So, here we were, rearing to go! The word burn-out was there, hovering in the air. I had to find ways of ditching stress in homeschooling. This is an inexhaustible subject, but I will share how I have moved from chaos to calm in my journey.
So one day I was hard at work, teaching about place value in Math, relying on the power of repetition. But where did that get me? I was almost out of my wits and my daughter near exhaustion too. David intervened and suggested a better method, and things got moving at full speed again😊.
‘But mum, I don’t understand when you use so many words!’ Ouch! I am busy trying to simplify a question as much as I can but it seems I have succeeded in making it more complex. Enter daddy, and suddenly she sees the light! Lol. So dad took up Science and story sums. My point is two are better than one. When you are helping a child with something and they don’t get you, don’t fret. Someone else may express it better than you and the world continues revolving.
When we started we would spend about 2 hours tops on everything, the reading, writing, Math. One day I didn’t have that much time, so I became scribe for the day. What do you know, we finished Math in 10 minutes, and school was done in 30! From that day, I have been writing for her; she just gives me the answers. Later on, reading this book by Dr Raymond Moore, I decided to take a much more laid back approach until she reaches 8.
“Reading is boring, mum. I am not good at it.”
‘But you are good, my dear.’
“It’s soo hard.”
‘Ok, let me read the story for you.’
In short, that is how I also started doing the reading for her. We left the flash cards, and spellings. Guess what? Now, she just takes her books and starts reading on her own! And she reads posters and anything in print. It had to take me removing it as a mandatory task for her to take it up voluntarily!
After a particularly challenging day when I had to deal with the baby and the brother, and it had drained me to talk I instituted quiet time. oh my, it worked wonders for my sanity! I hugged the kids as we lay on the couch and said, ‘We won’t be talking or doing anything for the next 30 min.’ They co-operated and it became a thing for the next month or so!
I was quite the helicopter mum when it came to monitoring schoolwork; always hovering about her. She would look at me for assurance and I would tell her to look at her book or blocks for the answer. One day she was trying to sing ‘Two little dicky birds’ and she couldn’t remember some of the lyrics. I had to bite my tongue to stop from correcting her. How happy I was when the lyrics came without my intervention. I then decided to give her a chance to wade out of muddy waters by herself. It really builds her confidence and aids me in ditching the stress in homeschooling 😁.
Two is definitely better than one! Fantastic teamwork!