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momchiroto2

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Posts posted by momchiroto2

  1. We are new to homeschooling. DS ages 9 and 8, and we are using Math Mammoth.  I am asking for five pages a day, and it can take them two to three hours to complete! There is alot of day dreaming, procrastination etc. Any tips on how to handle these issues? I am beyond frustrated. I have set a timer, used incentives.....We are working on what I think is  review one grade level behind for them both.  We withdrew them  come from a Montessori public school.  Thank you!

     

  2. I have been reading some older posts and within them there are links that are broken for even older posts.  Primarily the issue seems to be for posts prior to 2011. Is there a way that I can access these posts prior to 2011, it seems like there is a lot of wisdom out there from those years and I would love to be able to have access to it. Thank you!

     

  3. Wait, why does it take years??

     

     

    Depending on area and growth yes it can. In my case it did, I had a lot of facial hair that was thick and needed numerous treatments. For me to see results it took one treatment a week for about 6-8 months and then less frequent treatments over the next 12-18 months.

  4. I have had years of electrolysis. The skill of the practitioner is important. The first person I ever went to did not treat at the root of the hair. I was basically paying her to pluck my hair. Subsequently I did find an excellent technician and I had great results. The key is to get the root of the hair treated. For the last few stubborn hairs I have finally resorted to laser, and that has been very successful. Good luck!

  5. You need to decide first of all why you wanted to homeschool to begin with. You've got some tough ages but they're getting bigger all the time. Like someone here (I forget who) had in their signature line, when it comes to young kids, "the days are long, but the years are short."

     

    When my daughter was in public school, the grass was not greener (for me). She attended preschool through most of 3rd grade. I felt like a slave to the school bell myself. Every morning, I had to stress about getting her out of bed and out the door in time to make a bus, whether or not she wanted to get on that bus. Did I then have some time to myself? Well. Sure. But whatever I was doing had to be carefully timed to revolve around making it back to that bus in the afternoon.

     

    Then I'd pick up my kid, who had had a long day at school, mostly sitting at a desk and learning about whatever would be on the standardized test, probably having lost some or all of her lousy 15 minute recess as a punishment for talking too much in the classroom (they had silent lunches, too), and she just wanted to play, but she had homework. Usually at least an hour's worth. And I had to be the one to enforce and oversee that, rather than just enjoying my time with my kid. Then I had to take care of dinner, and by then it would be getting dark soon and she couldn't play much. She didn't have a lot of time to do her own thing, be a kid, play. My interactions with her were all at the end of the day when I was tired, she was tired, and I still had to enforce stuff (homework) for the school. There was school shopping, papers to sign, forms to fill out, meetings to have, notes to write, a bedtime routine to keep (because "it's a school night"), and the next day it started all over again. And again. And again.

     

    It was so dreary and monotonous, and she'd be upset about losing recess, talking about things kids said and did that I'd wish she wasn't being exposed to, resentful of the homework cutting into what should have been her time and family time, she'd get frequent stomach aches from how much stress they put on the kids about the testing.

     

    I kept thinking, there's got to be more than this. Kids should have more of a childhood. Kids should have more family time. Kids should get to be more independent, get outdoors more, have a more well-rounded education. Is this what I want for her, or for me, for the next nine or so years of her life?

     

    It wasn't what I wanted for her, or for me.

     

    I wanted to be with my kids and see them grow up (preferably more slowly). I wanted my kids to have a childhood where they could take their time, learn a wide variety of things, get outside more, think for themselves, be individuals. I wanted freedom from the bells and buzzers. I wanted us to be able to do whatever we wanted all day, without having to get "permission" from an institution if we wanted to drop everything and go on a fun outing, if we wanted to sleep late, if we wanted to sit in our pajamas and read books for hours, if we wanted to do science outside instead of in a classroom, if we wanted to do a fun hands-on project rather than reading from a dreary textbook.

     

    I pulled her out at the end of third grade and never looked back. My son who will be 7 in November never attended a school setting (and he's been a handful at times, let me tell you, but he's gotten easier as he's gotten older)! I try to make it fun and do things we enjoy, and while every moment isn't perfect, OVERALL I love homeschooling and having my kids with me and fulfilling my goals of achieving more of the kind of childhood I wanted for them. Overall I find the freedom less stressful than it was when revolving our lives around the school district. Overall I feel more relaxed knowing what my kids are NOT exposed to on a regular basis (especially now that my daughter is "middle school" aged).

     

    She's gotten old enough to help out around the house. If I need a bit of time to myself, I have no problem whatsoever letting them play in the backyard, play a board game, watch a movie, go on the computer, giving me time to do my own thing. She at least can work a bit more independently now with some of her schoolwork. They don't stay little forever. If I'm stressing about the house being a mess, I have no problem stopping everything and going "You do this, you do that, I'll do this, we need to get this place more presentable before we can do any work in it," and we just take a few minutes and get it done.

     

    I remember that poem with the lines, "settle down cobwebs, dust, go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep." Babies don't keep. Kids don't keep. They grow up. And when you look back, despite some of the day to day stresses, are you going to say, "I wish my house was neater? I wish my kids were out of my hair more?"

     

    Think about why you're homeschooling to begin with, what you want out of it, and if you're not getting that out of it, think about why and what you can do, whether it's being more relaxed, having more fun with the kids, taking more time to yourself, joining a homeschool group where you can get more adult socialization, getting an occasional sitter for a date night with your spouse, making clean up time a morning priority before starting schoolwork. If you're freaking out about your 2nd grader not reading, read "Better Late Than Never" for some perspective, or switch tactics and try something else- my son (7 in November) is doing really well with Reading Eggs.

     

    And if in the end you decide that it's just too much stress on you and it's impacting you and your family and even the kids negatively and that they'd be better off in public school, then just commit and do it. Lots of kids go to public school and are just fine. Find out if it works for you. It's not irreversible. If you find it wasn't what you thought it would be, you can always take them back out. If you get a much needed break in between, that's one of the benefits. I'm not trying to guilt trip you or anything, just offer some support if you're looking to get back in touch with your reasons for homeschooling and some perspective on what my p.s. experience was like. But if in the end you decide it's for you, I wouldn't think any less of you. After all, I started out in p.s. And my oldest special needs daughter went to school (and still does) her whole life. And who cares what the family thinks? You don't have to answer to them. I like the line someone gave you about how you accomplished giving them the foundation you wanted to give them.

     

    In the end, you just have to do what works best for YOU and YOUR kids. I hope that you are able to make that determination and come to a peaceful resolve with it! Good luck, either way!

     

    :grouphug:

     

    Thank you! What a beautiful post. Thank you!

  6. I found that rewards were counterproductive. When he was in pre-K, his teacher had a "treasure box" that the kids could go in if they did well that day so I started that in my house. I saw no increase in attentiveness or getting things done in a timely matter. I began to instead emphasize how hard my child was working. I began to rejoice with him when he figured out a tough concept and talk about how hard he worked to achieve that. We celebrate achievements in school when Dad comes home. I also show him when I am having to work hard on something (such as teaching myself Latin). He began to do the work because he wanted to learn and to do things on his own. He began to even do a little extra work sometimes. Figuring things out became his reward and he is getting very self motivated.

     

    Thank you for this.

  7. I am feeling overwhelmed. My boys watched an episode of MythBusters, and the topic was something to do with Hitler and World War 2. I wasn't watching with them. However, after the topic both of the boys (6,4) wanted to know everything about Hitler, world war II etc. My question is how do you seize the moment and indulge them with the information and where do you go in particular to find the information rather rapidly? I did a search online, we have the History encyclopedia's and read them etc. What more do you do? How do you seize this interest and just fly with it.. any input thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.

     

    Shahnaz

  8. I was just going to say the same thing! I'm eagerly awaiting April to do my first one :D

     

    (And is it weird that whenever I think of it, I find myself humming, "When the moon is in the Seventh House, And Jupiter aligns with Mars, Then peace will guide the planets, And love will steer the stars..." for the next several hours?)

     

     

    So where on the mothering site would one find this group. My intention is to do a vision board this year as well :)

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