Homeschooling blahs

This has been one of my less inspiring homeschooling weeks.  I'm sure the weather has played a huge part.  We all want spring, yet it stubbornly remains below 50 degrees.  Plus, I was a bit consumed with completing home study paperwork which left little brain space for other things.  And then when you add in more than a couple emotionally draining events... well, that leaves you with a pile of workbooks without a lot of creativity.  Bleh.

I know all too well that if I am not feeling excited about what my children are learning, then it's guaranteed that my children are not going to be excited.  Now that I have several things finished up that have been hanging over my head, it's time to go back to focusing on learning.  My typical pattern of doing anything is to throw myself whole heartedly into one project and work on that project in a slightly obsessive way until I become sated and immediately lose all interest.  (Yeah, I know... it's a little pathological.  I do try to work on discipline and moderation.  Really I do.)  I am afraid that I go about teaching my children in the same way and why the unit study approach works so well for us.  It allows us to focus on all aspects of one topic for a concentrated amount of time and then leave it to do something completely different.  In the end we end up learning a whole lot about a lot of different things.  What I find most interesting is how completely disparate things end up relating and informing one another.  I love connecting all our learning together.

All that to say, I think we need to finish up with the South Pacific.  I'm starting to feel a familiar ennui whenever I start to contemplate it.  Plus, we are nearly done reading Kon Tiki.  (I have found is fascinating and highly recommend it.  Did you know there is also a DVD available of actual film footage shot by Thor Heyerdahl from the raft trip?  It was so cool to see the actual things we read about.)  So I think next week we will focus on finishing projects so we can move on to something new.  That means we will be finishing up all our little books and I've wanted to do an art related project as well.  If I'm industrious perhaps I can find some hula music to listen to as we work on our projects.  There, I'm becoming re-energized even as I type this.

But it is the new that draws me.  I love thinking up new projects and learning new things.  I'm just not sure what that is going to be.  We're all consumed with the new bee hive at the moment, perhaps we will do apian studies.

Comments

TJC said…
I think that we learn best when we pursue an initial interest in just this way. Interest A leads to seeking information on Interest B, which leads to C, etc. The concept of separate classes for separate subjects, separated by signals to stop one thing and move on to the next...well, we've all read our Gatto, haven't we?
4/08/2011 2:21 PM
thecurryseven said…
M. informed me I have been corrupted by facebook because I said that sometimes I really want a 'like' button on blogger comments.

e
4/08/2011 3:03 PM
comemorning said…
This was really helpful to me. I am still figuring out how to approach learning in our home and thus far I've focused mainly on reading a lot and doing chores together. "projects" or "units" seem so unattainable at this stage but I do feel like we'll grow into them. It's really helpful to see how you bring things together. And I like the Hawaiian music idea. :)
4/08/2011 8:59 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
( Sorry, the contest is now closed .... though you're welcome to leave a comment if you like.) [This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but is here solely to give Blogger a different photo to post in the thumbnail.] It's Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway time again.  I love bias tape.  It is so useful and so easy to use... finishing edges ... finishing seams ...  And while the pre-packaged stuff has it's place and I use it often, I really like to have patterned bias tape as well.  Enter one of my favorite little tools: the bias tape maker.  This one make 3/4 inch bias tape and I will be giving one away at the end of this post.  But first, I thought some of you might like to see what it does if you've never used one before. I don't have a rotary cutter, nice cutting mats, or even a proper cutting table (I cut-out things on my floor), so if I can do this, so can you.  Here is my admittedly quirky method. Step 1:  Lay out the fabric and fold a corner ove
Read more

An uncomfortable post

I hope it comes as no surprise to my readers that when I vote early next week I will be casting my ballot for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Being in a blue state this feels as though it is a very little thing in the effort to bring our country back past the brink of no return . I'll be honest and say that I am feeling such stress and fear about this election that I can't listen to any news or look at social media for very long. The radio is pretty firmly set on our classical music station even though they are in the middle of a pledge drive. The pledge drive is preferable.  But for those of you who are supporting the other side, if there are any of you left who continue to visit my blog, here is what I need to say. When I drive around and see signs in people's yards supporting that man, I treat it as an early warning system. The people who live in this house are not safe for my family to be around. This is far more than a difference of opinion. That worked for all the preside
Read more

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting another giveaway day , the day where many bloggers giveaway things they have made or supplies to make things or both.  It is great fun to visit a lot of blogs and try to win cool stuff.  So fun that I thought I would participate this year. I had great hopes of making a set of coordinating mother/daughter aprons.  But reality reared its ugly head and I came to terms with the fact that my time is not limitless.Instead of aprons,  I must continue to spend quality time with yards and yards of red plaid flannel.  What am I making?  Well, as I tell my children, it is the season not to ask questions... I will be able to let you know sometime after the 25th. Instead of making something, I went to my favorite thrift store and found some supplies in the form of sheets and pillowcases (some of my favorite raw material).  I'm giving away three pillowcases and one twin flat sheet. I decided to go with bright, springy colors, because if you are anything like
Read more