I have officially hit a wall...........

[HappyGrace]

We were rolling along great since early Sept.-meaty and rich and integrated learning. Things have been unraveling bit by bit-CLE math is too easy for ds7, some other curricula is just "eh", can't find the right writing for dd10, etc. Now this wk I just don't.wanna.do.school. :glare:

 

I think it was going well when I was totally planned up and prepped ahead, and in my groove, excited about actually TEACHING. But the planning was consuming a ton of my out-of-school time so I backed off. Plus we've had a lot of appointments and such which have thrown off our routine, and I have a lot of extraneous non school-related details I am multitasking.

 

Must get back on the horse.

 

Anyway, sorry, just needed to vent a little :D

[tjarnold]

Hope things get better soon! Take a deep breath, and move on. You can do it.

 

Tiffany

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I've also noticed that if I don't do my prep work and have a daily schedule written out school doesn't get done. Hope things start going better soon.

[Annie Laurie]

I know the feeling. We were being so consistent and having our best school year yet, but I'm expecting a baby any day now and had a lot of things to do to get ready for him and I feel like we're completely off of our school groove now. It's hard to get back. I feel guilty but too tired and overwhelmed by life to face it atm.

[justamouse]

we take a week off every 6 weeks of school so I can 'catch' up with everything else that I've put on hold. You can reevaluate what you're using, plan out a few dyas ahead and just put your feet up. You may want to try that. :grouphug:

[Medieval Mom]

I think it's that time of year. We are taking a week of "and now, for something different". ;) We are doing math drills and CLE math tests for math, copywork and dictation for English, gobs of reading time, handicrafts and poetry ( that play second fiddle in other weeks), and nature walks/playing outside while the weather is still good.

 

Next week, we'll be happy to get back in the saddle again. :D

 

P.S. I plan out 36 weeks, but then have four "bonus weeks" of homeschooling that I can insert where needed, when we want to keep going, but need to do something different to re-energize. We school year round, and take off one week a month, FWIW.

Edited November 2, 2010 by Medieval Mom

[Tammyla]

:grouphug:Vent away...:grouphug:

 

My motto often goes something like this... "It doesn't have to be fun...it just has to be done." Rinse and repeat. Cultivate and allow the habit of doing something vs. nothing to sustain you through the rough patches. Try not to feel guilty, as the little bits add up overtime.

[akquickgirl]

Here's how I'm doing things this year. So far it's working great for me. This is our first year homeschooling and I was really afraid of burn-out.

 

4 weeks school (grammar, math, spelling, latin...bla bla bla)

5th week - unit study on some history subject. lots of projects, coloring, reading and relaxing.

6th week - nothing!! break week!! mostly for me. I rest, relax and plan for the next 4 weeks, and ONLY the next 4 weeks.

 

With this schedule, will school all year long, more or less, starting in August and ending in June. We take July off.

[HappyGrace]

I think it would be a good idea to plug in an "off week" or at least a "unit study/freeform week" once in awhile.

 

And I need to get back to planning better! Maybe adding in some "teacher planning" days every six weeks would be better than trying to cram planning into my already loaded Saturday every week. Doing that makes me feel like my life is all school, all the time, which is I think what made me crash this week!

 

Thanks for the support and good advice :)

[notbefore7]

Love all of the ideas here - some great 6 week cycles...do you all do school year round then?

[Donna T.]

I'm feeling the same way. We got off to a really good start this year but things have begun to fall apart over the last couple of weeks. We had an awesome year last year, the best we've ever had as far as schooling goes and this year is turning into a big blah. I plan to take the rest of this week and this week-end to reassess some things and hopefully get back on track next week. In the meantime, the kids are sick and I read a book on unschooling that just about did me in for good. Hoping the kids will come back with gusto when they are well. And, I'm definately getting rid of that book!! I don't know what I was thinking.

 

Best wishes to you and please send some positive vibes my way. :001_smile:

[justamouse]

do I school all year? It depends. Sometimes my kids get so much done in a day that it is actually a planned week of, say, math (this is what happened today). If they're getting it and we're on a roll, I don't stop. We'll do math all day if they're happy doing it, you know? Pile a few days up like that and we can afford to take the days off. LAst week we had so much fun with history, we got almost two weeks worth done, so I don't plan out by day. (We got the history done because they were doing it late into the evening they were enjoying themselves so much.) I reassess weekly what we're ahead on and what we need to work on and attack what we need to work on first.

Edited November 2, 2010 by justamouse

[Rhapsody]

LOVE the ideas for 6 week plans. Might try that! :001_smile:

 

CP

[Rhapsody]

LOVE the ideas for 6 week plans. Might try that! :001_smile:

 

CP

[HayleyKC]

We were feeling like this about a month ago. I think it just means it's time for a break. If you just plan that it's officially a break, say a week off, then you don't have to feel guilty about it. I noticed after we admitted we were simply in need of a couple weeks off, as the second week was coming to an end I was getting excited to start again. It really helped me. BTW I love all the creative scheduling cycles people use. Good stuff.