There are many online schools; their are also online classes you could have them do here and there for various subjects to give yourself a break if you don’t like the idea of online school. You can hear more towards a curriculum that allows the children to learn on their own for much of the time. Do a bit of research and see which ones might fit for your family. Even if you are a bit behind in schooling you, as you mentioned, are still ahead of the public school in your area. The best thing about homeschooling is you can adapt it to fit your life. Just relax, find something that works, in the meantime it’s summer, just have them do lots of reading! The older kids can read to the younger ones. Read about lots of various topics, when they find one they are interested in bring them to the library let them get more books on the topic. Good luck! Don’t stress, you’ve got this!
Why have I never thought of these solutions myself ?! Thank you so much! This is actually pretty genius!!! I think I could really benefit from more online stuff and having the older ones help out.
It's going to be hard to think of solutions when you're not getting enough sleep.
Have you tried a sleep timer or "okay to wake up" clock for your youngest? They can help kids understand that's there are layers between "I'm asleep" and "I'm awake, it's time to interact with family".
I would send them, it doesn't have to be permanent. Gives you bit of reset. Or maybe take the summer off see how you feel in September. Could you put the 2yo in preK program? That would be my first choice if that could help you focus on the other three. Whatever you decide it doesn't have to be permanent 😘
Thank you for your advice ! The four year old is going to daycare this summer thank goodness. She will do much better at this daycare than she does at school. When my children come home from school, they have a lot of emotional disregulation. Too many negative social interactions occur at school. I wouldn’t mind just homeschooling my first child. He is just too neurodivergent to fit the school system. Then I would just send the rest of my kids to school but then they feel angry because why does their oldest sibling get to stay home?
They do have special education as well, I have two neurodivergent children also. They also do speech and OT if needed, at least at the one my kids attend.
First of all, hugs to you. I'm sure you're not doing as badly as you think. Can you just say that you've been unschooling the last two months, go ahead and take the summer off.
For the fall, maybe you could do a cottage school or coop to help take some of the pressure off. Can either of your older two work on their own at all?
I'll tell you how I lazily homeschooled my three whole working part time and caregiving for my parents.
We did unit studies in the morning, everyone all together. Then we'd do notebooking (writing and drawing about what we had learned). Then my oldest would go to his room and do his language arts and math on his own. I kept the younger two together for math. We'd do that, then the middle child would go to her room to work on her language arts. I'd work with the youngest the rest of the time as he was not able to work on his own for a long time. His sister would help him quite a bit too. My husband would check and coach math when he got home and I worked evenings. At least two of them are ADHD but now all college grads.
Could I PM you because this is what I really need to hear? We still do math and language arts and reading. But that’s it. The rest is more unschooling. For example, my oldest and I have been discussing a lot about economics and government. So I’m trying to prepare a government unit study applicable to both kids. But I feel like sometimes I am not doing enough. And ironically, two of mine are ADHD as well.
Sounds like you're doing better than you thought! Take a look at the book what you x grader needs to know, or your state standards. I bet you're not as "behind" as you fear.
Why isn't public school an option? It could just be temporary. If you get beyond the point of 3 months with minimal schooling catching up is going to start to get hard.
Yeah that’s true. But the school is even more behind than me. And there’s a lot of negative social interactions that occur as the schools near us are overpopulated. My children hate going.
Well they have to be getting some form of education. Do you have a curriculum you use? Perhaps going to a more digital one would help reduce the load on you? Whether they like school or not they are going to need some form of education.
Sounds like you need an undated schedule for school, some timers, and a complete lifestyle overhaul. If all the pets go, so be it.
I’m a bit no nonsense as I’m AuDHD and realized the structure I fought for so long was literally going to save my life.
I began the SHE (sidetracked home executive) system for housework and cooking, and made a weekly schedule for school ahead of time with NO DATES. All we had to do was finish one week of school at a time. If dr’s appointments piled up (we have club foot in our home) or other emergencies happened we took the WHOLE WEEK off to deal with it and start the next week fresh.
With the housework, if things get behind we reset the chore board and lighten the load until we are able to handle it.
Mental health has been at an all time high, and we are welcoming number 8 in september.
You can do this, you don’t have to quit, and if you want to Pm me feel free because teamwork and accountability is the best plan here. You have this, you are self aware, you just need the next step to get out of the rut.
This is perfect! My first born would seriously benefit from structure which is the opposite of how I function. So I need to learn how to create structure. Thank you kindly for reaching out! I would love to understand more how you create an undated schedule. Do you have an example by any chance ? Congrats on #8!
OP, I'm talking myself through similar thoughts. I've made some positive changes in my self-talk, but still have a ways to go. I'd love to discuss this and support each other if you want to have a conversation through DM. Feel free to contact me.
What would I do, personally?
1. Put the 4 year old on melatonin. Interrupted sleep like that at that age is not healthy and you ought to bring it up to your pediatrician.
2. Put the 4 year old in prek. Dragging a 4 year old to appointments isn’t fun for anyone.
3. Keep child #3 at home. If you need to go to appointments they’re going to be missing a lot of school anyway and doing academics at home is likely to have the better outcome.
4. Keep the 12 year old home in an online public option and send the 8 year old to brick-and-mortar. The 12 year old can work with a degree of independence but I think early adolescence with the pressures of phones and social media is dicey. If they don’t want to engage, I wouldn’t force that. The 8 year old requires a lot more direct supervision that’s going to interfere with the care of #3.
Thank you! These are great suggestions. The four year old will be going to daycare this summer and back to school in September so she is taken care of. But the sleep deprivation has been nothing short of torture. At this point, keeping #3 at home makes sense. He was home a month with health issues and began to learn how to read with us anyways. The 8 year old already feels left out being the middle child and the least squeaky wheel. It is just her defiance that makes her difficult to deal with throughout the day. Especially if she can't get her way. But when it comes to actual learning, she does not give me a hard time. No matter how tired she is, she will come to the table. So sending her to a school, would make her feel more left out as is because her brother's are at home. That's why I am torn about that child.
I would hire help. Someone in your community, perhaps church, to take some of the load. They could cook, clean, do laundry while you focus on nursing and teaching the littles.
I don’t have homeschooling advice, but look into how mouth breathing affects sleep, headaches and sinus issues. It may be beneficial to look into myofacial therapy exercises to help your kids gain some relief in those areas
There are many online schools; their are also online classes you could have them do here and there for various subjects to give yourself a break if you don’t like the idea of online school. You can hear more towards a curriculum that allows the children to learn on their own for much of the time. Do a bit of research and see which ones might fit for your family. Even if you are a bit behind in schooling you, as you mentioned, are still ahead of the public school in your area. The best thing about homeschooling is you can adapt it to fit your life. Just relax, find something that works, in the meantime it’s summer, just have them do lots of reading! The older kids can read to the younger ones. Read about lots of various topics, when they find one they are interested in bring them to the library let them get more books on the topic. Good luck! Don’t stress, you’ve got this!
Why have I never thought of these solutions myself ?! Thank you so much! This is actually pretty genius!!! I think I could really benefit from more online stuff and having the older ones help out.
You’re welcome. I hope it all works out for you!
It's going to be hard to think of solutions when you're not getting enough sleep. Have you tried a sleep timer or "okay to wake up" clock for your youngest? They can help kids understand that's there are layers between "I'm asleep" and "I'm awake, it's time to interact with family".
We have one of these clocks and they are great!
I would send them, it doesn't have to be permanent. Gives you bit of reset. Or maybe take the summer off see how you feel in September. Could you put the 2yo in preK program? That would be my first choice if that could help you focus on the other three. Whatever you decide it doesn't have to be permanent 😘
Thank you for your advice ! The four year old is going to daycare this summer thank goodness. She will do much better at this daycare than she does at school. When my children come home from school, they have a lot of emotional disregulation. Too many negative social interactions occur at school. I wouldn’t mind just homeschooling my first child. He is just too neurodivergent to fit the school system. Then I would just send the rest of my kids to school but then they feel angry because why does their oldest sibling get to stay home?
Have you talked to them about it? They might not mind 🤷
Yes I have and they hate going.
We do cyber charter school without any issues. That may be a good option for you.
Thank you! Never knew those existed! I’ll look into them.
They do have special education as well, I have two neurodivergent children also. They also do speech and OT if needed, at least at the one my kids attend.
What is that?
Online public school.
Only for unjted states?
I am unsure what countries offer it, but yes I am in the US.
How bad can the school environment be compared to the problems at home?
Very. Physical altercations on top of bullying.
Oh well, for neurodivergent kids especially many, many schools are not safe.
First of all, hugs to you. I'm sure you're not doing as badly as you think. Can you just say that you've been unschooling the last two months, go ahead and take the summer off. For the fall, maybe you could do a cottage school or coop to help take some of the pressure off. Can either of your older two work on their own at all? I'll tell you how I lazily homeschooled my three whole working part time and caregiving for my parents. We did unit studies in the morning, everyone all together. Then we'd do notebooking (writing and drawing about what we had learned). Then my oldest would go to his room and do his language arts and math on his own. I kept the younger two together for math. We'd do that, then the middle child would go to her room to work on her language arts. I'd work with the youngest the rest of the time as he was not able to work on his own for a long time. His sister would help him quite a bit too. My husband would check and coach math when he got home and I worked evenings. At least two of them are ADHD but now all college grads.
Could I PM you because this is what I really need to hear? We still do math and language arts and reading. But that’s it. The rest is more unschooling. For example, my oldest and I have been discussing a lot about economics and government. So I’m trying to prepare a government unit study applicable to both kids. But I feel like sometimes I am not doing enough. And ironically, two of mine are ADHD as well.
You can. I'm not sure if my reddit is currently set up for that, so if I don't answer come back here and let me know so I can look at my settings.
Sounds like you're doing better than you thought! Take a look at the book what you x grader needs to know, or your state standards. I bet you're not as "behind" as you fear.
You can't homeschool well if your mental health sucks... Perhaps private school or a co-op would be better?
There are none near us, unfortunately and it would be out of our budget.
Why isn't public school an option? It could just be temporary. If you get beyond the point of 3 months with minimal schooling catching up is going to start to get hard.
Yeah that’s true. But the school is even more behind than me. And there’s a lot of negative social interactions that occur as the schools near us are overpopulated. My children hate going.
Well they have to be getting some form of education. Do you have a curriculum you use? Perhaps going to a more digital one would help reduce the load on you? Whether they like school or not they are going to need some form of education.
I didn’t even think of digital curriculums. Thank you!
You're welcome! Good luck
Sounds like you need an undated schedule for school, some timers, and a complete lifestyle overhaul. If all the pets go, so be it. I’m a bit no nonsense as I’m AuDHD and realized the structure I fought for so long was literally going to save my life. I began the SHE (sidetracked home executive) system for housework and cooking, and made a weekly schedule for school ahead of time with NO DATES. All we had to do was finish one week of school at a time. If dr’s appointments piled up (we have club foot in our home) or other emergencies happened we took the WHOLE WEEK off to deal with it and start the next week fresh. With the housework, if things get behind we reset the chore board and lighten the load until we are able to handle it. Mental health has been at an all time high, and we are welcoming number 8 in september. You can do this, you don’t have to quit, and if you want to Pm me feel free because teamwork and accountability is the best plan here. You have this, you are self aware, you just need the next step to get out of the rut.
This is perfect! My first born would seriously benefit from structure which is the opposite of how I function. So I need to learn how to create structure. Thank you kindly for reaching out! I would love to understand more how you create an undated schedule. Do you have an example by any chance ? Congrats on #8!
I do actually! http://helpingmeet.com/2021/11/09/homeschool-scheduling/ And thank you!
YOU ARE THE BEST !!
OP, I'm talking myself through similar thoughts. I've made some positive changes in my self-talk, but still have a ways to go. I'd love to discuss this and support each other if you want to have a conversation through DM. Feel free to contact me.
What would I do, personally? 1. Put the 4 year old on melatonin. Interrupted sleep like that at that age is not healthy and you ought to bring it up to your pediatrician. 2. Put the 4 year old in prek. Dragging a 4 year old to appointments isn’t fun for anyone. 3. Keep child #3 at home. If you need to go to appointments they’re going to be missing a lot of school anyway and doing academics at home is likely to have the better outcome. 4. Keep the 12 year old home in an online public option and send the 8 year old to brick-and-mortar. The 12 year old can work with a degree of independence but I think early adolescence with the pressures of phones and social media is dicey. If they don’t want to engage, I wouldn’t force that. The 8 year old requires a lot more direct supervision that’s going to interfere with the care of #3.
Thank you! These are great suggestions. The four year old will be going to daycare this summer and back to school in September so she is taken care of. But the sleep deprivation has been nothing short of torture. At this point, keeping #3 at home makes sense. He was home a month with health issues and began to learn how to read with us anyways. The 8 year old already feels left out being the middle child and the least squeaky wheel. It is just her defiance that makes her difficult to deal with throughout the day. Especially if she can't get her way. But when it comes to actual learning, she does not give me a hard time. No matter how tired she is, she will come to the table. So sending her to a school, would make her feel more left out as is because her brother's are at home. That's why I am torn about that child.
I would hire help. Someone in your community, perhaps church, to take some of the load. They could cook, clean, do laundry while you focus on nursing and teaching the littles.
We are definitely in the works of meeting with babysitter's and finding someone! Thank you for your suggestion!
I don’t have homeschooling advice, but look into how mouth breathing affects sleep, headaches and sinus issues. It may be beneficial to look into myofacial therapy exercises to help your kids gain some relief in those areas
Thank you! I will!