Well, it’s Day 3 for these newbie homeschoolers. I’m wondering what I got myself into.
Actually, school with Anthony has been fine. He’s so enthusiastic and we’ve only encountered one major melt down. I’ve only heard him wish for “real school” a few times. My stresses lie with setting up lessons and keeping the twins entertained while I work with Anthony.
Doing lessons with Anthony is very hands on. He’s only in 1st grade, after all. I need to be with him to keep him on task and help him read instructions. So while I am sitting with Anthony at his desk, the little brothers are running amok. I bought them some preschool work books but they need my hands on assistance, too.
3 boys and only 1 mommy.
I’m not sure how homeschool families do this with more than one child!
Then, I assumed (we all know what “assuming” does) that lessons would be kinda laid out for me. It’s why I went with the K12/CAVA curriculum. I wanted it laid out for me so I didn’t have to think about it.
Well, I guess the lessons are laid out. It tells me how to teach what. Just not when. so I logged into the online school on day one and just started at the top. Needless to say, it was overwhelming. It took me a few days to realize that I didn’t need to teach every single lesson, every single day. Thank God! In turn though, now I need to make myself a calender, otherwise, Anthony will breeze through art and science (his favorites) and never learn to read. Also, there is a lot of advance preparations that needed done that I was trying to do with Anthony sitting and waiting for me. He doesn’t have a lot of patience either. That was a bit stressful.
So here is mommy trying to read a lesson plan, Anthony impatiently waiting saying “I wanna do an experiment!” and the twins throwing moon dough all over the dining room floor and screaming at each other. That was day 1.
*sigh*
I think I’m finally figuring out the online school (OLS). I will have a calender laid out by the end of the day. I still need to entertain the twins.
If you are a homeschooler…how do you balance everything? How do you plan your calender? How do you manage more than one child?
Welcome to OhRheally?, My name is Rhea and I share stories of life raising 3 sons, my experiences as a (recently retired) 
Personally, I think you are a saint for even trying this! That or crazy…hmmm…course you were shooting the gophers????? I am neither organized enough nor self disciplined enough to ever even consider home schooling!!!! Good luck my friend, good luck!
I’ve decided that “crazy” and “saintly” are really pretty much the same thing
Hey Rhea, firstly I’ve been doing it all in the dining room. Secondly b/c I was doing preschool stuff with the girls last spring, I had stuff I knew I wanted to do with them. So, the weekend before, I sit down and plan everything I want the kids to do the following week. Then with the girls I just pull whatever I want them to do while the big kids do their stuff. I can be stressful, but after 2-3 hours school is over and then we can do whatever. Oh and with the girls, after they are done with the things I have for them…it’s either 2-4 things really I let them play with open ended toys. That way it takes awhile. For example, they play blocks or something like that. Nothing messy b/c I’d want to be right there with them and playdough/sand would be too messy with the kids workbooks out!
HTH! You can look at my blog…http://fullhandsnhearts.blogspot.com/ I am also blogging about what I’m doing. That way you can see how I’ve got it set up! GOOD LUCK!!!
Oooops! I just proof read what I wrote above…sorry for the typos and bad grammar…I should have read it over before I hit post!
See, now I had originally planned on doing this in the dining room, at the table. But then I decided that Anthony needed a “school zone” so I set him up a section in the living room with desk/bookshelf/computer.
I have room in the dining room if I moved out the toys to set up his desk. Maybe I should do that. Then it would be easier to help them all at the same time.
You are doing fine! I used to do all of my planning on Sunday. I would print or tear out the worksheets I was going to use, put them in order and I had a folder for each subject. To-do work on the right and done work on the left. This made it easy to pick work samples to turn in. I used those colored page tabs to mark lessons and pages to read. Each day had a different color so I could stay organized through the week. A calendar or a teachers planner will really help you stay organized too.
Hang in there! It gets easier as you get used to it. Plus, if the day is going down in flames you can always yell “Field Trip!” and take them to the park or museum. lol
Congrats for homeschooling! My parent pulled me out of school in the late 1980s to homeschool myself and 2 siblings! We joined a good umbrella school for extra help and support! I’d highly recommend one! My dad, Mike Chism is a board member of one in San Diego called Heritage Christian Schools. They have excellent “helps” for parents. It was tough for my mom, but it was truly worth it. I was homeschooled thru high school…and am so glad my parents never gave up! Don’t give up! I still have a great relationship with my brother, sister and parents!
We have 6 kids together. When I was at home I considered not going back to work to homeschool the kids because this day and age California school systems are lacking. I don’t kow how I’d do this with all the age ranges. Ages are from 3-15. I’d be multi tasking more then Id like to lol