Exhausted homeschoolers unite!

[3Rivers]

I have no idea what I mean by that title; I'm too tired and that's what came to mind. :tongue_smilie:

 

Am I doing too much or what? I went through the curriculum and figured out what we needed to do to get done in 36 weeks and so what we have now is a very, very full day. A LOT of learning and good work is taking place, but... wow...and we don't always DO all the stuff I have planned.

 

I guess I'm wondering if ...

other homeschool families reach the end of the school week tired, tired of working and just plain tired?

 

I don't know, maybe we are just finally getting productive around here, but after a day of Bible, Spanish, math, handwriting, grammar, spelling, science, literature, history, and piano.....plus add in the few extras outside the house....I'm worn out!

 

I don't know how we homeschoolers do this! :lol:

[Wyndie]

I guess I'm wondering if ...

other homeschool families reach the end of the school week tired, tired of working and just plain tired?

 

 

YES! lol

 

I'm so tired I can barely get my buns off this chair to get dinner. And we have company coming over tonight. Homeschooling is exhausting!! :lol:

 

:grouphug:

[Jane]

I don't know how we homeschoolers do this! :lol:

 

I haven't a clue! The only thing that mystifies me more is how I can collapse into bed at the end of the day excited to do it all again the next day! :lol: I pray that I always retain this spirit of joy.

[lisabees]

I am in awe of all of you who do this with more than one and for years!!

 

I just finished my first week ever and I am tired. But I love it (now if only I can convince ds13 to love it)!!

 

Dinner may have to be pizza...

 

Lisa

[Aletheia Academy]

I am draggin' my wagon, for sure. I remember, though, when I was teaching ps, I felt the same way, especially at the beginning of the year.

 

Teaching is an extremely demanding endeavor. Whether at home or in an outside setting, it requires a lot of in-depth interpersonal interaction. As adults, we often fill the gaps where the younger ones are just learning how to interact with others.

 

Hopefully, we handle our frustration, tiredness, etc, better than they do, at least most of the time! We also need to help our kids work through and learn to productively handle all their own frustration. Even on the best of days, I am drained.

 

It's a good thing this job pays so well. :D

[Pink Fairy]

Hark! I am here to unite with thee, fellow exhausted ones!

 

After nine years of hsing I should be used to it. Dang I'm tired. I'm yawning, my lids are heavy, and I'm desperately sleepy. But, we still have to do our IEW and our Atelier Art. :blink: So no rest for the weary, homeschooling mama.

[gingersmom]

I'm definitely tired at the end of the week. I think thats why we often do a 4 day school week.

[Ali in OR]

Yup. Wiped out here and the house is a dump. Dds are at the table finishing handwriting (we forgot to do it this morning). Then this very busy week is done. Naptime! Or maybe clean the house time. Put in another load of laundry time.

[Blueridge]

It was our first week and I am wiped out for sure! It was a great week, full of interesting things, my logistical schedule worked pretty well with some minor tweaks, but I am so physically tired that several nights I fell asleep on the couch by 9. My poor dh makes me hot tea and tries to carry on a conversation with me but all I can do after supper is sorta sit there in a stupor. :001_huh: Today I was revived by declaring a school holiday!! We went grocery shopping instead. If you could see the stacks of dishes in the sink right now...

[Devotional Soul]

Count me in. I'm exhausted because baby's getting molars and keeping me up all night.

[mama25angels]

Yes, i'm exhausted as well!!!

[calledtobehome]

I'm tired today and I was tired last night. I think it's because we went on a field trip that was a 45 minute drive both ways. It was worth the drive though!

I have a k and 1st grader so today was very light. They played in the sand box for about an hour and another hour just playing and listening to music. We managed to get a few pages of explode the code done and some literature reading but that was it. I plan on putting them to bed early and just relaxing this evening with hubby!

[Guest Barb B]

Oh yes! Good title! The thing is - once my day is done - I have "homework" to do to keep up with ds in 11th grade! I do math and science right along with him - the only way I figure I can make sure he is learning is for me to learn it to. This is the hard part - not dozing off while doing trig or physics! But, worth it - just exhausting!

 

Barb

[jibaker103]

I'm so tired I can't even think straight!!! :001_huh:

[helena]

I just finished writing out our class schedule for Sep. & Oct and I'm exhausted! :tongue_smilie:

Last week I told the girls that everything that didn't get done Mon-Thurs. would carry over to Fri. (our waldorf, french, nature studies day). Now I've added everything that doesn't get done Fri. can get done this weekend. Hmmm...

Ive also got W.P. Sea and Sky breathing down my neck! Thank goodness I found our first read a loud Treasure Island on CD at the library yesterday. I'm exhausted, but very happy to be back in action, summer laziness was starting to make me nuts.:)

[MamaofTwo]

Wiped out too. I handle the Friday afternoon comma by closing the kitchen during the school year. That means we either eat left-overs or sweet hubby takes us out to dinner. My Nana never cooked on Fridays and I thought that was a pretty great idea. I tell my family I'm just trying to keep her memory alive. ;)

[rwjx2khsmj]

I am so comforted to find this and know that it's not just me! If someone could tell me how to pack it all in and still have nap time I'd love to know.

[mom2abcd]

It is comforting to know you're not the only exhausted mom. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which is mostly in control, but still... it's a struggle. We often fall back on getting the 4 R's done (Reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic, and Religion). I am having to work part-time this year and it's too much. Going through another year with an emotional teen is wearing, too. But God gives grace, one day at a time.

 

And now it's time to get to that Algebra lesson...

[Brindee]

I am so comforted to find this and know that it's not just me! If someone could tell me how to pack it all in and still have nap time I'd love to know.

It's good to fit in a rest time every day! That was the way I kept my sanity when my 3 were younger. We'd have lunch, then "recess", then rest time/nap time/reading time. The kids were all in separate places and QUIET for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on what works best for you. My dh and I made a "tape" of songs and stories and memory verses and ABC''s, etc. for the littles to listen to quietly in their rooms during that time. During that time, mom is NOT ALLOWED to do anything school related, only things that are relaxing! Read, sleep, do your nails, whatever works to give you that breather and help you relax. Honestly, once it got going (there's an adjustment time), it was FABULOUS! We were all ready to face the rest of the day in a better mood, I wasn't so tired, and neither were they, and the schoolwork got done more quickly because of it!

 

Yes, my littles (under 1 yo) participated too! If not napping, they listened to the tape dh and I made, which helped calm them since they could hear our voices, and learned to play quietly!

 

If the kids aren't used to being quiet in their rooms, or in a place you designate, then start in small increments and work up. They'll learn, just don't give in! My kids loved it! As they got older it ended up being Quiet Reading Time or QRT as we called it. They asked for MORE time to read! Gotta love that! :D

[Janice in NJ]

We just finished our 4th week. 32 to go. Three kids - two in high school - plates are spinning well.

 

I have been trotting right along. Running actually. But so far, I have been fitting it all in. Somehow. Nearly all of the biggies are happening - even the momma's own self-ed. Sure there are a couple of little dribbly bits here and there for each kid and myself - things that are happening but need to move up to the happening-well-or-it's-gonna-crash category; crashes generally occur long about the end of October. I hate it when that happens. Those little crashes tend to overshadow the great stuff that is happening.... I am determined to get those little waggly, nagging bits under control so I can retain my upbeat attitude. :001_smile:

 

Then yesterday.... Finally a terrific opportunity that we have been waiting for - for my littler little man. It's a go. I'm psyched for him. It's going to be a great year. But now I have no idea how I am going to make this work. Because one shift affects all of the dominos in life. Especially in home schooling. :001_smile:

 

Once more I'm being shoved out of my comfort zone. Climb to the next plateau of peace, momma! Darn. If it wasn't so sunny and cheerful up there (and I didn't have all of the past experiences of successfully learning to manage and do what I thought was impossible....), I don't think that I would have the hope for this climb.

 

I know that we must do this next thing.

I know that it's what God wants for this child.

I know that He will make a way - after all it's his kid, not mine. :001_smile:

 

This steward just doesn't yet have the full picture. So I have hope, but I don't yet possess an understanding of the means. So yes, it's making me a bit ahead-of-time weary just to look at the tasks ahead. I am absolutely sure with all of my heart that we will get where we need to be. It's happened before in countless ways - most of which required an incredible amount of effort and diligence even if the answers ultimately came from outside of me. Faithfulness on my part coupled with answers that I still don't completely understand. I'm just not sure how this new one is gonna work which can be very frustrating when you have finally answered most of life's "how" questions. New set of questions layered on top of the old questions right when you thought that it wouldn't be possible to answer ANY MORE questions. :001_huh: :001_smile:

 

That guy with the ten spinning plates is a wimp, eh? Nothin to it! :001_smile:

 

Isn't life just such a grand, grand ride?

 

Peace to you and yours!

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

[Lori in MS]

I'm right there with you! Yesterday I fell asleep at 7:30, I could not stay awake. As a result we didn't do our evening read aloud. Oh well, try again next week.

[Dinsfamily]

I am *only* hsing a K'er and I *only* have two other littles (so far), I'm not pregnant, and nursing isn't much of a burden on my time or my body atm...BUT, I'm exhausted!!! Y'all are making me feel better or at least reassuring me that I'm not pg :D. I'm still getting used to the fact that hsing is a job. We are getting everything done, but I'm interested to find out how that will change as I have more to hs and have more littles running around. How do you all do it?!?

 

Wiped out too. I handle the Friday afternoon comma by closing the kitchen during the school year. That means we either eat left-overs or sweet hubby takes us out to dinner. My Nana never cooked on Fridays and I thought that was a pretty great idea. I tell my family I'm just trying to keep her memory alive. ;)

 

We've instituted this, too. My MIL has been doing this at least for 20 years. She never hs'ed and seldom worked outside the home (of course, she IS a busy woman), but they always order pizza on Fridays. It's her night off from the amazing meals she prepares during the week. I don't prepare amazing meals during the week, but I still appreciate the break ;). It's so nice not to think, "What's for dinner?" on Friday afternoon.

[swellmomma]

I have been wiped and we have only been doing 8 out of 12 boxes this week(I am slowly adding 1 box a week to build us up to 12). BUT this has been our most productive start of a year yet, AND I have managed to not only maintain the upkeep of the house but improve it, and cook proper meals (like the minestrone that took 6 hours yesterday), unlike our normal fare of pizza, McD's and frozen fish sticks with fries. PLUS we started our flyer routes so that is added in the mix. I am thinking this is a good kind of exhaustion though, my muscles are sore from the walking and all day standing(if I sit I will fall asleep or the little one wants to nurse), but the kids are learning lots, well fed, well exercised and the house is clean. I have been ending my night with a cup of tea because while I am physically exhausted everyday (progressively worse by Friday) my mind is still going a mile a minute thining of plans for the next day/week, and to do lists and grocery lists etc.

[melmichigan]

Definately exhausted here! :tongue_smilie: Now I need to look at lesson plans...my house is wrecked to. I give myself until Oct to get that routine down. Everything is just more time intensive this year and I need to get a new routine down pat. We are finishing the week today, I took the day off yesterday and ran todays errands. ;)

[sassenach]

I told dh that it felt like I was running a race this week! I'm so grateful for Saturdays. Having a 4 day week actually made it harder because Wed is our run around day, and we don't usually do much school. This week I found myself trying to shove school inbetween appointments. Add to that, we had dinner guests every day except Tuesday. The other thing that really fouled me up was that our WP stuff didn't arrive till Wednesday and we had a lot of catching up to do. We haven't even started science, logic or Latin yet! Oh boy.

[tonersl]

Definitely tired and ready to be done by Wednesday! I think my expectations for what we need to accomplish each week can be too much some times and this adds to the stress and level of exhaustion that I feel.

[MistyJ]

I've been dragging (we started last week of July), and getting a little depressed and myopic.

 

This week, I just left the house at about 8:30 a.m., kids reading in bed, and worked out for half an hour, and returned so rejuvenated that we made up for lost time.

 

Those with littles probably can't do that. But I always put off exercise until we're done, so, and with dinner prep, it always gets squeezed out. I hate to exercise, and think exercise causes weightloss is a myth that thin people and fitness clubs propogate :001_smile:, but it really helped my energy.

[robsiew]

Wow, I am so glad you wrote this post and to see I'm not the only one! I only schooled our older 2 last year and this year I added a K and a preschooler to it and I'm exhausted!!! Could barely do anything today! It's a "good" exhausted though! I think about all we learned this week... it's satisfying! I think for those of us just starting up again after summer it's an adjustment for all to be back in routine!

[3Rivers]

Well I'm definitely NOT alone. :D

Let's all give ourselves a nap this weekend, shall we? OR what other nice thing would you do for yourself? I think I'm going to sleep in tomorrow and luxuriate over a book or magazine. We'll go to church in the evening.

 

My son reminded me this morning why I'm working so hard. He is/was my reluctant student. This morning he wanted to know if he could "at least" work on his Spanish or read his literature book. :party:

 

Yep, it's a good exhaustion, very good indeed.

[Peela]

My kids are both teens now, and my younger has always needed me a lot. I have spent the last 6 years exhausted from homescooling, and yet still enthusiastic. This year, my younger is finally working mostly independently, and my older is doing some external courses which enthuse her....I am still exhausted but I feel its not justified because I am not doing much with them any more. Still, its still the focus of every day and I am not really free to do much else.

We don't do long days though. Even with teens we are finished early afternoon. That keeps me sane and I get a rest time.

[tricia]

When I begin to feel that way I only can come up with one word to fix it. Simplify.

[Mommyfaithe]

PUT ME ON THE LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My name is Faithe and I am an exhausted homeschooler.

I no longer check the sell and swap board

I no longer qvell over the newest and bestest curriculum out there.

I no longer give math or reading ir history advice to forlorn newbies.

I have not planned nor do i intend to plan any unit studies for this year.

I bought workbooks, answer keys and TM's this year.

I did not plan any crafts.

I did not plan any field trips.

I did not even wash last nights dishes.

I did not finish the laundry.

I did not meal plan.

I did not finish my school plans.

I did not clean out our school cabinet.

I do not have any intention of sending my kiddoes to public or private school, but I am tired.

I am exhausted.

~~~zzzzzzzzz~~~~~

Faithe

[swellmomma]

Here we go gang with a new week. Up at 7 to make sure everyone is up, fed and ready to get DD to cheerleading for 9:30 am practice, pick her up at 11:30 get home, eat lunch, go out and deliver flyers. Come home cook dinner, clean house, do laundry, plan this weeks lessons, feed kids, clean kitchen again, set out tomorrow's school books. Make sure ds has appropriate clothes for fencing and toastmasters laid out for Monday. Find cheque book and put by door. In all of that tend to ouchies, nurse littlest, play dino-opoly and pirate-opoly like I promised, break up bickering and at some point use the bathroom. Yup the new week has begun.

[Julie_Julie]

Yes!! It is not just me and my best friend who is feeling this way!!! Thank you all for sharing!

 

I am loving the learning, and my dd declares she loves school and how organized we are, but my house is a WRECK!!! We were supposed to participate in our neighborhood yard sale this weekend. What???? Add something else to the schedule? No way!

 

And...we are not at church this morning. We slept in. Hopefully we will find more balance as the weeks progress. I would still not trade it for anything!! (Although as we drove past the public school on our way to tutor at CC on Thursday, the thought of having an entire day to myself with nothing to plan besides dinner was mighty appealing!)

[mamamoon]

super tired!!!!:glare:

[mammaruss]

I haven't a clue! The only thing that mystifies me more is how I can collapse into bed at the end of the day excited to do it all again the next day! :lol: I pray that I always retain this spirit of joy.

 

Amen!!! ;)

[Mary in NJ]

Tired here!

 

If homeschooling was all I had to do, then I could manage. It is everything else that I'm responsible for that is doing me in.