Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

This is where new posts begin. All questions or discussions about any of Heart of Dakota's curriculums start here. If you wish to share a one-time post about your family's experience with our curriculum, you may post under the specific curriculum title (found beneath this "Main Board" heading).
Post Reply
MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by MelInKansas » Wed Nov 04, 2015 7:17 am

I just wanted to share here, as I have always had such encouragement from you ladies, and in hopes that maybe you have some insight, scripture, perspective to help me figure out how to improve things here with our homeschooling.

I am discouraged and frustrated with how things go each day in our schooling. I also find myself not wanting to do school and tempted to just quit partway through the day and call it off (which sometimes I do). Part of it is the nice weather. It seems a shame to spend the afternoon inside when it is sunny and 70 degrees, knowing cold weather lies ahead.

Here's a little description of our days:
My kids get up now, with the change back to standard time, around 7 AM. We try to have a 20 minutes little "meeting" before breakfast, sing a worship song, review memory verses and sometimes discuss one of them (sometimes this takes a long time and I lose the younger ones while I'm doing it with the older ones), and then pray together. Then breakfast - 30-45 minutes. I feel breakfast time is very undirected and sometimes this is the time I lose the kids' focus. So then we talk about what needs to be done for the day and my 2 oldest start off to do their independent work by themselves - sometimes at the dining room table but often they go upstairs. The middle, in Bigger, just does her math workbook pages, cursive, sometimes spelling, and practices piano as that's all she can do without any help from me. I work with my 6 YO and sometimes the 3YO if he feels like doing anything that day. Here's a part of our issue (I think) that all the things I have lined up to do with the 6YO right at the beginning are the very hardest things. Math, then copywork, spelling, and then reading (TRL). Where she's at in TRL is pretty hard now, we just finished lesson 15, and she does not like doing it and generally we have to have a pep talk. Copywork she actually does okay but it takes a long time and she doesn't like it that much. In that first block with my 6YO I also do poetry and Bible box which are easy for her and she likes those. I am thinking I should take one of those first 3 hard things and move it to her 2nd block.

Then I work with the 8 YO for a while. Oh also sometime in that first block with my 6YO I have to take a 15 minute break to nurse and put the baby down for her nap. Sometimes my 3YO is just racing around the kitchen or living room with a car and making a lot of noise. I should probably, even if he chooses to play which he has done more lately, find some guidelines for him so he is not so disruptive. Once the 6YO is done with her first block of school she gets a break and then usually she and the 3YO run off or go outside and play and things quiet down a bit.

8YO and I look over her math and cursive, do Bible box, poetry, grammar, and DITHOR at least. If I can squeeze in one of the "read to her" boxes or science at this time I do it. Then the baby is up so I am nursing her again for about 15 minutes, then I try to work some with my oldest before lunch, do her storytime, grammar or writing, and check over her earlier stuff. Generally then we're at lunch time when again I feel like I lose their focus and really lose my own. And focus is a problem throughout the day. I often have to remind my oldest to get back to work (grant you she has a very long independent block and I would find it difficult to work that long without a break or distraction), and if I get distracted from the one I am working with (especially if it's the 6YO) she often will run off or start doing something else and I have to find her or call her back to what we're doing. This frustrates me greatly. After lunch I finish up with the oldest, then with the 6YO, then with the 8YO - mostly read-alouds by this point which we all like but it feels to me like I'm sitting and reading for a long time. Plus the baby often interrupts as well as the other children with some kind of need/problem. Potty, I hurt myself, she's not sharing.... whatever.

In September I started with a pretty detailed schedule which involved getting up at 7 to start the day and also involved a 30-45 minute recess for everyone in the morning, about 10:30. I dropped that once I started Beyond with the 6YO because it just seemed like we couldn't get done, but maybe I need to add that back in? Maybe it would improve attitudes? Again my 6YO is part of the problem but then I wonder if part of that is because she has all this really hard stuff to do right in a row? I know I'm kind of stating my own problems and maybe there's something here I'm missing? I'd also love to restructure my oldest's day so she doesn't have quite so much to do all in one row and maybe I could check in with her mid morning or something? I used to start with her but that's also gotten dropped as my kids "sleep in" and I want to just get us going to breakfast. I guess from my perspective also the problem is that I am pretty much going NON STOP from 7 to 2:00 with either school or meal prep and clean up (again with all those distractions to care for a baby's needs and whatever) and it's just not working that well for me. I think this is why I'm so grumpy about finishing and why sometimes about 1:00 or right after lunch I just say "forget it" and don't finish the rest of the day, I leave it for the next day.

Thanks for any help or encouragement you can give. I know I'm also in an intensive time, first of all with my kids and the guides they are in (Bigger, I love it, but it's a lot of work!), and with my baby and the stage she is in. She's mobile and needs to be watched pretty much anytime she's awake. Thankfully she takes a good morning nap, but it's never enough time! I could push some school into the afternoon naptime I guess, maybe that's the only way to give me some relief in the mornings. But at least 2 days a week that doesn't work well because we have piano lessons or some other thing to go to (right now we're in a choir/hymn study).

Overall it's probably not as bad as I'm making it.
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

mrsrandolph
Posts: 717
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:21 pm
Location: Cartersville, GA

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by mrsrandolph » Wed Nov 04, 2015 8:18 am

I don't know how it would work for you, but I have found that it works best for me to do my olders first and my youngers last. SO I start at 7:30 with Res 2 Ref. Then I do CTC. Then 2 in Bigger. Then I do Math with all 4 starting with the oldest to the youngest ending the day no later than 2:00.
Shannon Randolph LOVING HOD & Running 4 Guides & DITHOR
Mommy to 4 Precious Blessings
Cassie (15- World Geography),
Will (14- Rev2Rev,
Ellie (12- Res2Ref), and
Jack (10- CTC)

StephanieU
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue May 21, 2013 7:10 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by StephanieU » Wed Nov 04, 2015 8:59 am

Would it be possible for you to schedule your day so that your time alone with the 6yo is in the middle of the morning? You could give the oldest (or even older two) a 15 minute break to play with the 3yo so you aren't distracted as much. And the break might help the oldest stay motivated and on task.
Mom to
DD15 US1 (completed LHFHG-WH)
DS13 MtMM (completed LHFHG-Rev2Rev plus some of LHTH)
DD12 Rev2Rev (completed LHTH-RtR)
DS7 Beyond (completed LHTH-LHFHG)

countrymom
Posts: 770
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:16 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by countrymom » Wed Nov 04, 2015 10:16 am

Yes, you truly are in a tough part of your homeschooling career right now. Hugs and prayers. Here are some thoughts that came to mind:
1. I think I would start with your CTC child and then have her care for the youngers for 20 minutes before she goes off to independent work
2. As soon as CTC child is off, grab Bigger child and work on hardest/most teacher intensive stuff while you have those free 20 minutes. For both Bigger and Beyond I always split the hardest subjects into my two sessions so they didn't have it all at once.
3. Send Bigger child off for as much independent work as he/she can do, then 15 minutes child care and recess. I know you have to take care of the baby when food is an issue, but try to have your olders help as much as possible during those set times.
4. Finally the Beyond child, splitting hardest work into 2 sessions.
The rest will depend on time and lunch, but I would have a 2nd session for your Beyond and Bigger children and end your day with check in for CTC child. I would also have the 3 olders help with lunch, especially clean up and table setting.
My suggestions are based on my experiences in those guides, but granted, I only have two. One thing I have found over the years to help with slumps, burn-out, etc. is giving myself quality time. It seems when I take time here and there it doesn't have near the effect as just a day off. So I set a goal and then give myself a day off. I have no idea what that might be for you, but maybe for a bit it would be 5 days of completing all work, then a day off (maybe 3 days to get started). Just allow yourself that for a bit to get grounded and then gradually increase the number of days before the next day off. I find I am able to hang in there when I know I have a day off coming, but an hour here, done early there, doesn't do near as much and just makes me feel guilty.
Hopefully somewhere in this you will find a helpful suggestion or two. Hang in there!
Countrymom
Wife to J
Big J - LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, Rev to Rev, Modern Missions, beginning parts of World Geography
Little J - LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, working in CTC

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by MelInKansas » Wed Nov 04, 2015 11:40 am

Of course as I took the time to write all this out this morning, we are having a pretty good day so far today. The boy has been outside most of the morning and the baby took a long nap and the other kids are clipping along nicely. But these kind of days are the exception much more than the rule. Thanks for those who shared thoughts already. I need some grace, and probably some help with the baby is a good idea too. The 10YO and 8YO can definitely keep track of her and amuse her for short periods of time.
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

Carrie
Site Admin
Posts: 8125
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:39 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by Carrie » Wed Nov 04, 2015 12:30 pm

Melissa,

You have such a busy household that it is no wonder that you are finding it a challenge to school right now, especially as you are starting new guides and also happen to be doing Beyond and Bigger at the same time (not to mention nursing a babe with a busy 3 year old in tow)! I know that we can talk through some things that will help you find a pace that works for you. Not all of our suggestions may work, but hopefully you will find a few ideas in this thread that will be of help. :D

First, I would suggest that you shift your 6 year old to half-speed Beyond Little Hearts for at least a few months. The reason for this suggestion is that the child is Beyond is on the youngest age range of that guide and is also struggling a bit with the workload. Shifting Beyond to half-speed would help relieve both you and the 6 year old. It will also enable you to spread out your 6 year old's tougher subjects over 2 days. The only subject I would do daily would be phonics, and I would shift to doing a very short phonics session each day (7-10 min. daily). Since your child is balking at The Reading Lesson right now, maybe just write the words from The Reading Lesson on the markerboard one at a time to be read, or instead do just half a page of each day (covering up the rest of the page, so it is less daunting). Keeping the sessions short and sweet will help make phonics less stressful right now. :D

Second, I would suggest choosing a start time for your teaching part of the day that is realistic. So, for example if you set your start time at 9:00 or 9:30, then you won't feel like you are behind when you do begin. Also, if your kiddos enjoy sleeping in, a later start time will allow for this. We still start my youngest child at 9:20 even now! That is my first formal teaching time of the day, which works for me as I am not a morning person. :wink: We do have our older kiddos begin on their own earlier, which you could definitely consider doing with your older child. Our two oldest sons begin at 7:15, with our third oldest son beginning at 7:45. We eat breakfast at 9:00, meaning breakfast prep. begins around 8:30 or 8:40. Our older kiddos enjoy their quiet work time before everyone else gets up. They do the same assigned independent subjects during their time each morning. This way I know what to expect they will have done and what will be left to do. When it is time for breakfast, they come and eat quickly and then return right away to their subjects. Two of my boys also do 45 min. - 1 hour of assigned subjects for school the evening before from 8:00-9:00 at night. This really helps them feel like they are ahead going into the next day. They do the same assigned subjects each evening. You could consider doing this as well. :D

Third, I would plan to remove anything that you are doing together as a group meeting time around breakfast. You mentioned that this morning time often goes longer than planned and that you lose the little one's focus during this time. With this in mind, I would instead make breakfast as short and succinct as possible. Assign your older kiddos breakfast clean-up chores to do while you begin working with your 3 year old right after breakfast. I would do 15 min. of Little Hands to Heaven (only doing half of the boxes each day) to fill your 3 year old's need for attention right away after breakfast (while your olders are cleaning up). Your 8 year old could also be getting out all needed books in preparation for you to do the left side of Bigger Hearts. After finishing that brief 15 min. with your 3 year old, you could assign either your 6 year old or your oldest child to play with the 3 year old for 30 min. while you work with your 8 year old. During this time, you would do as much of the left side of Bigger Hearts as possible with your 8 year old in that 30 min. time increment, placing last anything on the left side that the child could continue doing on his/her own after you need to move on to teach someone else. :D

After that your 3 year old could have 30 min. to either watch an instructional DVD or to play alone in a room nearby you with quiet toys and books. He or she could have a quiet, calming CD of music playing. A small snack may help during this time. During this time you could work with your oldest child to check his/her work and go over anything needed from your teaching-wise in order to move forward. After this, I would have either the 8 year old or the oldest child play with the 3 year old for 30 min. During this time, you would meet with the 6 year old for 30 min. to do either the left side or the right side of Beyond. You would alternate left and right side by day (since you'd have shifted this child to half-speed Beyond). During this time, whichever child is not playing with the 3 year old would be doing independent work from his/her guide. Then, it could be time for a group recess for 30 min. where they all play together. This would be your time to regroup, throw in a load of laundry, pick up the house, correct schoolwork, glance at dinner prep. etc. When they come back in from recess, it is time to have the child who has not yet played with the 3-year old do that for 30 min. while you go back to working 30 more min. with your Bigger Hearts child. :D

After lunch, you could have phonics with your 6 year old while your 8 year old works on math/cursive/copywork etc. nearby. Your three-year old could be either be watching an instructional video or playing with toys or doing computer (whichever task wasn't done in the morning). Then, have one more session each with your 8 year old and oldest child to finish out their work and your are done! (This is assuming that the CTC child has worked earlier in the morning and/or the evening before on his/her school.) :D Then, all could have a 30 min. recess together while you regroup.

As you can see from what I've shared above, I'm putting the focus on scheduling the 3 year old's day in 30 min. increments. While this seems crazy when you have so many other kiddos to be teaching, it does make sense to spend time planning around the 3-year old, because a 3-year old can derail a school day more quickly than anything else. This is usually where one of the huge stressors in homeschooling comes from! Honestly, babies are easier to morph into the mix than a wild 3-year old! :wink:

You can also see from what I've shared above that within a few hours of starting your day you can have taught most of the left side of Bigger and much of Beyond and checked on your older child's work to propel that child forward. By touching base with each kiddo for 30 min. and by planning for your 3 year old, your day will start better. :D Plus, by getting started right away with individual students, rather than by trying to keep their attention as a group, you take advantage of your energy right away too in getting everyone going on their guides. :D

Anyway, this is just to get you brainstorming about ways to start realistically and strong in the morning. Your actual schedule may differ as you know your kiddos best. :D I am hoping that these ideas are an encouragement to you, as I know the load can be heavy. We all need encouragement to perservere in this calling. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Since it is not, we need the Lord and we need one another along this path. :D I am so thankful for all of you, who share from your hearts as we journey together.

Blessings,
Carrie

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by MelInKansas » Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:40 pm

Carrie,

Thanks so much for your thoughts as well. What you are suggesting is against some of my own intuition but I definitely need a change and I will be re-reading your suggestions and praying over them. Maybe something totally different is what I really need!

Other things to mention

1) When my 3YO did school in the morning actually the day seemed to go better. I just have a handful of workbooks for him, with stickers, cutting and pasting, and things like that. I should probably encourage him to start that up again, he has enjoyed it so far, and even though it takes "more time" it does occupy him and help him. Really, having him do a video is kind of frustrating and distracting for all the other kids so I really try to avoid that. Though if I did it on the computer, with him on headphones, maybe that would be better?

2) My 6YO JUST started Beyond a few weeks ago and she is almost 6 1/2. Yes, she is on the young end, but she is a sharp little one and I really thought she needed more challenge. The read alouds and attention-span wise she is really ready. She can actually do a lot more copywork than either of her older sisters could when they started Beyond. Now, I could back off on TRL and that is probably the right thing to do. I had pushed her up to 2 pages a day and she was doing pretty well with that, but right now the pages are starting to get longer. I wonder if 1 page a day is still the right thing to do.

Again, thanks
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by MelInKansas » Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:47 pm

So here are some of the things I've been thinking of as I've pondered each of your responses and thought about where things seem to be going wrong in my day.

1) Morning meeting - I really do feel like this is important and I want to continue it in some fashion, but I do see it is wasting time and not helping us with grumpy kids who are hungry. So here is my idea:

I eat breakfast before the kids get up (I get up before them anyway but I always wait to eat breakfast. Why do I do this? Then I fix something and it sits on my plate and gets cold and I end up eating it really quickly while looking over a child's shoulder. I should just eat first!) Then we sing a worship song and pray together for morning meeting (this is after children have gotten up and gotten dressed/ready for the day, I nurse the baby and get her dressed, etc). Each child is released to get breakfast after they review their verse(s), so that means 3YO and 6YO will go first. They will eat while 8YO and then 10YO do their review. Again that was where I was losing the little ones, was during verse review time/discussion with the older ones. Once the older ones are done with verse review, as you said, quick breakfast, and then they can get back to work. Meanwhile, the littler ones will be done eating and I can do a few things with the 3YO while I wait for the older ones to eat. (of course this does mean that breakfast has to be laid out and somewhat planned, which I will also work on, or be things the kids can get for themselves).

My oldest does do two subjects at night before bed, most nights of the week. She does math because her dad teaches that, and science. I have loved her being able to do this and so does she. She however is NOT a morning person and it's a struggle to get her up in the morning. So to respect her body clock, I won't ask her to get up earlier than the other kids, but I will get her up with everybody else so she can get started on her day.

Carrie I love the way the flow of your suggested schedule works and I do love that the 3YO gets to bounce around and spend time with his sisters, and I also like the recesses and breaks the kids get, but not too long. And breaks for me. Breaks scheduled in rather than me feeling like I'm always behind and running ragged trying to do anything at all. As you noted, I do often need a few minutes for dinner prep, laundry, or something like this.

I really don't think my 3YO is ready to start LHTH and had planned to start using that next year when he is 4. He could probably do most of it and he is starting to recognize letters (already knows numbers up to 10), but attention span wise.... he is a young boy. No more needs to be said.

Back to the drawing board! I hope maybe I can think through and then try something new next week (though next week is a crazy week for us, but maybe again the change is what we need).
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by MelInKansas » Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:57 pm

countrymom wrote:One thing I have found over the years to help with slumps, burn-out, etc. is giving myself quality time. It seems when I take time here and there it doesn't have near the effect as just a day off. So I set a goal and then give myself a day off. I have no idea what that might be for you, but maybe for a bit it would be 5 days of completing all work, then a day off (maybe 3 days to get started). Just allow yourself that for a bit to get grounded and then gradually increase the number of days before the next day off. I find I am able to hang in there when I know I have a day off coming, but an hour here, done early there, doesn't do near as much and just makes me feel guilty.
Hopefully somewhere in this you will find a helpful suggestion or two. Hang in there!
Thank you for this idea countrymom! A day or two off is truly a wonderful treat, and we have also been pushing hard ever since mid August without a break. I was seriously thinking about Thanksgiving coming up - we are taking the whole week off - it can't come soon enough! Also there's a planned day off on the 17th because my son has a doctor's appointment an hour away right in the middle of the morning. I was thinking of just taking the 16th off. Anyway, thanks for that thought and the freedom, it's okay to take a day off! The freedom of homeschooling!
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

queenireneof3
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:44 am

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by queenireneof3 » Thu Nov 05, 2015 2:12 pm

Its funny, I was just thinking about you yesterday and wondering how you schedule your days with so many little ones. Our families are very similar in ages and season. My baby is now 2.5 months old and it has been a HUGE learning curve. I find myself on the very edge of depression some days with all that I have to do... :(

I don't know if you can relate, but people have told me to have grace for myself in this season. I struggle with "how much grace is too much", which totally defeats the definition of grace! :lol: But I wonder, how long can we go so S-L-O-W before it is an entrenched pattern instead of a short, temporary season.

Anyways, here are some of the things I am learning about how to keep our school moving along by trial and error as we go.

I agree with what was said before about taking breaks whether an entire day, or definite scheduled times each day. I take a long lunch break and plan on stopping school at 3pm no matter where we are at. This is keeping my son at about half speed in Bigger, which I am not thrilled about since we do a 4-day week with only a few basic subjects on Friday.

To combat the SLOW speed, I rearranged the order of our subjects so that I am doing the "essentials" daily before lunch. (Math, reading, writing, grammar, spelling). We work on the other subjects in the afternoon. I used someone else's suggestion of putting post it notes on each box on the left side of the guide as well as science. In that afternoon block, I pick as many of those boxes as we can do and move the post it notes to the next page. It help me keep track of what we need to do.

I also felt the need to recruit my 7yo and 9yo to help me be responsible for the daily schedule so that I am not trying to track them down to do their work each day. I did this by using my fridge as a whiteboard. It works surprisingly well! I wrote out the order of school subjects, a daily schedule/routine starting with morning chores all the way to bedtime, and our Friday routine/schedule since it is a bit different than the other days. I read it through with them and asked them to help us all be responsible to stay on routine. Including them in this process has really helped. (not perfectly, but much better!) It has also helped them to see the BIG picture knowing that the will get breaks everyday in our regular routine, so they don't grumble when they know it is their block to work.

Every night (or sometimes quick in the morning if I forgot... :oops: ) I set out a clipboard for my 7yo and 9yo with a list of the three subjects they can do independently and any instructions about them. For them, it is 1.a calendar activity, 2. their handwriting/cursive and 3. spelling. They can read their words to each other on the days they are supposed to, instead of me having to. I check their spelling boards when they are done. They know they are supposed to complete this list before they can play.

After they are done with their independent subjects, I start right away with my oldest on his first block (math, reading/DITHOR, and grammar. Then my 7yo gets her turn at those subjects with me. This gets us to lunch if we start early enough.

I plan 1.5 hours for a lunch break. We start our break at 11am and go until 12:30. I need this break because I am an introvert and simply need it for me as well as for other chores.

After lunch is always time with my 4 year old. He is doing LHTH as well as some extra workbooks that he loves.
1:00 is storytime. This is how I gather the troops back in to focus for their second block of the day. I read my 4year old a story first, then my oldest puts him down for a nap, while I read to my 7yo. Then I read to my 9yo when he is done putting my 4yo to nap. This specific time of day for storytime helps us all to refocus on the second half of our day with an activity they all enjoy. Then I work on my two oldests 2nd block of time which is the left side of Bigger and science for my 9yo, and bible, home ec, science, mother goose poetry for my 7yo. That being said, I usually pick 2-3 boxes that we work on from the left side of Bigger, and one or two of the above subjects for my 7yo. We are just slower in the afternoon and usually a lot later than I had planned.

My 2 oldest are either holding the baby or playing with my 4yo when they are not working. As of now, they all play well together, so this works for us.

I find with the baby, that things usually take longer, but if we stick to the routine, the important things get done everyday. I also do not teach on Fridays, so that is a wonderful break. There are many other things that need to get done besides school, and it helps knowing I have a day to do them.

I am still discouraged by how slow we are working through Bigger (basically half-speed), but I am trying to meet that discouragement with the grace I need this season, knowing we have a routine in place that will allow us to get back to full speed as soon as we can, and that we are doing our "essentials" every day, so not getting behind on those.

All this being said, we do not have it figured out. Just trusting the Lord each day...it can be hard to do that. I try to remember Charlotte Mason and to enjoy this season and the process of raising children and babies and not stress out about how slow we are working through the boxes. As long as they are learning to love God and each other and are learning something each day, I have to be content. I hear the season of small children and babies passes rather quickly... :lol:
Sara Irene
wife to Brett for 16 years already!
mommy of ds B (13yo), dd S (11yo), ds S (7yo), dd (3 yo), dd (1.5yo), and two who went to meet Jesus 3/5/2014 and 7/23/14

MomtoJGJE
Posts: 1534
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:20 pm
Location: Gastonia, NC

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by MomtoJGJE » Fri Nov 06, 2015 10:58 am

I don't have many suggestions, but I do have a few. Forgive me if they've been said and I missed them, but I've been interrupted about 5000 times while reading this thread :shock: Also forgive me if you are already doing some of these.

My suggestions might not be the best or most ideal suggestions, but it's what helps me when I feel like I'm drowning.

The first is cut out DITHOR until after Christmas when the baby is a bit older and your big kids are a bit older. Honestly it's probably not going to hurt them to just skip it altogether the rest of this year, but if you don't want to do that, then just do it half speed when you do.

Combine story time at least with Beyond and Bigger children and read that while you nurse the baby down for morning nap. Let the CTC child play with the 3yo during this time as a break. Maybe the two of them could have snack outside, and your Beyond and Bigger children could have snack while you are reading.

Read at least one of the Bible boxes while the kids eat breakfast (you eating while they are getting ready for the day is a great idea btw. They can get dressed and get all their books for the day together while you are eating and feeding the baby). That would get that box done for that child (and you could alternate each day) AND let you start the day with Bible. Your singing could be the hymn from Bigger and the song from Beyond.


After breakfast start with your CTC child. Your Beyond and Bigger kids could play with the 3yo and do chores during this time (clean rooms, make beds, do laundry, etc). Go over any Semi-Ind boxes and make sure she knows what to do for each one. Teach any math or English for that day. I have my kids actually read the English lesson during their independent time to cut down on the amount I actually have to read. Then send her off to do the I and Semi-I boxes.

Next do the same with the Bigger child. Then while Bigger child is doing her work (and you could train that one to read some of her history or science each day. Also she could read the English lesson on her own too. ) you would do as much as you possibly could with Beyond child. I've found that I can get most of the history and science reading done for Beyond while Bigger independent work is being done.

When that block of work is over is when you could combine the story time and all that.

Then after the baby is asleep your beyond and bigger kids could play with the 3yo while you go over independent work with the CTC child and do any teacher boxes left.

Then all you would theoretically have left would be right side Beyond and whatever is left with Bigger.

I hope this all made sense. Again I was interrupted a million times while I was typing this.

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Discouraged - I have the bad attitude!

Post by MelInKansas » Fri Nov 06, 2015 9:19 pm

Excellent thoughts!

I do need to get the older ones more involved and have them take ownership of the schedule. A whiteboard or something like this would really help - clipboards - anything listing out what I expect them to do on their own. My daughter in CTC is doing really well with independent work actually, as long as I check her. She is 2/3 the way through the guide and is really owning it and doing very well. When she narrates she tells interesting facts and is pretty good at the detailed narrations now. Anyway, thanks for that thought.

I do also need to have them helping with the little ones more. They would enjoy a break from school to do this anyway. I like them reading spelling to one another - my oldest two could definitely do this! And Thursday I had my oldest read History and Devotion to my daughter in Beyond. That wasn't a great success this first time, they were kind of fighting about where everyone got to sit, but I think I could at least use that as an option when I need her to help me get school done.

Thursday was kind of a bust. I had a poor night of sleep, I let the kids sleep in, and again motivation was low. We didn't finish - though I ended up reading to my Beyond child so she is now finished but the other two still have some things to finish up with me. The other factor in all of this is that when I have really bad nights with the baby (or occasional insomnia) that really throws off my ability to get things done. Usually my daughter in CTC can finish because she does have so much independent work, I just don't check it as well on those tired days. But the other kids, it's really hard.

Prayer and just asking the Lord to help me, I do feel like He already has helped me so much. Thank you ladies for your encouragement. I think unlike you, Sara Irene, I am overall pleased with the pace we are at, for right now, but not with HOW we are doing it and the feel throughout our day. I also don't school on Friday but we have a co op, which 1/2 the time I don't have to be at and 1/2 the time I do have to be at. When I have that time at home it's nice, though I have the littles, but we bake, I do lots of laundry, etc. When I work at the co op obviously that's a busy time and stretches especially my youngest who does not get her nap. So we can only school 4 days a week anyway, but we've often been able to get those 4 days in.
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

Post Reply