Have you ever felt you were at the "burn-out" point?

[Mom28kds]

I know this won't be popular but I took a few years off. I had 3 kids under 3 and was totally overwhelmed. I went ahead and sent my son to PS in 2nd grade. I HSed for 9 years and needed a break. I am back 3 years later and pulling him out of PS and getting ready to HS my littles ones as well.

[FlockOfSillies]

Is there any way you can incorporate dh into the planning a little more so that HE doesn't need so much hand-holding?

[Audrey]

Is there a homeschool convention this year within say, a half day's drive? Although I suppose that would just put one more thing on your plate.

 

There are 2, but both require a SOF and membership in the group or one of the sponsoring churches. I tried going to the bigger one anyway a couple of years ago, but no luck getting in.

[Audrey]

Is there any way you can incorporate dh into the planning a little more so that HE doesn't need so much hand-holding?

 

 

This would be ideal. Also the suggestion to just continue moving on in the books we have without all the extra planning is looking very attractive.

 

I still think I need to work on that control issue of mine, though. That's the tough part. :001_unsure:

[Nakia]

There are 2, but both require a SOF and membership in the group or one of the sponsoring churches. I tried going to the bigger one anyway a couple of years ago, but no luck getting in.

 

That is beyond absurd.

 

I know you will work this out, Audrey! Hang in there!

[Wendi]

I've been there all (school) year. Unless we hear of some amazing school I don't know about, homeschooling will still be the best option for him for high school. He does take some classes outside the home, which helps. But knowing that I'm likely going to be homeschooling him all through high school is overwhelming right now.

 

I wish I knew how to get refreshed and renewed. Taking a day or a week off seems doable when your kids are young, but when your dc is an 8th grader who's already behind in his work, how do you do that?

 

Wendi

[KathyBC]

There are 2, but both require a SOF and membership in the group or one of the sponsoring churches. I tried going to the bigger one anyway a couple of years ago, but no luck getting in.

 

I was a little worried you were going to say that. :tongue_smilie: So road trips to Red Deer, Toronto, Vancouver... all out the question I guess? :lol:

 

I really understand the isolated, frustrated feeling. Our spring break is two and a half weeks away. Although when I look out my window it sure doesn't feel like spring. I don't think that helps. Still, a week spent doing income tax instead of school should be a nice, restful break. :glare:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

This would be ideal. Also the suggestion to just continue moving on in the books we have without all the extra planning is looking very attractive.

 

I still think I need to work on that control issue of mine, though. That's the tough part. :001_unsure:

 

I'm not familiar with Oak Meadow, so I can't be of much help there.

 

But to what extent do your books have a table of contents that you could copy and mark up for a month's worth or longer.

 

For example, take the Saxon math table of contents that lists lesson number and topic. Group them in a week's worth by marking it up in pencil in the margin (not forgetting tests and investigations). Put that in a three ring binder and have him check each lesson off as it is done. Every 5 lessons you do a test and file that in your file/binder or whatever you use to collect work completed. Let him correct the daily lessons, so that he takes more responsibility for seeing what he has done wrong and learning from it.

[Gooblink]

:grouphug: I've no good ideas that haven't already been offered up, so I'll just add my well wishes and hope that you find some inspiration.

 

And when you do, make sure to share it, eh? I could use some here. :D

[Sebastian (a lady)]

It takes a couple of hours or more to translate the texts and etc into lesson plans for each day. I have to write it all out in a decent amount of detail because dh plays teacher at least one and lately two days a week. He needs direction in order to understand where we are in the lessons, and that is especially true with the Latin lessons because he is just learning it alongside ds.

 

Is there some part of the topics that don't change from day to day or week to week, such that you could create a form with blanks that you fill in for details.

 

In other words, a Latin lesson for us might look something like:

 

Monday

Watch lesson _____ on video

 

Tuesday

Recite _______ and memory work to date (see memory work sheet)

 

Wednesday

Do exercises for lesson _______

 

Thursday

Recite _______ and memory work to date (see memory work sheet)

 

Friday

Recite ______ and memory work to date from memory

 

If you are doing pretty much the same routine in a cycle, then you can just fill in the form with which lines of the new prayer or the speech are added for recitation or what lesson they need to watch or do exercises in.

 

There might be ways that you can do this in other subjects. I did something like this for history. I wrote out what I expected for outlining, research reading and writing for each day of the week. All that changes is which pages and topics they are doing. (And it's a good reminder that I need to do something similar for German.)

 

In an ideal world, I guess you could create a form that would be your general outline for a generic week. Then you could just plug titles and page numbers in as needed. (I know it's probably never going to work like that. Not at my house either. But I keep plugging.)

[DawnM]

Well, I have succumbed to the dreaded workbooks approach. I just couldn't take it anymore. We were getting less and less accomplished because 80% of the day seemed to be arguing and fighting ME to get out of work.

 

My dream of having kids who love to learn and read voraciously has been long shattered, but I had hopes we could keep going with our learning together.

 

NOPE.

 

I have fought my last fight. I have told the boys that this is their LAST SHOT to stay home and homeschool. I am DONE with the fight.

 

I purchased workbooks. They arrived over the weekend and we started yesterday. Some ACE Paces, some Lifepacs and a couple of other additions.

 

I realize these are Christian based and perhaps there is an alternative for something Secular (I think Alpha Omega does have a secular choice.)

 

I am SO DONE.

 

Dawn

[In the Rain]

:grouphug: I hope you find something that works for you. It sounds like you've done a great job so far with your ds.

[Desert Rat]

But I need to control it all. :o

 

This is me. I've started doing some lesson plans every other week, Audrey. I'll do 2 weeks worth so I can take a week off. I've also started cutting back on some things I normally did every week. For example, physics was killing me with the experiements. So, now, one week is reading and study the next is experiements. I coincide the hands-on stuff with the weeks I have less work outside of home. (I clean houses for people every other week-one week has less houses). I also take some lessons with me to outside sports or classes.

 

My dh works hard too. He doesn't teach the boys often anymore. But, when work is slow, I have him pick up the slack while I'm at work.

 

The big thing for me is keeping my house the way I like it. I clean other people's houses and I refuse to have a dirty house because of it. I do a longer school year (42 weeks) and make Fridays light days with just reading, math, and spelling/latin/spanish tests. Friday mornings I clean the house before we sit down for less than an hour's worth of school. This is a requirement for my sanity. Really! I've also hired a tutor for my older son's math. It's hard to get him there, but worth the effort for both of us.

 

If none of that helps, my motto for a long time was, "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and swing for awhile." Sometimes, just putting one foot in front of the other for a bit is what you need to do. Hang in there....and swing!

[FaithManor]

There are less than 24 hours left in this (seemly accursed) month. Hang in there, tomorrow is another day. And another month.

 

In March things will look up!

 

Bill

 

 

Bill, THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT!

 

There is something completely, unfathomably wrong with February! To add insult to injury, I'm going to be behind at school this week because dd had the stomach flu Sunday and I canceled my chem class on Monday afternoon because one of the boys looked awful. Yep, he's got it this morning. If this continues and I have to cancel the entire week...ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Audrey, I do think that February is especially bleak for those of us living north of the Ohio River Valley, and even worse, East of the Mississippi on top of that. I'm not sure where you are, but I've become convinced that the low light, low vitamin D levels contribute to this. I've started vitamin D drops for everyone in the house. My cousin put me on to this...she lives in Minnesota and every.single.February. she wants to quit her job as an environmental researcher, tell her grad students to go away, and hide. She begins to feel it in the middle of January, it's horrible by the end of February, and it wanes by the end of March. She told me this year that she began Vitamin D drops in November and for the first time in a decade, feels pretty decent about February. I'm sold and I'm going to put everyone on it in October. I'm taking it now hoping that it will improve my mood though I'm sure that vitamin D deficiency is not quickly righted.

 

I'm sorry you have so much to do. I feel your pain. I struggle wanting to do lesson planning on Sundays. After dh's accident, I took on part-time work at the local private school, plus working Saturdays at a quilt store - well, when road conditions permit...I've missed twice due to not being plowed out. On top of that, I've been mentoring the competitive rocketry team that dh normally handles, plus all of his 4-H leader responsibilities. I'd like to run away some days and when dd came down with the stomach flu, I literally panicked. I.don't.have.time.to.be.sick.period! I've got high school students taking ACT's in April and will end up having a Sunday afternoon prep session because of missing one this week if people keep falling with the plague.

 

I get it. If it helps at all, you are not alone. February is a barren, life draining, brain sucking, time warp!

 

:grouphug:

Faith

Edited February 28, 2012 by FaithManor
spelling

[elfgivas]

:grouphug: this weekend, when its lesson planning time, you could call dh and ds to the table. hand them each one subject to plan for the week, preferably one they like and know a bit about. give them last week's plan so they have an example of what a week's lesson planning looks like. if you can stand it, print off a couple of blank forms using alternate methods. they don't have to be perfect, they don't even have to be good, they just need to be an example that there is more than one way to do this.

 

then, let them have at it. resist the urge to fix anything. your dh follows your lesson plans now, you follow his next week for whichever subject he's planned. then at the end of day two or three over dinner, ask them how they think its going in the subject they planned and if there is anything they'd like to change for the next week.

 

then, next weekend, they each get two subjects to plan. make tea, maybe have cookies, and all sit at the table together planning. initially, it will take them longer than you, and maybe you can use that time to grade/correct anything that needs doing, or to do menu planning or ???

 

in any event, it will all be shorter, faster, new skills will be learned, they will appreciate the time you have put in all these years way more, and, who knows, maybe one of them will come up with an amazingly simple way of doing planning that will work with this phase of your life.

 

it won't be perfect, and likely not even as good as what you've been doing, but it will be theirs, and that counts for a lot. it is also often true that you get about 80% of the benefits from the first 20% of the work, so in this stage of life, 80% is great, and likely way better than school! when things change, you can go for 85% or even 90%.

 

if there are online scope and sequence things for any of the curriculum you are using, then you could also just follow that for a bit..... not ideal, but better than most!

 

:grouphug:

ann

[elegantlion]

FYI, this thread is a year old, although it may be relevant to the end of February.

[Spy Car]

FYI, this thread is a year old, although it may be relevant to the end of February.

 

It's like ground-hog's day :D

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Egad!

 

Are you feeling better this year Aubry?

 

She might if you got her name right! ;)

 

A-U-D-R-E-Y :tongue_smilie:

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Oh cra*! :D

 

Sorry Audrey.

 

Egad :D

 

Bill (who can barely tell the two apart himself :tongue_smilie:)

[ElizabethB]

I have some B/D b/d worksheets for all that are confused.:D

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dbdb.html

[Truscifi]

I have some B/D b/d worksheets for all that are confused.:D

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dbdb.html

 

:lol:

 

I don't understand the confusion. Audrey with a D = witch/southern transplant to Canada, Aubrey with a B = writer/moved to Colorado. Of course, my given name is Audra, and has often been mutilated to the point of being unrecognizable, so perhaps I pay more attention to this than most. :tongue_smilie:

[elegantlion]

It's like ground-hog's day :D

 

Bill

no more winter, PLEASE!!!

 

Egad :D

 

Bill (who can barely tell the two apart himself :tongue_smilie:)

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: One of these things is not like the other.

[Truscifi]

I wasn't confused exactly; my vision just stinks. I was using my son's computer (because he was using mine) and the font on his is set very small.

 

Ah. I tried to surf the forum a few days ago without my glasses on. Let's just say it was good I thought to put them on and double check what I read before I responded....:D

[ElizabethB]

I wasn't confused exactly; my vision just stinks. I was using my son's computer (because he was using mine) and the font on his is set very small.

 

I have gotten them confused on my phone as well, it is hard when the font is small.

[Spy Car]

I have gotten them confused on my phone as well, it is hard when the font is small.

 

Wait, are you the Elizabeth who teaches reading?

 

Or the one who likes Malcom X? :D

 

Bill (who is hoping it isn't the "reading Elizabeth" who can't read :tongue_smilie:)

[Mrs Mungo]

There are less than 24 hours left in this (seemly accursed) month. Hang in there, tomorrow is another day. And another month.

 

In March things will look up!

 

Bill

 

I agree. I reach my breaking point. There is wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then spring comes. We sit outside in the grass and read. The clouds lazily glide over us. I can double-task better when my head and chest are no longer full of phlegm.

 

Oh, and I gave up lesson plans. Just do the next thing. I have a closet full of art supplies. The only thing I have to check a week ahead is science experiments.

[Mrs Mungo]

FYI, this thread is a year old, although it may be relevant to the end of February.

 

Oh, geez. I am on my phone at the park. I didn't notice the date.

[Spy Car]

Oh, geez. I am on my phone at the park. I didn't notice the date.

 

Everyone blames their phones these days :D

 

Bill

[ElizabethB]

Wait, are you the Elizabeth who teaches reading?

 

 

Maybe I need to watch my phonics lessons! (Or do my BD worksheet in super tiny font so I can tell the difference between tiny letters on the phone.)

 

Everyone blames their phones these days :D

 

Bill

 

Yes, it is all the phone's fault. And, you should have seen some of the text messages it sent before I figured out how to turn off the auto-correct feature!!

Edited February 29, 2012 by ElizabethB