The problem: Barbaric Expectations that resulted in yelling, tears and frustration for both of us. I was a hard head with unrealistic demands. Images of a baby Yale student danced in my head.
The Solution: Prayer, writing down the reasons for why I was homeschooling and talking to my expert homeschooling friend, Sasha whose kids are super smart. She told me I was doing WAY more than she had when her daughter was five. Needless to say I felt relief and we scaled back- like a lot.
Previous Schedule
1)Letter & number Flashcards
2) 6 pages of Math U See Curriculum
3) Three lessons in a row of "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"
4) 10 pages of several preschool math, letter and writing workbooks.
5) Copy work of her birthday, address and my phone number.
6) Counting dice and drawing the numbers out on the whiteboard.
Yeah, this was a normal day-for a five year old and myself. Positively nerve wracking.
And Now
Current Schedule:
1) Half of the flashcards are split up between two days
2)Two pages of Math U See Curriculum
3) One "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" This has been amazing, I feel like she is still picking up as much.
4) Five pages of several preschool, math, letter and writing books. (again I split the ten-yea ten-books up between two days.)
5) We do memory work every couple of days.
6) Now I add a simple hands on activity she can do on her own. For example, put a puzzle together, build a house out of legos, paint a picture.
Sometimes we play go fish, Candyland, dominoes, matching games and chutes and ladders. About once a week we manage to squeeze this in.
Oh what a pleasant time we are having...FINALLY. Too much work zaps the fun out of learning, which means you aren't really learning anything. And learning while having fun was half my goal in this homeschooling extravaganza. I suppose the other motivation was to have a genius, simply because my own lack of genius in me-but this is much better. A calm, nice Mommy and an eager happy little girl. I'm grateful for the change.
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