Being behind in your homeschool is frustrating. It’s very overwhelming, and I want to throw in the towel! How do I find the motivation to keep going when we’re so far behind?
Sick days. Doctor visits. Ballet performances. A kiddo home from college on spring break. An impromptu trip to visit the grandparents. Restarting Algebra I in January.
All of these things have really rocked my homeschool over the past two years. Never before have I been so grateful for the flexibility and freedom of homeschooling. I can’t even imagine what life would have been like if Emma had been in public school throughout our journey to her Ehlers-Danlos diagnosis.
Emma spent the better part of last January and February (and a few days in March) sick. Then, this year, she spent the better part of September and October in so much pain she couldn’t focus on her academics.
As a result, we spent many days at the doctor’s office trying to get her well. Between her sick days and our days at the doctor’s office, we barely did any school during those weeks. Even after her diagnosis, we had many weeks in October, November, and December of this year with 3-5 therapies or doctor visits trying to get her pain levels stabilized.
Needless to say, we are a bit behind where I want us to be at this point in our homeschool year after being very far behind most of last year. We are not year-round homeschoolers. I like to have my summers ‘off’ to plan and regroup and have family fun. So, how do we keep going when we’re so far behind in homeschool?
Are you behind in your homeschool?
First, let me address one thing… I spend a lot of time on social media. As a homeschooler and as a blogger, Facebook is where I can connect with other people in blogging and homeschooling community.
Around this time of year, many homeschool parents begin to feel behind. When they voice that concern or frustration, many more homeschool parents pipe in with “you’re not behind, you homeschool.” And, while I understand that sentiment, it doesn’t alleviate my frustrations at our current situation.
It’s true that I’m not behind in the truest sense of the word. I’m not tied to anyone’s schedule like public and private school teachers are. So, no, I’m not behind in that respect.
However, it’s valid to feel behind where you’d like to be at any point in the school year. We spent the beginning of this year finishing last year’s history so we could continue our history cycle. In January, I realized Emma had some major gaps in math and was not scoring well in her Algebra I lessons. So, at that point, we started over completely. Back to Lesson 1. Hello math…all.summer.long.
Em wants to attend numerous ballet intensives and YMCA camps this summer. And, we’d like to plan a short family vacation before my middle child heads back to college. It would be a great relief to be done with our homeschool lessons before summer starts so we aren’t trying to squeeze our lessons in around our other activities.
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So, what are we going to do?
We do what we can when we can. On Emma’s sick days, I tried to have her do ‘something’ off the lesson plan. Some days, she felt well enough to tackle a math lesson before needing to go lie back down. Other days, she felt well enough to do some workbook pages from the couch. There were still other days when she didn’t feel like doing anything off the lesson plans, though. I let her do what she was up to.
We stray from the plans when we need to. On the days when she didn’t feel up to doing any bookwork, I tried to find educational things for her to do. For instance, one day she watched four episodes of The Magic School Bus and narrated something she learned, but I made her narrate with 7th grade quality terms and explanations. On another day, she used her computer to type up a short story, because she finds that relaxing. I find it educational. It’s a win-win! We watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
We pull back when necessary. Because we were struggling to keep up with our day-to-day assignments, I decided to pull Emma out of her co-op classes. She was taking three classes, all electives, and I just couldn’t see taking her to do electives when we couldn’t get to our core classes. I let her stay in one class so she could stay connected, but now we have the bulk of that day to tackle math and grammar.
We let things go. I also dropped geography from our own studies. It was a ‘just-for-fun’ elective, and I set it aside for next year. That freed up a little time to do extra work, and Emma just finished her vocabulary book
We keep on going until we’re done. This year, we’re just going to keep on keeping on until we’re done. That means, we took schoolwork with us on Spring Break. It means we’ll be doing school long into the summer for the very first time. I’m not so concerned about finishing each book to the last page, but we are required to teach 900 hours. Since our homeschool day averages 5 hours, I shoot for at least 180 days. Today, we are on 118. We still have a way to go…
We don’t worry about it. Well, I try not to worry about it. I know we’ll finish. I know we’ll cover all of the important stuff. It just won’t be on my anticipated calendar. And, that’s okay.
We are thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling. She would be so behind if she was in public school. I’m so thankful that we aren’t tied to a school calendar. I have the freedom to work around her illnesses and doctor visits. I can be flexible with our schedule so that I can focus on her when she needs me.
Your turn:
What do you do when you find yourself behind in your homeschool lessons?
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Its encouraging to read this. I am so behind, I’m scared. This year we moved in the middle of the year, and it was a BIG MOVE! It involved so much time preparing for the move, and so much time getting settled. Not to mention it was a big down size, which means where we once had a homeschooling room filled with all our organized curriculum, we now have 3 kids in one room, and a very small dining room table & homeschool stuff just everywhere. Its so hard to get back into a rhythm of things. I’m having a hard time encouraging my kids through the “huffing & puffing” of having to work through the summer. but like you said, I’m going to do what I can, and just trust along the way. Thank you for this!
For the first time, we will be schooling through the summer as a transition into year-round schooling. My husband’s job has a crazy schedule, so when he is home we don’t do school!
I’m grappling with this question too. I really don’t want to try to just keep going into summer. We did that last year and it was horrid (we were also trying to get a house ready to move, so it really was all work…but I also have 2 kids who public school, so them being home with no work while my youngest has to work is hard to pull off anyways).
So, here’s what I’m planning to do.
1. Not do any NEW learning during the summer but have a little practice each day. So, we practice the addition and subtraction we learn, and review a few spelling words every day, and a little reading, that’s it. That’s less time for him and no planning for me so I can focus on planning for next year, which I really need to do (last year, I had no time to plan during summer, and our homeschool suffered for it). My older kids have to do KAHN academy for a little bit each day during the summer, so that won’t feel unfair.
2. Start school a month early, which we had already planned to do because my oldest is joining us for homeschool this year IF the trial month goes well. My youngest can start at the same time. I think this will work better than just trekking on until we meet our goal because in June everyone is ready for a break from school, but by August, we are all usually a little ready for a break from summer.
We school all year so that we have the freedom to have days off when needed, due to illness or other unexpected issues. I like keeping some sort of schedule all year, but definitely enjoy the more hands on life learning during the summer months.
My kids became easily bored last summer. My boys (7 & 9) love doing projects. However, with more time spent on Math, Language Arts (Reading, Grammar, Spelling, and Writing), and Cursive writing pracfice, there is not as much time left that we would like to spend on Science and History. So, this summer, we will de-emphasize the Languagr Arts (but not ignore entirely) and spend the days of summer working on Science, History, and Math but also give the boys opportunities to enjoy their summer. This will also prevent the dreaded “summer slide” that occurred last year.
I so needed to hear this right now. To know we are not alone as we have struggled this year to school around health issues, sometimes loosing large blocks of school time. I have felt so discouraged and guilty when four episodes of Bill Nye have counted as our school day. But your post reminded me that just because our school journey is looking different doesn’t mean we have dropped the ball. In fact, it is precisely for those reasons that we have chosen to home educate. So here’s to creative writing, Bill Nye, and schooling into the summer. Just because we can. And are children are still better off for it. 🙂
Yes! Our journey may look different, but it doesn’t mean it’s ‘less.’ Our children are still better off for it. Here’s to summer schooling and (hopefully) a smoother year next year!
Oh yes… that summer slide. 🙁
That’s what we’re transitioning to next year.
I do worry about not having time to prep for next year due to trying to finish up this year. Good luck to you with your new goals!
Moving during the school year is a hard thing. Good luck as you work out the details of schooling this summer.
Thanks for this article! It’s always encouraging to know I’m not alone. We have times where I feel we are behind and I use the same philosophy…just keep going! We don’t get it all done, but we try to keep a consistent balance between school, my work from home job, and everything else. I love homeschooling!
Flexibility is the key to homeschooling, isn’t it!