End of year vent. Anyone else feeling this way?

[5LittleMonkeys]

Anyone else having trouble keeping dc focused for the last couple of weeks of school? We have less than two weeks left and all of a sudden it's like pulling teeth to get them to light at the table to get any work done. All we have left is an Ancient Greece history pocket that we turned into a fancy scrapbook and my oldest needs to finish reading Augustus Ceasar's World. THAT'S IT! Uugh...I just want to be DONE too.

 

WHEW...I feel better now. I have been trying to keep a happy attitude in front of the kids so just needed to vent. Thanks!

[elise1mds]

Yup! My son mentally checked out last week and we're not even out till 05/28. Yesterday he REARRANGED HIS ROOM as opposed to doing school work. Did I mention he has a queen-size bed? Yup. That was the first thing he moved. Then he moved his hidey-hole box, his nightstand, various toy bins, and a 5-foot-tall chest of drawers. He did a great job, but for heaven's sake... if only he'd channel HALF that energy into school work...

[Lilymax]

No, but we aren't finished til the first week of June, so we aren't as close as you are.

 

However, I have one of my policies taped to the bulletin board in our schoolroom: "The more you whine, the more work you get."

 

So they know that if they slack off, or complain, or give me a hard time in any way about schoolwork, there's a consequence. And it's boring work, too (the kind they'd get in PS! LOL)

 

Maybe threaten them that if they don't focus, you're going to tack on an extra week of nothing but worksheets.

 

Signed,

Mean Mama ;)

[5LittleMonkeys]

Maybe threaten them that if they don't focus, you're going to tack on an extra week of nothing but worksheets.

 

You know, if I brought up the fact that I had considered letting them go ahead and start next years math now...yeah, I think I'll mention that in the morning and see if I get a little more cooperation.:D

[cjzimmer1]

My kids get weekly charts of what they need to do each day that week. When we get down to the last 5-6 weeks, I give them their charts for the rest of the year and let them go at it. 2 of them always work ahead and thus gain extra days for their summer break, 1 of them will finish on the last scheduled day at about 8:00 P.M. knowing him. For us school ends Friday so the rest of this week will be miserable for me to keep that one kid motivated because now 4 of his 5 siblings (as opposed to only the littlest 2) will be off playing and having fun. And he will whine and cry and complain it's not fair despite the fact that his siblings were working earlier while he was off playing because they wanted to be done. This kid is all about immediate gratification.

[LibraryLover]

We are on the 'unschooling spectrum' so we 'unschool spectrum' the whole year long. If something doesn't resonate at some point, we do somethng that does (and I admit, it's easy here, as my kids are never without an interest, and they want to know math, history, etc). We then go back to earlier interests as they make sense, and as we find a new spark.

 

It's much easier this way for all of us. There is always something we are researching. Often, this is a circle...you know...what goes around comes around....but not in a negative way...lol

Edited April 28, 2010 by LibraryLover

[LibraryLover]

Maybe threaten them that if they don't focus, you're going to tack on an extra week of nothing but worksheets.

 

Signed,

Mean Mama ;)

 

How would this develop their love of learning, or encourage them to be excited about aquiring new knowledge?

[Lilymax]

How would this develop their love of learning, or encourage them to be excited about aquiring new knowledge?

 

It wouldn't, I suppose. Thankfully, they don't seem to be lacking in their love of learning, or seeking out new knowledge.

 

I guess I'm just an old-fashioned mom who doesn't mind implementing an unpleasant consequence to achieve a desired result; in this case giving a child a dose of 'busy work', a reminder of their PS days, to focus them back onto the blessings of being homeschooled.

 

YMMV. :)

[5LittleMonkeys]

I guess I'm just an old-fashioned mom who doesn't mind implementing an unpleasant consequence to achieve a desired result; in this case giving a child a dose of 'busy work', a reminder of their PS days, to focus them back onto the blessings of being homeschooled.

I completely get this. I am not fortunate enough to have dc that wake up in the morning with learning on their minds. They will learn and we do find those rabbit trails and follow them and the dc enjoy it. But left to structure their days by themselves they would rather cook, paint, play, crafts, listen to music, build, play, play, play. Whereas I believe they can learn through all of these activities it doesn't get the work done that I am required to teach them but that they don't like doing. (Math, Grammar, Writing, etc.) They almost always do this type of work with no complaints but occasionally need to be nudged to persevere through the work they don't find exciting to get to the stuff they do enjoy.

 

 

How would this develop their love of learning, or encourage them to be excited about aquiring new knowledge?

I wish we could school the way you do but we tried it and it did not work for the dc or for me. Perhaps if we started it that way when they were little it would be more of a lifestyle than a method. Count yourself lucky that your dc are passionate about constantly acquiring new knowlede. Your dc are unique in my opinion. In my opinion my dc are more the norm. They enjoy learning but given the opportunity would choose something else to do. :D Edited April 28, 2010 by 5LittleMonkeys

[LibraryLover]

It wouldn't, I suppose. Thankfully, they don't seem to be lacking in their love of learning, or seeking out new knowledge.

 

I guess I'm just an old-fashioned mom who doesn't mind implementing an unpleasant consequence to achieve a desired result; in this case giving a child a dose of 'busy work', a reminder of their PS days, to focus them back onto the blessings of being homeschooled.

 

YMMV. :)

 

 

So maybe there is no point? :D I don't find any busy work helps *us* accomplish our goals.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

For us, school in springtime is hopeless unless we also spend four hours outdoors every day.

 

We spread out our schoolwork instead of trying to do it in 2 or 3 hour chunks of time, because their bikes, the trees, the garden, and the sunshine are calling these boys and I can't do anything about that!

 

Sometimes we do history during lunch, and Bible at bedtime, and paperwork in the van on the way to go hiking.

 

Flexibility beats drudgery, IMO. :D

[LibraryLover]

We have structure. Lots of it. It doesn't it seem so, I suppose, when I try to describe what we do. When my kids are not engaged, they seem not to remember a thing, and I hate to waste my time or theirs. I find that coming back to ideas and such when they are interested means comprehension. I don't think my kids are unique at all. It might take them longer, in fact, to learn something because I won't belabor it. We move along, do something that is interesting at that times, and most everything seems to come around again. I think age is really important. It can take 3 years to teach a two year old to tie their shoes. But if you wait until they are 5, it takes about an hour.

 

My 6 yr olds were never truly interested in predicate adjectives, just for instance , but my 11 yr olds more, and my teens even more. Of course, I am not saying they were all , "Oh Boy, predicate adjectives! ! Yeah!" lol :lol:. But the older they were, the more quickly they got it, retained it, and saw the need for it. Whereas a lot of 6 yr olds don't, or they do, but forget.

 

We hs year round, so I probably shouldn't participate in these 'gear up or gear down or finsih for the year' threads. We just keep going. Our learning seems to move in waves and cycles rather than in linear time, so what we didn't get earlier, comes back... in some way.

 

I don't mean to make it personal, so sorry if I did. I was sharing our stuff. I found I wasted my kids' time when they were little in ways that now seem obvious. The longer I hs, the more I realized I concerned myself with various activity that ended up being pointless for my young children.

 

 

I

 

I wish we could school the way you do but we tried it and it did not work for the dc or for me. Perhaps if we started it that way when they were little it would be more of a lifestyle than a method. Count yourself lucky that your dc are passionate about constantly acquiring new knowlede. Your dc are unique in my opinion. In my opinion my dc are more the norm. They enjoy learning but given the opportunity would choose something else to do. :D

Edited April 29, 2010 by LibraryLover

[5LittleMonkeys]

I don't mean to make it personal, so sorry if I did. I was sharing our stuff.

 

I didn't take it personal at all! I like hearing all different views. I find the way you homeschool to be fascinating...it appeals to me in so many ways. I have only been hs'ing for a little over a year though so haven't been able to discipline myself to look at the big picture yet. (As in as long as they know what they need to know by 12th grade we are good.) I find that if I don't keep more rigid control over what is going on that I tend to get panicky.

Perhaps once I get a few more years of experience under my belt I will feel more secure in being more relaxed but right now I don't think I'm mature enough as a homeschooler to do it. Does that make sense?

[LibraryLover]

I didn't take it personal at all! I like hearing all different views. I find the way you homeschool to be fascinating...it appeals to me in so many ways. I have only been hs'ing for a little over a year though so haven't been able to discipline myself to look at the big picture yet. (As in as long as they know what they need to know by 12th grade we are good.) I find that if I don't keep more rigid control over what is going on that I tend to get panicky.

Perhaps once I get a few more years of experience under my belt I will feel more secure in being more relaxed but right now I don't think I'm mature enough as a homeschooler to do it. Does that make sense?

 

 

I understand...and I remember my first year...thinking I needed to follow WTW (or any other) recommendations...and not that I did...at all. We were always rather rebellious in that way. :) I just saw what didn't work pretty quickly. At the same time, I realized my kids were very bright and simply didn't benefit from tedium.

 

They learned stuff just by living and being with us. Sometimes you want to cement certain ideas...math concepts say, or help an older child understand the structure of grammar so they can take the SATs or PSATs, and communicate well. You want them to understand how to read literature. Usually older kids want this as well...esp if they are planning college of their own free will. But for tiny kids...I saw no point trying to teach concepts that had them wanting to bang their heads (or mine) against the wall. There is too much that they do find wildly interesting...so strike while that iron is hot, and come on back later...if one has to.

 

I find that one can introduce all the concepts they wish, and sometimes kids will look blankly at you, no matter. I recently had my 16 yr old tell me the, "I don't remember us readng about the city-states of ancient India. You never did that", as he was doing homworke for a public school history elective. I pulled out one of his hsing notebooks...and the look on his face was , "I'll be darned". He was 9, and had no recollection whatsoever about it. None. It was as if he was learning it for the first time at 16...and he was...but now it mattered to him. I get that some 9 yr olds will take that lesson and run with it, make it theirs. So I am all for exposure, but I am not going to bang my head against the wall about it, or fight spring, or think something will stick... until it's time for something to stick.

Edited April 28, 2010 by LibraryLover