Getting the Hang of Home School
I’m taking a much more focused approach to partial home school this year because this year we have the emotional and time resources to do it. Last year we were all just trying not to drown in mental health crises and work stress. This meant that home school was unfocused and mostly served as extra time to manage regular school. Unfortunately last years unfocused partial home school means that my 16 year old is now behind on credits that she needs to graduate. So this year we need to work double time to make up the credits. Add in the fact that my 14 year old is now in ninth grade which means we can’t let him fall behind on credits either. I have to pay attention this year. I have to keep track and make sure they are on track.
I am fortunate in that I don’t have to create curriculum. It is all there in the online classes. However I do sometimes have to acquire materials. This means I have to look ahead so that I acquire the materials before the day we’ll need them. Other wise we end up losing a day.
I’m starting to get the feel of it all. I went and bought a weekly planner so that I could write down which assignments each kid should be doing for which class. They each have two classes, and often do 2-3 assignments per class per day, so it is more to track than I can just carry around in my head. One of the educational goals for this year is to transition this task of tracking assignments from me to the kids. Another is for the 14 year old to learn how to make himself do hard things. More than that, we’re trying to actively practice skills so that he won’t lock up and become unable to work. Hopefully those cognitive skills will then generalize so that he can manage himself better at school as well.
Right now preparing for and running home school stuff is taking a lot of time and brain space. Hopefully as we progress it will take less.