Spread the word!

I’m a workbook homeschooling mama. I thrive on checklists and structured lessons and even flashcards. Unfortunately for me, this homeschooling mama has to admit defeat. There have been a ton of changes in our family the last few months, and sticking with our formal lessons and extensive homeschooling resources has not been possible. Between five therapy sessions a week between two special needs kids, getting more serious about my work at home jobs, and working on building my blog traffic on this site, lessons have been the least of my concerns. I’ve been feeling pretty much defeated.

That’s not what I want though! I do not want Mr. C’s schooling to fall by the wayside because his needs don’t scream as loudly as the other kids. It’s all too easy to say that we can take a break and start next year because he’s so far ahead, but he deserves more than that. So what do we do?

Homeschooling Defeat, Making it Work for Us.

Sometimes homeschooling is really hard and we have to just admit defeat and change things up for our family.
 

Evaluate Where You Are

Read: Not where you want to be. Take an honest look at the work you’ve completed. Find out where you are for the year, and try to decide how much you need to complete before your “school year” ends. We school year round, but we count our year “ending” in August and “beginning” in September. When we did this we found out that we were way farther in math than in phonics and reading because we started math earlier in the year. For now, we’re going to focus on phonics and reading, have him continue handwriting because it’s his favorite and he’s good at it, and let our math workbook hang out for a bit. We’ll still do flashcards and play some math games to keep it fresh, but it will be more organic learning.

What is Really Necessary?

This one is the most difficult for me. I love to learn, so I want to teach everything under the sun. Mr. C is so far ahead of where he “should be” academically that I sometimes forget he’s only 5. We have full science and history curriculum, and we definitely need to reevaluate them. Mr. C enjoys history because it’s essentially listening to a story book and then coloring some maps or doing fun projects. We’ll continue history as we have been, but we won’t stress about it at all. He’s five years old, he’ll learn about ancient history at least three times before he graduates and he’ll be fine. With science, we’re backing off quite a bit. The curriculum is wonderful, but it is designed for older kids. It has lots of big words he can’t even pronounce. So we’ll cook, and plant a garden, and watch Sid the Science Kid and The Magic School Bus, and when he wants we’ll pull out his botany book and read about plants.

Continue Breaks

Life is full of seasons. There are some seasons where “school” for the day is flashcards in the car or going to a play group, because homeschooling and socializing is a huge worry, you know? (sarcasm) We choose homeschooling to make learning a part of our every day life. To teach lessons in a way that works for our home and our family, not to make our home and family fit what we think “school” should be. Overall have grace. Sometimes a lesson will take longer, and sometimes your kids will “forget” everything they learned yesterday. I have to remind myself often that we’re in this homeschooling game for the long run, and there will be gaps in their education because no one is perfect. But if my kids leave my house remembering the smiles and snuggles more than the Kings in ancient Egypt, I’ll have done my job right.

Have you ever had to admit homeschooling defeat?