that required very little of my time. I wish I had done it years ago.

[freesia]

Oh, wow, yes, just yes to all of it!

 

It is way harder than I thought (add perimenopause to the mix). However, I am having a good day and some days are very, very good. I have discussions with my older kids that blow me away, yet I still get cuddles from the younger 2. I love who they are becoming (most days).

 

I also know that I am way more critical of how things are going than reality. Some days I'll sit on the couch moping b/c I think the days aren't fun for my youngest and then, no joke, I hear her laughing and playing and my brain tries to reject that, but then I finally have to admit that she is doing really, really well.

 

And everything everyone is saying.

 

But here's this. When I was at your point (complete with a 3 year old), I realized I wasn't having fun either. I needed to do a couple of things:

1. Make sure I included in the day the things that made me feel successful and like a good Mom (for me it was reading aloud to my kids--other things could be cut, but not that).

2. 6 weeks on (or 5) 1 week off to focus on the toddler (I actually started this when she was 1).

3. (added this year) outsourcing what I could.

4. I carved out special time once a week for each middle kid so we could catch up. It's in the planner and happens no matter what.

5. I let the younger 2 watch an hour of PBS so I could get something done that needed focus with the older 2.

 

Just go easy on yourself. Look for the joy. See if you can drop anything for the oldest. Take it day by day.

[Ali in OR]

We always planned for our kids to go to our decent but not exceptional public high school. One of my primary reasons is that I expect our dds to go away for college as my dh and I both did and I think it's better for them to start to transition to having other teachers, being around peers, etc. while they're still under our roof. My older dd is now a sophomore and is having a great high school experience. It's certainly different than homeschool--some things way better, some a little worse. But she's blossoming and doing very well. Frankly I'm a better math teacher than either of the two she's had (she's a middle-of-the-road student and the best teachers are assigned to top students or struggling students), but I can still help her with her math and I do. I could never give her anything close to the science experience she is getting. She also has fabulous Lit and Global Studies teachers who are doing great work on developing good writers. She loves band and being in the school musical. And it's nice to see my shy introvert find some kindred spirits and build a social network. I miss the read-aloud days with both girls home and we're a little sad that she had to drop Latin, but overall we're very happy with her school situation. I have one more year (year and a half actually) with youngest and then she will be off to high school too. I know there will be things I miss, but I'm actually looking forward to ME moving on to the next chapter after home school.

[Angie in VA]

M'kay, someone just needs to say it...

 

it's February.

 

 

That reminds me: I need to try to sell some curriculum.

[Spryte]

M'kay, someone just needs to say it...

 

it's February.

 

:banghead:

 

Yes, it sure is.

 

:blushing:

[trulycrabby]

Hard exercise in the mornings and self-teaching curriculum. Both are underrated.

I agree 100%! DS12 and I exercise almost every morning; either a 3.5 mile walk/jog or a live yoga class. Then, in the afternoons, there's soccer practice or fittness/skill sessions at the local soccer academy. It really helps him stay relaxed and focused.