Thursday, September 21, 2017

Homeschool Fail

Homeschool is just my bane this year!  ARG!!  Everytime I try to start, we get derailed.  For example, we decided to get it going again and started on Monday.  I went over everything with them, had individual time.  Tuesday, I had to leave to talk to the builder - ended up being gone for 5 hours.  They did their work, but without any assistance.

Wednesday, deliveries were coming and needed signatures, so I had to spend the day at the house.  Good thing too, contractors were knocking at the RV door every 20 minutes.  The kids did their work again with no assistance.

Thursday, there were plans to stay home, but again, had to go to the house to talk to the builder, then I had to go searching for items for the house.  The kids said they did their work, but without my assistance, they did not finish.

Friday, I promised myself I was going to grade, but again, things came up at the house.  This house build is a full time job plus some.

So a full week of them working on their own, let me just say the amount they got done and the quality of their work diminished greatly.  It is different if I am home with them.  Plus, that was the week that we were moving things into the shed and moving the RV, so we were gone every evening - I did not grade anything.  It was awful.

We made the decision that we are calling it for the school year.  There are 15 lessons left of Math - 1 is going to repeat the work, but at a more mature level and the next is more than ready to move on.  History never really got started, so that will start over.  We never did start Science, so we have a fresh new year.  Writing/LA - they both completed 2 books, so we will just continue from where we left off.  Latin never got off the ground.  Logic either.

Basically, we are going to wait until we are in the house - we are looking at 4-5 weeks and then we will just work from there for 180 days.   It will be fine. 

There were so many things against us - some of the school items are in storage, no one felt like they had a spot to do their work.  None of us felt comfortable for that one on one time.  It has just been awful.  We really are creatures of habit.

When we get to the new house, I will have my office back where they can sit across from me and all my teacher's books will be there to grade immediately.  DS is getting his own table in the living room, whereas DD will use her desk in her room.  DS I have to keep an eye on more.  DD probably could educate herself, she just lacks motivation.

We did discuss how we wanted homeschool to look - where to put the books and supplies, scheduling, etc.  Something we are all excited about is morning coffee. 

Morning Coffee takes place after breakfast and is the start of the school day (DD and I drink Coffee, DS can have hot chocolate or whatever drink he wants.)  We will discuss history and literature, then go over any specifics I want from them.  They will break into their individual work where I will meet with each one when needed.  After lunch, we meet up again for science and logic - we might do that outside on the patio and probably only 2x per week.

Field trips start next week though - they have science classes at the Museum once day per month.  No other homeschool can be done on those days as the museum is over an hour away and is 4 classes.  It is a full day of school.

I am so excited to get started, but just in a way that it is the main focus, not an afterthought.

2 comments:

  1. You need to have a clone! I tutored a home-schooled teen who wanted to get her GED. Her mother told me happily that the girl had done work on her own since she was 13. She was woefully uneducated and could not spell seventh grade words. So much for "letting her work on her own" for four years.

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    1. LOL - I do need one right now. Luckily, in just 4 short weeks - it is all over. No more builders, no more contractors. Well, for a while at least. And at least when they come, I will be living there!

      I could never just let them do homeschool themselves. People in general, no matter what age, will not keep to a strict schedule like that. There has to be motivation. Especially teens though. They always default to the lowest common denominator.

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