I want it ALL! (rant about being tied to a schedule))

[5LittleMonkeys]

We are a little over 4 weeks into our new school year. I was completely settled on dd8's subjects and schedule. With math, grammar, reading, literature, Trail Guide (which includes history, geography, science, nature study, art, spelling, writing, word study, copywork and dictation...and light grammar) she is up to 4 to 4.5 hours of work a day. THEN, I went to the library yesterday and found tons of great books that tie into her topic in TG (it comes with books to use...I don't know why I grabbed 20 extra books from the library). THEN I got Time Travelers History Studies in the mail, that I had ordered for dd12, and it looks SO fun. I know dd8 will want to do all the activities too. THEN she found a box of really cute material that I had put aside to make dresses for her and she is begging me to let her make the dresses as part of "home-ec". THEN she found the grammar stage Killgallon book on my shelf and wants to do it because she has an affinity for beautifully written sentences. How do I fit this all in and stay within a reasonable amount of time per day for her!!!!!

 

It's driving me nuts and the only thing I can think to do is to school year round. We had been spreading our school year out, taking breaks every six weeks, but we were still only schooling for about 180 to 190 days. I had already decided that dd12 would need more time this year for her interests but I'm thinking that I'm going to have to drop the yearly schedule for everyone and just wing it, taking breaks when we feel like it.

 

I suppose math, grammar and reading will still need to be done on a daily basis so those subjects may get completed before our year is up. I could then move onto the next level or do review. Which would be better?

 

I'm not sure how to work this out with the Trial Guide program though, since so many of our other subjects are tied to it and doing one thing is directly relational to doing another. I may end up just needing to spread it out more...doing it 3 days a week instead of 5. Oh, my head is spinning. I'm wondering now if the Trial Guide was the best choice for us. I was really looking forward to having a program that incorporated all subjects into a unit study and scheduled everything out but I keep wanting to buck the schedule it has me on and tweak it and move things around, add my own things, omit some things, do more of another...I'm hopeless and I feel foolish for not being able to have the discipline to just put blinders on and stick with the program the way it was written. I know following a program the way it was written and adhering to its schedule would make my life so much easier...why do we do this to ourselves? ( I know those out there who do the same thing.)

 

She started out two years ago being completely satisfied to sit and do workbooks and "schooly" type of work but lately she is turning into an incredibly inquisitive, creative student who seems to want to learn through exploration, experimentation and dialogue. Much like dd12, which kind of scares me.:tongue_smilie: Sometimes I want to chuck all the "programs" and just wing it...maybe in another 10 years I'll feel confident enough to do that.

 

Guess I'll go lay all the books and project lists on the table and see if I get an epiphany. Thanks for letting me rant!

[missmoe]

I feel your pain. I too would like to do it all!

 

I would stick to what you have planned as it is planned. I would add the other things in during your dd's free time. If she really wants to work on the Killgallon books, have them available for her to use on her own. I would also do the same thing with the library books. Accept that you most likely won't be able to read all of them. And perhaps the home ec project could be something you work on together on Saturday mornings.

[robsiew]

Personally, I would go crazy trying to get all that in. I would suggest sticking with your plan, but maybe have an hour set aside a day where they can focus on something they'd like to do extra, kind of a "project time"? Or, just let her pursue those things in her free time.

[mom&nana]

 

I'm not sure how to work this out with the Trial Guide program though, since so many of our other subjects are tied to it and doing one thing is directly relational to doing another. I may end up just needing to spread it out more...doing it 3 days a week instead of 5. Oh, my head is spinning. I'm wondering now if the Trial Guide was the best choice for us. I was really looking forward to having a program that incorporated all subjects into a unit study and scheduled everything out but I keep wanting to buck the schedule it has me on and tweak it and move things around, add my own things, omit some things, do more of another...I'm hopeless and I feel foolish for not being able to have the discipline to just put blinders on and stick with the program the way it was written. I know following a program the way it was written and adhering to its schedule would make my life so much easier...why do we do this to ourselves? ( I know those out there who do the same thing.)

 

 

Aime, you know that I feel your pain. I struggle with these very same issues and went and bought POS knowing we had a hard time making POE work for us. :tongue_smilie:

 

Now as I'm trying to plan out everything to start in the fall, I have this intense LOVE/HATE relationship with TGTL. I, like you, love the idea of having all those subjects tied nicely together. It makes the learning come alive, it gives the tasks meaning. However, when I put it into practice and use TGTL as is, it seems I'm not so much in love with everything being tied together after all. With TGTL we don't like the schedule (it moves just a little too slow for us), yet when I start trying to tweak it and move this there, skip that, add this... it just gets too crazy! It's hard to leave off something because of how tied everything is to one another. Too overwhelming and I just want to chunk TGTL out the window...lol. I think I'm slowly coming to realize that something that has almost all subjects scheduled and tied together just doesn't work for us. I rebel too much when I feel that restricted.

 

If ONLY I could use TGTL as is. It's a great program, I really don't know why I just can't leave well enough alone. We did the first unit of POE as is and school was wonderful, my dd was learning. Why couldn't I just leave it at that? I just couldn't.. we tweaked Jamestown and Pilgrims. Went back to Daniel Boone tweaking it too. I find myself unable to live with the schedule as is, but like you said, it would make my life so much easier.

 

I'm sorry, I guess I'm not helping. I just want you to know that you're not alone. I plan on doing parts of POS this fall. I don't think I can do it as is though. I'm speeding up the reading schedule and that means dropping some of the copywork and some other activities. I don't have money to purchase something else (especially after spending so much on this), so I'm trying to make it work for us. I can't spend a lot of time at one sitting working on the planning though, because it drives me crazy. It's hard to say no to activities and re-arranging things like this, then I begin to wonder why I bought this again. I think I've learned my lesson this time and don't have any plans to buy Paths of Progress. :tongue_smilie:

 

I hope you can figure out something that works for you. If you can forget the other stuff and do it as is, it will make your life easier. The program is quite full and that makes it very difficult to add stuff to it.

[silliness7]

I would come up with your bare basics plan. The stuff that *must* get done whether anyone feels like it, wants to, or just feels blah. Make a schedule for that and stick to it. Then organize the extra fun stuff - extra projects, extra books, sewing projects, whatever into a manageable system. And do those things during your free time. If your kids are enthusiastic about it and beg to do it then I wouldn't worry about them having too long of a school day. School is the scheduled *must* do. All of the other stuff while educational can just be a worthwhile way to spend "down" time.

 

I have been where you are. Wanting to do soooo much good and worthy stuff that I couldn't wrap my brain around how it would all work and ended up doing even less because I became a bit paralyzed with all of the options. If you get your "school" done and then still feel paralyzed by so many options for free time that you sit around twiddling your thumbs and staring at the walls, well at least you got "school" done. :001_smile:

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I have rewritten my post 3 different ways trying to figure out the best way to put what I want to say down. Finally I figured to just list it and hope helps:

1)too many great curriculums out there and they will all look better then the one you are actually using because the grass is always greener...

2)there will always be more things you want to do or study then we can possibly do, and the rabbit trails are endless

3) use a curriculum as a guide or check points and also for ideas, not as a minute by minute schedule

4) unless they are in high school and need certain credits or you need to answer to a government agency, you will repeat a subject (geology, life science, american history...) except math, so do some things now and save some for later. Or extend the subject into the following year.

5) look for ways to incorporate the basic subjects (math, grammar and writing) with the others to allow more time for the rabbit trails

6) and the most freeing thing I learned...you never have to do every lesson in a given curriculum.

7) sometimes more is not always better. If you saturate them with a topic they might just loose interest completely, instead make available books and activities for them to explore on their own time.

 

The above is actually somethings I figured out in the last few years. For me... it has allowed me to use a traditional textbook curriculum which gives me a backbone or a jump off point so I am sure to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed but freedom to enjoy so much out there. Am I able to do all those wonderful ideas the different curriculums show us, or read all the books on a subject, or do every activity to go with what we are learning? No, but who want's to...if I do it all the first time around then what will we have when we revisit a subject later on, or for the child to explore on there own? Give a taste, feed a meal, and offer dessert, then stock the pantry for when hunger comes again, stuffing them will only create a belly ache.

[5LittleMonkeys]

 

I would suggest sticking with your plan' date=' but maybe have an hour set aside a day where they can focus on something they'd like to do extra, kind of a "project time"? Or, just let her pursue those things in her free time.[/quote']

 

Make a schedule for that and stick to it. Then organize the extra fun stuff - extra projects, extra books, sewing projects, whatever into a manageable system. And do those things during your free time.

 

I know you are all right about sticking with my original plan and programs. I've looked at the schedule and I just can't extend the amount of time she does school each day without cutting into my one on one time with my other dc. I still might extend how many days a year we do school though just so we could fit in a few more projects. My dc end up getting bored on our longer breaks anyway.

 

I guess the part of doing things after school that I'm afraid won't work is that I don't get done teaching until 4 and then I have to do and supervise chores and then there is dinner to prepare and eat and clean-up from, then after dinner activities, then bedtime activities and then the day is gone. I'm not going to say that I don't have any free time becuase I do, but usually when I do get some free time I like to spend time with dh, excercise or pursue my own interests. I know, I know, I can't have it all. Maybe I shouldn't be so stingy with my free time...but then again, I feel I need some time away from dc so I can refresh.

 

Maybe though, If I could pre-prepare some of the TT activities, and make a checklist for the library books (read book x and write or tell 3 important things you remember from it or create an illustration for it). She could work independently on those things. I'm not sure about the Killgallon though; if she could work independently...I'll have to look at it more closely. We could make that our writing just on Fridays though.

[5LittleMonkeys]

1)too many great curriculums out there and they will all look better then the one you are actually using because the grass is always greener...

2)there will always be more things you want to do or study then we can possibly do, and the rabbit trails are endless

3) use a curriculum as a guide or check points and also for ideas, not as a minute by minute schedule

4) unless they are in high school and need certain credits or you need to answer to a government agency, you will repeat a subject (geology, life science, american history...) except math, so do some things now and save some for later. Or extend the subject into the following year.

5) look for ways to incorporate the basic subjects (math, grammar and writing) with the others to allow more time for the rabbit trails

6) and the most freeing thing I learned...you never have to do every lesson in a given curriculum.

7) sometimes more is not always better. If you saturate them with a topic they might just loose interest completely, instead make available books and activities for them to explore on their own time.

 

 

 

Good list, and you know, all of those things are things I've said to myself, but its good to hear them from someone else sometimes. I'm really very happy with the main programs I've purchased for my dc, it's just all of the little extras and the rabbit trails that I'd love to pursue but don't have time. It's frustrating that I can't do more with each one of my dc and I've often told my dh that if I only had one or two dc they would be getting an amazingly rich education. I mean, I think mine are getting a very good education and much richer than the one they could get in ps, but if I weren't spreading my time and resources between 5 it would definitely be different.

[mom2boys030507]

Let your children choose projects that they can do by themselves to leave for your breaks. I think you will burn out if you try to lengthen your school year by much and kids need to learn how to entertain themselves for longer periods. When my boys get bored on longer breaks I help them develop projects to work on. As my oldest has done this a few times now he is getting to know a lose process for doing it and is starting to pursue some of his own interests truely on his own.

[silliness7]

I know you are all right about sticking with my original plan and programs. I've looked at the schedule and I just can't extend the amount of time she does school each day without cutting into my one on one time with my other dc. I still might extend how many days a year we do school though just so we could fit in a few more projects. My dc end up getting bored on our longer breaks anyway.

 

I guess the part of doing things after school that I'm afraid won't work is that I don't get done teaching until 4 and then I have to do and supervise chores and then there is dinner to prepare and eat and clean-up from, then after dinner activities, then bedtime activities and then the day is gone. I'm not going to say that I don't have any free time becuase I do, but usually when I do get some free time I like to spend time with dh, excercise or pursue my own interests. I know, I know, I can't have it all. Maybe I shouldn't be so stingy with my free time...but then again, I feel I need some time away from dc so I can refresh.

 

Maybe though, If I could pre-prepare some of the TT activities, and make a checklist for the library books (read book x and write or tell 3 important things you remember from it or create an illustration for it). She could work independently on those things. I'm not sure about the Killgallon though; if she could work independently...I'll have to look at it more closely. We could make that our writing just on Fridays though.

 

I'm sorry. I didn't realize your situation. You're schooling til 4. That's a very long day. Yes you need down time and you need to guard that. I'm in the same boat. So my advice is to map out a realistic school day that covers all the bases and save the extras for summer.

 

Independent work is a beautiful thing. My kiddos have a pretty extensive list of work to do on their own while I'm working with a sibling. It has varied from year to year. This year we're starting HOD. All the planning is done. Woo Hoo!

[5LittleMonkeys]

Aime, you know that I feel your pain. I struggle with these very same issues and went and bought POS knowing we had a hard time making POE work for us. :tongue_smilie:

 

Now as I'm trying to plan out everything to start in the fall, I have this intense LOVE/HATE relationship with TGTL. I, like you, love the idea of having all those subjects tied nicely together. It makes the learning come alive, it gives the tasks meaning. However, when I put it into practice and use TGTL as is, it seems I'm not so much in love with everything being tied together after all. With TGTL we don't like the schedule (it moves just a little too slow for us), yet when I start trying to tweak it and move this there, skip that, add this... it just gets too crazy! It's hard to leave off something because of how tied everything is to one another. Too overwhelming and I just want to chunk TGTL out the window...lol. I think I'm slowly coming to realize that something that has almost all subjects scheduled and tied together just doesn't work for us. I rebel too much when I feel that restricted. I've noticed that, for us, it is pretty easy to add to as far as extending the different parts of the lessons or adjusting them to better suit her skill level...basically any tweaking done within the program itself other than omitting lessons all together, which ends up feeling like we've created a hole. For example, when we were talking about journal entries I had her make a journal with paper we stained with tea, a hand sewn binding and then we burned the edges to make it look old. She is working on copying the Journey poem into it and also did the plant and bug sketch lesson and the map drawing lesson into it along with the journal entry lesson. Adding in that one extra project, though she loved it, made for a much longer day for her and also threw off my one on one time with the other dc. I think the thing I just feel most restricted in isn't so much the program itself, it's the fact that becuase it encompasses so many subjects it is time consuming and takes up the majority of her school time. It also doesn't lend itself well to doing it only 3 days a week either becuase then you are stretching the subjects out too far. Copywork is something that I feel needs to be done daily. I could add copywork from other sources on the days we don't do TG but then I feel we've lost the continuity.

 

If ONLY I could use TGTL as is. It's a great program, I really don't know why I just can't leave well enough alone. We did the first unit of POE as is and school was wonderful, my dd was learning. Why couldn't I just leave it at that? I just couldn't.. we tweaked Jamestown and Pilgrims. Went back to Daniel Boone tweaking it too. I find myself unable to live with the schedule as is, but like you said, it would make my life so much easier.Yes, I've been looking at it all day on and off and it really is very complete. I know others have said it is too slow but I think the pace is just right for us. DD isn't a super strong reader yet and she likes to take a lot of time to digest a topic so it really is a good fit. I just need to suck it up and let the program work. It had relieved so much stress from my day until I went and started considering adding in all these other things. I KNOW she is going to want to work on the Time Travelers projects though so I'm just going to have to think of a way to fit atleast some of those in during some other part of the day.

 

I'm sorry, I guess I'm not helping. I just want you to know that you're not alone. I plan on doing parts of POS this fall. I don't think I can do it as is though. I'm speeding up the reading schedule and that means dropping some of the copywork and some other activities. I don't have money to purchase something else (especially after spending so much on this), so I'm trying to make it work for us. I can't spend a lot of time at one sitting working on the planning though, because it drives me crazy. It's hard to say no to activities and re-arranging things like this, then I begin to wonder why I bought this again. I think I've learned my lesson this time and don't have any plans to buy Paths of Progress. :tongue_smilie:I'm sorry that you aren't happy with it...it is so frustrating to have to make a program work that isn't a good fit. I wish I could give you some adivce to help.

 

I hope you can figure out something that works for you. If you can forget the other stuff and do it as is, it will make your life easier. The program is quite full and that makes it very difficult to add stuff to it.

 

 

Thanks for telling me about your struggles with the TG program. It has helped me think through my dealings with it too. I think it is a wonderful program too. I think it would be absolutely perfect for someone who isn't a tweaking fiend like I am.:tongue_smilie: I'm going to stick with it though and only tweak moderately. ;)

[5LittleMonkeys]

Let your children choose projects that they can do by themselves to leave for your breaks. I think you will burn out if you try to lengthen your school year by much and kids need to learn how to entertain themselves for longer periods. When my boys get bored on longer breaks I help them develop projects to work on. As my oldest has done this a few times now he is getting to know a lose process for doing it and is starting to pursue some of his own interests truely on his own.

 

My older two are self sufficient when it comes to projects, and have been since I started homeschooling, but dd8 still needs some guidance. This might be the year she really gets to stretch her independence. I also have to get her into the frame of mind that school related projects don't have to happen just during school.

[mom&nana]

It sounds like you are having a great time with it. The journal activity that you added sounds wonderful. I know what you mean about it being time consuming, because we found that to be the case as well. Since it's covering such a broad range of subjects I guess that is to be expected.

 

I believe in daily copywork/dictation too, so that's something I didn't cut out either.

 

You know, after I responded earlier, I went back and looked through V1 of POS and I think we are going to do it as is. I've decided that I'm dropping PR (we were accelerating through it) so now I'll have time to do all the language Arts activities and writing laid out in TGTL. I'm going to trust the program too. I figure it won't hurt to try it as is for the first volume anyways.

 

I can also relate to the children wanting to do everything the others are doing as well. I have two very close in age whom I can't separate but almost need too. They just insist upon doing each other's work so it just makes it easier on me to keep them together. :)

 

Good luck with TGTL. I know it's hard not to look around and think the grass is always greener. It's a solid program, very well written. I'm sure it will be enough. :)

[sagira]

Thank you! Your post is lucid and exactly what I needed :)

 

I have rewritten my post 3 different ways trying to figure out the best way to put what I want to say down. Finally I figured to just list it and hope helps:

1)too many great curriculums out there and they will all look better then the one you are actually using because the grass is always greener...

2)there will always be more things you want to do or study then we can possibly do, and the rabbit trails are endless

3) use a curriculum as a guide or check points and also for ideas, not as a minute by minute schedule

4) unless they are in high school and need certain credits or you need to answer to a government agency, you will repeat a subject (geology, life science, american history...) except math, so do some things now and save some for later. Or extend the subject into the following year.

5) look for ways to incorporate the basic subjects (math, grammar and writing) with the others to allow more time for the rabbit trails

6) and the most freeing thing I learned...you never have to do every lesson in a given curriculum.

7) sometimes more is not always better. If you saturate them with a topic they might just loose interest completely, instead make available books and activities for them to explore on their own time.

 

The above is actually somethings I figured out in the last few years. For me... it has allowed me to use a traditional textbook curriculum which gives me a backbone or a jump off point so I am sure to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed but freedom to enjoy so much out there. Am I able to do all those wonderful ideas the different curriculums show us, or read all the books on a subject, or do every activity to go with what we are learning? No, but who want's to...if I do it all the first time around then what will we have when we revisit a subject later on, or for the child to explore on there own? Give a taste, feed a meal, and offer dessert, then stock the pantry for when hunger comes again, stuffing them will only create a belly ache.

[5LittleMonkeys]

You know, after I responded earlier, I went back and looked through V1 of POS and I think we are going to do it as is. I've decided that I'm dropping PR (we were accelerating through it) so now I'll have time to do all the language Arts activities and writing laid out in TGTL. I'm going to trust the program too. I figure it won't hurt to try it as is for the first volume anyways.

 

:)

 

That's great to hear! I hope you all can find a grove with it and that it ends up being a pleasure to teach. You know, when I first started POE, the first week, I wasn't overtly impressed. I felt I was going to have to add to it just to keep dd interested. However, I read ahead more thoroughly and realized that it did get better. I think, as I said earlier, that I will still add a bit where I can. I want this year to be really memorable and enriching for her. She's done school for the last few years but this year she seems to be really embracing learning...I want to take advantage of that. IYKWIM.

[mom&nana]

That's great to hear! I hope you all can find a grove with it and that it ends up being a pleasure to teach. You know, when I first started POE, the first week, I wasn't overtly impressed. I felt I was going to have to add to it just to keep dd interested. However, I read ahead more thoroughly and realized that it did get better. I think, as I said earlier, that I will still add a bit where I can. I want this year to be really memorable and enriching for her. She's done school for the last few years but this year she seems to be really embracing learning...I want to take advantage of that. IYKWIM.

 

Yes, I understand what you mean. I may add a little to it too, especially in the Science area. It does look like the Science is stronger in POS than in POE, though. There is also more grammar and lots of editing practice. Some of the editing practices even include source documents so I thought that was cool. For the writing, they also add journal writing back and forth with a parent and I like that idea too. Two books are read by the student instead of one (not counting the small amount read by the student in the Read aloud) and then eventually even the entire read aloud is read by the student, though I'll probably keep reading it since my dd really enjoys read aloud time. All that to say, that you can really see the TGTL series building upon itself. I should add that all that is at the highest level, I know the amount of work is different between the levels.

 

Don't forget the free reading time too, maybe you could use your books from the library like a book basket and have her choose one to read during that free reading time for extra enrichment.

 

We felt that way about Columbus at first but it does get better. We LOVED the Surviving Jamestown book, it's really good!! We changed up the Pilgrim unit so much, so I can't really say much about that one as is. I love how they tie the geography in. You can really tell a lot of thought went into the making of this program.

Edited July 17, 2011 by mom&nana

[kandty]

Didn't get to read all the response, but I wanted to add my two cents. :001_smile: I save stuff that I would love to do, but can't fit into the schedule and about half way through our year I get bored and need something new. This is when I add in that other stuff. Sometimes add it in and sometimes replace something else that isn't working or we finished or we need a break from. My kids enjoy the change of pace too.

 

I recently researched history stuff because I wanted to do something different. I found way too much good stuff and now I am overwhelmed with my choices and have bought too much. (I think I did this for science this year too!) But, I have a plan and we will work it for a few weeks and then reevaluate and see if we need to make any changes. I am sure I will be saving some of it for a different year. Or start using it when I get that burn out phase we do every late winter. I hate doing the same thing and love change, so I usually can make it work without damaging my kids (too much).

 

Good luck! :D

[mom&nana]

So I was looking at POS again this morning. Then I realized that weeks ago in my tweaking I already made spiral bound books of the worksheets for copywork, state sheets and other notebooking pages I had planned to use so it would be ready to go. Since I had re-scheduled the reading to 1 chapter a day in each book vs the 1/2 chapter a day, I had to cut some copywork (but still had us doing it daily). Ughhh, so now I don't know if we will do it as is since I already invested the time and effort into making little bound books. I had forgotten about that.

 

Oh why oh why do I do this to myself???

[5LittleMonkeys]

So I was looking at POS again this morning. Then I realized that weeks ago in my tweaking I already made spiral bound books of the worksheets for copywork, state sheets and other notebooking pages I had planned to use so it would be ready to go. Since I had re-scheduled the reading to 1 chapter a day in each book vs the 1/2 chapter a day, I had to cut some copywork (but still had us doing it daily). Ughhh, so now I don't know if we will do it as is since I already invested the time and effort into making little bound books. I had forgotten about that.

 

Oh why oh why do I do this to myself???

 

Oh Kelli! I've done that with things too and then I agonize over whether to use my version or the original. I can't tell you how much paper and time I've wasted over the last few years. I ask myself all the time why oh why can't I just use things as is.

 

I've been looking at my POE this morning too. What I decided for myself when I was considering altering the way it was scheduled, was that these ladies spent a long time organizing the skills taught into an incremental progression and I was afraid that by altering that schedule, whether by taking things out or speeding things up too much, I would end up missing some skill or pushing the mastery of a skill too quickly. I decided that if I had to alter it that much then it wasn't a good fit and I would need to do something else.

 

This is exactly what happened with dd12. She is in 6th this year and was supposed to be doing POE also, at the highest level ofcoarse, but because I was having to alter it so much to account for her peculiar learning preferences, I ended up choosing different programs for her. I know you said that wasn't an option for you though.

 

Why were you trying to speed it up to begin with? Was is just that the reading was too slow for your dc or that you felt your dc would get bored with the same topic for 6 weeks? Doing it as scheduled, without tweaking, how long would you spend on it per day? What age dc are you using it with? If you want to share why you felt you needed to change it maybe I can help you brainstorm a solution. :001_smile:

[mom&nana]

Thanks Aime. You're right about it being well thought out, and laid out so skills progress at a reasonable rate. It makes sense to do it as is.

 

I'm glad you mentioned your dd who is 12. That's my dd's age as well. We did POE at the highest level and I think it was just too easy for her. Now, she's very weak in spelling and definitely needed to work on copywork and dictation since we had done very little of that before POE. The reading was too slow and easy for her. I can see that it will be a problem again. The first reader in POS is The Courage of Sarah Noble (that's the lowest level reader). She read that 3 years ago, so I wasn't going to make her do that again plus I think she'd find it babyish. When we were doing POE as is, I added in additional books (some from the Middle School Supplement and others from the library). The other reason I sped it up was because I can't stand reading 1/2 a chapter a day, it's a personal preference I know. Also my dd did mention that 6 weeks was too long. I felt that way somewhat, but I think it bothered her more than me. I just didn't like reading 1/2 a chapter a day.

 

I think that maybe this isn't the right program for her. It's my fault because I really underestimate her abilities. I'm coming to realize lately how much I have done that. I had her in PR 1-2, accelerating through. It was way too easy, she said it treated her like an idiot. I was just trying to make sure she really had the language arts down, and I really didn't imagine that it was too far below her, but I was wrong. I think it was a mix of my self doubt and constant worry about whether I'm a good enough teacher or not, and my perfectionist tendencies to make sure I've covered something extremely thoroughly.

 

I thought she struggled with writing, because during school to get her to write anything was like pulling teeth. Then I discover that she's been writing in some journals, these creative stories with characters she created.... Over 100+ pages in each of the 2 journals. I was completely floored. I had no idea because I can't get her to write anything for school without a lot of headache. So again, I underestimated her ability.

 

I just want to kick myself because I feel like I've made a poor choice again. <sigh> I think I'm going to either have to tweak this to death or try to find a way to afford something else. Thanks so much for talking it over with me. :)

[5LittleMonkeys]

I think that maybe this isn't the right program for her. It's my fault because I really underestimate her abilities. I'm coming to realize lately how much I have done that. I had her in PR 1-2, accelerating through. It was way too easy, she said it treated her like an idiot. I was just trying to make sure she really had the language arts down, and I really didn't imagine that it was too far below her, but I was wrong. I think it was a mix of my self doubt and constant worry about whether I'm a good enough teacher or not, and my perfectionist tendencies to make sure I've covered something extremely thoroughly.

 

I thought she struggled with writing, because during school to get her to write anything was like pulling teeth. Then I discover that she's been writing in some journals, these creative stories with characters she created.... Over 100+ pages in each of the 2 journals. I was completely floored. I had no idea because I can't get her to write anything for school without a lot of headache. So again, I underestimated her ability.

 

I just want to kick myself because I feel like I've made a poor choice again. <sigh> I think I'm going to either have to tweak this to death or try to find a way to afford something else. Thanks so much for talking it over with me. :)

 

What you are saying about your daughter sounds VERY familiar.;) Last year, near the beginning, dd made out like e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g was to difficult for her and made huge issues about writing assignments. Then I find all of these projects and writings that she has been working on. I knew she was doing little projects but I wasn't "allowed" to see them. Well, I did end up seeing them and they were pretty amazing. Hence we discovered that she learns best and will practice skills through projects and interests that mean something to her. Once I started giving her more control over how she learns, through what context the information is presented and skills practiced, she began to open up more and stopped hiding her abilities. She is a perfectionist too so I think that by making me think her abilities were lower she was protecting herself from work that might make her struggle or fail.

 

Anyway, enough about my dd. I think if I were in your shoes I would just chalk your decision up to a lesson learned (I've had many, many of those since I started homeschooling) and try to figure out where to go from here. Is there any way at all that you can use some different programs for her this year? I just don't know if you are going to get what she needs from the program if you are having to alter it so much. I can't remember, is she the only one using the program? If so, can you sell it? I'd buy it from you if I had the money, but alas, I'm over my program budget already.:tongue_smilie:

[mom&nana]

Wow, our dds sound very, very similar. I'm going to send you a PM. :)