homeschool challenges Archives

How to customize your homeschool curriculum to fit your child’s needs

February 27, 2019Tracy

For all those well-laid plans and carefully selected homeschool purchases, it happens. You get into the homeschool year and realize that what you have and who you are teaching just aren’t a match. What do you do? Do you throw out all of that curriculum and start over? Is it possible to make adjustments to your homeschool year that will actually make a difference? Sometimes the problems warrant starting over from scratch; there’s just not enough going well to make a curriculum worth keeping. But many, many times it’s possible to modify your homeschool curriculum to fit your child’s needs. Here are five steps to help you customize your homeschool curriculum.

Tips for Homeschooling Foreign Language with Dyslexia

April 17, 2018Tracy

When a child has dyslexia, there are all kinds of questions. Will she ever be able to read and write? Will he go to college? Can she learn the things my other children are learning? Can he learn a foreign language? Obviously, these answers are as individual as the children themselves, but overall, yes! Your dyslexic child CAN learn. It’s not that a dyslexic child can’t learn; it’s that the child will learn so much differently than a non-dyslexic child. Language skills are definitely a challenge, but they aren’t necessarily insurmountable. Homeschooling foreign language with your dyslexic child is a perfect example.

Both my daughter and my husband have dyslexia. My husband just earned his second masters degree. He can also speak Spanish and translate Greek and Hebrew. He works hard, and he’s learned what helps him to learn. So when my daughter wanted to learn Spanish, I said “absolutely!” I know my dyslexic child can learn a foreign language, but I also know that how she learns that language may look vastly different from how my other children learn it.

Tips for homeschooling foreign language with dyslexia

My daughter has wanted to learn Spanish for years, and we’ve tried a few different approaches for her. She’s tried language apps and activity books and games. For awhile, nothing seemed to work—until I started to rethink what I was doing. I knew that my daughter could learn a language; she’d learned to speak English without a problem. What I needed to do was incorporate the same method into our Spanish study. For the first time this year, we are starting to make some real progress. She’s learning Spanish! Here are a few tips we’ve learned on our journey as we homeschool foreign languages.

Keep it visual, not verbal. This may seem like an oxymoron, but it’s true. Dyslexics learn visually. They think in pictures, not words. So when you attempt to help a dyslexic child learn a foreign language (or even English), keep it visual. Use lots of pictures and videos. Use the language daily as you go about your day. Allow your child to associate the picture and the experience with the language he is learning.

Immerse your child. How do kids learn to speak their native language? Immersion! Homeschooling foreign language is the same way. Daily immerse your child in hands-on, repeated interaction with the language. Most often, dyslexic children learn by doing. Your child with learn a foreign language by living in the context of the language day in and day out. Label objects around the house. Role-play conversations. Have real conversations and play games by including the foreign language vocabulary within your normal English conversation.

Engage the senses. Include as many of your child’s senses as you possibly can. An important way to help your dyslexic child learn a foreign language is by allowing your child to encounter and experience that language—hearing it, seeing it, tasting it, smelling it, and touching it. Taste the eggs and say the foreign word for eggs. Smell the flower and use the new vocabulary for flower. Touch the floor or the ceiling or the door. Play hide-and-go-seek in Spanish or French or Russian or whatever language you’re learning.

Be patient. Allow time for your child to learn. We’ve learned this in so many other areas, haven’t we? We are patient with reading and grammar and comprehension. We understand that our child will have challenges and will have his or her own pace. Homeschooling foreign language with dyslexia is not impossible, if we are patient with the process. It doesn’t matter if the curriculum says it can be completed in a year; let him take two or three years. Allow your child to learn at the pace that is appropriate for him.

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Why I love Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®

This year, we’ve loved using Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®. My daughter enjoys watching the funny, engaging Spanish videos of children doing the things she understands: eating breakfast, reading a book, playing a game, etc. The visually-based quizzes allow her to test what she’s learned with pictures and audio, without relying solely on her reading skills. And the variety of activities allows her to immerse herself without getting bored. Best of all, it’s self-paced, which has eliminated any pressure for her.

Typically, my daughter watches the lessons a couple of times a week with very little involvement from me. She works through activities and watches the videos over and over until she feels ready to move on to the next lesson. She and her brothers role play the videos they’ve watched, repeating the dialogue of the characters in the stories, playing the games the characters have played, and regularly practicing their Spanish vocabulary in a playful way throughout our day. She loves her Spanish lessons, and she’s thriving. (Her brothers love them, too!) Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® has been ideal, because it incorporates all of these basic tips for helping a dyslexic child learn a foreign language.

It’s visual.
It’s based on immersion.
It engages my kids’ senses.
It allows us to patiently keep our own pace.

Though we have used the online membership,Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® also has DVD sets available, including a special set for young learners and a super set with workbooks. Single level sets are also available.

For more information or to see samples of the program, visit Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® And now through April 30, 2018, you can get 20% off any order by using the code 20OFFFORYOU. Plus, enter the giveaway for a free Spanish level on DVD! (Prize shipped only to USA addresses.)

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Homeschooling foreign language with your dyslexic child does not have to be impossible. Our children are smart and capable. They can learn the things they want to learn. Our role is not to tell them that they can’t, but to provide them with the tools so that they can. And perhaps this is my top reason for loving Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®: it has allowed me to teach my daughter that she can learn the things she wants to learn.

Can your dyslexic child learn a foreign language? Yes! Absolutely, yes! We just can’t expect that process to look anything like the Spanish class we took in high school.

Setting goals for your hard homeschool moments

March 28, 2018Tracy

setting homeschool goals | homeschool overwhelm | hard homeschool moments

Hard homeschool moments force me to ask myself hard questions. Why am I struggling through a particular subject with a particular child? Why am I teaching literature analysis to my children? Why does my daughter with dyslexia need grammar anyway? Why am I teaching her to read hard things? Why do we do what we do? The reason I ask these questions is, quite frankly, homeschooling is hard. Homeschooling dyslexia, in particular, can be overwhelming. And overwhelming moments make us question everything. Which isn’t a bad thing, I’m learning. Questioning everything brings purpose and certainty and conviction. Answering these questions helps me to battle through the hard homeschool moments and to press on. Answering these questions helps me to define my goals and objectives for both my homeschool and my child.

I’m not talking about a list of learning standards. I’m not talking about a list of topics we are supposed to cover or a list of skills she should have by the end of the year. I’m not talking about a list of books to be read in so many months. What I am talking about are clear objectives for the end of her education. What is my end goal, my final objective? Who do I want my homeschool graduate to be?

If I know my end goal, then I can clearly look at each step in our path and decide if it’s leading us closer to that end goal. If the end goal is college, then I will have certain decisions to make along the way to prepare for that goal. If the end goal is a particular career path, then that goal will shape the next several years. My end goal determines a number of smaller goals and objectives along the way.

For our family, when I started asking the hard questions, I came to one solid conviction: I homeschool to disciple my children, to train them to be followers and learners of Christ. When I realized this goal, it was an emotional epiphany for me, a very tearful “a-hah!” moment. It put all the hard days into perspective. Why do I struggle to help my daughter to read and to read hard things? Because I want her to be capable of reading the Bible and understanding it. Why do I teach her grammar? Not necessarily to help her write well, which may surprise you, but to help her read well. I primarily teach grammar to my children to help them to read, to give them the tools to break down hard passages and difficult texts so that they understand the message. So when they tackle that hard passage in one of Paul’s epistles, they know how to find the main clause and the main message.

Your goals may be vastly different for your family, but knowing your end goal, your final objective, will help you to start making the smaller decisions along the way.

There are tons of learning standards and book lists and curriculum options. That alone creates a lot of homeschool overwhelm. We start to ask, which choice is the right one? Then, when we hit an obstacle—a hard homeschool moment—the tendency is to second-guess our choice; of course, we must have made the wrong one. And yet, taking the time to think through our goals helps so much with all of this guilt and indecision. Your end goal for your family and for each child helps you to see your smaller goals for each subject and even each curriculum purchase.

If I know my goal, then I narrow my choices. Once I make my choice, I evaluate how well that choice is moving me toward my goal. Regardless of the hard homeschool moments, I’m keeping that end goal in mind and aligning everything with it.

My objectives prepare me for the hard days. They strengthen me and give me resolve. I can press on when the going get’s tough, because I know where I’m headed. I know why I’m choosing harder books or trying a new curriculum. I know why I’m assigning some literary analysis. I know why we are learning grammar and diagramming sentences.

I know why. And knowing why is more than half the battle.

A day in the life of Homeschooling Multiple Ages

February 21, 2018Tracy2 Comments

One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is that we can all learn together as a family, and yet that also presents one of the greatest challenges—homeschooling multiple ages. I’ve homeschooled while pregnant, with a newborn, through the destructive toddler years, while potty training, into the preschool stage; and now, my youngest is finally kindergarten. Each stage has its challenges, and our routine has looked different at each stage, sometimes changing throughout the year. But no matter what our current challenges are or how I change the routine, a few principles have remained constant and made a world of difference in successfully homeschooling multiple ages.

Quick Tips for Homeschooling Multiple Ages

Budget your time.
Combine all that you can.
Don’t try to do it all.
Less is more.
Train independence.

A day in the life of

Homeschooling Multiple Ages

Though not everyday is exactly the same, most days we participate in our extracurriculars in the morning and begin schoolwork after lunch. Monday afternoons, I devote to my oldest. We meet together for a couple of hours with a cup of coffee or tea and go over the last week’s work, the new week’s assignments, and our Tapestry of Grace history and literature discussions. It’s also our video and game day, which means that my younger ones watch geography and Spanish videos, play learning games, or work on projects; they are occupied with these special activities that I only offer them once a week, which allows me some (more or less) uninterrupted time with my sixth grader. The rest of the week, he works pretty independently, checking in with me only if he has a problem or question.

On the other four days, I work with my kids from youngest to oldest, starting with my kindergartener. Together, my youngest and I work on phonics (Logic of English Foundations B), math (a mix of RightStart Math A and Math Mammoth 1), and handwriting for about an hour. Then, he goes off to play legos, and I switch my attention to my fourth grader. She’s dyslexic and ADHD; between her learning challenges and anxieties plus the ADHD distraction, working on her own is sometimes challenging. Because I cannot work with her in every subject every day, I budget my time with her. We work together for about an hour and a half in a block schedule. On certain days, I work with her in RightStart Math and Easy Grammar; other days we work on writing and comprehension skills. She then works for about another hour and a half on some copy work activities, reading, and craft projects. A couple of days a week, I’ll wrap up our homeschool day by working with my oldest for about 20 min. in his grammar, using the Abeka 6th grade grammar workbook. We read through the instructions together, and I’ll have him work through a certain number of sentences until I’m confident he’s grasped it. (By no means do we work every problem or even every exercise.)

For history, I choose a read-aloud for the lunch hour and assign some independent reading and projects for my older kids to do on their own. Science is another independent subject for my kiddos. My oldest works on his own throughout the week in his Elemental Science Biology for the Logic Stage, while my daughter is reading through the Thornton Burgess Book of Birds and Book of Animals and choosing projects about the animals in her stories.

On a good day, we will finish up around 3:30 or 4, but of course, there are those days when I wrap up our day just in time to start dinner.

Homeschooling multiple ages is a work in progress. It’s about finding a groove that works for one stage in your life, and being willing to make adjustments as your kids grow and change. It’s about looking at your whole day to find the best moments for learning. It’s about seeing all the opportunities in your day. It’s about thinking outside the box and taking advantage of all that homeschool freedom and flexibility.

5 tips for Planning for your Homeschool Challenges

January 17, 2018Tracy

The reality of any plan is this: it’s going to change. I’m constantly planning, constantly changing, constantly rethinking, constantly trying to make our days run more smoothly. But I’ve learned that the key to a good plan is how well it flexes. How well does a plan hold when life hits it? Planning for your homeschool is so much more than plotting out what days you do math and when you finish the year. There are toddlers and sick days and unexpected visitors and laundry and overflowing toilets and doctor visits and — life is messy, unpredictable. Planning your homeschool well involves planning for your homeschool challenges, anticipating what can and will go wrong and allowing for the chaos in your plan.

5 tips for Planning for your Homeschool Challenges

Routine vs. Schedule

Over the years, I’ve homeschooled with a newborn, toddler, poop-throwing potty training toddler, preschooler, ADHD times 2, dyslexia, month long stomach flu, and a coast to coast move. Let me tell you, the key to a good plan is a good routine. And I don’t necessarily mean a timer that goes off at 8:30 to indicate school has begun. (I’ve done that, too.) A good routine is a rhythm of life that fits your family. Set up your day by routines rather than specific times; have a morning routine, an after-snack routine, an after-lunch routine, a before-supper routine, etc. The idea is to allow for some distractions and upsets. If your child ends up in the bathroom at 9:00 in the morning and stays there for 15 minutes, you’re not behind schedule; you simply pick up wherever your routine left off.

Realistic Expectations

I am the worst at assuming I can do more than is realistic. But the reality that reigns me in is that I do only have so many hours a day. One of the first things I do when I’m planning a new routine is to list how much homeschool time I really have. What can I personally give my children, and what will need to be done independently? When I had a newborn and was nursing, I had to realize I could not personally provide all the instruction my kids needed. I purchased website subscriptions and online learning games. When potty training, I set up a lot of our homeschool time near the bathroom and in the hallway.

The idea is that we have got to lower our expectations. We simply can’t do it all. Something does have to give. In order to have a successful plan, be realistic about what you can do. I know I can provide one hour of instruction for my daughter and one hour for my kindergartener. That means with my fourth grader, we don’t do every subject every day. I work with her in a few subjects on certain days and the rest on other days. I understand that my priority has to be quality over quantity. In other words, one good writing lesson once a week will get more accomplished than a stressful, distracted, rushed lesson everyday. A good 10 minute lesson will teach more than 45 minutes filled with disruptions. Less really can be more.

System that flexes

My motto this year has been “the next thing.” I’m learning that some days, we knock out a huge amount of work and other days we come to a screeching halt. Instead of stressing over what is or is not getting done, I’m focusing on “the next thing.” We cover our studies one lesson at a time; we move on when my kids are ready to move on. That means we take two weeks for spelling lists instead of one. That means, my son lets me know when he’s ready to take that Latin quiz; sometimes its at the end of the week, and sometimes he needs two weeks. (I do set a two week limit.) Somedays we get through three math lessons with Right Start, and some days I can’t get past the warm up. We move on to the next topic in history when we’ve read the books and finished our projects for the first topic. We take things one at a time, because I’ve seen over and over again that it all washes out in the end.

How does this work in my actual lesson plans? I have an overall plan for the year and for each term; then, I sit down each Sunday night and plot out what I think we will get to in the week. If we finish it, I put a checkmark. If we didn’t finish it, I put an arrow through the box and write it into the following week’s plan. For my kids’ assignments, I don’t write out specific lesson numbers. Instead, I assign “math for 30 minutes” or “Read a chapter in Courage and Conviction.” They move through their assignments in the same way we move through the week, doing the next thing.

Celebrating the little things

Sometimes learning takes on a mind of its own. Your kids find an interest and run with it, a free video lesson pops up in your newsfeed that you know they’ll love, you stumble upon a gem on Netflix that you’ve just got to watch together, you get caught up in your read-aloud and can’t put it down. Maybe your kid writes and illustrates his own comic book, or repairs an appliance in your garage. These are all learning opportunities, and a flexible plan allows you to embrace these moments. Often, I will record these in my planner, too. It’s learning. It happened. I want a record so that at the end of the week when I have that “what have we gotten done” moment, I can see that learning did happen even if all my boxes aren’t checked off.

Willingness to try again

Planning for your homeschool challenges, bottom line, is a willingness to keep planning, to try again. Don’t scrap the whole plan, but be honest about what isn’t working. Maybe your time with your child is awesome, but independent work just isn’t happening; try a new plan. Just try it out. The best inventors and innovators, those found the most success in life, realized that every failure brought them one step closer to success. In the end, these are the life lessons that are the most meaningful for our kids. We are educating more than just their minds. We are teaching them that it’s okay to try and fail and try again. It’s part of the process. It’s part of life.

Homeschooling is challenging and filled with ups and downs. It’s beautiful in the way that birth is beautiful—a painful, messy beautiful. It’s life, and life is unpredictable. Planning for your homeschool challenges means you have a direction, a vision, and an end in mind; but you are also embracing that homeschooling really is about the journey, not just the destination.

Homeschooling through a Rough Start

August 31, 2017Tracy

In spite of well-laid plans and brand new supplies, the beginning of each new homeschool year seems to bring it’s own unique challenges. Ours is no exception. Our first year of homeschooling, I shut the whole thing down after our first month to revamp everything that wasn’t working. One year, everyone caught the flu on “start week.” Another year, we moved across country, arriving in our new home in September. With all of these challenges and changes, both good and bad, I’ve learned that there is something to say for “soft starts” to a new year and easing in. There’s also nothing wrong with homeschooling through a rough start.

Because we have a few of those unique challenges this year as well, I started a couple of weeks earlier than normal to allow ourselves the opportunity to ease in and break for life’s surprises. Our first day was beautiful! The picture-perfect day of happy kids elbow-deep in clay and learning.

The next day, I went head-to-head with one of my kiddos, repeating for the millionth time that conversation of “it’s against the law for you to not do school, so you better work with me here.” Day three was somewhat better, and the week slowly improved. Our second week has been up and down as well, and I’ve already decided our math curriculum might not be working out. We’re off and running to our usual rough start.

But experience has shown me, we will get through it, and the year will run its course of smooth turns and rough patches. My friend, that’s life! That’s parenting! That’s definitely homeschooling. We always have visions of the ideal, but we have to remember that rough starts aren’t failures— they are simply rough starts.

3 things to remember if you are homeschooling through a rough start:

A rough start does not characterize your year. Every good book opens with a conflict. Every good story involves overcoming challenges. The fact that your year may be off to a rough start does not mean you are going to have a terrible year. But it may help you to understand the challenges, the conflict, that will be part of your homeschool story this year. And just like a good book has twists and turns, ups and downs, your homeschool year will, too. The greatest stories are about those who overcome the challenges. Your rough start is merely chapter 1 of a great adventure.
A rough start does not define you (or your child). It’s easy to let those difficult moments define us, to think a failed attempt means that we are failures. But that isn’t the case. Often, we can see that in everyone’s life but our own. Your rough start doesn’t mean that you aren’t cut out for this. Your child’s rough start doesn’t mean she will be impossible for you to teach or even that she will always be this challenging (though it sometimes feels like it). Accept God’s grace each day, for yourself and for your child. I’ve had some rough patches with my kids, but we love this journey together. And each year, we make great memories. The challenges are often part of those good memories, as we learn to overcome together.
A rough start is sometimes part of gaining momentum. Remember when you were first learning to ride a bike how difficult the first few pedals were? You wobble along trying to keep your balance until that momentum picks up, and then you are off! Sometimes, a homeschool year has that wobble at the start. You push and push and push. Then, the momentum of learning picks up and things get a little easier. Each time we stop for a break, there is that wobble of beginning again. But just like learning to ride the bike, you hang in there, knowing that if you push past those first few ungraceful moments, you’ll make it.

Are there exceptions? Are there rough starts that just aren’t meant to be? Of course, everyone’s story is different. But as a friend who’s been there a few times, let me say that if you are homeschooling through a rough start, take heart. Chances are, it’s only the beginning.

3 tips to brighten your homeschool blues

January 23, 2017Tracy

January and February are the toughest months to homeschool. Just about everyone will tell you that. I’m not sure if it’s holiday hangover or the dreary winter weather or just the fact that the newness has worn off. Whatever it is, the “homeschool blues” are in full swing this time of year. If that’s you, you are not alone.

Our first week back to school at the beginning of the month was rough. After a month off, no one was really feeling like buckling back into the structure of daily school, least of all me. But each week, it’s gotten progressively better. My daughter’s dyslexia gave us some major challenges in that first week, but a few adjustments had her motivated and excited again. So, how do I battle the homeschool blues when they hit?

Here are a few ideas to recharge your year and get back on track.

3 tips to brighten your homeschool blues

Recharge with something new. Add a new subject or unity study. Purchase some fresh school supplies, even if it’s just fresh crayons or a new notebook. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate or expensive, but adding anything new gives you all something to be excited about. For my daughter, I picked up a couple of new dyslexia apps for her to use and a new pack of colored pencils. She’s raring to go now. That’s all it took. Other years, I’ve purchased new binders and organizing supplies. Work within your budget, but just a little spark can add a lot of energy.

Bring back an oldie-but-goodie. Pull out a favorite book you haven’t read together in a while. Play a favorite game, educational or not. Spread a favorite blanket on the floor and do school on it. Take your school work to a favorite location you haven’t been to in a while. Take advantage of those fond memories. The energy connected with that fun memory can recharge everyone as you make new memories.

Shake things up. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Maybe you need a new schedule or a new order of doing things. Maybe you just plan to do a few things “out of the norm” for you: a pajama day, backwards day, or star wars day. Let them dress up and do school as their favorite superhero or sports figure. Have a tea party for reading time and play legos for history. I think a lot of the “blues” comes from just needing to air out. Change the scenery. Do school at your local library one day, or at Barnes and Noble, or at the mall Food Court. Anything to surprise your kids and add a sense of adventure.

And here’s a bonus: do something that recharges you! “Secure your oxygen mask before assisting others”—kind of thing. This is not the same for all of us. I can tell you how I recharge, but that may do absolutely nothing for you. Maybe cleaning and organizing your school area will do the trick. Add a new Bible study, exercise routine, or arts & crafts time. Or perhaps, schedule some time alone with a cup of coffee and a good book at Barnes and Noble. In other words, let’s take care of ourselves. We can’t fill cups from an empty pitcher.

In my small group at church, we are going through Priscilla Shirer’s Armor of God study, and I’m journaling through Ephesians. I’m reading Uninvited by Lisa Terkheurst (my favorite author) and Craving Connections by (in)courage. And I write. Writing is therapeutic for me. I write to empty my head and shush those thousands of voices. But I’m muddling through, too. My dishes are behind, I just finally put away Christmas, and there’s a thick layer of dust and dog hair on everything it seems. I’m behind in so many areas of life. I’ve survived the holidays with no energy left for this next lap. But I know one thing: it get’s better. Yes, this lap is hard, but I’ve pushed through before and the sun does shine again. The energy does return. In the meantime, God’s strength and grace is sufficient, if I’m willing to receive it.

Hang in there, friend. If you are already feeling discouraged and burned out, don’t make recharging your homeschool something intimidating or overwhelming. Pick a few small changes to bring a little sunshine back to your day. Just a little light can go along way in brightening those homeschool blues.