This is my 9th year of homeschooling and this fall - I am not getting it all done!

[Shelly in IL]

I hate that! We are over committed and will be quitting a homeschool co-op that meets once a week (we currently belong to 2) at semester break.

 

Not getting it all done and being too busy is driving me nuts!! Eldest (8th grade) gets to science, math, English, history, SAT Vocab (at co-op), and AM. Lit (at other co-op) daily. But the other stuff like Latin, crit. thinking, geography are really on the back burner. I am trying to get to more Latin, but it is behind.

 

I'm not as worried about my youngest (4th), since he is so young. We do get to Math, English, Classical Writing, Science, Handwriting, Latin (but not good enough) and history with him.

 

I just feel scattered and don't like it. I feel like all this good stuff I bought (Mapping the World by Heart, Lost Tools of Writing, etc.) is just wasting away. I WILL get to it in January, right?

[Another Lynn]

Well, you might be glad to have new things to start in January! It seems like I always want to change things up in Jan/Feb even when I don't really have a reason to. So, maybe it will work to your advantage. :)

[Tidbits of Learning]

I am having a similar issue b/c of co-op and this is only our first year homeschooling. I just think it takes away from what I am doing at home with them. I haven't quit yet b/c they make every mom teach a class that signs up so that leaves little wiggle room if it doesn't work out for you or your kids without leaving them without a teacher for a class.

I too hope that I can get to what I have bought in January and get it done.

[lauracolumbus]

I am in the same boat w/trying to juggle co-ops for my dd5's benefit and then trying to squeeze all that I need (and bought) for ds11. I'm thinking even more summer school. We never do as much as I'd like.

 

Laura

[Mom2boys]

I'm having the same problem, only subtract a year (homeschooling for 8, 7th and 3rd graders). I feel like by now I should have this balance thing figured out, but each year we are either over committed or under committed. I never seem to get it quite right. Because my kids are four years apart, most of their activities are separate, and so are their school subjects. So while each individual child has a balanced load, combined together it is too much for me to get done in a given week. But I don't know what to cut. :confused:

[Lori D.]

This is my 9th year of homeschooling and this fall - I am not getting it all done! I hate that! We are over committed and ... I just feel scattered and don't like it. I feel like all this good stuff I bought ... is just wasting away. I WILL get to it in January, right?

 

 

I hate to break it to you, but when you hit high school, it gets even worse -- because it's at a higher level, coursework takes longer so about all you have time for each year are the "core" courses and an elective. Your students begin to "step out" a little and do more evening social things. You have less schooling time if you also want to include real-life things and skill development -- like practicing learning to drive; sports team participation; music lessons / groups; time spent in academic groups, speciality clubs, or high-interest opportunities. Students have even less time for homeschool in the junior/senior years as many work part time jobs and/or take classes at a community college. And where do you fit in time for teaching/learning real-life skills and spending time with your student to develop relationship with this changing person?

 

Looking back, I'd say that 7th/8th grade was the LAST time we had ANY time to include all those extras, or to go off on bunny trails and try out some fun or interesting unit studies.

 

The thing that has helped me most was hearing a homeschool conference session by Mary Schofield. In a nutshell, she said as homeschoolers, we're trying to do it ALL. But at the junior high and then especially at the senior high level, we have so little time left with our students. The key is to STOP trying to do all of those programs, and FIRST take some time to think about (and, if a person of faith, PRAY about) what the priorities for each student are, and then you'll see which (in any) of the programs fit into your priorities.

 

 

Ideas to help you squeeze more out of our day:

 

- Try scheduling for just a 4-day week, leaving Fridays for catch-up/finish up; big projects or hands-on; field trips; co-op; etc.

- Consider scheduling some courses on fewer days, but for longer time periods. Example: history 2 days a week; science 2 days a week; and then one or two of those other interesting programs 1 day a week.

- Squeeze in a flexible program by adding it to your family together time. Example: do 10 minutes of critical thinking programs all together 3 mornings a week as a "before school starts" brain warm up time. At the end of the week, you've done half an hour of critical thinking.

- Shave time out of core subjects. Example: Grammar is a tool for good rhetoric and for learning foreign languages; but you can learn what you need of grammar in about 15 minutes a day, 3 days a week. For practicing a grammar concept, a student probably doesn't need to work with more than 3-4 sentences in a day; and review/practice grammar mechanics by having students revise their own writing. Math can usually be done in just 4 days a week; and unless a student is really struggling, you can often just have them do the odd numbered problems; more than 40-50 min. of math, especially at the elementary and middle school levels is plenty -- students just burnout after that.

- Sometimes drop a book out of your literature or history to give yourself more time. Don't feel you HAVE to finish the science or history texts; especially pre-high school you can spend more time on areas of interest and skim less interesting topics.

- Co-ops can be great, BUT -- only if they are providing something you can't at home. By the time you add in the driving time, co-op class time, and any homework related to the co-op, that's worth several hours a week -- and that's not worth it if you are also teaching similar things at home. In that case, either let what is learned at co-op be enough so you can do other things at home, or drop the co-op so you have more at home learning time.

 

 

BEST of luck in making your homeschool adventure work for YOU! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Lori D.
added info

[lovemykids]

I'm having the same problem here as well.

I'm going to keep trying, and we will catch up on missed history and reading over the summer. I'm now assigning living history books to my girls because we can’t keep up with our schedule of read alouds together, it’s faster when they read on their own. I am requiring oral narrations to make sure they are getting what they are supposed to….they are currently reading about US history.

We are still doing read alouds with the youngest, but we are reading ancient history now and we start on middle ages soon. Occasionally, so that my youngest gets some US history, we are going over orally the history of the US, we talk about what happened and who did what. I use the internet for snippets of information and websites with pictures to make it come alive for my youngest. This serves as a review for my girls.

Other things like Spanish and piano, we try to rotate when it’s feasible. Art and composer study is the same. I just do not have enough time to teach all of these subjects everyday, I would need a 48 hour day. We try to do math, reading, and writing everyday and with a focus on LA skills throughout the week, rotating vocabulary and spelling. (minimum of four days a week, sometimes five)

Lori D. thanks for the insight, I agree we are trying to do too much. Those of us with several children need to scale down and not feel guilty about it.

[lovemykids]

(a little more) For my oldest, I am having her write about history and mainly science. Science can be quite a lot of writing, in addition to her actual writing mechanics class and her literature summaries. (which we have to rotate also, LOL) Because she can do the writing independently, it helps. I assign the literature and history writing, while science is required every time, this is what we have decided is important for dd for now. I am only requiring short sentences from my younger ones in history, in addition to handwriting and once or twice a week we do WWE.

I hope that made sense. Yawn! Today what is important is that we get outside and enjoy the day…so…

;)

I also wanted to add that it’s amazing what we can get done in January and February isn’t it?

:lol:

[PollyOR]

I hate to break it to you, but when you hit high school, it gets even worse -- because it's at a higher level, coursework takes longer so about all you have time for each year are the "core" courses and an elective.

 

:iagree:We are finding this to be true.

[lovemykids]

"I hate to break it to you, but when you hit high school, it gets even worse -- because it's at a higher level, coursework takes longer so about all you have time for each year are the "core" courses and an elective."

Lori D.

 

 

Uh oh, we are in trouble! Please don't say this.....

 

:svengo:

 

:lol:

[8filltheheart]

I refuse to participate in co-ops. Over the yrs when we have tried, it has always been the wrong decision. My expectations are much different than most other homeschooling parents and I have been disappointed by the quality for the time.

 

My kids are involved in time-consuming outside activities this yr. We have finally found a balance I can live with.......earlier in the yr, my 10th grader's day was going until 9 or 10 at night (way past my peak hours of thinking!!) They are now getting up at 5 and doing their reading, etc first thing in the morning so that as soon as I get up and have finished with the 7 yo, they are ready for me to work with them. My 5th grader is now finishing before we leave for her practices, my 10th grader is typically only having chemistry and writing left to do when we get home (so from about 3:00 until about 5:00 for her to finish). My 8th grader flips between finishing and having a small amt left when we get home.

 

Messing with our schedule, making them take ownership of the outside activities' impact on our days, etc are the only things that have improved our days.

[Reya]

We're doing pretty well, but it's because we're taking a gradual approach to adding stuff. We also homeschool in the car and whenever we wait anywhere until school is over.

 

We do no academic co-ops. They are almost always a pointless time sink.

 

We're timer-driven. It keeps everything on task.

 

I work at being as responsive as possible.

 

We're nowhere near as fast as some families, with DS's flakiness, but it works okay.

 

Daily, we do:

 

Bible

Handwriting

Math

Reading

Grammar

Spelling

Latin

Spanish

History

Science

 

Art is scheduled 3x per week, but we usually do it more. Experiments are 2x/wk.

 

Violin and composition are falling off the schedule at this time, to some extent.