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First Day of School - I survived . . .


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You would think I would have this down by now (I think we've been homeschooling for 19 years) but I hate the first day of school.  None of us were mentally ready even though it's later than we usually start.  So multiply bad attitudes times 5 students (and the teacher may have been in there too once in a while- lol!) and it got ugly a few times! 

Then, I really, really thought I was the most organized I've ever been but apparently not!  One of the reasons I thought I was so organized is that instead of tweaking our main curriculum (HOD) to death, I decided this year I was just going to follow it as much as possible - math being the only exception.  Then, my oldest at home discovers that I completely forgot to order part of his curriculum at the same time that my 10 yods needs me to print out something for him for science and my 13yods can't find one of his books!  EEEK!  

Anyway, missing curriculum is on order from Rainbow, 10 yods is putting off that science assignment until tomorrow and we found the missing book just as I was about to email the company involved in my order.  All's well that end's well.  The second day has to be better!

How did your first day go?

Edited by JanOH
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Mine was the beginning if last week, but it was ok. It helps that a lot of things for my older two haven't started yet, so the schedule was a bit light and had no outside constraints! This week we added in ballet, next week biology, the following week we switch from review to actual Spanish, same with math for the week after.

At the end if the first week I realized younger dd hasn't been doing in American History because I left it off my schedule. Oops. Ds noticed I left off one of his piano practice times. We'll see what else pops up.

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Aww, I know.  It will get better.  I try to only start a couple of subjects at a time, but I still get all confused even if we are using the same basic schedule.   It's just a lot to get going at once and a lot of balls to start juggling.  And the older ones, who will be independent, aren't yet so you have to be hands on with everyone.

I taught for 10 years before kids and even after 6 years with the same grade I still found the first month hard.  Homeschooling is a bit easier in that I don't have to establish control of the class--but then again, I often had 4 grades.

We haven't started yet.  We start, wait for it......., the day after getting home from a week at the beach.  That will go really well (insert sarcasm). ?  Needless to say, we will not be doing a full schedule.  I'll try to introduce everyone to their books before we go, but they will forget everything I said anyway.  Hopefully I will be so chill from the beach I will be so gentle and kind and patient and understanding. LOL

And I only have 3 this year to teach. 

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I always propose the idea of doing half-days to start or just starting with a few subjects but my current group of students thinks that is a waste of time.  They always vote to jump in all at once.  I've likened it to removing a band-aid . . . yes, it hurts but it's better to do it faster than slower . . . I thought so too, until today!  How did I ever do it with toddlers and babies in the house.  Maybe I had lower expectations!

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6 minutes ago, JanOH said:

I always propose the idea of doing half-days to start or just starting with a few subjects but my current group of students thinks that is a waste of time.  They always vote to jump in all at once.  I've likened it to removing a band-aid . . . yes, it hurts but it's better to do it faster than slower . . . I thought so too, until today!  How did I ever do it with toddlers and babies in the house.  Maybe I had lower expectations!

No, see, you don't remember.  You've blocked it out!  LOL

 

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I haven't even started planning this school year.  To be fair, though, it has been super super busy driving ds to university four states a way, getting ready for summer camp (next week) where I am a teacher, and having neuropsych evals done - all this month.  I'll panic about school in two weeks.  Or not.  I tend to take a bit of a que sera sera approach to school.  It helps that I have already graduated one from homeschool and discovered that I didn't ruin him after all. 

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8 minutes ago, JanOH said:

I always propose the idea of doing half-days to start or just starting with a few subjects but my current group of students thinks that is a waste of time.  They always vote to jump in all at once.  I've likened it to removing a band-aid . . . yes, it hurts but it's better to do it faster than slower . . . I thought so too, until today!  How did I ever do it with toddlers and babies in the house.  Maybe I had lower expectations!

Same!  I see posts with questions about how to get it all done with 5 kids 10 and under and I have no idea what to tell them, lol.  

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We are supposed to start on Monday and I may be dreading it more than the kids.  So I will do what I have done for many years- let the kids know we are starting next week.  Get all books ready and start to wake them earlier this week so it is not a fight.  And then on Monday I will ditch all my plans and go do something super fun.  Because we can...Because we homeschool.  And while we are out on our super fun outing I will remind the kids (and myself) how lucky we are to be able to homeschool and have the freedom to take a day whenever we want to.  And I will tell them that I expect great attitudes on Tuesday, when we actually start our work.

This has worked for me many times.   I find we all need that reminder of how good we have it right before we crack open the books.  It really helps us all to have a good first day on Tuesday.

 

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Today was our first day, too. Let's see... it went ok...

Dd never got to practice piano. Well actually, she hasn't read aloud to me yet either. She will after her shower.

She also didn't get to writing. I bought Partnership Writing for last school year and it never got done so I tried to convince her to go back to EIW but no, she wants to try PW again. I told her today the clock is ticking. If we are not doing it at least 4 days per week until Labor Day week, forget it. We're going back to EIW. Surprisingly, she didn't have a meltdown at that prospect. 

12 problems in Math Mammoth 4a (2/3 of a grade level behind) took her an hour and she still had major errors and needed much hand-holding. ? awesome. super awesome. ? 

Ds... No problems. Not a one. He just gets it done sans drama. ?

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We started on Monday but, with challenging toddler in our house this week, things are noisy and more chaotic than we prefer. I think the work load I’ve laid out is manageable for both kids so that’s good. Next week will be better. DD has two light weeks to start b/c her online classes don’t start until the end of the month. That’s helped.

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We are half way through week 3, and things are finally starting to settle down.  It helps that we never really stop in the summer, so we start the "new year" with a little momentum.  But, even so, getting back to full fledged school, and getting into the swing of new curricula, inevitably presents challenges.

It is annoying that we will have to transition to school twice this fall.  In just over two weeks we are leaving on a three week camping adventure in Boston and upstate New York.  Fun, fun, fun, but when we get back, all the extra-curriculars will already be in full swing and we will have to hit the ground running...and doing endless laundry, and washing and airing out the camping supplies, and buying groceries, and so on and so forth.  I'm much more nervous about those first weeks back than I was about our actual first weeks of school that we just got through.

Wendy  

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We started back a month ago.  Other than the fact that I am struggling with depression b/c I am missing my adult children and grandkids so much, things here are great.  Your post about things not going well b/c you thought you'd be more organized using their plans has always been my reality.  I am a poorer teacher when I use someone else's plans b/c I become less inclined to dig in and prepare ME as teacher.  Creating plans means I have to be organized and know what I am teaching.  It always makes for a better yr.

Edited by 8FillTheHeart
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We had a rough couple of days back. Arguing mostly. But youngest DD cried on the floor for 20 minutes because I asked her to do a paragraph of copywork and it was, “too long, Mommy”. She’s almost 8 years old.? I introduced a checkmark system that reduces tv time after school and moves up bedtime in direct correlation to bad attitudes and things cleared up really quick.?

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