Thursday, August 19, 2010

New Strategy

A little Latin


So, I made a realization.

I am not a "fun" person between the hours of noon and 3pm. No matter how much sleep I have gotten the night before, I regularly bottom out right around noon, and do not recover until around 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
A science project involving simple machines

Now, some of this time period falls during the Mad Toddler's naptime. So, I put him down for a nap, and then I am faced with a dilemma: do I nap while I can, and leave the boys to do...something, or do I soldier through the fatigue and get that schooling done?
researching

Sometimes I try one approach, and sometimes another. Both results are, in the main, less than stellar.

So yesterday it hit me - why try at all? We homeschool, dang it! Why should I be teaching during this time when I resemble a walking zombie? In the work world, I would not have a choice, but as a homeschooler, I do!
Cookie Boy getting ready to review

Today saw us trying a new plan. Every day we break for lunch and refreshment from noon to 1pm. At 1pm, the boys usually return to school. But today, I gave them their video game time at 1pm. After video game time, they had a study period. They could choose to work on homework, or to tackle a subject where there was some available independent work to be done (previously discussed with me). I, on the other hand, had a nice, refreshing nap, followed by a wake-up period. Around 3pm, we returned to school to finish up. The Young Adult and I completed the last subject at 4:50pm.
A picture showing 1)the time we finished school and 2) that my stove needs a good cleaning

It will not be possible to do this every day - some days may be to busy, or we may have activities in the late afternoon or evening. But on the whole, I think this new approach will help us all to do better work.
the casual observer

1 comment:

Ang said...

Seriously, you have so much patience and determination to be homeschooling your kids. They are lucky to have you as their mom.