I started hsing early (in late July) so we would be "ahead". I hate "doing school" at home, but it seems to work better for 2 of the 3 kids hsing right now. I would LOVE to unschool, but I'm #1 too lazy to keep things interesting, #2 not organized enough to keep up with a portfolio for the district (would have to keep record of what we did, with workbooks, etc, I just have to keep some of their work)

Anyways, we're on lesson 30ish, so theoretically we've only done 6 weeks of school, where we should have at least 12 done. ]

We're using Abeka. I like it because there's not much prep on my part. I hate it because it's boring. Chrissy likes it because it's what she's used to, I hate giving tests (she ASKS for them :rolleyes: Mikhail is doing terribley on reading, we need to find something to help him. Kiera is reading better than him (she is much better at sounding words out)

I hate to admit it, but I think I hate homeschooling. I LOVE having my kids with me all day (most days, anyways, lol), and hate the thought of sending them to school. But I hate having to make sure we get stuff done.

I feel sooo off schedule, first the hurricanes, then morning sickness, it seems like I'm behind in life! I would LOVE if I could hire someone to come sit with them to make sure they got stuff done, and do all the drudgery, so I could have all the fun, lol.

Anyone have any advice for a mom hsing 3 kids (6th, 3rd and 2nd), who is totally unorganized, a major procrastinator, and thinks school sucks?? lol

Originally posted by Maiden Comfort
Anyone have any advice for a mom hsing 3 kids (6th, 3rd and 2nd), who is totally unorganized, a major procrastinator, and thinks school sucks?? lol

nope no good advice since you described me to a *T* right down to the cirriculum. I also don't like hs'ing but do only because there is no other viable schooling option and because I know it's the best but honestly, I would really like my kids to leave the house every day for 5 hours.

hopefully things will smooth out for you but I've just come to the conclusion that if you are on a scheduled program, chances are you will get behind.

gee, i don't think i helped at all:confused:

I only have one child, and we unschool...so I don't have any advice for you. :( But I wanted to give you some hugs - I'm sorry you are feeling overwhelmed and burnt out. Sometimes it's not a bad idea to take a vacation from school for a week or so. Or maybe you can have a family conference to discuss what things are working, what things aren't working, and brainstorm about how to improve things.

Good luck to you!
:)
Tara

oht, nak
You sound just like me, but I only have one child school age. although sarah wants to "do school" to.

brooke is 3rd grade, we are using abeka. i had a terrible 2 wks, felt really down, felt like i was failing her, felt like she wasnt learning enough, felt like i just couldnt do it. end of last wk went and talked to the school and registered her. she went m-t-w, and thurs we took a letter over stating we were going to cont. hs.

i hated sending her all day. i missed her and felt horrible. i could not believe how far ahead she is. they are just beginning mult. in math, basically doing what she did last yr. i would guess that abeka is at least 1/2 yr ahead of what our local school is. made me feel much better about what we are doing.

we are trying to change our routine to hopefully make our day flow easier and be less stressful. hope you feel better soon.

Thanks guys :) We just need to make it until Thanksgiving week - we'll be taking the whole week off.

Tanya - Abeka actually is 1 full year ahead of most school systems, at lest until 6th grade. I think the older years are about the same.

Public school just isn't even an option here. And the only private school I would consider sending them to is the one we pulled them out of, and I still have issues with it. Plus, like Tanya, I would miss them terribly. I really do like having them home, I just hate the pressure of having to do school.

We tried unschooling last year - my ideal, I just couldn't keep them interested in things that we were both interested in. What facinates me, bores them. Hopefully when the younger ones are a bit older, we'll be able to do more child-led learning that doesn't bore me to death ;)

I do this all the time. I was doing unschooling and was no comfortable with it. Now when they have not done school-school I try to make notes of what they did do while I was off puking or taking a nap. It is not as bad as you think. They are still learning. I think we have the same amount of children too.

Kathy

I have great advice...Sign up with the private umbrella school I use. It is $15 per child for the first year then only $10 renewal after that. You only have to send an email once a year saying you've completed 180 days of school.

I am all those things you describe and we unschool this is perfect for us.

I've really considered doing something like that. Dh really wants the kids to be on, or close to being on, schedule though :( He's afraid of them being behind if we ever do send them back to the private school. I love the idea of unschooling, I hate that I can't seem to keep them interested in things to keep them learning. I dunno. But the pressure to perform would definately be off if I did use an umbrella school!

I think the umbrella school is awesome I use AEI just google it and you'll find it. Even if you still do book work to keep family harmony this would be way less pressure than keeping everything just so for evaluation and it's cheaper than paying an evaluator.

I don't pay my evaluator, she's my sister :thumbsup: I think if I had the protection of an umbrella school, I'd loose my source of accountabilty, and I'd get even lazier and do nothing. We're taking this week off. I needed it, couldn't last until Thanksgiving.

I really wish I could find something that would cover the basics of each grade level, but just that, the bare minimum. Then my kids could do whatever else they wanted (reading, playing, building, whatever) to learn, and I wouldn't be afraid of them falling behind.

I suck at looking at a scope and sequence, and trying to figure out just how to get that stuff learned. I need someone to do it for me :(

Originally posted by Maiden Comfort


I really wish I could find something that would cover the basics of each grade level, but just that, the bare minimum. Then my kids could do whatever else they wanted (reading, playing, building, whatever) to learn, and I wouldn't be afraid of them falling behind.

I suck at looking at a scope and sequence, and trying to figure out just how to get that stuff learned. I need someone to do it for me :( This is basically what we do. I use Making Math Meaningful and Learning Through Language Arts. Neither use much drill and kill, both require minimal supervision and IMO cover the basics. I figure science will take care of it's self right now, they like to play with color and food etc so we cook together and they play with paints and crayons. My oldest reads alot and I make sure that he has a variety of books. I'm ordering Henty books, they are really well written historical fiction from the view point of a young boy. I'm amazed at what he gets from books. We have lots of the usborne books and I make a trip to the library every two weeks (it's 2hrs away) Now I just need to make the time to teach the younger ones to read and we'll be all set. Oh I also just got Music and the Masters from cornerstone curriclum I *just* got it so I don't know how it is but at the very least it came with CD's of many great classical music works so as a bare minimum we'll at least listen to the music which will likely cause someone to ask who it is and then we'll learn something about that composer

Camie - do you have a link for the Language Arts one? I like the math one - need to discuss ditching Abeka with DH and trying these out!

http://www.commonsensepress.com/covers.htm

my 9yr is in the yellow book. It's a bit on the easy side right now, but we're covering some of the basics that never occured to me (like contractions) lol

it starts each lesson with a passage to be copied, usually only a two or three sentences. Then spelling words then some grammer lessons. It recommends doing a lesson a week but we usually finish one a day. The yellow book starts cursive writing too. CJ was doing really well with it so I let him jump ahead and do all the cursive pages, now he writes better in cursive than he ever did print.

wanted to add that there are other curricula out there that are well organized and don't require prep work that you may find more interesting.

I have the same problem with organization. I can't trust myself to pull it all together. I'm all gung ho in the beginning but then I know I will slack off. Sonlight works really well for us because it is all planned out for me. And it's really interesting for dd. I admit I have difficulty with the read alouds (I hate reading out loud) but luckily dd is a great reader and if I get too far behind she'll read the book on her own. The only problem with sonlight is that it is expensive. But I tried something cheaper last year (Oak Meadow...not planned out enough for me) and realized that sonlight is worth it to me.

But I'm sure there are others out there that are equally organized. I've heard many people say that abeka is boring...so you're not alone!

I am also a fan of Sonlight. I have learned quite a lot in the 15 weeks that we have been using it.

C'mon it takes them like 6 hours to do what a homeschool mama can do in 45 minutes to an hour!

By all means take a break!

We homeschool Mon-Thur (but we're homeschooling all the time eh?)

At least once a year I get burned out and want to enroll my children in public school! LOL! (Mine are 8, 7, 5, and 1 1/2)

{{{Hugs}}}

Warmly,
Debra

*The hole in the roof on our garage still hasn't been repaired from Charley last Aug 13!

Camie, we're also doign the yellow book. Austin likes it because it's pretty to the point. I like it because there isn't any planning onvolved for me. ;)

I was trying ot cram too much in at a time. Every day I was doing way too much! With LLATL it has the spelling words right there, and they all have something to do with the lit passage.

Austin can see that he has x number of things to do for LA that day, and it helps him.

I admit, we have been slacking in the math department. BUT... he is finding ways to do math. I need to look into Making Math Meaningful.

I feel so much better about LA now that I have LLATL, because I know it covers everything without me having to overhtink it. Someone has already overthunk it for me. :D

I know how you feel mama! I go through that feeling of inadequacy myself sometimes. I have to admit it is less now that we are using a curriculum that we all enjoy. We use Sonlight also. We started out usinf Oak Meadow and then a brief stint of unschooling. Those didn't seem to work out too well for us. It seems that for me anyway, being pregnant and unschooling the oldest didn't work. My energy level is lower and therefore I can't seem to always take off on his curiosities. (aka learning).

Using a curriculum though has allowed me to do just what we have to do to get by on days when I feel like crap. But on the good days, we take it a step further and do other educaional stuff.

I have found myself feeling this at times: "My poor children have to deal with their tired, stressed out mother, who has pregnancy related breakdowns every month!" But my friend reassured me, that teachers in ps are only human too. On their bad days, our kids may be sitting there all day doing 'busy work' or may have to miss out on outside playtime. Or maybe be silent all day.

Hang in there mama, it will get better!!!

Hugs to you!
Christy