Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Tweaking school

If anything I think we do too much school work. Some do more than others I guess but some do too much. I did not start homeschooling so my kids could do MORE work but rather that they would have some freedom to explore their interests and invest more time in the things they love. I think this has worked pretty well through the years but slowly has escalated to too much homework. I would like to spread what is most needed to be accomplished out a bit more. If I want them to be good writers, I of course want them to be writing but simply cramming more assignments in without enough feed back is not necessarily helpful. I also do not have enough time to help them where it is needed. How do I figure out how to balance it all and get to everyone thoroughly. Sigh. I think I am stating the same thing here from before. Less is more I think. Maybe my house would be cleaner too...........

3 comments:

  1. This is my biggest challenge - providing the individual evaluation of their writing. They do the work but are not likely to improve without signposts along the way. Thanks for the reminder. Barb K

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  2. Karin, you wrote last week
    >Homeschooling moms are experts at whining. We can say the curriculum didn't work or we didn't finish but the real reason is we didn't make the effort to do so.

    and today you're talking about how we sometimes do too much work. Now, that doesn't tend to be a problem around here. But the pressure I put on myself is to do too much. There's SO much that we "could" do. So much that would benefit the kids to know. The amount we "could" study is immeasurable. And if we skip ANY of it, we tell ourselves that we didn't make enough effort.

    I wish I could solve my problem of over-achievement as easily as I can diagnose it in myself. I just can't seem to find a balance. I guess that is the one big enticement about School. You could send the kids away, have somebody else decide how much schoolwork was the appropriate amount, and then ignore all the other great things that you could be studying because you are no longer the one in charge of deciding. But I don't think that's really a good solution -- figuring out some balance, making the decisions, and being content living with those decisions would really be the better way to go.

    But I can't do it!!!!!

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  3. Susan.....yes. I think I am trying to do too much with some kids. Then plugging along with the rest of them and not letting them fall through the cracks is..........stressful. I think the next theme might be less is more.....but.......but.......there is so much they can DO!!!

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