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 Post subject: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 12:47 am 
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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. :?


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 8:40 am 
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[quote="ReneeS"]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. :?[/quote

Hi Renee. Welcome to HSC! First of all, breathe. In regards to curriculum, I know others here have used FIAR and really liked it. Please understand that your children are really young for formal, "sit down" learning in the sense of worksheets and curriculum. We have all experienced buying something and finding out later that it didn't work with our children. The good thing is that you can re-sell it and recoup some of your money, if not all. We have a "For Sale" board here or you can sell it to homeschoolers in your area to Ebay. Don't become chained to your curriculum. If something doesn't work, trash it and try something else.

In regards to curriculum, please consider as many hands-on activities as possible. Make learning fun at this age. Pinterest has a TON of ideas for little kids that are "crafty" hands-on learning. Lapbooks are another great resource to use to learn about specific topics...science and history, especially. While my dd was fairly easy to homeschool and could sit still for hours on end, my ds was a different story.

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Not your last resort.


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:44 am 
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StacyinTN wrote:
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. :?[/quote

Hi Renee. Welcome to HSC! First of all, breathe. In regards to curriculum, I know others here have used FIAR and really liked it. Please understand that your children are really young for formal, "sit down" learning in the sense of worksheets and curriculum. We have all experienced buying something and finding out later that it didn't work with our children. The good thing is that you can re-sell it and recoup some of your money, if not all. We have a "For Sale" board here or you can sell it to homeschoolers in your area to Ebay. Don't become chained to your curriculum. If something doesn't work, trash it and try something else.

In regards to curriculum, please consider as many hands-on activities as possible. Make learning fun at this age. Pinterest has a TON of ideas for little kids that are "crafty" hands-on learning. Lapbooks are another great resource to use to learn about specific topics...science and history, especially. While my dd was fairly easy to homeschool and could sit still for hours on end, my ds was a different story.


Remember the game "hopscotch?" Put basic letters or numbers in the squares. When they land on it, have them tell you what it is and what sound it makes (for letters). As they get older, you can put basic math facts into the squares and when they land on the square, have them perform the math function. All sorts of creative ways to teach. Don't become so "formalized" that learning is no longer fun. Books on cd's is another great resource. Have the actual book and the cd. Let them follow along to the cd. Have the older child read to the younger one.

_________________
Prayer should be your first response.
Not your last resort.


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 10:27 am 
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Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:16 pm
Posts: 2311
Location: Sunshine State
Hi Renee,

I think it is very common to burn out after 6months if something is not working. I stopped around December and had the holidays to rethink how I was schooling and why.

I have three kids who were homeschooled at some point in their school years. I agree with Stacy not to get bogged down with a curriculum. They mostly tell you what to teach. Because I couldn't afford much back then I went a different route and bought resources on how to teach.

Especially for pre-k through 8th grade, I recommend Ruth Beechick books, http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publicat ... b=beechick
Her Language and Thinking for Young Children is a manual for teaching language skills through rhyming word games, songs, stories. You don't need anything but a library card. Another one of her books that was extremely helpful was, You Can Teach Your Child Successfully. Meant as a resource with teaching tips for 4-8th grade it follows her The Three R's book with tips for 1-3rd grade. Best tip was for allowing math to become a natural method using tools like beans for counting and not introducing numbers and symbols until after 1st grade. My youngest was my guinea pig so to say, and she is my only child that has conquered Calculus.

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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 4:18 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:22 pm
Posts: 8837
I agree with Stacy - breathe! :) If you plan on doing this for the long haul and not throwing in the towel because it's so much work or too expensive, you need to step back and look at the big picture. This is a great time for you to learn how your kids (and you) work. I loved workbooks but my boys were bored by them. I couldn't make everything fun for them because that WAS a lot of work! We had to find a middle of the road... and ya know what? It changed! I know families that choose a curriculum and stick with it for 12 years. That is NOT how WE roll!!! Even as you teach them in these early years you should know that what you're looking for is how they best learn. And it may be different for each one.

ATTN: You will not mess them up in the next few years by omitting something - this experimental learning stage IS education.

Try to borrow different things to use. Join wit a homeschool group if possible and pick their brains, borrow their stuff, glean ideas. Don't freak out when little Johnny confuses his b's and d's for the first few years no matter how hard you work on them.

Relax and enjoy the journey. Put them back in the things they are enjoying and count it as school - it is! It only takes about an hour a day to "school" a K grader - as in sit down and concentrate on a concept.

And welcome! :)


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:43 pm 
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Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2014 12:34 am
Posts: 2
Thank you Thank you!!! All of you. I thank you for the encouragement and the experience you all have and share.

I do need to relax about this whole thing. I need to remember even in our mistakes and changes there is learning for them AND me! My dd enjoys working on the handwriting, reading, math, and science and can't get enough of our Bible study time. so maybe we will focus in on those areas because I think we had about 10-13 "subjects" that we would cover in a week. Spelling, even though she knows all the letter sounds and can form words from hearing the sounds, dd Hates it with a passion. I think we will focus on what we enjoy.

My intent is to go all the way through grade 12 with both children. I should probably find a hs group to get involved with even though most of me doesnt want to lol, I'm an introvert and my dd is an extrovert so I have to go out of my wants to help fulfill her needs.

Thanks so much again! i will surely take all of the advice and use it to help consider what we will do :)


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 7:17 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:58 pm
Posts: 5828
As a fellow introvert... don't fee like your kids have to be in a ton of outside activities. For us, ours did ONE. And mostly it was ONE that they all could do together in these younger years.
LIke, story time at the library. All 3 of mine could go up until the boys aged out and by then, my daughter was beyond the crafts and stories anyway because she taught herself to read at a young age.

Dd did horseback riding and the boys did karate. That was IT for a while. NO baseball, soccer, boy scouts, 4 -H... nothing.

They all three took tennis lessons one school year only because they all three took them in the same class! One trip for me driving them there... not 3 lessons at different times.
Same for swimming lessons.. all 3 going to same lesson. Not individual classes.

They all 3 did do Awana's at church, and over the summer, the VBS at church.
This way they got their socializing and I didn't have to do a ton of driving them around to each individual activity.

We did one field trip a month with the home school group IF it was something we were interested in. We did do the once a week play dates at the park (which they enjoyed more than the field trips, anyway!)

Even with our limited outings, there were weeks when I felt like we were going every single day!
So some things had to wait until they were older... like weekly bowling with the home school group... that waited until my children were teenaged.
Co-op classes with the home school group.. again didn't happen until they were high school aged.

My point is: Don't feel like you have to put them in every single activity when they are young.. there is plenty of time for them to be involved as they grow older and their interests change.

There were years where we did nothing but church activities, just because they were young and mom was tired! ;)


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 7:23 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:14 pm
Posts: 8115
Welcome, Renee! : )

In addition to what others have said, I'd add: be in tune to other emotional issues that may be sapping your school joy. Since you mentioned "family issues" that delayed the start of school, things like grief & extra stress can make any school experience (home or traditional) more difficult. Sometimes it's not school or the curriculum that's making the education process more difficult, rather it's something that's emotionally distracting.

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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 8:07 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:22 pm
Posts: 8837
So true, Anna. It's so nice that we can take those things into consideration when we homeschool. :)


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 Post subject: Re: New and need advice on burnout/disinterest
PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 8:52 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:01 pm
Posts: 2491
ReneeS wrote:
Thank you Thank you!!! All of you. I thank you for the encouragement and the experience you all have and share.

I do need to relax about this whole thing. I need to remember even in our mistakes and changes there is learning for them AND me! My dd enjoys working on the handwriting, reading, math, and science and can't get enough of our Bible study time. so maybe we will focus in on those areas because I think we had about 10-13 "subjects" that we would cover in a week. Spelling, even though she knows all the letter sounds and can form words from hearing the sounds, dd Hates it with a passion. I think we will focus on what we enjoy.

My intent is to go all the way through grade 12 with both children. I should probably find a hs group to get involved with even though most of me doesnt want to lol, I'm an introvert and my dd is an extrovert so I have to go out of my wants to help fulfill her needs.

Thanks so much again! i will surely take all of the advice and use it to help consider what we will do :)



My son struggled his K year with the alphabet and the sounds. I cannot recommend Leap Frog dvd's enough. They were a true life saver, and he truly "kicked" off his learning from this series. I ended up getting the numbers and basic math dvd's, too, and that too, really helped him learn. Leap Frog all the way!

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Prayer should be your first response.
Not your last resort.


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