Anxious about next year ramble

[Condessa]

I keep worrying on how I’m going to manage our homeschool next year, time-wise.  Dh is tired of hearing about it, and I feel like I can’t talk to anyone else about it, because parts of it might come across as bragging.  I feel like I can just manage everyone’s needs for my time now, mostly, when everything goes right.  Science and dd’s Latin do tend to get missed when things don’t run smoothly.

Dd10 is starting AOPS prealgebra.  I expect this will require a good chunk of my time, not only for instruction but also because dd is still struggling with perfectionism that manifests in major attitude issues when she gets frustrated.  We have been working on this for a long time and have been making headway on it, but still have work to do on it.  

My dd8 is dyslexic.  She now reads at grade level, and we have worked so hard to get her here.  By the Fall, I think she will be at the point where we are just doing review and practice for her daily phonics and extra time on spelling work, plus more time doing read-alouds of harder books to deal with it. But I am pretty sure that my youngest ds(will be 5) is dyslexic, too, and the prospect of possibly needing to spend the next three or four years doing phonics with another one for 45 minutes a day, five days a week, year-round is just so overwhelming.  Plus all the extra time a dyslexic kid needs of my direct involvement, like reading every math question and teaching music pieces note by note to him/her for years.

Besides the dyslexia issues, just adding a fourth elementary student is more time to juggle.  He’s been waiting for years to get to start violin lessons with a “real teacher” and counting down the months until the age I told him he can start.  And for the first time I will be running two levels of history (oldest dd in one and younger three doing SOTW 1) and two levels of science (dds are doing BFSU 2 now and ds(will be 7) is just sort of tagging along and not really getting most of it, but next year I’m planning on restarting BFSU 1 with the boys).

Older ds has been asking to start Spanish for a while, and has had to wait longer than his sisters did for foreign language.  He would like a lot more of everything, actually.  He works hard and fast, gets his work done well and is usually great to teach.  But when he’s not engaged in learning, he will constantly stir up his siblings and pester and interrupt their learning time unless I am running interference, redirecting him when possible, enforcing boundaries and consequences as necessary.  He was reminiscing yesterday about the “kids’ choice” subjects we used to do for each of them—uh, sorry, but no.  If I can find a way to get Spanish in, that can be your “choice” subject.

 

I’m trying to do what I can to mitigate the time press.  The girls’ foreign languages are going to be online with CLRC next year.  I’m thinking about finding a Spanish tutor for ds.  And the middle two are semi-independent with BA Online now (I read the Guidebook and section instructions with them and get them started, and then they work through sections on their own unless they get stuck).  But I’m still not sure how this is going to work out.

[freesia]

Charts are your friend. Another thing that is your friend is realizing you may not be able to use what you deem “perfect” or “ best curriculum “ for a few years. Adding my fourth was humbling. I ended up putting my middle two in textbook science that I never would have considered before. Guess what? They loved it and thrived. One of them even hopes to be an engineer. 

You need to take a hard look at your teacher intensive curriculum and balance them against electives that take your time. I have found duo lingo perfect for kids who want to start a language when I don’t have time to devote to teaching. Like you said, a tutor would help, too. 

I would do one history with all your kids. It might be the last year you can do that. Give the older one extra books to read on the topic. Start wherever she is. It won’t matter even a little bit if your youngest start in the middle. 

So chart out your day with a lot of give. What will everyone be doing at each time period ( give generous margin time). Mix up your teacher intensive times and group times. Build in a break mid morning for you. 

I would not start music with your younger if you think it will be that hard. 45 minutes a day of phonics for a five year old boy seems rather intense. However, my kids are only mildly dyslexic. I would add that for music, too you will burn out. It’s okay not to do things exactly the same for kids. 

And if you can’t start science with your younger two that will even be okay. Read science books, watch videos, plan maybe a couple of more intense units ( make time by taking a break from something else—the older two watch documentaries  or read books.). I promise you their science education won’t suffer irreparable harm. 

I know you will figure out what works best for you  schooling four often feels like spinning plates  I have learned that it’s best to relax  The plates will fall  then you will pick them up, either get new ones or throw them out and life will go on .

Pay attention to your concern though because what will actually make more of a difference to your kids education is your stress level . Teaching them balance and prioritizing and maintaining healthy stress levels is more important than Spanish and violin  and—taking the long view—the Spanish and music and even great teaching in all subjects will balance out  

 

[Condessa]

My oldest has already done SOTW 1, and regularly likes to look through her history binder at her old narrations and projects.  And ancient history is one of her passions.  While I am planning on keeping them all on the same time period in history, she needs more and deeper.

 I am wishing now that I hadn’t promised my youngest that he could start violin lessons at five—two years ago when I made that promise, I didn’t see any problem with that.  But I can’t go back on my word.   I hope I am wrong about the time for phonics, but that’s what dd needed.

I’ve already been putting off science for my older ds until younger ds can do it with him.  Maybe I could alternate doing science with the olders or the youngers each month, so I’m not trying to do two levels at the same time?  

 

Maybe I’m just a complainer.  I know I need to find a way to lighten things up somehow.  But I am loathe to go with “good enough” in anything.  I love how their educations have been progressing.  I have always said that I homeschool to give them a better education, and if I couldn’t, I would put them in school.  But I need to force myself to be practical.  I completely burnt myself out a few years ago, and I don’t want to go through that again.

I guess my perfectionists come by it honestly.

Edited March 15, 2019 by Michelle Conde

[freesia]

As a fellow perfectionist, who has her oldest, always homeschooled child in college now, good enough for a couple of years in a few subjects still adds up to excellent.  I’m not sure how, but it does lol. An excellent education doesn’t mean every day is the most perfect and done with the most top notch curriculum. The human factor plays into it, too. 

I promise you that alternating the science will not make a discernible difference. Over the years I had to lower my standards numerous times for various reasons. I feel much more confident, for instance, in my path of writing with my younger kids. Oldest’s  felt disjointed and like I was always trying to figure it out. Well, he got a 5 on the AP English, 780 verbal (720 math) on his SATs. He got into all ten colleges he applied to, including a couple very selective ones. He is part of the honors program in the college he chose to attend and absolutely thriving—top of the class and writing so strongly that his profs are holding him to a separate standard than the others. I can promise you that the decisions I made to use curriculum that worked for our whole family made no difference in the end. ( I’m not trying to brag, but to illustrate that success doesn’t mean perfect/best all the time)

Is your youngest just turning 5?  You could say that it will be sometime this year not right away. Then see how the phonics goes. I taught first grade for a decade. Most boys, even without dyslexia, aren’t ready for that much time spent on phonics at 5. They just aren’t ready to get it. If so, you can split the lessons and would have time for violin or you can wait until he is 6 for the intense phonics.  Again, I’m not trying to brag, but to reassure you—only my oldest read at 5. My last three didn’t read until 6 or 7. they just weren’t ready. They are now really strong advanced readers and writers. ( well except the nine year old—she’s getting there!). The intensity of early education does not impact later ability/ performance. In fact, I would consider doing the violin over starting reading because he is passionate about it and it will build his brain in ways that might help the reading. I 100% promise you will lose nothing waiting until six to start him in reading and you may gain a whole lot.