Tomorrow starts Week 17 in our homeschool and it isn't going as smoothly as I remember.
Last week was our first week back after Christmas vacation. We took a nice, long break after Christmas to visit my husband's family for five days and then unwind and unpack after we returned. I had a whole month's worth of lessons ready for Monday morning and the day went fairly well...given that neither of the boys wanted to do work! We got alot finished since there was no pressure for the next day, because we were scheduled to go to the Homeschool Days classes at the Maryland Science Center all day Tuesday.
The MSC was so much more fun this time! The first time we went in September, it was literally our second week of homeschool. I was much more tense and uptight, just trying to find my way around this thing called "homeschool". This time, I really just enjoyed being there and the classes were really enjoyable and I learned alot (and the boys did, too :)!
Our return day on Wednesday didn't go as smoothly. Danny couldn't wake up, so we got a late start and I had to finish studies early to make sure I picked up my granddaughter from kindergarten as early as possible (since I had been at the end of the pickup line on Monday and they had given her to someone else to take home...ugh...but that's another story). So I left them with their independent work to do at 3pm and, different than before the holidays, it didn't get done.
Thursday was a loss. My granddaughter was with me all day because she had a fever, but that wasn't really the distraction I expected. Danny started to feel bad (which was also the reason I suspect he couldn't wake up Wednesday) and was too sick to go to PE at the YMCA. They completed their Unit #2 Test in Science (both with 97%, I must say), but that was really all we got done besides Ben going to PE. And I didn't feel that great anyway, so I gave up.
Needless to say, I'm a little discouraged. I had a whole weeks' worth of nice lessons planned and only about half of it got done. This weekend, Danny and I have had the darn headcold and we both feel blech, so I'm not sure tomorrow is going to be much good either. At this point, I'm thinking of canning the actually lesson plan and just doing miscellaneous little things like Math Bingo or things out of our Mad Science kit or watch our new Schoolhouse Rock Earth video (did you know they even MADE a new one? Got it free with my Disney Reward Dollars - very cool :) just to keep them learning. I get so frustrated because we can never stay caught up with our Bible reading, regular reading, Religious Ed classes or writing assignments. I do feel like the universe is just telling me to "give up" and relax and do something different this week. I kind of have to - I don't feel up to doing anything else.
And Ben's birthday is Wednesday. My baby is turning 9 and this is my very last year of having a child in single digits. Momentous for me, because when my "other" baby (my youngest daughter, Kelly), turned 9, I just knew that one day I would have more children, so even though it was sad, I could handle it. This will be harder. This is IT. And the grandchildren are following fast and furious behind him already (I already have three grandchildren, ages 5, 4 and 2 months)...so I need to figure out how to transition in to Nanamom, not just Mommy. This is hard.
So, Lord, give me strength this week to be the best teachers my children need me to be. Maybe it's not what looks good on paper, but lead me to give them what THEY need this week. I guess I'll be a little more unschooled that usual. And hope that helps :)
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