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knowloveserve
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| Posted: Jan 06 2010 at 1:44pm | IP Logged
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This has been an off year. We started out schooling wonderfully... beautiful rythym to my day, gentle schedule with my 7 year old and a 5 year old tagging along with him. I was so proud for being so organized and "together" even having a new baby at the beginnning of the year.
Then we got the flu. The big one that knocked the whole family out in various stages/degrees for almost 3 weeks. Then dh separated from the military and had two months of unemployment. Him being home during the days was hard on any type of routine. There was job uncertainty all around.
He got a job just before Christmas so we moved... there was no Advent preparations or real Christmas celebration in a liturgical sense. He got a 4 day notice of work starting in another city. So we rushed through packing up the house and family and moved to here THE WEEK OF CHRISTMAS. A terrible time to move... but the bills have to get paid. And we are thankful for the work.
We are slowly settling in. There are still boxes all about and chaos reigns. There is no routine or rythym. The days seem dark and lonely and frustrating as we try to fit all our STUFF in this smaller space (thankfully we are simultaneously purging a lot which feels amazing). Couple that with financial woes as have a decrease in income and a large increase in living expenses (trying to pay a mortgage on the old house while we try to sell it... plus the rent on this place... plus no more commmisary shopping priviledges and a health insurance we actually have to pay part of)
Long story not so short... homeschooling is almost nonexistent. I feel like I need to make the home in order more than sit down and work with the kids. They spend the days being rowdy while I try to unpack and organize and keep the baby content.
I feel terribly about this because we were doing so well. And this is my son's First Holy Communion year and I really want to prepare him well for that. So the bare minimums of our day include maybe a lesson from Faith and Life, and a couple pages from Explode the Code. I sometimes even quickly write some addition/subtraction problems on paper for him... but this is as good as it gets.
We aren't even prioritizing my beloved story time!  By bedtime, dh and I are so frazzled trying to do so many things and fending off the kids that we just get them to bed as quickly as we can so we have space to breathe, think, work and organize.
I know this isn't a healthy situation. But I was hoping anyone who's experienced a similiar situation may have some thoughts to share... or just some encouragement... or even a chiding if you think I need it. I'm doing my best to stay hopeful and cheerful despite all this... trials are the ingredients to sainthood and I can handle trials... just not always the cheerfulness. 
Thank you.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Jan 06 2010 at 1:54pm | IP Logged
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I haven't had to move while homeschooling.. the last move was when my oldest was 4. But I've moved so that the last things were in the house, after working all night, 30 minutes before my dh had to leave for work AND an out of town trip. My youngest was 1 month old, and the others were 3 yr 3 mo, and 21 months.
My suggestion is to get some easy stuff.. don't write out math problems, get a simple workbook.. then you can set them down to do one page of math and one page of ETC while you're working near them on other things.
Doing some directed school and play that's not mom intensive you may find that you get more done because less is getting undone by the kids running rampant.
Include the kids at least the older ones in helping put things away or delivering items to different rooms. Maybe grab some of the empty boxes and label them with rooms and give away and trash and then they can help you sort items that need put away into the boxes until something is full. and then you can take that box and go and put it away.
By including the kids things will go slower but less will get undone.
And it may be beneficial right now.. to just shove everything into one room or garage if you have that.. and get what's already out working.. then you can just pull in one box at a time to deal with.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Mimip
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| Posted: Jan 06 2010 at 2:06pm | IP Logged
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Ellie,
No great advice here but...
Welcome back to the boards! It been a while since you've posted and I'll keep you in our prayers.
Hope you get some great advice and lots of  as you go through this transition time!
__________________
In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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Elena
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| Posted: Jan 06 2010 at 2:10pm | IP Logged
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I've had two very tough years of homeschooling - one was the 2002/2003 school year when my pregnancy ended in a stillbirth. We had a rough year last year too when my mother became ill with ovarian cancer and died in June.
What helped me was making sure everything was in order in the house first and then once I felt peaceful with that, start back to homeschooling in small bites. I also homeschool all year long so I don't feel as if I absolutely have to be done by some arbitrary date in June. That helps a lot as well.
So I guess I would suggest that your instincts are good - concentrate on getting the house in order you could even put the 7 and 5 year olds in charge of something small like a cupboard or something. And then when you feel peaceful about it, have a little celebration for restarting the school year - and start new! 
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Elena
Wife to Peter, mom of many!
My Domestic Church
One Day at a Time
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Amanda
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| Posted: Jan 06 2010 at 2:53pm | IP Logged
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Ellie,
Repeat after me: "This is a season. This is only a season. This is not my children's entire homeschooling experience." :-)
I don't think I've had a situation exactly like yours, but having homeschooled through a couple of births, my mom's illness and death, financial stresses and so on...I can tell you that just the fact that you are frustrated with the present situation means you will not allow the situation to continue indefinitely.
I think the other ladies have had some great suggestions, too. Also, have you reached out to the local homeschooling community yet? I don't want to give you another task, but even just knowing that there's a support group meeting you can go to in two weeks will give you something to look forward to. I assume you don't know anyone in your new area?
You'll be in my thoughts and prayers!
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mom to ds '97, dd '03, ds '07, and dd 1/11
St. Margaret Clitherow Homeschool
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Jan 06 2010 at 3:01pm | IP Logged
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What Jody said.
I've moved at Christmas and it is just awful. You're not crazy, you're normal.
You'll get the unpacking done, and meanwhile a few weeks of "school lite" will be just fine. As long as you stay on track for FHC, reading/writing and math, the rest can be filled in via, say, Magic School Bus DVDs from your library (they actually have great science content - we used them whenever we moved) and stuff like that.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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teachingmyown
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I moved shortly before Christmas eight years ago, when #5 was 10 days old. I know your pain. My oldest was 10, so I really felt the pressure to get back to work. But I had to take one thing at a time. Thank God for workbooks and educational videos!
Make the FHC prep your main goal outside of getting the house in shape. Everything else will even out over time. We have had a number of years where next to nothing got done, but my kids are fine.
You will get through this if you give yourself a break. I agree with the idea of finding support. I think the hardest part of my move was the loneliness.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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DominaCaeli
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Nice to see you back here, Ellie--I'll be praying for you all.
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Blessings,
Celeste
Joyous Lessons
Mommy to six: three boys (8, 4, newborn) and four girls (7, 5, 2, and 1)
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hylabrook1
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Ellie,it sounds like you have had quite the year! When you think about the sorts of things, the number of things, and their concurrence, I think you are doing pretty well! One thing at a time. Whatever would make you feel most *normal* or settled in, do that first. Don't torture yourself about what isn't right; do the best you can with the things you *can* get to. It's probably going to be a while before your life feels *real* again. If you can get in some read alouds, have your children do some workbook pages, watch some educational-type videos while you unpack, or even while you relax. They don't need to be sticking to a curriculum to be absorbing all sorts of stuff -- they are such sponges at their ages ! You can only do so much settling in work in one day. Plan to do some things with your children even if the unpacking takes longer, And, please, above all BE REASSURED!!! Bit by bit everything will start to make sense again. You have my prayers as you weather this difficult time.
Peace,
Nancy
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ekbell
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We moved from Ontario, Canada to Alberta Canada in September when my children were eight, five, three and six months.
Between the two months staying with my BIL (seven children all told, six of them under six! My SIL and BIL are wonderful but it wasn't easy), unpacking and homesickness, I think we ended up doing about three months worth of formal lessons with the eight year old (there were no lessons for the five year old). I did have all the children's books out on bookcases ASAP so that my oldest could do as much reading as she wanted.
In the end we've ended up 'catching up' without major problems over the following two and a half years except with math (although that's mostly because of long division). [One mistake I made was forgetting to care for myself- life became much easier to face once I got back to regular prayer and a short walk by myself in the daylight every day]
If your child is reading well by himself then preparing for first communion and giving him a bit of math to keep his hand in isn't doing badly. If he isn't reading well then you'll want to add some reading practice.
If you want something easy and grade appropriate for math, I'd recommend the Mighty Math Zoo Zillions or Carnival Countdown software. They cover all the essentials for grade two and they offer both a game mode which becomes gradually more difficult as the child answers more questions correctly (if the child has problems it gives hints) and an explore mode where the child can explore math concepts. I've found them quite useful as an alternative to math problems in a workbook and the children have both enjoyed and learned from the games. You can find them on amazon for about eight dollars a CD
My husband works nights which means that the bedtime routine is quite streamlined and storytime is right out (I'm doing well to get them in a bedroom on time). I've found that it works best for us to have story time in the morning; after breakfast cleanup but before starting the rest of the day's work.
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: Jan 06 2010 at 5:58pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for this...
Will definitely focus on FHC prep and try to get some reading done. The problem is in shutting off all the other "must do" items on my list. I have to be willing to forget the disarray and sit on the couch and READ. Or sit at the table and facilitate some bookwork.
Therein lies the struggle... turning off life to focus on the small things.
But I think I see that as my problem now... and will attack that head on.
And thanks for the "welcome backs" I lurk on occasion, but haven't been much of a forum poster this past year...
A season for all things... indeed.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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Topic: needing some reassurance
