Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Summer Daze, School Days

The children are frantically, okay not frantically, working at completing this year's school work. I had planned out the year during last summer and we were scheduled to be finished by May 15. Obviously, we didn't do our work as consistently as I wanted.

All the children are beginning their work early in the morning, sometimes before I'm even up. They aren't horsing around or dawdling through the assignment. All the kids are doing double course work, to finish up the year. Amazingly, they finish all their school work by 10:30-11:00 am. These must not be the children who were in my home in November, January, February, or March. Those children spent hours on each subject, applying minimal effort. One child even spent 7 hours doing "spelling" and still didn't pass the unit test.

This past school year was one of the most frustrating years we've experienced. There were a few weeks when we strayed off the pre-planned assignments and the children thrived. Unfortunately, I can't find the time to develop exciting, innovative things to do each week. The children also want to eat, wear clean clothes, attend activities, and spend time with friends. I need to find a way to either motivate the children to work effectively during the normal school year or develop curriculum that hits on their interests.

My oldest dd was able to do most of her high school work in an unschooling style. She was interested in a wide range of subjects, read extensively, and used her "school time" to learn things. My current high school students don't have the drive to learn or the range of interests. They need more direction. Anyone with good ideas or opinions, please comment.

1 comment:

Glenda said...

No suggestions. We're way behind here, and I need to motivate myself to "just do it." I hate this time, I always end up feeling like a big ole failure irregardless of all we did accomplish.