Wednesday, February 3, 2010

R is for Regroup

Our letter this week is R. Only, does it count to have a letter of the week if you have had zero days of school? I have a long list of excuses-we went out of town, I didnt feel good yesterday, I am still not unpacked from moving, etc, etc.

I spend so much time online and in the dollar store coming up with the perfect school trays and crafts. For every project that we do, there are at least 2 more that I have the stuff for and dont know if or when we will ever get it done.

I spend an hour or two cutting, pasting, printing, laminating, drawing, or what ever is needed to be done for a project or tray. Then, I give the materials to my children and 10 minutes later they are done, bored, and ready to move on to the next activity.

I have been spending my free time for the last 3 weeks working on school plans. When I say free time, I just mean time that I am not sleeping, changing clothes, diapers, or cooking. The house is on the edge of disaster. Just doing the bare minimums for 3 weeks starts to add up.

I am really not trying to complain, I just feel so swamped. I want to have a nice clean, organized house. I also want to have hours of fun, stimulating, educational activities for my kids to do. I need a better system. Er really a system of any sort would help a lot!

Those of you that homeschool, or simply do projects with your LO at home, when do you work on your school planning? When do you make your materials? Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

3 comments:

sbswtp said...

Hugs to you! :) I don't have a great system yet either...and find it quite overwhelming at times. I try and fit in the "plans" and prep work throughout the day (during free play/nap time)...or for those days (like most days) when the baby wont let me...I do it at night....sacrificing some of my much needed sleep....

Ash said...

Wow, I can only imagine how time-consuming it would be to do normal household duties AND homeschool. I'm sure your children are still learning so much from you every day and, as time goes on, things will probably fall into place :)

Michelle Gibson said...

That is a LOT of work for just 10 minutes, isn't it?! One thing I quit doing was laminating ~ that was taking too much time. I print what I need and try to keep my supplies in a plastic shoe box or folder. I keep it handy so I can work on it when I have a chance. Often I will be thinking of ideas throughout the week and add supplies to a box as I think of it. Then on the day that we have tot school, I put all the activities together in about 10 minutes. Many I think up on the spot. I have pulled away from a lot of printing/cutting even so. Our last tot pack was a special occasion because it was her birthday and I wanted it to be special. What I find amazing is that some of the things that took me only a few minutes to pull together she will play with for much longer than the ones that took me much longer to prepare!

Today, we took the whole day to just clean the house. I only do this once a week. I try to maintain throughout the week the best I can, but it is hard to home school and keep your house clean! It feels good to be organized, so take the time you need to regroup and reorganize. You'll get there. Remember that your family and home and school need to be in balance. =)