Homeschooling has been a real struggle with me almost from the beginning. At first it was making the adjustment from being a full-time working mom who went to school part-time, to becoming a full-time stay-at-home mom. Then I got pregnant with our second child and during this time my husband spent every week away from us because he was working in a different state, while I stayed home and tried to sell our house. Then the problem was having a newborn. I had forgotten how much work a newborn can be. Then as the newborn turned into a toddler, homeschooling just got even more difficult for me. My toddler was very strong willed and more demanding than most kids I know. I thought that sending him to preschool would really be my ticket to a better homeschool year with my oldest son: WRONG! Once I got that extra 4 hours a day, I found many other ways I would like to spend it! When I try to buckle down and stick to a schedule, I just find myself bored. I realized today that my son is also very bored with our curriculum, so we are going to try something new. I stumbled upon an AWESOME website called www.timberdoodle.com. Hello! Why hasn't anyone told me about this before? It's a website that takes the top rated curriculum in each subject and puts them together according to the grade level. The curriculum choices they have seem WAY more fun than what we've been doing, so I bought the entire set! The website also has things you can buy a la cart, so I bought a science lab kit that I plan on using with both of my children. I'm SO excited and can't wait for this to arrive. Hopefully this will put an end to all of my excuses!!! :0)
Glad you've found Timberdoodle-- they do have some great materials--choice of materials can help a lot with interest and enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteBut the old dilemma of how to stay focused and making progress will still be there-- After many years of homeschooling, I know that it is a learning process for moms just as much as for kids.