Having fun with school?

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  • March 4, 2010 at 11:10 pm
    redtexas
    Member

    Hi All,

    I have 4 children and one on the way, ages 7(almost 8), 5, 3, and 1.  

    We have not been very consistent with school lately due to life challenges.  But my main concern is having fun with school.  My oldest son dislikes most things, not that he complains that much or puts up a fight about it, just that they are “boring” to him.  I can tell he really dislikes copywork and he kinda likes Boy of the Pyramids, our current history read aloud.  I feel like school is just something to get through because we have to, even the readings.  I know he feels this way too.  

    Here is our new schedule as of this week, but usually we haven’t finished everything in a day because of my lack of preparation.  It looks like a lot, but most things we do the CM way and they take all of 5-10min.

    Monday:

    Group time: (pledge, prayer, scriptures, calendar)

    Reading (He reads 15-20 min on his own, his choice of book)

    Math (Singapore math 2A)

    Literature Read Aloud

    Spelling ( just going over some simple words using spellingcity.com)

    Copywork

    Phonics

    Piano

    Nature Study 

    Tuesday:

    Group time: (pledge, prayer, scriptures, calendar)

    Reading (He reads 15-20 min on his own, his choice of book)

    Math (Singapore math 2A)

    History Read Aloud

    English from the Roots Up

    Copywork

    Grammar (just loosely using First Language Lessons by Susan Wise Bauer)

    Piano

    Picture Study

    Wednesday:

    same as Monday except the read aloud is science and Geography is replaces nature study

    Thursday:

    same as Tuesday except Art replaces Picture Study

    Friday:

    same as Monday and Wednesday, except History is the read aloud and Science Experiment at the bottom instead of nature study.

    We are sorely lacking in the handicrafts department.  I just don’t know what to start with him.  Mostly because I don’t have time.  Anyways, just looking at this schedule bores me, and I am not sure what to do to spice things up a bit.  I feel like our school is more boring than if he went to public school.  

    Thanks if you made it this far 🙂  I would definitely appreciate any thoughts or if you feel like your family has been in this situation before.

    -Crystal

     

    March 5, 2010 at 1:12 am
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    Crystal,

    Your schedule does not look boring to me 🙂  You could try doing “school” in a different room, outside, or at a different time of day. Some days if we get up and are struggling to get started, we just wait and do our work after lunch. I have found that my attitude will make or break our school days. I know you’ve heard the saying, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”….. LOL

    Getting myself motivated to teach really helps me out. And getting things ready for the next day, the night before is a big help too.

    Hope this helped somehow!

    Amanda

    http://www.ucanbsure.org

     

    March 5, 2010 at 1:42 am
    redtexas
    Member

    Thank you for your reply and parts of it did help me.  I guess my problem is mostly with my son finding school boring and tedious.  I think a lot of it does have to do with my attitude and my attitude lately is that we need to do school because we are getting behind and I really feel like we are not having fun.  I am not sure if I am not explaining this well.  Thanks again for your thoughts.

    -Crystal

    March 5, 2010 at 2:22 am
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    Maybe you should try and figure out why what you are doing seems boring to you and your son….Undecided I’m not really sure how to help………maybe someone who is more knowledgeable will give us a good answer 🙂

     

    Amanda

    http://www.ucanbsure.org

     

    March 5, 2010 at 2:49 am
    lgeurink
    Member

    My 7 year old daughter also does school because she has to!  She enjoys parts but some things are just boring to her.   My 4 yr old enjoys other parts but finds different things boring.  Pre-planning helps a ton for me.  I have the year scheduled in August and every Sunday night through the school year I get all our resources and copies made for the week.  There is virtually no prep work throughout the week.  We fight boredom by celebrating all kinds of holidays.  The third week of February got so crazy!  We had an Olympics theme dinner, Valentines Day, Chinese New Year (all week!), the beginning of Lent and our 100th day of school.  It was fun and the kids did their work so quickly and so well b/c they were so excited so get to all the (sneaky educational) holiday fun.  Obviously our attitudes make the biggest difference and trying to make gentle reminders of our character study or Bible verses we have memorized that address their attitudes helps.  Remembering they are still very young and maybe do not appreciate their education as much as we do yet!  You also have lots of young ones and that is tiring.  Try to relax. you are doing a wonderful job.  How much you accomplish with such young children is less important than loving them through the day!  You can do it!

    March 5, 2010 at 6:16 pm
    redtexas
    Member

    Lgeurink, thanks for your reply it helped me too.  I just realized that some things are going to be boring, but like you said if things are well planned out it leaves time for other fun things to do and I think that has been the problem.  Things have not been well planned out and we were just struggling to get through the day.  Today has been a good day.  It is 12pm and he is already done with his school work and we had some fun with painting with straws today.  

    I know planning on my part is the key now, just took me writing this all out to figure it out 🙂  Also, I need to realize there will be some great days and not so great days.

    Thanks again!

     

    March 5, 2010 at 11:32 pm
    lgeurink
    Member

    Glad to help, we are all there at times, no matter how well we plan!  I thought of you today after getting an email from http://www.lovetolearn.net They have a book on sale for $3.99 called 101 Secrets a Cool Mom Knows by Sue Ellin Browder and Walter Browder.  I have not read it but you can view pages on the website.  Sounds like things like how to use chopsticks (helpful for Chinese New Year!), how to stand on your head, or how to wiggle your ears.  Lots of practical skills!  It may be available at your library too.  Maybe worth checking into for some fun ideas!  We are snowed in here in MI for 4 months or so we need all the fun ideas we can get!  Best wishes!

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