Help me be calm...if homeschooling is a marathon and not a sprint...

[katalaska]

I've read it here many times lately: "Homeschooling is a marathon and not a sprint."

 

Okay. Deep breaths. I get it--logically.

 

However, how do you "talk yourself down" when you do have a schedule, a game plan, an idea of how much work you can realistically accomplish...little mileposts, so to speak...and you never reach them on time?

 

I'm not "in a race" to "finish the book" by the end of the year...but when the end of the year comes and we haven't finished the book, I must confess that I panic!

 

I know that in public school we *never* "finished the book"--but homeschool isn't public school! We can and should be able to "finish the book." At least that's what I keep telling myself. Is it not true??

 

Aack.

 

We just finished SOTW 1 from last year two days ago. We were scheduled to finish it in June. We should have already been a month into SOTW 2 by now.

 

My life was full of constant, unplanned interruptions last year.

 

This year it is constant, scheduled interruptions in the form of therapy appointments and home therapy programs for all three of my kids. (In case you were wondering, physical therapy for the oldest, and both speech and occupational therapy for the younger two...five therapies for three kids).

 

When will we ever have time for academics!?

 

Please share more advice and wisdom about homeschooling being a marathon and not a sprint!

[Kate in Arabia]

I know that in public school we *never* "finished the book"--but homeschool isn't public school! We can and should be able to "finish the book." At least that's what I keep telling myself. Is it not true??

 

I don't think it's always true. I generally start out the year with a nice plan, but things happen to derail that plan.. little things, not life-altering things, but here and there we get off track sometimes. I mean, off the track of my original plan. So by the end of last year, for example, we weren't finished with history, but we were finished early with spelling and grammar.

 

My mother has been a highschool teacher since before I was born; I know from her that teachers face the same challenges -- that they schedule out the year, but things happen along the way to impact on that plan. Unfortunately for them, they don't always have the flexibility I have when things don't go how I envisioned. We are "behind" in history, so I move it to the next year and we pick up where we left off. In my mother's school, the next year you go on to a different teacher and different subject (world history to American history, for example). There is no chance to fill in where you ran out of time, or to, say, assign over the summer some chapters that you didn't get to, kwim?

 

This has been a hard lesson for me to learn, because I am a hyper-planner and it has been hard for me to let go of the notion that "we must finish this book by this date". I need to focus on whether there is steady progress, measurable progress; and if I can "make-up" in spots to get us back to our original plans, well and good; but if not, just keep moving forward.

[NevadaRabbit]

However, how do you "talk yourself down" when you do have a schedule, a game plan, an idea of how much work you can realistically accomplish...little mileposts, so to speak...and you never reach them on time?

 

*big disclaimer: I am still trying to figure this out meself. :D

 

I think the key word is "realistically" - and if you're consistently not accomplishing all you planned, then the game plan isn't realistic.

 

Last year was our first year of hs. Like a pendulum, I swung too far away from the oppressive scheduled life of public school, and got too loosey-goosey. We did (or didn't) school without much of a good routine at all, as I tried to figure out what we could realistically do and enjoyed the freedom of school starting at 10:30am in pajamas.

 

Over the summer I panicked because we didn't fnish the book(s).

 

So...I took this year's stuff and planned out what I'd like to finish in X number of weeks for every subject and scheduled time frames for each subject and made grids for each weekday, color-coded by subject, and... well, you get the picture. Pendulum. Other side. Too far.

 

Get 'hold of your pendulum and point it where you want it to be. When it starts going too loose, get control. Say no to unplanned/spur of the moment events for a few days and get back on track. When you start overcontrolling every second, loosen up and enjoy the freedom we have as homeschoolers to say "Kids! Picnic in the park today! Drop the books and get your shoes!"

 

I look back at last year (the year I panicked about over the summer) and SHEESH we got so much done. I can do better, certainly. But my kids and I accomplished so much together, not just academically but spiritually and familyly. Keep moving forward. Banish the idea of an imposed timetable and get realistic about what you can accomplish. This is a season. There will be cycles. Do your best and try to do even better next time. :001_smile:

[Mesa]

I am like that pendulum as well. Although I mostly swing in the direction of trying to accomplish too much, and my poor son quickly burns out.

This year to try to remedy that I have a few specific subjects we have to do each school day, a few that I can move around and alter as needed. I'm also trying to make it so we can break only after we get to lesson #xx, and then we start back up and work until we get to lesson #XX. This way I'm sure we get in all the lessons we need to without doing too much or too little. Well thats the plan anyway. We are now on week 10 and we are doing well. We are 1/4 of the way through this year!

[Jean in Wisc]

I said it on these boards years and years ago, and it seemed to have stuck--but then someone else may have come up with it before I did. :D

 

Making a schedule for your school year has be grounded in reality. If you schedule 180 days of school, but if, in reality, you usually get only 160 days done, then your schedule needs to reflect that.

 

So, SOTW has too many lessons? Plan to sit together on the couch 3 days/week and read, read, read...going through several lessons. Then day 4 choose the hands on activities you want to cover the most...or some variation that fits you well. Each class needs to be "do-able" in the amount of time you have. Make the best decisions that you can for this child in this class and move forward.

 

And smile. They grow up and they do all right by us!

J

[FloridaLisa]

We just finished SOTW 1 from last year two days ago. We were scheduled to finish it in June. We should have already been a month into SOTW 2 by now.

 

FWIW, we are in our 10th year of homeschooling and I don't think we've ever finished all of the history I had planned within a school year. History, can take on a life of its own! Especially if you add in read-alouds, multi-level indpendent reads, hands-on projects, field trips and every good book you just cannot miss!

 

 

This year it is constant, scheduled interruptions in the form of therapy appointments and home therapy programs for all three of my kids. (In case you were wondering, physical therapy for the oldest, and both speech and occupational therapy for the younger two...five therapies for three kids).

 

When will we ever have time for academics!?

 

In such a case, you need to figure out your non-negotiables. What subjects make up your core that you want to do every day? For us, that would be (in this order) Bible, math, Latin, language arts. If those get done every day before, between or after necessary therapy appointments, it's been a solid day.

 

The other subjects -- science, history, art, another language or whatever you determine -- important as they are, should take a back seat to your core.

 

Then, I would try if at all possible to protect 2 days from any morning or early afternoon appointments. These long, uninterrupted days should allow you to fit in additional subjects. Another alternative would be to do a semester of science (on these 2 days per week) and then a semester of history. Plan what can be accomplished in that semester block.

 

I wouldn't panic. Circumstances like this are a good opportunity to take a long look at your goals and methods as well as lay it before the Lord and ask for Him to teach us how to handle it. In fact, I could have probably just written the last sentence and left it at that. :001_smile:

 

HTH,

Lisa

 

P.S. This advice what I would do for K-8; my highschoolers would not be so lucky to have their classes pared down to the core subjects. ;)

[Heather in the Kootenays]

I vary from subject to subject. Math - we finish the book - every page. History - we finish the book but might combine or skip chapters to do it. Science - we don't worry to much about it - we pick the important parts and leave out chapters if we want.

 

I divide the book up at the beginning of the year and about once a month I check to see how the schedule is holding up and adjust accordingly.

 

As I write this I see that the marathon is a particularly apt image - if you start out too fast, you'll wear out too early and won't finish. If you're too slow, you'll make it to the finish line but perhaps after the timing crew has gone home (which isn't always the worst thing). That's why you use those clocks alone the way to monitor your progress.

 

And sometimes that other stuff is just more important than the books.