Educating Today

Can a homeschool student experience “homeschool burnout?” Absolutely, homeschool moms can experience burnout, why should it be any different for the homeschool student?

What causes us to “burn out”?
• Overextending ourselves
• Not being prepared
• Spending too much time away from home
• Choosing too many “good” activities instead of the “best” activities

If you demand that your homeschool student completes every exercise in every textbook, you may be the reason for their “homeschool burnout.” Why would a curriculum put so many questions, assignments and activities in each lesson, if they did not expect your child to do them all? Because they expect the teacher a.k.a. homeschool mom to be discerning and reasonable.

People learn from repetition so having an abundance of questions, assignments and activities can be a good thing. The publisher is supplying you with options, not requirements. That’s important to remember.

If a child is having trouble understanding a concept, he may need to do some more of the problems to understand the problem solving process. However, don’t just assume that more of the same thing will fix the problem. This is where our discernment comes in.
• Maybe he didn’t understand the directions.
• Maybe he doesn’t understand the underlying concepts and YOU need to teach it in a different way instead of repeating more of what he didn’t understand.
• Maybe he learns better by discussing the concept with another person besides just reading about it.

Remember, more is not always better. Yes, sometimes repetition is needed. However, if a student is repeatedly having a problem, doing more of the same thing won’t help. You need to find a different way of explaining the concept to them.

If your student already understands a concept by reading, discussing or answering a few questions on the topic, why make them do more and more of the same thing. It’s one thing to teach your children to follow through with their assignments and projects, it’s quite another to be redundant. Don’t be a slave to your teacher’s manual, use it as the tool that it was meant to be.

Unschooling, unit studies, self-directed learning, traditional curriculum, delight-directed learning, classical studies, principle approach. Homeschoolers use all of these educational methods successfully. How can all of these methods work? Surely, there has to be the “perfect” curriculum and you just haven’t found it – yet.

If you are struggling with the curriculum that you’re using, it could be you are using the wrong curriculum approach with your family. But could it be that the frustration is not with your choice of curriculum, it’s with your attitude about your children, homeschooling, yourself and that attitude is rubbing off on your children?

Most homeschool moms are “idea” people, but we have a problem with follow through. (Ask me how I know this!)

Yes, some curriculum options will work better for your particular family, but there is no perfect curriculum. Each one has its benefits; each one has its draw backs. Choose the one that best fits your family’s lifestyle and be consistent with it.

Remember the joy and excitement you had when you first started homeschooling. Recapture that attitude. You will find that you enjoy homeschooling again and so will your children.

A positive or negative attitude is not a feeling that we can’t do anything about. Attitude, whether good or bad, is something we choose.

Every single person has some gaps in his education, and that’s all right. If you’re honest with yourself, you have to admit that you have learning gaps too. We all do. The purpose of a quality education is not to teach your student everything they will ever need to know by the time they graduate. Life is a continual learning process. Your true purpose is to guide them to have a love of learning and help them develop good study skills. Then they will be able to learn and accomplish whatever tasks are set before them.

So many homeschool parents are upset if they are not able to get their children to complete every single text book assignment in the curriculum teacher’s guide. Most guides give you, the teacher, a wide variety of assignments to choose from. That does not mean that the curriculum developers expect your children to complete every possible assignment.

Quality is much more important than quantity. Give your children the freedom to be creative, give them time to be inventive and let them see a project through to completion. When you plan too many assignments and projects, and not give children and young people the needed time to finish and enjoy them, you are setting your students up for what John Taylor Gatto calls “the tyranny of the bell.”

Do you remember when you were in school and the bell rang to signal that you had to move on to the next class? That “bell” was so frustrating. You were either involved in a class discussion or doing an assignment that intrigued you or you were struggling with a new concept or dealing with a difficult assignment, and then “that bell” would ring. You were on the verge of figuring it out or it was almost your turn to ask the teacher your question, but instead you had to move on to the next class. Grrr!

But now, you’re homeschooling and you can give your kiddos the freedom to delve into deeper issues, explore different outcomes and develop their joy of learning. What could be better than that? That’s what true education is all about.

I’m in Minnesota visiting my mom and my sister & family and having a blast.  We had a birthday party for my 97 year old mom. She really enjoyed her party.

One morning while sitting around after breakfast, my brother-in-law handed me a copy of the Ten Commandments, Minnesota style. I just had to share this with you because it will tickle your funny bone. You have to forget about your homeschool grammar lessons when you read it though. Have fun!

Ten Commandments
Minnesota Style

Dis was yust so darn cute! I hadda share it!

1. Der’s only one God, ya know.

2. Don’t make dat fish on your mantle an idol.

3. Cussin’ ain’t Minnesota nice.

4. Go to church even when your up ‘nort.

5. Honor your folks.

6. Don’t kill. Catch and release.

7. Der’s only one Lena for every Ole. No cheatin’.

8. If it ain’t your lutefisk, don’t take it.

9. Don’t be braggin’ about how much snow ya can shovel.

10. Keep your mind off your neighbor’s hot dish.

As concerned parents, we are totally qualified to teach our children. No one knows your child like you do.

I have a double major in education and I taught both private Christian school and public school before I had my children. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but having an education degree was more of a hindrance than a help in teaching my own children.

First of all, I tried to bring school home. You do not want to do that. This is private tutoring, not classroom management. You and your children have a great opportunity to explore and investigate all kinds of things. What areas of interest do your children have? What do they want to learn about?

Your job is not to teach them everything there is to learn. Your job is to teach them how to learn, how to study, how to investigate and help them develop the love of learning.

There is no greater job on earth. Is it hard? Sometimes. Is it worth it? You betcha!

I have found a great Art Resource for adults and children.
And this would work great for homeschoolers.

Jamie Carter, a professional artist who lives in the Paris, Texas area has a free newsletter
that includes a great art lesson in every issue.

Jamie has been a professional painter for over 30 years.
She recently closed her local art gallery and studio, and is now teaching her classes
online.

She has been a friend to homeschoolers for years. Both of my sons took lessons
from Jamie.

Go to her web site at Art Lessons With Jamie. Just fill in your name and email
to sign up to get Jamie’s next issue of her newsletter called “Living the Artistic Life.

She’s also giving away a free report “The 7 Biggest Mistakes an Artist Can Make.”

Make sure you check your email for a message from Jamie and click the link in the email
to confirm that you want to get messages from her. Then you will get an email with a link
to your free report.

While you’re at her web site, make sure you read her articles and her blog called “Sharing
The Artistic Life,” and check out her store. She has great prices on her lessons and there will
be many more lessons to come.

Even though Jamie loves working with homeschoolers, most of her clients are adults
so you might find lessons that you would love to do yourself.

Her newsletter is a mini art curriculum all by itself. It’s worth checking this out.