5 things to do on the days you just can't...

What do you do on the days of school that you just can't go anymore.  You can't stand to see one more worksheet, one more math problem, or one more baby standing on top of the table.  You just plan out don't want to do school that day.

Well that was us today, and what did we do?

5 year old is being a bird !

 FIELD TRIP!! 

We have been studying about birds and feathers the last few weeks in Science, so what better than an impromptu field trip to the Duck Pond with my loves! 

We did bring our math books in the car and worked on it on the way, along with some reading, but once we arrived at the Duck Pond we were free.  Free to explore His amazing creation.  His beautiful scenery and His animals of all different beautiful varieties.   We were able to look at the ducks spread their wings, check out their feathers and like I said, see all their different varieties.

Can someone please tell me what kind of bird this is?  We can't figure it out

We took pictures to come back home and draw what we saw in our Nature Journals.  We also were able to check a few more things off our Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt list! 


So I thought I would put a list together for you (and me!) of things you can do when you just need something different:

1. Like I said, Impromptu Field Trips.  It doesn't have to be anything that costs money.  A trip to the library is great.  How about the Fire Station or daddy's work.  Or maybe like we did, you have an area pond or river you can visit.  Keep it Simple!
2. Bake, Bake, Bake!  There is so much math you can derive from baking.  Weight, fractions, adding, multiplying (if you are doubling the recipe), etc.  Also, if you have your child read the recipe, there's your reading lesson for the day!
3. Go on a Nature Walk.  I know the last thing you want to do sometimes when you are tired is go on a walk, but really every time I get my butt up off the couch and go for a walk, I feel 10X better when I get back.  Some how I always have more energy after the walk and a clearer head.  It must be those endorphins ;)
4. Have a free craft day.  I know, I am not the one that would usually suggest this.  I am not the crafty one.  I do not enjoy crafts much at all.  I despise them so much most of the time that I only have us do Art/crafts one day out of the week.  But if you are having one of those days that you just don't want to fight over that math problem/ writing project again, then bring out the craft box and let them have a go at it!  You will most likely be amazed with the things they make, from what YOU have taught them.  Let them use their imagination and you get back some of your sanity.
5. Above all else, PRAY for your homeschool so you don't burn out.  Prayer is the main ingredient to a successful homeschool I believe, and something I, honestly, could be doing more of.  So let's not forget the One who called us to this position in the first place and go to Him with all our worries, exhaustion, tears, struggles and let Him give us the wisdom and strength to carry on.

What suggestions would you have?  What do you do on days where you are close to burnout?
I would love to hear them because I need more ideas!

And this is how our day ended.  What better way to end it then mud on the jeans and no shirt because you feel in the bushes!  That's a good day!

Keep it REAL with HIM

*Alyssa**

Ever had one of THOSE days?.....

Ever feel like this picture in the middle of a school day?  Well you know how at the beginning of this week I was talking about how great things were going and things were going since we "switched it up"?  I should have known this would happen not long after writing that post.  Friday was a completely different day.

The morning started off wonderful.  We started our school day in the Word and learning more about our character trait for the week.  This week's character trait was selflessness, and so in order to practice selflessness, we made some cookies to give to the kids great grandfather who just lost his wife in April.  Things were going so good, I was so excited for our day.  

Then came lunchtime.

Mommy became frazzled, just as the cartoon pictures.  I was overwhelmed with the mess of the kitchen and making everyone's lunch and the baby just wouldn't stop crying, I guess she wanted to eat or something.  So then mommy became very very tired.  I should have known then to take a break. But I didn't, I kept on because I just wanted to be done.  Which from past history, I know is the worst mindset to have as a homeschool parent so I have no clue why I didn't recognize it.

So after lunch, and all the cleanup, we continued on with our schoolwork.  Baby was finally asleep so this should be easier, right?  No, not so much...it just got worse because mommy was tired and mommy should have taken a break!  I noticed myself becoming more and more agitated with the kids and my anger growing with every act of disobedience. 

Finally when I found my self yelling at my son to stop doing something I had just told him not to do, I knew then it was time to stop school work for awhile.

So you know what I did?  I went to my bedroom and laid face down and cried.  I felt like the absolute worse mom in the world and an even worse homeschool mom.  I laid there and just rested for about 15 minutes or so, almost falling asleep, while I heard my 3 blessings in the kitchen playing an alphabet bingo game and addition puzzle together.

Then I thought of something.  I am sure I can't be the only homeschool parent who has let their oldest child teach the children for awhile while mommy regains her strength (and her sanity in my case).  Really, what is it hurting?  He is learning a lot of patience in working with his siblings (our oldest is almost 8) while the other 2 (6 years and 5) are learning things probably far more advanced then I would be teaching them. 

So tell me homeschool parents....have you ever come to this?  Letting your oldest child/children teach the younger for an afternoon?  I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  

And remember, I am being REAL with you, so please no judging.  Not all our days will be this way :)

Switching it up....

We had a wonderful school day today

 And no, not because we actually did some crafts and used our scissors

 

 

 

And not because we made tepees (although that was extra fun)

 

 And no not because we took lots of pictures today of our tepees.

 

 

 

Today was wonderful because :

 

1. I started my day in the word. Even when my almost 2 year old woke me up at 5am this morning, I still took the time at 7am to sit down and be with Him before we really started our day.

AND.. 

2. We totally flipped our schedule!!  I know probably a lot of you newbie homeschoolers (that includes myself) are probably yelling NO don't do that! But really, I say why not?

     We started out the school year doing "circle time" or together time first and then in the afternoon, while baby was napping we would do our individual time with mommy, one on one, one at a time.  Well that worked okay for the first couple weeks but then I noticed the together time around the table was becoming very stressful with the baby there.  Before we knew it she was standing on the table, center of attention!  So my thinking was it had to be the schedule, so I flipped it.

     We then made together time while the baby was sleeping and individual time in the morning.  And again this had worked okay for the last few weeks but last week and some the week before I was noticing that it was really stressing me out and I was becoming frustrated and almost angry with the kids.  Libby, the baby, would be running around grabbing all sorts of different toys, taking whatever food she could reach, and come up the stairs from our basement with pen marker all over her body, all while I was trying to have that individual important time with that one child that I never ended up getting.

     So here we are back to square one.  I changed our schedule back!  We get up in the mornings, have breakfast, clean up our breakfasts, do our few daily chores (making beds, brushing teeth, getting dressed etc.) and then we come back together for "circle time".  And I also have made a change to our circle time. I completely took out one thing we were doing for calender, which was more of independent lots of writing work, and we now just do it all together on the board.  I believe this has truly helped my sanity as well!  Then we will have lunch, clean up, and I will put Libby down for a nap.  Once she is down for her nap we do our reading assignments, and then they each get 30 minutes individually with mommy to work on their math, language arts, handwriting and spelling.   

 

     Now will everyday go as smoothly and great as today?  No, I can promise you it will not!  But I now know I have a structure that is working for the time being and hey if a few months down the road it isn't working anymore you know what I will do?  SWITCH IT UP AGAIN!  

 

     Don't be afraid to change things homeschool mommas, that is the beauty of homeschooling, we have that freedom.  It won't damage us or our kids to switch things up, it just keeps things alive.  And who knows maybe it will also help our kids be able to accept change easier, just maybe.

     

    Lastly I just wanted to leave a couple more pics of M and Libby since there weren't many in the first few of them both.  Oh what fun they had today!