Sometimes I wish I believed more in unschooling. Sometimes I wish my kids went to school. I'd love to wake up each day with the freedom I used to feel to do whatever I wanted for the day. Now I wake up with a major agenda every day. When life gets busy and I have to take a day off of school to catch up on other stuff I feel guilty. Most of the time I just stay terribly behind on just about everything--including homeschooling. There is so much that I want to teach my kids and so much to do in a day that I never feel like we are where we should be or caught up. I don't like that feeling but it seems the harder I try to catch up the further behind I get, not just with school--with everything. If we were unschoolers or less tied to a curriculum then we could play all these educational games and science kits I've invested in. We could finally do that nature study and nature notebook that I have planned to do every year for the last 7 years. We could watch some of those educational movies and read more good books. When it comes down to it though I'm afraid that without a specific curriculum I would end up doing a whole lot of nothing. I'm not disciplined enough. We've had two days off of school this week already--I had a ridiculously busy weekend so I needed one more weekend day to get some things done and then today we went to a play (Anne Frank and Me--very educational). So, tomorrow morning I will wake up knowing that we need to work and work and work and get it ALL done. Pressure's on, no fun 'til we're done.
Sorry for the rant...just feeling overwhelmed and underpaid. This homeschooling business is hard! But oh so worth it. I love my kids and love teaching them. I'm living my dream. I'm living my dream. I'm living my dream. :0)
9 comments:
I completely relate. Perhaps it's the time of year? It seems like every year, just after the halfway mark, I get overwhelmed by how far we've strayed from the good intentions I had at the beginning of the year. If it's any consolation, every time I read your blog I'm awed by how much your kids are learning and experiencing. I think you're doing great!
I know how you feel. I feel like we are automatically behind the 8 ball every week, with Bible Tuesday morning from 9-11am and Spanish on Wed morning from 10:30-12pm. That alone equals one whole school day! I added a really neat science that we do on Tuesday afternoons, but I have had to cut other core subjects. I feel like you, I spent all of this money on all of the "great" curriculum and I'm not using any of it! LOL
Maybe we should all do a Science Unit study together and blog about it so we will see the "PROOF" that we are doing school. LOL
Don't stress, your children ARE learning. If you had to put them in school today, they would do fantastic. You are doing enough.
When I brought my guys back home I continued on with what they were doing in school and slowly each week I have been scaling back. Less is more I have found. We concentrate on our few core subjects and then we have been able to get to the good stuff, the things that they enjoy. And they are learning!!
They need to read well, be able to express themselves, and know math. That is what our focus has been any way. I have fully embraced a CM approach. It was so hard to say "OK, no more spelling books or english books." But I took that leap of faith and am so glad I did. I want to write about it when I am into it a few more weeks, but so far I am very, very, pleased.
Sorry for the long comment. Just wanted to reassure you that you are doing enough. Even if you just did lessons three days a week, you are doing enough. If you feel like you are way behind, look through and see what is really necessary, and toss the busy work. Don't stress!
Just my 2 cents! Have a great day!!!
Praying for you.
Except for the curriculum I already have, I am ditching the curriculum for next year. I have so many unit stiudes and lapbooks and unit study lapbooks, and whatever else that we have never used. I am casting my cares and taking a leap of faith. We'll see how it goes.
And, you are not alone. I feel like we are so far behind where I wanted to be. And have you seen the pig sty I live in?
It is all good!!
You are a great mom and teacher!!So take a year to unschool, or a month, or a week and really delve into all those things you have put off.
BUT NEVER beat yourself up for that which you have not gotten around to...there is some of that that haunts everyone!!
Came back to read more great advice from your commenters. Awesome!
Sorry you are stressed out! Keep teaching you are preparing them to do whatever they choose! (you know what I mean. :))
Tiffany...Love your blog btw...glad you showed it to me! Great comments here too. @bfarmmom and I live parallel lives. Less is more. Read, write, math. All the other stuff falls nicely into place. As for curriculum, I stay away from it all, especially the homeschool convention. There's nothing that sets me up for failure more than a book of someone else's plans for me. It only results in hundreds of dollars of barely used materials and a seriously broken spirit. I'm glad I learned that lesson years ago.
Read, write, math. Then by lunch time you're all "done" and have time to ride bikes around town for the rest of the afternoon. That's when the real learning begins! Priceless! :)
Love you!
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