Rigor thread for larger families with lots of littles...

[2squared]

I have been reading the rigor threads, and I am getting demotivated. Many, if not most, of the families posting have either small families or no little bodies creating chaos. If you have a larger family with many littles, how do you define rigor? How does it look in your house?

 

We vacillate between relaxed and rigorous. I have a lot of little bodies to take care of, and my school aged kiddos still need a lot of one-on-one time. We put a high value on everyone having large chunks of free time to pursue/develop interests, so I do put selective limits on formal school time.

 

I have settled into hitting the 3Rs fairly well, which means making forward progress consistently, and letting the content come via life or independent reading. We don't do any projects or experiments and few field trips, and I am perfectly OK with that in this season of life.

 

Next year my kids will be in 5th, 3rd, 1st/K, PreK, and 2yo. I am hoping the youngest's schedule will somewhat stabilize and he will consistently sleep through the night so our school days can be more predictable and productive.

 

Any wisdom or further thoughts from those in similar family situations? Anyone live through this season of many littles with rigorous schooling for the not-so-independent olders?

[thessa516]

:bigear:

 

I'm in this season with little ones, too. I'm very interested to know what others are doing in regards to rigor.

 

A few things I do:

 

#1. I plan out the year, so that I know we will accomplish our learning goals. It's all too easy to let this or that little thing slide, so this is helping. It's not perfect, but it's better this year.

 

#2. I require any mistakes be corrected. For example, a math worksheet is not finished until all mistakes have been corrected. Sometimes it has taken several re-tries, but that's okay. It lets me know that I may need to reteach.

 

#3. No TV or Computer time during the week. On a very rare occasion I'll allow an educational video. TV and computer is for the weekend (uhhh, except for Mommy "researching" on the WTM boards. :tongue_smilie: )

 

My children are still young, so I'm hoping to instill some great habits that will result in a great education as they get to more challenging subjects.

[SweetandSimple]

My family isn't too large yet... we're expecting #4, but I'm starting to learn that I really have to focus on what is MOST important for our family, and not worry about what other families are doing. I've had to let a lot of things go this year, and that's okay. Simpler is better, I've found.

[Colleen in NS]

I have been reading the rigor threads, and I am getting demotivated. Many, if not most, of the families posting have either small families or no little bodies creating chaos. If you have a larger family with many littles, how do you define rigor? How does it look in your house?

 

Please don't get demotivated! :) I thought about this when I posted my thread - but I also hoped families of all sizes with kids of all ages would post their own personal stories coming from their own definitions. I wanted it to be an encouraging thread.

 

I have settled into hitting the 3Rs fairly well, which means making forward progress consistently, and letting the content come via life or independent reading.

 

And see, I think this is amazing of you with having five kids ages 9 and under. When my kids were younger, on top of the 3R's, I tried to put in formal studies of science/history/literature because I loved the idea of it from the WTM book. Looking back, I realize I didn't need to be so intense about formal studies of the content subjects. It sounds to me like you are fulfilling your own version of "rigourous," within your own circumstances. IMO, the 3Rs are *really important* to future learning. And they take up more time as kids get older. This is why I won't do three-hour history sessions and two-hour science sessions per week anymore - I want my kids to still have plenty of down time, even as the 3Rs grow. ;)

 

And, I know there are other families on here who consider themselves rigourous who have several children. Some of the people I admire the most here are ones who have many kids, and consistently did the 3Rs which paved the way to massive content learning as their kids got older (8filltheheart and momsinthegarden immediately come to mind, but there are many more).

 

I admire people like you who seem to have laser-focus when it comes to prioritizing.

[2squared]

And see, I think this is amazing of you with having five kids ages 9 and under. When my kids were younger, on top of the 3R's, I tried to put in formal studies of science/history/literature because I loved the idea of it from the WTM book. Looking back, I realize I didn't need to be so intense about formal studies of the content subjects. It sounds to me like you are fulfilling your own version of "rigourous," within your own circumstances. IMO, the 3Rs are *really important* to future learning. And they take up more time as kids get older. This is why I won't do three-hour history sessions and two-hour science sessions per week anymore - I want my kids to still have plenty of down time, even as the 3Rs grow. ;)

 

And, I know there are other families on here who consider themselves rigourous who have several children. Some of the people I admire the most here are ones who have many kids, and consistently did the 3Rs which paved the way to massive content learning as their kids got older (8filltheheart and momsinthegarden immediately come to mind, but there are many more).

 

I admire people like you who seem to have laser-focus when it comes to prioritizing.

 

Thank you for the kind words. I need to stop reading anything with the word "rigor" in the title. Some of those posts make me want to cry, and they all make me jealous of smaller families. I think we are rigorous within our little world, but our world seems so much different than what I read on the rigor threads.

[2squared]

#2. I require any mistakes be corrected. For example, a math worksheet is not finished until all mistakes have been corrected. Sometimes it has taken several re-tries, but that's okay. It lets me know that I may need to reteach.

 

My children are still young, so I'm hoping to instill some great habits that will result in a great education as they get to more challenging subjects.

 

This general area is a bit of a challenge for me. I see that my olders need some better habits at sitting, concentrating, and getting through their material. We are so used to getting interrupted by crying babies, toddler butt wiping, sib bickering, and other little kid needs that being interrupted seems to be a habit. It's almost as though our habit is to look for the interruption rather than to concentrate.

[2squared]

I admire people like you who seem to have laser-focus when it comes to prioritizing.

 

Sorry for the serial posting, but I have to :D at this comment. You are sweet to say that I have laser-focus when all I really have is a drive to survive. :lol:

[frogger]

I want to encourage you. Every family has it's own challenges and benefits. Small families can give their children more individual attention and that is a great benefit but I have also found that children from large families get the benefit of learning to work independently. They also get the benefit of learning to work together, to help each other, and to share. Of course, all these things can be facilitated in smaller families but I think it takes more dedication by the parents to make sure it happens just like it takes a ton of work for us just to get the basics crammed into our day. I am currently taking care of my four year old nephew who happens to be the same age as my youngest and the differences are astounding. Of course, a lot of it is just genetics but he also starts changing after staying in my home for just a few days. He learned his alphabet and numbers way earlier than my son but my son could get his own food, put on his outdoor gear, dress himself, and other daily things completely on his own earlier.

 

I focus on brand new math concepts (which honestly is seldom), Latin(and I started this when they were older), and some writing or reading but they learn most history and science on their own with reading or we all learn together with read alouds, poetry, and working on the house, garden or cooking. They also learn a lot of science during cooking, working on the house, and working on vehicles with Dad. It may not be what everyone else does, but it works for us.

Edited February 6, 2012 by frogger

[frogger]

My husband recently read a study that the average I.T. worker gets an average of 6 minutes of uninterrupted work at a time. I realize every profession is different but if you can teach your children to keep working while you leave or to help you and quickly get back on track than they will have a great advantage in most of the work force. That being said, I don't think that young children will have the easiest time with that. I don't expect it much, but I hope they do gain in their ability, little by little, to work through interruptions

Edited February 6, 2012 by frogger

[swellmomma]

I have been reading the rigor threads, and I am getting demotivated. Many, if not most, of the families posting have either small families or no little bodies creating chaos. If you have a larger family with many littles, how do you define rigor? How does it look in your house?

 

We vacillate between relaxed and rigorous. I have a lot of little bodies to take care of, and my school aged kiddos still need a lot of one-on-one time. We put a high value on everyone having large chunks of free time to pursue/develop interests, so I do put selective limits on formal school time.

 

I have settled into hitting the 3Rs fairly well, which means making forward progress consistently, and letting the content come via life or independent reading. We don't do any projects or experiments and few field trips, and I am perfectly OK with that in this season of life.

 

Next year my kids will be in 5th, 3rd, 1st/K, PreK, and 2yo. I am hoping the youngest's schedule will somewhat stabilize and he will consistently sleep through the night so our school days can be more predictable and productive.

 

Any wisdom or further thoughts from those in similar family situations? Anyone live through this season of many littles with rigorous schooling for the not-so-independent olders?

 

I posted in the rigor thread how it looks in my family. As I said in that post compared to the rigorous families on this forum my family looks lazy. But I have lots of little ones here ( not just my own but daycare kids too) and due to the kids special needs none of them are independant workers yet. The way that rigor is displayed in our home is not by the quantity of output, or the number of hours we school, or the number of subjects we cover, but by the expectations I have of the kids to to their very best work in all that they do. Because of the kids issues and the number of little ones, we do not have a set school schedule, instead we go with the flow of the day BUT I make sure the kids are challenged, are working to their full ability and striving to surpass their perceived abilities. I think that we have a decent (though far from perfect) balance between meeting the needs of the littles while still challenging the bigs. In addition for the younger years I follow better late than early and less is more. From pre-K to about 3-4th grade I keep school very low key and very fun. Grade 3/4-6th In increase expectations and lay down the law more. Gr 7 and up I have high expectations of the quality of work produced. We do not do 8 hours of school a day, some days we do none, but when we get down to it there is no denying in my mind that we are rigorous in our approach.

 

For the littles I do pre-K/totschool with them while the bigs do math etc. THen the littles are happy to play independantly for a while because they had so much undivided time with me. At that point I can get into more indepth topics with the bigs. For example I was teaching my oldest about the parts of literary analysis and the structure of a story, the littles had just finished preK time, and my 2nd grader was ready for a break. So all the little ones played in the next room with my 2nd grader and I was able to have the time to go over all of that in depth with my oldest. After a subect like that that challenges him, he takes a short break to regroup and I do a fast activity with the littles, like a song or finger play or read a book etc. Something to give them my time again and then they are happy to play some more while I teach the next thing to the bigs. Make sense?

[....]

Thank you for the kind words. I need to stop reading anything with the word "rigor" in the title. Some of those posts make me want to cry, and they all make me jealous of smaller families. I think we are rigorous within our little world, but our world seems so much different than what I read on the rigor threads.

 

I said this on another thread...I have a BFF who was doing too much "rigor comparison" and she ended up feeling bad about their homeschool and putting her kids back in ps. Turns out, the ps said that her kids had been doing great and were exactly where they were supposed to be. I also thought she was doing a great job.

 

I like to help people on the curriculum board if they are looking for something like "what kind of dictation exercises are in ILL", but I think we shouldn't stick too many "rigor labels" on programs (Singapore math comes to mind - yeah, sure, it's rigorous...but, if it's not a good program for your family, it can be a disaster).

 

You can always check back in TWTM to make sure you are covering what's important (if you're trying to follow WTM).

 

Also, alot of people have special needs kids... I have two of them, so our homeschool is probably not going to look like other people's.

 

BTW, I'm also teaching a 10 yro, 9 yro, 7 yro and 4 yro. ;) It IS very difficult.

[runmiarun]

Thank you for the kind words. I need to stop reading anything with the word "rigor" in the title. Some of those posts make me want to cry, and they all make me jealous of smaller families. I think we are rigorous within our little world, but our world seems so much different than what I read on the rigor threads.

 

 

I think you hit the nail on the head with your quote above that I highlighted by bolding. I have 4, ages 6 and under. Rigorous for us can sometimes change daily and hourly. Within our compound (as we call it), we are quite rigorous. To outsiders, it sometimes looks like unschooling, laziness, extremely rigorous, or fun. I've learned to make sure we get our 3R's in for the 2 oldest (6 and 4) who are doing 1st and pre-k while the 2 littles (2 and 1) nap. This past week, the 1 year old has been teething and afflicted with an ear infection so any rigor I desired went out the door thanks to 2 hours of sleep per night.

 

From over here, my only wisdom is to just keep plugging along. Some days my greatest accomplishment is that we made it supper without blood or ambulance rides. Other days, my oldest has several full sheets of copy work, math problems, and memorization to share at the supper table.

[Colleen in NS]

Thank you for the kind words. I need to stop reading anything with the word "rigor" in the title. Some of those posts make me want to cry, and they all make me jealous of smaller families. I think we are rigorous within our little world, but our world seems so much different than what I read on the rigor threads.

 

You need this: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/school-at-my-house/

 

Read all the links in it, too. :D

 

Sorry for the serial posting, but I have to :D at this comment. You are sweet to say that I have laser-focus when all I really have is a drive to survive. :lol:

 

:lol: Nothing like a drive to survive to focus that laser, though! See, those of us who have smaller families sometimes look for other things to fill our time, and then we obsess over things such as "ohmygoodness, we need to get to all those IMPORTANT MAPS in the MapTrek program that goes so nicely with SOTW!!!" or "Oh no, we only got around to narrating just ONE section of the SOTW chapter this week, and not both - HOW WILL WE CATCH UP???" :lol: Trust me, you are doing a great job with consistently doing the 3Rs. And if the reading R contains some history/science/literature, and you talk about the reading, and you throw in some experiments or maps every once in awhile, you will set a great background for future work.

[Carrie12345]

In my house (currently a 4th grader, a 3rd grader, a 4yo and a toddling 1yo), the content is rigorous. The EXECUTION is more relaxed/eclectic/lax/chaotic/casual/sporatic/random, depending on the day. :lol:

[JudoMom]

Thank you for the kind words. I need to stop reading anything with the word "rigor" in the title. Some of those posts make me want to cry, and they all make me jealous of smaller families. I think we are rigorous within our little world, but our world seems so much different than what I read on the rigor threads.

 

When my baby turned 4, our schooling world changed (for the better). I'm able to use some of the programs and ideas that were unreachable when I had babies and toddlers. Sometimes I get sad and regret the time that wasn't up to the standards I'd hoped and dreamed, but just as often I get sad and regret that I wasn't able to relax and enjoy the ride. Do the best you can do with your family dynamics, and keep plodding along as consistently as possible. And enjoy it. :grouphug:

[CalicoKat]

:bigear:

 

I'm in this season with little ones, too. I'm very interested to know what others are doing in regards to rigor.

 

A few things I do:

 

#1. I plan out the year, so that I know we will accomplish our learning goals. It's all too easy to let this or that little thing slide, so this is helping. It's not perfect, but it's better this year.

 

#2. I require any mistakes be corrected. For example, a math worksheet is not finished until all mistakes have been corrected. Sometimes it has taken several re-tries, but that's okay. It lets me know that I may need to reteach.

 

#3. No TV or Computer time during the week. On a very rare occasion I'll allow an educational video. TV and computer is for the weekend (uhhh, except for Mommy "researching" on the WTM boards. :tongue_smilie: )

 

My children are still young, so I'm hoping to instill some great habits that will result in a great education as they get to more challenging subjects.

 

:iagree: and

#4. Each kid has a weekly planner "To Do" for their school work. And they know that the work has to be done no matter what interruptions happen. (unless they're fevered, vomiting, or sick)

 

It was hard to get my kids to understand that in regards to their school work there if very few excuses acceptable for NOT getting it done. They're homeschooled and have a ton of time and freedom in arranging their schedule.

 

They take it on the road, they do it in their bedrooms at night after they've been tucked in, they can get up early and do it too. No electronics though until after everyone's done for the day. It's too distracting for the rest.

 

Personally I teach history, science (k-6), and Bible. And I'm available for personal tutoring in the other subjects between 9-3:30. It didn't work to schedule time for each. Something would come up or a little would need attention and then their time would be over and so would their concentration. I make notes in their planner to "see me" for certain lessons.

[mommaduck]

We have a large family. We have littles. We had to give up on rigor, especially since we are now in a smaller home where there is nowhere else for the littles to play that doesn't disturb the older kids. And, no, they cannot be trusted alone, at all. I can't even trust them to go to the bathroom alone. They get into EVERYTHING. And we are limited on closets (built when closets weren't a priority) and places that the older kids can put their special things (no shelves in the closets). So the littles have to stay in the small living room that is connected to the small dining room, where the olders do their schoolwork, because I have to have them in eyesight also or they will try to fudge their schoolwork. And all this is not due to lack of training in integrity and character values. It's due to the fact that they are kids.

[Mom25girls]

In agreement with previous posters. At our house, the rigor is challenged by the amount of time available and the number of students who require help at one given time. It helps me to remember that everything is a season and the only constant is that change happens. What works one quarter of the school year doesn't work for the next. There are curricula that is more conducive to homeschools with larger populations. For some families, it helps to schedule "more teacher intensive" periods for some students while others work/take a break/have a snack. For me, I'd rather start the day with intensity and then take a deep breath and cruise through the day. For us, that means that everyone does math first. It can be a little "intense" (EUPHAMISM ALERT!), but as the girls have learned that EVERYONE gets helped, they have become more relaxed about waiting (and...learning how to fill the waiting time productively).When the girls were younger, "Sometimes sisters need to wait" was a mantra during the school day. I think that the term "Rigor" when applied to young children is often misunderstood. Teaching a love of learning and a solid foundation produces curious, joyfilled learners who mature into students more capable of handling rigorous schedules.

[Renee in NC]

It gets much, much easier as they get older. Now that I only have 1 preschooler, the interruptions are lessening, and the amount we are able to get done is increasing.

[J-rap]

I don't have little children anymore, but at one point, I had five children 6 yrs and under.

When my kids were all little, we didn't focus as much on challenging academics as we did on just setting up good work habits. What we did, we did well and always followed through with it. I tried to challenge them to think out of the box, be creative. We did some fun, creative stuff that the kids enjoyed and which helped them look at education more positively.

It wasn't until later years that we pushed the more challenging stuff, when they were then ready to take it on quite independently, had learned self-motivation, knew how to follow through with a project, and enjoyed putting a creative twist to things.

[FO4UR]

I have settled into hitting the 3Rs fairly well, which means making forward progress consistently, and letting the content come via life or independent reading. We don't do any projects or experiments and few field trips, and I am perfectly OK with that in this season of life.

 

 

 

I have no grand words of wisdom, but the bit I quoted above is the core of a great education.

 

Every choice has a cost. You have lots of littles. Every moment has to be juggled between school and babies. Both are important. It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job with both. That is simply amazing!!! :001_smile:

 

 

Planning for when your dc get a little older is a good healthy thing. You can't delve into *rigor* without those core 3R's firmly in place...so let that be your motivation.

[BlsdMama]

I've been in this "season" for a while now. 2004 was a particularly blurry year, lol, TWO new babies that year. :)

 

I don't think it is ever easy, but you do start to figure out where you get the most valuable return. For instance, I read an article on the Bluedorn site (Ten Things to do Before Age Ten) and it started me thinking about how I "do" math here. We now no longer do formal math before fourth grade. So far, so good.

 

I have had to choose between curriculums I love and curriculums that GET DONE because they are less teacher intensive. So I do not use FLL despite loving it, instead we use R&S.

 

I know beyond any shadow of doubt, my time is best spent reading aloud and laying the foundation ftie kids who will drink books, good books, like water. Narrations and dictations arw a priority. Science is not until high school. I cannot do all things. But I can do the things I choose to do well. :) You simply cannot read aloud enough. It is the best tool you could do to improve their WRITING ability, moreso than any curriculum.

 

I will also add, personally, middle school is where schooling requires the most effort. Hough schopl is easier. I can say that schooling has changed significantly since dd#1 was little. I did more and had more to show for our school day. However, it was simply more... Not better. Read the Bluedorn article. Read A Thomas Jefferson Education by Demille. Then go read GREAT books to your kiddos. ;)

[mommymilkies]

This is something I struggle with, personally. And wow, you all are so motivating!

 

I have a big schedule I made up with post-it notes so that we can rearrange things as needed. I have a weekly grid of what stories/work I want to get done that week, but I just cross off what was done when we do it so that I can see what we're behind on but that way I also know we're making progress.

 

I also work with the littles first in the day after Circle Time and reading. I do include them in all of our history and science because big flashy experiments and art projects are fun for them. I admit I don't always get more than math done every day, but at least we are making progress there. It's been a tough year. I had a hurt back, ear surgery, and a new baby. I haven't always gotten much of anything done and I've been in constant pain. I feel like I missed out on the past year just trying to keep it rigorous here, and I really regret that.

[BlsdMama]

Btw, you'll also be surprised at what your little folds pick up from the big kids. We were shopping Saturday and Becca was using her birthday money to get a super sassy sticker book. I laughed out loud when she remembered that was a good example of alliteration. :) Sittng within listening distance of the big kids lessons is great! :)