I am utterly frustrated that I am behind again this year. UGH!!!

[Mosaicmind]

You would think after 13+ years of hsing that I could get this "right". Unfortunately, we are right where we usually are this time each year--BEHIND!! I have grand visions of staying on schedule and getting it all done just in time to take most of December off to spend some special time with the kids around Christmas. I am trying to give myself a break because of what happened early on this year that changed my whole life (I can't divulge specific details) but there is a thread about it. Also, I am a full-time college student working on my master's in professional counseling and taking all my classes online and I work part-time for a nonprofit Christian organization 10hrs a week (this gives us the much needed extra money to make it through the month).

 

I tried making a MOTH schedule about a month ago and I was so frustrated by my varying schedule each day that I literally threw it across the room :eek:. I don't know if maybe we should be doing a LOOP schedule, which we did do 2yrs ago. I have 4 kids to homeschool and I have schooled more kids than that before. The only difference this year is that I am hsing my dd--Sarah who is a freshman in highschool and I have never hsed highschool.

 

Here is what we are doing for school work:

 

Caleb (9yrs/3rd)--Phonics Pathways, AAS 1, Handwriting Without Tears, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1, Explode the Code 6, Elemental Science Chemistry, Sonlight Core 2, Primary Language Lessons, Horizons Math 3/MM and Writing With Ease 2.

 

Samuel (10yrs/5th)--Spelling Workout E, Reason For Handwriting E, Writing With Ease 2, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1, Apologia Flying Creatures, Vocab. From a Classical Roots, Intermediate Language Lessons, Saxon 65 and Sonlight Core 2 with his brother.

 

Nathan (12yrs/7th)--Spelling Workout G, Writing Strands 3, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1, Apologia General, Vocab From a Classical Roots, Saxon 87, Analytical Grammar, and Sonlight Core Alt 7.

 

Sarah (15yrs/9th)--Writing Strands 4, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1, Apologia Physcial, Wordly Wise 3000, Saxon Algebra 1, Easy Grammar, Applications of Grammar, Lightning Literature, Artistic Pursuits, and Sonlight Core Alt 7.

 

I hope I am not missing anything. I just need some ideas to keep it all moving and working. We could do something in the evening for about an hour because we are only busy Wednesday evenings.

[BlsdMama]

I am of no help but you have my sympathy. This is the first year where I am REALLY off kilter. I did the same as you and made a MOTH schedule about a month ago. After a week I looked at my husband and said, "I've FINALLY figured out why I can't get it all done... There isn't enough time in the day!"

 

:iagree:

 

I wish I could be of more help to you but I think we're transitioning over on some things from what we LOVE to what we know we can finish consistently every day.

[MrsMe]

I'm terribly behind too. I started the first week of August. Hoped to be somewhere into 14-15 weeks of school and I'm only on around week 11.

 

We couldn't ever finish our previous curriculum in the time stated and it threw off our entire year. I started ONE class in Coop this year with a 4-day curriculum. That's 5 days then and we just can't do it. I dropped our curriculum and started something else and it seems to be easier to complete.

 

But it is every year I have the same problem. Some junk always comes up. Like we took the week off for Thanksgiving and on the day back dd was sick for two days. DH had ankle surgery...a few days...always something. It's depressing.

[Robin in DFW]

We always end up playing catch-up in the Spring...

 

My ds is not such a big deal, but my dd17 graduates this year and she needs to get done!!! She will, of course, but I'll have to put the squeeze on her a bit. That's never pleasant...for me or the kid...

 

My ds is doing A History of US by Hakim...it's slow going...there's no way to finish those books in one school year...he has been reading 2-3 chapters daily and is only finishing up book 3...there are 10 books to get through...

 

so depressing..

[MeganW]

I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but I was in advanced & honors classes all through public school, and I can't EVER remember finishing a textbook in ANY class. In fact, I distinctly remember us joking one year about how depressing it was to spend the last few days of school studying WWII, and I think that was the closest we ever got in history. Two days on WWII at the very end of school. What does that say? It's a problem for EVERY teacher, not just HS'ers. But schoolteachers have the ability to just be done at the end of the year.

 

If you have enough hours/days of study, and it isn't material that is vital to the next year, I say let it go! :) (And now you know why I am stressing about whether or not I have what it takes to HS, thus my post the other day!)

[boscopup]

I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but I was in advanced & honors classes all through public school, and I can't EVER remember finishing a textbook in ANY class. In fact, I distinctly remember us joking one year about how depressing it was to spend the last few days of school studying WWII, and I think that was the closest we ever got in history. Two days on WWII at the very end of school. What does that say? It's a problem for EVERY teacher, not just HS'ers. But schoolteachers have the ability to just be done at the end of the year.

 

Wow, that is so true! I was always irked in high school by the fact that we didn't get to "modern" history, like what happened in the 70s and 80s (I graduated '95). In my AP US History class, we were handed the AP book and told to study the rest of US History (the modern stuff) on our own from that book so we'd be ready for the AP test. :tongue_smilie:

 

Also, teachers in schools regularly skip over stuff. My son does Saxon math at school (just for another week and a half - yay!), and the teacher only gives homework on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. So the homework page for Wednesday and Friday gets crossed out. They just skip it completely. You really don't have to do every single problem or read every little thing. You want to make sure you hit the major parts of the scope and sequence, but some stuff will get skipped over.

 

As a box checker, I'm sure I'll deal with this problem when homeschooling also. Reading the filing thread and being reminded of how traditional schools work will hopefully help bring me out of obsessive box checking mode. :lol:

[MerryAtHope]

I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but I was in advanced & honors classes all through public school, and I can't EVER remember finishing a textbook in ANY class. In fact, I distinctly remember us joking one year about how depressing it was to spend the last few days of school studying WWII, and I think that was the closest we ever got in history. Two days on WWII at the very end of school. What does that say? It's a problem for EVERY teacher, not just HS'ers. But schoolteachers have the ability to just be done at the end of the year.

 

 

LOL, my high school world history teacher SKIPPED WW II on purpose! He said we'd hear about WW II for the rest of our lives, but we wouldn't hear as much about some other things that he felt were important to cover and understand...

[5LittleMonkeys]

Are your 5th, 7th and 9th graders doing much of their work independently? Could your older dc help the younger ones with things such as handwriting and WWE? If you are doing lots of read alouds could one of the olders take over that responsibility? Last year when we got behind I made a priority list and did only the first 4 (math, grammar, phonics\reading and writing)for a few weeks, doubling up on lessons whether we were behind with that particular subject or not. Within 3 weeks we were actually a little ahead and then we added back in the other subjects. At the end of the year once my top 4 subjects were completed we had 2 weeks left. We doubled\tripled up on the other subjects and were able to get those done as well. I also did some condensing of lessons so that we could move through them more efficiently.

 

I think if I were way behind I would rather drop the science and history in order to get caught back up with the core subjects. Science and history can easily be caught up by combining lessons or simply skipping some since you will revisit the same material again later on, especially for the younger dc; not so much for the 9th grader though.

 

If I were in your shoes I think I would pick a day in December that you are going to start your Christmas break and just continue at a steady pace until then, then stop and enjoy your holiday. Right after Christmas give your dc their Sonlight books to work on (they should be able to move through these pretty quickly if they aren't doing any other school during those days) then you work on revising your curriculum schedules and start fresh right after New Year's Day. A nice break will probably give you a little lift and energize you.

 

I don't know if any of that will be of any help to you but if nothing else here is a :grouphug: and best wishes that you can either find a way get back on track or at least feel less stressed about not being on track.;)

[imhim]

YOu have your plate full. I imagineit is very hard.

I barely get done what I need with a second grader, a K and a pre-pre-schooler. Can't imagine having 4 age-schooled children.

Maybe you need to consider schooling year-round if that takes the stress out of your situation, I don't know.

[lovinmomma]

:grouphug:

[catholicmommy]

You would think after 13+ years of hsing that I could get this "right". Unfortunately, we are right where we usually are this time each year--BEHIND!! I have grand visions of staying on schedule and getting it all done just in time to take most of December off to spend some special time with the kids around Christmas. I am trying to give myself a break because of what happened early on this year that changed my whole life (I can't divulge specific details) but there is a thread about it. Also, I am a full-time college student working on my master's in professional counseling and taking all my classes online and I work part-time for a nonprofit Christian organization 10hrs a week (this gives us the much needed extra money to make it through the month).

 

 

Wow, you are really really busy!!! I can understand why you might be behind. My crazy life doesn't even come close to yours, but I certainly understand the frustration with always being behind. That's why I started filing last year, because it helped me see, by dividing up the year into smaller chunks, what I would have to get done each week if I wanted to finish by a certain date. This allowed me to have the freedom to toss half of some weeks straight into the garbage and keep on moving! Drastic, but I just didn't' have time to do every little thing and I had to let go of my perfectionist tendency to want to do everything. I'm sure you saw the mega super humungous filing thread awhile back... that's how I got out of the cycle of always feeling behind. (doesn't work for everyone and every curriculum, but it certainly worked for me :-) )

[birchbark]

:grouphug:

 

I would drop everything but the three R's for awhile. Even with that, it looks like you might have some overlap with LA. Rethink everything.

 

Use your Sonlight cores for free reading.

 

And if you're a book reader, I'll put a plug in for Time Management From the Inside Out. Works with every style. A life-changer for us.

[Medieval Mom]

I'm not in a position to give ADVICE, since I've been homeschooling for a much shorter time than you have. However, I can relate what we did when we were in a very stressful, hectic time last year snd worked for us. Maybe it could work for you?

 

Basically, I read up on the Robinson Curriculum. We followed the pattern of five hours of study per day: 2 hours math, 1 hour writing (LA), 2 hours reading, 6 days per week. One can't really get behind in this pattern! As long as you spend the time required everyday, the dc are learning quite a lot. Robinson says himself that any booklist that the parent approves of will work. You would ask the students to take a bit more responsibility for their own work, do more work independently, but you can be as available as you need to be. You can, of course, tweak this pattern for your own needs, but the three R's remain.

 

Take it or leave it, of course, but this helped me get rid of the guilt and continue hsing through a difficult period in our lives.

[Sahamamama]

At some point it dawned on me that a MOTH-type schedule will never work here. Not really sure why, but our schedule is so up-in-the-air each day due to my husband's unpredictable work routine. He literally gets his assignment for the next day at 6:30 pm. He might be on call (translation: home and a bit in the way) ;), go in early, go in late, get home early, get home late, or even stay overnight out of state.... There is no normal day. It frustrated me, until I just decided that if we can plod along (we can), then we will make the progress that needs to be made.

 

What are your GOALS for each grade? I don't mean what curriculum you want to "finish," I mean what are your overarching goals for each student at each level? Staying on track with these is more important than being on Lesson 57 by May 19th, KWIM? So begin with 2-3 goals for each student, and frequently remind yourself of these. If your students are reaching those higher skill levels, increasing their knowledge and understanding, and growing in maturity and wisdom, then it doesn't exactly matter what lesson they are "on."

 

How to organize our time, then? So far, the most helpful tool for us has been to put all the seat work materials in a file box by the week. I have a file box with 38 labeled hanging files (36 weeks + 2 extras for records). In each hanging file are five color-coded folders -- Purple=Sarah/Math; Green=Sarah/English; Red=Mary; Yellow=Hannah; Blue=Me. :D These are labeled Week 1, Week 2,... Week 36. All the seatwork goes into each folder, along with weekly checklists for oral work that doesn't leave any paper trail (e.g., math drills, read alouds, reading practice, etc.).

 

The OTHER component of our work -- the weekly subjects -- is NOT put in the box. Instead, the work for Geography, Science, Bible, and Music is lined up in binders, according to quarters (4/year). We work our way through the lessons, week by week.

 

A "week" of work may take anywhere from 4 to 7 days (or longer?) to complete. It really doesn't matter to me to stay on a pre-planned calendar, because if we have 365 days in which to do 180 days worth of work, then we only have to complete three "weeks" (15 days) of work every month (year round). This seems doable to me, even if we stretch it out and do "some" work every day. I'm even okay with fitting in something on a Sunday evening or a Saturday morning. My husband is okay with this, too. ;) I love the flexibility of saying, "This is what we will do today" -- according to what's ACTUALLY happening that day. I love being able to see ALL the week's or month's work at a glance, knowing that 4.3 weeks each month IS enough time for us to get it all done. But a calendar that told me to "do pages 24-27 on Tuesday" would drive me :willy_nilly:.

 

What I'm getting at is that you DEFINE what a month's worth of work is, and then you can take the whole month to complete it. What is reasonable to do in a week? a month? a year? The benefit of the BOX (Math, English, any other daily seat work) and the BINDERS (weekly subjects) is that your seat work is all pre-organized (pull it out, do it, refile) and your weekly subjects are actually lined up by weeks. You can see at a glance if you are grinding out too much seat work at the expense of the more hands-on, fun, open-ended subjects (or vice versa). I had to separate the weekly subjects out from the seat work, because the subjects take so much more energy out of me, but they are what my children LOVE.

 

We don't move on to the next "week" until we have finished ALL the work for that "week." I don't care what day of the week it is, if the only thing to finish up for the week is Bible and a lesson in math, then we do Bible and math. When ALL the work for that week (e.g., Week 17) is completed, then we put that work away, pull out the next set of folders, and begin the next week (e.g., Week 18). It is true that in this system every day is potentially an "off" day, but every day is also potentially an "on" day (or a bit of both). We plod along, do as much work as we can each day/week/month, and aim at being done with:

 

 

• Week 9 -- by the end of March
  
• Week 18 -- by the end of June
  
• Week 27 -- by the end of September
  
• Week 36 -- by the end of December
  

 

I am accountable to this self-pacing system, not a true schedule. If we get to December and there is a bit of unfinished work -- and I want to bake Christmas cookies with the kids -- then the unfinished work can go back in the box. By that point, they have done enough for one year. I don't care about 5 unfinished math lessons. HTH.

[Sahamamama]

I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but I was in advanced & honors classes all through public school, and I can't EVER remember finishing a textbook in ANY class. In fact, I distinctly remember us joking one year about how depressing it was to spend the last few days of school studying WWII, and I think that was the closest we ever got in history. Two days on WWII at the very end of school. What does that say? It's a problem for EVERY teacher, not just HS'ers. But schoolteachers have the ability to just be done at the end of the year.

 

If you have enough hours/days of study, and it isn't material that is vital to the next year, I say let it go! :) (And now you know why I am stressing about whether or not I have what it takes to HS, thus my post the other day!)

 

:iagree:Exactly. That is what I was trying to say in my last post -- that the TEACHER has to determine when enough is enough with any course, assignment, or subject. For example, next year we want to continue our study of Life Science. We have studied animals this year, so next year we'll explore (a) Human Body; (b) Nature Study; © Botany; and (d) Ecology/Biomes. Each quarter will be nine weeks -- that is, nine lessons. How can you possibly "cover" all there is to learn about the human body in a mere nine lessons? ;) You can't. I'm not even trying. I do want to introduce the girls to the beginning concepts of these areas, so we will explore one area for nine weeks AND THEN LET IT GO. Whenever there are other connections to be made, that is fine, but I'm not trying to do "the exhaustive study of human anatomy" at this level. It's like a train that keeps moving down the track. Next stop: Nature Study!

 

The same goes for Geography. In one year it would be impossible to study every aspect of every country and every culture. We won't even try, but we will be better off for at least doing something consistent each week -- read a book about Ghana (for example), find it on the map/globe, do a hands-on activity, color a flag page, dance to African music. Even if we don't do all of these components each week, with each country, at the end of the year -- if we consistently did something -- we will have successfully completed our "course" in Geography. It's okay to have an uncolored flag of Peru in the notebook. ;)

 

The teacher has to define the parameters of the course. The teacher defines what "successful completion" means for each student, each year, each subject. I don't really think a textbook (or calendar/check-off chart) can do that for you.

[Mosaicmind]

At some point it dawned on me that a MOTH-type schedule will never work here. Not really sure why, but our schedule is so up-in-the-air each day due to my husband's unpredictable work routine. He literally gets his assignment for the next day at 6:30 pm. He might be on call (translation: home and a bit in the way) ;), go in early, go in late, get home early, get home late, or even stay overnight out of state.... There is no normal day. It frustrated me, until I just decided that if we can plod along (we can), then we will make the progress that needs to be made.

 

What are your GOALS for each grade? I don't mean what curriculum you want to "finish," I mean what are your overarching goals for each student at each level? Staying on track with these is more important than being on Lesson 57 by May 19th, KWIM? So begin with 2-3 goals for each student, and frequently remind yourself of these. If your students are reaching those higher skill levels, increasing their knowledge and understanding, and growing in maturity and wisdom, then it doesn't exactly matter what lesson they are "on."

 

How to organize our time, then? So far, the most helpful tool for us has been to put all the seat work materials in a file box by the week. I have a file box with 38 labeled hanging files (36 weeks + 2 extras for records). In each hanging file are five color-coded folders -- Purple=Sarah/Math; Green=Sarah/English; Red=Mary; Yellow=Hannah; Blue=Me. :D These are labeled Week 1, Week 2,... Week 36. All the seatwork goes into each folder, along with weekly checklists for oral work that doesn't leave any paper trail (e.g., math drills, read alouds, reading practice, etc.).

 

The OTHER component of our work -- the weekly subjects -- is NOT put in the box. Instead, the work for Geography, Science, Bible, and Music is lined up in binders, according to quarters (4/year). We work our way through the lessons, week by week.

 

A "week" of work may take anywhere from 4 to 7 days (or longer?) to complete. It really doesn't matter to me to stay on a pre-planned calendar, because if we have 365 days in which to do 180 days worth of work, then we only have to complete three "weeks" (15 days) of work every month (year round). This seems doable to me, even if we stretch it out and do "some" work every day. I'm even okay with fitting in something on a Sunday evening or a Saturday morning. My husband is okay with this, too. ;) I love the flexibility of saying, "This is what we will do today" -- according to what's ACTUALLY happening that day. I love being able to see ALL the week's or month's work at a glance, knowing that 4.3 weeks each month IS enough time for us to get it all done. But a calendar that told me to "do pages 24-27 on Tuesday" would drive me :willy_nilly:.

 

What I'm getting at is that you DEFINE what a month's worth of work is, and then you can take the whole month to complete it. What is reasonable to do in a week? a month? a year? The benefit of the BOX (Math, English, any other daily seat work) and the BINDERS (weekly subjects) is that your seat work is all pre-organized (pull it out, do it, refile) and your weekly subjects are actually lined up by weeks. You can see at a glance if you are grinding out too much seat work at the expense of the more hands-on, fun, open-ended subjects (or vice versa). I had to separate the weekly subjects out from the seat work, because the subjects take so much more energy out of me, but they are what my children LOVE.

 

We don't move on to the next "week" until we have finished ALL the work for that "week." I don't care what day of the week it is, if the only thing to finish up for the week is Bible and a lesson in math, then we do Bible and math. When ALL the work for that week (e.g., Week 17) is completed, then we put that work away, pull out the next set of folders, and begin the next week (e.g., Week 18). It is true that in this system every day is potentially an "off" day, but every day is also potentially an "on" day (or a bit of both). We plod along, do as much work as we can each day/week/month, and aim at being done with:

 

 

• Week 9 -- by the end of March

• Week 18 -- by the end of June

• Week 27 -- by the end of September

• Week 36 -- by the end of December

 

I am accountable to this self-pacing system, not a true schedule. If we get to December and there is a bit of unfinished work -- and I want to bake Christmas cookies with the kids -- then the unfinished work can go back in the box. By that point, they have done enough for one year. I don't care about 5 unfinished math lessons. HTH.

 

You make some great points here. I do have to pay more careful attention to Sarah's work since she is in highschool. Though, she is very self-motivated now and I don't have to constantly be on her like I had to right after she came home. The boys are another story. UGH!!!

 

I like the system of weeks work versus daily work. I look at some schedules that are already made out for you in some curriculum and think YIKES!!! It looks like I need to take this "break" and go buy some hanging file folders, a box, and get crackin'.

[Sahamamama]

You make some great points here. I do have to pay more careful attention to Sarah's work since she is in highschool. Though, she is very self-motivated now and I don't have to constantly be on her like I had to right after she came home. The boys are another story. UGH!!!

 

I like the system of weeks work versus daily work. I look at some schedules that are already made out for you in some curriculum and think YIKES!!! It looks like I need to take this "break" and go buy some hanging file folders, a box, and get crackin'.

 

Hang in there, Lisa! ;) (Okay, that was a pathetic attempt at a pun).

 

I hope you find something that helps the family stay on track, school-wise. For us, the weekly/monthly system works.

 

A day is too small a chunk of time to worry about. Besides, there are factors beyond my control (on a daily basis), things that impact exactly what we can accomplish IN A DAY. Why schedule out day-by-day? :tongue_smilie:Gag me. I would feel like a failure at the end of every day!

 

A year is too big a chunk of time to keep track of from day-to-day. Where am I? Where was I going? Where should we be? :001_unsure: I'm clueless.

 

BUT (to me) a month is plan-able (is that a word?) and a week of work is do-able (but maybe not within an actual 5-day week). I can plan out the month's work, organize it by weeks, and work out three weeks worth of work in one month's time.

 

If I don't care about having "on" weeks and "off" weeks -- rather, I care more about taking leadership and having authority over each day as it unfolds -- then I can steer the ship toward the harbor. If we keep rowing, if we do as much as we reasonably can in each day, we will get there.

 

Enjoy the journey.

[sassenach]

Here is what we are doing for school work:

 

Caleb (9yrs/3rd)--Phonics PathwaysDo you need this AND AAS?, AAS 1, Handwriting Without Tears, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1Drop this, it's really not worth the stress, Explode the Code 6, Elemental Science Chemistry, Sonlight Core 2, Primary Language Lessons, Horizons Math 3/MM and Writing With Ease 2. So for Language arts you have: PP, AAS, HWT, ETC, PLL and WWE. Do you need all of these? We had a very similar lineup at the beginning of the year and I had to make some changes. For us, I decided to shift gears and move over to Phonics Road. For something a little less dramatic, I would consider dropping PP and ETC, and just focusing on spelling. Also, I am following the pattern of WWE (Nar, copy, dict, copy/dict), but not using the workbook. When we do WWE, I expect best handwriting. We go back over the passage and underline the best letters in green, and the letters that need improvement in red.

 

Samuel (10yrs/5th)--Spelling Workout E, Reason For Handwriting E, Writing With Ease 2, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1, Apologia Flying CreaturesWhy are you doing 2 different science programs with your 9 and 10yo? I would combine them if possible., Vocab. From a Classical Roots, Intermediate Language Lessons, Saxon 65 and Sonlight Core 2 with his brother.

 

Nathan (12yrs/7th)--Spelling Workout G, Writing Strands 3, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1, Apologia General, Vocab From a Classical Roots, Saxon 87, Analytical Grammar, and Sonlight Core Alt 7.

 

Sarah (15yrs/9th)--Writing Strands 4, Rosetta Stone Spanish 1, Apologia Physcial, Wordly Wise 3000, Saxon Algebra 1, Easy Grammar, Applications of Grammar, Lightning Literature, Artistic Pursuits, and Sonlight Core Alt 7.

 

I hope I am not missing anything. I just need some ideas to keep it all moving and working. We could do something in the evening for about an hour because we are only busy Wednesday evenings.

 

I am severely behind this year as well. I have high hopes of charging through a lot of work in the rainy season, when we are stuck indoors more than usual. So I totally relate. Last year, when I was doing 7th, 1st and K, I would let the littles entertain themselves while I got my 7th grader started for the day. That usually took about 1-2 hours. Would it be possible for you to start your day with your older kids early, and then release them to work independently? Then group your younger 2 together a little more efficiently? You seem to be overloaded in the LA department with the both of them. I would consider dropping a few of the programs. I also would combine them for science and drop spanish. Also, there was not a year that we did SL that I didn't fall behind. I love SL, but it is a demanding schedule. I found it especially hard to keep up with the read alouds. Eventually I decided to shift over to MFW, which has a schedule that I feel like I can actually accomplish in one school year. I still assign SL readers to my kids. Good luck!