I’m continually blessed by the wisdom of other mamas; and since the Good always seeks to be shared, I want to pass that wisdom on to you. May it minister to your heart as much as it has ministered to mine.
This past year, I had a difficult time finding a groove for my two struggling learners. Our co-op kept the older kids and my second grader on track; but my 10 and 7 year olds were completely my responsibility — and I was failing miserably.
In desperation, I reached out to some trusted friends in a FB group for classically educating, special needs families:
“We’re entering Week 10 of school, but between meltdowns, scheduling struggles, mom’s shortcomings, and life-in-general, my SC kids are somewhere between Weeks 3 and 4. They need far more consistency but I’m having trouble getting four kids’ work in before noon (I have [a second grader] and a 3yo who needs mommy time and teaching everyone at once doesn’t work — we tried for six weeks and we all felt scattered. I have to school each child separately.) — trying to get them to sit down for school after lunch will be an exercise in futility.”
One of my mentors discerned that I needed to stop trying to control everything and let God guide.
She, and several other moms, also reminded me that sometimes we need to pull back to essentials and regroup from there.
I decided to do follow this advice for both children. We also refocused on starting our day with scripture and prayer.
For the following two months we only worked in the areas my children struggled with most: phonics, reading, and spelling. I also reduced my second grader’s work to only her co-op studies: Latin, literature, and spelling.
I finally had the breathing room I needed.
These changes removed the overwhelm I felt and allowed me to focus on what was most important for each child.
And that focus led to huge gains for both of my struggling learners!
We restarted math in January, but adding it in didn’t overwhelm us. We had figured out the order of our school day, had become more proficient in difficult subjects, and had allowed other therapies/interventions to take hold.
We’ll be doing cursive this summer and finishing up some math. But our year was peaceful.
And I have wiser mamas than I to thank for it.
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