What do you do with kids when....

[Mom2Monkeys]

....you have extended breaks for pregnancy and newborns? We've had to take a few too many extended breaks and will only have more coming up soon. We've had to take off to pack and then get moved and unpacked, spent about two weeks in Florida (not the fun you're thinking! I'm from there so it was lots of family visits), I've had morning sickness and fatigue so bad these last 2-2.5 months we haven't done anything....and then we'll be breaking again in late November or early Dec. until around New Year's.

So, what do you do with kids when you can't do school with them? If it were just a short break here or there, okay, just let it break. But, we've had so much time off and with so much in our future, shouldn't I find some way to keep them sharp on their skills? My oldest has to do state testing for the first time this coming school year, so I'm feeling a little pressure there. For a season should I just do Time4learning? Switched On Schoolhouse? Basic Workbooks? or ???

DH suggested I look into the local private school to see if they have scholarships and we'd send them there. I looked over the general curriculum and I'm somewhat impressed but I don't really want to send them to school and I don't think we could afford it even with the scholarships. He also said I should look at the local elem. school b/c we are in an excellent school district...of course, academics are important, but in the stress of it I think he's forgetting the more important things in education.

I need something for the kids to do for a season that keeps them home and keeps them learning without my having to commit much time, if any. (sounds bad, I know). I know HOD is already a very short time commitment, but we all get those times when even a short time is too much. I want to do our HOD over the summer and early fall, while I'm in my 2nd and early 3rd trimester and feel pretty good. But, I don't want to tie up our summer with full time school either. What would you do for the summer? And for the breaks?

[netpea]

Hi Tamara.
I'm starting to pull out of the morning sickness and fatigue, hopefully you will soon too.
There is a free online site you might want to look at called www.freeworldu.org
They use a flashcard technique. It covers preK to 12. I've used it now and then with my kids. They aren't crazy about it but it is educational and can be used indepently if they are good about not "cheating". It wouldn't be a substitute for HOD but it's something you could do on those days you aren't feeling good.
Hang in there, the first trimester is almost done...

[Carrie]

Tamara,

With each of my pregnancies, I had extended bedrest (for most of them from weeks 20 on to delivery), multiple hospital stays and interesting day-to-day scenarios. At those times in my life, we streamlined to doing only HOD and no extras for school. This was because the HOD guide covers what is needed state standard-wise and covers all needed bases. I had to realize during that season in my life that all of the extras (while enjoyable and good for the kiddos) were truly just extras. Things like composer study, foreign language, art study, drawing/painting/sketching, nature study, extra bedime read-alouds, etc. had to be set aside for a time while I schooled from the couch or from bed.

Last year, I did Preparing Hearts with my second son exactly as written with no additons and LHFHG with my third son with no addtions and found their years to wonderfully full and satisfying. It helped me prioritize and do HOD alone with it being more than enough. Often when we're frazzled it is all of the extras that we add-in that put us over the top.

Next, I would look at what you've accomplished for the year and decide if it is enough for you to take a summer break. Either way, I would plan on taking at least some sort of a break to recharge before embarking on a new school year. I would shy away from entertaining thoughts of putting your kiddos in school, unless you and your husband both feel the Lord is leading you in that direction. Whenever a lot of change in going on in your life, it's best not to make a snap decision that you may regret later. Instead give yourself some time to settle into your new life and find a new routine and then see what you think.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mom2Monkeys]

Thanks to both of you

I have to admit that I'm not even doing any extras right now and we've been on break for 2 months already! (and I still feel like this! )

My oldest is behind on math already, and we need to get ahead in 3rd grade now so that we can have our break time for the new baby...I also have preterm labor issues and am generally miserable in my last weeks before baby. All my babies want to nurse every hour or so around the clock and I've not been able to change that with any of them. So, sleeplessness and trying to teach 2 kids and keep up with a 3yo and newborn scare me! Plus my dh is in RN school full time and also will have clinicals so he's not available overnight or even much during the day really...if he isn't in class or at clinicals, he's studying or having a little daddy time (so not a good time to take to do school!). So I don't get much "me" time, "us" time, or much relief from the day-to-day.

Maybe I'm just hormonal, but I feel like even doing JUST HOD and no extras is going to drain me...before getting pg with our 4th, I never thought I would be saying that!

[my3sons]

Tamara - I've always had very rocky pregnancies too. I won't go into detail here, but I understand what you are going through. I think the guilt and weight of that constant nagging little voice in our heads whispering "you're not doing enough" wears and wears on us. At my roughest points during my pregnancies, I went to doing HOD half-speed. I did it right away in the day, no matter if I'd had zero sleep or what, it didn't take me long, and I felt a HUGE WEIGHT being lifted off of my shoulders. Even if it was difficult to start it and do it, once we were doing it I was thankful to be enjoying time with my dc again, they were glad I was paying real attention to them and then played quite happily after we were done, and I could stop feeling bad about not getting enough done. I would really encourage you to go ahead half-speed, and maybe take Fridays off then. As far as the rest of the dc's day, it helps my dc to rotate things - i.e. 1 hour playing together up in their rooms, 1 hour playing outside, 1 hour playing downstairs, 1 hour watching a movie, 1 hour quiet/creative time separate in their rooms - and then do it all over again. Of course I'm giving a very general schedule here, but that's what we do for the summer, and it also worked quite well when I had bedrest, etc. HTH! Praying for you!

In Christ,
Julie

[Mom2Monkeys]

Wow did I sound pathetic last night! LOL

DH still thinks I should look into the private school...I've looked, I've emailed, I'm not interested...but I did look! I know that I don't want to do that.

So, how do I get back to school after being out of it for so long, being SO off schedule, and still setting up a new house....

I'm doing Little and Bigger Hearts (only doing LHTH when needed to pacify the little guy who would otherwise bring on the chaos!)
Just ease back into it and work up to full pace, should I just start with basics (math/LA & phonics), or start half pace in both each day, or do bigger one day and little the next....?


Julie, you must have posted while I was writing this. Thanks for your input. I'll start with the rotating idea...I think they'll like that! If only my kids were closer in age/skills. I'd love to combine them right now!

[srp1997]

Dear Mom2monkeys,

*while I wrote this, Julie posted and so did you. I like what Julie had to say but I'll send this anyway*

God has blessed you with a growing family. However, we (the moms) can tend to carry burdens associated with our families. If I were in your shoes, I know I would be feeling the same way. For me, I tend to have the snowball syndrome. Sometimes the pressures of being a homeschool mom or external expectations on me will start compounding upon each other. I have to stop and peel back the layers of what is bothering me. Sometimes the root of my "woe" is my schedule, or interruptions, or my house, or a particular child, or something else. It seems like your biggest issue is getting school work done in the midst of interruptions. We haven't had babies at the house for a while, but I know all about interruptions. This year alone, I had three colds in the fall, an anniversary trip, 4-day school because of a co-op, helped my grandparents pack up their house of 40 plus years to move next to my parents, and during the winter we almost lost my grandfather, my nephew was in the hospital three times, and my children were in a musical.

I didn't see the ages of your children or the curriculum you are using, but here are a few suggestions based on some of what you said:
1) When I have experienced a lot of interruptions, I really need to get back to doing school. Even just the basics. I need to see the fire light up in my kids eyes and make sure that I have stoked the coals of learning. I also feel the need to review what we have worked hard to learn and challenge them once again. After all, I have chosen to be their teacher and I need to see that they get taught.

2) Is there a relative or woman at church that could help one day a week? Or maybe a homeschool teenager who could come to help 2 afternoons a week? They could help teach or entertain your youngest and wash a load of clothes and dishes while you teach? One year I had my young neighbor make all the copies I knew I would need and put them into folders for me.

3) I would look at my guide and decide which activities were stalling me. Which ones are difficult for you to do right now? I know at times I can't seem to get an activity done, yet I don't want to miss it, so I stall my forward progress. Release yourself from having to do science experiments or from art activities if you must. If you are mostly comfortable in bed, the only thing that would be difficult to accomplish would be experiments and hands on learning activities. A couple of hand held white boards with dry erase markers can do a lot.

4)There is a thread about year round school which could be interesting to read. For example, one mother teaches for 3 months then takes 1 month off. Maybe you need to revamp and claim a schedule that looks a bit different for now. Since you have taken a couple of months off already, I would proclaim to your family that this "vacation" will continue through the end of the month. Starting June 1 we are back into school for "___" amount of time. I would take this week to get myself into gear for starting again. Develop a plan and get some help if possible. Streamline meals and lessons. However you can make the rest of your life easier in order to take care of this priority, do it.

5) Last but not least, I would gather all of the good books from Carrie's lists that are age appropriate for your kids. Make sure you are reading to them and they are reading, too. (Or choose a book that you can get a recording of and listen to a bit each day )

If you are not at your best right now, your kids know it. They will actually desire to spend time with you and be reassured that Mommy is going to be O.K even if you are lying down. On your worst days, they can read, you can read to them for 10 minutes, they can do a narration or draw a picture of what happened in the reading, copy spelling words on paper with different colored markers, and do math flash cards for each other.

I suggest that you push yourself now to award yourself time off mid-July for a little summer break and then school again in August til baby time. I hope you hear my heart through my words and know that my intention is to come alongside and encourage you. I have used "I" frequently to put myself in your shoes and brainstorm for myself so-to-speak. I pray that the Lord will strengthen you physically and give you the energy to do the task before you.
God Bless.

[Jessi]

Tamara

I agree that you need to go back to the basics and cut out those things that are just taking too much time and wearing you out. This has been an overwhelming year for you in a lot of ways. Getting back in the groove is the hardest thing to do. I know you don't want to do a lot of school during the summer but seeing as you haven't done anything for two months and will be taking another month off in in December you really should try to have your eldest learning at least the three Rs. Your son is relatively newly 5 right? I'd just hold off on him until the fall and only work with your daughter. His schooling isn't a necessity by any means at this point. Doing one program is hard, let alone two full programs. If your son needs somthing to do- let him get on Starfall to work on letters and reading. Or let your daughter whom you have referred to as a bright child teach him some of his LHFHG such as history, rhymes in motion, Bible, science, handwriting, and storytime reading. Then you could cover phonics and math with him. She might like being the teacher assuming your son would listen to her.

You could go half pace, as was suggested but I think it would be good for your daughter to just do the 3 Rs right now every day. If that means getting DVDs for her to learn from, then do it. If it means just sticking with HOD's options for those areas, then do it. The rest will come in time. Just check out fun science books and history books from the library for her to read on her own. You'd be surprised at what she can pick up when she is just absorbing the information for fun.

Then after the baby arrives pick HOD back up and continue with what you were using or move to the next level. You know what you are capable of and from past posts I know your husband isn't around a lot to assist you because of school. You have to take care of your sanity and 3 kids with one on the way means for this season of your life you have to REALLY simplify. Your kids will be fine.

I have a friend near here who just recently had a baby. She has an 8 year old, a 5 year old and now the baby. When she was pregnant with this latest little girl, she was horribly sick and could hardly move. She was also put on bedrest for the last two months of the pregnancy. She also homeschools. They weren't able to get much accomplished book learning wise but one thing she told me that might inspire you was "Bailey (8 year old) has been taking such good care of me. She gets me snacks and drinks. She is cleaning the house and helping her dad prep dinner. I didn't wish all this extra work on her but she is learning more than book smarts right now. She is learning hard work, compassion, and the importance of family." I pray you experience that too.

[crlacey]

Sorry to hear that you've not been feeling well. I would think that since you have had an extended break the past month or so, that you might want to consider doing a basic schooling over the summer. That would help keep your kids up to date on the 3 R's at least.

Hope you feel better soon!

[Geo]

"I need something for the kids to do for a season that keeps them home and keeps them learning without my having to commit much time, if any. (sounds bad, I know). I know HOD is already a very short time commitment, but we all get those times when even a short time is too much. I want to do our HOD over the summer and early fall, while I'm in my 2nd and early 3rd trimester and feel pretty good. But, I don't want to tie up our summer with full time school either. What would you do for the summer? And for the breaks?"

Tamara,
Honey, I hear you, but I have a different solution for the long term. What I hear is not an educational problem but an inability
to cope with the demands. It wasn't long ago you were able to cope, correct? Usually, when I get as overwhelmed
as you are feeling now, for me, there is a physiological root. Hormones? In part, no doubt. I am not downplaying your
desperation, your emotions are quite real. When I start to feel overcome by problems that seem to have no
satisfactory solution, it is usually because I need to really UP my b vitamins.. When I was pregnant I needed no less
than 50mgs, even up to 100 mg, total, of b-complex (time-released) . I would take them twice a day (lunch & dinner).
Start with 25mg once a day and if still feeling stressed, increase to twice daily, if you are still struggling, increase, etc.
The average prenatal doesn't have enough to help many (or most) women who are really struggling. I am not trying to
play doctor, but there are just absolute truths about B's for women. If you feel that internal "scream" or "meltdown"
deep inside, or a general inability to cope, it is because your nervous system has not been able to properly repair itself.
Lack of sleep,stress, pregnancy, moving, all sap your reserves of this necessary nutrient.If all you can find are 100mg,
break them in half and take them at two different times each day. You should feel quite leveled out in a as little as a day
or so. Personally, I wouldn't even waste energy talking curriculum or school choices until you have tried this...
seriously/i]...It works. Beyond that, the Lord knows our situations and allows our circumstances. Cling to Him and trust
Him through it, it is serving a purpose whether we can see it or not. An hour or two a day during the summer won't be robbing
them of their childhood. Like you said, they have had alot of time off. The schedule really can keep things running more smoothly.

Best intentions,
Geo

[Mom2Monkeys]

Let me just say how much I love this board! You are all so encouraging With us being in a new town, and my morning sickness and now allergies keeping us home from church still, we haven't really made any friends and all my support is back in our old town! You've been all I have and you've all been wonderful!

I actually did about half an hour of school with dd today. We did R&S3, cursive, history, science exploration (I think anyway, it was the rotating box). I kinda let her choose and kinda just went with what I felt we could do right then before my little guy got into something. DS is ready to start and is begging for phonics and Spanish. He likes school- thankfully!- but that makes me feel bad that I'm not getting to it with him right now.

I've been using startwrite to make dd's cursive sheets, but I think to cut down on time, I just need to buy a book. Not sure which to buy, as she already knows cursive, but needs some fine tuning. (That's a different post altogether though!LOL). We were also starting a "cursive first" method with ds5 and I was making his pages on startwrite as well (both doing New American Cursive). But, to simplify...I'm going to use the Italics A book I already have with him and let him start the handwriting pages in the RME workbooks as well since that's in italics as well. All the extras that take any of my time are out...they can do spanish if they want on the computer through some kids' free sites, composer study is simplified to listening to the cd in the van and dd loves to read the book herself, Conversation With Character is going to be twice a week and takes 10min. and is much needed by dd. And our EFRU-- dd can do that on her own as well for now if she wants to.

I had thought about letting DD teach DS in LHFHG, but didn't know if that was a good idea...I think I'll do his phonics and handwriting and let her do all the other stuff except hands-on (that could get SO out of control! ) and anything that she needs me to do. I think they would really enjoy that. He'll listen to her to an extent...she's almost 8 and he's 5.5, so that should be okay???? She is very bright and an excellent reader, so I think it's just a matter of getting along! Maybe this will force it! LOL

I'll also try the Bvit complex. I think I have some....

Thank you so much for helping me keep my sanity. No to go to bed as soon as I satisfy a huge craving for lemons...

[Mom2Monkeys]

After my last post, I just got to thinking....If DD teaching LHFHG to DS didn't work, would temporarily combining them into the left side of one program and having their own right side for now be worth considering? I'll make their right sides my focus this summer and add in the left when able...Aug. til Nov. when we break they'll be 5 and 8, but when we start back in Dec. or January, they'll be 6 and 8... an old K'er and a young 3rd grader and the older is not far ahead in narration skills, just the basics. Something to consider??? I was thinking combining in Little Hearts, ds5 doing both sides, dd8 doing Bigger right side, and adding in some of her Bigger right side books as independent reading. She could use the backing up in read-alouds I think in order to improve narration which is NOT progressing much at all. She doesn't really like read-alouds and would prefer to read them herself and she loves biographies...so the bigger books should be great for her. Carrie, Julie...anyone have thoughts?

Also, DH said tonight that he wants me to schedule a tour of the private school. He went there for a while when he wasn't being homeschooled. I want to be submissive, but I really want to find a way to scale back and make this doable at home. I can see how much easier it would be at home having the olders at school, but I don't like the idea of them being gone or me having to get out twice a day to take them and pick them up! Please pray for him to be encouraged in this time too. He sees me stressed, angry, and losing my cool very easily with the kids and wants to fix it for me...he knows he can't help here, so is trying to help the only way he knows how...remove the stress...but now I feel so pressured to perform(which makes it worse!)

Maybe someone can take a peek at the curriculum description and help me see the good in it so I can feel less pressured...knowing that if DH decides school is it, then I am at least sending them somewhere good, KWIM? http://www.littlerockchristian.com/acad ... culum.aspx (it would be K and 3rd grade). Just tell me it looks good and not too far from my CM/Classical hopes. (Yeah right ).

[Mamma Joy]

Tamara,
While praying for you two scriptures came to mind
"Trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding. I all of your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths"
and
"He holds the herts of the kings in His hands, He turns them which ever way He desires."

I will continue to pray for wisdom, physical health, wellbeing and peace.
Joyanna

[Alison in KY]

I haven't read through all the posts, but I'm sure you've gotten some great help. I may be the lone person making such a comment, but my suggestion would be one of those all in one cheap workbooks...when things get at their worst . I would also suggest some computer cd's which cover the basics...Jump Start, Reading Blaster, Math Blaster, etc.

I havent' been pregnant for six years, but I have been interrupted alot. One of my personality quirks is that if I can't do it all... like all of the HOD package, then I don't want to get into any of it. Probably because my house is a wreck and I just have to devote almost all of me to straightening things out. I wish I wasn't this way, but I am. So, on days when they need to do school, and I need to call it a school day, then I usually have a workbook available, a computer program availabe, and a science reader, etc, available. Plus, legos, blocks, etc.

So, have a back up plan where they are getting something when you aren't feeling at your best.

God bless,

Alison

[Jessi]

Tamara,

I went and looked at their website. It seems like a nice Christian School. They offer a lot there in the way of extra curricular activities. If you husband decides this is best, I don't think one year would hurt them at all. It might help you with the new baby and your two year old to have some calm return to your home, if you are unable to figure out a way to do it and keep them at home this next year. Not that I need specifics but I did notice their tuition is outrageously high and I know you said you guys live on hubby's student loans...it would seem to me that that would be a waste of the money you so desperately need to live on but again, I don't know the particulars, nor do I want to. Perhaps you already have that figured out. I liked the idea of computer educational games and workbooks for those days you can't get HOD accomplished. I really do.

You could combine if that helps you but I think your daughter would be too old for LHFHG. But you know best.