We’ve been homeschooling for about six weeks! The boys have been practicing ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies skills everyday. We do Art, Heath, Gym and Music on a rotating schedule. I’ve had mixed results.
One big impediment is the struggle I have been having with my mental illness. For the past 6 weeks or so, I have felt very overwhelmed, exhausted, and a little hopeless. I am having trouble identifying a trigger or cause. I have done my best to continue self care that I thought I had established. However, when I feel depressed it seems to also affect my executive functioning.
In spite of these personal difficulties – my biggest concern is their education. Much of my available energy has been put into that leaving little for my creative or personal projects.
I create a daily plan for each day following the scratched out system I started with. We are expanding our sources and working on going into good depth on many topics. A challenge I have been having is how to keep them engaged in the material we are covering – particularly history for my youngest. We have been doing a lot of reading and looking at pictures for history and he gets bored and frustrated.
There are some positive ideas I really want to implement like morning meetings and setting personal learning goals. Right now I feel like I am keeping my head above water and not being as creative as I should be.
I felt very loved and validated the other night when my oldest son asked if we could talk at bedtime. I was worried because that’s not an every day occurance. He told me that he was very glad we chose homeschooling this year and that he thinks I am doing a good job. He went on to say that he appreciates the time I am putting into it and that it makes him happy when we go through material together. That was really good to hear and a boost I needed.
We officially kicked off our school year by naming our homeschool and discussing all of our expectations for the school year. I also had my kiddos do an interview type worksheet – so they could see what might change by the end of the year. I used my scratched out plan – and we did pretty well!
I am hoping to encourage deeper inquiry into the material. One way I am doing that is by encouraging questions that we can do more research on. My 6th grader filled out a “detective” worksheet based on the reading material we covered in history this week (how humans crossed over the Bering Land Bridge and early civilizations). He will be researching his answers to wrap up the chapter.
It’s very important to note their interests. We talked about food science during our planning session and we are currently learning about marshmallows. Apparently they were originally derived from the mallow plant and ancient Egyptians used to eat them! I’m excited about the opportunity they have to go off on tangents to explore things. A smart gentleman I work with reminded me that the internet provides endless opportunities for learning – we can start at marshmallows and continue into the habitual food of ancient Egyptians.
I am building on what they already seem to have learned and the work they did at the end of last year. My 2nd grader is working on phonics and becoming a more confident reader. He chooses a book to read aloud every day and we are working on digraphs/consonant blends. He is doing some worksheets and also practicing on IXL. My 6th grader struggled with keeping his math problems organized so we are starting on larger digit multiplication problems. He has been using graph paper as a strategy.
I am planning on bringing several of their subjects together – for instance, having them read an Inuit legend while learning about Native American tribes in history. We will probably do something with Art as well. This week, we looked at Mayan art and used markers to create art based on what we saw. My 6th grader worked with patterns and basic human forms creating almost a comic about a possible Mayan ritual. My 2nd grader drew a jaguar because it was an important and symbolic animal in the culture.
Another goal is that they take a more self-directed approach to their learning. Independent work is the reason I will stay sane. I have been able to find some peaceful and productive time while they are both engaged in an assignment. A few that really seem to work are daily journals, IXL, and math assignments. We seem to have some interruption because my 6th grader still has a hard time with spelling. I think we’ll be printing a list of common words so that he can look them up. Hopefully I can teach both of them this strategy.
It's All Whimsy 