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Tired of School
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Hi, I’m mostly just venting. I’m sick and tired of school. Sick of searching, researching for the next year’s school. It’s high school that’s the problem. Every year for the last 5 years have been this way. I research, think, pour over catalogs, read reviews, blogs etc. I try to get the kids(boys so far) involved in the decisions for their schooling but they mostly don’t want to take much time to listen or look at what I’ve been finding. About the time I thought I had them each one figured out & what works best for them, they reach 9th grade and it all goes to pot. I loose my grip, they’re struggling to even want to do school and it gets a mess from my point of view. They are good kids really, they just loose interest, momentum, etc. We’ve tried more sleep to being tough and wake them early- like this is what you’d have to be doing if you’d be going to school. I get to the place where that’s exactly what I wish we could do – send them to school! Where they’d have to be up and out the door and meet the deadlines of their school work. They need the discipline of that. I can’t give that.
In choosing curriculum I go from wanting something really structured like say Bob Jones textbooks used with the DVDs(which we cant’ afford anyways) , the ACE school of tomorrow PACES with the goal cards, star charts ‘you have to get a pace done every 3 weeks’! to a CM approach which deep down I like but have a hard time trusting that just writing narrations is enough ( and I don’t know how to raise the level of narrations) and what about literature analysis. Some say they don’t need it & some say they DO. Besides the fact I really need something to guide them so that they can be more independent. I go from that to the extreme & just want to forget ‘school’ and let them follow their own interests, which I’m scared to do.! But it sounds like my 3rd boy, who was 9th grade last year, would love to do just that! Ham radio & aviation are his strong interests.
We graduated are 2 older boys a couple weeks ago or so. Their high school years were rocky. We had some difficult, or challenging Life circumstances that we all were dealing with during those years. We moved an elderly Aunt to a nursing home while dealing with her sister who was sick and in the hospital. Later we helped to move the sister to a smaller place where she wouldn’t have to take care of the house and yard. We cleaned out Grandpa’s apartment after he’d been sick and hospitalized and transferred to the nursing home where he’ll have to stay. In between that we made trips to help my parents who were both not doing well and we weren’t sure who would go first or what was going to happen. Those were 1100 mile trips one way(driving). At the end of this past school year we made another of those trips – my mom was in the hospital. We made it in time to see her before she passed away. She was my best friend, my go to for support in this homeschooling journey. Needless to say that when we got back home school didn’t happen for a couple weeks and then it was just lets wrap this up so you can just graduate.
(Okay, I know, there are lots more mom’s out there who are facing much more difficult circumstances than these. Just to let you know…. I literally have felt it in my heart some days to pray for all you homeschooling moms out there for whatever you may be going through in you lives.)
I’ve got to wrap this up. I don’t know what I’m asking for…… I just totally feel DONE with this whole school thing
Oh hon, I’m totally hugging you from afar and praying for you!
Yes, homeschooling is hard work.
Yes, high school is hard work.
Yes, boys are hard work.
Yes, life is hard work.
Here is my thought (just graduated oldest child, 9 more kids to go): You need to decide a basic high school plan all your kids do. 9th grade xyz, 10th grade do abc, and so on. A lot of things can be the same for every kid that goes through it. For example, will they all use your math program of choice? And what language arts program/materials do you want them to do each year? Plan the topic/time period for history/government for each grade. Then just do it.
AND – if you get a child who wants to try something different – maybe they would rather do American government in 9th grade when you have it written down for your 11th graders, or they are really interested in journalism and want to study that one year for English – then let them!
I would go so far as to plan the family electives – my 9th graders will do this, my 1oth graders will do this, etc. Then, you guessed it, only change that IF they have an opinion and want to do a different elective!
My just graduated child had tons of opinions, preferences, and goals from the get go. My 9th grade this fall child has made 2 requests – a history study of scientists and science discoveries/inventions from ancients to modern, and a photography elective.
I totally get it. I am right there in the trenches with you and struggling with the exact things you described.
I can understand, too. I have a boy going into 10th grade. I don’t get much input from him. High school can be scary. But the opposite of fear is faith. No one knows or loves your children as you do. I suggest taking a break from all of the researching, etc. Spend time in prayer. Also do something you enjoy either together or on your own. Museum, zoo, park, gardening, painting, playing a musical instrument, writing, etc. Get outside in the fresh air, nature, and sunshine to help you rejuvenate and focus better. Try to read or listen to something encouraging everyday to help you stay focused on your long-term goals. (Homeschool magazine, blog post, podcast, devotional, etc.)
It always helps me to watch the Learning and Living DVD on high school. Sonya explains that a CM education in high school is not all that different from a CM education in the lower grades. We have to give credit hours and grades now. They step up a another level. Are you still including CM enrichments and nature study in high school? They can earn partial high school credits for fine arts and language each year through CM enrichments. Although school takes longer in high school, they can still pursue their interests in the afternoon or evening. You can read aloud literature selections at bedtime. If you don’t have the DVD, the high school blog posts here might help.
https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/category/high-school-2/
https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/serving-feast-high-school/
“For the completion of assignments in this Enrichment Studies, Volume 1, using the Older Group of literature books, we suggest that students should be awarded 1/4 credit for Fine Arts and 1⁄2 credit for Literature. (If you continue similar Enrichment studies through all four years of high school, the student will earn 1 full credit of Fine Arts and 2 of Literature.)” You can see more in the sample here:
https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/enrichment-studies-volume-1/
What were you using that worked before? Can you keep moving ahead at a higher level? For Language Arts, you might find the handbook useful on Narration or the book Hearing and Telling, Reading and Writing. Use a rubrics for grading written narrations (these books have some examples). There are blog posts and forum discussions on these specific topics too.
On literary analysis: https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/teaching-literature-subject-by-subject-part-9/
You have our support! You and your family will be in my prayers.
Thank you all for taking the time to read and reply. Mostly though, thanks for your prayers. It is so appreciated!
I would respond to each one and the questions that were asked, but right now I can’t seem to put together my thoughts. I’m trying to pull back away from all the thinking/researching & let it rest. I’ll give this: for this third son, we tried (at his request) to use MFW Ancient for his 9th gr but he could not handle the work load & then with extra life happenings he got behind & it was way overwhelming to him to catch up even with the modifications I had done to the plans. That year would have given him 1 credit of history, 1 credit english, 1 credit Bible. The English and Bible he kept doing but I had to modify the literature/writing for him.
We need 1 credit Geography, 1 credit World, 1 credit American, & 1 credit Government. He thinks he would prefer to get all his Geography in one year. (The other 2 boys did their geography combined with history each year).
We still need a half credit of World history plus a Geography credit. He will be going into 10th gr.
This kid does not handle the workbook approach. Every time we’ve tried, it literally depresses his spirit. While he really likes the apologia science textbooks, he hasn’t responded well to anything of that nature for history( as in the BJU samples and Abeka) He likes the way the Apologia is written & has done very well with the work( vs. my oldest son who couldn’t understand what was being said when he tried to use Apologia) He is not as much of a reader as his 2 older brothers. He seems to get bogged down with a lot of books hanging over him. I was letting him finish off his 9th gr Ancient history by letting him read Augustus Caesar’s World which he is really enjoying.
I am glad to hear you are taking a break. You might consider counting hours for the high school credits. This works well with living books and narrations when not using a traditional textbook course. We used Apologia high school planner which has two circles divided into four quarters to count every 15 minutes, up to two hours per subject per day. The student fills in the circle for their time spent on that subject that day. This allows for adjustments to MFW or any other curriculum. Generally, 120 – 150 hours is a credit. Although we liked this planner, it is smaller than the 8×10 paper planners we were used to. The circles do make it easier to count class time though. I will continue to pray for you. Blessings.
Wow, thanks for suggesting the Apologia high school planner. I’m going to check that out. It sounds like that just may work for us!
Becky, you’re a good mom and a good teacher. Give yourself some grace, my dear. You have been through a very, very stress-filled year and you’re grieving the loss of your precious mother as well as many other losses in your family. So please don’t beat yourself up or force yourself to make big decisions right now. Your body and mind and emotions need time to recover.
I have no doubt that you will do a wonderful job of guiding your son to his graduation over the next three years. Just please give yourself permission to rest for a few more weeks. I know that it feels like you have a deadline looming over your head, but I think you will find that you are much more able to “put together your thoughts” after you have given yourself more time to rest. Sending hugs across the miles . . .
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