heidip2p Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 We have spent a lot of time this year revamping things and changing things. I have tried to simplify our days the best I can for my own sanity. I still feel like there is not enough of me to go around. Here is our daily work load. 7th CLE Math CLE LA Bible copywork 30 minutes of reading Apologia General Science Winning with Writing MFW ECC 5th same as above 3rd same as above 1st CLE Math CLE LTR CLE LA Bible reading Book Basket reading He also does some of the ECC work with us Pre K CLE Math CLE LTR ETC This is only on days where he asks. We also have a 2.5 and 1 year old. I love CLE for both math and LA. We just switched this year so they all need help at points. The older 3 get stuck and once I explain it they are usually good to go. I know this will get easier the longer we use CLE. I love CLE. I just feel like I need to spend one on one time with each kiddo to make it run smooth. Which is fine. I just need 36 hour days. lol Apologia General science is awesome. All the kids jump in and we are keeping a lab-scrapbook of our experiments. MFW ECC---I love the iidea of studying the countries but I think we are all a little bored with it. I really wish we could find something more craft based for geography/history. Seems like hands on things stick much better with my crew. The other gap I have is Bible. We have a lot of character issues we are trying to focus on. I would love to find something we could do as a whole but that would really stick. Right now we do the 3R's in the morning and geography, bible and science in the afternoon. I have an 8 year old that challenges me....every.step.of.the day. We are both so frustrated. I also have a very chatty 11 year old who is hard to keep on task. Any ideas on what I can change to make things run a little better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 How about some habit training with the kids? I've had to work on mine (and I still am, LOL). I used housework with my 7 yo to work on his being distracted and whining. My 5 yo I've been working on prompt and cheerful obedience. (Tomato staking - keep them close so you can guide their behavior before big issues develop.) I would sit down and make a MOTH type schedule. Even if you don't intend to follow it, it might help you know if its mainly the kids behavior or if there is just to much to do in one day. We are going to do some things (drawing and science) on Saturday, just so we can relax more during the week. I also see you have a 2 year old. I wanted to say my 2 yo spent half the year blowing a big hole in my well laid plans. (Did you know you need a filter on the shop-vac to vacuum of baking soda from the carpet, otherwise you just have white walls?) I've actually moved things now so we school in the main room, where she can play while I watch her. I think having a 2yo just makes everything more difficult. Can the older kids switch on and off watching the little ones? (Also talked about in MOTH). Do the little ones have quiet time while you do geography and such? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandty Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 :iagree: with the PP. I was feeling like we weren't getting things done and kept getting further behind. It didn't matter how much I changed our school around. Some changes I made to our school days included making sure we had less appointments during school time. I also made a list of chores for my kids and when they are suppose to do them. I also made myself not do a lot of the housework during school time. I saved it for breaks and after school and only did stuff when both my kids where working independent at the same time. I asked my Dh to do something that I hated to do and took me a lot of time and stress during the day . . . . . the meal planning (I hate to cook). He plans dinner about 4-5 nights a week and cooks it about 4 nights a week too. I use this extra time to do my chores that I put off during the day (or relax on a very busy day). To tell you the truth, that was the biggest life saver and pulled me out of our rut of not having enough time in the day! I also made sure I went through our lesson plans on Sunday night and had everything I needed and ready to go for the week. These activities cleared up some much time during our day! I would try these things first and see if that helps. Best of luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 MFW ECC---I love the iidea of studying the countries but I think we are all a little bored with it. I really wish we could find something more craft based for geography/history. Seems like hands on things stick much better with my crew. Time Traveler's History Units The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide (you can get this cheaper at Amazon) along with Geography Through Art When I found myself constantly behind and feeling stretched too thin I realized that the only thing I could do was extend my school day. I teach from 8 to 4:30 or sometimes 5. With an hour lunch break that puts me in at 7.5 to 8 hours of actual one on one teaching. I have the older four babysit the youngest (and sometimes they include the 5yo) for an hour each so that I can work with the others one on one. Even the 5yo can play with and entertain the 3yo for an hour as long as I set up "adventures" for them each morning. I also utilize screen time either on the tv, computer or their iTouches a couple times a week for the two youngest. So, that's 4 hours of one on one. Then dd3 has about an hour with me in short blocks throughout the day and then 2 hours of rest time in the afternoon. Having to help out with the littles makes the day longer for the olders but they accept that it is just the way it is with a large family that homeschools. They really don't mind though because it gives them all an additional break during the day. I wanted to clarify that my 5yo and 8yo don't work until 4:30 in the afternoon. Ds5 is finished within two hours (1 one on one and 1 independent) in the morning unless he decides to sit in with dd8's activities in the afternoon. Dd8 works for 5 hours (3.5 one on one and 1.5 independent). She finishes by 2. Best Wishes in finding something that works for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Your 7th grader might like the Enchantment of the World series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julikins Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I don't have a big family and I don't feel like there's enough of me to stretch and take care of all my responsibilities. So, first of all, I admire you. God gave you all these wonderful blessings because He knows what a wonderful mother you are to them and that you will do your very best for them. I don't have any advice, except to keep praying for God's wisdom in your schedule. The MOTH schedule the pp mentioned, is that the Makers of the Home book? I really like that. I does help you break everything down and figure out where the problem is. I also found Exploration Earth by Confessions of a Homeschool Mother that added some crafting (lapbooks and minibooks) to our study of the countries, some songs and cooking, crafts, and other projects (like studying the 7 wonders of the world or other important geographical landmarks of the country your studying). It was $15 download and that's what I'm doing to add some variety with MFW ECC. I'm also trying to spend more time with the Geography Game because that's one of my main goals, familiarize my children with the locations of the countries so they know where we're talking about when we read about them later on. I've had to cut down a lot of the ECC stuff and condense it to one week per country to get done this year, but I'm making it a big priority to do it consistently. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Can you do some reading on the weekends from ECC and science? Open up your weekdays for basics and a light load of reading from geography and science so you'll feel less pressured? Maybe it can be adjusted somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 First off - Koodo's to you! - I have three (8, 5 and 2) and I feel like most days I am barely hanging by a thread! You rock!! In regards to Bible - we are currently looking for a family study that we can all do together, but haven't had any luck so far so I will be watching this thread. However, I did come across this recently: http://www.wechoosevirtues.com/shop Not sure if it is something that would work for you or not, but thought I'd mention it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertmum Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 What is MOTH? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidip2p Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Thank you all for your help. I have been thinking a lot about what changes we can make. For starters I need to relax. We have changed curr. a few times this year. It is going to take some time for everyone to get into a good groove. Right now we are doing the 3R's in the morning and all of our group stuff together in the afternoon. I am going to flip our day. I am going to do arts and carfts based on the country we are studying in the morning. I think even the little kids will enjoy this. I am also going to try to do our sceince experiments in the morning too. Our olderst is almost 13 and can handle most of it on her own. I think it will be fun for all of the kids to be a part of though. Then when the 2-3 little ones are sleeping I can work with the older 4 on the 3R's. Dh finishes work around 2-3 so he can jump in and help too. I am trying to do it all on my own because I feel like so many other moms can. For now, I will take whatever help we can get. I am also going to add in some character study. This is much needed for all of our family. I am going to start our day with this. I am also going to make one of those cool breakfast boards. I have wanted to add in circle time but have hardly any wall space to share. This will Hoping these changes help make our days run a little better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I recently felt this way. One of the things I have done is to combine subjects. For example, I will pull from one of their readings for their copywork, dictation, writing, and spelling. Everything just felt very disjointed when we had a different book for each subject. I have also started the loop schedule this semester and so far it is going great! We do our daily assignments first which are Bible and math. Then we start on our loop. After lunch the kids have 1 hour of quiet time where they do most of their reading. They have 30 minutes history 3 x a week, 30 minutes science 2x a week, and literature 30 minutes daily. They can get 2 reading done during quiet time. They also have 30 minutes before their bedtime to read so they can compete anything not finished earlier in the day. Most days we are done by 2:30 and that includes lunch and quiet time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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