So overwhelmed-please help me cut some things out

[meggie]

I'm feeling very frustrated with myself. I had found a good routine for all the basics, then I added in science and geography and am very overwhelmed. Not to mention the fact that Digby is a psycho-toddler :willy_nilly: and Chuck is starting to walk :svengo:

 

The new routine I had planned for was to do schooling on Mondays and Tuesdays, take Wednesdays off for cleaning and errands and do school again on Thursdays and Fridays.

 

Here's all the stuff I had thought we could accomplish:

 

(Daily)

Devotional-Consists of a song, memory work, reading a chapter of scripture (we usually alternate reading), and reading a few paragraphs about our gospel doctrine.

 

Math-I usually plan on two pages of math from MUS, but lately he's been fighting it and only one page gets done. I am ok with this, but he pitches a huge fit if I make him quit early.

 

Language Arts-WWE 1. He was doing pretty well until he wanted to learn cursive. Now he wants to do WWE in cursive. I tried to help him, but he just doesn't have the solid foundation yet. I try to show it on another paper, but he needs a lot more practice on it. Again, I'm fine not doing it, but he pitches a fit when we don't.

 

FLL-We usually just do one lesson a day and it used to be the last one he wanted to do, so it was skipped frequently. Now he's asking to do it so he can get out of math. Which I would be fine with, but if I had to pick one subject to cut, this would be the first to go.

 

HW: We just practice cursive letters everyday with pages I printed off StartWrite. He always wants to do more, but I make him stop when he starts getting sloppy. I figure that's a signal his hand is getting tired? :confused: Again he pitches a fit.

 

AAS: I was trying to catch up with his ability but still go through all the rules. This meant I was doing A LOT of spelling in one day. He kind of balked at that. So instead of doing 1 step in 1 day, I've broken down each step into the four days. This seems to be going a lot smoother for him. He still fiddles around with the tiles :smash:

 

Science: He loves science. He wants to do it everyday. Since it's not one of the three R's, I have it scheduled for twice a week. I would be fine skipping it for now, but apparently it's his favorite.

 

Geography: It's scheduled for twice a week, but we never even get to it.

 

I'm also making him do a coloring page and scissor work (I draw lines on a piece of paper and he has to cut them) every day. He likes these.

 

Read alouds aren't really happening right now and I feel like such a failure. It's hard to read when the other two are running around screaming. We do all our seat work when baby girl is taking her nap. I can't really get much done during Digby's nap because I have to lay down with him to get him to sleep.

 

Anytime I bring out the timer on my cell phone, Pigby freaks out! He hates the darn thing.

 

Please help me figure out what to cut. There's just too much. He's not enjoying it anymore.

[iafrmgrl77]

Wow! That is a lot for that age! I'm not saying that is a bad thing, but I know I couldn't get it done with my four! I have had some years where I have literally had to stick to the three R's plus some great readers and read-alouds (history, science, just fun...all sorts of topics). If it were me, I would be cutting out a lot of those extras, but I know it is different for every family. Just do NOT stress out about getting it ALL done! :)

[LillyMama]

This may not be the thing you're looking at as the most important, but I highly recommend getting a Time Timer:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Timer-LLC-8%2522-Inch/dp/B000J5OFW0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338346235&sr=8-1

 

It's one of my best investments in all of parenting, not just homeschooling. It's QUIET and visual and, very importantly, sturdy.

 

As to the curriculum- that would be way too much seat work and writing for my 6.5 son, especially all in a row. If you're doing it in the order you listed, I would recommend splitting things up. I found success when I read our narration book over breakfast, cleared the table, and immediately do the narration of the day. Then we do chores and have play time. Then we do our calendar time, and my kids bounce on a Bosu ball while doing their memory work. Move, move, move whenever we can. We break up our math and phonics between seat work, computer work and games. They're flying through their stuff, I think because they're not getting burned out with any one thing.

 

I don't know MUS well, but can you replace a page with games? I have books of math games that I get out to do manipulative games instead of worksheets. But I had to make peace with leaving pages in their workbooks blank. That was hard for my check-list oriented brain. ;) But I found the games were much more effective anyway.

 

My kids read and write way beyond where we are in AAS but I keep them at one-two lessons a week. I figure it's review and foundation building. Maybe slow down in that, like you did, and let him be a master of it so you have at least one thing you're not fighting and pushing him on.

 

My personal opinion, for my kids, is that formal handwriting is less necessary once we started WWE. I think you could either 1) tell him he can do cursive during HW time, but he must print for WWE (because he needs to be practicing that still) or 2) not do handwriting every day. Honestly, my kids got halfway through HWOT 1st grade book in January and we haven't picked it up since. Their handwriting is improving through copywork in WWE, so I'm content with that. I know cursive is a different issue, but he's pretty young for cursive, slowing down on that wouldn't really hurt him at all.

 

The only other thing I can think of is that it sounds like he's pitching fits when you make him stop something when he's not ready. My son likes having a checklist every day- I print one from HST+ every day, with times. We rarely actually follow the times listed, but it helps me say, "We're half hour behind on math, see, so we're just going to do one page." Or, with the timer I posted above, you can say, "We're going to do math for 15 minutes, let's get as much done as we can." My son's always been one of those that wants to know what's ahead, so having a plan he can see helped us a lot.

 

Hang in there!!

[Hunter]

Never mind with children, but with my adult tutoring students, sometimes I need to be the boss, and it doesn't matter what PIECES they INSIST on trying to MASH into something that does NOT work as a WHOLE. It's hard I know. Sometimes I really try to please them. BUT, when it is NOT working, WE have to take control, and look at the big picture.

 

I've found that transitioning to cursive is a big deal. It can change EVERYTHING. I'm using McGuffey's Readers because it has a controlled word list, so all the reading lessons only contain words that were already introduced in previous lessons or are in the word study lesson for the current lesson. So I can teach the cursive and spelling for each word as we go along. I have been discovering all sorts of WONDERFUL resources for doing "word studies". Spelling and word studies lessons mix better than composition, with new cursive skills. Right now for composition, I'm just doing copywork, dictation, oral work, and basic sentence patterns. Until the handwriting gets settled there is no way to work through most writing curricula.

 

Can you find any books on tape for science and geography, that he can read along with a book? Or videos? I'm guessing it's the hands in that he loves about science though? What about some bathtub science topics? Do they all bathe together? With the nice weather can you do anything for geography with sand molding? What about just drawing from Draw Write Now for geography? Not the maps, but just the biomes and land forms, for now.

Edited May 30, 2012 by Hunter

[Hunter]

And for the math, what about mostly concentrating on math speed drills for now?

 

I'm focusing on straight arithmetic and speed drills. A couple weeks ago I started teaching "strategies" and am just getting my act together to start serious drilling of those strategies. I got some cheap workbooks from Scholastic that had some strategies and lots of drill pages. I'm hoping to invest in some Professor B and RightStart resources in June. I signed up for a month of online Professor B and have some more strategies to add to the workbook strategies.

 

I need a very NARROW focus in math right now. Yes, I do conceptual work, but I have a narrow list of topics to teach concepts and strategies for, to cut down on teaching time. Also drill work goes faster than practicing a new concept.

[MerryAtHope]

I too think I'd use some kind of time limits (just not with your cell phone timer!). You could possibly cut either FLL or WWE--not sure both are necessary for a 6 yo. AAS is only meant to be 15-20 minutes a day, so I think you were wise to go to smaller chunks. There's no rush, by the end of 7 they are spelling at a high school level, even though it starts out super easy. Let him learn it little by little.

 

One thing that stands out to me in your post is that your little one won't nap without you and your son pitches fits when he doesn't like how things are going with school. You are going to be one exhausted mom! Now is a good age to start working with them to pare down this kind of behavior. I know it isn't easy and some kids are tougher than others. But if he has a sense of thinking that even sometimes his fits affect how things are run (even if you don't feel you are giving in--if he just *thinks* you are), then these will continue.

 

One way you can work on this with your son is to let him know the expectations ahead of time. You can do this with the timer, or by only showing him one page etc... Workboxes are also a great way to give them structure and let them know exactly what's expected. When the work in that box is done, you go on to the next box.

 

When he consistently does the work you lay out for him with a good attitude, then you could consider letting him know that he can sometimes do another page as long as he still has a good attitude. When mine would pitch a fit, I used to send him or her to their rooms to get self control and then come back to apologize and try again. But if it happened more than a couple of times, I just put school away for the day and said we'd try again the next day. Then we did some chores and played some games etc... Quietly, gently, but firmly let him know you're in charge.

 

Read-alouds--we have done these at different times. Some years we did them while the kids ate breakfast or lunch or as a before resttime routine, other times (and still now) it became the before bedtime routine. Maybe experiment with different times to see what might work. But...don't beat yourself up over it, some seasons are just tough, and it won't always be this way. Your children are all young yet :).

 

Hang in there! Merry :-)

[meggie]

This may not be the thing you're looking at as the most important, but I highly recommend getting a Time Timer:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Timer-LLC-8%2522-Inch/dp/B000J5OFW0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338346235&sr=8-1

 

It's one of my best investments in all of parenting, not just homeschooling. It's QUIET and visual and, very importantly, sturdy. Thanks, I'll look into this. Part of the reason he hates the timer is because I use it when we're cleaning. The threat of toys being donated to the thrift store if they aren't picked up when the timer goes off is what makes him so mad.

 

As to the curriculum- that would be way too much seat work and writing for my 6.5 son, especially all in a row. If you're doing it in the order you listed, I would recommend splitting things up. I found success when I read our narration book over breakfast, cleared the table, and immediately do the narration of the day. Then we do chores and have play time. Then we do our calendar time, and my kids bounce on a Bosu ball while doing their memory work. Move, move, move whenever we can. We break up our math and phonics between seat work, computer work and games. They're flying through their stuff, I think because they're not getting burned out with any one thing. We do take lots of breaks. He usually asks for one. Coming back to work after taking one is hard. I will try to get him to move more while doing some things.

 

I don't know MUS well, but can you replace a page with games? I have books of math games that I get out to do manipulative games instead of worksheets. But I had to make peace with leaving pages in their workbooks blank. That was hard for my check-list oriented brain. ;) But I found the games were much more effective anyway. Do you have any ideas for math games. I've been trying to think of a way to review the math facts, but without the flashcards. He hates the flashcards. Unfortunately, I'm not all that creative and can't think of a good alternative.

 

My kids read and write way beyond where we are in AAS but I keep them at one-two lessons a week. I figure it's review and foundation building. Maybe slow down in that, like you did, and let him be a master of it so you have at least one thing you're not fighting and pushing him on.

 

My personal opinion, for my kids, is that formal handwriting is less necessary once we started WWE. I think you could either 1) tell him he can do cursive during HW time, but he must print for WWE (because he needs to be practicing that still) or 2) not do handwriting every day. Honestly, my kids got halfway through HWOT 1st grade book in January and we haven't picked it up since. Their handwriting is improving through copywork in WWE, so I'm content with that. I know cursive is a different issue, but he's pretty young for cursive, slowing down on that wouldn't really hurt him at all. Yes, we had stopped handwriting instruction when he got really good at writing in print. Then he started noticing cursive in the world around him and wanted to learn. So we were using WWE mostly for HW practice and I'd teach him a letter in cursive. The fit he pitched in WWE was because he couldn't do it in cursive so I tried to get him to do it in print. He refused so I put it away for the day and he burst into tears.

 

The only other thing I can think of is that it sounds like he's pitching fits when you make him stop something when he's not ready. My son likes having a checklist every day- I print one from HST+ every day, with times. We rarely actually follow the times listed, but it helps me say, "We're half hour behind on math, see, so we're just going to do one page." Or, with the timer I posted above, you can say, "We're going to do math for 15 minutes, let's get as much done as we can." My son's always been one of those that wants to know what's ahead, so having a plan he can see helped us a lot. I thought him dilly dallying was a sign to make him quit. I'd give him a few warnings, he'd get angry/upset, I'd give him a few more minutes, nothing more got done, so instead of fight about it, I'd just put it away, he'd cry. *sigh* This parenting thing is so hard to figure out. I'll give the timer thing a try. Maybe if I explain it when he's not upset, he'll be more willing to go with the flow. Thank you for all your help.

 

Hang in there!!

 

Never mind with children, but with my adult tutoring students, sometimes I need to be the boss, and it doesn't matter what PIECES they INSIST on trying to MASH into something that does NOT work as a WHOLE. It's hard I know. Sometimes I really try to please them. BUT, when it is NOT working, WE have to take control, and look at the big picture. Ok, I am ready to take control.

 

I've found that transitioning to cursive is a big deal. It can change EVERYTHING. I'm using McGuffey's Readers because it has a controlled word list, so all the reading lessons only contain words that were already introduced in previous lessons or are in the word study lesson for the current lesson. So I can teach the cursive and spelling for each word as we go along. I have been discovering all sorts of WONDERFUL resources for doing "word studies". Right now for composition, I'm just doing copywork, dictation, oral work, and basic sentence patterns. Until the handwriting gets settled there is no way to work through most writing curricula. His practice for learning cursive is tracing the spelling words from AAS. Should I get McGuffey Readers too? I had thought that quitting WWE would be best if he wasn't going to practice his manuscript. But then I wonder if I should somehow force him to do it so that he keeps his manuscript legible until his cursive is better. But then I noticed that his manuscript is less legible and he's struggling with it more now that he's learning cursive. And now I'm just not sure what to do.

 

Can you find any books on tape for science and geography, that he can read along with a book? I can try to find some. Or videos? I do have lots of these. I suppose I should stop worrying about going out of WTM order? My type A personality is worried about showing him a physics video when we're supposed to be on biology. I'm guessing it's the hands in that he loves about science though? Hmmmm....it's not very hands on. It's Elemental Science and we just read the page about the animal and he draws a picture and narrates a sentence and I write it down. What about some bathtub science topics? I don't know what these are, can you elaborate? Do they all bathe together? No, they don't. With the nice weather can you do anything for geography with sand molding? I don't know what this is either. What about just drawing from Draw Write Now for geography? I will look try to see if I can find a copy of this, I'm not familiar with this either. Not the maps, but just the biomes and land forms, for now.

 

 

Thank you for your help, my responses in red.

[meggie]

I too think I'd use some kind of time limits (just not with your cell phone timer!). You could possibly cut either FLL or WWE--not sure both are necessary for a 6 yo. AAS is only meant to be 15-20 minutes a day, so I think you were wise to go to smaller chunks. There's no rush, by the end of 7 they are spelling at a high school level, even though it starts out super easy. Let him learn it little by little.

 

One thing that stands out to me in your post is that your little one won't nap without you and your son pitches fits when he doesn't like how things are going with school. You are going to be one exhausted mom! Now is a good age to start working with them to pare down this kind of behavior. I know it isn't easy and some kids are tougher than others. But if he has a sense of thinking that even sometimes his fits affect how things are run (even if you don't feel you are giving in--if he just *thinks* you are), then these will continue.

 

One way you can work on this with your son is to let him know the expectations ahead of time. You can do this with the timer, or by only showing him one page etc... Workboxes are also a great way to give them structure and let them know exactly what's expected. When the work in that box is done, you go on to the next box.

 

When he consistently does the work you lay out for him with a good attitude, then you could consider letting him know that he can sometimes do another page as long as he still has a good attitude. When mine would pitch a fit, I used to send him or her to their rooms to get self control and then come back to apologize and try again. But if it happened more than a couple of times, I just put school away for the day and said we'd try again the next day. Then we did some chores and played some games etc... Quietly, gently, but firmly let him know you're in charge.

 

Read-alouds--we have done these at different times. Some years we did them while the kids ate breakfast or lunch or as a before resttime routine, other times (and still now) it became the before bedtime routine. Maybe experiment with different times to see what might work. But...don't beat yourself up over it, some seasons are just tough, and it won't always be this way. Your children are all young yet :).

 

Hang in there! Merry :-)

 

Wow, so much good advice here. I'll give the timer a try and I'll explain all the expectations beforehand. He's generally my easy going one. But yes, I am exhausted. My middle child is a handful and a half. The napping thing is because we moved him out of the crib and if I don't stay with him, he'll just run around and play. It's even worse at bedtime. But Pigby and I are working on his attitude. I think it's getting better in general, I think he's just hit a wall in how much we're doing everyday and he's rebelling. Or at least that's what I think is going on. His attitude the rest of the day is getting better.

[5LittleMonkeys]

First, I'm seeing a lot of "he pitches a fit". I would address this before you do any adjustments to your schedule. Trust me when I tell you to nip this in the bud now. Just a few suggestions for dealing with this: If he responds better to rewards then say, "If you are completely cooperative today, we will do science on blank day." Or, if he responds better to consequences say, "If you pitch a fit at all today when I've made a decision about something, then you will not do science AND you will sit on your bed for 5 minutes for each infraction." Or whatever method you think would work best to get him to stop undermining your decisions.

 

Second, I would drop the geography for now. The only thing it's accomplishing in causing you stress.

 

Plan on 4 pages of MUS a week plus the test. That's 2 practice and 2 review pages each week. Or 3 practice and 1 review if that's what your ds needs. I would schedule it so tht you start a new lesson on Thur with a page, do a page each school day and on Wed. Of the next week take 30 minutes of your off day to complete the test. There are more worksheets per lesson than you might need. Only do all 6 of the worksheets, and all the problems if your ds really needs them to gain mastery.

 

Also, regarding the MUS, he may be balking because the pages of MUS are awfully boring. Try writing the problems on a whiteboard for him in different colors.

 

If the WWE is working fine other than your ds prolonging it by wanting to do it in cursive, then tell him no, that it must be done in print. If he wants to re-copy it in cursive on his own time then he is welcome to do so.

 

If your not crazy about FLL drop it. It looks tedious to me. Not to mention that I feel 3rd grade is early enough to start grammar.

 

Assign the amount of handwriting you feel is appropriate. If he wants to do more then he can do it on his own time. However I would explain to him the dangers of writing incorrectly.

 

Keep science at two days a week.

 

Do read alouds during the slot you were going to do geography AND while your kiddos mouths are full of breakfast and lunch. Also, if you put the younger two to bed earlier than ds6, then use that time for a read aloud with the oldest.

 

Remember that your son is young and your little ones won't be little forever. At this age, if you only do math, phonics and read aloud as often as you can he will be fine.

[MerryAtHope]

Wow, so much good advice here. I'll give the timer a try and I'll explain all the expectations beforehand. He's generally my easy going one. But yes, I am exhausted. My middle child is a handful and a half. The napping thing is because we moved him out of the crib and if I don't stay with him, he'll just run around and play. It's even worse at bedtime. But Pigby and I are working on his attitude. I think it's getting better in general, I think he's just hit a wall in how much we're doing everyday and he's rebelling. Or at least that's what I think is going on. His attitude the rest of the day is getting better.

 

Well, and he may just be letting you know he's not ready to do that much too. That's ok :-). You might take a look at how much overall time he can work before getting antsy and shorten up some things that way (I actually did no grammar in 1st grade).

 

One idea for the napping thing that I used with one of mine--instead of lyng down with him, sit in the room but don't interact (read a book or something). If he gets up, just quietly put him back in bed, few or no words, or just say, "it's rest time" quietly. When he can stay in bed with you reading near him, move closer to the door, then outside the door eventually. Might take a couple of weeks to train him, but if he will go down at night on his own, you can work on the daytime thing. Kids sure keep us hopping!

[Heidi]

I'm in a similar boat, having a baby and a crazy toddler and trying to do school around them. This is how I look at it: this is a phase; the baby and toddler will be much easier next year, and even easier the next. I have to prioritize what is most important this year and simplify, even if that means dropping subjects and delaying them for another year.

 

Geography, science, grammar, and spelling rules can all wait. He's only 6. He can pick up any of those subjects in a year or two and not be a bit behind, so why take that time now? FLL 3 can be started in third grade w/o having completed the first two levels at all. AAS can be picked up and accelerated in third grade. Geography is busy work. Get a wall map and refer to it in context of everyday life. WWE is copywork and narration, and is easily replaced in a more joyful, relaxed way.

 

You are leaving out the most important part of the day, which is reading aloud. Drop the unimportant subjects and add in the most important one. During the baby's nap is read aloud time. Have him narrate one book or one story or one paragraph during read aloud time. Then let him pick a sentence from the story to copy in his best manuscript handwriting (my kids love picking their own copywork). Now no more WWE either!

 

Invest in some good books on tape and play these during bedtime, or quiet time, or lunch time. The read alouds are important right now. And make time to read aloud to the toddler and baby every day.

 

My kids have insisted on learning cursive now as well. I got them the HWT cursive book (grade 3) and let them have at it. I don't require it; they do it when they want to. I DO require that they write their copywork in perfect manuscript. I'll require perfect cursive another year when I can afford the time to spend on it as a teacher.

 

So, all you need to do is math (and even that can be delayed w/o consequence; have you tried xtramath.com?), copywork, reading aloud and narrating, and science because he loves it. If he wants more "school" find some independent workbooks for him to work in. Limit your teaching time, magnify your mom time, prioritize your school subjects, and bring joy back into learning and into your home.

[Hunter]

It is an awful lot of advice. I'm trying to hear YOU and give the best advice for YOU, without thinking too much about what has worked for me in the past.

 

I think I hear you saying you like schedules. I understand. Ditch some of my other advice. I'll try and think about more scheduled ideas.

 

I think I hear you saying why too much timers might not work for YOU. I get that.

 

Sometimes when our students cry and rebel, they are doing their best to give us some important information they don't have the skills to communicate in any other way. We need to be the one in control, but I don't like to shut them down too quickly until I heard them. And I only get my bossiest when they are demanding 2+2=6, or they are asking me to do something outside my style as a teacher. It sounds like WWE and cursive is 2+2=6. This might need some firmness, one way or the other, because it sounds like it just doesn't add up.

 

I personally would not try and juggle manuscript and cursive with a child so young, but I want to try and help you problem solve what you think might work for YOU. And it might take some trial and error.

 

Think about ONE area you might like to attempt a change in, and just experiment there this week. He's young. You have time. You can just drop subjects entirely right now.

[meggie]

First, I'm seeing a lot of "he pitches a fit". I would address this before you do any adjustments to your schedule. Trust me when I tell you to nip this in the bud now. Just a few suggestions for dealing with this: If he responds better to rewards then say, "If you are completely cooperative today, we will do science on blank day." Or, if he responds better to consequences say, "If you pitch a fit at all today when I've made a decision about something, then you will not do science AND you will sit on your bed for 5 minutes for each infraction." Or whatever method you think would work best to get him to stop undermining your decisions.

 

Second, I would drop the geography for now. The only thing it's accomplishing in causing you stress.

 

Plan on 4 pages of MUS a week plus the test. That's 2 practice and 2 review pages each week. Or 3 practice and 1 review if that's what your ds needs. I would schedule it so tht you start a new lesson on Thur with a page, do a page each school day and on Wed. Of the next week take 30 minutes of your off day to complete the test. There are more worksheets per lesson than you might need. Only do all 6 of the worksheets, and all the problems if your ds really needs them to gain mastery.

 

Also, regarding the MUS, he may be balking because the pages of MUS are awfully boring. Try writing the problems on a whiteboard for him in different colors.

 

If the WWE is working fine other than your ds prolonging it by wanting to do it in cursive, then tell him no, that it must be done in print. If he wants to re-copy it in cursive on his own time then he is welcome to do so.

 

If your not crazy about FLL drop it. It looks tedious to me. Not to mention that I feel 3rd grade is early enough to start grammar.

 

Assign the amount of handwriting you feel is appropriate. If he wants to do more then he can do it on his own time. However I would explain to him the dangers of writing incorrectly.

 

Keep science at two days a week.

 

Do read alouds during the slot you were going to do geography AND while your kiddos mouths are full of breakfast and lunch. Also, if you put the younger two to bed earlier than ds6, then use that time for a read aloud with the oldest.

 

Remember that your son is young and your little ones won't be little forever. At this age, if you only do math, phonics and read aloud as often as you can he will be fine.

 

More good advice. I think the tantrums will definitely be at the top of the list of things to work on. I think the timer will help if I talk with him about it ahead of time. Also, I will cut back on the MUS pages and do them on the whiteboard bc he thinks everything is fun on the whiteboard.

 

You are leaving out the most important part of the day, which is reading aloud. Drop the unimportant subjects and add in the most important one. During the baby's nap is read aloud time. Have him narrate one book or one story or one paragraph during read aloud time. Then let him pick a sentence from the story to copy in his best manuscript handwriting (my kids love picking their own copywork). Now no more WWE either!

 

Invest in some good books on tape and play these during bedtime, or quiet time, or lunch time. The read alouds are important right now. And make time to read aloud to the toddler and baby every day. Limit your teaching time, magnify your mom time, prioritize your school subjects, and bring joy back into learning and into your home.

 

More good advice, thank you!

 

It is an awful lot of advice. I'm trying to hear YOU and give the best advice for YOU, without thinking too much about what has worked for me in the past.

 

I think I hear you saying you like schedules. I understand. Ditch some of my other advice. I'll try and think about more scheduled ideas.

 

I think I hear you saying why too much timers might not work for YOU. I get that.

 

Sometimes when our students cry and rebel, they are doing their best to give us some important information they don't have the skills to communicate in any other way. We need to be the one in control, but I don't like to shut them down too quickly until I heard them. And I only get my bossiest when they are demanding 2+2=6, or they are asking me to do something outside my style as a teacher. It sounds like WWE and cursive is 2+2=6. This might need some firmness, one way or the other, because it sounds like it just doesn't add up.

 

I personally would not try and juggle manuscript and cursive with a child so young, but I want to try and help you problem solve what you think might work for YOU. And it might take some trial and error.

 

Think about ONE area you might like to attempt a change in, and just experiment there this week. He's young. You have time. You can just drop subjects entirely right now.

 

I do appreciate your help so much, especially trying to tailor it to me! :001_smile: Thank you. The WWE thing, after he burst into tears, I held him on my lap and let him cry for a few minutes. I told him it wasn't worth a fight and I wasn't making him quit because there was something wrong with him. I said we had done enough school work and it would be best to stop doing something fun, so I let him pick something fun. He picked the scissor work, so we cut some paper and called it good for the day.

 

So, looking through my planner and reading all the advice, I think I can nix the WWE and FLL for now. We'll keep doing AAS at a slow and steady pace. We'll nix geography, although I'll see if I can make some puzzles for him to play with on his own. We'll keep the math, but do it on the whiteboard and we'll try not doing all the sheets. I'll see if four is enough for him to understand it. Science, I'll scale back to the two times a week and we'll read on the couch instead of the school table. Cuddling on the couch is always nice. Maybe I'll let him decide during the day when he wants to do the coloring page and scissor work.

 

Still not sure about the read alouds. I am usually feeding Chuck while they eat. I could probably let Pigby listen to an audio book on my mp3 player while I'm trying to get Digby to sleep. I could probably do a read aloud before bed. Maybe it would get Digby to stay in bed. I'll have to tweak this one a bit.

 

Thanks everyone!

[boscopup]

You've gotten some great advice. I'd like to add that when I had a less than 2 year old, we rarely did read-alouds. I just couldn't do it most days. The next year, we were able to do more read-alouds. Now this coming year, my youngest is 3, and we can read-aloud a bit more. It gets better. So don't beat yourself up. It is a season, and "this too shall pass". I think reading aloud instead of WWE is a great idea - that's about 15 minutes of read-aloud time you can get in! :D WWE1 is great for 2nd graders. I also agree that FLL can be picked up in 3rd grade without problem. When you start history, do mapwork and that will cover geography. I also think it's confusing for some kids to do manuscript and cursive at the same time. Maybe have an intensive cursive period (a few weeks maybe?) to get cursive up to speed? Then you can do your regular work in cursive.

[TKDmom]

As far as read-alouds go, can your dh help with those? My dh recently realized that he wasn't spending any time with the kids during the week, so he picked a series of books that he loved and started reading those out loud to the kids before bed. Every night he is home, he reads out loud. I intercept phone calls and manage dd2 during that time so he can spend that time with the older kids reading. And on the nights he's not home, I'm not allowed to read "his" book to them. ;) It keeps it special for dh and the kids.

[pitterpatter]

You can do it. Just keep everything as short as possible. I would find it difficult to school only four days per week, though.

 

This is what our summer schedule currently looks like. We do the following subjects in the order listed. It takes 2-3 hours to complete. DD just turned five. We always complete everything. I'm never wishy-washy about it. (Having said that, when I can tell DD has had enough, we will take turns writing during the elective subjects. She'll write short words, I'll write the long ones. Or, she'll dictate, I'll write. I don't tell her that's why we're doing it, though.)

 

M - Handwriting, Hooked on Phonics, Explode the Code, Singapore Math 1A, Evan-Moor Beginning Geography

 

T - Lollipop Logic, HOP, ETC, SM, Science

 

W - Handwriting, HOP, ETC, SM, Science

 

R - Lollipop Logic, Read, ETC, SM, Science

 

F - Handwriting, Read, SM, Geography

 

We also do All About Spelling 1 three times a week, but I add it in on the three easiest/shortest days.

 

I always put projects for science/history last because DD gets wound up when we do them. Handwriting I keep short and recently reduced to three times per week. However, I now require her to do her best handwriting in all subjects. We do one-third of a lesson each day in HOP. Two pages in ETC per day, except the last day, we do three. (I recently cut out all writing for ETC, except the last page where DD spells the words. Took way too much time to do all writing. We will drop ETC after we finish up the book we are working on since we recently added AAS.) We do three pages of Geography per day. Two pages of Lollipop Logic.

 

We used to do cutting exercises two times per week with a Kumon cutting book. After DD completed it/learned the skill, we no longer did it as a separate subject. (Check out my blog to see what we currently use for handwriting. It encompasses handwriting, cutting, pasting and coloring.)

 

The trick to completing so many subjects is dividing everything up into short, fun, manageable lessons. I also try to keep things varied to stem off monotony.

 

Read-alouds are bedtime stories.

Edited May 30, 2012 by pitterpatter

[Hunter]

More good advice. I think the tantrums will definitely be at the top of the list of things to work on. I think the timer will help if I talk with him about it ahead of time. Also, I will cut back on the MUS pages and do them on the whiteboard bc he thinks everything is fun on the whiteboard.

 

 

 

More good advice, thank you!

 

 

 

I do appreciate your help so much, especially trying to tailor it to me! :001_smile: Thank you. The WWE thing, after he burst into tears, I held him on my lap and let him cry for a few minutes. I told him it wasn't worth a fight and I wasn't making him quit because there was something wrong with him. I said we had done enough school work and it would be best to stop doing something fun, so I let him pick something fun. He picked the scissor work, so we cut some paper and called it good for the day.

 

So, looking through my planner and reading all the advice, I think I can nix the WWE and FLL for now. We'll keep doing AAS at a slow and steady pace. We'll nix geography, although I'll see if I can make some puzzles for him to play with on his own. We'll keep the math, but do it on the whiteboard and we'll try not doing all the sheets. I'll see if four is enough for him to understand it. Science, I'll scale back to the two times a week and we'll read on the couch instead of the school table. Cuddling on the couch is always nice. Maybe I'll let him decide during the day when he wants to do the coloring page and scissor work.

 

Still not sure about the read alouds. I am usually feeding Chuck while they eat. I could probably let Pigby listen to an audio book on my mp3 player while I'm trying to get Digby to sleep. I could probably do a read aloud before bed. Maybe it would get Digby to stay in bed. I'll have to tweak this one a bit.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Trust yourself. You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders and that you really know yourself and your children. Try things out, evaluate how it's going, and then change if need be.

 

Generally only tackle one problem at a time. It's okay to drop things entirely for a bit, or just set up a temporary makeshift situation to check the box that a subject was done. Homeschooling is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself and trust yourself and you will be all set.

[Hunter]

Oh, and I just looked at a sample of WWE. I didn't know WWE was different from WWS and I'm not familiar with either. But from the sample of the first week of WWE, my adult students learning cursive couldn't do that. They need substantial practice copying one syllable words, at first, and to be relieved of ALL other writing expectations.

[misidawnrn]

I am by no means an expert but why don't you see if you can combine science, handwriting and readalouds. Science doesn't have to be from a curriculum. Get books on worms, bugs, space, etc...whatever interests him. You could incorporate your copywork and narration from that book...for example, DD just had to read a book on earthworms. I made up 2 questions from each chapter that she had to answer with using good handwriting, good spacing, capital letters and periods and using complete sentences. Some of the questions were...

1. What is an earthworm's body made up of?

A. It's body is made up of hundreds of little segments.

 

2. Do earthworms have eyes?

A. No, earthworms do not have eyes? ETC..

 

You could make the questions and have him answer or you could make sentences to use as copy work (he would think he is learning about worms but he is really practicing handwriting!)

 

1. An earthworm's body is made up of hundreds of little segments.

2. Earthworms do not have eyes. ETC.

 

Then, you read aloud, he gets science and handwriting and some narration if you have him answer your questions after each chapter.

 

Hope that helps.

[TippyCanoe]

.

[Ellie]

For a child so young, I'd only do the devotion, AAS, and math. Definitely NOT also FLL or WWE. Maybe some copywork of some kind to help with penmanship.

 

And I'd evaluate the math to see if it's really a good fit for him. Children will often "pitch a fit" when something they're required to do isn't right for them, even if they seem to be upset when they can't do it.

[ktgrok]

Sounds like transitions are hard. Maybe give him a sticker or a hand stamp when he finishes the amount you have set out for him? And have everything set out for him when he wakes up in the morning. So when he finishes the page of cursive you have for him, there is no more. There is just that one page, and then a stamp or a sticker or whatever?

 

As for the narrations in WWE, can he orally narrate to you, then you write it in cursive? Then let him copy it in cursive for his handwriting practice? And the days he does copywork, can you, ahead of time, write it out in cursive (or print it out) for him to copy? Again, so it is prepared and ready to go in the morning? If you are doing this, you could maybe drop the other handwriting practice???

[TracyP]

Hee-hee, I hope you are not going into information overload right now. Everybody has different needs, priorities, family situations, etc. I'm sure you'll find your groove. Anyway, I'll add what has worked for my ds.

 

Taking breaks does NOT work for my 6yo. Once he is "into" something else, I have a really hard time getting him back into seatwork. We can do science/history/art, but not skill subjects. With that in mind I try to find a semi-quiet time and to give him my full attention. I have been very clear that I expect the same from him.;) We do math (25 min), he reads aloud to me (5-10 min), copywork (5-10 min) ~ 40 minutes and he is done! We often do more, but right there we have done everything we NEED to do, IMO.

 

He tags along with big sis in history and science. After lunch we have a read aloud followed by 'quiet time' where he is expected to read to himself. Bible is done before bed as a family.

[ktgrok]

I like the idea of "if we get everything done without a problem we can do science!" That might speed him along, with some reminders. And I think he is pretty young for geography. The only geography I would do would be to point out places on a map or globe as we read about them. Less than 1 minute at a time. You can add in games or toys that do geography in the afternoons, if you want.

 

Have DH read to him at bedtime.

[TengoFive]

I haven't read what everyone else wrote yet, so I'll just throw in a few quick thoughts. Since he enjoys science, I would do the narration and call that writing. If you want to practice handwriting, have him copy the narration. Then you can drop WWE for now. I wouldn't drop FLL, but would also pick and choose what to do. There's a lot of repetition in there.

I'm terrible at read-alouds, but we've found that we love listening to audiobooks in the car when we're running errands. Most of our history read-alouds have been done this way. You could also try putting a cd in during your toddlers nap time. That would be something he could do quietly on his own. Then if you wanted to do a narration/drawing to go along with it you could call that writing as well.

For geography I've given up studying it formally. We love, love, love the 10 Days in ______ series of games. My 6 year old knows where almost all the states are now. I also let her play Stack the States on my iPhone, so she's learned a lot of capitols and landmarks too.

 

Don't be afraid to pare back down to the basics and then add things in slowly again. What you're doing now makes for a lot of work for a 6 year old and a mom of toddlers!

[TengoFive]

I haven't read what everyone else wrote yet, so I'll just throw in a few quick thoughts. Since he enjoys science, I would do the narration and call that writing. If you want to practice handwriting, have him copy the narration. Then you can drop WWE for now. I wouldn't drop FLL, but would also pick and choose what to do. There's a lot of repetition in there.

I'm terrible at read-alouds, but we've found that we love listening to audiobooks in the car when we're running errands. Most of our history read-alouds have been done this way. You could also try putting a cd in during your toddlers nap time. That would be something he could do quietly on his own. Then if you wanted to do a narration/drawing to go along with it you could call that writing as well.

For geography I've given up studying it formally. We love, love, love the 10 Days in ______ series of games. My 6 year old knows where almost all the states are now. I also let her play Stack the States on my iPhone, so she's learned a lot of capitols and landmarks too.

 

Don't be afraid to pare back down to the basics and then add things in slowly again. What you're doing now makes for a lot of work for a 6 year old and a mom of toddlers!

[garddwr]

I would cut way back until he is old enough to do more on his own. You've got four different language arts components going, I would decide what really needs to be done on a daily basis and what can happen less often or wait a year or two. Pick just 3 things to do each day--say devotional, math, and handwriting. Whatever else you want to keep put on a loop schedule--say 2 items a day, and you keep going till you get to the end of the list then start over.

If it were me, I would drop AAS and either WWE or FLL, put the others on a loop schedule, and add read-aloud time--during lunch, at bedtime, whatever works. This will have a more powerful impact on long-term language development than any of the curricula you are using. Read Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook.

Not saying that's what you need to do, but it is what I would do! FWIW, my almost-7-year-old does devotional and math on a daily basis, and spends lots of time listening to Story of the World CD's and drawing maps. I'll be adding handwriting soon, but other than family read-alouds that's about the extent of his schoolwork and I'm very happy with everything I see him learning. DD8 is finally at a point where she can work more independently, and the less formal approach I took when she was younger hasn't held her back at all.

[Pen]

 

The new routine I had planned for was to do schooling on Mondays and Tuesdays, take Wednesdays off for cleaning and errands and do school again on Thursdays and Fridays.

 

.

 

Math-I usually plan on two pages of math from MUS, but lately he's been fighting it and only one page gets done. I am ok with this, but he pitches a huge fit if I make him quit early.

 

...

Science: He loves science. He wants to do it everyday. Since it's not one of the three R's, I have it scheduled for twice a week. I would be fine skipping it for now, but apparently it's his favorite.

 

Geography: It's scheduled for twice a week, but we never even get to it.

 

I'm also making him do a coloring page and scissor work (I draw lines on a piece of paper and he has to cut them) every day. He likes these.

 

Read alouds aren't really happening right now and I feel like such a failure. It's hard to read when the other two are running around screaming. We do all our seat work when baby girl is taking her nap. I can't really get much done during Digby's nap because I have to lay down with him to get him to sleep.

 

Anytime I bring out the timer on my cell phone, Pigby freaks out! He hates the darn thing.

 

Please help me figure out what to cut. There's just too much. He's not enjoying it anymore.

 

I haven't read all replies, but wanted to say that I do my planning by time rather than by number of pages etc. I'm sorry he-Pigby-freaks out at timer, I would try to get past that. This--using time as the schedule basic block- is especially helpful with something like MUS that tends to start each book easy and then get hard...the same amount of time is spent and in the easy parts many pages can be done, in the hard ones, fewer, but it does not mess up the rest of the scheduled day or week.

 

I like to do the basics that need to be done, and also the specials that are most liked, so I'd try to get science in there, and I'd not worry about geography for now unless it comes up in the course of things and you look up where ______ is. I have 30 minutes per day as subject of my son's choice this summer. That is a place where something he wanted to go on with when it was time to stop could go. Or something he likes but only is on the schedule fewer times, or not at all. Maybe that could help you.

 

Otherwise, I scheduled outside commitments, what was needed to be able to do household chores etc., and then all the basics most needed for schooling. Then I saw where other things could go, and fit them in. ETA Or saw that they would not fit in, and thus decided that they would not be done at this time. There was not any point in always feeling like we weren't doing what we were supposed to be doing. So something like geography, if I saw it was not happening, I'd ask myself, does it critically need to happen now? If yes, I'd see how to make it happen, which would mean cutting something else, if not, I'd drop it from the schedule.

 

If transitions are hard, sometimes knowing the whole schedule in advance in words or in pictures can be a help to let a child know what to expect. At my son's Waldorf school they had pictures that showed what would happen first and then what next and so on... At home I have a written schedule. And sometimes at the age of your son, mine needed a lot of pre-minders, like "in two/five/ten (as case may be) minutes we will be stopping _____ and starting ______" .

 

Audio books (there is one playing now as I type) have been a great help! they can often take the place of mom reading aloud and allow rest time or chore time to happen as needed. (or forum time;)) And I can listen too sometimes. For me it is where "narrations" tend to happen most naturally as my son will tell me what he is hearing...he comes in every few minutes as I write this to do just that. We don't count this as officially part of school, just good story time. Youngers, even if they don't understand what is being read, will still get exposed to the sound of the reading which can be helpful.

 

ETA: I'd also look at how much he seems to be able to handle without a tantrum or meltdown, since that seems to be a problem, and use that as a guide in scheduling. The WTM of course also has ideas on how much time for what, but it is on the heavy side, I think for many people. There is also a rule of thumb to use grade level plus 1 as hours per day of seatwork that can be done. And maybe science can be outdoors in nature type science? that could involve the middle child perhaps too. Also maybe Pigby's reading time out loud could be part of Digby and Chuck's being read to time (that is if big brother can read well enough).

Edited May 31, 2012 by Pen