Homeschooling can be very overwhelming. I got to the point where I had to put aside some things, including this blog, to try to stay afloat. A week off at Thanksgiving and a week off last week helped our mental state a lot. I wish I had done more homeschool work, but I did get some planning done. We are doing just our core subjects this week (Bible, Reading, Science, Math & Social Studies plus Vocabulary/ spelling). This only takes us about two hours. We were originally planning to have this week off, but decided to take a trip to Disney in February so we need to get instructional time in this week in order to take that one off. 
I spend so much time planning and preparing for their next school day, and then they finish it in less than two hours. Something that has helped me enormously is making myself plan for the entire week over the weekend. Then, each night I just have to refill each box and grade the work they did that day. In this way, I usually spend an hour or two getting ready for the next day. I am also getting better about keeping my grade log up-to-date. This will be a great help when it's time for our second report cards to come out! Here are some goals/ areas for improvement I need/want to work on:
*Adding more electives (again, so overwhelmed just planning our basics that I am scared to add more). Jason needs to do *Spanish.
*Add more logic- I have the materials but need to fit it in to the schedule.
*Joel needs to start cursive... maybe next week? He also needs typing.
I have lots of *review centers/ file folder activities made or laminated and ready to be cut out. I need to work these into our schedule.
We need to do *final copies of our writing. I am not pushing this because it seems drudgery to them and I am so happy with how excited they are about writing and thus don't want to dampen that. Also, in real life, we don't always do final copies of our writing with the huge exception of those who make a living at writing! Plus, Jason's current story is very long; it will take forever to do the final copy. I hope he can dictate it to me while I type it up and vice-versa.
**ANY IDEAS OR SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!!**
Next year, I want each core subject to start off with answering review questions in a notebook. Repetition is great for ensuring they don't forget things. With homeschool we definitely have the luxury of reviewing the material since we are not as curriculum driven as public schools.
I am very excited about attending the Southeast Homeschool convention in March. My goal there is to really evaluate Social Studies, Grammar, and Spelling/ Vocabulary curriculum for next year. I am happy with the Math and Science curriculum we currently use. I wouldn't mind something that tells me exactly what to do; less planning will help me!!
Jason loved the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. We watched the movie when he completed it. He turned around and read the entire novel again. It really made an impression on him. Joel started My Side of the Mountain this week. I ended up having lots of teaching materials on it even though I never taught it, don't remember where the material came from, and it is not even in the 6th grade curriculum, which is the only grade I ever taught. One of many weird times where sometime in the past I unknowingly prepared for the future teaching of my own children. What would I do without all the files I compulsively saved even though I am not a saver??
There was a time before Christmas when I completely lost it and screamed, "I QUIT!! YOU ARE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL AFTER CHRISTMAS BREAK!" (As Joel described it at our Apex Baptist Homeschool Christmas party to another mom, "My mom sometimes throws a fit." Did I mention this was the first time we'd met these people??!)
What precipitated this (and a few mini fits earlier) is Jason and Math. Jason decided he didn't like math. He would become angry every time he got to his math box. I'll spare the details out of respect for him but I will tell you my ugly thoughts: "I spend so much time planning and preparing and this is the thanks I get? You only go to school for 4 hours a day AT THE MOST and our school doesn't start until 9 and you are still complaining??You HAVE to learn math; what kind of mom would I be if you didn't??" Self-righteous feelings, while arguably sometimes justified, never lead to a good outcome. That was a very low point. I did a few things which haven't made things perfect but somewhat helped: 1. Jason always has math last. 2. His dad worked with him on some of the things he didn't understand. I felt somewhat better (not rightly so) when Jason copped an attitude with him, too. Moving onto the next unit helped too; I do think that unit was a particularly frustrating one for both of us. I had to relearn a lot of the material as well and even taught him a wrong fact about multiplying negative numbers. Oops. I am having to make peace with the fact that with 11-14 subjects going at once, I sometimes am not going to be an expert at all they are learning. While this would be a complete disgrace in the public schools, here at home it's just more proof that we are three imperfect human beings doing the best we can.
Planning on the weekends I am sure does help during the week. I can't wait until next year when you have been able to plan ahead for the next year during break and can just tweak during the year as needed. I think it will be so helpful. Until then just hang in there like you have been. (-: I think you're doing a great job!
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