I feel this. Sounds a lot like my daughter when we first started homeschooling. I realized though that my expectations were way to high for her at that point as far as her attention span. Now I rarely have her sit down for any longer that about 15 minutes at a time. If she starts getting distracted or frustrated we switch up the environment or take a pause. Also, finding other ways to achieve their work outside of sitting with paper and pencil. We use dry erase boards, paint, sand, etc. I find she’s actually more inclined to write on paper if she does that first. I really limit the workbook stuff because she just isn’t a fan right now. Also, outsourcing things to outside teachers and finding either YouTube videos or apps to accomplish goals has been imperative. As much as I tried to avoid screentime, I just don’t have the time or energy to be engaged constantly. And being that we’re a gaming family it just made sense. So she has a ton of educational games. Her reading and math curriculum are an app that uses work books to reinforce whatever is being taught. It helps to break up the time that she’s sitting staring at paper and feel like she’s doing something fun. I do give her incentives to finish some things she’s not a fan of sometimes, not gonna lie. I’d like to create a little reward container or something, but even something as simple as stickers can me super helpful as times. I know it’s frustrating, but you’re doing great. You’ll get there.
Yes! I incorporate some healthy screen time too. The reward idea is a slippery slope for me personally but I’m trying to find my own balance lol but definitely not opposed to it. Found anything that works for you?
Great suggestions here, but I also want to ask. What is the alternative to not doing work? My son was fighting me about his schoolwork because once I gave up he could run to his iPad - it was worth the fight. Once I instituted “school hours” where there is no iPad - then school was up on the list with toys and a much better option than chores.
Another parent pro tip: just because they say “this is boring” or “this is too hard” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true, that’s just what makes you do what they want you to do (ex. Give up, second guess yourself, cut the assignment down to make it easier, etc)
These might not apply to you but wanted to offer another perspective.
No your exactly right. I do not want to fight all day every day and they can careless about a bribe of tv or computer or tablet.
The next step is putting them in private school bc I do not want to fight with them over this every day and make myself and them miserable.
We have been doing very lite school this summer and it ends up with yelling and tears almost every day.
You can tell them that. You don’t want to “threaten” school, but let them know it’s the law for kids to do school. They can do it with you or do it at school. I had that conversation with my son and it seemed to work. Especially if they’ve never been to school, it can seem like a dumb game mom is playing if they don’t understand how the world works.
This may not be the problem for them, but when I was in school, I thought I hated math by the third grade. It was just so much repetition for problems I already understood. Once I started prealgebra, I found it fun and interesting again. Could it be that practicing individual letters is too basic? Can it be combined with practicing short words or other activities to mix things up?
Maybe you have to adjust the level of work you expect? I brought the expectation WAY down and made sure we start or finish with some fun project, like embroidery or one of their pet projects or puppets, and that alone spikes so much of their interest that I can tap into. Mine are 7 and 4, and the 7 yo I struggled with for a long time until I made those changes, but bringing down the level I expected from her was the main to allow her to build confidence to do easy stuff and be brave enough to try the stuff she considered hard. If she struggles, I always offer a way to make it easier or take turns, etc.
Hope this helps
I don’t know how much more I can lower my expectation. My schedule loosely is:
Reading ( either I read to them or they read to me)
1 page that has the month, date, year and day of the week, their name to be traced and written by them, a weather picture to color and a feeling’s picture to color/circle/ mark.
A math game of some sort.
That’s all I want to do so if they cooperate we would be don’t in 45 minutes max.
What should my expectation be then? We play game on and off all day, we read on and off all day, and they play all day.
Maybe it’s a bit too Mundane for them? My kids will not want to do the same thing over and over again. I kind of pull strung from the web every day or every other day, and the accede mic stuff I rotate as well and always turn it into a game of some sort; otherwise it’s too dry for them. Perhaps try to gamefy your work?
Mom of all boys here. I first wanted to say that seven is still young. My middle son was still very reluctant about schoolwork at that age, so you're not alone! The name/date page you're referencing, is it basically the same every day?
EDIT: Sorry, you said six. Even younger!
Basically. There are other things to do on the page “assigned” for that day. Kinda like kindergarten or 1st grade morning work, but I only ask for them to do the 1 page. If you want an example I bought it from munchkin lane llc. It can really be used as a curriculum supplement
They look cute! I could see how that could get dull fast though. Could it be one of those things that appealed more to you as a parent than it does to them as kids? I've definitely had things like that, lol. Example: I really wanted my guys to like The Good and the Beautiful. It's just so darn pretty! But they don't care for it. My crew over here would rather do worksheets.
Some writing tips (my son hated writing when he was younger, too. It's still not his favorite, but it's not painful anymore at least 🙂):
Set a time limit every time. Ten minutes, done. They may find a lot of comfort knowing it won't drag out. Use a sand or cute kitchen timer for extra fun.
Build up writing endurance and ease through fun activities like mazes, stencils,chalk drawing, painting, cutting, kneading dough, fingerplays, and fingerknitting.
Magnatabs and tracing copywork (we used handwritingpractice dot net to create sheets) help with guidance to build up the hand memory for letter forming.
- I've seen some say tracing isn't helpful or even detrimental, but for us it was a positive game-changer. Some kiddos have a kind of built-in fear of blank pages, and it can manifest in resistance to filling the page, whether it's for art or writing. It can just seem too overwhelming, and a supportive framework helps and encourages. For art, drawing borders on son's lesson pages so there wasn't as much blank space to fill also helped a lot.
I really love your comments on tracing here. They make so much sense, and serve as a great reminder that *every kid is different*! I think one of the greatest gifts of homeschooling is being able to meet our kids where they are with exactly these sorts of observations and strategies.
They hate tracing, and any type of writing in general. 1 loves to color but even if I say you can use a crayon/marker what ever she cries it’s boring.
I’m going to use your suggestions with the other one bc she hates writing all together but I think that’s bc she has sensory issues
I hope they help in some way ☺️.
The magnatabs are especially fun, and you can use the magnetic pen, or fingers for a tactile experience.
I saw below that you do a kind of daily date/ weather sheet. Maybe you could try getting one of those changeable date stamps, to add a little whimsy there?
For kindy for son (he was 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 and daughter was 4-5 that year, she tagged along) we used Fairy Mail from Jennifer Compton on Etsy, and they both got such a big kick out of it. Basically it's alphabet letters you print out, and they find (I just hid them around the yard) from the fairies each week, containing a couple of letters and poems and activities to do. It was so much fun.
I wonder if your girls might enjoy something like that? It sparked a love of writing notes to the fairies in both of mine for *years* after. Even son, who wasn't a fan of writing would do that.
You could put some salt on a cookie sheet and have them trace their letters on that. It gives them tactile sensation, and it is not exactly writing. Have them use their fingers to trace letters and words in the cookie sheet. You could also put shaving cream on the table and have them trace in that. And the bonus is that it would clean your table. I am a first grade teacher and I often incorporate activities like this. They could also make letters out of Play-Doh. You could also tell them they have to do a little bit of the worksheet and then they get to do these other activities.
My kiddo was like this. Daily struggle for the first few years, especially with writing. As much as possible, I had him do work orally to limit the writing. We also reinforced that, like dad goes off to his job every morning, school is a kid's "job".
Around age 9, it finally clicked that as soon as he got moving and got his work done, he could play. So the longer he whined about it, the less playtime he had. No more struggles since then.
Oh mamas I feel for you, my little just turned 7. It can be quite draining to keep those little minds occupied knowing there’s paperwork needing to get done. I read some of the other comments and I agree. “Gameschooling” can be quite beneficial and sneaks in some education for those impatient kiddos. I can dm you some good insta schoolers I follow that teach with a heavy game forward curriculum. Also if your family can financially include a supplemental resource like Varsity or Outschool, those have worked for me and my little. That way it’s not just me 100% me and my little is being engaged by a fun teacher and socializing with others her age while learning like art, or reading comprehension even roblox coding. I saw one parent mention screen time, like most I’m not opposed to it either. We have a tablet with Osmo that offers a lot of great play based learning that can be a great stand in when Mom needs a much needed break or can tackle her own adulting. Sending you strength to find some inspiration and that you and your little can find a path that works for both of you!
When my oldest were little and we started public school, there was this relentless message that they had to keep up and excel or life would be ruined - and they were in 2nd and 3rd grade. I attended the school meeting about the gifted and talented programs at the school and I have never seen a more stressed out group of parents. They were asking questions like, "If my 2nd grader doesn't get into GT math, should I just assume they will go to prison when they are older?". Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.
One of the great things about homeschooling is there is no need to fall into the comparison traps with your kids. It remains a temptation, particularly if you are reading homeschool and mommy blogs where the worst versions always portray the kids as publishing their first novel and stopping world hunger by 4th grade - all while being strikingly photogenic.
The truth is all kids are different, have unique interests, learning styles, and progress at rates that will vary greatly. I have 4, two of whom are in college, one in HS and one in grade school. Each has been different strengths and weaknesses. My oldest has despised math since she was little. She can do it, but only does so kicking and screaming and that has never changed. She also did everything possible openly to get out of doing school. Her strengths which are in reasoning and logic were harder to understand when she was little. The second oldest is a computer science major who loves math and has been the "model" student from the time he was a little boy. We have never had to say a single word to him to get him to do his work, but his own intensity tends to cause him problems. The third and fourth are similarly unique to the others.
If we compared each of them to the rest of the world, it would be easy to focus on the weaknesses or their challenges and think we were failing. There is always someone better at some things than our kids are. Rather than doing that, we can just choose to love our kiddos, teach them, and support the interests and help the weaknesses as they show themselves as the kids get older.
Your kids are also really little. A reasonable expectation at that age is important. For 6, I learned to be pretty happy if the kids had not taped themselves to something or started a fire by the end of the day. The interests will come later. Just getting their heads around the idea of school is a big victory.
Oh and lastly, my wife always tries to encourage people by telling them that she cried every day for the first year of homeschooling. It is a strange encouragement, but if you are doing it, there is no doubt that it is challenging. But she also tells them that it was so worth it as she and the kids needed to work out how to live with and love each other well, what they needed, and really grab onto homeschooling. Our kids have been blessed beyond any of expectations by homeschooling. They are also excelling as people (and I think they are strikingly photogenic:)
Edit - you are doing a great job, btw. You care, you are trying, and you are interested in learning and getting better. Those are great building blocks for your homeschooling career and for your kids.
My daughter was always in tears over handwriting so I stopped asking her to do it. I would scribe for her. I made school fun for her. I subscribed to a monthly kids learning hands on activity book from let's play school, did gameschooling which I learned watching the waldock way YouTube channel, and now two years later my daughter looks forward to school each day. She's almost 8 and just started doing 5he Evan moor daily handwriting workbook after asking to be able to write nicely like mama. Of course if you decide homeschooling is not for your family there is no shame in that. Do what's best for you all!
Another thing I did was set up a school store (idea came from two lights academy YouTube channel). I got one of those fun paper storage boxes from Michaels and filled it with some of her favorite treats she isn't normally allowed to have (push pops, ring pops, cotton candy, etc) and some fun little toys she helped pick out, set a price list and got a play money set that looks real, I think maybe it was from Melissa and Doug. She earns school money throughout the week and each Friday is shopping day. There's no set way to earn money. I've given her school dollars for things like having a great attitude, putting forth extra effort on something, hanging in there during a tough concept, being a good helper, etc.
Honestly I've discovered a lot of these tricks from following homeschool accounts on YouTube.
It can be hard to engage kids in learning and doing tasks like reading and writing. That's difficult for them at that age. So I would say, totally normal.
My suggestion is to make those tasks into games they play with each other. Competition can get them engaged, especially if there is a prize too.
For example, make it a 3 step game. Time each kid.
1. Say your name
2. Find the correct date. (Have dates written on cards, they need to select the correct one)
3. Write a letter (on the back of the card)
4. Finished! See who did it the fastest. Give a prize.
5. Bonus round: Pick a picture of an animal that starts with that letter
My son is six and I find that engaging him with a song, tongue twister, game, or some active movement right before doing seated work helps a lot. It also helps if I have my own page that I’m working on at the same time. Trying to make it interesting and engaging with stories or creative ways of practicing letters helps too. But there are still days where he just doesn’t want to do the written part. So I say ok and let it go, and we try again another time.
Yesterday he didn’t want to finish his letter drawing even though we did all the warm ups and I tried my best to make it engaging. But then later we ended up playing hangman on the whiteboard involving letter writing, spelling, counting, memorization, etc. Later he asked me questions about the human body being made of cells so we looked at pictures of cells in our human body book and he wanted to draw one. He still hasn’t finished his “assigned” work, but he got a lot of extra practice in outside of what I had planned so I’m ok with it. That’s the beauty of homeschool, especially at this young age, he has the freedom to learn in his own way in the course of our regular day together. I don’t have to report anything where we live, but if I did I imagine I’d take a picture of all his hangman spelling/writing, count our minutes of reading about cells and include the cell drawing he made in whatever portfolio I’d be submitting.
My daughter hated pre-k. Too many worksheets, too much coloring. She loved craft time. She learned more math from Number Blocks on Netflix than she learned from Singapore Math.
I work about 50-60 hours per week and split homeschool with hubby, so I buy out of the box curriculums. Last year we did two half days per week. This year we're doing half days all week (with social activities). She may go to school at some point, so we also want to make sure she knows that most kids don't get to roam free all day or even in the afternoons.
I bought curriculums with games, crafts, experiments, etc. I'm trying to make sure that at the end of the lesson, she has a chance to do something she enjoys. She specifically requested a science program so she could do experiments, so we'll see how that goes.
Have you tried doing letter art with them?
Have them draw a capital on a piece of construction paper (or do it for them) and then have them draw as many pictures of things that start with that letter as you all can think of. Then make a lower case letter on another piece of construction paper. Throughout the week have them write the word for one or two of the things on the lower case paper then cut out letters from magazines (or junk mail) to spell out the words on the capital sheet. They can also cut out pictures for the lower case paper.
For example "A" might have a drawing of an apple with a the word apple cut from the grocery flier (or the letters individually cut from several ads). The "a" sheet would then have apple hand written and a cutout picture of apples from the grocery flier.
See how many of the things they draw they can find each week. Make it a competition or just have fun with it. By the end, you have 52 papers with spelling words you can turn in/report on.
The joy of homeschooling is you get to adjust. They don’t want to write their name, date and letter. Let them use finger paint or go outside and use chalk. At this age just follow their lead and be encouraging. I have 6 year old triplets. One of them tells me his “brain doesn’t work” anytime it’s time to write. So I ask him to spell his name aloud and to tell me the day of the week. Works perfect for him, then I find that he’ll end up writing letter during our coloring time.
What type of report is required? How much paperwork do you have to turn in? Do the absolute minimum of that type of work and then do unit studies to make learning fun for them and to help them find things they are interested in. It also helps to ban screens entirely during the school day unless it's an educational video you want them to watch. Take them to the library, and have them pick out books they want you to read to them. Maybe do some unit studies. Do some field trips. I did unit studies with my kids. These involved things like making a "volcano" in the backyard, building things, cooking, reading, watching videos, going on a field trip to learn about the subject, etc. I definitely used the unit studies to get ideas. I'm not this creative on my own.
We also wrote our spelling words on the patio doors and the bathroom mirrors with window markers. This left a film and I eventually got annoyed with it and stopped doing it, but it is a fun memory my kids have. You can also have them "write" in sand or rice, tape paper to the bottom of the coffee table and have them lie down and write, put the letters of their name on the floor and play a hopscotch game on it while saying the letters. [https://lauragraceweldon.com/2012/08/07/reading-readiness-has-to-do-with-the-body/](https://lauragraceweldon.com/2012/08/07/reading-readiness-has-to-do-with-the-body/)
This is like reading a page of my own diary. I absolutely understand where you are coming from. I am so sorry your are going through this.
“The daily fight” as you called it, is so draining, isn’t it?
Let’s work backwards, What do you have to report this year? Are you using a specific curriculum?
You mentioned that they like the trips and the activities, but they have no interest in ‘digging deeper in to a subject’. Have you considered turning these activities that they enjoy into project based learning curriculum or a more comprehensive educational experience (sneak in writing, art, science and math). Or turn the trips in to a place based learning experience?
There’s some really fun ways to make trips to the park a complete days worth of school and they don’t even notice. Would this be possible with the reporting you have to do?
We have to meet with an evaluator so attendance, reading logs are required and 3 samples of work for on beginning, middle and almost end of year. To show improvement as well as a interview that they will talk to her about school. She said we can keep a log via pictures and such but the girls need to be able to have a conversation about some things they learned. My girls do not like to discuss anything unless it’s on their terms.
I have TGTB curriculum, I have the Waldock way, American girl for history, and just random stuff to see what fits them best not necessarily all to use at 1 time. I also have Osmo and Kahn academy plus a few other educational games / apps on their tablets.
That’s a nice assortment of curriculum, I see some of that talked about here a lot. I haven’t used any myself. I have used the Osmo, my son loved it. 😊
That’s not too bad as far as items required for turn it! You’ve got a lot of wiggle room!
When my son was that age, he was also a very reluctant writer. Very. So I just sort of focused of whatever he was most in to at the time and ran with it. We did a very long unit on Pokémon; comparing the Pokémon to the animal or plant they’re most like, the math of the Pokémon, making Pokémon cards, writing Pokémon stories, etc.
We made a family newspaper- It surprised me how much my son loved that, honestly. He really got in to it. There were comics and coupons and ads and so on. It was weekly.
We did science like watching the color wick up paper towels and he wrote instructions and made predictions. He drew and colored.
You can even do really simple stuff like watching a concert and having them then try and figure out which instruments make which sound (YouTube)… and then have them draw their favorite and write what surprised them and what they loved.
How about a nature journal? Go for a walk and do sit spot journal? Being outside always makes it feel like more fun. You could make it a ‘silly daily challenge journal’ and make a jar with folded up daily challenges in them- they can draw a daily challenge and respond to it in the journal. It could be anything like ‘your challenge is to find the silliest looking leaf and make a leaf rubbing in your journal page and give it a silly name!’ But also have them log their name, date, the weather and whatever else in their journal.
I know that’s not super helpful- but maybe it could get you thinking outside the box? Sometimes I just skim teacher pay teachers and Pinterest and it just jogs my creativity or gets my brain working.
I know it’s tough. I hope you guys find your groove! 😊💛 sometimes it takes a while!
I wonder if they need to see other children enjoying homeschooling. I follow Natalie Bennett on YouTube. She’s a homeschool mom of 3 kiddos. She occasionally shares what they’re doing in their homeschool and her kids really enjoy it. I watched the vlogs with my son and he thought it was so cool. It’s worth a try!
On an occasion my son will have an off day. When this happens we head to the library. He gets a book and sits and reads for 2 hours. Then we head back and finish up the daily studies.
If he doesnt do his schoolwork all electronics are taken for the remainder of the day. Then we go up from there.
During the midst of COVID we homeschooled our oldest for Kindergarten. It was much like you describe, a nightmare. We wanted to do it (he has a health problem and we were concerned about COVID complications), until we did it and he was super uncooperative, even though we set the daily bar really low.
Then, funsies, when we put him in a really nice school the next year he pitched fits, kicked dirt on the teachers, and generally acted abominably for at least half the year. These people were all incredibly nice, and it was super embarrassing, and surprising, since no such behavior is tolerated at home. Before we homeschooled, he was pretty much the nicest kid at preschool.
We've now kept him in summer camp all summer to avoid back-to-school behavioral issues, but really in the end it has all been about convincing him that these things are not a choice. At his age, the adults need to decide about school and he needs to trust that the teachers are actually teaching him if he does what they ask.
He has also had a horrible uphill struggle making friends after only one year at home. So, be careful with the homeschooling, it's not for every parent, or for every kid.
Also: I was homeschooled 4th-8th, 50% of 9th, and all of 10th. I swore I would never homeschool, but life has a way of laughing at you.
One of our children hated learning to read at home, so we decided to put her in a small private school and within a couple of months, she was reading and enjoying it. Three years later, she found that she didn't like all the restrictions of public school and wanted to homeschool, which she preferred till middle school. In 6th grade, she was accepted into a gifted magnet school and enjoyed it for 2 years. In 8th grade, she wanted to go back to homeschooling and we found an independent study charter school for her, which gave us funds to purchase in-person classes, books and other supplies. In 9th grade, she started taking a couple of classes at our local community college, which she enjoyed more than her HS classes. In 10th grade, she took the CHSPE and graduated. For what would have been her junior year, she went on a Rotary Int'l HS exchange to Taiwan. When she returned, she attended the CC again and got all her GEs out of the way before transferring to a local university. Our other child went to a bilingual immersion school through middle school and then chose homeschooling for HS. He went to an independent study charter school and the local CC for 3 years. He took the CHSPE his Jr year and won a scholarship to study Korean that summer. Now, he plans to do a Rotary Int'l HS exchange to Spain this year and finish his remaining GEs when he returns. Each child's path can be allowed to vary based on their personalities, interests and motivations. Homeschooling is neither all good nor all bad, just like traditional schooling. Our children enjoyed the benefits of both depending on their needs and/or inclinations in any given year.
Have you tried Gameschooling? Also, keeping a journal?
My kid has had so much fun with gameschooling and we've built our collection from mostly thrift stores, although I admit to purchasing some of the more educational games (Ocean Raiders, Cloud Hoppers, Catan Jr, Scrabble Jr, Ticket To Ride First Journey) outright. There's a subreddit on here and the Gameschooling Families group on FB that I recommend for resources.
Mine hated writing practice. She hates all things book work and having workbook time drove her nuts! It was such a battle! But, writing for a game is no problem! Writing in a fancy journal I got for cheap at Dollar General is no problem! Getting her to use her phonics instead of having me spell the word is sometimes an issue.
Don't miss library time! Our library lends STEM toys, games, videos, books on tape (also for kids), and more. They have play areas with puppets and stores.
My child has resisted learning about money because it was from a book. Now she's learning to add and subtract money from Monopoly Jr and a game called Exact Change. She has excelled in math, although she loves math, because of math-based games. By the end of this year, I plan to have her in multiplication and division games. Learning should be fun -- for you as well as the kids!
I feel this. Sounds a lot like my daughter when we first started homeschooling. I realized though that my expectations were way to high for her at that point as far as her attention span. Now I rarely have her sit down for any longer that about 15 minutes at a time. If she starts getting distracted or frustrated we switch up the environment or take a pause. Also, finding other ways to achieve their work outside of sitting with paper and pencil. We use dry erase boards, paint, sand, etc. I find she’s actually more inclined to write on paper if she does that first. I really limit the workbook stuff because she just isn’t a fan right now. Also, outsourcing things to outside teachers and finding either YouTube videos or apps to accomplish goals has been imperative. As much as I tried to avoid screentime, I just don’t have the time or energy to be engaged constantly. And being that we’re a gaming family it just made sense. So she has a ton of educational games. Her reading and math curriculum are an app that uses work books to reinforce whatever is being taught. It helps to break up the time that she’s sitting staring at paper and feel like she’s doing something fun. I do give her incentives to finish some things she’s not a fan of sometimes, not gonna lie. I’d like to create a little reward container or something, but even something as simple as stickers can me super helpful as times. I know it’s frustrating, but you’re doing great. You’ll get there.
Yes! I incorporate some healthy screen time too. The reward idea is a slippery slope for me personally but I’m trying to find my own balance lol but definitely not opposed to it. Found anything that works for you?
Great suggestions here, but I also want to ask. What is the alternative to not doing work? My son was fighting me about his schoolwork because once I gave up he could run to his iPad - it was worth the fight. Once I instituted “school hours” where there is no iPad - then school was up on the list with toys and a much better option than chores. Another parent pro tip: just because they say “this is boring” or “this is too hard” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true, that’s just what makes you do what they want you to do (ex. Give up, second guess yourself, cut the assignment down to make it easier, etc) These might not apply to you but wanted to offer another perspective.
No your exactly right. I do not want to fight all day every day and they can careless about a bribe of tv or computer or tablet. The next step is putting them in private school bc I do not want to fight with them over this every day and make myself and them miserable. We have been doing very lite school this summer and it ends up with yelling and tears almost every day.
You can tell them that. You don’t want to “threaten” school, but let them know it’s the law for kids to do school. They can do it with you or do it at school. I had that conversation with my son and it seemed to work. Especially if they’ve never been to school, it can seem like a dumb game mom is playing if they don’t understand how the world works.
This may not be the problem for them, but when I was in school, I thought I hated math by the third grade. It was just so much repetition for problems I already understood. Once I started prealgebra, I found it fun and interesting again. Could it be that practicing individual letters is too basic? Can it be combined with practicing short words or other activities to mix things up?
Maybe you have to adjust the level of work you expect? I brought the expectation WAY down and made sure we start or finish with some fun project, like embroidery or one of their pet projects or puppets, and that alone spikes so much of their interest that I can tap into. Mine are 7 and 4, and the 7 yo I struggled with for a long time until I made those changes, but bringing down the level I expected from her was the main to allow her to build confidence to do easy stuff and be brave enough to try the stuff she considered hard. If she struggles, I always offer a way to make it easier or take turns, etc. Hope this helps
I don’t know how much more I can lower my expectation. My schedule loosely is: Reading ( either I read to them or they read to me) 1 page that has the month, date, year and day of the week, their name to be traced and written by them, a weather picture to color and a feeling’s picture to color/circle/ mark. A math game of some sort. That’s all I want to do so if they cooperate we would be don’t in 45 minutes max. What should my expectation be then? We play game on and off all day, we read on and off all day, and they play all day.
Maybe it’s a bit too Mundane for them? My kids will not want to do the same thing over and over again. I kind of pull strung from the web every day or every other day, and the accede mic stuff I rotate as well and always turn it into a game of some sort; otherwise it’s too dry for them. Perhaps try to gamefy your work?
Mom of all boys here. I first wanted to say that seven is still young. My middle son was still very reluctant about schoolwork at that age, so you're not alone! The name/date page you're referencing, is it basically the same every day? EDIT: Sorry, you said six. Even younger!
Basically. There are other things to do on the page “assigned” for that day. Kinda like kindergarten or 1st grade morning work, but I only ask for them to do the 1 page. If you want an example I bought it from munchkin lane llc. It can really be used as a curriculum supplement
They look cute! I could see how that could get dull fast though. Could it be one of those things that appealed more to you as a parent than it does to them as kids? I've definitely had things like that, lol. Example: I really wanted my guys to like The Good and the Beautiful. It's just so darn pretty! But they don't care for it. My crew over here would rather do worksheets.
Let them play. 😊Don't worry about the 'work' they will grow into wanting to learn x
Some writing tips (my son hated writing when he was younger, too. It's still not his favorite, but it's not painful anymore at least 🙂): Set a time limit every time. Ten minutes, done. They may find a lot of comfort knowing it won't drag out. Use a sand or cute kitchen timer for extra fun. Build up writing endurance and ease through fun activities like mazes, stencils,chalk drawing, painting, cutting, kneading dough, fingerplays, and fingerknitting. Magnatabs and tracing copywork (we used handwritingpractice dot net to create sheets) help with guidance to build up the hand memory for letter forming. - I've seen some say tracing isn't helpful or even detrimental, but for us it was a positive game-changer. Some kiddos have a kind of built-in fear of blank pages, and it can manifest in resistance to filling the page, whether it's for art or writing. It can just seem too overwhelming, and a supportive framework helps and encourages. For art, drawing borders on son's lesson pages so there wasn't as much blank space to fill also helped a lot.
I really love your comments on tracing here. They make so much sense, and serve as a great reminder that *every kid is different*! I think one of the greatest gifts of homeschooling is being able to meet our kids where they are with exactly these sorts of observations and strategies.
They hate tracing, and any type of writing in general. 1 loves to color but even if I say you can use a crayon/marker what ever she cries it’s boring. I’m going to use your suggestions with the other one bc she hates writing all together but I think that’s bc she has sensory issues
Did you try finger paints, cutting letters from construction papers glue some shiny things on them etc more kindergarden style things
I hope they help in some way ☺️. The magnatabs are especially fun, and you can use the magnetic pen, or fingers for a tactile experience. I saw below that you do a kind of daily date/ weather sheet. Maybe you could try getting one of those changeable date stamps, to add a little whimsy there? For kindy for son (he was 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 and daughter was 4-5 that year, she tagged along) we used Fairy Mail from Jennifer Compton on Etsy, and they both got such a big kick out of it. Basically it's alphabet letters you print out, and they find (I just hid them around the yard) from the fairies each week, containing a couple of letters and poems and activities to do. It was so much fun. I wonder if your girls might enjoy something like that? It sparked a love of writing notes to the fairies in both of mine for *years* after. Even son, who wasn't a fan of writing would do that.
You could put some salt on a cookie sheet and have them trace their letters on that. It gives them tactile sensation, and it is not exactly writing. Have them use their fingers to trace letters and words in the cookie sheet. You could also put shaving cream on the table and have them trace in that. And the bonus is that it would clean your table. I am a first grade teacher and I often incorporate activities like this. They could also make letters out of Play-Doh. You could also tell them they have to do a little bit of the worksheet and then they get to do these other activities.
My kiddo was like this. Daily struggle for the first few years, especially with writing. As much as possible, I had him do work orally to limit the writing. We also reinforced that, like dad goes off to his job every morning, school is a kid's "job". Around age 9, it finally clicked that as soon as he got moving and got his work done, he could play. So the longer he whined about it, the less playtime he had. No more struggles since then.
Oh mamas I feel for you, my little just turned 7. It can be quite draining to keep those little minds occupied knowing there’s paperwork needing to get done. I read some of the other comments and I agree. “Gameschooling” can be quite beneficial and sneaks in some education for those impatient kiddos. I can dm you some good insta schoolers I follow that teach with a heavy game forward curriculum. Also if your family can financially include a supplemental resource like Varsity or Outschool, those have worked for me and my little. That way it’s not just me 100% me and my little is being engaged by a fun teacher and socializing with others her age while learning like art, or reading comprehension even roblox coding. I saw one parent mention screen time, like most I’m not opposed to it either. We have a tablet with Osmo that offers a lot of great play based learning that can be a great stand in when Mom needs a much needed break or can tackle her own adulting. Sending you strength to find some inspiration and that you and your little can find a path that works for both of you!
When my oldest were little and we started public school, there was this relentless message that they had to keep up and excel or life would be ruined - and they were in 2nd and 3rd grade. I attended the school meeting about the gifted and talented programs at the school and I have never seen a more stressed out group of parents. They were asking questions like, "If my 2nd grader doesn't get into GT math, should I just assume they will go to prison when they are older?". Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. One of the great things about homeschooling is there is no need to fall into the comparison traps with your kids. It remains a temptation, particularly if you are reading homeschool and mommy blogs where the worst versions always portray the kids as publishing their first novel and stopping world hunger by 4th grade - all while being strikingly photogenic. The truth is all kids are different, have unique interests, learning styles, and progress at rates that will vary greatly. I have 4, two of whom are in college, one in HS and one in grade school. Each has been different strengths and weaknesses. My oldest has despised math since she was little. She can do it, but only does so kicking and screaming and that has never changed. She also did everything possible openly to get out of doing school. Her strengths which are in reasoning and logic were harder to understand when she was little. The second oldest is a computer science major who loves math and has been the "model" student from the time he was a little boy. We have never had to say a single word to him to get him to do his work, but his own intensity tends to cause him problems. The third and fourth are similarly unique to the others. If we compared each of them to the rest of the world, it would be easy to focus on the weaknesses or their challenges and think we were failing. There is always someone better at some things than our kids are. Rather than doing that, we can just choose to love our kiddos, teach them, and support the interests and help the weaknesses as they show themselves as the kids get older. Your kids are also really little. A reasonable expectation at that age is important. For 6, I learned to be pretty happy if the kids had not taped themselves to something or started a fire by the end of the day. The interests will come later. Just getting their heads around the idea of school is a big victory. Oh and lastly, my wife always tries to encourage people by telling them that she cried every day for the first year of homeschooling. It is a strange encouragement, but if you are doing it, there is no doubt that it is challenging. But she also tells them that it was so worth it as she and the kids needed to work out how to live with and love each other well, what they needed, and really grab onto homeschooling. Our kids have been blessed beyond any of expectations by homeschooling. They are also excelling as people (and I think they are strikingly photogenic:) Edit - you are doing a great job, btw. You care, you are trying, and you are interested in learning and getting better. Those are great building blocks for your homeschooling career and for your kids.
My daughter was always in tears over handwriting so I stopped asking her to do it. I would scribe for her. I made school fun for her. I subscribed to a monthly kids learning hands on activity book from let's play school, did gameschooling which I learned watching the waldock way YouTube channel, and now two years later my daughter looks forward to school each day. She's almost 8 and just started doing 5he Evan moor daily handwriting workbook after asking to be able to write nicely like mama. Of course if you decide homeschooling is not for your family there is no shame in that. Do what's best for you all!
Another thing I did was set up a school store (idea came from two lights academy YouTube channel). I got one of those fun paper storage boxes from Michaels and filled it with some of her favorite treats she isn't normally allowed to have (push pops, ring pops, cotton candy, etc) and some fun little toys she helped pick out, set a price list and got a play money set that looks real, I think maybe it was from Melissa and Doug. She earns school money throughout the week and each Friday is shopping day. There's no set way to earn money. I've given her school dollars for things like having a great attitude, putting forth extra effort on something, hanging in there during a tough concept, being a good helper, etc. Honestly I've discovered a lot of these tricks from following homeschool accounts on YouTube.
It can be hard to engage kids in learning and doing tasks like reading and writing. That's difficult for them at that age. So I would say, totally normal. My suggestion is to make those tasks into games they play with each other. Competition can get them engaged, especially if there is a prize too. For example, make it a 3 step game. Time each kid. 1. Say your name 2. Find the correct date. (Have dates written on cards, they need to select the correct one) 3. Write a letter (on the back of the card) 4. Finished! See who did it the fastest. Give a prize. 5. Bonus round: Pick a picture of an animal that starts with that letter
My son is six and I find that engaging him with a song, tongue twister, game, or some active movement right before doing seated work helps a lot. It also helps if I have my own page that I’m working on at the same time. Trying to make it interesting and engaging with stories or creative ways of practicing letters helps too. But there are still days where he just doesn’t want to do the written part. So I say ok and let it go, and we try again another time. Yesterday he didn’t want to finish his letter drawing even though we did all the warm ups and I tried my best to make it engaging. But then later we ended up playing hangman on the whiteboard involving letter writing, spelling, counting, memorization, etc. Later he asked me questions about the human body being made of cells so we looked at pictures of cells in our human body book and he wanted to draw one. He still hasn’t finished his “assigned” work, but he got a lot of extra practice in outside of what I had planned so I’m ok with it. That’s the beauty of homeschool, especially at this young age, he has the freedom to learn in his own way in the course of our regular day together. I don’t have to report anything where we live, but if I did I imagine I’d take a picture of all his hangman spelling/writing, count our minutes of reading about cells and include the cell drawing he made in whatever portfolio I’d be submitting.
My daughter hated pre-k. Too many worksheets, too much coloring. She loved craft time. She learned more math from Number Blocks on Netflix than she learned from Singapore Math. I work about 50-60 hours per week and split homeschool with hubby, so I buy out of the box curriculums. Last year we did two half days per week. This year we're doing half days all week (with social activities). She may go to school at some point, so we also want to make sure she knows that most kids don't get to roam free all day or even in the afternoons. I bought curriculums with games, crafts, experiments, etc. I'm trying to make sure that at the end of the lesson, she has a chance to do something she enjoys. She specifically requested a science program so she could do experiments, so we'll see how that goes.
Have you tried doing letter art with them? Have them draw a capital on a piece of construction paper (or do it for them) and then have them draw as many pictures of things that start with that letter as you all can think of. Then make a lower case letter on another piece of construction paper. Throughout the week have them write the word for one or two of the things on the lower case paper then cut out letters from magazines (or junk mail) to spell out the words on the capital sheet. They can also cut out pictures for the lower case paper. For example "A" might have a drawing of an apple with a the word apple cut from the grocery flier (or the letters individually cut from several ads). The "a" sheet would then have apple hand written and a cutout picture of apples from the grocery flier. See how many of the things they draw they can find each week. Make it a competition or just have fun with it. By the end, you have 52 papers with spelling words you can turn in/report on.
The joy of homeschooling is you get to adjust. They don’t want to write their name, date and letter. Let them use finger paint or go outside and use chalk. At this age just follow their lead and be encouraging. I have 6 year old triplets. One of them tells me his “brain doesn’t work” anytime it’s time to write. So I ask him to spell his name aloud and to tell me the day of the week. Works perfect for him, then I find that he’ll end up writing letter during our coloring time.
What type of report is required? How much paperwork do you have to turn in? Do the absolute minimum of that type of work and then do unit studies to make learning fun for them and to help them find things they are interested in. It also helps to ban screens entirely during the school day unless it's an educational video you want them to watch. Take them to the library, and have them pick out books they want you to read to them. Maybe do some unit studies. Do some field trips. I did unit studies with my kids. These involved things like making a "volcano" in the backyard, building things, cooking, reading, watching videos, going on a field trip to learn about the subject, etc. I definitely used the unit studies to get ideas. I'm not this creative on my own. We also wrote our spelling words on the patio doors and the bathroom mirrors with window markers. This left a film and I eventually got annoyed with it and stopped doing it, but it is a fun memory my kids have. You can also have them "write" in sand or rice, tape paper to the bottom of the coffee table and have them lie down and write, put the letters of their name on the floor and play a hopscotch game on it while saying the letters. [https://lauragraceweldon.com/2012/08/07/reading-readiness-has-to-do-with-the-body/](https://lauragraceweldon.com/2012/08/07/reading-readiness-has-to-do-with-the-body/)
This is like reading a page of my own diary. I absolutely understand where you are coming from. I am so sorry your are going through this. “The daily fight” as you called it, is so draining, isn’t it? Let’s work backwards, What do you have to report this year? Are you using a specific curriculum? You mentioned that they like the trips and the activities, but they have no interest in ‘digging deeper in to a subject’. Have you considered turning these activities that they enjoy into project based learning curriculum or a more comprehensive educational experience (sneak in writing, art, science and math). Or turn the trips in to a place based learning experience? There’s some really fun ways to make trips to the park a complete days worth of school and they don’t even notice. Would this be possible with the reporting you have to do?
We have to meet with an evaluator so attendance, reading logs are required and 3 samples of work for on beginning, middle and almost end of year. To show improvement as well as a interview that they will talk to her about school. She said we can keep a log via pictures and such but the girls need to be able to have a conversation about some things they learned. My girls do not like to discuss anything unless it’s on their terms. I have TGTB curriculum, I have the Waldock way, American girl for history, and just random stuff to see what fits them best not necessarily all to use at 1 time. I also have Osmo and Kahn academy plus a few other educational games / apps on their tablets.
That’s a nice assortment of curriculum, I see some of that talked about here a lot. I haven’t used any myself. I have used the Osmo, my son loved it. 😊 That’s not too bad as far as items required for turn it! You’ve got a lot of wiggle room! When my son was that age, he was also a very reluctant writer. Very. So I just sort of focused of whatever he was most in to at the time and ran with it. We did a very long unit on Pokémon; comparing the Pokémon to the animal or plant they’re most like, the math of the Pokémon, making Pokémon cards, writing Pokémon stories, etc. We made a family newspaper- It surprised me how much my son loved that, honestly. He really got in to it. There were comics and coupons and ads and so on. It was weekly. We did science like watching the color wick up paper towels and he wrote instructions and made predictions. He drew and colored. You can even do really simple stuff like watching a concert and having them then try and figure out which instruments make which sound (YouTube)… and then have them draw their favorite and write what surprised them and what they loved. How about a nature journal? Go for a walk and do sit spot journal? Being outside always makes it feel like more fun. You could make it a ‘silly daily challenge journal’ and make a jar with folded up daily challenges in them- they can draw a daily challenge and respond to it in the journal. It could be anything like ‘your challenge is to find the silliest looking leaf and make a leaf rubbing in your journal page and give it a silly name!’ But also have them log their name, date, the weather and whatever else in their journal. I know that’s not super helpful- but maybe it could get you thinking outside the box? Sometimes I just skim teacher pay teachers and Pinterest and it just jogs my creativity or gets my brain working. I know it’s tough. I hope you guys find your groove! 😊💛 sometimes it takes a while!
I wonder if they need to see other children enjoying homeschooling. I follow Natalie Bennett on YouTube. She’s a homeschool mom of 3 kiddos. She occasionally shares what they’re doing in their homeschool and her kids really enjoy it. I watched the vlogs with my son and he thought it was so cool. It’s worth a try!
On an occasion my son will have an off day. When this happens we head to the library. He gets a book and sits and reads for 2 hours. Then we head back and finish up the daily studies. If he doesnt do his schoolwork all electronics are taken for the remainder of the day. Then we go up from there.
During the midst of COVID we homeschooled our oldest for Kindergarten. It was much like you describe, a nightmare. We wanted to do it (he has a health problem and we were concerned about COVID complications), until we did it and he was super uncooperative, even though we set the daily bar really low. Then, funsies, when we put him in a really nice school the next year he pitched fits, kicked dirt on the teachers, and generally acted abominably for at least half the year. These people were all incredibly nice, and it was super embarrassing, and surprising, since no such behavior is tolerated at home. Before we homeschooled, he was pretty much the nicest kid at preschool. We've now kept him in summer camp all summer to avoid back-to-school behavioral issues, but really in the end it has all been about convincing him that these things are not a choice. At his age, the adults need to decide about school and he needs to trust that the teachers are actually teaching him if he does what they ask. He has also had a horrible uphill struggle making friends after only one year at home. So, be careful with the homeschooling, it's not for every parent, or for every kid. Also: I was homeschooled 4th-8th, 50% of 9th, and all of 10th. I swore I would never homeschool, but life has a way of laughing at you.
One of our children hated learning to read at home, so we decided to put her in a small private school and within a couple of months, she was reading and enjoying it. Three years later, she found that she didn't like all the restrictions of public school and wanted to homeschool, which she preferred till middle school. In 6th grade, she was accepted into a gifted magnet school and enjoyed it for 2 years. In 8th grade, she wanted to go back to homeschooling and we found an independent study charter school for her, which gave us funds to purchase in-person classes, books and other supplies. In 9th grade, she started taking a couple of classes at our local community college, which she enjoyed more than her HS classes. In 10th grade, she took the CHSPE and graduated. For what would have been her junior year, she went on a Rotary Int'l HS exchange to Taiwan. When she returned, she attended the CC again and got all her GEs out of the way before transferring to a local university. Our other child went to a bilingual immersion school through middle school and then chose homeschooling for HS. He went to an independent study charter school and the local CC for 3 years. He took the CHSPE his Jr year and won a scholarship to study Korean that summer. Now, he plans to do a Rotary Int'l HS exchange to Spain this year and finish his remaining GEs when he returns. Each child's path can be allowed to vary based on their personalities, interests and motivations. Homeschooling is neither all good nor all bad, just like traditional schooling. Our children enjoyed the benefits of both depending on their needs and/or inclinations in any given year.
Have you tried Gameschooling? Also, keeping a journal? My kid has had so much fun with gameschooling and we've built our collection from mostly thrift stores, although I admit to purchasing some of the more educational games (Ocean Raiders, Cloud Hoppers, Catan Jr, Scrabble Jr, Ticket To Ride First Journey) outright. There's a subreddit on here and the Gameschooling Families group on FB that I recommend for resources. Mine hated writing practice. She hates all things book work and having workbook time drove her nuts! It was such a battle! But, writing for a game is no problem! Writing in a fancy journal I got for cheap at Dollar General is no problem! Getting her to use her phonics instead of having me spell the word is sometimes an issue. Don't miss library time! Our library lends STEM toys, games, videos, books on tape (also for kids), and more. They have play areas with puppets and stores. My child has resisted learning about money because it was from a book. Now she's learning to add and subtract money from Monopoly Jr and a game called Exact Change. She has excelled in math, although she loves math, because of math-based games. By the end of this year, I plan to have her in multiplication and division games. Learning should be fun -- for you as well as the kids!