Homeschool 101

Homeschool lessons are not always learned by the student. I think even the "teacher" learns lessons. They just aren't the typical lesson.

Just before Spring Break, Elisabeth found herself two weeks behind. It wasn't anything that she did on purpose. It was more like "life happened." There was two Mondays , in a row, where we were gone and she was unable to do any of her regular schoolwork. The first time it happened she was working really hard on the following days. But on Tuesday, she had to do both Mondays AND Tuesdays work. On Wednesday, she was still behind and now had more work. It began to snowball. The next week, Monday was a wash again. Throwing her even more behind.

I kept pushing her to work and work harder. I even kept her working late I the afternoon. At least, those days we weren't going to ballet or guitar. All I could see was that she was very behind and catching up was the only option. I even told her that she may have to work through her Spring Break. Even though I knew she didn't want to do that, she understood and would do what was necessary.

However, the more I pushed, the more she mentally checked out. She was still working very hard but she was drowning. It was overwhelming her in great waves.

I began to notice the desperation in her demeanor and how the motivation to keep working super hard was waning.

We had a conversation and I told her to take it one day at a time. Not to look at the entire amount but to take just one lesson or quiz at a time. That helped some but soon the waves threatened to overtake her again.

I couldn't figure out how to help her. I knew the work needed to be done but at what cost? Then one day, I was sitting at her computer grading her lessons and started looking at her daily lesson load. I noticed that there was. A huge amount scheduled for each day. I didn't understand why... I started looking deeper into the setup of the term. Then it hit me!! We had scheduled her last day of school for the end of April! The program was trying too stuff everything into just a few weeks. At this rate, there was no way she would ever get caught up. No wonder she was feeling so hopeless.

Being the admin, I had the power to help! It was such a wonderful and a very simple thing to fix. I blocked out the days for Spring Break and then just added two weeks to the school year. All the red exclamation points that had been glaring at her were now gone. Her due dates has adjusted and balanced things out. It was almost like magic! The relief was physically visible on her face. Her step was lighter and her willingness to work hard was back.

Now she has the option to work hard and do extra. Staying on track or even ahead was now within her grasp. So over Spring Break, she did one lesson/quiz/test a day, giving herself the pleasure of being ahead. She is now empowered to be in control.

That day, it was definitely the teacher who learned the lesson. Thankfully, said teacher is willing to learn. ;)