Contrary to popular belief, it ain’t all sunshine and roses ’round here.
It’s one thing to have a toddler unraveling the toilet paper, scribbling in the teacher’s manual, emptying the wastebasket (which of course is full of pencil shavings and spiral notebook debris), and throwing raw eggs into the laundry room. It’s another thing to have that happening while you’re attempting to teach three other children who would rather stare at the dust floating in the air. Add to that the fact that I haven’t showered in three days, I keep leaving my coffee in the microwave, and the only meal plan I can manage is frozen pizza for lunch and cereal for supper. Sometimes my attempts seem so hopelessly futile.
So here we are, the third leg of the school year. When running a race, the third leg is the hardest. Enthusiasm and motivation have waned, you’ve fallen behind where you want to be, you’re worn out and exhausted, and the end is not yet in sight. It’s so easy to give up in the third lap.
Same goes with homeschooling.
Reality has hit our homeschool like a freight train and adjustments have to be made to keep this mama {somewhat} level-headed. This time of year (or any time of year), it’s okay to rethink goals. It’s okay to set aside curriculum. It’s okay to slow the pace. It’s okay to take time to enjoy one another. It’s not just okay, it’s necessary.
On Goals
Since our last reality check, I’ve been thinking a lot about our goals. I’ve narrowed it down to three that almost everything else fits under. By the end of this year, my goals are that
- Our relationship with God and with each other has grown deeper.
- Our children have grown to love beauty and virtue more.
- Our children are not only learning how to learn new things, but they’re seeking to learn new things.
Homeschooling is not about curriculum. It’s about relationship. And while I cannot be the Holy Spirit for my children, I can call them into a deeper relationship with me as God calls me into a deeper relationship with Him. More than anything else, I want my children to remember the genuine love I have for the Lord, and the genuine love I have for them. If we gain all else but have not love, all my time and effort was wasted.
Really, where we are right now in a math textbook pales in comparison to where we are in our hearts. So, if you’re still reading this, bless your heart. Just remember the goals above take precedence over any schedule or plan I try to put together and implement.
On Plans
We’re making some adjustments to our plans because juggling three loops has made me a little loopy. Here’s how we’re changing our reading and wonder-beauty-storytime-history loop plans. {For a schedule on how we’re doing this, scroll down a bit farther!}
Read Aloud Selections Second Semester. This is the one thing we do really well. The other stuff, not so much. But our family read aloud time is our favorite. The only adjustments we made to this were at the beginning of our semester because we read ahead of schedule.
- Angel on the Square. Because the boys begged me to read The Twenty-One Balloons at the end of last semester, we decided to work in a couple of books related to World War I to fill in the gap. Set in Russia just before World War I, Angel on the Square follows the life of a wealthy girl who serves the imperial family (Nicholas II of Russia…) After World War I ends and the Bolshevik revolution turns her world upside down, she learns how to sacrifice as she rebuilds her life as a peasant. Great story!
- We’re currently reading Sergeant York and the Great War because our community is taking a field trip to the Alvin C York State Historic Site later this month – and because Alvin York’s life is a beautiful true story of redemption.
- I am David. Three of our read-alouds this semester involve WWII. I am David tells the escape story of a 12-year-old prisoner of a concentration camp during World War II. [For an alternate read aloud selection for girls, try Number the Stars (a CC Challenge A book).
So Far from the Bamboo Grove. This book focuses on the country of Korea and Japan’s occupation during WWII. Mid-Year Update: Although this is an autobiographical account related to World War II, the Korean War, and communism, this autobiography is far too tragic and graphic to read to children. (I kept thinking I could just list pages to skip, but the death and tragedy is woven throughout the book.) Instead, we highly recommend When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Although the name seems a bit girly and shallow, this autobiography is so fantastic! It’s an innocent look (from the perspective of a child) at what was happening in Europe as Jews evacuated Germany during the years leading up to WWII. Riveting and delightful. Loved it!- Shadow on the Mountain. Last year, we so enjoyed Preus’s book, Heart of a Samurai, that we decided to end our world war reading with this exciting tale of espionage set during WWII. Mid-Year Update: Although we thoroughly enjoyed Heart of a Samurai, we did not care for this book. The hatred exhibited by one of the characters just did not settle well with us. Instead, we recommend Snow Treasure, an excellent family read-aloud of adventure and heroism also set in Norway during World War II.
- Goodbye, Vietnam. Stories about the Vietnam War are difficult (as are most stories about war conflict). Because of its tie-in to Vietnam after the Vietnam War, we chose this story of a family’s escape as refugees in post-war Vietnam. (Gloria Whelan is also the author of Angel on the Square.)
- The Wheel on the School. This does not tie in to any of our history memory work, but our 12-year-old son told me we must read this book out loud as a family. Because it at least ties in to some of our geography memory work earlier in the year, and because it is a funny and enjoyable book, we decided we’ll close out our school year with this one.
Loop Plans Second Semester.
Looping is a plan in which we cycle through subjects in a loop instead of doing them on a certain day each week. To learn about Loop Schedules, visit our Medieval-to-Modern Reading Plans & Loop Schedules post. At one time, I didn’t think poetry, Shakespeare, composer study, and art study were necessary to successfully learn or teach. Truth is, we’ve gone through many days without any of these things. BUT… let me just say that it brings joy to our homeschool. These are the elements of our days that cultivate a love of beautiful things in myself and my children. We build lasting memories around them. That’s why I continue to strive to somehow work these things into our schedule.
Originally we were juggling three loops: a storytime loop, a beauty-wonder loop, and a Calendar Quest history loop. I ended up dropping one of the loops (the Calendar Quest loop) and kept juggling the other two in a haphazard manner. In reality, I need quick and beautiful things first thing in the morning. For sanity’s sake, I need to save the more leisurely beautiful things for the afternoons after core work is complete. So, the above loops have been combined into a Morning Time Loop and an Afternoon Loop. I imagine we’ll stay on top of the Morning Time Loop because it’s easier. The Afternoon Loop will be one that we work through a bit more slowly. (Download our Morning and Afternoon Loops here, or download this blank template to create your own Morning and Afternoon Loops.)
For science reading, I didn’t record lessons or page numbers for the Heat & Energy book because I didn’t want to pressure myself into a schedule. I just want to open and go for as long as they’re interested. The God’s Design for Science books lend themselves to this format of planning. 🙂
Likewise, I didn’t record the picture books and science experiments or nature study. I’d prefer to jot them down as we complete them. There’s a whole lot less pressure that way, and it provides more flexibility to pursue their interests.
Changes that were made to our loop plans:
- Because we finished reading Usborne’s Stories from Shakespeare, we’ve started memorizing Shakespeare passages with How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare. It’s no longer looped but a daily activity.
- We’ve dropped poetry from the loop because I’m making copywork pages for this year’s poetry selections.
- Every time we worked on the Western Civ Study, we did all the activities for that lesson in one day. So, I moved it to our afternoon loop.
- I condensed art study and art project because we have a tendency to want to practice the technique right after we’ve studied the art. If we need further simplicity, we’ll just go back to using our Usborne Famous Paintings Art Cards as mentioned in this post.
- I switched back to using the God’s Design for Science books from Answers in Genesis because the format is just easier for me to use. We’ve added science reading to the morning loop because it was getting left out and was one thing the boys really want to do.
On Schedules
Hmmm…. I find it ironic that I never posted an actual daily schedule last semester. Well, regardless of what we did last semester, here’s the schedule for this semester.
Does it always pan out like that? No. But that’s what I aim for on an ideal day (which almost never happens right now). Regardless, the goal is to have all core work finished before lunch.
The toddler is almost always in the mix – coloring, scribbling, and, in general, distracting his brothers. Our 8th grader has his own schedule for completing the Challenge B coursework. (Disillusioned & disappointed is a good description of how we feel about the Challenge program right now, but we’ll save that for a later post.)
The resources we use:
Shakespeare. How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare. Cannot recommend this book enough!
Morning Time Loop.
- Mini Bio: TTT is Ten True Tales: World War I Heroes
- Composer Study: A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music! (with audio)
- Hymn Study: Then Sings My Soul (along with a playlist of hymns sung by contemporary artists)
- Science Reading: Heat & Energy (God’s Design for the Physical World)
Math. By the time our children are in 5th grade, I expect them to work on math for an hour. It’s not the content as much as the discipline. Our 5th grader is working in Saxon 7/6 at half-pace (actually, he’s working faster than that right now) to complete the entire Saxon 7/6 book by the end of 6th grade. I’ve found that when we do this, Saxon 6/5 is unnecessary. Our 2nd grader is working in the CLE 200 Math series. I like CLE much better than the Grade K-3 Saxon math books. Our 8th grader is working in Life of Fred Algebra, but that’s another story. (If you care to hear why, let me know!)
Spelling/Phonics. This has been an eclectic combination of different resources. We’re mostly using Spell to Write and Read‘s methodology (because I don’t like spelling tiles) along with elements of All About Spelling & Reading. The curriculum is not our master. We tailor it to fit our needs, and both of these programs offer great ways to teach spelling and reading.
Copywork. For poetry and hymn study practice, I’m creating copywork pages for our children based on the poetry & hymn study schedule I made in our reading plans. To see an example, visit our “In Flander’s Fields” copywork for WWI poetry study. (Levi has also been working in our handwriting workbook to improve his handwriting.) If you’re interested, the poetry copywork is available here.
Maps. Not only do we practice the locations of our memory work, but we’ve also been working on drawing blob maps and tracing/labeling a certain continent each year. This semester, we’re working on Asia. You can find blob map templates here and a free map-tracing download at Map Tracing with a Printable World Atlas.
Nature Study. The boys sort of own this one with The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms.
Memory Work Review. I’ve tried all sorts of methods for practicing memory work, but focusing on reciting all memory work up to the current week for 1-2 subjects each day is the easiest and most effective method that works for us.
I think that pretty much captures the adjustments we’ve made. If there’s something here that’s ambiguous, or if you have any questions, please give me a shout. I always love hearing from you!
Other related posts:
Our Cycle 2 Reading Plans & Loop Schedules
Our Cycle 2 Reading Plans from 3 years ago
Our Cycle 2 Picture Book Selections
Our Cycle 2 Booklist