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What's something you have to do but aren't enjoying doing right now?


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Is there any part of your homeschooling that you aren't having fun with right now? 

For me, it's our nonsense words. I've been making targeted nonsense words for DD4 for a year now. She naturally leans very heavily towards whole word reading, and slowly working on letter combinations via nonsense words has been the only way I've discovered to allow her to steadily improve her decoding skills. She's already a strong reader, but unlike with DD8, I don't feel like it's a good idea to only let her read by herself, because I can tell she'll wind up having bad habits if I do. 

I make the nonsense words, because I know what letter combinations confuse her and what she struggles with. It's all very effective and I'm very grateful for learning about them. But unlike making math lessons... I find making them week after week after week onerous and boring. I'm looking forward to being done with them eventually! 

Anyone else have aspects of homeschooling they are really not enjoying? 

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Well I'm not enjoying that my 9 year 💯 has a better grasp on grammar than I do. I mean, I'm happy for him, but I feel so dumb. How did I get this far in life. 😩 So, I love what we are doing for grammar and writing, but I hate grammar and writing. Love the curriculum, but the subject makes me miserable. I'll take math any day.

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38 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

Well I'm not enjoying that my 9 year 💯 has a better grasp on grammar than I do. I mean, I'm happy for him, but I feel so dumb. How did I get this far in life. 😩 So, I love what we are doing for grammar and writing, but I hate grammar and writing. Love the curriculum, but the subject makes me miserable. I'll take math any day.

Awwww. That sounds like no fun!! We aren't doing any grammar around here, and I'm pretty sure I'd be in the same position as you if we did, lol. What curriculum are you using? 

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Math is a daily process of trying to notice what's hard for her and think of how to dissolve it into a million easy worksheet problems (but tedious for me) that she can do over the coming weeks. It's not exactly Sisyphean, she makes progress this way. But it's hard to imagine a time when I won't have to do it. There are always new hard things coming up.

2 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

I don't feel like it's a good idea to only let her read by herself, because I can tell she'll wind up having bad habits if I do. 

What kind of bad habits do you worry about? I have my kid read a page aloud to me every day, since finishing Engelmann's "100 easy lessons" last year. For a while I was going through the same motions as the last half of that book: I picked out the words in the lesson that I thought would be new to her, scratched them out on a separate sheet and had her sound them out in advance of the reading. After a couple of months I stopped doing that, not with great confidence. Now when she comes to a new word or misreads an old word I just tell her what it is and let her go on. If the same word comes up again before too long she usually recognizes it.

I think I have misgivings about this but not that I can put my finger on.

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10 minutes ago, UHP said:

What kind of bad habits do you worry about?

My specific kid is a champion guesser using context. She's extremely bright but she finds phonics unintuitive. We didn't even notice she couldn't tell b's apart from d's (and I mean at all -- she had a 50% hit rate without context) when we were mostly reading words in stories, because she could guess correctly from context about 90% of the time. 

We used 100 Easy Lessons with both kids, and I didn't have concerns with DD8 -- we finished the book, did a few more letter combinations, and then I set her loose. So I bet you're fine. But this kiddo will read letters out of order, or guess letters, or do other "whole word" tricks unless we do nonsense words. With nonsense words, she makes slow but steady progress. 

 

11 minutes ago, UHP said:

Math is a daily process of trying to notice what's hard for her and think of how to dissolve it into a million easy worksheet problems (but tedious for me) that she can do over the coming weeks. It's not exactly Sisyphean, she makes progress this way. But it's hard to imagine a time when I won't have to do it. There are always new hard things coming up.

Let me know if you need any suggestions! I actually like making up math problems 😉

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1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:

Awwww. That sounds like no fun!! We aren't doing any grammar around here, and I'm pretty sure I'd be in the same position as you if we did, lol. What curriculum are you using? 

We are using Treasured Conversations and it's great, it really is. Iam just really really bad with grammar and writing. He's doing great. It's very well done. I just still feel so insecure. 

Edited by Elizabeth86
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8 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

Is there any part of your homeschooling that you aren't having fun with right now? 

For me, it's our nonsense words. I've been making targeted nonsense words for DD4 for a year now. She naturally leans very heavily towards whole word reading, and slowly working on letter combinations via nonsense words has been the only way I've discovered to allow her to steadily improve her decoding skills. She's already a strong reader, but unlike with DD8, I don't feel like it's a good idea to only let her read by herself, because I can tell she'll wind up having bad habits if I do. 

I make the nonsense words, because I know what letter combinations confuse her and what she struggles with. It's all very effective and I'm very grateful for learning about them. But unlike making math lessons... I find making them week after week after week onerous and boring. I'm looking forward to being done with them eventually! 

Anyone else have aspects of homeschooling they are really not enjoying? 

Do you have the old Phonics Pathways book?  That would give you words with the same phonics but no context.  It might take some of the load off of having to make up those nonsense words.

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Just now, Carol in Cal. said:

Do you have the old Phonics Pathways book?  That would give you words with the same phonics but no context.  It might take some of the load off of having to make up those nonsense words.

Thank you very much for the suggestion!! I don't have those books, no. But she can do it very well with words without context. If it's a real word, she is unlikely to pay attention to all the letters, especially the letter combinations she doesn't know yet. I tried it at some point with random words in books and other out of context words and she's just far too good at guessing it from the letters she can decode quickly. 

The only thing we've ever tried that actually gets her to work on decoding every letter from left to right is nonsense words 😞 . We experimented for something like 2 or 3 months before we found that, so I'm pretty reluctant to move away from it, since it's working so well. 

Realistically, it's not even that hard to make them -- it takes me like half an hour each weekend 🙂 . It's just that I really don't enjoy the process! But it's also really rewarding to see progress -- she's a kid who's really motivated to read, which is why I taught her, but phonics don't come easy to her. But at least she's steadily moving forward! 

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6 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

Thank you very much for the suggestion!! I don't have those books, no. But she can do it very well with words without context. If it's a real word, she is unlikely to pay attention to all the letters, especially the letter combinations she doesn't know yet. I tried it at some point with random words in books and other out of context words and she's just far too good at guessing it from the letters she can decode quickly. 

The only thing we've ever tried that actually gets her to work on decoding every letter from left to right is nonsense words 😞 . We experimented for something like 2 or 3 months before we found that, so I'm pretty reluctant to move away from it, since it's working so well. 

Realistically, it's not even that hard to make them -- it takes me like half an hour each weekend 🙂 . It's just that I really don't enjoy the process! But it's also really rewarding to see progress -- she's a kid who's really motivated to read, which is why I taught her, but phonics don't come easy to her. But at least she's steadily moving forward! 

You could always do the names in the OT of the bible 😂. Pretty sure that’s how I learned phonics!  This will not work if you’re doing Hebrew language or something I guess because the English phonics is probably not at all the correct pronunciation.

I think there’s a lady on this forum (Elizabeth something?  ElizabethB or similar ) who has a free phonics program with some printable nonsense words sheets.  I wonder if she’s still here 

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1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

You could always do the names in the OT of the bible 😂. Pretty sure that’s how I learned phonics!  This will not work if you’re doing Hebrew language or something I guess because the English phonics is probably not at all the correct pronunciation.

I think there’s a lady on this forum (Elizabeth something?  ElizabethB or similar ) who has a free phonics program with some printable nonsense words sheets.  I wonder if she’s still here 

Yep, that’s where I got the idea!! There aren’t enough of them on there and they wouldn’t be personalized like mine... I did look. But I’m very grateful to her for giving me the idea 🙂 

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I am rather done needing to check on the (one month away from) 17 year old's progress every single day.  She could have graduated early (even if just by a semester) but she seems content to do the very minimum each day, if that, which is why I have to double check.  With my older two I didn't have to confirm they did their work even if they weren't super motivated their last year.  It probably wouldn't bother me as much except that I know she goes to work each afternoon (only a couple of hours) and does over and above for her boss.  I guess I am jealous. 

 

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Well, soon I'll be seriously potty training a 2 year old. I'll enjoy things much more after that's done, but it'll likely be a pretty miserable week or two. Waiting until consistently warm weather. Also, trying to teach with said 2 year old doing his best to have the most attention possible isn't my favorite. It's a good thing he's cute (and that 2 doesn't last forever).

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5 hours ago, egao_gakari said:

This isn't academic, but monitoring screen/device time. I'm so over it. I wish we'd never allowed them to have phones or laptops at all, even though I know they needed the laptops for school and there were good reasons to get the phones at the time we got them.

Same here. This season has seen such an increase in technology time at our home. It has also brought so many troubles with attitude, work ethic, and battles. I am ready to get rid of it all. 

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20 minutes ago, seemesew said:

I think its just the almost Spring blahs, lol! but I appreciate the offer! We are taking a break next week and that will help ❤️

I do know how that goes!! Well, I'm around if you ever need 🙂 . It's possible I live on this forum 😉 . 

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49 minutes ago, Dmmetler said:

I feel like I’m having to push and pull and prod my usually very self motivated kid over the finish line. I rather wish I had just gone ahead and let them graduate in Dec and take a gap semester. 

Ug. Senior-itis. It is a real thing. 😩 Hang in there! You're just about 10 weeks away!

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28 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Is she a bit burned out?

I think that’s part of it. COVID has pretty much taken anything fun from senior year and left the work. So, you still have the essays and interviews, but not the campus visits and overnights in the dorm. You still have the work of senior year, but not the parties and dances with friends. I signed up and paid the fees for a graduation ceremony and senior prom  a couple of hours away that is happening in June and seems to be a lot more COVID aware than the local one, which at least gives something. But even things like making a senior sign for the front lawn have been complicated because you can only buy the sign blanks in bulk online, and I don’t want to go to Lowes to get one. So we did all the layout and design and have the vinyl cut, but can’t assemble it. 
 

Senioritis after being accepted to colleges is not atypical, but this year has just been a slog from day 1. 

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On 3/2/2021 at 9:40 PM, Xahm said:

Well, soon I'll be seriously potty training a 2 year old. I'll enjoy things much more after that's done, but it'll likely be a pretty miserable week or two. 

You are a potty training rock star if it will only be a week or two. My second child potty trained himself in one week and I thought I had figured something out. Then my twins took 100 years. Haha.

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30 minutes ago, drjuliadc said:

You are a potty training rock star if it will only be a week or two. My second child potty trained himself in one week and I thought I had figured something out. Then my twins took 100 years. Haha.

This is the fourth and last child. Big sister was first and ridiculously easy. The others have been a couple weeks of misery followed by a month of needing to always have spare pants near at hand, then things being fairly normal. I'm hoping it goes that well, but not really looking forward to finding out. 

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17 minutes ago, Xahm said:

This is the fourth and last child. Big sister was first and ridiculously easy. The others have been a couple weeks of misery followed by a month of needing to always have spare pants near at hand, then things being fairly normal. I'm hoping it goes that well, but not really looking forward to finding out. 

I did a lazy version baby potty training with both of them -- got them used to going on the potty, then put them in undies somewhere before 2. 

DD8 was apparently fastidious, peed on herself a few times, then was basically constantly dry after day 3. 

DD4 decided that peeing AND pooping on herself in underwear was THE BEST THING EVER on the first day of undies. It was terrible -- she did it MUCH more than she had when she was in diapers!! Then she mostly shaped up, although we needed to constantly run to bathrooms to prevent accidents. I don't remember how long that phase lasted, but at least a month and maybe more. 

So I also got spoiled by my first 😉 . 

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3 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I did a lazy version baby potty training with both of them -- got them used to going on the potty, then put them in undies somewhere before 2. 

DD8 was apparently fastidious, peed on herself a few times, then was basically constantly dry after day 3. 

DD4 decided that peeing AND pooping on herself in underwear was THE BEST THING EVER on the first day of undies. It was terrible -- she did it MUCH more than she had when she was in diapers!! Then she mostly shaped up, although we needed to constantly run to bathrooms to prevent accidents. I don't remember how long that phase lasted, but at least a month and maybe more. 

So I also got spoiled by my first 😉 . 

This one has been pooping in the potty about half the time recently and usually running to me as soon as his diaper is spoiled most of the rest of the time, so I think he's ready. He's still refusing to join the world of the vocal, though. This would be easier if he would talk.

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Just now, Xahm said:

This one has been pooping in the potty about half the time recently and usually running to me as soon as his diaper is spoiled most of the rest of the time, so I think he's ready. He's still refusing to join the world of the vocal, though. This would be easier if he would talk.

Yeah, we we were also at "pooping in the potty half the time" with DD4. I don't know why she thought it was great fun to poop in her underwear the first day -- she didn't like it in her diaper! It was really a horror show. I almost gave up that first day. Thankfully the next day wasn't like that. 

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