Am I the only one?

[Carrie12345]

I have plenty of days when I find it exciting and entertaining to have a toddler learning his ABCs and a 5yo learning CVC words. Really, I do.

 

But then there are the days where I am SO over it! :tongue_smilie:

 

I've spent nearly 14 years hearing Elmo's voice, picking crayon bits out of mouths, changing diapers, and counting chocolate chips.

Some days, I just want to focus on historical documents, chemistry experiments, and read good literature without "circle time" level interruptions. I'd like to leave works in progress out on the table, cut up only my own food, and take a walk around the block at brisk pace without stopping to label every species of plant and animal we pass.

 

Today is one of those days. :glare:

[Rosie_0801]

People say "they don't stay babies long enough" but I notice they never say the same about toddlers...

 

:grouphug:

Rosie

[Cassy]

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. DS11 has just moved on to a B&M school and I'm left with DS5 and DS8. So far I'm finding homeschooling much less satisfying than it was last year. I thought life might get easier with only two at home, but so far it feels like really hard work and I'm ashamed to say that my patience has worn very thin at times already, and this is only our third day back :tongue_smilie:.

[Cinder]

I can relate; I'm on round 2. Both my boys are in high school this year. Dd is in 2nd. And she's such a different learner. She thinks math was invented to torture her. :glare:

 

:grouphug:

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I can relate; I'm on round 2. Both my boys are in high school this year. Dd is in 2nd. And she's such a different learner. She thinks math was invented to torture her. :glare:

 

:grouphug:

This is my dd...and us (one son is HS level and other 2 sons are finished).

The one thing I think about when I get the urge for another child is teaching them to read....the most torturous thing in homeschool. Sitting and listening to the cccaaat, ccaatt, c..a..t, cat sounding out.

 

But the flip side is, not having those crayon, diapers, sticky days. Instead you are left with kids doing their own thing and mom alone in the house with nothing to do. I find myself roaming the house looking for something to do and feeling all alone.

[Kim in Appalachia]

:grouphug:

 

By my 5th I was like that too. I was so tired of Blue's Clues, tired of worrying about if my toddler would eat the Legos, or what he was doing while I was working with older ones.

 

Sometimes I feel like I didn't enjoy my last one enough. I think I had had enough of babies. I loved having babies, but trying to handle all the ages at once was hard. When you are trying to meet the emotional needs of your tween it's hard to deal with the crayons all over the wall.

 

It's ok to have those days. The hard days disappear as quickly as the good ones. :grouphug:

[GWOB]

People say "they don't stay babies long enough" but I notice they never say the same about toddlers...

 

:grouphug:

Rosie

 

:iagree: My 5yo is the first of my dc that I actually have to teach how to read. My others just picked it up with a little bit of phonics. And now the little one wants to do crafts:glare:. I hate crafts. Kindergarten is easier to teach, but I love the discussions I just starting to have with my older ones.

[Kathryn]

:grouphug: As we contemplate doing it again, I worry about my ability to survive another toddler.

[Garga]

The one thing I think about when I get the urge for another child is teaching them to read....the most torturous thing in homeschool. Sitting and listening to the cccaaat, ccaatt, c..a..t, cat sounding out.

 

 

 

This is why I recently doubled up my birth control methods. I am not kidding. The very idea of having to teach reading again brings me to tears.

[AdventureMoms]

Yes! I feel like this more days than not. It's definitely one of the reasons I'm probably not having another. I'm sick of "pretending to be a kitty", changing diapers, reading the same books over.and.over.and.over again, having every outing (even just to the corner to get milk) be a production, and never getting to sit down to eat because I'm fetching and cutting up everyone else's food. I'm also sick of it taking hours to get ready in the morning because I have to take care of every single bit of getting ready for 4 people (

 

First take 4yo to potty, get her appropriate clothes, remind her which way the underwear go, (then take off the underwear and put it back on the right way) help her with pants and dress, cook her breakfast, make her juice, then move on to changing two sets of diapers, wrestling two little boys into clothing, strapping them into booster seats, making their breakfast, then I get to get myself dressed and get myself some breakfast, then I start with 8 pairs of socks and 8 shoes to get on people....

 

Gah, I will throw a party on the day I can say "be ready to go with shoes and socks ON at 10am please. Breakfast is in the fridge. Do not forget to use the bathroom." Then go get myself ready.

[Rosie_0801]

The one thing I think about when I get the urge for another child is teaching them to read....the most torturous thing in homeschool. Sitting and listening to the cccaaat, ccaatt, c..a..t, cat sounding out.

I don't mind that so much as long as the word on the paper is cat. M..a..t, CAT! drives me spare.

 

Rosie

[Carrie12345]

I don't mind that so much as long as the word on the paper is cat. M..a..t, CAT! drives me spare.

 

Rosie

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

Ds is going through this weird thing with the word "pat".

He'll read at, mat, cat, sat, pants, rat.

I have no idea why he insists that pat says pants.

[sewingmama]

Awww I love my toddlers -it's the baby stage I don't like. :lol:

 

2 yo's that draw on the wall I can tolerate - 6yo's that do it drive me nuts.:glare:

 

It took a long torturous year for my DD to learn to read and understand blending.

 

I was so grateful when my DS1 taught himself to read :D I wasn't looking forward to that again so close in time.

 

My DS2 is a litle way off reading and since he is my last I will be sure to enjoy it - he is already learning some letter sounds though so maybe he will teach himself to read as well :D

 

Honestly there are only two things that stop me from wanting to have another baby - night time feedings and potty training. I'll take teaching them to read over that any day :lol:

[Denisemomof4]

Carrie, you are not the only one. I am so glad that I don't have to teach anyone to read again. The last kid was BRUTAL. It had nothing to do with her and everything to do with me wanting to be done with it already.:001_smile: doing studies together when they are olderis just more fun.

[Coffeetime]

:grouphug:

 

By my 5th I was like that too. I was so tired of Blue's Clues, tired of worrying about if my toddler would eat the Legos, or what he was doing while I was working with older ones.

 

Sometimes I feel like I didn't enjoy my last one enough. I think I had had enough of babies. I loved having babies, but trying to handle all the ages at once was hard. When you are trying to meet the emotional needs of your tween it's hard to deal with the crayons all over the wall.

 

It's ok to have those days. The hard days disappear as quickly as the good ones. :grouphug:

 

:iagree: with the bolded x 1,000,000,000.

[fairfarmhand]

When you are trying to meet the emotional needs of your tween it's hard to deal with the crayons all over the wall.

 

This is the main reason we decided to stop having children. There's 10 yrs between my oldest and youngest, and dealing with toddler tantrums and tween/teen tantrums all at once was more than I could handle.

[katilac]

This is why I recently doubled up my birth control methods. I am not kidding. The very idea of having to teach reading again brings me to tears.

 

It was long division for me. The thought of teaching it for a third time had me on the phone, scheduling dh's vasectomy.

[AdventureMoms]

I don't mind that so much as long as the word on the paper is cat. M..a..t, CAT! drives me spare.

 

Rosie

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one! she's usually ok, but some days she just gets in this mood... It ends up being c..a..t, PONY! M..a..t, PRINCESS! OK kid, you have princesses and ponies on the brain, but could we actually read the words on the paper for 5 seconds?

[Cinder]

I'm glad I'm not the only one! she's usually ok, but some days she just gets in this mood... It ends up being c..a..t, PONY! M..a..t, PRINCESS! OK kid, you have princesses and ponies on the brain, but could we actually read the words on the paper for 5 seconds?

 

This sounds like my dd! I can't remember the exact exercise (in her phonics book) but there were several words that had "cat" in it. She spotted that right off and insisted on circling all the cats and then turning them into cat faces. Then there's math. Circle the objects so you have a group of ten. She made sure to circle them in such a way that it looked like the outline of a dog's face. Then, of course, she drew in the dog's face. :tongue_smilie:

[LaxMom]

People say "they don't stay babies long enough" but I notice they never say the same about toddlers...

 

:grouphug:

Rosie

So true. And I've had the conversation SO many times that goes,

S/He's three! I thought we were supposed to be done with the "terrible twos" by now!

 

Three is worse than two.

 

What?!?! Why didn't anyone say??

 

We didn't want you to leave him somewhere when he started acting weird. We were giving you hope.

 

... ... I can't wait til s/he's 4, then.

 

"Four" is a personality disorder.

 

:svengo:

 

The one thing I think about when I get the urge for another child is teaching them to read....the most torturous thing in homeschool. Sitting and listening to the cccaaat, ccaatt, c..a..t, cat sounding out.

 

 

I can't even say how often in the past year I have said "thank God, everyone is now literate!"

Edited September 7, 2012 by MyCrazyHouse

[Carrie12345]

:grouphug:

 

By my 5th I was like that too. I was so tired of Blue's Clues, tired of worrying about if my toddler would eat the Legos, or what he was doing while I was working with older ones.

 

Sometimes I feel like I didn't enjoy my last one enough. I think I had had enough of babies. I loved having babies, but trying to handle all the ages at once was hard. When you are trying to meet the emotional needs of your tween it's hard to deal with the crayons all over the wall.

 

It's ok to have those days. The hard days disappear as quickly as the good ones. :grouphug:

 

YES! When #4 was a baby, things were okay, probably because I thought he was my "last chance baby." And then he wasn't, lol.

 

This is why I recently doubled up my birth control methods. I am not kidding. The very idea of having to teach reading again brings me to tears.

 

Dh has a vasectomy, and I have 1 fallopian tube. I had my first late period last month, and have been thinking about getting the other tube done ever since!

[Murphy101]

People say "they don't stay babies long enough" but I notice they never say the same about toddlers...

 

:grouphug:

Rosie

 

 

:lol:

 

 

Yeah, but then you think, "How can I get through ANOTHER year of chemistry? And two more sets of college apps?" It puts it in perspective!

 

God preserve me. The day I graduate my last kid is the last day I will ever look at chemistry or geometry again. Ever. I needed to measure the kitchen ceiling last weekend and I put it off for 2 days because I seriously couldn't stand the thought of doing even that much math. Only 18 years to go!! :svengo: (maybe that will make the rest of you feel better?)

 

I don't mind that so much as long as the word on the paper is cat. M..a..t, CAT! drives me spare.

 

Rosie

 

LOL. My kid does that too. The word IS cat, but I will listen to him sounding it out under his breath and he never sounds out cat, but cat is what he says out loud. Which I guess is okay and why I don't correct him until he is done, but it makes my eye twitch.

 

The *mumbling: cut, mat, dad, lad* cat sat on the *mumbling: fun, lump, lamp, jog, dog, mom* log.

 

:001_huh:

[my2boysteacher]

Oh goodness, can I relate! I am really enjoying learning Latin and Greek, and reading great books along with my older two. It is SO hard for me to start over again with my four year old. Most days, I don't want to make the letter sounds, or count to 20 AGAIN.

I feel so guilty that I am not more excited about teaching my younger. :crying:

[ereks mom]

Yeah, but then you think, "How can I get through ANOTHER year of chemistry? And two more sets of college apps?" It puts it in perspective!

 

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree:

[Wheres Toto]

I am sooo glad I'm not the only one. The past five years started with a teenager, a toddler and a newborn. Now I'm finally at a college student and two "school-age" kids but I am finding things somewhat tedious. My oldest went to public school. My son picks things up very very easily. Everything I went to teach him, he was way ahead of me already.

 

My youngest, on the other hand, everything is a struggle. She spends 10 seconds on something and has had enough. She's young so I don't push but I'm so tired of finding fun ways to do math, or reading, or ?? Or, if I just give up completely for now, I'm tired of finding things to keep her amused while I work with ds because she wants to "do school" but doesn't want to do any of the things that actually are school.

 

And yeah, I'm tired of the "cccc-aaaa-tttt princess". and non stop "I can't do it! It's toooo hard!" in a high pitched whine, when all I asked was for her to draw a line, or pick up 5 blocks.

 

<<sigh>> I know, this too shall pass. Probably way too fast.

[Hoot]

This is why I have one child. No, seriously. :001_smile:

I worked in daycare and early childhood ed. to only want to go there once in my own home. I loved my son as a baby and a toddler even. He was such an easy child, but I just have ZERO desire to do it again.

 

This is the point in the story where God comes in and strikes you pregnant, isn't it? :D

[2squared]

First take 4yo to potty, get her appropriate clothes, remind her which way the underwear go, (then take off the underwear and put it back on the right way)

 

I can help with this! My girls had each pair of underwear decorated with a black permanent marker "X" on the back. It was a lifesaver for me.

[AdventureMoms]

I can help with this! My girls had each pair of underwear decorated with a black permanent marker "X" on the back. It was a lifesaver for me.

 

That is a good idea. Though it might need to be in front. I tell her the tag goes in back, so she looks at the tag (holding underwear backwards) - then puts them on (backwards). That's when she doesn't put them on sideways with a leg around her waist and complain that they're too tight.