Need some help :)

I don’t know what your schedule is or the ages of your children or even what WP means. If I knew some of those things I could help a little more. How often are you doing the WP science?

Other than that I have, and use myself, some basic structuring and boundary enforcement ideas. My children are also very excited about learning, but prt of my view is they, not you, have to start taking responsibility for that learning in the sense of not draining you and sucking all your time and energy for them to learn.

At my house that practically works out this way and maybe some of these ideas will work for you:

It’s my children’s job (I have 2, one is 8 and one 9) to get the bug jars and tops. They must ask my permission first and must gather their materials themselves and clean the jars out themselves. Of course, I do the making of holes in the top, but they are recyclable so once you have a few, keep them in a small ziplock bag and they can be reused. You may have to set a limit of how many critters kept at a time; I’ve had to do that.

Set the day (once a week or twice a month) for library trips. Donna Young printables has some forms you can print out for a reading list and/or library book list. That way, they can write down what books, or types of books, they want at the next trip.                                                                                                                                   Set a time limit, telling them ahead of time how long they will be, so you aren’t resentful for how long you were there thinking about how much time you’re “wasting”, or at least not getting other things accomplished! You may also need to limit the amount of books each can check out at a time. Limits are healthy and necessary.            YOU may want to buy a few all-purpose bug books, like “Pets in a Jar”, that whether you can get to the library or not, you have the info. you need to take care of the critters until you can get to the library.

You’re correct, you don’t have time to do everything in a day and they have to learn that as well. There probably are some things you can tweak in your schedule; one day with the structured science and one day specifically for Nature exploring.      As for their demands for you to read, again, though there should be times of spontaneous reading, if this is a regular occurance then establish the time for you to be able to do this. They can read to each other or they can read to you. You certainly don’t need to be expected to read all their books for them. Work out a time and amount of reading that is manageable for you.  Remember you’re the teacher and parent, so establish the boundaries so you won’t burn out and they will learn how to focus and set their own boundaries.                                                          

Rachel                                                                                   

Amanda,

It happened to me too!  I ordered way too much from WP and it just got overwhelming.  We really didn’t need it and I’m kicking myself a little too. I have learned so much in the last few months about what I want my children’s education to look like and not look like, so I am trying to look at it like a course of study on different types of education; a learning experience.  We are doing SCM with a sprinkling of AO on the side.