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have pictures posted here to show how the kids like to do work in their own space. Elizabeth likes to do her school work on the sofa or her bed, Elani likes to work at the desk in her room. Emma likes to work at the desk in the kitchen or the kitchen table. I am glad they have a work space that they feel comfortable in, these places are great for independent work. However, there are times when all of the kids need my expertise at the same time. I haven't quite figured out a way to divide myself so that we can all be as efficient as possible. The first couple weeks of this school year I was running from room to room, student to student trying to make them happy and do some teaching. The kids all seemed to be happy with this arrangement, but I wasn't. It felt too hectic, and with my back pain at an almost intolerable level something had to change. I need to move less and still teach the kids all they need to know. So any suggestions will be gratefully considered.
have pictures posted here to show how the kids like to do work in their own space. Elizabeth likes to do her school work on the sofa or her bed, Elani likes to work at the desk in her room. Emma likes to work at the desk in the kitchen or the kitchen table. I am glad they have a work space that they feel comfortable in, these places are great for independent work. However, there are times when all of the kids need my expertise at the same time. I haven't quite figured out a way to divide myself so that we can all be as efficient as possible. The first couple weeks of this school year I was running from room to room, student to student trying to make them happy and do some teaching. The kids all seemed to be happy with this arrangement, but I wasn't. It felt too hectic, and with my back pain at an almost intolerable level something had to change. I need to move less and still teach the kids all they need to know. So any suggestions will be gratefully considered.
What I have done is illustrated in this picture how I have started setting up my own work station at the kitchen table, the chairs are not all that comfortable on my back, but it beats running around the house all day. In this picture I was actually tracking my bank statement, giving a spelling test to Emma and reviewing Elani's Catechism lesson all at the same time. It was true multi-tasking. The date stamp on the picture says 6/24 but the actual date was 9/24. I guess that this is one more task to do, teach someone camera maintenance and set up. Since my injury I have pretty much lost my multi-tasking abilities. I was taught in rehabilitation techniques to still get tasks done more efficiently. The technique that I am using here is to have everything I want to accomplish in front of me. I may not be doing true multi-tasking, i.e. more than 1 thing at the same time, but I am able to get several things done in a short time period without being distracted when I go to get the next thing.
This arrangement, used when the kids all have a lot of oral instruction that is needed, has worked better for me. The kids don't always like it. They want to have more privacy, But hey, in a public school there is no privacy. They do still get to do some things at school that they can be comfortable doing, however sometimes they need to be where I am most comfortable.
5 comments:
Could you perhaps have everyone together during instruction and then have them work independently on their own? Then, instead of them waiting for you to come check on them, they could come to you when they have a question if they choose to work in a bedroom or something.
A little later you could have another (or several other) sessions of group instruction, then have them work independently.
It would be kind of like changing classes.
I think you could even try giving Elani a check-off sheet at the beginning of each day letting her know what she's responsible for accomplishing, then you can update with her when you have your "group instruction time."
It's hard to explain what I'm trying to say.
Hope it helps.
I think keeping everything in front of you is a good start. Beyond that I am limited in my ability to offer better advice :(
FYI, my wife and I are part of Holy Family. I wanted to offer you a line of encouragement and the knowledge that you are in our prayers. I will be trying to keep up with your blog and I hope that someday I can be of help. I also wanted to point a few things out to you that I hope will help you in your awesome endevour.
There is a general blog for Catholic Dads that I am a member of that I think you might benefit from:
http://catholic-dads.blogspot.com/ ... Its been a while since I have posted there and for all I know you may have already joined. If not, joining the group is easy with instructions on the blog itself. Its a great group of guys and there is at least one stay-at-home homeschooling dad in the group.
Second, you have been added to the daily Louisiana Catholic blog update that is run by Opinionated Catholic. You may find some traffic coming from that link. There are a few Louisiana homeschooling blogs involved so you may want to review those as well (scroll WAAAAYYYY down to find the Louisiana blogs by diocese) ...
Third, I also blog and I occasionally write about homeschooling. My blog is called Full Circle ... feel free to stop by.
Thanks for the Links William. I appreciate the help and input.
This is a tough endeavour for me. I used to e a workaholic, at least 13 to 15 hours a day, then I got really sick 6 years ago, spent a few days near death then a few weeks in a coma. It changed my life completely. I try do do the best I can by home schooling, there is too much at stake if I don't.
I think K renee said what I was thinking. Instead of you moving to them.
Here's a thought, Start all together and get them going, let them know what their objectives are for the day. Then send them to their seperate spaces. After a time, have one come to you for one-on-one time. when you verify that child is where she needs to be, send her back to independent work time and call in the next child. Repeat this until all 3 have had one on one time.
You can repeat this throughout the day. Every hour, or whatever you feel appropriate.
Basically,it's a cycle. But it insures that the students have group, independent, and one-oj-one instruction. And, it keeps you in one place.
Part of my comment did not show up.
The section that starts with"You can repeat this throughout the day. Every hour, or whatever you feel appropriate." should say....
...bring them all back together, see how the are progressing, work as a group or just take a short break together, let them expalin to the group what they have been doing (if they can explain it correctly then you'll know that they are making progress) then start over with the independent, one-on-one, cycle.
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