writing assigments for this week

[choirfarm]

This will be partly a vent and partly a..I'm not sure what to do..

 

Three weeks ago my dad had some serious health problems and we ended up at his house, at the doctors,etc. It was also a busy week with outside things and appointments anyway so school was whatever we could carry with us. We did manage to get math done everyday, all of our history readings and discussions, science and Spanish.

 

The next week my older two boys traded off the flu. They still did school every day but one but on a limited basis. We managed to get math and history and literature readings and discussions done that week. They also did some science.

 

Then last week the older two boys traded strep and finally got put on antibiotics. I was running to the doctor, to the drugstore, etc. My youngest girl's allergies really kicked in and I had to get medication for her as well. It was the end of unit 2 for TOG so we made it a catch-up week and they took a literature exam I made up and a history exam as well. We were supposed to get caught up on writing...

 

What has gotten left behind in the last few weeks is writing. My oldest has a decent rough draft of a short story. I tried to introduce editorials and have them write one, but because of illness and also I think it is a hard concept for 11 and 13yo to grasp.. he barely got started on one. My younger boy had a presentation board for our co-op so he did that and started on his short story late and has a wimpy first draft. He hasn't started the editorial at all. This week for TOG we are supposed to do play-writing for writing.

 

However, this week the morning are good but Monday afternoon my youngest has vision therapy, Tuesday afternnoon my boys have paino lessons to make up for the 2 they missed to help them get ready for a competition in a couple of weeks. Wednesday afternnon the boys have their regular piano lessons and we have to take my dad to Walmart and to get his hair cut. Then Thursday morning my youngest girl gets a cavity filled and has violin in the afternoon. Friday is a teacher workday because I am going with a friend to the Women of Faith conference. I haven't been to a women's conference since before my children were born!!! So...for writing to get done, it takes me sitting by them and watching them and coaching them through it... well, not for a report but for writing a play!!!! So should I just assign some kind of report to actually do a writing assignment this week or should I actually start the multi-week play writing assignment??

 

I'm just tired of fighting life to get school done! My busyest time is coming up as well. I am in charge of a musical for our co-op on April 6th and then my children's choir is performing Palm Sunday and then their musical is May 3rd. I have already resigned from children's choir for next year, said no VBS though I've done it for 13 years now and we may drop co-op but it is what it is right now. I hate that all my ministry things are gone, but I guess my father is my ministry right now along with trying to teach 3 children. I REALLY wonder, though, how in the world these women do it that are full time teachers, help their 3 kids and do music ministry... HOnestly, if all I did was my home stuff: taking care of 50 acres, budget, schooling, taking care of father, etc. I still couldn't get everything done.

 

Christine

[BryRon]

Yikes! Sounds like your plate has really been full. A suggestion I would put out there would be to RELAX. Life does get in the way. And it will continue to get in the way. I have to wonder that if you give up all of the things you love to do, you won't start to resent the whole mess and really throw your hands up in the air. I don't know if you live in one of the states that requires reporting, but honestly: how important is this writing assignment? Skip it! Take that off of your "hot list" and do the other things that have to be done: taking care of your father, getting kiddos prepared for their respective performances, taking care of springtime planting (or whatever you all do on 50 acres) and keep the schooling to the core programs - they certainly won't suffer for it. And maybe they need a break from the writing pressure, as well?

 

For me, I have to prioritize what is most important for that day or week. I used to be a control freak and dedicated multi-tasker. I had to let go of some of that because it was driving me insane, not to mention my poor family. I've learned to relax and realize that I cannot get it all done (bitter pill to swallow, to be sure!) but I am so much more calm and able to deal with what LIFE tends to throw at us.

 

HTH, and please: RELAX A LITTLE. In 20 years, no one is really going to care about a writing assignment!

[alpidarkomama]

I can sympathize! We've had various interruptions over the last two weeks, and now Passover begins in a couple of weeks so we are busy preparing.Then the holiday lasts 8 days. So... It's a little crazy! I love that we school year-round so that when this happens, we just do what we can and don't worry about it. We always get in at least the equivalent of a full school year, and usually more.

[Karen sn]

School year round?

Then when life happens you can breathe.

[Leanna Tomlinson]

It sounds like you are following the writing assignments in Writing Aids? FWIW- I run a TOG co-op which uses WA. The other writing teacher and I have decided to cut way back on the assignments for next year. Writing Aids has valuable assignments, great explanations, and wonderful rubrics, but the pace at which the assignments are given in TOG is too fast for most of our students. I say abandon writing until you catch up. :)

 

Blessings,

Leanna

[gr8tcook]

Your ministry right now is your father and children. It is ok not to be superwoman. We can only do a few thngs really well. Your father is ill and your children are growing up...this is ministry. I say in love to you,decide what is important and lay aside what is urgent. Sending you thoughts and prayers of peace and wisdom.

[bugs]

KISS (Keep it simple silly). There is nothing wrong with having your family as your ministry for a season. Regroup and relax. There is less likely to be illness when folks are not run ragged. DO you take time for you? Do you exercise and have a time of quiet for prayer and scripture reading?

[bkpan]

Oh my, I SO agree with the other posters. You are trying to do too much and that cant help but have a negative effect on the whole family. Why in the world are your dc doing school with the flu, and with strep???

 

Please, slow down. I like what someone else said, but Ill even shorten it here. Who is going to care about that writing assignment a year from now, 6 months from now......?

 

Take these ladies words as permission to slow down and let life happen. Think about the people you want your dc to become, and then work backwards to think about what most days should look like to help form those people. HTH!

 

Kim

[choirfarm]

Oh my, I SO agree with the other posters. You are trying to do too much and that cant help but have a negative effect on the whole family. Why in the world are your dc doing school with the flu, and with strep???

 

 

Kim

 

Because they didn't feel that bad. For the flu, they had a bad headache and high fever for one day ( that day they didn't do much) the fever lingered for 2 more days, but once they had motrin they acted fine... Then the cough/congestion fell in. With the strep, they complained of a sore throat, but once the medicine took effect, they didn't feel that bad. We had some history channel documentaries from netflix and they could read when they felt bad. So they did the questions on the days they felt better. I mean once the medicine kicks in and they don't feel bad, what would they do all day anyway?? I just didn't push their hated subjects like writing. My oldest is the one who wanted to push through with his TTAlgebra II and Apologia Biology so he wouldn't get behind. He enjoys them.

 

They basically stayed home and didn't go anywhere for 2 weeks!!

 

I'm just not quite sure how I haven't gotten sick. Yes, I take vitamins, don't exercise, though. But I am teaching all the choreography for the 2 musicals so all of the practicing and teaching probably counts as aerobics. I have a quiet time every morning. I get up about 4, so I have plenty of time before everyone else gets up at 7. I also go out on Tuesday afternoon in our back pasture where the 3rd pond is or where my dh put a rock next to a gorgeous tree and I sing, write in my journal, etc. On Mondays during my daughter's vision therapy I get a drink and work through the Margin/Overcoming Overload book. So yes, I am trying to take time for me. That is new this year. That is why I am going to a women's confernece with a friend for the first time in about 16 years!!

 

Christine

[Catwoman]

I mean once the medicine kicks in and they don't feel bad, what would they do all day anyway??

 

My ds would manage to think of something! ;)

 

We don't do school if my ds is sick, or has any kind of fever. We usually even take off an extra day or two after he's feeling well. I would rather have him relax and enjoy himself when he's not feeling his best, than try to do schoolwork. As someone else mentioned in an earlier post, 6 months or a year from now, who's going to remember a writing assignment (or whatever?)

 

When my dad was ill and passed away, we "took off from school" for almost 2 months, and when my mom passed away suddenly, we took off for several weeks, because I was really in no shape to teach and ds needed time to deal with his grief. (Both of my parents passed away within 10 months of each other, and we were a super-close family and saw each other every day.) I have to admit that I was quite worried that we would get too far behind in our schoolwork, but once we got started again each time, we managed to catch up quickly. We didn't do every last worktext page or every last math problem or writing assignment, and I pared down some of the material that was redundant (or useless!) and everything turned out very well.

 

I started out my homeschooling as a "check every box on the schedule" type of mom, which goes completely against my laid-back personality, because I was worried that something horrible would happen if I missed any tiny detail. Well, fast-forward to several years later, and I still make sure we cover everything we need, but after dealing with a lot of adversity, I've realized that "life" comes before schoolwork, and little things like taking a week off if someone is ill, is not a big deal. When I was a kid, my mom fussed over us a lot when we were sick, and it's one of my fondest memories of her -- sitting on the bed or the sofa together playing games or with Barbies, and her reading to me. I want my ds to have the same happy memories (well, without the Barbies -- I guess he'll remember the Legos and the action figures...) and doing school when he's sick doesn't seem like a wonderful memory to me.

 

I'm not criticizing you for wanting to get the work done when the kids aren't feeling too sick, because you know what works best for your family, but I just thought I would post a different perspective.

 

Cat

[choirfarm]

I was a lot more laid back and I guess I would understand except it just seems to be life, after life, after life. I had my boys in school until they finished 1st and 3rd and and then we started homeschooling. Well, the first two years my dh's grandmother and father had serious illness. The grandmother stayed with us on and on until they got her caregivers ( she lives an hour away and we still work out her care and get phone calls a ton. She turns 97 in a couple of months.) His dad was in and out of intensive care that year. So my first two years I homeschooled in hospital rooms, doctor's appointments, etc.

 

The next year my dad had an accident and came to live with us for 9 months. I had physical therapists in and out and then had to take him to physical therapy twice a week. In between tonsil removers and other regular life.

 

Last year was better and a little more normal as dad now lives on his own, but cannot drive. This year what has been hard has been having 3 homeschooled. The two boys were rather easy as we did most work together. But now my oldest has advanced courses and I'm having to keep up with Biology and Algebra. Myy youngest is now 1st grade and so we need to be serious and she is having so much trouble reading. We discovered she had vision problems and so have started vision therapy, but it sure made me feel like a failure when my younger two could read anything you handed them by this time in ps and homeschooling is supposed to be superior.

 

We also have testing next week and I'm stressing... I gave the boys practice TAKS test and neither did very well. My oldest normally does VERY well, but it is frustrating for all this math work and only 6o something percentile.

 

Dh likes to travel and so we are gone a lot, which is educational...but... I've been flexible for so long. Oh.. and my mom has had breast cancer twice as well. (They're divorced.)

 

I understand that life happens, but if they were in ps, school would happen regardless. My oldest is about to be high school and if he were in ps, those AP/honors classes would keep going regardless of life. Yes, we school year round and we've taken TOG year 2 at our own pace. We stared in July and are just starting year 3. But still I worry...

[bugs]

As long as their temperatures are manageable, and they are not vomiting, I make my kids do their school work. I tell them that in the business world you work when you don't feel too great, so they had to practice now.

 

BTW I wasn't (and I don't think anyone else was either) critisizing you. Just offering different perspectives. It sounds as if you're in a "low biorhythm" time of life. The great news is that life will get easier again. ;)

[Catwoman]

As long as their temperatures are manageable, and they are not vomiting, I make my kids do their school work. I tell them that in the business world you work when you don't feel too great, so they had to practice now.

 

 

I guess my perspective is a bit different -- I realize that when my ds is in the business world, things will be harder, so that's why I want him to have a happy, fun, low-stress childhood!

 

Cat

[Catwoman]

I was a lot more laid back and I guess I would understand except it just seems to be life, after life, after life.

 

Wow, choirfarm, no wonder you're able to find ways to squeeze in a bit of schoolwork here and there, even if the kids are a little sick -- you've sure had way more than your share of practice! :grouphug:

 

Maybe you're the one who needs some time off from school! ;) I know that sometimes we take a few days off so I can regroup a little bit, especially when it seems like things just aren't going right and I feel very stressed.

 

Try not to worry about the testing too much (try... then try some more...) because the kids will probably do a lot better on the real tests than on the practice ones. Kids seem to know when it's "real" and when it's not! :glare:

 

I'm sorry you've gone through so much over the past several years, and I truly commend you for sticking with homeschooling through it all. I think you should sit down one day and give yourself credit for the fact that you're doing so well, considering all of the obstacles. I know how easy it is to blame yourself for everything not being perfect (I do it all the time,) but you have overcome so much and they still haven't had you committed to the funny farm, so you must be doing something right!

 

Cat