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Theresa
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| Posted: Sept 01 2008 at 8:06pm | IP Logged
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I know many of you here have more children than I do and I am at a loss at how you do it all. I have 4 children. My children are in 9th, 7th, 4th and Pre-K-K.
We are just beginning week 3 and already I am feeling overwhelmed by the amount of back and forth I am doing with my kids, not to mention all the corrections!! 
Do your older children do alot of their own work? Do they do their own corrections? What about curriculum that doesn't include checks or tests (our history and literature). How do I grade this and keep records for transcripts?
Any advice would be great.
Thanks!
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Martha
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| Posted: Sept 02 2008 at 6:35am | IP Logged
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I second this question!
I'm finding the additional rigor of 8th grade has really ramped up our work load. The subjects are tougher and more lengthy and require more of my guidance than I thought they would. And this is my most independent learner!
And I'm totally wiped out with LOW blood pressure with this pregnancy too.
I'm only on week 5 and it feels like week 50 already. 
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Martha
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Theresa
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| Posted: Sept 02 2008 at 10:11am | IP Logged
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Anyone?
I had a bit of a meeting with the older ones today. They are just not comprehending what they are doing. I thought that I would be able to have them to do more of their learning on their own (through reading) but they just aren't "getting it".
We are using Sonlight Core 100 for Bible, History & Literature for them and it is quite a bit more work than they are used to. I'm not sure if it is just that they are reading so much that they really are on overload and having trouble with comprehension?
On one had I think that I could stretch it out a bit. Sonlight does say that some families take two years to go through a core. On the other hand I think that they are of an age where maybe they should be doing more? Maybe that is my own rembrance of what school was like as far as work load is concerned.
My biggest concern is that they are already not enjoying any part of school and its only week 3!!!
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jackiemomof7
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| Posted: Sept 02 2008 at 4:49pm | IP Logged
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Maybe try doing just one of those subjects for a week? Like block study. Just try to get them into the swing of a couple subjects then add as they (and you) get use to the program.
The thing is to remember this is your school, do what is comfortable for you and try not to think about making it the traditional academic school. Does that make sense? I have to run and get dinner out on the table and I will come back later to try and explain. But just remember it will get better and easier for all of you! 
God bless,
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Jackie wife to Jim for 27!! years, proud army mom of Chris(25),Chef Matthew(24) and Sister Grace of Benedectines (21),Joshua(19),Nicholas(17),Jaymee(15), Elizabeth(13) and 2 in Heaven.Grandma to 3!
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jackiemomof7
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| Posted: Sept 03 2008 at 6:23am | IP Logged
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I use to start my day off with the younger ones first. I would have my older ones work on anything that they could do on their own. (math,spelling,reading,Catechism questions) I would spend the first couple of hours with younger ones,then the younger ones had a snack worked on seatwork,games,ourdoors etc.. Then for the next hour and half I worked with older ones.
Now when I had all 7 in school at once this was harder. But the older ones would come to the kitchen while I was preparing supper, or doing dishes and we would talk about school stuff then. Also after lunch there was a mandatory hour of naps/quiet time reading and I could use this time to grade or go over school with older ones. Evenings would also be used to outline a plan with older students for the next day school lessons. My older ones did grade some of their stuff, no test but quizes or daily math assignments. For subjects that there is no actual grades to give, I would base my grade on how well they retain the info and if they completed reading in a timely manner.
One year we only worked on History for about 3 weeks then moved on to science the next 3 weeks. When I really wanted to spend time on a subject we did block study of it so we could really focus on that subject. I also tried to do as many subjects together as possible then broke down after the general overview to individual projects. (Ex: history overview of indians then younger ones did craft, older had books and reports to do).
Don't know if any of this makes sense or helps but I miss not having so many to teach. Once you get a system in place it starts to feel natural. I think its harder to school less children now, because "I" get bored!!  I don't have someone who needs me all the time!
God bless,
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Jackie wife to Jim for 27!! years, proud army mom of Chris(25),Chef Matthew(24) and Sister Grace of Benedectines (21),Joshua(19),Nicholas(17),Jaymee(15), Elizabeth(13) and 2 in Heaven.Grandma to 3!
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jackiemomof7
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| Posted: Sept 03 2008 at 7:39am | IP Logged
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One last thought and then I will retire from here!
It is very hard to make the high school years "enjoyable and fun" but it can be done. Find out what they really enjoy and pursue that when you can. Take weekly nature walks, pop some popcorn and watch a movie that ties in with one of your studies. When one of my highschooler has to read a Shakespeare play we do this as a family. First I read out loud the easier version (Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb) then those who can take a part and we read the play out loud together. It really helps the older one to understand (family can discuss this as they read) and it helps the younger ones to be involved.
Next is music, this is another area to keep older children involved in and can bring much enjoyment. We learn Church songs and funny songs together. Those times make for fun memories and when we get together with the children who are out of the house we will sing some of those songs and have a good laugh together. Always throw in some kind of work that involves getting up and moving. For girls in highschool we do home Ec. type of things. Boys do woodworking, welding, and PE type of stuff. Moving around helps break up the book type of studying. I always try to look for moments for fun and laugher. Seasonal types of activities help with this also.
And lastly I always ask for their opinion on their school work. What do they like or dislike, what would they rather do, can we throw something out or is there more they want to do. Usually it will take a good month of school to find out what is working and what is not working. Somethings they know we "have to do" but I make up with things they "want to do".
Well I will get busy with my day now. I hope things do ease up for you and it all starts to fall in place. This truly is a wonderful time for all of you. Yes, there are hair pulling days of "I can't do this" but really there are more days of "WOW, I love this!"
God bless,
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Jackie wife to Jim for 27!! years, proud army mom of Chris(25),Chef Matthew(24) and Sister Grace of Benedectines (21),Joshua(19),Nicholas(17),Jaymee(15), Elizabeth(13) and 2 in Heaven.Grandma to 3!
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lilac hill
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| Posted: Sept 03 2008 at 8:15am | IP Logged
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In answer to one of your question-
Yes DD does check her Easy Grammar (I own the teacher's edition . I had it bound so she can turn back the correction page (on the left) until she completes the work. Then I review--we check with red pen so it is a quick review. Vocabulary and geography are online so the computer does that.
.
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Viv
Wife to Rick (7/83), Mom to dd#1(6/87), dd#2(1/90), and dd#3(6/94) in central PA.
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ALmom
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| Posted: Sept 03 2008 at 5:49pm | IP Logged
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My solution was very, very specific and clear lesson plans. I don't like anyone else's and they never fit to a tee so I work very, very hard over the summer so I can simply be available to everyone during the school year. My children are all 100% in love with my plans. They have their whole year laid out one day at a time. We work together to design it and are not totally inflexible but this is where I have notes about thinks to think about, study guides, notes to get me for discussion with pointers/memory joggers for me about the points of discussion, any paper topics, or additional reading. The plans sometimes specify pages to read or specific books, sometimes give choices and sometimes are very open ended - like pick a topic to research or do an experiment. (The openendedness depends on the subject and which child the plans are for. Generally, we have found that open ended works best for areas of passion, while very specific instructions go over better in dreaded or typically avoided subjects. As the child becomes more confident in an area, they may shift to need less specifics and I certainly use their passion to inspire more passion in a despised subject. Ie my science fan will surely be assigned to read biographies of scientists in an historical time period we are studying or he may follow the technological influences along with the politics.
Now, for making it fun. It doesn't have to be drudgery nor do you have to have major tests in every subject. You have to find the way that helps your child engage in the subject so that you both know there is retention and understanding. This part is tricky and for different children, I do different things in different subjects.
Math lends itself to the standard do the work, check it (I do this so I can look for patterns where I need to emphasize some detail or concept that they might miss otherwise), correct it (they will find their own mistakes for the most part unless it is obvious they misunderstood a concept or need more clarification, but know to come for help if they cannot get it after a reasonable effort). We do like to have periodic real world applications - dad generally asks things in the course of life related to what they are studying and we will catch one or two of our children who are not big math fans doing something bizzare and try to see how long it takes for them to do a reality check on their calculations. An example - our dead car was worth $8 per 100 pounds. If it weighs x, how much will we get for it. Well someone forgot about the per 100 # and told us the car was worth some astronomical figure. We looked and said, hey, we should sell all our cars to the junkyard and go buy brand new ones at that price. Husband has the children do the gas mileage calculations, how much interest, measurements, costs for big size versus little size in the grocery. Even our math hater still uses Algebra to calculate what she needs on her finals to get the A in the course. Of course, there does have to be balance. Our children sometimes (maybe often) role their eyes when we get a bit overboard and have turned all of life into a school lesson.
Science and History - really depends on the child. I have one that makes and creates timelines and writes papers, an 8th grader who only reads and does timelines- but I assign lots of living books to dovetail with a text spine and specify order so I know there is a sequence) and another child who is required to do projects or make maps to go along with materials, but I read and discuss a lot with him on history right now so there is some oral "testing". The child that I do more with in history, is the science fan and I'm very, very hands off on science. He requests his material, does the work and moves on (he is 6th working in a high school text because he wanted to do it). My highschooler, doing the same text in science, must answer questions, do tests, have study sheets and vocabulary and deadlines or honestly, she'd never touch the subject. I have no need to test her in history - she argues points using her history knowledge all the time and recalls more than I remember even from my college major. Science is not a very popular subject for her, but it is good for her and she knows it. She is very strong in history and writes some research papers. I don't need to test her in history. She wouldn't learn science without it.
Other things are mostly papers as well. I do test in religion once per quarter, but we mix it up with liturgical celebrations and thought provoking paper topics and Bible reading and devotional reading. (I don't do this necessarily with the youngers - with them we may do more games with Baltimore catechism or such) and lots of visual and/or hands on (not as beautiful as what others do on here, but more than is usual for this craft impaired mom).
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't think you have to have a standard test in every subject for every child. I have no problem basing the grade on research papers, essays and other history assignments for my history fan. My science fan isn't high school yet and I wouldn't test him except that he asked to do the whole text with the tests - math and all. He is learning a lot of advanced math a bit at a time. Most of the time, his science is listed on his lesson plans as " research a topic of interest, do an experiment or choose a Montessori science activity" At the end of the week or two, I'd ask that he write a description of what he did and that would count as writing and science. Again this isn't my highschooler, but the way he eats up science, I have no problem doing a lot more of the same for him in high school just specifying a general area (ie chemistry or whatever)unless he requests something different. I'd note areas of neglect and guide or require something to round it out at some point, but honestly, the passion is so intense it just isn't a worry. Just as I really do not worry a lot about my highschooler history fan in history. Her plans require reading, we pick time period to study but she has lots of leeway unless she requests more structure. Actually most of my highschoolers have requested structure by highschool and we accomodate while still trying to allow for them to follow trails of interest in areas of passion. The plans reflect this.
So to answer your question, during the school year my children from 6th grade and up are all independent and come to me when there is a problem. They follow the plans, ask for clarification and I grade assignments as they are turned in. With some personalities I do have to remember to ask for the assignments and sometimes we revamp based on what I see when I grade (ie child is getting sloppy, has forgotten a concept or has this down so pat that we really shouldn't spend the next week reviewing). We do try to keep everyone on a general time sequence in history and related science scope for the year. Discussions and additional projects seem to happen naturally and though not an "official" part of school, these do give me insight into our children and their thought processes and how well they are grasping material.
Oh, and do expect them to complain some about the material. It seems to be a right of passage for highschoolers to find something terribly dull. We have many, many jokes about the classics in our house right now - along with Socrates, etc. There is a difference between genuine overload and the groaning and my teacher is tough conversations. I know my 10th grader will moan about the Latin we made her do (she actually chose it) and how she learned so much - she now can insult the dog very well in Latin . Other times she will complain about the number of pages I'm having her read, but the real problem is that we are overkilling a period. Mom, this history is simply repeating in a more boring fashion everything I just read about the Roman civil wars in the Early History of Rome. I try not to "adjust" assignments over moaning and groaning, but I might point out that the assignments purpose was to help with x, y, z connections so if she wants to skim read, that should do the trick and just pay particular attention to how this relates to other things going on in other places at the same time - also to get a sense about different points of view.
I'm not a great teacher so my children end up really teaching themselves mostly - but I do try to help them find resources and we make sure we get explanations when something doesn't make sense. I also have to work with therapy with 2 of my other children. We do what we have to do. I have hired a tutor once or twice (for Latin, primarily).
Edited to add: Oh the one thing I have found very, very time consuming is the paper grading. Since it is also more subjective and an area where I don't have a great deal of confidence, it is worth it to me to sign up with EES with Kolbe and let them grade all the papers. I still retain final say. So far this has worked well for me. Since I'm signed up, I get their tests and lesson plans and use them for ideas. I will often use a test or two from them and we use their science texts for those highschoolers who simply will avoid science like the plague and that nothing as inspired them in science non textbook or otherwise to this point. I like having a few tests here and there to use for at least some subjects. We often use the Kolbe literature tests on quarters when we do all the reading, simply as a spot check to see what we retained from doing things our way - no pressure. We've found our children, so far, have always done well. If I don't have convenient tests to use, I don't sweat it too much unless it is a subject that I know the child will only learn the material and apply themselves if that is what we do. We haven't done formal grammar in high school but her papers are graded for both content and mechanics. We research or review any areas of consistent mechanics problems. I'm sure we could be more thourough and some of this may change when my less writing inclined, math and science geared younger children arrive at high school. But by then, I may not have any younger ones. (I am teaching ages 10th, 8th, 6th, 3rd, and k and also working with an 8th grade relative with learning challenges. Two of my own children are doing therapy of some kind or another. Life is hectic. We do the best we are able to do and it has consistently been more than adequate for their needs. Our oldest has so far done very, very well in college even with our even worse approach to science than we have now (she is our guinea pig so we made lots of mistakes that we are hopefully correcting with later children). She still doesn't love the subjects she didn't love when we were teaching her at home, but we did give her enough of a background to do fine and to begin to learn and enjoy now that pressure is off.
Janet
Janet
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Theresa
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| Posted: Sept 03 2008 at 10:10pm | IP Logged
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[QUOTE=jackiemomof7]
One year we only worked on History for about 3 weeks then moved on to science the next 3 weeks. When I really wanted to spend time on a subject we did block study of it so we could really focus on that subject.
QUOTE]
I like this idea!!
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Theresa
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| Posted: Sept 03 2008 at 10:17pm | IP Logged
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Janet,
Thank you SO much for taking the time to think and type all that up for me.
Over the course of the last two days I've spent some time talking with my dh, a dear friend and crying out to God for direction. And is He is so good to answer and show us what we need to do and where to change things and where not to.
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Theresa
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mariB
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Dear Theresa,
I just wanted to let you know that I have felt the same way and now we have come to a solution that works well for our family...block scheduling for our 9th and 11th grader.
Latin, math, science, and composition are done every day. Theology, Literature, History are done with block scheduling and the boys are staying on top of their schedule. We use Teaching Textbooks for math...which I was questioning the content at times but here's a story...
OUR 11TH GRADER JUST GOT DONE TUTORING MY SISTER IN LAW IN STATISTICS THIS WEEKEND AND I WAS SHOCKED! He has only completed algebra II...made me feel so much better!
Anyhow, with math the boys self correct. Latin is an online class with teacher help. I mostly help with paper writing, discussions with literature and history and correcting papers.
I always do the highschoolers AFTER I work with our kindergartener, 4th grader, and 7th grader.
I feel pulled in several directions too. We have a family business too and I have the keys to our shop around my neck at all times to run over there!
For curriculum without test we usually have the children keep a journal in that particular subject. they may write in history a book review (not report) or pretend they are particular character in their book and write a journal entry from their point of view, etc...
For our 7th grader we opened a private blog and he is writing a "book". Anyhow, it is a good way to get a reluctant writer to write. He loves going in there and writing a few lines a day...
Praying that all goes smooth for you and maybe meditating on Psalm 143:8-11 might help? Psalms always seems to help me a bit...when I don't know the words to pray...
blessings and hugs,
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marib-Mother to 22ds,21ds,18ds,15dd,11dd and wife to an amazing man for 23 years
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helene
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Well, I can tell you what has worked for me for the past 12 years or so. I am currently teaching one preschooler and 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th grades. I have stapled together "work packets" for each elementary grade child (usually enough to last a few months). It includes maybe 3 pages- handwriting, math and language (older kids spelling and vocabulary). This is their bare minimum for the day which must get done. I start with the youngest child and work through his packet with him, meanwhile the older children are working on their own packets, and the high schoolers are working independently on their own subjects. I work my way slowly up the chain, youngest to oldest correcting and teaching what is necessary as I go. I try to think of this one-on-one time as a special time alone with this child and try to give it my all. When each packet is corrected and understood I might have that child read aloud to me or do flashcards or count money or whatever it is they need help with at the time. Afternoon school includes more fun, unschooly subjects like art, science and history. These lessons have a lighter, easier, rabbit trail feel to them. By the time I get all the way up to the highschoolers (it may be 7pm!) they have finished most of their work and it just needs checking or reading over or maybe I need to read an essay or do a grammar lesson aloud with one of them. They cause me the least trouble. They have daily checklists and syllabi to keep up with on their own and they do a pretty good job of it without me. We save Fridays for catch-up days and use that time mainly for map skills and unschooly things and doctor's appointments!
There IS a lot of back and forth. Some days my head is really spinning. Some things I have done to try to limit the spinning:
-I tell each child who interrupts with a question that they must wait until my time with them arrives. They may solicit help from an older sibling, or simply skip the work until I can get to it with them.
-All work that is complete and needs correcting must be placed neatly with all accompanying books in the same one place each day (in our case its a sideboard in the kitchen). This way nothing gets lost, and I can see what needs going over. Once all is corrected the books go back on the shelf.
-I do not allow computer time, phone time, tv, crafting, etc. until the child gets their work done for that day (I of course do not require this of my really little ones....crafting and computer time keep them happy and busy!)
-There is a natural break right after lunch. Kids usually go outside for awhile and I get some time to catch up and correct work before conferencing with the next student.
-I try not to beat myself up if I didn't get to it all in a given day, but I write it down to be done on Friday.
-I do not allow a big crafting project ON TOP of a lunch mess or a meal mess ON TOP of craft chaos. One must be cleared before the other begins. This is pretty motivating for hungry teens or crafty kids.
Remember you have been enlisted to do the Lord's IMPOSSIBLE stuff.......because He knows you can. It is impossible business. You are a hero just for getting through the day. God knows that, and you should, too.
God bless your beautiful family.
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Happy Mom to five girls (20,17,13,11and 4) and five boys (19, 15, 10, 8 and 6)
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Kristie 4
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Helene, wise words. Thank you.
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Bookswithtea
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Very specific plans are crucial for me. I spend a lot of time over the summer typing stuff out so that I don't have to spend a lot of time planning during the schoolyear. I have a 10th grader, 6th grader, 3rdish, Kish, 3yr old and a baby not quite 1. I have never in my life done so much "back and forth" as I did starting last year when we started high school. Its as much of a learning curve for mom as it is for the new teen. Hang in there, get your sleep and know that it will mellow out in a few months, when your oldest is used to the newer pace.
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: How do you do it?
