Is it normal to want to quit on the 2nd day of homeschool?

[LarlaB]

:glare:

 

Between my DD's bad attitude (who knew that attitudes could be so fierce at 5.5?) & my DS's determination to disrupt & destroy (he's 25 months old, and biologically wired to act this way, I suppose), I'm seriously doubting this HS decision.

[newlifemom]

:glare:

 

Between my DD's bad attitude (who knew that attitudes could be so fierce at 5.5?) & my DS's determination to disrupt & destroy (he's 25 months old, and biologically wired to act this way, I suppose), I'm seriously doubting this HS decision.

 

 

It gets better. Just remember, she is only 5.5. She will learn and it doesn't all have to be at once. Maybe you can teach the core during ds's nap? It only took me tops 1 1/2 hours for K with 2 kids.

 

:grouphug:

[yslek]

Yes. I want to quit our first week after any kind of break we take, due to my oldest's attitude. It gets better as we get into our routine. ;) Hang in there! :grouphug:

[kdeno]

Hangeth thou in there :grouphug:

[MariannNOVA]

and, yes, I wanted to quit on the 2nd day, and the 1st day, and after along about February, I did quit.

 

your dd is young and the previous poster's suggestion to do core when the younger one is napping is a good one. I think that some great advice I've received from the people on this Board is to start slow and build up. Small steps, little victories, the whole thing is a process.

We are starting next Monday with one subject.....and my kids are almost 9 (twins) and 10 and we will still start slowly.

HTH -- don't get discouraged.:001_smile:

[Janet in WA]

Is your dd's attitude different during your school time than it is (or has been) the rest of the time?

[jujsky]

The first couple of weeks can be tough until you all get into the swing of things. :grouphug:

[coffeegal]

:grouphug: My favorite strategy is to cut school to the bare minimum (I prefer a short school day for the 7 and under crowd anyway) and 'do school' right before snack time. No school, no snack. ;) And be sure to make / put out a super yummy snack. As time goes by, you'll be able to build on the foundation for schoolwork, and switch back to a normal snack.

[alexfam]

Do school will your youngest one takes a nap. If you didn't get it all done put him in his high chair and let him snack while u finish up. It should only take 1.5 to 2 hours for K's. If it is an art or craft project let the little one join too. Go to walmarts and get a lot of the 25 cent notebooks and get colored pencils and let him do school too. At 25 months he can pretend he is doing school along with his big sis.

[Desert Rat]

I've been at this 5 years and the first week always makes me want to run away screaming! This is day #2 for us too and it was as bad as yesterday. I just have to muscle through this week. Next week will be better. Like my dad said, "The first day of school is like putting shoes on after running barefoot all summer." Hang in there.

 

FWIW, when my youngest was 2 we called him Interupticus Maximus. LOL We still do on occasion.

[Mrs Mungo]

:glare:

 

Between my DD's bad attitude (who knew that attitudes could be so fierce at 5.5?) & my DS's determination to disrupt & destroy (he's 25 months old, and biologically wired to act this way, I suppose), I'm seriously doubting this HS decision.

 

At that age we did not do a lot of sit down school (we did Learning Language Arts Through Literature and Horizons K *only*). We did a *lot* of Montessori-style activities. Many of them the younger siblings could help with or participate in at their own level.

 

Some of the books I used included:

Montessori Play and Learn

Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years

 

Montessori at Home

 

I specifically looked for books that included activities where I didn't have to buy tons of pricey Montessori equipment. Look through a catalog like Montessori 'n' Such to get more ideas. I did purchase some items like sandpaper letters (something that I think really helps tactile kids), the shape insets, other things I found cheaper in regular educational supply catalogs.

 

One idea you'll find in the books: making sound jars-you need containers (I used mini m&m containers), get about 8 or 10 of them, you fill them with various items (you make matched pairs), so you'll fill two with salt, two with rice, two with coarse sand, two with beads, two with pennies, etc and the kids match them up by the sound they make when they shake them.

 

Remember, kids this age also need to move a lot. Do songs and finger games, run around the school room to get the wiggles out, etc at least for 10 minutes out of every hour. We only "did school" from 9 until noon at that age and much of that was stuff she didn't consider school.

[Doodle]

I feel your pain...:crying:

[silvermine]

It's amazing how different our idea of how it's going to go is from from *their* idea of how it's going to go.

 

Try easing into it a little slower, or just making sure the state the rules you expect them to follow, and follow up on them if they don't behave. My poor 3 year old ended up in time out a few times today because she just wouldn't let ds and I talk without interrupting every 3 words, and it got to the point where I didn't even know what I was saying anymore. :P

 

My son was very easy and helpful and attentive this morning... only took two years to get to here! ;)

 

It may just take adjustments from both of you. Just try to enjoy yourself. :)

[Tree House Academy]

Seems like it took me quite a bit longer than 2 days to want to quit...but I definitely have had those moments where the public school starts to look mighty nice!

 

Sounds like some more planning on your part is necessary in regards to the little tornado (give him something to do, let him do *school* beside you, do school when he naps, etc.). For your dd with the attitude (LOL), you may want to start slow if this is her first experience with homeschooling. You definitely don't want to overwhelm her and make it a bad experience right off the bad. My kids have had 2 years now to hate it and that amount of time is much more appropriate. LOL

[Radish4ever]

Like the others suggested, working during youngest DC's nap time is a good strategy! When DD is doing school, DS is usually watching PBS or playing with his toys or he knows he can play with flashcards or magnetic alphabet letters on a cookie sheet or is welcome to do a fairly easy "art project" (like coloring or heck just gluing tissue paper onto construction paper... keeps him busy a long time and with wipies nearby, cleanup isn't too bad!)....

 

We have our work broken up into 9 "workbags" and DD just has to get them all finished at some point during the day. We don't sit down for 2 hours and do school - it's usually 5 minutes here, 20 minutes there :)

[hornblower]

Yes!

 

Esp if mom has been overly influenced by images of shining haired, smooth cheeked little munchkins gazing adoringly upon a smiling mom with a stack of books in the background. You can almost hear the child pleading "Please mama! Can I do the next page in the Latin grammar book? And will you let me take the geography book to my room for nap time? I'd rather read it than sleep!"

 

:laugh:

 

In the real world, the child dawdles, arrives at the table half dressed, gets lost en route to the bedroom to get a shirt, arrives again (after some serious exercise of vocal cords by the mother), can't find a pencil, finds a pencil and promptly breaks it, says "WHY do I need to study this?" at every book you present, needs to go to the bathroom, comes back 20 minutes later & gets sent again to rewash hands, can't find pencil again....... and so on, and so on.

 

In the meantime, mom alternates between sipping herbal tea to calm herself and madly flipping through the WTM for inspiration, before finally loading up the hs boards to vent. And maybe cracking open a Mike's :D

 

It will get better. Or at least if not better, it will start to eventually feel normal. It takes time to establish a routine & your dc's are still very young.

 

Baby steps!!! Hang in there.

[Mrs Mungo]

And maybe cracking open a Mike's :D

 

 

I have a strict not 'til after 3 rule. :lol:

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I found through trial and error to retool my methods with my ds. For example, we do math first since this seemed to go better first thing than later. I also learned to give frequent breaks and to try different techniques to make it more interesting to him. We do use a cyber school but there is quite a bit of flexibility at this age, thank goodness. I also found breaking up certain lessons or combining to be useful in certain situations. I also found it helpful to spread things out over the entire week. For example, we often do reading at bedtime which is very cozy;).

 

I guess I would just try to re-tool things based on your dc. It took many attempts at re-tooling for me and I am sure that I will have to re-tool over and over again.

 

The only other thing I found useful was a sticker chart and possibly a reward system. However, I am still learning about the best approaches;)

 

My 2 cents:)

Edited August 18, 2009 by priscilla
spelling

[mom2hunangirls]

I know EXACTLY how you feel!!! My 5.11 yr old (6 is sept) is having a major problem with our routine. And my 27 month old hurricane is wired for destruction too. See? I feel your pain. :)

 

We are doing 1st this year and I'm still only getting the basics done. And I've learned that it's ok. My hurricane will downgrade to a tropical depression eventually (I pray for January to be a major turn around!).

 

It doesn't help that there is no one to be with the younger one if we are doing school. And the older has some jealousy issues that make her working independently on easily independent stuff a royal pain for me.

 

And, I'm sorry, but I have to nap when the hurricane is down. She wears me out!

 

I will say though, have hope. I have seen vast improvements in my 27 mo old in the last 3 months, so I know it will get better.

 

I do try to do the more focused stuff while the little one is snacking and I've found a good time of morning that she will calmly watch the Letter Factory or Blue's Clues without eating the rocks out of the fireplace. :)

 

this is our 2nd week back. and it's still not where I wanted us to be. But I'm staying on top of the 3 r's, and that's the best we can do now.

 

Hang in there!!!

 

oh, and for my dd's attitude... I'm working on a heart report like Clarissa made at 1+1+1=1. She'll get one every day and have to show it to Daddy. I'll try to come up with some special craft we can make if she has x amount by x amount of time.

 

Kim

[Erica in PA]

LOL, I hope so, because I'm in EXACTLY the same boat! Day two today, and not off to a great start. Partly due to bad attitudes on the kids' part, partly due to not being as organized as I'd like before starting... it's been a tough two days. And we're only doing three or four subjects right now!! :thumbdown:

[MamaSheep]

We haven't even started yet this year, and I already want to quit....lol. :grouphug:

[elegantlion]

I have a strict not 'til after 3 rule. :lol:

 

Let's see 3pm your time would be a lot earlier in my neck of the woods. :001_huh: :lol::lol:

 

 

We are on week two of our sixth year of homeschooling. Two days into it "I" wanted to quit too. It does get better. Today ds asked to do math before break, not after. :001_smile: Good thing I was already sitting down.

[LarlaB]

I know EXACTLY how you feel!!! My 5.11 yr old (6 is sept) is having a major problem with our routine. And my 27 month old hurricane is wired for destruction too. See? I feel your pain. :)

 

We are doing 1st this year and I'm still only getting the basics done. And I've learned that it's ok. My hurricane will downgrade to a tropical depression eventually (I pray for January to be a major turn around!).

 

It doesn't help that there is no one to be with the younger one if we are doing school. And the older has some jealousy issues that make her working independently on easily independent stuff a royal pain for me.

 

And, I'm sorry, but I have to nap when the hurricane is down. She wears me out!

 

I will say though, have hope. I have seen vast improvements in my 27 mo old in the last 3 months, so I know it will get better.

 

I do try to do the more focused stuff while the little one is snacking and I've found a good time of morning that she will calmly watch the Letter Factory or Blue's Clues without eating the rocks out of the fireplace. :)

 

this is our 2nd week back. and it's still not where I wanted us to be. But I'm staying on top of the 3 r's, and that's the best we can do now.

 

Hang in there!!!

 

oh, and for my dd's attitude... I'm working on a heart report like Clarissa made at 1+1+1=1. She'll get one every day and have to show it to Daddy. I'll try to come up with some special craft we can make if she has x amount by x amount of time.

 

Kim

 

Oh wow Kim, you DO understand. Sounds like exactly the same thing- LOL. Funny that you call your youngest a hurricane- my DS is the tornado, particularly when he's dragging small appliances around the house.

 

Can you tell me more about the heart report? That sounds right down our alley...we've been talking, praying & working towards growth in this area.

[LarlaB]

THANKS to everyone. I had no idea- LOL

 

 

DD does have hs experience- so this isn't new. We hs'd several weeks during summer (she's a rising 1st grader) and it went pretty well, actually.

 

Our school day (w/ breaks, games & read-alouds) is from 9-11:30, but maybe I'm still trying to do too much. I hesitate to work during DS's naps as (1)DD needs the quiet time in her room and (2)I do too. :)

 

DD"s attitude is likely age appropriate/developmental- its not acceptable, but I do understand that its likely 'normal'. She's trying to find her voice/control, and is a fairly bright, precocious kid who picks up on neighbor kiddos attitudes and tries them out at home. She loves the challenge of school, but seems to toss in attitude just because....

 

DS is intense, homeschooling or not. I've done all the 'planning' I can do to help keep him entertained w/ options- there are special toys, music CD's and he is always invited to work with us. Yet, he seems to be frustrated that I"m not giving him my full attention and then acts out, which means we then have to take a break to discipline etc, then regroup. He will be going to a mother's morning out program 2 mornings a week. I think its necessary for all of us.

 

I was prepared to want to quit later in the year, but not on the 2nd day. I just wonder if all this effort and family sacrifice is really going to be worth it.

[dhudson]

I always think that the first month or so is HARD :001_huh: but after talking to friends with kids in a more traditional school they think it's hard too. I think a lot of it is change in schedule and structure and we all resist being more disciplined.

 

For a 5 year old, keep the day short and topics short with lots of hands-on activities. If attitude continues to be a problem then at our house privliges go away. I agree with the suggestion of schooling in the afternoon during nap time of the younger one. We did this for a couple of years when my twins were little.

 

Hang in there! Math with my 4th gr dd took us and hour and half yesterday due to attitude. Today it only took 45 min.:001_smile:

[tarana]

Don't give up so easily. At 5.5 yrs its the control thing. Just let your kids know however bad they behave you will stick with your school plan. They will eventually accept it.

I remember how difficult my 5yr old (with OT issure) was when she has to practise her alphabets.

It will get better soon....

[Starr]

:DI just love the problems of "littles", want some teens????

[ElizabethB]

10 minutes a day with Webster's Speller in K, and my daughter was reading out of the KJV a few months before the end of the year. As long as you do a bit every day, an amazing amount of work will get done by the end! (And, we did take a day off here and there, on our own time, but not the same days the schools took off, but about the same number probably.)

 

I have a friend who did 90% of her school last year on the 2 days her youngest was in preschool. Her son was 6 and in 1st grade. She did 3 hours of work those 2 days and 5 to 10 minutes or sometimes nothing the rest of the week.

[KrissiK]

I've been struggling a little, too. We didn't take a HUGE summer vacation, and we did our reading books every day, so we had a bit of a school routine throughout, but these boys would rather be playing all day long. I keep trying to get it in my mind that I am "training" them as we begin school again, and it keeps me from thinking they're just misbehaving. My boys are about the same age as your daughter so I feel your pain a bit.

[Moni]

I'm seriously doubting this HS decision.

 

It kind of depends on your expectations about homeschooling.

If you wanted something else and you are not getting it, then....homeschooling may not be the way to get it.

 

If you want to continue to homeschool, then..... ;)

 

I've posted I haven't been "motivated" about homeshcooling in over a decade.

 

I don't do this to entertain the children and it certainly doesn't have much entertainment value for me either.

:seeya:

[ElizabethB]

How long they can/will sit still and focus and what level they are working at are 2 entirely different things.

 

Also, interest and ability levels can also be different.

 

My daughter is above grade level in a few subjects, but has the attention span of a normal child her age.

 

And, although she reads above grade level, she enjoys books for young children. She will read adult level books for subjects that interest her, for example, bird field guides and non-fiction books about horses. For K, she normally read from the Rhyme Bible (4th or 5th grade level, pictures), but towards the end of the year she switched to the NIV.

 

In K, her favorite type of book to read was board books. They are written for adults to read for children, so their grade level is pretty high, but they don't have too many words on one page and they have a lot of fun pictures.

[MicheleinMN]

:DI just love the problems of "littles", want some teens????

 

No Kidding! sigh.

[ElizabethB]

Mine were almost exactly those ages 2 years ago when we did K.

 

I did most of my work on a white board, they each got one. While it kept my son occupied, I did get some marker on my couch. Luckily, it was 15 years old and that was all that got marked up. So, if you go that option, make sure he's outside or in a bathtub or something with his white board!

 

They also liked to play with the green units from manipulatives from MUS. They put them on their fingers and pretended to be tree frogs.

 

While it was hard to keep him occupied during school time, it was great to have an extra set of eyes at home to make sure he didn't kill himself or cause thousands of dollars of damage to the house.

 

He was much better for 1st grade, which was good because we did a bit more school.

[Mom0012]

I haven't read all the posts, but one thing that really helps me get the school year started more smoothly is just to add one subject in every few days to a week. Start with one subject, and once you are working together successfully on that and feel things are going well, add in one more, and so on.

 

Lisa

[LarlaB]

:DI just love the problems of "littles", want some teens????

 

It's all relative, I know- but still real challenges. ;)

[LarlaB]

It kind of depends on your expectations about homeschooling.

If you wanted something else and you are not getting it, then....homeschooling may not be the way to get it.

 

If you want to continue to homeschool, then..... ;)

 

I've posted I haven't been "motivated" about homeshcooling in over a decade.

 

I don't do this to entertain the children and it certainly doesn't have much entertainment value for me either.

:seeya:

 

I mean seriously doubt as in questioning if this is really feasible for this season w/ our circumstances.

[mom2hunangirls]

Can you tell me more about the heart report? That sounds right down our alley...we've been talking, praying & working towards growth in this area.

 

Here is the link to Clarissa's page that has it. Scroll down until you find "Heart Report".

 

And in another response you said you were wondering if this was a good time to hs. There have been days where I think "that's it...send her." but then I think "no, one of the reasons I felt led to hs was to keep her away from those attitudes that she would get there. I wanted to be her main influence for as long as I could...this is my chance. At school, she'll just be another attitude added to the lot. At home, hopefully, with Help... we can work on it."

 

And then I'm thankful that she's only in 1st grade during this phase of "Hurricane's" development. Still a pretty light year over all. ya know???

 

Have you looked at workboxes yet? Mine was asking when we were going to start using ours again (we used them the end of last year), so I'm getting back in gear for that. It certainly helped last year.

 

Oh, and another thing that has gone over well. I asked dd if she would be my "assistant" during Tot School. I explained that it would really help if SHE read the story to Hurricane while I tried to keep her focused. Wow. Did that seem like a big deal to her!! Plus she gets her reading practice in. *wink*

 

hang in there. go with the flow. it's a season. (coming from the one who did math in bed with dd tonight because it just didn't happen this morning.)

[LarlaB]

Here is the link to Clarissa's page that has it. Scroll down until you find "Heart Report".

 

And in another response you said you were wondering if this was a good time to hs. There have been days where I think "that's it...send her." but then I think "no, one of the reasons I felt led to hs was to keep her away from those attitudes that she would get there. I wanted to be her main influence for as long as I could...this is my chance. At school, she'll just be another attitude added to the lot. At home, hopefully, with Help... we can work on it."

 

And then I'm thankful that she's only in 1st grade during this phase of "Hurricane's" development. Still a pretty light year over all. ya know???

 

Have you looked at workboxes yet? Mine was asking when we were going to start using ours again (we used them the end of last year), so I'm getting back in gear for that. It certainly helped last year.

 

Oh, and another thing that has gone over well. I asked dd if she would be my "assistant" during Tot School. I explained that it would really help if SHE read the story to Hurricane while I tried to keep her focused. Wow. Did that seem like a big deal to her!! Plus she gets her reading practice in. *wink*

 

hang in there. go with the flow. it's a season. (coming from the one who did math in bed with dd tonight because it just didn't happen this morning.)

 

Thanks for advice & ideas... I've really been connecting with your honest perspective. You're realistic and optimistic. ;)

 

Mostly, aside from attitude outbursts, DD really loves school/learning. I'm realizing that its likely the distractions from DS that complicates things- its frustrating for all of us. He's going to a mother's morning out program at a local church 2 mornings a week, starting in a few weeks. That way, he'll have age appropriate activity & attention, and DD & I will have 2 mornings a week to concentrate.

 

Also, I'm going to scale back content even more. I will keep it at 1st grade level (because that's where DD is at) but lighten up. I'm using HOD (hearts of Dakota) and will scale back to bare minimum and gradually add back certain components. Thanks for that advice.

 

 

 

Last night we finished "Helen Keller" at bedtime (it was supposed to take 2 weeks to read, but DD loved it, so we read it in 2 days- LOL). Then we had a chance to talk about what it means to serve others and make a difference in someone elses life. We talked for 30 minutes. Out of that discussion came DD"s idea to have a garage sale and donate all the money to charity. THAT is why I'm homeschooling.

[mom2hunangirls]

Thanks for advice & ideas... I've really been connecting with your honest perspective. You're realistic and optimistic. ;)

 

Mostly, aside from attitude outbursts, DD really loves school/learning. I'm realizing that its likely the distractions from DS that complicates things- its frustrating for all of us. He's going to a mother's morning out program at a local church 2 mornings a week, starting in a few weeks. That way, he'll have age appropriate activity & attention, and DD & I will have 2 mornings a week to concentrate.

 

Also, I'm going to scale back content even more. I will keep it at 1st grade level (because that's where DD is at) but lighten up. I'm using HOD (hearts of Dakota) and will scale back to bare minimum and gradually add back certain components. Thanks for that advice.

 

 

 

Last night we finished "Helen Keller" at bedtime (it was supposed to take 2 weeks to read, but DD loved it, so we read it in 2 days- LOL). Then we had a chance to talk about what it means to serve others and make a difference in someone elses life. We talked for 30 minutes. Out of that discussion came DD"s idea to have a garage sale and donate all the money to charity. THAT is why I'm homeschooling.

 

That's my dd exactly!! Hurricane totally distracts her. She loves schooling with me, loves it. For which I'm humbled because there are days where I just know I'm going to hear "I don't want you to be my teacher!!". So far, so good. :)

 

And, oddly enough, Hurricane starts MMO at church next week too! I've decided to just take our more focused stuff with us to church and after we drop the little one off we'll go find a room at church and dig in. It will give dd a change of scenery and allow us time to catch up or get ahead!

 

And the garage sale...oh my...yep, that's why we're in this race!

Feel free to email me any time to vent...I'm encouraged that someone else is in my boat too. :001_smile:

[Gretchen in NJ]

:glare:

 

Between my DD's bad attitude (who knew that attitudes could be so fierce at 5.5?) & my DS's determination to disrupt & destroy (he's 25 months old, and biologically wired to act this way, I suppose), I'm seriously doubting this HS decision.

 

Perfectly normal.:lol: I pulled my girls out of PS. On the 1st day of school, they both looked at me and said, "Hey, you are not a teacher. You are a mom.":001_huh: My whole week of lessons went down the drain while we switched gears to study, "What does it mean to be a parent?"

;)

It does get easier as time goes by. Does your 25 month old still nap? If he does, you could try to HS during those times. My mother was always on me to play pen my girls. I was not able to do it. I was too soft. It would be great if you could get him to sit in a play pen with some of his favorite toys.