homeschooling areas you are not strong at and dont care about

[annegables]

I got to thinking about this... we all have areas as parents and/or homeschoolers that we are not good at and are striving to improve in. My current one is teaching writing. But we also have areas (at least I do) that we are not good at or have no interest in AND dont care to get better in, for whatever reason. Every now and then I feel some guilt for not providing my kids with all the things. What are yours?

Here are mine:

1. I strongly dislike crafts. Making them, storing them, supplying them, etc. I have zero desire to do educational crafts with the kids. We have some crafting stuff (<1000sqft house) but I avoid crafting activities. My kids still rummage through our recyclables and make all kinds of stuff with it. But I am not facilitating.

2. Outside activities. I live in an urban area and opportunities abound to spend one's time and money. And everything for kids here gets so competitive. We do none of it. We have friends, go hiking, swimming (for fun), play outside, but no scheduled activities. 

3. Music lessons. I love silence. I know learning an instrument is super good for a person, yada yada, but I just cannot bring myself to live in a little house while a kid learns how to play the violin or something. I am not that saintly of a person. 

4. outside classes (my kids are 6th, 4th, and 2nd, so still young). I really dont want to abide by someone else's deadlines and projects. I can develop my own stuff for far less hassle and to a high standard of learning. Not that outside classes are not to a high standard of learning, but just that I dont need someone else doing it for me. And my kids have no interest thus far.

[Noreen Claire]

2 minutes ago, annegables said:

Music lessons. I love silence. I know learning an instrument is super good for a person, yada yada, but I just cannot bring myself to live in a little house while a kid learns how to play the violin or something. I am not that saintly of a person. 

This. House is <1500 sq ft and there are seven of us. My kids are loud enough already. I do feel extremely guilty, because I know that DS10 wants to learn to play all.the.things, but my nerves can't handle it. I have issues with loud noises, and my kids are loud enough on their own!

[annegables]

10 minutes ago, Noreen Claire said:

This. House is <1500 sq ft and there are seven of us. My kids are loud enough already. I do feel extremely guilty, because I know that DS10 wants to learn to play all.the.things, but my nerves can't handle it. I have issues with loud noises, and my kids are loud enough on their own!

It doesnt help that my kids have formed a garage band of sorts. They write their own songs, and then invent a tune using a recorder, bongos, a tamborine, and a half-sized untuned guitar. But it isnt like they are practicing every day or that I am shelling out loads of money for so much extra noise🤣. I joke that they started a band mainly for the band drama.

Edited January 11, 2020 by annegables

[Miss Tick]

Health Class - we eat well, we value exercise, I've always pooh-poohed it, but I have come to reluctantly believe that I should at least skim through somebody's syllabus of standard topics.

Geography - I can't get excited about any dedicated course. I know a student who excels at geography - but he is none of mine.

Edited January 12, 2020 by SusanC
even autocorrect is all about pop culture, it seems (Sim vs skim)

[annegables]

7 minutes ago, OKBud said:

 

All of this (though I will JUMP at any outside activity that actually teaches something and also fits into my schedule without finagling! We've done so many things where no one actually learns anything, though.) plus composer/music and artist study. I absolutely can not with the composer studies. It doesn't add joy and beauty to our days when I attempt it, it adds tedium and boredom. We just listen to the music and look at the art and either like it or dislike it and no one cares one iota who created it or what it meeeeaaaannnzzz at a deeper level. Sorry, dead artists. We are uncultured and it shows and we don't care. 

Yep. We go to museums, so I figure they are getting exposure in intense bursts, and then...not much. I cannot tell the different between many instruments, let alone composers. I can hardly tell if it is a man or woman singing in a group of people. I have turned out reasonably alright.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Gardening / Botany

DS randomly became super-interested in plants over summer. I tried so hard. I purchased a lovely botany curriculum, bought several plant-themed tabletop games, I was going to overcome my black thumb once & for all so we could garden together - it was gonna be GREAT! But that totally didn’t happen. We made it 2wks & our Lima beans molded. So... this semester he’s signed up for a 3hr weekly Nature School at a local organic farm where he’ll be gardening, farm-to-table cooking, & hiking to learn about local plants / wild edibles with people who know what they are doing 😂

Music

We haven’t don’t this at all yet, aside from a bit of “music appreciation”. I will eventually be outsourcing actual lessons. DS is interested in piano, so I’m cool with purchasing a weighted keyboard for him to practice on at home... so long as it has headphones. There is no way I’d be teaching the actual lessons. 

Handicrafts

Crocheting, knitting, cross-stitch, machine sewing, etc. Absolutely zero interest. I have taught DS6 to thread a needle & do some basic hand-sewn stitches. He can sew on a button or mend a hole. When he’s older if he’d like I’ll teach him to take a seam in & hem. Anything beyond that I’m happy to provide materials / supplies / classes but I will not be participating beyond providing encouragement. 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Expat_Mama_Shelli

[....]

Honestly, we're not the best with history/geography (and ironically, because this is the WTM forums).  We've always been very math and science oriented.  Also, a lot of the history curricula out there (especially at the high school level) just looks very dry and boring.  

We've not been very good with music, either.  I've tried.  This is also ironic, because until age 16, my plan was to be a professional musician.  My parents actually perform and tour with their own group they started.  My uncle had a degree in music.  And...I'm distantly related to Elvis.  I mean, you would THINK (for crying out loud!) we could pull off music in our homeschool!!  Nope.  I've failed in that department.

I am making more of an effort with art this year, though.  I even have the high schoolers doing art - which they are enjoying.

[....]

6 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Nature journaling/note booking/communing or whatever you want to call it. I’m more of the “Go outside and you are not allowed to come back in for 20 minutes because y’all are killing me,” type of Mom than the “let’s look in awe of this glorious pine tree and then do a bark rubbing,” sort of Mom. 

 

Yeah, we're nature journaling failures here, too.  At the park, I'm like, "Huh.  There's a tree."  None of us have any idea what kind of tree it is....or the patience to draw a picture of it in a notebook.  Then, the kids will ask, "Can we get tacos for lunch?"  And then nature time is over.

[hollyhock2]

Read alouds past the age of about 10. I have felt guilty for this in the past. I know it's good for me to keep reading to them, etc. etc. but once they can read well, they just want to read their own books and they have so many other things they want to do than sit around and listen to Mom read. I do catch my 11yo listening sometimes while I read to my 6yo, but that's it.

Science experiments. Most of my kids don't enjoy them, and I don't really care. I make the older ones do some since they can do them without me, but I just don't care if my younger kids don't want to. Unfortunately, my 6yo LOVES them.

Outside classes. I know I would hate them and the time commitment required to go to them. I have never been interested in being part of any kind of co-op. 

[....]

Just now, hollyhock2 said:

Outside classes. I know I would hate them and the time commitment required to go to them. I have never been interested in being part of any kind of co-op. 

 

Me, neither.  I just don't have the time and patience for that.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

24 minutes ago, Evanthe said:

Yeah, we're nature journaling failures here, too.  At the park, I'm like, "Huh.  There's a tree."  None of us have any idea what kind of tree it is....or the patience to draw a picture of it in a notebook.  Then, the kids will ask, "Can we get tacos for lunch?"  And then nature time is over.

If you ever decide that you want to try (totally okay if you don’t - lol!) I found the app iNaturalist very useful for this sort of thing. You photograph the plant in question & the app tells you it’s best estimate of the species. Then naturalists the world over can confirm or deny that.

[daijobu]

Language Arts

Foreign Language (Spanish)

These were the first subjects to be outsourced.  

[Shoeless]

We don't do co-ops. I am all for outside activities as long as they have nothing to do with academics. Co-ops almost always feel like some one else's idea of "The Perfect School".  My son is an only child and we live out in the sticks, so if we didn't do outside activities, we would never talk to other kids. That being said...

I won't drive all over the place, all day, everyday. I know of a lot of families that spend hours in the car every day, and I don't have the patience for that. I don't know how they get any schoolwork or housework done. 

Foreign language? Eh. We are fiddling around with Latin. If he wants to learn more than that, we will have to outsource it.  I hope he opts for ASL.

[Mom28kds]

This is hilarious! Definitly feeling more human knowing I'm not alone 🙂

I don't do co-ops. I like to make my own schedule and it's enough with the boys athletic schedules to keep up with. I'm terrible at writing and have started having my older, married daughter edit my high schoolers writing so the can graduate and be able to write. I also don't care for Science experiments. I'm under the idea that give the kids the basics and if they like it they will begin to learn on their own what they need to learn. My 9th grader knows more History than I do haha. If they can read, write and do Math and have a good work ethic in general then that sets them up for whatever they desire to do because they can learn anything else. 

 

[El...]

I don't like to read aloud.  

[annegables]

1 hour ago, elroisees said:

I don't like to read aloud.  

I hated it for a long time...and didnt do it. I kept feeling super guilty. But I just couldnt with young kids. I could not stay awake. I would just fall asleep. For whatever reason, reading aloud would make me super sleepy. My kids finally started sleeping through the night and I listened to enough Readaloudrevival podcasts to want to begin building my read-aloud stamina. I then discovered that I really, really enjoy reading aloud. My kids love listening to me read aloud. I read aloud while they eat dinner because it keeps them at the table, it keeps them silent, and it is a great way for me to remember to do it. 

That being said, a big reason I could not be Charlotte Mason, esp in the early years, is the thought of reading aloud for hours on end makes me want to weep. 

[mmasc]

Astronomy. Just...no. 

[moonflower]

I don't read aloud to anyone who is capable (in any capacity) of reading silently to themselves.  Goodnight Moon is about as far as I go.  I'm great at reading aloud to toddlers/preschoolers, and I love it, but not for people who can already read.  

[annegables]

It's funny. I love listening to audiobooks as opposed to music when I drive or run. But I do not like being read aloud to by a person. I find it so thoroughly patronizing, which is probably a result of past experience. But my kids? They love being read aloud to. They find it reassuringly relational. They love the discussions, the stories, the snacks, everything.

[Ema]

Morning “Basket Time!” Lovely idea, but in no way is it workable for us. Tried a few times. Failed every time! There is no way we can ‘ease’ into the morning in this way. Our steam just petered out and we would end up just wandering aimlessly around the house! We need to jump feet first into the morning.

Plus all the lap books/crafts/recorders!

Also: Unit Studies (much to my mother’s chagrin)

[JaLeSherman]

23 hours ago, moonflower said:

I don't read aloud to anyone who is capable (in any capacity) of reading silently to themselves.  Goodnight Moon is about as far as I go.  I'm great at reading aloud to toddlers/preschoolers, and I love it, but not for people who can already read.  

100% here. I hate reading out loud in general, I don't mind doing it for little kids who can't read yet though. But once you can read, here's you a book, Mama has her own book, let's grab a blanket, warm drink, and read quietly together. I can't even listen to audiobooks, they drive me bonkers! Just hearing it spoken out loud messes with me in general. I like to read a couple of paragraphs, pause, reflect, then repeat. I'd constantly have to pause and restart an audio book every few paragraphs and that's just too much work. 

Subjects that just haven't been successful here:
Nature Study of anything. 
Gym
Learning an instrument

[Mommyof1]

Arts and crafts are not my thing but DD7 loves it. Her Dad is great at it and does it with her. 

Same with science and experiments but once again Dad enjoys it.  

I'm not into the sports team thing just because of the everybody wins mentally.  That and it's also expensive. There is an exception,  swim team which my little one wants to do. Once she learns to listen to her instructors and becomes eligible. 

 

 

 

[Emily ZL]

Things I don't do well and DO feel guilty about: nature study, reading aloud (my dh sort of does), deep literature discussions, Plutarch, morning time with hymns and prayers and such

Things I don't do and DON'T care about: sports, unit studies, big history cycles with tons of books and projects, art appreciation past the early years

[Coco_Clark]

Science, like ALL of Science.  

I'm bad at teaching it. I hate the bother and the mess of experiments and demonstrations. I hate the expense of kits. I know it's important but I just can't get any enthusiasm, despite trying so. many. different. programs.  I never knew this about myself before but I guess I'm just not a curious person?  I just don't care about science!

The last year and a half I've made sure we read 3-4 science-based living books a year, and that each kid outsourced at least a semester worth (co-op, or science museum, or astronomical society, ect).  And I'm going to call that good for another 2ish years until high school.  

Then, sigh.  I don't know.  

It's my kryptonite.  

[Chelli]

4 minutes ago, Coco_Clark said:

Science, like ALL of Science.  

I'm bad at teaching it. I hate the bother and the mess of experiments and demonstrations. I hate the expense of kits. I know it's important but I just can't get any enthusiasm, despite trying so. many. different. programs.  I never knew this about myself before but I guess I'm just not a curious person?  I just don't care about science!

The last year and a half I've made sure we read 3-4 science-based living books a year, and that each kid outsourced at least a semester worth (co-op, or science museum, or astronomical society, ect).  And I'm going to call that good for another 2ish years until high school.  

Then, sigh.  I don't know.  

It's my kryptonite.  

 

YES!!!!! I agree with all of this and I even have a high school student. I pawn off my children's science education on whomever I can (co-op, classes, online, documentaries, museums, etc.). Just don't make me do it.

[annegables]

4 hours ago, Coco_Clark said:

Science, like ALL of Science.  

I'm bad at teaching it. I hate the bother and the mess of experiments and demonstrations. I hate the expense of kits. I know it's important but I just can't get any enthusiasm, despite trying so. many. different. programs.  I never knew this about myself before but I guess I'm just not a curious person?  I just don't care about science!

The last year and a half I've made sure we read 3-4 science-based living books a year, and that each kid outsourced at least a semester worth (co-op, or science museum, or astronomical society, ect).  And I'm going to call that good for another 2ish years until high school.  

Then, sigh.  I don't know.  

It's my kryptonite.  

I say the following as a science person (in my education, work experience, and inclination): none of the bolded is necessary, esp before high school. I love science and value science. My kids know a lot of science. My little home is stuffed with all the science. And yet...

Most of those kits? Total junk. Talk about overselling and under-delivering. A select few are worth it (snap circuits comes to mind), but boy is there a lot of crap out there. Esp "chemistry" kits geared towards younger kids. $20 for some random plastic bits and baking soda labeled "sodium bicarbonate". Just add "acetic acid". Many, many kits count on people not knowing that household ingredients have fancy-sounding science names. Dont get me started on "slime kits." Or most chemistry kits geared towards girls. GAH. 

Most of those experiments/demonstrations? Unnecessary. 

I think that kids need to be exposed to science. Interesting science books (like living books, not textbooks), being outdoors, museums, documentaries, building "toys", etc. I do not find kits and experiments to be remotely necessary, esp before high school.

[annegables]

5 minutes ago, square_25 said:

 

Hear, hear. I just wish I could convince my daughter, who loooooves all the messy demonstrations and demands more and more of them. I've outsourced the many, many baking soda and vinegar (and sigh, food coloring) volcanoes to my hubby... 

But if it were up to me, I'd stick to living books and museums and the discussion of the science of day to day stuff. Oh, and we recently bought her the Horrible Science books, which she adores. But all the rest of it? Icing on the cake. 

We own a fancy chemistry kit with fun chemicals (Thames and Kosmos Chem3000) and it is one of the best ones for what it includes, and it contains a manual with "over 333 experiments".  The experiments are cohesive, thoughtful, and generally good. I also have several years of doing professional chemistry so I know what I am doing. And I STILL find this kit to be somewhat miserable. I wasnt able to get about half the experiments to do what they were supposed to do. Or if they did, it was so underwhelming or completely obvious to not be worth the effort. 

Perhaps I am very spoiled with having had access to professional labs with all kinds of fun toys and chemicals. 🤣

[....]

You have to be careful with Thames & Kosmos.  Home Science Tools has some really good science kits, though.  The MicroChem Kit is very good so far (we're working through that one right now).  The Intro to Chemistry kit is really good.  All of the chemistry kits for homeschoolers are just really expensive, unfortunately.    

[annegables]

7 hours ago, Evanthe said:

You have to be careful with Thames & Kosmos.  Home Science Tools has some really good science kits, though.  The MicroChem Kit is very good so far (we're working through that one right now).  The Intro to Chemistry kit is really good.  All of the chemistry kits for homeschoolers are just really expensive, unfortunately.    

Thanks!

[lots of little ducklings]

On 1/11/2020 at 5:46 PM, annegables said:

I got to thinking about this... we all have areas as parents and/or homeschoolers that we are not good at and are striving to improve in. My current one is teaching writing. But we also have areas (at least I do) that we are not good at or have no interest in AND dont care to get better in, for whatever reason. Every now and then I feel some guilt for not providing my kids with all the things. What are yours?

Here are mine:

1. I strongly dislike crafts. Making them, storing them, supplying them, etc. I have zero desire to do educational crafts with the kids. We have some crafting stuff (<1000sqft house) but I avoid crafting activities. My kids still rummage through our recyclables and make all kinds of stuff with it. But I am not facilitating.

2. Outside activities. I live in an urban area and opportunities abound to spend one's time and money. And everything for kids here gets so competitive. We do none of it. We have friends, go hiking, swimming (for fun), play outside, but no scheduled activities. 

3. Music lessons. I love silence. I know learning an instrument is super good for a person, yada yada, but I just cannot bring myself to live in a little house while a kid learns how to play the violin or something. I am not that saintly of a person. 

4. outside classes (my kids are 6th, 4th, and 2nd, so still young). I really dont want to abide by someone else's deadlines and projects. I can develop my own stuff for far less hassle and to a high standard of learning. Not that outside classes are not to a high standard of learning, but just that I dont need someone else doing it for me. And my kids have no interest thus far.

 

1, 2, and 4 are mine too... though I don't feel guilty about it because self-directed time is so important for children and all these things can quickly chip away at that.  Number 3, music, is the one exception, since piano has helped my out-of-the-box kid so much.  But I'm lucky to have a teacher who comes to our home, and a basement to keep the piano in, and volume control on it (it's electric).  If I had to direct music education myself, it probably wouldn't happen. 

 

 

[Peaceful Isle]

Science is my downfall. We do it, here and there, but not really until Jr high/high school. Then we use online classes. Read a louds...ugh...so yawny 

We love music and art in this house. History and grammar is done daily and Math is always online as well. 

[Ellie]

On 1/11/2020 at 2:46 PM, annegables said:

I got to thinking about this... we all have areas as parents and/or homeschoolers that we are not good at and are striving to improve in. My current one is teaching writing. But we also have areas (at least I do) that we are not good at or have no interest in AND dont care to get better in, for whatever reason. Every now and then I feel some guilt for not providing my kids with all the things. What are yours?

Here are mine:

1. I strongly dislike crafts. Making them, storing them, supplying them, etc. I have zero desire to do educational crafts with the kids. We have some crafting stuff (<1000sqft house) but I avoid crafting activities. My kids still rummage through our recyclables and make all kinds of stuff with it. But I am not facilitating.

2. Outside activities. I live in an urban area and opportunities abound to spend one's time and money. And everything for kids here gets so competitive. We do none of it. We have friends, go hiking, swimming (for fun), play outside, but no scheduled activities. 

3. Music lessons. I love silence. I know learning an instrument is super good for a person, yada yada, but I just cannot bring myself to live in a little house while a kid learns how to play the violin or something. I am not that saintly of a person. 

4. outside classes (my kids are 6th, 4th, and 2nd, so still young). I really dont want to abide by someone else's deadlines and projects. I can develop my own stuff for far less hassle and to a high standard of learning. Not that outside classes are not to a high standard of learning, but just that I dont need someone else doing it for me. And my kids have no interest thus far.

I don't do crafts. I buy crafty stuff and let the dc mess with it all over the kitchen table. 🙂 And yet I still like KONOS, so for folks who wonder whether it's possible to do KONOS sans crafts, YES! 🙂

I didn't do outside activities during the day, with other homeschoolers, because during the day was prime time for me to spend with my dc. We did Camp Fire (mostly as independents, when they could earn their badges and whatnot at home), 4-H, and Scottish Highland dance, and eventually ballet, but those were community activities, in the late afternoon when school let out, or on weekends. Highland dance is competitive, mostly at Highland games, which the whole family loved, so we didn't mind that. 🙂 We did leave the house every Thursday for a field trip, just the three of us, although I did invite a small, hand-picked group of friends once in awhile if I wanted to do something that required a group.

Neither of my dc took music lessons; they did get to participate in children's musicals at church, and they were in a homeschool choir for a couple of years, but we just couldn't pull off the music lessons (extra $$ would have gone for Highland dance, anyway).

We were hsing before homeschool co-ops and whatnot were invented; by the time the newer hsers invented them, we were set in our ways and absolutely NOT interested in doing age-segregated, classroom-based instruction.