S/O Guilt Over Unfinished School Plans

[AlmiraGulch]

I was just reading the thread about not finishing the "fun" stuff you've planned for the year and it got me thinking about my own daughter's year.

 

This is supposed to be the last week of school (she's on the same basic schedule as her PS sister) but there are things we have not completed. She still has several Algebra lessons to go through, a few in science, I just realized there were some essays I wanted her to write that she hasn't done and she could probably use some more time to go through Spanish. So last night I decided she'd be doing school for a few more weeks.

 

BUT.....is it really necessary? I have a "start what you finish" mindset going on but I don't ever remember finishing an entire algebra or science book in school. As for Spanish...she's not taking it again as she's decided to switch to Latin next year. Do I really have to make her complete all of this work, or is it ok to just say we're done because I've decided she has done enough?

 

How do you end your school year? By what specific work has been completed, or by the calendar? I'd like to just call it a year at the end of the week, but is that advisable?

[ConnieB]

I'd take into consideration her personality.....at age 13 it's important to have (or begin to seriously develop) the habit of finishing what you start (or knowing when it's ok not to, but that's a much more difficult concept).

 

I have a couple of kids that are very self-motivated....I seldom have to stay on them about getting work or chores done. I would have no qualms about telling them that "we've done enough for this school year, let's end it here, we can pick up the Algebra and Science next fall....go have summer fun".

 

But...I have other children that I cannot even go move the laundry from the washer and dryer or they'll completely stop doing their assignment, wander away or pick up a pleasure book ("we were waiting for you mom"). I would never tell them they could call it quits without having finished, lol. Slowly we're gaining some sense of responsibility for finishing, etc.....but we're not there yet and may never be. Of course in their case if they started whining about having to continue with school when their siblings get to start summer fun, I'd remind them of all the time they wasted during the year when siblings were hard at work studying....and that they have to make up those hours now.

 

So....did your teen do a good job focusing on work, show some responsibility for getting her assignments done in a timely manner, and is in general a "finisher"? If so, yeah, I'd probably let her decide if she wants to just get it done now, or have to spend a little time reviewing next fall to be able to pick up where she left. As I said, I have a couple of kids that would think seriously, and quite probably choose to finish now rather than take longer next fall to finish.

 

Even though she has decided to drop Spanish, however, I would make her finish the book....either now or next fall. My reasoning is that at age 13, you can use her one year of Spanish towards her foreign language credits....and having credits in more than one language can be a plus for some colleges. One place I don't "fudge" is with their credits....if she doesn't finish the book and earn a satisfactory grade on the final exam, no credits. It is my way of staying honest but also a way to put the responsibility on them to earn their credits so they can get into the college of their choice, rather than having to "make it up" in community college or by stretching high school another year.

[Country Mouse]

Personally, I would call it a year at the end of the week to match up with her sister's schedule. If there are certain concepts or topics that you think she needs to cover that you haven't gotten to, perhaps you could touch on those over the summer in a more fun and casual way that involved the whole family. For example, have a Spanish themed party, watch a movie in Spanish, visit a living history museum and have her write a short piece on what she learned, etc.

I think as homeschoolers we have the freedom to say "she has done enough."

Enjoy the summer! :)

[NanceXToo]

Do you feel like she has a good enough grasp of the math that she doesn't really NEED extra practice? If so, I don't think you have to give her more algebra over the summer just because she didn't complete every problem in a book. That's just "busy work" and with summer coming, she's probably ready for a break from that! And aren't you as well?

 

How many essays does a kid need to write? It sounds like she's already written some and now you're going "Oh! I forgot to have her write about this and that topic! Maybe I should make her do it!"... yeah. Don't. lol. Give her a break. Maybe she'll do some writing on her own over the summer if she enjoys writing. Maybe she won't.

 

One of the previous posters has a good point about Spanish though, if you're going to use it as a credit, have her finish that up at some point before moving on to the next language, unless it's such a ridiculous amount of catch up to do that you don't see the point since she no longer wants to take Spanish.

 

Which is all to say that yes, of course it is okay to say you are done when you decide she's done enough!

 

You can use whatever books you are using as a guideline for what you want her to learn and if you think she's learned it well enough that she's not going to be struggling with it and in need of summer reinforcement, then pack it away. It doesn't have to be plodded through to the bitter end at all costs, it just has to be covered and understood :)

[AlmiraGulch]

Thanks for the levity!

 

I'm still mulling it over, but I'm thinking about calling it quits at the end of this week.

 

She has finished all of Algebra 1 and the vast majority of Algebra 2 in just one year, so she has done a fabulous job there. Nothing to say we can't start next year with the end of this year's math.

 

She has done all of Rainbow Science Physics and most of the Chemistry, including labs.

 

She has written about a million different types of essays on every imaginable topic, so there is no real NEED to make her write more just for the sake of writing them (thanks, NanceXToo!).

 

As for Spanish...I'd hesitate to count this year for credit anyway, even if she finishes it. She has done well on paper, but I don't think the Rosetta Stone way of learning is particularly effective for her because I don't think she has actually learned a thing.

 

I THINK we're going to be done this week, but I wish I could get over this nagging feeling that I'm cheating her out of something. On the other hand, all last week and this coming week are wasted play weeks at the local public school, so I know what we've done at home has been more thorough than what she would have done at her public middle school. Which brings me to the subject of why-do-they-require-180-days-of-instruction-when-they-don't-instruct-for-180-days, but that's another topic entirely! :D

[Starr]

You could give them each a summer reading list and then you'll all be happy.

[coffeefreak]

I have this problem around the last 6 weeks of school every year. Here's what always fixes it, I look at what we HAVE accomplished. I have Homeschool Tracker, so I look at the Report Card, the Scope and Sequence, and the lesson plans we got to. Then, I realize we accomplished ALL this IN SPITE of how the year went. Then, I decide what we will do for the remaining 6 weeks and regardless of how those week go, we will stop on X date.

 

It is so freeing to realize learning happens in spite of us:001_smile:

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[dovrar]

My biggest issue is making sure that the reason we aren't done with a subject is not because of goofing off. Any of my children who were focused actually have a summer, whereas the ones who were not have to finish up what I had scheduled for the school year.

[AlmiraGulch]

My biggest issue is making sure that the reason we aren't done with a subject is not because of goofing off. Any of my children who were focused actually have a summer, whereas the ones who were not have to finish up what I had scheduled for the school year.

That was my concern, except that I must admit she doesn't goof off (much). We have set lessons for each day and she simply isn't allowed (for the most part) to end the day until she has finished. So it isn't as if she is behind, per se, but rather that I think I may have been overly ambitious in my lesson planning!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We will stop certain things at our 175 days (spelling, but that actually a little sooner- when my dd gets to the next level of spelling power, vocab- that we will pick up next year, geography, health, school reading (they always read for fun), science will be done by then, english has been completed already, we will be done with our editing, which we will resume next year) but the other stuff that is not something that we will continue we will finish, even beyond the 175 days. We do math all year around, we do some school year round that we do not "count" such as this summer we will be doing classical astronomy, math, my 2nd grader will continue with her handwriting, my 6th grader will continue history. We just greatly cut down at the 175 day mark. We alternate what we do, so during the summer we will only do 2 subjects a day (math everyday, plus one other)

[Ravin]

We will probably stop things when my mom comes out to whisk her away for a month. That said, I am just now getting done with some things I'd hoped to have finished in February so we'd have time for a nice, long unit study on our state (history/geography/ecology). DD is very excited to get started on the unit study, but I've been making her finish up other things first, so it's going to get all but squeezed out. I'm kind of bummed about it, but we'll come around to it again so it's not that big a deal, really.

 

We'll probably get Latin done, but if not I won't worry about it. There is a certain point I'd like to get to in math, and we'll get as close as we can and probably send some practice with her to my mom's to make picking it up again in the fall easier. We'll get as far as we get in phonics, and wrap it up before starting her spelling curric in the fall. I'd like to have gotten farther, but oh, well.

[dovrar]

That was my concern, except that I must admit she doesn't goof off (much). We have set lessons for each day and she simply isn't allowed (for the most part) to end the day until she has finished. So it isn't as if she is behind, per se, but rather that I think I may have been overly ambitious in my lesson planning!

 

I understand that perfectly. There are many times when my expectations are unrealistic. And I have to realize that we are making progress and can pick up there next year.