As most of you know, I homeschool my two older children (ten and seven). We do that in no small part because I was homeschooled for the greater part of my education and my husband and I see the value of it.
The challenge is finding the right formula for our kids for this year. For example, this year, I've done a bit of battle with my 10 year old. Sixth grade math has been a challenge for her and so she's procastinated. That used to mean she held the rest of us hostage, because I wanted math and English done before we proceeded to other topics.
That just wasn't working well. Most days held an element of stress as I hounded her. She didn't like it, and neither did I.
A few weeks ago I was praying about it and got an idea to switch our days up.
Now we start with the subjects the kids do together (Bible, History, Science and whatever book we're reading aloud) and then they move on to the subjects they do separately. If they're motivated, like they were the other day, both kids can get up and finish those subjects before we start the together elements. Or they can do them afterwards.
This one little change has really helped smooth out our days. If you homeschool, what one tip that has worked well for you? If you don't homeschool, what's a great homework tip?
2 comments:
One of the things I had to realize in my homeschooling is that getting work done doesn't always mean that they have learned. Not that procrastination is ok, of course, but I learned not to get too worried if things weren't getting done. With my older kids, there was a point when I had to say, this is your life and you can mess it up by not doing the work, or you can figure out what you need to do to reach your goals and do it. Amazingly, they did become motivated to learn on their own when they saw that I wasn't going to constantly be on them about it. With my younger children, a checklist or sticker chart works wonders.... even if I don't have established rewards (I am so bad about that part, lol!) Learning how to live life and learn while living it is something I think I am learning with my kids. :-)
Different things worked for my boys. One of them worked better if he got his more challenging subjects out of the way first. The other one needs to break up those subjects a little at a time with the tasks that are easier or he gets overwhelmed and stressed. Then he just shuts down and takes forever.
I also learned to take short breaks and eat snack, walk/feed the dogs, read trivia for that day in history... Things like that. It doesn't take long but it gives them a chance to sort of cool off and not get overwhelmed with work.
My oldest got a full ride engineering scholarship a couple years ago. My youngest is in 10th grade. I learn more and more every year. One day I may even be as smart as my children. :o)
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