When Homeschooling Hits a Rough Patch

David is seriously contemplating the grass

Spring soccer season started last week.  My kids play through a homeschool league where all the teams practice at the same time so there are a lot of homeschool parents sitting around chatting for an hour and a half.  For the first time, all of my kids are playing soccer which means that while they have soccer practice, I get to do what I like best about soccer--talk to the moms.  

Because it is a homeschool league, the question inevitably comes up--how is homeschool going?  I was telling my friend about our challenges this week after two weeks of a light schedule.  After I was done, she told me that she was so happy I'd shared about our struggles because she's been having a rough patch as well and needed to know that she wasn't alone in it.  So in case there is anyone else out there who needs to know they're not the only one struggling, I will share about our week.

On Monday David cried over his math because he got five problems wrong, all silly errors.  On Tuesday he cried and said he was stupid at math because he got four wrong.  After two days of him missing a lot of problems, I decided to have him step back and do only half a lesson a day until his error rate improves.  Before he can correct his answers, he has to go over all his problems again and check his work.  Did he copy the problem down correctly in the first place?  Is his math correct or did he forget to carry a number?  So far the strategy is working and he's had no errors the last three days.  

 Lizzy hit a hard spot in math this week that has been a real challenge for her.  Math has resulted in a lot of tears, me wanting to pull my hair out, and finally deciding she needed to slow down until she really grasped the new concept.  She is weak in her math facts so is struggling with harder subtraction.  My friend suggested a website, xtramath.org, that is a great way to review math facts and I had Lizzy try it out today.  I am hopeful it will give her the help she needs to get those math facts down.

On Wednesday I made Lizzy cry because I wouldn't let her do her silent reading first.  She was in the middle of a book that she wanted to finish, but it was time for me to teach.  On Thursday and today David cried while trying to classify sentences because after two weeks of no grammar, he apparently forgot the newer things he had learned.  He is having the hardest time remembering the different types of pronouns.  And right now he is throwing a fit over his vocabulary that I can't even figure what the problem is.  Is it really that hard to look a word up in the dictionary and write down the definition?  Sometimes I wonder.

Lizzy wasn't happy a few minutes ago when I told her that she needed to read one of the books I picked out from the library instead of one of her Disney Princess or Fairy books that she picked out.  Apparently well written books are not her favorite.

Yup, some weeks I really wonder why I fought so hard to do this homeschooling thing.  Sometimes you have to take a huge step back because your kids aren't getting a concept.  Sometimes your kids make you want to scream with their attitude.  Sometimes you make them cry.  But despite the setbacks, despite the bad days, overall my kids are learning, they are happy, and they are growing.  And I wouldn't trade this life for anything.