Struggling a bit!

Hi,
I have 4 little ones ages 10,8,7 and 4, this is our first year homeschooling, we started in july so we are going into our 3rd month.

I feel overwhelmed, exhausted and unsure im doing the right thing, my kids did great the first few weeks and now I am struggling to get them to focus on the work we have, I am flexible with what we do, we switch it up everyday so its not boring, we do fun educational stuff outside as well, I still feel like they are not learning enough :frowning: and like Iā€™m losing it, i knew this wouldnt be easy and I do love a lot of positive things that come from it, I am unsure whAt to do to get them to work a little harder and to be at peace with myself.
Thank you for reading this far!
Ot

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Hi thereā€¦hugs. I have been homeschooling my 4 boys (ages 9-2) since the beginning and we have days/weeks/months where I feel like Iā€™m failing and other days/weeks/months where it feels like weā€™re totally winning. Earlier this week, in fact, I was telling some of my other homeschool mom friends that I felt like I wasnā€™t doing a good job at anythingā€¦thereā€™s just SO MUCH to worry about when you are a homeschool mom. They kindly reminded me that we all have days/weeks/months that feel terrible and that there is no perfect educational choice. Public schools arenā€™t perfect either (I imagine there was a reason you decided to take them out of public school in the first place.). My advice to you would be to find other homeschool friends. You wonā€™t ever get things ā€œjust rightā€, but if you can find your people they will at least help you feel better about it. :wink: And as for your kidsā€¦they arenā€™t always going to love doing schoolā€¦even homeschool. Sometimes you just have to hold them accountable whether they like it or not. If the curriculum just isnā€™t working, then change it, but if it really feels like a good fit, then stick with it and ā€œencourageā€ your kids to press through.

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There are seasons of homeschool :slight_smile: when I started 6 years ago, I would call my homeschool friend every day. One day it would be to say how wonderful everything was going, the next day it would be to cry in frustration as it seemed everything I had taught was ā€˜forgottenā€™. Mind you we started out using a curriculum that made us all cry. This year we have changed things up a lot, some things excite them, some subjects they look forward to everyday and they wonā€™t leave me alone until they do it, and some subjects like Math they dread, regardless of the changes we made. But guess what? Math still has to be done everyday, itā€™s a requirement and so we push through although I try to have game board days or logic game days where they learn math through play.
We have very similarly aged children 10,9,6,3 I notice you said you switch things up everyday to make it fun, perhaps they kind of need the opposite- a routine/schedule so they know what to expect each day? That doesnā€™t mean they wonā€™t still have fun but it means that they would know what is coming. I would say your 10 and perhaps 8 year old could do some subjects independently like Math and Language. Subjects like History and Science could be family subjects (depending on the maturity of your younger ones). Also spending a lot of time outside the house would be exhausting for all of you, time at home is needed- not that you canā€™t do school outdoors but too much outdoor time is overwhelming. Maybe schedule 1 day a week to be out of the house or plan field trips ahead of time so you are spending more time at home to get more learning done.
I hope this helps!

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Thank you, we do MFW together which is great, and we do have a routine we follow, so the kids know what to expect everyday, what I meant by changing things up is exploring different parks or things each week to keep fun things in our curriculum.

They just dont seem excited or interested at all anymore and I feel like im not doing a great job, im
Sure it will pass!

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