Breaking Free of the School Blahs
Okay, so lately school's been kind of, well, just blah.
Nothing bad, but we've been in kind of a rut lately.
For some that may be called a schedule or in the groove, but I like to keep things fresh and interesting so Emma wants to do school just to see what is going to happen next. I have found that with Emma, while she enjoys the predictability of her schedule, she also likes to have fun little surprises that she can look forward to...be they little holiday worksheets, or what not.
This week we've had a particularly weird week. Emma has been in some sort of funk, little thing. She seems to be a little distracted and I've had a hard time getting her to give me 100%. After ascertaining that there was nothing seriously wrong, we've decided we need to pull back. None of her classes seem too hard but sometimes this happens if too much information is thrown at her regarding too many things.
This is one of the things I love and hate most about homeschooling...having to read your kid. I can read Emma about if she is hungry or getting sick, or peeved at her brother. But school is an entirely different matter. It is a point where I have to look at her from an education angle (with a little dash of mommy-ing thrown in, of course!) to try to figure out her learning styles and what angles to go with her when we start having school trouble. So frustrating, yes, but so rewarding when it pays off. I can't imagine doing this with 27 children...school teachers are amazing is all I can say!
Anyway, so today I got a unit-study from this amazing website I've found called Living Life Intentionally. You really need to check it out! She has such amazing things to do! I think the material was geared more for Cal's age, but there were lots of things for Emma to do too!
First we read this classic book, Make Way for the Ducklings. written by Robert McCloskey in 1941. Such a cute, cute book!
After that we did oodles of the worksheets. Emma mapped out the routes of the cute little ducks, and we played a math game, and Cal did lots of tracing and finding the letter of the day "D". All of these items were provided from Living Life Intentionally. LOVED all of it! Not loving that I completely spaced taking pictures of the fun for you all...sorry!
This afternoon I set aside some time to read blogs and I opened up this blog from Confessions of a Homeschooler. She discusses moving your homeschool "classroom" to a different location to shake things up a bit and to help with the blahs.
While we have gone to the library during homeschool to look things up, I've never packed up and just gone to the library...so I am looking forward to doing that this week :) Hopefully it will help keep things interesting for Emma.
Just a tip for you homeschool newbies, Confessions of a Homeschooler is a GREAT place to start in terms of looking for materials and curriculums. She has tons of FREE downloads and printables...things to make your life easier as a homeschooling mama :)
Well I hope I have given you a couple of ideas to mix things up and go crazy if the mid-year blahs are setting in for you. I'd love to hear other suggestions you all have as well.
Have a great day :)