Is homeschooling possible...

[Lovedtodeath]

Everything I read is based on all of them being younger or some of them being much older. But none can cook supper unsupervised, & they're not all young enough to shrug & figure they're not learning anything vital this yr anyway.

So glad someone said it!

[FlockOfSillies]

Is your toddler obsessed with powdery substances like mine is? Flavored oatmeal, baby formula, salt, sugar, Comet...

 

We put cabinet latches on cabinets we've never had to worry about before. She figured them out in a day. The doorknob locks work pretty well, when I can get the kids to remember to use them as they leave their bedrooms. Still, my life will be 20% easier once I get the pocket door to the kitchen fixed. :glare:

 

And just think, by this winter, I'll have TWO of these charming creatures destroying my house and my sanity! The youngest has already figured out how to use the doorway jumper to bounce over to the kitchen trash, grab it, and knock it down. That way he can jump in a pile of yogurt containers and banana peels. :smilielol5:HE CAN'T EVEN WALK, Aubrey, and he's making messes! :willy_nilly:

 

Oy, and the food! The toddler is a bottomless pit. She eats all. the. time. I'm constantly running out of fruit. And, since I've run out of vertical storage areas for all the things she's not supposed to touch, I keep finding apples with one small bite taken out of them.

 

And leftovers are pretty much a thing of the past here, too. If I want to have multiple nights of one meal, I have to make double batches now. Or I do the Make-a-Mix thing and freeze big batches of one ingredient, like ground beef browned with onion, or seasoned chicken breasts. I have to pre-load some of the work because I am the anti-Rachael Ray. Everything I cook takes two hours, even if it's spaghetti. I'm just too slow, and I have too many interruptions. (I'd like to see RR do her 30-minute routine with my toddler climbing up onto a chair and dumping sea salt everywhere.)

 

We had a good four-year break between my third and fourth, so I remember how easy everything seemed with three kids who fed themselves, toileted and bathed themselves, and clicked into their carseats independently. My new mantra is, everything will be fine when My Guy turns three and Admiral Mischief is four. But good heavens, it's gonna be a long two years.

 

It's a good thing my kids are cute. That's how they stay alive, LOL.

[ElizabethB]

It's a good thing my kids are cute. That's how they stay alive, LOL.

:iagree:

 

I have a theory that that's why God made them so cute.

 

BTW, my daughter, when she couldn't walk, got into a drawer she couldn't normally get to by scooting over to it with her walker and made a huge mess. But, she hasn't caused any ER visits yet. My son, on the other hand...

 

However, he has just now learned how to click and unclick his own carseat! And, he is very cute. (They both are.)

Edited August 4, 2009 by ElizabethB

[ElizabethB]

If you're teaching them to read well, you're ahead of the game regardless of what else is or isn't getting done.

 

And, what is the reason you're homeschooling? For me, although I have academic reasons as well, the primary reason is that I believe it's what God wants for us as a family, and that trumps everything...and I would still be doing it even if we were falling behind academically a bit.

 

I don't have quite as tiny people as you, but I have some health challenges with my food allergies and we move way too often. So, I don't always get done as much as I would like to get done, either. But, my daughter learned enough this year, and she loves being home with her brother and having the time to catch lizards and watch hummingbirds. (She is very happy that we have lizards here. I told her we probably wouldn't. But, we have some that look almost like our Arkansas lizards! We had Eastern Fence lizards in our yard there, we have Western Fence lizards on our townhouse sidewalk here, right on our way to the mailbox.)

[Elizabeth Conley]

Break the problem down into smaller problems. Solve each one individually.

 

Ideas:

 

Clothes:

 

Top and tail the tots. This means that tots wear an undershirt and a diaper - no more. Always have a bib handy. If food is involved, or the tot is drooling, have the tot wear the bib. Drooler bibs should be the small snap or velcro kind. They keep the tot looking cleaner, and protect against rashes under the chin.

 

Make the older kid's clothes idiot simple too. Unless it's a wedding or a funeral, a nice shirt with a square hem over clean pants/shorts with sandals or socks and shoes are fine. Yes, even on Sunday. Don't iron anything! Those stares you'll get are full of envy, not horror. Some people will even begin to emulate you.

 

Food & Dishes:

A snack can be served on a coffee filter. It's cheaper than a paper plate and it doubles as a napkin.

 

Breakfast can be cereal, but "walkaways" are sometimes neater. A walkaway is a breakfast sandwich. Two slabs of bread/muffin/biscuit, slab of meat, slab of cheese make the sandwich. A piece of fruit washed down with water makes it a complete meal. Again, serve it on a napkin.

 

Water can be served in the squirt bottles some bottled water companies use. By all means reuse them. If you're confused about whose is whose at any given moment, mark them with a grease pencil. By all means reuse them.

 

Lunches can be leftovers, soup or stew from the Crockpot with bread, or sandwiches. I store leftovers in the containers I intend to serve them in, in meal sized lots. This means that nothing is more convenient than the leftovers. Food tossed in th crock pot at dawn is usually consumable by lunch, and good bread can be stored in the freezer. (A small chest freezer is a good thing to have.) Sandwiches don't require much fuss. Always minimize the dishes. If you serve a lot of sandwiches, have plastic containers with sliced onions, tomatoes and lettuce standing by in the fridge. Reuse them, then replenish them, but avoid long preparation time for each lunch.

 

Dinners can also come out of the crock pot. They can also come out of the freezer department of the grocers. By all means, employ every short cut. When possible, cook or buy for multiple meals, and freeze the second meal in the same container you plan to cook and serve in whenever possible.

 

House Cleaning:

 

Keep it simple, and involve the two older kids. Reserve one room as a "buffer area". Usually it's the living room. This room is where guests are "detained". This room must be nice. The rest of the house can be lived in.

 

I use "wipes". You know, those tubs of premoistened paper towels for cleaning. Some are soaked with furniture polish, some disinfectant, some glass cleaner. I know it's not the cheapest way, but it is fast and idiot proof. I stage them where I expect to use them, and clean on the fly.

 

I am not a house cleaning guru. I go for the lived in look. I'll say no more on this topic.

 

Simplify, simplify, simplify:

 

If there's a short cut, take it. You're smart. You'll find solutions that will work for you.

 

Just remember: We're here for you. Other home schooling mom's want to see you succeed. We'll help.

[Alison in KY]

When I became overwhelmed and guilty for using TV, not paying enough attention, etc (wait, I still feel guilty for those things and mine are 10, 8, and 6) I bought time4learning. There's a way you can buy it for one child and just switch the lesson grade level so more than one can use it for the single fee...that way on my planner I'd have something to put down for school. And they did learn things doing that.

 

That's my big help, plus we didn't consistently do history or science for the past four years. When my son was 5 I was able to do those things with a 3 and 1 yr old, but that all changed the next year:D.

 

I still use computer games for school when I need more time, or when we are rushed, or when I'm just blah.

 

This will pass for you, it's just hard while it's here. I understand, I'm at a stage now where my son needs to finally become more independent, but I'm not seeing any signs of his maturing yet.

 

God Bless YOU.

 

Alison

[Elizabeth Conley]

I know a lot of people who use Time for Learning, just as Allison does. Particularly given your kids' ages, it seems to work fine. Many kids really like it, and it does work pretty well.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Great thread! I've learned a lot by reading through the responses.

 

When we hs'd my oldest through middle school, I had a 1 yo and a newborn. The thing that set my mind at ease on those "poopy" days was knowing that we were still doing more work than my dd's counterparts in ps. Not a great standard by which to measure, to be sure. But it still gave me peace, knowing that we could work on and off through summer and get much accomplished over a longer period of time. No taking off 10-12 weeks and having to spend 4 weeks of review at the start of school. It really adds up over time!

 

Nowadays, I figure that my staying home IS a job. When I worked outside the home fulltime, there were certain things I allowed myself to overlook during the week when I was at work. I allow myself the same "freedom" now, because homeschool is work. Part of the problem is putting blinders on, as though we were working outside home because the mess is staring us in the face. I'm learning.

 

Yes, the basics (dishes, general living area pickup) still get done during the week, but the deep cleaning and shopping and bulk laundry are done on the weekends.

[Coffeetime]

at the ages my kids are? What does it take to make it work, if so? Is there a magic curriculum?

 

Everything I read is based on all of them being younger or some of them being much older. But none can cook supper unsupervised, & they're not all young enough to shrug & figure they're not learning anything vital this yr anyway.

 

I mean, sometimes I *feel* like they're not learning anything vital, lol, but that's the problem. I spent the weekend looking at SL, but deep down...I think that would only help a tiny bit, kwim? After beating my catalogue to death, I went to look at a bookshelf & had to step over so much mess--after cleaning house for company over the weekend!--that I thought, gee, even if I had a plan for Monday morning's school...I wouldn't be able to get to it until I'd unearthed my house.

 

Then one baby started screaming & pulling on me while the other snuck into the bathroom & started drinking from the toilet, & I though, huh. It may not be the lesson plans that are my biggest problem. :lol:

 

And then I realized we had nothing planned for dinner, & it was time to go to the grocery store. :001_huh:

 

So what do you think? Don't tell me to have a plan, please--I do. And I spend all of my time either planning or making the plan work, & we're surviving fine, but hs'ing? Ahh. I'm not sure it will get done well. (Or maybe I'm sure it won't!)

 

I have an 8, 5, 3, and 1 year old.

I, too, am incapable of just "letting the housework go". It may work for some- but for me it makes things so chaotic that it's simply not worth it.

So here's what I do.

I meal plan at the beginning of every week. I shop on the weekend when DH is home to keep the kids.

I get up early and get the house work done before school starts at 9:00.

I place the two toddlers in a room that is completely baby-proofed and put up a baby gate to confine them during school. I allow them to watch videos during this time. It doesn't work for the whole time- but it gives me at least an hour of peace and quiet to teach.

And.....I spend many days feeling as defeated as you sound. :grouphug:

I try to remind myself that in spite of all the noise, interruption and things not going as planned... I'm giving them a better education in both school and life then they would get otherwise. When I read the words "we're surviving" in your post I laughed because that's exactly how I feel most days. "Yay, I survived!" :tongue_smilie:

You can do it. Just a few more years and things will calm down. I promise. ;)

[Susan in KY]

I have a friend who does her cleaning once in the summer time. It takes her two weeks of focused cleaning. She goes through everything, declutters, washes, etc. Then she's done. All she does is pick up and surface clean for the next year. It's how she stays sane. I am trying it out this week (I have a smaller house), I'll tell you how it goes. :-)

Susan

[lovemy9kids]

I know just how you feel. We just had baby number eight on the 11th. I am scared to death to start school. I am already feeling myself start to shut down. (this is my response to fear.....) I can't have another year of feeling like a failure. I already do, and I haven't even started yet.

 

If you find the "magic" for doing it all and doing it well. Let me know :)

[Colleen]

I haven't read the replies, only your original post. When you say you "have a plan", what do you mean by that? A homeschooling plan? A housekeeping plan? Or what? I ask because I've never had a "plan" per se, although our days have a natural rhythm and flow. I don't have kids that age helping with housework, lunch, etc. That wouldn't be helpful to me, and I haven't felt the need to dole out the task of making a sandwich or whatever.

 

We cover skill subjects in the morning (handwriting, grammar, math, for example), and content subjects in the afternoon (history and/or science). By 8 years old, my guys can work independently on a good deal. A few hours (max) of school in the morning, lunch, and reading history/science in the afternoon ~ that about sums it up for your oldest. Your 6 year shouldn't be spending more than a couple of hours total doing school. Is that roughly how it breaks down for you?

 

Maybe I need to go back and read what others have said, or if you've added more so I can be more specific, less general...

[Aubrey]

Ok, guys, we just finished day #2 of doing. it. all. Science one day, hist the other, spelling, writing, reading, math, math drill, read aloud, preschool, memory work, & chores.

 

I changed the layout of my lesson plans, which may have helped some. I started full school back yesterday instead of at the end of the month, because I figured if we got some meaty stuff done *now,* I'd feel better, instead of feeling like a failure for a month leading up to school.

 

And the one big thing I changed? I've stopped planning around nap times as a primary function, because it had gotten me stuck in a rut of thinking that I could *only* do school during nap time.

 

We aim for starting at 9:30-10:00, when baby takes his morning nap, & we do hist & reading during that time. But if he's awake? We make it work. Today we finished b'fast & cleaning up the kitchen a half hour early, so we started history at 9 w/ babe in my lap. It was not ideal, but it *worked.* And we got extra time for reading, & dd6 did a preschool project w/ dd2. (I told her she could be the teacher, & she decided to teach/read books about body parts.)

 

We're working on memory work while we clean the kitchen (which doesn't work well, but we get to check it off the list nonetheless). I do our read-aloud over lunch w/ babe in high chair. He talks over the reading & screams at us, & I squeeze sentences in between as best I can. Instead of getting frustrated w/ the distraction, the kids are helping keep him quiet, offering silly faces & cheerios, & sometimes sweeping up his mess while I read.

 

Then we still have the 2 hrs of afternoon nap, & instead of trying to do *everything* during that 2 hrs, we've just got our language arts stuff & math left. They're more focused during that time when they've had meatier school (like hist/sc/reading) in the mornings. When they've just played w/ the babies all morning, afternoons are funky. (When I pulled SOTW out yest AM, everybody breathed a visible sigh of relief! So...school helps w/, um, school.)

 

Also, I've labelled my lesson plans Week 1, Week 2, etc. so that at the end of this week when my mom gets here & everything goes haywire, I'm not behind. I'm just on day 4.

 

I've realized lately that I'm counting too much on dh taking care of the kids or kids napping or whatever to get stuff done. When I take responsibility for carving out time for stuff *myself,* it gets done, & I feel better. Otherwise, I'm kind-of a bitter hag/nag. (Yup. I made that word up. But on the bad days, I think it applies. ;))

 

I've also printed app 10 copies of my MOTH-lite schedule & put one in almost every rm of the house, so that at those times of the day that I feel lost, I immediately see what I'm supposed to be about & don't come sit in here w/ y'all to figure it out, lol.

 

(We even had time to run races in the yard today.)

[Aubrey]

I haven't read the replies, only your original post. When you say you "have a plan", what do you mean by that? A homeschooling plan? A housekeeping plan? Or what? I ask because I've never had a "plan" per se, although our days have a natural rhythm and flow. I don't have kids that age helping with housework, lunch, etc. That wouldn't be helpful to me, and I haven't felt the need to dole out the task of making a sandwich or whatever.

 

We cover skill subjects in the morning (handwriting, grammar, math, for example), and content subjects in the afternoon (history and/or science). By 8 years old, my guys can work independently on a good deal. A few hours (max) of school in the morning, lunch, and reading history/science in the afternoon ~ that about sums it up for your oldest. Your 6 year shouldn't be spending more than a couple of hours total doing school. Is that roughly how it breaks down for you?

 

Maybe I need to go back and read what others have said, or if you've added more so I can be more specific, less general...

 

Yep, to everything--*except* 6yo not doing more than a couple of hrs. If 8yo does it, 6yo wants to do. it. better. And she's willing to put in the practice, lol. She's been doing SOTW w/ us since she was 3, & she thinks spelling, writing, reading are fun.

 

I told them we'd have to take a day off this week to go get Grma from the airport, etc., & she said, "So we'll only get to do school 6 days?" :001_huh: