Week 4

Yeah, early morning seminary is still causing some foul ups here.  Should that be foul or foul?  Hmmm...I think foul (notably unpleasant or distressing) is a better choice than foul (being outside the foul lines in baseball).   I am absolutely dragging every afternoon which affects homeschool.  I'm too tired to think, I don't have any energy, and I am irritable.  Seriously irritable.

My mantra continues..."I will get through this....I will get through this.....I will get through this...."

In order to "get through this" I'm going to have to make some changes.  The story of my homeschool career...tweaking.  Our homeschool has never been routine.  I am constantly tweaking, adjusting.  This year, month, week, will be no different. 

The first casualty happened before the new school year started.  I finally admitted that Rod & Staff's Bible Nurture and Reader Series was a poor fit for my struggling 8yo.  Love the readers but the workbooks were too much for her.

Next up?  All About Spelling as a remedial spelling program for my 12 and 15yo girls.  I wanted them to understand why certain words are spelled the way the are.  We were covering a lesson per day.  They didn't seem to mind.  Unfortunately, I needed to find some extra time somewhere and they needed more challenging words.  I returned 15yo and introduced 12yo to Phonetic Zoo.  Spelling is now an independent subject.  I still look forward to using All About Spelling with my 8yo (she's using the CD to learn the basic phonograms at this point).  I realize using Phonetic Zoo instead of AAS doesn't add much time to my day but mentally it has done wonders.  Less for me to worry about.

Okay, this one is a little embarrassing.  I've been using Writing With Ease Workbook: Level 1 with my 12yo.  Again the idea was to work through it quickly to make sure we had our bases covered.  We were doing a week in two days.  Of course dd didn't seem to mind because it was seriously easy.  As much as I like it, I um...admitted that she needs something vastly more challenging.  She's behind but not THAT behind.  Really not sure what to do with her in regards to writing.  Also, I don't think writing should be a daily subject by itself.

Science or history not both.  I've been doing both biology and ancient history with 15yo each day.  I'm going to try doing each subject for several days at a time and then switching to the other.  This is a head game as I don't believe it will help save time.  One less thing on the daily checklist may help me feel less overwhelmed.

I am also considering ditching Rod & Staff Arithmetic 1.  It is mostly drill of math facts.  It is killing my 8yo.  She likes Singapore Math (Frank Schaffer) much better.  The number bonds seem to be sticking, so we may focus on those for awhile and take a relaxed approach to math. 

Having schedules has helped to get more accomplished, but we aren't having fun.  I'm still mulling over how to find a good balance between the two.