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4 Cures for the Afternoon Slumps When Homeschooling

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4 Cures for the Afternoon Slumps When Homeschooling @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

If you shine in the morning, then by the afternoon you may have a case of the DB (dropsy butt . . . okay, okay). It has happened in my house more times than I care to confess about. But out of that struggle, I have learned a few tips to help you squeeze out a bit more of homeschooling in the afternoon when everyone is ready to quit.

Look at these 4 cures for the afternoon slumps when homeschooling.

One| Take lunch earlier.

It’s a little insider tip about my family, but we eat lunch early more days than we do close to noon. Normally by about 11:00 a.m, we are ready for lunch.

How does this help with our afternoon slump?

It shifts our whole day because by the time we finish eating and rest up a bit, we are ready to get started back to school just past noon instead of closer to 1:30.

We are able to get another hour and half in the afternoon without feeling the afternoon blahs.

The Secret to Finding Peace

One unexpected advantage of eating lunch early is that you can have fast, but delicious meals like a fruit smoothie. I have shared more than one picture with you of us drinking our smoothing in one hand while doing school with the other.



Knowing we are going to eat lunch within a few short hours, our breakfast can be simple. Check out my tips at my article, 5 Easy and Quick Breakfasts Kids Will Eat (Grab the Egg McMuffin Recipe).

I like having the flexibility of starting our day right away, eating lunch early and adding in another hour or two of school after lunch.

Two|Break down hands-on activities into manageable parts.

Then, many years I wouldn’t even have the energy needed to push myself to do hands-on activities in the afternoon because my day was so busy. Science and history is what my boys looked forward to most in the day and I was exhausted by the afternoon.

I regret many times not doing hands-on because I didn’t plan my day for those slumps in the afternoon.

One tip that did help me was to break hands-on activities into two afternoons. I would take just one corner of the house if we didn’t have a school room and leave all our supplies out instead of putting them away.

Putting them away to only get the right back out the next day exhausted me too. If we could, we would just leave half-baked projects on the table because it made easier to sit back down the next afternoon.

Also, I learned that be doing history and science on back to back days, we could slow down and savor our afternoon.

Three|Tackle important stuff first in the morning.

I know my kids have their favorite subjects they want to work on first thing in the morning, but I made sure they worked first on things that took the most mental energy (for me). When my kids needed help, I am my freshest in the morning.

When we got behind on hands-on activities, I make sure we start off the day with a hands-on project and save the afternoon for a family read aloud.

Four| Move.

I have read that exercising is usually done best in the morning, but I am stingy with my morning time because it has always been the best time of the day for me.

That is the time my thoughts flow, I read and otherwise enjoy the slow quiet time to rejuvenate. Making time to put valuable things that I put into my mind is just as important to me as the time I try to find for my physical health too.

I have found that moving when I am mentally tired has been of way more benefit for me and my family.

I have a walking trail within walking distance of where we live and just getting out the house in the afternoon helps me to get my energy level back up. It has made our time for afternoons something that we look forward too.

There are many ways to break up the afternoon slumps when homeschooling but these basic 4 cures have been tried and trued for us.

How do you get past the afternoon slumps?

Check out these other go to tips!

Homeschool Quitters, Dropouts and Wimps (Want to Join Me?)
How to Make Yourself a Morning Person When Homeschooling (Do You Really Need to Wait until the Afternoon to Homeschool?)
How to Create a Homeschool Schedule that You Can Stick To

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

 

The Truth About Delaying a Start to Homeschooling

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The Truth About Delaying a Start to Homeschooling @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

From the depths of my heart, I feel that homeschooling is the ideal choice for any family. Reality is though, that there are just some people who are not willing or don’t have the circumstances to homeschool – yet. Kids being bullied, kids that have a compelling desire to move ahead academically and kids struggling with learning especially benefit from homeschooling.

Is Homeschooling The Last-Ditch Effort?

However, I have on more than one occasion discouraged parents from starting to homeschool because the truth about delaying a start to homeschooling is that there are 3 things that you want to consider before you dive into homeschooling.

Look at these 3 reasons why you should consider delaying a start to homeschool until you have time to address them.

1. If there is more of a discipline problem than an educational problem.

Several times as a homeschool leader, I have spoken to lawyers, locked horns with public school counselors who were not informed of current homeschooling laws and even testified in court one time. Most of the time the parents had behavioral problems with their kids.

Disciplining desperation led parents to homeschooling.

I had to think about testifying in court on behalf of two families that wanted their 15 year old children homeschooled because the daughter of one family was pregnant by the son of the other family.

Now, they wanted to homeschool. That is what I call the ugly side of homeschooling because families are not embracing homeschooling because they believe in the value of it or they are trying to head off some disciplinary problems before they happen.

I wouldn’t take parents in my homeschool workshop that are now wanting to homeschool because their child were in drugs or mischief. It may sound harsh, but there are two very different classes of parents who come to homeschool.

There is the class that believes in it because of all the advantages a child has (and I don’t mean those parents who thought they never would homeschool and are homeschooling) and then there are those that come to it because they don’t have a choice because they were not involved parents.

Parenting is a hard job and sometimes no matter what we do, teens will make their own choices.

It may be no fault of the parent, but then again the relationship with the child is what needs to be worked on now instead of the educational system.

In the end, I decided to testify for those two families that wanted to “homeschool” because they were both expecting their first grandchild from two 15 year old kids and because I knew they didn’t have many options.

My heart was absolutely broken for both families. It was not homeschooling like it should be, it was just being homebound. Look at my article, What is REAL Homeschooling? Homebound, Co-op or Public School at Home.

2. When one parent is completely against it.

I am not talking about a scenario when Dad may be skeptical and wants you to prove it to him the year you start, but where he is flat out against it.

Having a family and successful marriage is tough enough these days without adding to the stress of it. Marriage doesn’t afford you the luxury of avoiding controversial subjects.

If homeschooling is a controversial subject now, then it will always be until you both see eye to eye on it. If your husband is against homeschooling, don’t nag him, but graciously keep showing him all your well thought out research.

As long as he wants to continue talking about it, then keep on discussing it. But I have never encouraged a spouse, husband or wife, to go against the wishes of the other.

There are more things than academics to teach kids when you bring them home to school and one very important thing is teaching them how to work out things in a marriage. Agree first to homeschool and then homeschool in peace.

3. Lack of support system.

Sad to say, I have seen many parents bring their teens home to school only to leave them alone at home every day while they work. Teens are at various levels of maturity and while some can stay home and stay self-motivated each day, others still need some kind of support.

A support system doesn’t have to be a whole lot of people. It can be just one family member or a trusted close friend that will help you when you need it. By the teen years, most kids can work independently. Independently doesn’t mean always being alone or not having someone to supervise their work or monitor their success or lack of it.

Ideally, a family will meet with more success if the main homeschooling parent, which normally is mom in a lot of cases can dole out a bit of time each week to go over the child’s assignment.

Even if she has to work full time, spending a bit of time each week with her children, no matter how self-sufficient her children are is the best gift you can give to your children. Your kids still need parental guidance and supervision to make the shift to being responsible adults.

I have helped single moms and single dads learn how to begin to homeschool their children while they worked because they had a plan in place which is to get grandpa or grandma to help so their children were not alone all day.

One single mom that I helped even gave up some of her independence and made the decision to move back in with her parents (of course her parents were on board with it too).  Her daughter would not be alone during the day and the grandparents and homeschooling mom worked out an arrangement where the homeschooling mom provided a good amount of income for all of them.

When the Going Gets Tough Do the Tough Really Need to Get Going?

Many years later after her daughter graduated, I heard from that mom as she came to me with tears of appreciation in her eyes.

I am no good when somebody else is crying, I have to join in too. I told her then that I was the one grateful for her friendship and that she taught me the power of a strong-willed parent and the value of a support system.

Homeschooling is not always about what we want, but what we are willing to give up so that we can homeschool. I learned so much from that single homeschooling mom.

Too, homeschooling is not about educating at all costs even at the cost of your marriage or sacrificing the relationship with your children.

Have you carefully weighed the cost of homeschooling?

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

In the meantime, go through my 31 Day Free Homeschool Boot Camp and look at Go Ahead and Make a Mistake: Homeschool Without Fear and Homeschooling – Beginnings are Usually Scary, Endings are Usually Sad, but It’s What’s In the Middle that Counts!

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.
Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

 

3 Things a Homeschool Mom Wants From Her Husband (Besides Support)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

3 Things a Homeschool Mom Wants From Her Husband (Besides Support) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusThough I was a teenager, I clearly remember my mom visiting a homeschool mom to ask questions about homeschooling. This was back in the 80’s when homeschooled kids had to duck down in the backseat of the car if they were out during public school hours. Curriculum was not easy to find, organized field trips with a group were almost impossible and finding support for a homeschool mom was flat out hard.

However, out of all the things that seasoned homeschool mom could talk about, she ended up spending more time talking about the ways her husband helped her.

The Challenge Homeschool Dads Face

The longer I homeschool, the more I treasure those priceless tidbits shared by that seasoned homeschooling mom because they have been the same things that have kept me going though homeschool times have changed significantly.

Look at 3 things a homeschool mom wants from her husband (besides support).

1.Take the kids and leave.

Yes, taking the kids and leaving the house sounded harsh when that seasoned homeschool mom told my mother, but it’s so very true.

My husband, like a lot of other husbands who wholeheartedly support homeschooling felt like I wanted to leave the house to be by myself. Sometimes I did. A hair appointment without kids was the ultimate treat.




However, I soon realized that I was never at my home alone, with my thoughts, and at the place where I ultimately rested best.

This was especially true when the kids were all very little. When my husband took the kids and left the house, I felt an immediate stress release.

Some days I would catch up on things I wanted to around the house, but many times I just relaxed. Not that superficial relaxing where you know the kids will be back, but I fixated on making myself calm down completely so that I could rest and recuperate.

Of course, it matters how long they are gone, but even a few hours were enough to rejuvenate me.

2. Not just play with the kids, but find ways to roughhouse.

No, I don’t mean the kind of playing that most dads do naturally, but I mean the kind of playing and entertaining where kids can really let off some steam.

I thought it was just important when they kids were little, but I have learned that it is equally important when they are teens.

Let’s just face it, though we love our kids to pieces, we all get sick of looking at each other every day. Besides the normal getting outside to play, kids need time to roughhouse.

From what I have seen, it’s not just boys that like roughhousing. Girls can be just as active and need more than just playing outside or with dad too.

When Mr. Senior 2013 hit that real active stage, my husband cleared out the garage and set up a weight lifting bench and other exercise equipment in the garage. What a life saver for me from those raging hormones. That hadn’t even crossed my mind to set up an area like that because I was so hyper focused on homeschooling.

My niece wanted to jog every day and so she needed a way to get to the track since it was safer there. Dad to the rescue. That is one less thing for a homeschool mom to do at the end of the day when she is already tired.

3. Accept simple meals.

My father admits it. He never liked leftovers and my mom always tried to accommodate his wishes since my dad worked so very hard to provide us. That same mindset followed me to marriage and trickled over into my homeschooling.

However, there is one huge difference between my mom and myself and that is my mother only homeschooled one out of four kids. Too, my younger sister was in elementary school when my mom started and my mom had three other teen children at home who were quite capable of cooking and cleaning. She had a lot of help.

It is quite different when you homeschool more than one child and you start homeschooling all of your littles from the very beginning.

Completely stressed about meal planning, homeschooling and all the 1001 things I needed to do each day, I discussed it with my husband.

I was shocked because one thing I had not learned in all our years of being married is that he is all in for simple meals. Unlike my father, he was pretty easy going. With my dad, I too learned why he felt that way about food and things were just very different back in his day.


Of course, because my husband was easy going didn’t mean I was going to go overboard by not making delicious meals. He too works hard  for us. It did, however, mean that some nights I needed a break and he believed that too.

Soon, I realized that simple meals could be just as delicious.

Things like having a quick breakfast for supper, hot sandwiches and soups and making one night a themed night like Italian food night gave me permission to stress less about simple meal planning.

There are a few other things I learned along the way about the help a homeschool mom needs, but these ways stood out to me today.

Clearly, I needed my husband involved in homeschooling besides just his general support.

Ideally, it would be great if dads could do projects or even school, but not all dads have that kind of time.

Instead of pining over what a dad can’t do because a lot of dads work full time, savor the times that your husband helps steer you through the challenges of homescooling.

Homeschool support from my husband goes beyond just approval, but it is shown in action.

Things that might seem little and natural to a homeschool father to do are meaningful and large ways to support to his wife.

What ways does your husband support you that you want to tell to the world?

Let other family members support you too.

Look at How Grandparents Can Inspire Your Homeschool Journey.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Grab some more go juice.

Homeschool Quitters, Dropouts and Wimps (Want to Join Me?)

Top 5 Tips for Homeschooling Parents

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

 

4 Reasons Your Homeschooled Child is Uninspired To Learn (and what to do)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

4 Reasons Your Homeschooled Child is Uninspired To Learn (and what to do) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When you hear about the success (or so it seems anyway) of other homeschool families and their kids while your kid whines and won’t do anything other than what is absolutely necessary to get by for the day, it is the ultimate discouragement and makes you feel like a complete failure.

Today in sharing 4 reasons your homeschooled child is uninspired to learn, I am giving you some tried-and-trued tips that have worked for others that I supported when they got to a brick wall. Some kids too are just not excited about anything and that can be tough.

I hope this insight moves you to not give up on homeschool. You deserve to have a peaceful home without the fights, back talking and every day arguing.

Complacency can be a killer.

Children are no different than we are when it comes to being affected by their environment.

If they feel that their home learning environment is the same as public school, which they may be contented with, they may see no difference in how they are learning. Have you taken time to explore methods that work for your children or are you modeling public school?

Resentment sets in because a child may feel that public school was fine for him and he has very little motivation to change his day.

Homeschooling works when you embrace a life style change. Your child needs to know that homeschool and school at home are two very different concepts. See my article, The Great Homeschool Hoax – Public School At Home to be sure you are aware of the two very different educational models.

Forget strong-willed, the kid is a rebel.

There are many reasons that a child rebels and not all of them are necessarily signs that a child will go wayward. Children are affected by change or stress in their life. Childhood is all about constant change, so it’s not so easy to detect rebellion versus a silent cry for help.

However, if a child is outright rejecting your authority all the time and not just during school time, the problem more than likely is a discipline problem.

Let me say this again because it’s a subtle, but powerful detail to remember when you are having conflict. Here it is:Pay attention to what is going and to when you see rebellion. If it’s just during school time, it could be a struggle with their workload.

Are You Breeding Rebellion? (gulp)

Your child may be rebelling because he is drowning under the weight of a curriculum or approach that is not working for him. He doesn’t need discipline then, he needs relief, compassion and a champion to help him sort out what is not working for him.

However, if acting up or rebellion is most of the day and not just at school time and he is constantly arguing with you about everything, fighting with siblings and intentionally disrupting the entire day, then it could be rebelliousness. You will then need clear sanctions for his behavior.

If that is the case, it is better to put school aside or slow it down until you restore your relationship.

While you address the rebellion, which is stressful enough, keep school very light. It teaches your child too that while school is important, he is what matters most.

Grab some more tips in my article, 3 Wrongs Ways to Homeschool a Hot Headed Child.

Your “Ambitious” Planning Can Bite You Back.

Hiding my over planning insanity under the cover of “organized” for the year, I had to change. I too made the mistake of being over ambitious.

And no matter how many times we hear it, we forget it. Homeschooling is about finding what works for your child and not trying to make him somebody he is not.

Look at my points in my article, Homeschooling for the Love of Learning – Does it Really Work because ambitious homeschooling has a way of biting back.

In our enthusiasm we may be hurting our child because we could be setting curriculum goals, which may be impossible for a child to reach.

Helping many parents with planning, I know they want the best for their child. However, instead of teaching a child to love learning for intrinsic value, which is one of the greatest motivators to intelligence and by setting impossible goals, they set their child on the path to disappointment, burnout and exhaustion. It’s hard to come back from that.

Spending time reading aloud together (yes even with a teen in high school) can restore relationships. Check out my tips at Homeschooled Kids Who Read – Pastime Pleasure or Professional Prerequisite.

A child is either behind or advanced in grade level.

A child can advance by two grade levels or be totally bored with the curriculum. Learning is an ebb and flow and if we get too comfortable as parents with the same curriculum, we could be adding to a child’s lack of motivation for learning.

Homeschooling is about changes and if we are not challenging our children when they need it or delay the next concept or grade level to allow them to reach the next level when they’re ready, then we are fostering exasperation.

Grab some tips on finding a balance here at Helping our Homeschool Children Find their Inner Drive When We are Not Sure We Have It.

Setbacks are part of homeschooling and because homeschooling is parenting, it takes a thick skin to not view your child’s challenges as a personal assault.

Step back from school, do the core subjects until you find the problem. Identifying the problem is more than half the battle because then it gives you a starting point for a solution.

Has your child lost his love for learning? You are NOT alone.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

3 Things To Remember When Homeschool Unit Studies Get Complicated

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

3 Things To Remember When Homeschool Unit Studies Get Complicated @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschool unit studies are a natural and relaxed way to learn. However, it is easy to get off track and create obstacles instead of keeping them simple. I know, why do we that?

Look at these 3 things to remember when homeschool unit studies get complicated.

1. Slow Down Momma!

I have the tendency to over plan, not just because I love to plan, but because we find so many fascinating topics to cover.

Pushing quickly through each unit study, we find ourselves at times exhausted. Reminding myself that our unit study topics fit my kids and so should the time we spend on them gets me refocused.

Determine what is a good pace for you and your kids because each unit study is different. Take a cue from your kids and slow down if they are immersed in a topic.

2. Steal Ideas From Other Homeschool Approaches.

When I first started unit studies, I had my boys writing about everything we learned.

Soon I realized that our time spent together was not about talking or interacting with each other about what we’re learning, but about writing everything down on paper.

Should Exploration and Discovery Cost?

Who was I impressing with all the mounting writing reports we had?

Adopting the narration technique from the Charlotte Mason approach was the wonderful gem we needed to add to our learning day.

See my tips at 3 Unexpected Benefits of Homeschool Narration and Narration – Telling Back or Testing.

And though conversations are exhausting with little kids because of their desire to soak up new things, teens are equally challenging because they want to let you know what they know. Let them while they want to talk.

It makes for some great debate at home. Of course, pick your times carefully to “discuss” because teens are almost always ready to question anything and there will be times you are mentally exhausted.

With all that being said, I would never trade our time together talking and recalling all that we learned.

Narration is a way for your kids to each share what they remember and when they do, all of your kids get the benefit of what each child is sharing. It’s mastery learning at its best.

3. Crafty, I am not.

No, I don’t long for or pine to stay tucked away in a room someplace and do crafts. I have friends like that and they make beautiful crafts and did I mention they are very creative? I am moved by different reasons to create or craft.

Crafty and hands-on are not necessarily synonymous as I have learned. Letting go of the thought that we have to do crafts with each unit study helped me to make unit studies adaptable for our family.

The difference between a craft and hands-on project is that hands-on learning is about making a learning connection between doing and reading.

Here is the clincher though and that is that kids that are motivated by the act or live for crafts and kids that want a practical purpose for a project both benefit.

Because I had always associated hands-on learning with a craft, I had put obstacles in the way of learning.

Oh sure, we love to have fun too and I realize now that having fun is a great way to learn. Letting go of public school mentality that learning has to be austere, severe and dry helped too.

Hands-on is a win-win because it doesn’t mean you have to do a craft, just find a hands-on project that your kids like.

I am so passionate about hands-on learning that I created an article, 365 Days of Hands-on Activities – One For EVERY Day of the Year. Grab an idea or two from there for your next homeschool unit study.

Embracing unit studies and making them fit the way my kids learn has allowed us to learn more thoroughly instead of constantly reviewing.

The key has always been getting back to simplicity when I find myself over complicating them.

Has that happened to you?

Have you seen my Ultimate Unit Study Planner? It is my way of tracking what we have learned.

Ultimate Unit Study Planner Store @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 600x

Also, you may like to read these tips.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.