I have been feeling like something wasn’t quite right with my homeschooling methods for this year. Basically, it is set up too much like school-at-home.
I have a rigid schedule set up with 180 school days, broken into 6-week sessions, with a 1-week break in between.
I have books for every subject, with tests and worksheets that I can later use for our portfolios next year, hoping to avoid the yearly stress that process causes me.
The problem is that the learning seems so forced, so hollow. I have no doubt that soon, the kids will grow tired of it and hate it.
I ordered a standardized test for The D to solve the problem I was having with the Language Arts section of his portfolio. (Short version: he doesn’t have any written work for that subject.)
I took one look at the test and could not believe how easy the material was. The kids know more than enough to score well on the test, just from our everyday interactions.
That revelation might have come as no surprise to some of you, but I am still trying to figure this whole homeschooling thing out.
The trick is, every time I think I have something figured out, the kids change, I change, or something changes.
Now I feel like I am back at square one.
My plan now is to keep on with the books we are using, since they are still interested in them, but in the meantime, figure out how to break my bond to traditional schooling methods, namely textbooks.
The other thing I have struggled with is integrating our faith with our homeschooling. Up to this point, that is not something I have done and I feel like it is really important. We have faced a lot of challenges as a family, and continue to, with The D’s depression, and I think that the only way we will find peace is to place the Lord at the center of our home (and homeschool).
Then I stumbled across the book, You CAN Teach Your Child Successfully, by Ruth Beechick. I ordered it last night. I hope that this book will help put me on the right track toward figuring out how to accomplish these two goals.
If any of you have any experience with Beechick, I would love to hear your thoughts.
(Note: Any links I use to products from CBD are associated with my affiliate account. I don’t want anyone to think that I am trying to pull a fast one.)
4:38 am on September 1st, 2007
Charity,
Have you ever looked at Tapestry of Grace? I just started using it this year and have found it very helpful with just the kinds of issues you are struggling with here. You might consider it:
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com
(I don’t get anything for recommending it; it’s just been so helpful to our family already, and in some of the same areas you’re dealing with: writing, making it fun rather than “textbook-y,” and integrating faith into learning.)
5:14 am on September 3rd, 2007
Wow - this is something I’d love to sit around and chat about.
First of all, I’d like to share several words of wisdom that some seasoned homeschoolers shared with me that have really helped.
One is that “you don’t have to try to reproduce a public school day in your home. For one thing, as your family grows, that will become increasingly more difficult, for another, what works for one family may not work for another. Be flexible.”
The second is that “God gives a lot of grace to cover where we lack while we’re trying to figure things out. He knows our hearts are sincere and He will provide, and our children will not suffer for it while we try to find our footing.”
I just sat down and planned the next school year which starts on Tuesday. There are 156 days planned for sitting down to do school. We will not do school on Mondays since that is our biggest chore day, but some of that will count towards life skills. There is also Good News Club and dance outside of those hours, and those will count too. Every fourth week or so we will take off, because we will go year round until August 15th.
How did I come up with a crazy plan like Tues-Fri for three weeks and then a week off? Trial and error.
After kindergarten we went to a year round, 3 months one month off plan. But a month proved to be too long a break for keeping the habit up. Plus my kids actually behave better during school than during vacation - the routine helps a lot. During 1st grade I noticed that burnout can occur easily, so I switched to the every fourth week thing. And after recently developing our new chore system, I have found Monday to be incredibly busier so I opted to not do bookwork on that day - if we get a good start to chores for the week, they shouldn’t interfere with school later in the week. 
So.. I’ve been adapting this plan over the last three years. Who knows what it will look like next year? 
I pray good providence for you while you figure things out.
1:47 pm on September 4th, 2007
Thank for the suggestion, Marcy. I’ll check it out.
Thanks you your comments, Proverbs31. That second piece of advice is worth printing out and hanging up!