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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:15 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:45 am
Posts: 2924
Hi Renee! Welcome! I'd like to encourage you as well! Have you taken a look around the site? There are some fantastic articles linked from the center pull-down menu above. The editorials and testimonials cover pretty much every issue out there.

Your children are still so young. Don't worry about the academics. If you are reading good books aloud, exploring nature, letting the kids count, sort, and play with blocks, your children are doing well. Use the parts of your curriculum that you like, but don't feel like you are wedded to it. You can always put whatever you didn't use up on ebay. :0)

I hope we'll hear more from you! Hang in there!

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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:56 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:19 pm
Posts: 4143
Location: NE Central Texas
In kindergarten children do not do a whole lot.
Learn to write their numbers, letter, name, address, colors
get simple readers from the library, dick and jane kind of ones.
We did liberty kids history books, I do not know if they still have them.
They learn their numbers counting and abc's. and do not do a whole day of work.
to me that is it.
maybe do a couple of hours a day , two in the morning and one in the afternoon,
hope this helps


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:44 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:16 am
Posts: 18
ReneeS wrote:
First I am new to the forum and wanted to say hi. I have 1 in Kindergarten and a toddler and this is our first year.
We started in september after having to push our start date back for family reasons. November we pretty much did none of our lessons. I and dd lost interest completely. I stopped any and all extra activities such as library and music and movement classes. I feel awful for doing this since my kids enjoyed it so much. I am thinking I am burnt out since I am the one putting together everything with the books and materials. My dh agrees with us homeschooling but isn't necessarily helpful in the learning area, he has more entrusted me in this area which is a huge compliment but also a large amount of work.

We bought from TImberdoodle this year, with taking out their art and adding in our own and music too. We like what they cover and have enjoyed it...But, my child and I just can't seem to get back to it and I was considering switching gears for a bit. I was considering going with Five In A Row (FIAR). The kids enjoy hearing stories a lot and I like the idea of learning and not just at the table.

I still am a newbie and feel slightly lost right now. I don't want to have my husband think we wasted money on the curriculum we bought but we need a change.

Any advice or help would be appreciated. I hate that I feel burnout and we only did what 2 months in our first year and we are wore out already. :?


First and foremost... Take a deep breath and relax. What you're calling 'burnout' isn't actually that; it's a perfectly normal feeling which most of the parents go through when they are new to homeschooling (I did too). And as far as the material from Timberdoodle goes, do not hold yourself guilty for letting it go to waste. Frankly speaking, I have no qualms admitting the fact that I experimented with so many different curriculums for my kids when I started homeschooling in the initial stages, and it took me almost an year and a half to realize that there is no one particular curriculum which suits my kids. And so, I began to pick up bits and pieces from different places and built up my own curriculum for them (which, touch wood, has been going very well till now).

Here are a couple of suggestions (speaking from personal experience) for keeping your kid interested in studies at home:
- Do not stop extra-curricular activities at any cost (like you mentioned you did). Kids actually look forward to these activities and it is in these initial years that they develop an interest in something apart from their studies. Let them learn a musical instrument, let them play football in the backyard, let them go and learn swimming. They'll thank you for it a couple of years down the line.
- Try holding a couple of lessons outdoors, for instance, in the garden instead of on their study table all the time. Here is where homeschooling scores over the traditional method of schooling. Follow it up with a sort of picnic lunch in the backyard. They'll love it and look forward to the next science lesson.
- Although spending too much time on the computer could be detrimental for them but it's okay to let them play games online once in a while. My daughter loves playing these pet games online every other day, especially because I've forbidden her to keep a pet dog at home. I do put a limit to the time she spends on the computer but as long as I know what she's surfing and playing online, I'm cool with it. And the added benefit is that it makes them internet and computer savvy from a young age itself.
- There are some days when nothing seems to work out, both for you as the teacher and your student as well. I call these days 'The days when everything goes wrong'. On such days, you could try throwing what I call an 'art party'. Bring out the play dough, molding clay, paints, crayons, glue and glitter..and let their imagination run wild. Who knows, masterpieces may be created in the process. Plus lots of fun for sure.

Hope these helped. The key is to have as much fun as you can in the process of homeschooling - and make learning fun for the both of you. All the best!


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:28 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:58 pm
Posts: 5828
Great advice, Amy19! :)


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