Well we have the first day of home educating under our belts. It really didn't go too badly but there are some things that I am hoping will iron out as time goes on. The biggest hold up is the fact Monkey did NOT appreciate not being the center of the universe and refused to nap more than 30 minutes all day. Yikes! We got off to a late start and then lost power for a few minutes due to a pretty hefty thunderstorm that came through. HOWEVER, with all those hold-ups, we STILL got Bullfrog done with his lessons by 2pm and Monkey was done by 3:15pm. I think our favorite subject today was Science. Bullfrog had to figure out which fruit was which by using his sense of smell and touch only. Peanut got to make craters in flour by dropping marbles of different sizes at designated distances.
So other home educators, I have a HUGE question for you about a very PETTY issue. *side note, I KNOW I should be counting my blessings since many would love the problem I have but I hope I explain myself well*
~ Peanut and Bullfrog want to do more work later in the evening and I am not in the mood to keep doing school stuff. I want a separation between school time and home time. Peanut was very upset because she wanted to continue working on her cursive writing in her school notebook and I told her that all school supplies are put up after the last assessment is taken for the day and not touched again until we start in the am. Being an at home mom, I am in charge of the house, feeding an infant, cooking dinner, and everything else. I am SO glad they REALLY enjoy school so much they want to do it all the time, but I just really need to have a break. Any thoughts? Am I just being dumb and just should let them do school whenever? Is it abnormal for a person to want to have a set school time and then after hours just being a mom?
I was a school teacher before I started homeschooling, and I always had kids that finished before the others or wanted more work. I just created a box that had 'extra' work. The box contained file folder games, worksheets, letter writing supplies, etc. Just things to reinforce what they were studying. When I started homeschooling, I made up an 'extra' box for my kids. They are almost all teenagers now, and I still find them in the 'extra' box periodically. Good luck on your homeschooling. For me it has been the greatest joy and the fiercest challenge - and I wouldn't change a thing!
ReplyDeleteIf there's something they are really enjoying, let 'em run with it! Stopping in the midst of real learning is what brick-and-mortar schools must do for crowd control reasons, and isn't a good habit for home education, in my opinion.You can still set some ground-rules, if you're needing the down-time: chores need to be handled, and independent exploration needs to be largely independent. You can be willing to answer questions or demonstrate something, but they need to be willing to explore on their own for the most part. Those odd hours are when some of the best learning happens at our house!
ReplyDeleteThank you both for your input. I think what I will do is make an "extra" box so that way my kids can continue learning and challenge themselves but it won't be in the text books or our work books. More like an extra credit type approach. Thanks!
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