I have a new respect for homeschooling moms. If you are not one, I have to say do not criticize. These women WORK HARD! I am exhausted!!!! I can't believe the amazing amount of work this whole thing takes and I have 8 kids and have not found that hard. When people say, "I can never do that," maybe that is true. I am feeling that way now.
We have had a few glitches that I am beginning to work out. Glitch number 1: Kate did not like the online school because she wanted more freedom and because she misses the attention from a teacher. So Kate has decided I will be her teacher and write her curriculum. I am still working on finding her books. Right now, we are testing out a few books from the library. After looking through history text books, I have decided she would learn more just from children's nonfiction books in the library. That will be a start and I am making her do American History. We are also trying a 90's algebra book from the library, but we may still buy her a newer text. For science she is using Ruth's science book. For English she is using Diana Hacker's guide for writers.
Glitch number 2: Johnny did not want to do online school either, even though they bumped him to fifth grade. I am going to just bump him to 5th grade too. We have had to get books for Johnny too. I am having him do the same library history route as Kate, but he is studying ancient world history. We are skipping cavemen and evolution and going straight to Ancient Egypt. We have purchased him a math book which hasn't arrived in the mail yet. For now, I am printing up worksheet from the internet. For science we are doing the same as history and letting him pick the topics as long as there will be a variety through the year. Right now he is interested in geology. For English he is learning the parts of the speech and keeping a writing journal. We will have to see how my invented curriculum goes for Kate and Johnny.
Here is a little of what I am doing to maintain order:
1.I get up 1 1/2 hours before my kids to deep clean and read scriptures. If the kids wake up with me they are deep cleaning too. It helps them get a little more sleep.
2.We begin the day reading the Friend and New Era, singing church songs, and having a child present a scripture.
3. Then I read to the little kids, do little kid annoying play songs, and then calendar and weather.
4.Then I start individual lessons. That goes for most of the day. We usually finish after 3.
5. Then I give some piano lessons.
6.Then I try to get PE in. We go to the Rec Center Tuesdays and Thursdays. I think I will up that to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Johnny will be starting soccer this Tuesday for 6 weeks, and this week I am going to add in dance lessons and gymnastics. We also have Young Womens and Cub Scouts for evening activities. John and I also like to get in the Temple once a week. The evening's will be hard.We are still figuring this out.
7. After PE I have to make dinner. I am not doing very well at this.
8. I am trying to make lesson plans each Saturday and do the shopping then too.
So my questions for all you amazing homeschooling genius's:
1.How do you cook and do home school?
2.What are your ideas on taking care of multiple kids lessons and babies?
3.How do you keep up on your laundry?
4.How long is your school day? And how do you shorten it?
5.Am I worrying about getting too much done?
11 comments:
Remember, it's only the first week. We've been doing this since the beginning (oldest is 5th now) and there are still adjustments every year. Let's see what ideas I can share in answer to your questions:
1.How do you cook and do home school? Breakfast is simple here, inexpensive cereal or yogurt in warm weather, oatmeal or coco wheats in winter. Lunch is either leftovers or something quick and easy like sandwiches - something even my oldest can make. Dinner is either something that takes tossing in the oven or in the crock pot in the morning, or it is pretty easy too, like spaghetti.
The other key is I have at least one child helping me make each meal. Even the little ones can get fruits and fresh veggies onto plates, etc.
2.What are your ideas on taking care of multiple kids lessons and babies? We do as many lessons together as we can, so for an example everyone does history together in the same time period with a family read aloud and then books on their own level to read. Little ones right down to the 9 month old join in at the table when we're there - I may be teaching math to one age group while the other children do math practice pages for that day and the little ones get playdoh, puzzles, toys, math manipulatives, etc right there. We use booster seats with seatbelts at the table for anyone young enough to need the reminder to stay sitting.
I rotate new lesson days for children. In our math curriculum you teach a new concept and then they spend the next several days practicing it and reviewing past concepts before taking a test. So I have one child's new lesson on Monday and the others are working on the last week's lesson/test. Tuesday I'll teach a new lesson to the next child (in my case I have 2 children in the same level on this day, we learn together). The other kids work on practice pages for their current concept.
Spelling is similar, I plan to teach the new concept to each age group on different days. Each child has cards so it's easy for them to grab the cards they are currently working with on practice days, and practice only takes a few minutes, unlike a lesson.
Babies are given attention between lessons, can do table time, can sit on my lap if they'll not grab things (practice practice practice!), can be played with by a sibling who is not currently working on lessons, and if I'm really lucky may even nap!
3.How do you keep up on your laundry? I start one load EVERY morning and switch it at snack, putting in the cloth diapers to wash next. Those get restarted at lunch and put in the dryer at dinner. I also have children who can be sent to do this if needed.
4.How long is your school day? And how do you shorten it? We get all official school done by the end of lunch every day unless we have a doctor's visit or something else in the morning. Nature study is the only thing planned to happen after lunch, and that is once a week.
How do I shorten the school day? We don't do everything every day. Science is currently 3 days a week, picture study is once, nature study is once, we do one health unit, maybe two, in the entire school year. There is nothing that says we need to do health class every day all year. To be honest, this year we won't do it at all because the whole family will be immersed in learning about Spina Bifida and all the things coming with this yet-to-be born little boy.
We don't have official PE. The kids play outside most days and we have baseball, soccer, and basketball stuff in the backyard to use together. I also try not to do outside classes unless the whole family can do it together(you're mention of all the sports starting makes me shudder - NO WAY! Can't do it and stay sane.)
5.Am I worrying about getting too much done? Almost certainly! We always expect more of ourselves and our children than the state or even Heavenly Father asks.
((HUGS))
Hang in there. I have exactly zero experience or expertise, but I'd imagine that it will get easier with time and that as you settle into a routine you'll find yourself doing it much easier than you expected to.
You're amazing!!!
Tristan has great advice, I love her blog. Group studies are always good. We do history all together and we were doing science as a group until this year. My kids are just getting to far apart now. I have 10th grade down to Kindergarten. Hang in there it does get easier, but as Tristan was saying we still make adjustments every year and I have been doing this for almost 7 years. Also, I just had my 7th baby and was worried about the dinner thing. I spent a few days cooking freezer meals and have a freezer stocked full of a couple months forth of meals. It has worked out really well for us. I don't know that I would take it on right now if I were you, but something to thing about when you get the hang of your daily schedule! Hang in there and enjoy your kiddos!! :)
If you need some book advice, I know some really good ones. Also, don't forget about the American Revolution. You should teach her British, French and Spanish history because it all pretains (leads up) to the American Revolution and American history. If you want, I know some good history books as well. Check out amazon.com for good text books. You have John for math and math is my worst subject. You should also get her a good grammar book. Just some thoughts.
check the DI for books, that's where we got our Algebra, Geometry and some science textbooks. www.mainlesson.com is full of awesome free stories.
You may have to cut some things out and combine others. I do the same history and science with the younger kids and have the older kids write summaries on what they read out of their history books,and if they have a science experiment to do, then we do the experiment with everybody.
Eventually, I will have them read their summaries to everybody during group time and essentially give us an opportunity to discuss it and let them teach it to the younger kids. The kids who can read on their own often have to delve deeper on their own- then I just ask them questions. They are going to know more than I do before too long.
I schedule in 1-2 hours a day for food and dinner prep. On the days we are gone in the afternoon, I try to use my quick easy meals on those days- sandwiches, burritos, spaghetti. We usually have hot cereal or quinoa for breakfast. If I can get organized enough to make granola, then we'll do that.
I am terrible at keeping up on the laundry- but there is a door so at least I'm not reminded of it. I do get it washed, just not folded. Also, I sometimes have my kids fold for 15 min. at a time and switching the clothes is sometimes part of a zone or an extra job. I have dinner helpers too, so then I feel like I'm teaching them to cook and life skills.
It can be done, but it is hard and you have to be on top of it and everybody. I'm going to start implementing the 5 minute pick up idea after meals. I have plenty of room for improvement. I'm pretty sure you'll get it all figured out and then I will be asking you how you do it!
One veteran homeschooler told me once that as long as you do piano and math everyday- the other stuff can be made up later pretty easily. Math and piano are skills that need daily practice, but history, science and literature can be learned in one sitting. She also told me to concentrate on the ones just learning to read, because once they can read, they can do a lot on their own.
Good Luck!!
I also schedule an hour for lunch/recess-- we all need the break- sometimes we go longer. And I try to make extra dinner so we can have the leftovers for lunch.
Diane, my hat is off to you. I think you are incredible and you sound like you have a good, albeit hard routine established.
Could your kids help with the laundry and cooking? Maybe between lessons they can switch loads or fold clothes. I don't know, maybe you are already doing that, but it's all I've got. Hang in there!
1.How do you cook and do home school?
Your 3 oldest are plenty old enough to start cooking meals. homemaking skills is a great subject for all of them to learn. crock pots save us many days. But also cooking meals ahead of time and freezing too. give the kids a day that is there to make dinner as part of their school work as well.
2.What are your ideas on taking care
of multiple kids lessons and babies?
have you heard of Teri Ebert's Four Year Plan? It is a great way to homeschool in a LDS family with several ages and wee ones. You might want to check it out, just google her name for more info, i got all the books online needed for under $40 at Amazon.
3.How do you keep up on your laundry?
A little here a little there and help from the kids. Again your 3 oldest are plenty smart enough to help with the laundry and the next two down can help to fold and put away as well.
4.How long is your school day? And how do you shorten it?
We normally finish seat type work by noon, then off to the Rec Center for a swim. With your large family, you probably need a minute you each day. i would send them to their rooms or a general area to quietly read after lunch on the days you do not go to do PE. Remember they learn at all times, not just when their noses are in a book, so baking cookies is learning, about fractions and matter and chemical reactions!!
5.Am I worrying about getting too much done?
i would say YES! Relax, enjoy the ride and do not try to mimic the public school system!
brenda, homeschool mom starting year #18!!!
I love all the comments here and I'll add mine in the order that Tristan did.
1. Cooking: Breakfast is always together after family prayer at 7:30 and we always eat cereal. This is because I'm always pregnant or nursing and can't stand anything sweet or greasy like pancakes, muffins, eggs, or sausage first thing in the morning. I have to have a plain cereal like wheat chex, so we all eat cereal. Sometimes we put peanut butter or frozen berries on our cereal. For lunch we have a break from 11-12. Everyone makes their own lunch:nachos, pb sandwich, Hormel chili, whatever they want. Sometimes a couple of kids want grilled cheese and I'll make that while they put on the fruit and milk, but most of the time we all get our own and sit down to eat by 11:10. Then they can play after lunch until school resumes at 12, but a lot of times we have great conversations at the table and cleaning up that nobody wants to play. If I'm waiting for them to finish I may start dinner such as assembling enchilladas or making an egg casserole, just so that I can have my own free time after school. Otherwise I make dinner later. We have snack time at 2:30 when school is out and again, I try to get dinner started then while I'm waiting for kids to finish school or snack. From 3-5 the baby naps and everyone else plays and they know not to bother me. This is my personal time to scrapbook, check e-mail, pay bills, read, etc. I don't mind if they want to come tell me something, but if they're whining or fighting they know I will give them a chore or more school work to keep them busy. It is such a routine and they are so happy to be done with school that this is rarely a problem. This is basically their only free time too. At 5 I start dinner if I haven't already and one of my older children will help me. They enjoy cooking with just me and have just had a 2 hour break, so I don't feel bad. I also have whosever turn it is unload the dishwasher and fold the laundry if there is any. I run the dishwasher every 2 days (we only have enough bowls and plates for each of us to have 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners. At lunch we use paper towels for our sandwiches or bagels and paper plates for nachos.) To answer your laundry question, I do 2 colored loads of laundry a week, usually Tuesday and Saturday. We don't get that dirty and can wear clothes more than once (except for the boys.) Every couple of weeks I'll do a load of sheets or towels. (I put the dishrag and kitchen hand towel in every colored load though.) Everyone has their own bath towel and the kids only bathe twice a week, so I don't see a need to wash them every week. I only have 6 kids and only do a load every few days, so laundry is never a problem for me. The day the laundry basket is full I start the clothes in the morning and a child will fold them before dinner. I have little kids tidy the living room and everyone is helping with something, even holding the baby, so that we're ready to eat by 5:45 or 6 at the latest.
Blogger just told me this is too long, so I'll finish another time. Sorry to make you read so much! Hope some part is helpful.
Here's the rest of what I was writing earlier:
You probably already know a lot of cooking shortcuts, but here are a couple of my thoughts. Before the kids were old enough to help me with dinner I had a schedule: Mondays-American, Tuesdays-Mexican, Wednesdays-Italian, Thursdays-breakfast food or soup Fridays-homemade pizza, Saturdays and Sundays were leftovers, sandwiches, whatever we were in the mood for, or ward activity. I don't cook much on the weekends unless I really feel like it. I made a list of all the possible foods for each category and rotated through them. This helped ensure we weren't eating too similar of foods back to back. Also, if my husband asked how old the lasagna was, I would know it was cooked on Wednesday because that's Italian night.
Now that I have 3 kids capable of fixing dinner, they each have 2 nights a week that they help and I let them choose the menu unless I'm really in the mood for something or have something that needs to be used up. I buy meat in bulk and cook it all at once and put it in ziplocks in the freezer. I often add canned beans to the meat to stretch it. I try to put meals with similar ingredients back to back. For instace, when I made chicken alfredo pizza I make double sauce and the next day I will use the chicken alfredo sauce over pasta or over rice as in Hawaiian Haystacks. That way one dinner takes awhile, but the next night I only have to cook rice. I'm sure you have a lot more better ideas yourself from cooking for a large family for so long.
I think the key is staying home as much as possible. I've always been a home body but now I'm forced to because over a year ago my husband's car died for good and he takes my van to work everyday except Thursdays. Thursdays I take him to work and come home and do school till lunch time. After lunch we go to flute and violin lessons and run errands until 3:00. This way I'm still home for some down time in the afternoon before having to start dinner. My oldest two girls have activity days 2 Tuesday nights a month, but that is the only activity we have in the evenings. Staying home really simplifies things. Don't try to do too much after school or social things. We go to homeschool times at the park with friends occasionally, play with neighbor kids, invite friends over or baby-sit, do a family game of kickball, etc, so I think they're getting plenty of socialization and physical activity. Having that afternoon break for me before dinner keeps my sanity and everyone happy.
Sorry to be taking so much space on your blog, but I love homeschooling (have always homeschooled) and I want it to be as great for your family as it has been for ours, so if you only get one little thing from my comments I'll be glad to have helped.
About the multiple ages, we also do history, science, writing/grammar, music, art, and PE together. Here's a brief overview of our schedule: Every morning after breakfast is cleaned up we do Exercise (PE) for 30 minutes. We go in spurts of what we like to do: walks or bike rides (I have a bike trailer to pull the littlest two), skating or jumproping outside. Inside we do a Pilates DVD, weights and stretching, or dance to music. The past 2 school years we took turns picking each day, but this year we've kinda done our own thing. Someone may put on "Entertainer" online and we all start dancing to it, someone sets up stations to do pushups, wall sits, squats, etc, so we all join in. We also have songs on our digital piano that we love to run around the couch to. We have a great time. I would advise against going to a rec center just because of the amount of time it takes. By the time I get everyone ready, find shoes, buckled, drive there, do the activity, drive home, and get everyone settled, a lot of time has gone by. With us doing exercise at home we start promptly at 8am and if I'm still getting the baby dressed or making my husband's lunch, they can start without me. Sometimes they're having so much fun with their push ups contest that I ride my exercise bike instead of join them. At 8:30 I shower while they start school. They do spelling, math,handwriting, and French by themselves for the most part. At 10 when the baby is napping I do history and science with everyone. E-mail me if you have questions about curriculum that is good for all ages. You'll find how easy it is to adapt to multiple ages. We all love learning together and it's these group subjects that have really bonded us. I just expect more from the older ones and less from the younger. We break for lunch at 11. At 12 we have music on Mondays, writing on Wednesdays and art on Fridays. For music we study a composer in the time period or place we're studying in history/geography. For writing I had a book of elementary aged writing assignments that were really fun. We did that for 2 years. This year we are doing Painless Grammar. I teach the lesson from the book and then print off worksheets according to ability. Every few weeks I have them write a story about the time or place we're studying in history or a seasonal story like "The Perfect Fall Day." The littlest ones can dictate to you if they can't write much and I expect more and more of my older ones each year. We do an art project that also cooresponds with what we're studying in history or science or sometimes seasonal. I plan everything out in the summer so that I don't have to think of something on the spot and be tempted to skip it.
After those subjects, usually around 1 or 1:30 I read a chapter book aloud while they color (even my oldest kids still love to color) Again, this is a treasured time as they all crowd around me, sometimes one will play with my hair, and love to listen to me read. I generally read a book that corresponds with history, science, or for fun, a seasonal one.
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