When do you find time to do the "extra"s?

[Halcyon]

Sigh. I really want to do an explorers unit study/lapbook/notebook. I also want to study the great artists and make a lapbook of some sort. But with what we have on our academic schedule, there just doesn't seem to be the time unless I put a subject or two on hold. Which my anal-retentiveness doesn't seem to allow ;)

 

We're doing everything in our siggie, and work from about 9-1 every day. Then the boys get a break, lunch and then most afternoons we're doing activities like sports or drama, cooking, cleaning or meeting friends (an important part of our day).

 

How can I find the time to do these fun extras that we all want to do?

[nova mama]

:bigear:

[Beth in SW WA]

Weekends?

 

I feel your angst. So many fun ideas, so little time. I sneak in the extras at odd times. We listen to hymns during breakfast, classical music in the car (approx 1 hour/day since I drive teens around town), poetry on the ipod at night in bed. We are a music family so that seems to take center stage over art appreciation, but they do have an art class on Tuesday evenings.

 

Our priority is Bible, math, reading, music. The extras get done after this list as time allows. (I don't know how we'll have time for Latin. Thankfully we'll cross that bridge later...) :)

[ladydusk]

Could you work on the explorers when you start the Age of Exploration in SOTW II (I haven't started I, so I don't know how the time works for you, maybe that's where the problem is [grin])? Granted, there are some explorers sooner, but it might serve as a nice tie back to what you're about to study (thinking Marco Polo and Eric the Red/Leif Ericcson) I see you also have a "geography" study for your older son, could you work explorers into geography somehow?

 

We do "Composer Study" during breakfast. I will grant that I have littles and am mostly looking for exposure at this point. I play one of the VOX CDs or Classical Kids CDs at the beginning of a month and famous pieces the rest of the month. I might sneak some books about the composer into the book shelf for free reading or Mommy reading.

 

For the artists, have you seen the "breakfast board" idea? I bought the Masterpiece Cards and put one in our board for each month and we look at it and discuss it. I do the same thing with books I can find about the artist (sometimes easier said than done).

 

I find using this time eases us into our day. I'm not looking for responses. I'm not looking for colored pictures of composers (really? another old European guy?) I'm not looking for a listing of all of Bach's masterpieces. I'm exposing and developing taste (which is an, admittedly, old fashioned idea in this day and age).

 

Hope that is helpful from a novice :)

[RainbowSprinkles]

I had the same dilemma. I decided to switch to 4-day school weeks, using the 5th day for any extras. I'm also going from 36 weeks to 42 weeks so everything still gets done.

[mcconnellboys]

What I do when I want to do lapbooks is just add one or two mini-books a day during the time period we're studying that subject anyway and allow him to fill those out. I save them up in a ziploc bag, etc. and then when we do have the time one day (maybe one of your afternoons when there's an opening), we lay them out and put them into the big book....

[Halcyon]

Could you work on the explorers when you start the Age of Exploration in SOTW II (I haven't started I, so I don't know how the time works for you, maybe that's where the problem is [grin])? Granted, there are some explorers sooner, but it might serve as a nice tie back to what you're about to study (thinking Marco Polo and Eric the Red/Leif Ericcson) I see you also have a "geography" study for your older son, could you work explorers into geography somehow?

 

We do "Composer Study" during breakfast. I will grant that I have littles and am mostly looking for exposure at this point. I play one of the VOX CDs or Classical Kids CDs at the beginning of a month and famous pieces the rest of the month. I might sneak some books about the composer into the book shelf for free reading or Mommy reading.

 

For the artists, have you seen the "breakfast board" idea? I bought the Masterpiece Cards and put one in our board for each month and we look at it and discuss it. I do the same thing with books I can find about the artist (sometimes easier said than done).

 

I find using this time eases us into our day. I'm not looking for responses. I'm not looking for colored pictures of composers (really? another old European guy?) I'm not looking for a listing of all of Bach's masterpieces. I'm exposing and developing taste (which is an, admittedly, old fashioned idea in this day and age).

 

Hope that is helpful from a novice :)

 

That's what I thought we'd do (we hit Explorers last week in SOTW) but it's just not happening. I think I have to MAKE it happen LOL. Re the breakfast board--I think my boys need something more creative--as in, they create it themselves. I have a Proclick Book Binder which I have yet to use extensively, but I am thinking if we create a notebook page each week on a different artist/artwork (not sure how I'll approach this) and add it to the book, we'll have a really nice piece of work at the end. I think we can create each page in...say...20 minutes? 30? That's doable, I think. If I think in terms of "just create one notebook page" rather than "an entire lapbook? with flaps? and mini books? and doohickeys and turning thingies?" I won't get so overwhelmed (not that I don't love a doohickie-filled lapbook myself....;))

 

Composer study I think we've covered. Sort of. I bought Stories of the Great Composers and I think we can do that for 30 minutes a week. I think I am going to drop Logic for the time being.

[Halcyon]

What I do when I want to do lapbooks is just add one or two mini-books a day during the time period we're studying that subject anyway and allow him to fill those out. I save them up in a ziploc bag, etc. and then when we do have the time one day (maybe one of your afternoons when there's an opening), we lay them out and put them into the big book....

 

 

This is a great idea. I think that would work for our composer studies, but we might do a page per composer and bind it at the end of the study into a "real book" with a cover and everything.

[Halcyon]

I had the same dilemma. I decided to switch to 4-day school weeks, using the 5th day for any extras. I'm also going from 36 weeks to 42 weeks so everything still gets done.

 

 

Nice idea. We're doing a 5 day week year round, except we take August off..so I think we get 42-44 weeks in every year. But I still can't find the time. ...

 

Hmm. Looking at my schedule, I realize we're ahead in Math, Grammar, Spelling....so maybe we're working too hard. :lol:

[Halcyon]

Weekends?

 

I feel your angst. So many fun ideas, so little time. I sneak in the extras at odd times. We listen to hymns during breakfast, classical music in the car (approx 1 hour/day since I drive teens around town), poetry on the ipod at night in bed. We are a music family so that seems to take center stage over art appreciation, but they do have an art class on Tuesday evenings.

 

Our priority is Bible, math, reading, music. The extras get done after this list as time allows. (I don't know how we'll have time for Latin. Thankfully we'll cross that bridge later...) :)

 

Ah yes, weekends! Doesn't happen often LOL. DH likes to take the boys on exploration outings each weekend...and I like to catch up on paperwork, housework, filing, shopping, exercise, reading....LOL...weekends sound more and more like workdays!

[Beth in SW WA]

weekends sound more and more like workdays!

 

:iagree: The blessing (or curse) of the homeschool mom... :)

[Halcyon]

:iagree: The blessing (or curse) of the homeschool mom... :)

 

 

You said it.

[5LittleMonkeys]

I've given up on formal science and history for right now. We've chosen to go with an interest\project based style of learning for a while. While I will still expect them to pursue science and history topics, they won't be on a schedule for doing so and will have time to pursue other interests as well.

 

The only requirement I am going to have is that they have to have atleast one science and one history topic they are pursuing for each six weeks. This gives us so much more flexibility in adding in interesting and fun things. Dd7 wants to learn how to sew. Dd11 wants to do a dolphin lapbook in addition to her chosen science topic. Dd12 wants to have time to work on her new pass-time...poetry (yes my dd who hated writing a year ago has started to write poetry!)

 

Letting go of my idea of keeping history chronological and keeping science within life science, earth science, physics, etc. has helped. Its also helped me to realize that history and science were taking up a huge part of our day and that was a big time investment for a subject that was only supposed to be an exposure for them. Once they get to highschool they will be required to go over all of history again. If they decide at that time that they want to pursue a science heavy or history heavy workload to prepare them for college then it won't be a problem becuase we will have cemented their grammar, spelling, vocabulary and composition skills in the early years thus allowing more time for specialized learning.

 

Anyway, that is how we are going to proceed at this time. This is the type of path I had wanted to be on since I started h'sing but having everyone in the same science and history sequence, having a schedule and boxes to check was easier and more of a comfort. I am wanting to branch out and try some new methods now to see how truly customized I can get each child's education.

 

I hope you find that perfect balance that we all strive for...but remember a lesson I've learned from all of the wonderful people here...you'll never know if something will be wonderful for you and your dc unless you try! :D

[Chris in VA]

Honestly? I think you have a LOT of overlap in your day. For your eldest--

 

 

Singapore 3A/MEP Y3A I'd pick ONE math

 

WWE2/Writing Strands 3 I'd pick ONE writing program

 

Megawords 1/McGuffeys I'd ditch both of these--vocab can come from reading great lit, and other word study can wait. Have your child read aloud occasionally from something he's reading for pleasure.

 

SOTW 2 Keep this

 

GWG 4 keep this

 

ES Chemistry Keep this

 

Getting Started with Latin Keep this

 

Scholastic Success w/ Maps Ditch this and do map puzzles and the maps in SOTW

 

Your younger child seems more balanced--I'd just play with the Miquon stuff/use as a supplement.

 

But that's just me!

[mothergooseof4]

I've given up on formal science and history for right now. We've chosen to go with an interest\project based style of learning for a while. While I will still expect them to pursue science and history topics, they won't be on a schedule for doing so and will have time to pursue other interests as well.

 

The only requirement I am going to have is that they have to have atleast one science and one history topic they are pursuing for each six weeks. This gives us so much more flexibility in adding in interesting and fun things. Dd7 wants to learn how to sew. Dd11 wants to do a dolphin lapbook in addition to her chosen science topic. Dd12 wants to have time to work on her new pass-time...poetry (yes my dd who hated writing a year ago has started to write poetry!)

 

Letting go of my idea of keeping history chronological and keeping science within life science, earth science, physics, etc. has helped. Its also helped me to realize that history and science were taking up a huge part of our day and that was a big time investment for a subject that was only supposed to be an exposure for them. Once they get to highschool they will be required to go over all of history again. If they decide at that time that they want to pursue a science heavy or history heavy workload to prepare them for college then it won't be a problem becuase we will have cemented their grammar, spelling, vocabulary and composition skills in the early years thus allowing more time for specialized learning.

 

Anyway, that is how we are going to proceed at this time. This is the type of path I had wanted to be on since I started h'sing but having everyone in the same science and history sequence, having a schedule and boxes to check was easier and more of a comfort. I am wanting to branch out and try some new methods now to see how truly customized I can get each child's education.

 

I hope you find that perfect balance that we all strive for...but remember a lesson I've learned from all of the wonderful people here...you'll never know if something will be wonderful for you and your dc unless you try! :D

 

Oh, I am really liking this approach. I have been feeling a need to really focus on math and LA around here. Seems my two boys are not where I would like them to be. Math they are ok, I am just really picky about math.....my accountant background I guess. LA is definitely needing some focus in this house.

 

Oldest ds is doing HOD Christ to Creation but is at the older end of the age recommendations. I think my version of this would be to just turn ds loose with the CTC guide and books and tell him he needs to get all history and science assignments read. He isn't the crafty type, so I don't even require any of that. Then I will not feel so bad when I run out of time in the day to read the things we are supposed to do together. He is perfectly capable of reading them on his own.

 

I have been doing HOD Beyond with the youngers, but I will just do math and LA, then we can come together as a family for a read aloud since they all seem to enjoy those. Then maybe we can get to something fun every now and then! Really, the younger ones especially will have plenty of time to study science and history.

[Halcyon]

Honestly? I think you have a LOT of overlap in your day. For your eldest--

 

 

Singapore 3A/MEP Y3A I'd pick ONE math

 

WWE2/Writing Strands 3 I'd pick ONE writing program

 

Megawords 1/McGuffeys I'd ditch both of these--vocab can come from reading great lit, and other word study can wait. Have your child read aloud occasionally from something he's reading for pleasure.

 

SOTW 2 Keep this

 

GWG 4 keep this

 

ES Chemistry Keep this

 

Getting Started with Latin Keep this

 

Scholastic Success w/ Maps Ditch this and do map puzzles and the maps in SOTW

 

Your younger child seems more balanced--I'd just play with the Miquon stuff/use as a supplement.

 

But that's just me!

 

Chris-thanks for looking! We actually aren't doing WS3 right now, just WWE2. Have to update my siggie. Re MEP....hmmm...I don't know how I feel about giving that up!! We really love it. But I see your point. Spelling I can definitely see giving up, as he's a natural speller. The only reason I've kept it is because he asks for it. But maybe we'll do it less frequently. Scholastic Success with Maps is his "fun" work-it's too easy for him, so I don't formally require it, he just does it on his own. But maybe next year we won't do map study. But...we were thinking of starting Geography :lol:

[Kates]

Honestly? I set book work aside one day a week and do projects instead (writing projects, art assignments, lit-based projects, etc.). As you said they're already ahead in some subjects, this won't hurt them a bit :) For our history and science, I just extend them out a week or two (or more, if necessary) and add projects, audios, etc. in.

 

For example - we're working through Omnibus 1 right now, but integrating HOAC lapbooks. (Ds is 13, 9th grade.) Right now we're just starting, so we're in the beginning of Genesis. We worked through the stuff for the first 11 chapters in Omnibus, which dealt with debating differing views of origin science, and then took a rabbit trail into the Creation Science unit from HOAC. This is YE, so we're reading some OE stuff from Hugh Ross to debate different viewpoints. (He's chosen to do an indepth compare/contrast of evolutionary & creationist views of bio and geology next year for science, so we're leaving the evolutionary views for that study.) Next, we'll be reading Chosen by God, which is very Calvinist, so we'll be contrasting it with some Armenian resources for discussion. When Gilgamesh and Hammurabi come up, we'll study the Mesopotamian cultures with the Ancient Mesopotamia unit from HOAC.

 

Omnibus will likely take us 1.5 years to get through, but that's ok - he'll have gotten a LOT out of it.

 

I would really say to allow some of the studies to be extended past the current school year - it sounds like your kids like to "dig" into their studies, this will give them the chance to do so without you (or them) feeling that everything's overscheduled. Just my thoughts :)

[Halcyon]

Honestly? I set book work aside one day a week and do projects instead (writing projects, art assignments, lit-based projects, etc.). As you said they're already ahead in some subjects, this won't hurt them a bit :) For our history and science, I just extend them out a week or two (or more, if necessary) and add projects, audios, etc. in.

 

For example - we're working through Omnibus 1 right now, but integrating HOAC lapbooks. (Ds is 13, 9th grade.) Right now we're just starting, so we're in the beginning of Genesis. We worked through the stuff for the first 11 chapters in Omnibus, which dealt with debating differing views of origin science, and then took a rabbit trail into the Creation Science unit from HOAC. This is YE, so we're reading some OE stuff from Hugh Ross to debate different viewpoints. (He's chosen to do an indepth compare/contrast of evolutionary & creationist views of bio and geology next year for science, so we're leaving the evolutionary views for that study.) Next, we'll be reading Chosen by God, which is very Calvinist, so we'll be contrasting it with some Armenian resources for discussion. When Gilgamesh and Hammurabi come up, we'll study the Mesopotamian cultures with the Ancient Mesopotamia unit from HOAC.

 

Omnibus will likely take us 1.5 years to get through, but that's ok - he'll have gotten a LOT out of it.

 

I would really say to allow some of the studies to be extended past the current school year - it sounds like your kids like to "dig" into their studies, this will give them the chance to do so without you (or them) feeling that everything's overscheduled. Just my thoughts :)

 

Thanks! I really love doing lapbooks, as do they, so we're going to have to find the time.

[redsquirrel]

I only get things like that done by loads of planning. For me, anything hands on, like a project or science, needs to be well planned. If I have the materials, if I know exactly when I want to do it then it happens. I don't do stuff like that all the time. I don't do a history project every week, but I do them regularly. I have a list of the projects I want to do and what is needed. I get the materials, all of them, and I put them together. That is the only way it happens.

 

If I leave very little to chance I find I have the time. If I don't have a clear plan or all the materials then it doesn't happen. It also helps me to have a clear idea of how a project fits into our educational goals for the year. If it just seems like a fun thing, it becomes an extra that doesn't happen. If it has to happen because I know it is teaching them about XYZ then it happens.

[Mandy in TN]

What I do when I want to do lapbooks is just add one or two mini-books a day during the time period we're studying that subject anyway and allow him to fill those out. I save them up in a ziploc bag, etc. and then when we do have the time one day (maybe one of your afternoons when there's an opening), we lay them out and put them into the big book....

:iagree:This is how I do it. Here are some finished lapbooks. The lapbook on France is our largest thus far.

 

We make minibooks all the time, because my xtra student gets excited when she sees construction paper. I wish I could say that we made more of them into lapbooks.:blush:

 

Our Skeletal Sytem/ Muscular system lapbooks are in these two posts.

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/11/friday-week-in-review.html

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/10/friday-week-in-review.html

 

The Cuppycake xtra student's France lapbook.

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/09/friday-week-in-review-for-mei_17.html

 

The Cuppycake xtra student's flower lapbook.

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/08/monday-july-19-duncan-began-some.html

 

HTH-

Mandy

[Halcyon]

:iagree:This is how I do it. Here are some finished lapbooks. The lapbook on France is our largest thus far.

 

We make minibooks all the time, because my xtra student gets excited when she sees construction paper. I wish I could say that we made more of them into lapbooks.:blush:

 

Our Skeletal Sytem/ Muscular system lapbooks are in these two posts.

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/11/friday-week-in-review.html

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/10/friday-week-in-review.html

 

The Cuppycake xtra student's France lapbook.

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/09/friday-week-in-review-for-mei_17.html

 

The Cuppycake xtra student's flower lapbook.

http://mandyintn.blogspot.com/2010/08/monday-july-19-duncan-began-some.html

 

HTH-

Mandy

 

 

Thank you so much for linking these up-I need to go to bed now, but I will be checking them out in the morning.

[mcconnellboys]

I think that sounds terrific! I might steal that one from you, LOL....

[....]

I had the same dilemma. I decided to switch to 4-day school weeks, using the 5th day for any extras. I'm also going from 36 weeks to 42 weeks so everything still gets done.

 

This is what I do. I actually only schedule Reading, Spelling tests and Math for Fridays. The rest of the schedule is open for anything we didn't finish during the week and also extra stuff. And, we school year-round...

[Guest Cindie2dds]

I don't know how often you do your science programs each week; but since one child is in Biology and the other in Chemistry at such a young age, that would be the first place I would trim. Maybe substitute a science time to do science-related unit studies/lapbooks? Just a thought.

[Halcyon]

I don't know how often you do your science programs each week; but since one child is in Biology and the other in Chemistry at such a young age, that would be the first place I would trim. Maybe substitute a science time to do science-related unit studies/lapbooks? Just a thought.

 

 

Good idea-we're thinking of doing lapbooks for Science, and working on them once a week. We do science 5 days a week.

[FriedClams]

then most afternoons we're doing activities like sports or drama, cooking, cleaning or meeting friends (an important part of our day).

 

How can I find the time to do these fun extras that we all want to do?

 

Aren't those "fun extras"?

 

It's my personal opinion that the world has sold us all a big fat lie - "YOU CAN DO IT ALL!". Personally, I think it's junk. You can't - or at least not without consequences (deteriorating family relationships, tired/sick kids, burned out mom, etc.). Plain and simple - we cannot do it all. There are only so many hours in a day and we have to make deliberate choices for our kids as to how to spend those hours. You have made wonderful choices - sports, drama, friends, working together as a family maintaining your home. That means there is less time for other things - like lapbooks. And that's totally OK. Chose what's best for your family, and then don't worry about it. Yup, some things will slide. That's OK. Sure, there are some families that are better at doing more with the same amount of time and not going mental - but I really think that's pretty rare. Don't beat yourself up. It's a lie - you can't do it all. Make great choices and then rest with them. Enjoy your kids. No guilt, Mom!

 

We should all unite in a NO GUILT FOR MOMS campaign!!

[Halcyon]

 

We should all unite in a NO GUILT FOR MOMS campaign!!

 

 

[KristineinKS]

I've been struggling with this very dilemma over the past few weeks, having only just learned how much my kids LOVE lapbooks.

 

We've tried saving Fridays for a project day & that honestly didn't go so well as, after awhile, it's feels more like work than fun to have to do so much coloring/cutting/assembling all in one day.

 

So, what's been working for us is to do a little bit of work on our lapbooks/notebooks each day. Granted it takes MUCH longer to get a lapbook finished, but I believe the end results will be nicer and they'll retain more since they're not scrambling to cram everything into one day.

[Tammyla]

Friday can be a great day, just plan one a week :D or every other week to fill with fun. Even once a month could be a treat worth working for, especially for young students.

 

 

My kids are big.......now. We all have fond memories of Friday-Free days. Library trips, lunches in the park or museums, field trips, nature walks with journals. Sweet memories that sparked a joy of learning.

Edited November 8, 2010 by Tammyla

[HSMom2One]

We are doing our French lessons at night, lapbooks on Thursday afternoons, and a weekly lesson in both art and guitar on Friday afternoons. I purposely plan the week so that Fridays are a half day of regular studies (plus for math we have our one day of LOF - another fun thing to look forward to). This is followed by the art and music lessons in the afternoon after lunch, and then dd has her weekly horse riding lesson. Over all, these choices make Fridays my dd's favorite day of the week.

 

I think that the key is being intentional and creative about fitting those extras in.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[Coffeetime]

Just as an aside.. have you ladies seen this? http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/AP/Composers.htm

 

And this?

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/AP/Artists.htm

 

I can't squeeze them in this year but am planning on Composers next year and Artists the year after. I will just plan on working on them slowly all year so we can really get the most out of them. I love the Pak's lapbooks! They're so beautiful.

[Halcyon]

They look wonderful, don't they? We're doing their Explorers one first, and we're doing a da Vinci book on our own, but I think their Composers or Artists one will be our next big one.

[Halcyon]

They look wonderful, don't they? We're doing their Explorers one first, and we're doing a da Vinci book on our own, but I think their Artists one will be our next big one. It looks SO wonderful.

[MariannNOVA]

I haven't read the other responses, and it sounds as if you already have enough going on so I am sure our solution is not going to help......we joined an excellent co-op. It meets one day a week ALL DAY! We still have sports, choir, a writing class every two weeks that dd11 takes, but the co-op does all the fun stuff that I would not have the energy for even if we stayed home that one day a week and I wanted to tackle those fun things.

 

The kids are doing lapbooks, science experiments, fun math stuff, the co-op hired a PE teacher and they have a solid hour of PE, along with current events, writing, and other stuff.

 

It worked for us, but it was a decision that I researched and researched for a couple of years until I found a co-op that felt like a good fit.:)

[AHASRADA]

I don't :sad:

[Halcyon]

I haven't read the other responses, and it sounds as if you already have enough going on so I am sure our solution is not going to help......we joined an excellent co-op. It meets one day a week ALL DAY! We still have sports, choir, a writing class every two weeks that dd11 takes, but the co-op does all the fun stuff that I would not have the energy for even if we stayed home that one day a week and I wanted to tackle those fun things.

 

The kids are doing lapbooks, science experiments, fun math stuff, the co-op hired a PE teacher and they have a solid hour of PE, along with current events, writing, and other stuff.

 

It worked for us, but it was a decision that I researched and researched for a couple of years until I found a co-op that felt like a good fit.:)

 

There is a coop about 30 minutes away, just a morning one, but not sure what they're offering next "semester"....probably won't be lapbooking. Usually they do chess, science..stuff like that. I am debating doing it--somehow I think it might just make our lives more difficult. An all day one like yours? I'd drop my kids off in a heartbeat :) LOL

[momto2Cs]

I was in the same boat... just doing the stuff that "had" to be done each day, and not many of the fun "extras". So what did I do? I ditched many things. Here's a run down of what we do now...

 

Math: Math Mammoth (Blue series), games, puzzles, activity books from the library, card games, etc.

 

Reading: I am still doing The Reading Lesson and supplemental stuff with dd, who is a later reader. Ds just reads, and reads, and then reads some more.

 

Writing: Dd just does the writing she needs to, and for some reason she's really into copying things from fairy books and then asking what they say. Ds is, this week, writing a comic book. I got the template from Enchanted Learning.

 

Everything else: They're really into science and mythology, among other things. Ds will lead dd through science projects from various books we have when I don't have the time! I am going to read The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way aloud to them. We're reading a Wrinkle in Time, and I'm reading Little House in the Big Woods to dd. We're reading D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. Ds is designing a lapbook on dragons (his current passion). They watch documentaries and science shows. We listen to a lot of classical music in the car. They play card games, help cook, have household responsibilities, and are helping me design an awesome veggie garden for the spring. They paint, play with clay, engineer really cool contraptions out of poster board, string, and tape. They particiapte in a number of co-op type classes through 4H, including arts & crafts, Business, Science (which I lead), Book Club, and soon a drawing class.

 

Once I let go of a lot, the world opened up. I'm not saying that would work for everyone, but it is going well for us (at least so far)!

[woolybear]

Aren't those "fun extras"?

 

It's my personal opinion that the world has sold us all a big fat lie - "YOU CAN DO IT ALL!". Personally, I think it's junk. You can't - or at least not without consequences (deteriorating family relationships, tired/sick kids, burned out mom, etc.). Plain and simple - we cannot do it all. There are only so many hours in a day and we have to make deliberate choices for our kids as to how to spend those hours. You have made wonderful choices - sports, drama, friends, working together as a family maintaining your home. That means there is less time for other things - like lapbooks. And that's totally OK. Chose what's best for your family, and then don't worry about it. Yup, some things will slide. That's OK. Sure, there are some families that are better at doing more with the same amount of time and not going mental - but I really think that's pretty rare. Don't beat yourself up. It's a lie - you can't do it all. Make great choices and then rest with them. Enjoy your kids. No guilt, Mom!

 

We should all unite in a NO GUILT FOR MOMS campaign!!

:iagree:Hmmm....Yes, I was thinking something like this too, that you DO have a lot of extras already. I find the only days we get extras in are the days that we aren't running off anywhere. I know it's all good stuff, but maybe a little trimming in some of those activities would help. Or maybe even combining. How about inviting friends over for art day or lapbooking and then a little playtime afterward?

[Halcyon]

:iagree:Hmmm....Yes, I was thinking something like this too, that you DO have a lot of extras already. I find the only days we get extras in are the days that we aren't running off anywhere. I know it's all good stuff, but maybe a little trimming in some of those activities would help. Or maybe even combining. How about inviting friends over for art day or lapbooking and then a little playtime afterward?

 

 

Good call-i might do an Introduction to Lapbooking for my homeschool group :) One more thing to do LOL :lol: