Feb. 7, 2008 - Binder work
For the past six half months, Ariella has been required to do binder work. I would sit down each Sunday and come up with what she needed to do for the week. Some of it could be done independently but most of it she wanted me to sit down next to her at the kitchen table while she completed it.
We started by me outlining what needed to be done daily. But, she rarely got everything completed and even if I only gave her a few things, I felt like I was writing up lesson plans and that was just way too much like school. Why was I homeschooling anyways?! I didn't want homeschooling to be school at home. Plus I had to do work every night to prepare for the next day. For the first month, I was beginning to doubt my decision. I read about all the benefits and believed that this was the right choice. But as Ariella cried over having to do her work every day, I felt like a bad mother for having thought I could do this.
So we switched to weekly binder work. This allowed for more freedom. As long as Ariella completed at least 90% of the work (some weeks she did it all), she was able to choose when to do what. At first I let her sleep in and do the work whenevr she felt up to it. But then she started using it as an excuse to stay up. "Mom, but I have school work to do!" I felt like I had to let her do it. But then, no...I realized that we had to come up with some kind of schedule. I started waking her up around 6:30 or 7 and we'd sit on the couch before anyone else awoke and read some. Then when the rest of the brood awoke (around 7:30), we'd eat breakfast and get started on her binder work.
So, she'd do a little work and take a ten minute break. She's do a little more then get distracted with Kaylah and start playing. This went on for a few weeks and I could feel the frustration building. I would explain, I would lose patience, I would yell, Ariella would cry. I wrote up a schedule with her help to show that if she sat down and did four hours of work (with a half hour break thrown in) that she could indeed be done by noon. Then she could have the whole rest of the day to play and do whatever she wanted to.
Which brings us to now. I'm willing to give a bit more freedom and fit her learning into neat categories for the sake of the the school district. Let's see where it takes us. I've always been pretty laid back, so maybe this may be the fit for us.
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