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    It’s been a rough week. We have entered the last 3 months of homeschooling and I’m feeling like I have a hit a wall. I’m not sure if I need a break, nicer weather, or that this is entirely normal. I’m presuming it’s normal.

    Ellie and Simon are independent in their learning, I’ve mentioned this in previous posts. Of course I check in with them and make sure they are on track and we read a lot aloud together. I really love this kind of learning. It’s building their confidence, a huge motivator, and they are encouraged to digest new information on their own without a lot of busy work. I’m amazed with what they have achieved.

    Penny, on the other hand is a different story. She is my 1st grader. I know for some people, they are fine with kids at that age playing, creating and exploring the world around them. It’s tough for her. She has 2 older siblings working on their own and a mother that is a bit of a “task master” (ahem). This week I have honestly felt like a failure. I have asked myself “what am I doing wrong?!?!”. Penny is getting a lot of concepts, reading fairly well and eager to learn. BUT, all of the things she is not “getting” seems more amplified than usual. That’s when I began to question myself.

    Not question our decision to homeschool, but sort of checking in to make sure that I’m doing the best for my child. And that’s what I realized, I wasn’t doing the best. Sure, if she were in a classroom environment my demands and expectations would be acceptable. But when I began to hear her say words like “I am dumb…stupid…failure”, I had the sobering realization that I contributed to this attitude. I was bent on getting lessons DONE. COMPLETE. FINISHED. I was still living in the classroom environment and not fully embracing our home school with Penny. There’s a lot of pressure to teach your kid to read, write, and math. But the pressure I NEED to feel is that my girl has confidence, feels love and taps into her creative heart.

    So after our third day of tears and grief, I shut the school books and told her we were finished for the day. She was very disheartened by this, which made me realize that I had her trained to check off her list. After I suggested she help me with making homemade pasta sauce and meatballs, she was my eager and happy student again.

    
    She learned that onions, garlic and butter smell heavenly when cooked together. The addition of tomatoes and balsamic vinegar makes the whole project irresistible!

    Her hand on the hip cracked me up. She was working hard!
    
    She also learned that waiting for sauce to simmer is not a bad time to finish up math work. Penny also is diligent in sending me love messages on her work every day. I swear should would do this if she were enrolled in a school too, this girl is full of love!
    
    Another important lesson we learned during our project is that rosemary smells like pine needles and oregano has a questionable fragrance. She learned that blending meat, herbs, crackers and egg is the job of a little a girl for only a bit…then mom needs to take over and squish everything together with her hands!
    

    And at the end of the day, when we work together a beautiful thing will happen…lessons learned and this mother is humbled by her sweet daughter.

    Comments (8)

Cadi

If there is anything we homeschool moms need to learn, it’s to slow down, let go, and not push the younger ones too much. It’s a lesson everyone has to learn. You made the right decision. Penny is darling. I love these pictures of her cooking. Also looks very yummy. I love your blog. Keep it up. I had to laugh when you said, “It’s the last three months of school…..is this normal?”

Cadi

Also, I don’t know if this will help, but in the early elementary years, grades 1-3, there is usually one main point per lesson in each subject. Your job as a homeschooling mom is to figure out what that main point is. What was the curriculum writer trying to teach in one simple phrase? Say that simple phrase to your student at the beginning of the lesson, add interesting detail to make it into the kind of palatable story they would like to hear, and tailor the info completely to them. Add an illustration from your student’s world that they can understand. Keep it VERY simple and short. Repeat the main idea at the end. Then rephrase the main idea as a question so they have to verbalize the main idea back to you. Above all, don’t read the lesson to your student. A one on one verbal exchange that lasts 5-10 minutes with them repeating key phrases back to you is sufficient. There is usually only one main idea per early elementary school lesson. That is all they need to remember, one phrase. The reason is that they will revisit all these subjects in later school years and learn more detail. For now, if they remember the big picture, and start to “get it,” that is all you need to do. Penny doesn’t need to memorize details and a lot of facts at this point. The main goals of early elementary are to engage them in the story of literature (how it is fun to read and communicate valuable things to others by writing and speaking) the story of history (every cool thing that has ever happened, and some scary bad things too, that we can learn from) the story of science (the wonder of it all) and the facts of Math. My kids hated flash cards. I let them do worksheets with a calculator in hand and they eventually got it, just by writing their Math facts over and over again. It took the stress out of it. Hope that helps. It made life easier for me to focus on the big picture and enjoyment of learning, not completing the curriculum. Sorry to tell you what to do. That’s just what helped me when I felt the same way several years ago.

ShackelMom

Wonderful lessons, hard to learn, but you are getting it! You will not be able to keep her from learning to read and write, and Math usualy just comes along if you don’t ignore it. Penny will become confident and competent, I am sure!

Wow, that sauce looked amazing!

Cadi

One more thing, you’re going to think I’m crazy:

But for fun, let her dictate stories to you and you do the typing while she talks. Also let her do reports and stuff with you typing while she says what she wants in it. That way she can “Produce” creative writing without being slowed down by the laborious process of using a pen and paper. I did this for the kids through 2nd grade. I didn’t combine Creative Writing with penmanship and the practice and habit of writing. Haha. all for now. sorry I’m so wordy. just wanted to share what worked for me.

Cheyenne

Oh Carol! I cried while reading this and while summarizing it to Robert. I can totally relate! I usually have one day a week where I say, “Okay we are done!” before we’ve checked everything off my lesson list. I have to constantly remind myself to use all the fun games and crafts my curriculum offers because if I don’t, SG and I are both frustrated and near tears! You are doing a great job, and Penny is an amazing little girl! We are so blessed to have her (your) influence on our kids!

Liz House

Carol–you are such an amazing mom and teacher! She is getting so much more than she would in any classroom. There will always be challenges like these and self doubt, but that comes with the territory of being conscientious and committed to your family. At this point in my life I just look at the grown-up kids I know who were home-schooled and am blessed at how awesome they all are…in spite of how incompetent we felt!so many times.

Jennifer

You’re the best. Be proud of yourself and Penny.
xoxo

Ashley

Feeling a bit of burnout this time of year is definitely normal. I’ve found myself much more interested in thinking about what fun new books we will use next year instead of focusing on what we need to finish now! Spring fever doesn’t help either. My advice…simplify the lessons as much as possible and take a day here and there to just do something fun…a day spent outside can count as P.E., or a day of making spring decor can be art. Sometimes I think we all just need a break from the routine.:)