Sunday, May 15, 2011

What DID NOT work for us this year...2010-2011

We had lots of stuff that worked for us in the education department.  But what do we need to change?

1.  Mom's lack of organization--Need serious work here.  I am working on house cleaning schedules, dinner plans and other tools to help me.  We have a massive issue though that works against us....ADD/ADHD is so common in this house you can catch it like a cold!  This in connection with the Autism...and it's a recipe for disaster.  I find myself getting frustrated when the new tools are not working the way they should be.  I still find myself doing too much, and feeling overwhelmed and not getting a sense that I am accomplishing anything.  I just keep praying that one of these days we find a schedule or some other tool that will allow me to be able to keep things picked up.  It is hard when the kids cannot stay focused on what needed to be done, but unfortunately that is our life:(.  I am proud that I have most of the our lesson plans for the next 4 months in pencil (we all know life throws us curveballs) in the new planner.  That is nice feeling!  Also trying to adjust the Flylady schedule to our lives, it seems to have helped alot of people.

2.  Too many field trips in a row--Who doesn't love a field trip?!?!  We do...and I love planning them for the groups we are involved in.  But I have decided to limit the amount each month.  With all the other activities, it has been overwhelming.  So we are going to limit them to one, maybe two each month in addition to other committments we have made. 

3.  Not encouraging reading aloud--With getting used to multi-level teaching, and using K12 made this very difficult for me, I left the boys to silent reading more than I would've like them to.  So we are going to read aloud more often both during schoolwork done together and one-on-one with Mom.

4.  TOO much Curriculum--Hi, My name is Renita and I am a curriculum junkie.  I collect it, whether it be an actual book or workbook you hold in your hand or e-book.  Our shelves are over flowing from me visiting used book stores and Warehouse Sales and Garage Sales.  OH and the Resource sale our homeschool group has in the late summer.  Our "fun" reading shelves are just as bad!!  Problem is I either lose something or forget about it until it is too late.  I have even bought multiple copies of items. So I need to find a better way to handle this obsession or just buy fewer books...I think I will do better trying to find a better storage solution:)!

5.  K12--We only has one enrolled in K12.  She would not have been on an IEP (which is why we never used K12 in the past).  Unfortunately we did not have a good experience.  Lydia is definitely showing her true ADHD side as she is getting older.  I am going to work on getting her into impulse therapy this summer.  We ended up with two separate teachers this year, and the second teacher never returned responses to my emails yet she was grouchy if I didn't check my Kmail daily.  (Apparently I should have been sitting with my box of bon-bons waiting for her to send me emails.)  Lydia did not like any of the curriculum we received, and we spent more on supplemental materials than planned.  On the bright side she helped pick those items out, so the schoolwork fight isn't as bad.  The final straw was when I read the "report" of Lydia's test last week.  I wasn't upset about the areas that Lydia needed to work with, after all who knows our daughter better...her or us.  I already knew Lydia's area of weakness.  I was so MAD when I read the brief report of our Parent Teacher Conference after the test.  85% of what was written was a lie, and I am not exaggerating!!  I am giving her 15% because she actually did talk to me (not a lie) and the points that Lydia needed to improve on were accurate also (and mostly listed by myself).  I am having a really hard time with this program, and we will not be re-enrolling Lydia.  We'll spend the next year "improving" with our own curriculum choices.  (This program may work awesome for others...just not for us.)


2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have it all thought out and under control!

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  2. I have heard a lot of mix things about K12, I almost went with them but changed my mind so glad I did:) You are doing a great job trying out things for your children:) Thanks for linking up tot he NOBH

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