In my life this week…
Have you ever wished that you had superpowers?
I used to wish that I could fly. That is, until this past week.
This week I wished that I had the power to freeze time so I could get everything done that’s on my enormously long “to do” list.
Oh, and I wished that I could wiggle my nose like a genie and the house would magically clean itself.
In our homeschool this week…
It was our first week of the Challenge A, Classical Conversations homeschool program and my son had a very nice time at his class on Monday.
However, the rest of the week at home with Mommy, was another story.
The workload was something that I don’t think that either of us were ready for. At times, we both felt like we were shoved, head first into the deep end of the pool, but we’ve managed to tread enough water and stay afloat for now.
I was told via a tweet from @rbortins a few days ago, that the first few weeks of CC can be the hardest to endure. He said, “It’s like starting a new workout… The first couple weeks are always the toughest”.
Of course my response was, “Promise?” – LOL
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
If you remain calm, cool, and collected in front of your children, most of the time, they’ll follow your lead.
However, if you’re REALLY feeling stressed, overwhelmed and are fighting back the urge to throw yourself on the floor and weep….fake it!!!!
(a helpful little tip that worked out pretty well for me this week)
My favorite thing this week was…
I need to give some bloggy love to my son’s CC tutor, Sonya. She has responded to every single one of my crazed emails this week with lots of helpful advice and information.
Thank you Sonya. You are my favorite thing this week!
Questions/thoughts I have…
My son is NOT into art or drawing. And when I say that he’s not into art or drawing, I mean that he kind of hates it.
I’ve tried working with him, but it’s just not his thing.
This year, we find ourselves in a homeschool program that requires geographical maps to be drawn by hand every day and my son is having a hard time with it.
By any chance, does anyone have any helpful resources or simple tips for drawing (without tracing) maps?
I’m grateful for…
This verse:
Proverbs 16:3 ~ Commit to the LORD whatever you do and your plans will succeed.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Leaping tall stacks of school books with a single bound….
Happy Homeschooling,
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yes it can have its hard times, and its good times, its important to find your kids main interests and work with that, if your child hates something, don't push it,superpowers would be very helpful, the list never shortens, best of luck
It must have been something in the air this week…we had a few more struggles than normal. Sending prayers for your CC quest this year! I LOVE that badge….I need to go and Pin it now…!!! HUGS!
I hope you weeks get easier. I had a day like that this week.
Blessings,
Dawn
Fantastic pin, Sue!
My oldest didn't even like to use crayons when he was young. He has never enjoyed drawing, but finally now as a tween has started to have a bit of interest in giving it a try. I tried to get him in a summer class being offered through one of our rec centers, but it was full and no one dropped out (he was #1 on the wait list). This homeschool year he's going to get his feet wet using some books we found in our public library system. (Sorry, I can't recall the name at the moment.) We use Apologia science, and he did NOT want to do the drawing assignments related to the notebooking (the Apologia elementary series). Instead we use photos cut from magazines that related to each topic (so he labeled these, etc. as necessary). Is it possible you could print maps instead and have your son do some sort of labeling, etc.? I'm not sure what type of maps you are doing exactly, but one of my fave printable resources is Xpeditions Atlas.
The Xpeditions atlas looks fantastic! Thanks so much!!!
The title of this post made me laugh! I would love the genie power of cleaning my house with a wrinkle of my nose!
The rest of this though made me nervous as I have the feeling that this is how I'm going to feel starting Monday until I get used to the huge increase in workload that we are taking on this year.
I am glad that you had someone you could e-mail who helped you and encouraged you and I have the feeling that once you get settled into the routine and get used to this new way, you will be just fine.
Boy if only….I too would love to be able to wrinkle my nose or nod my head, even snap my fingers and have my house clean. This week seems like it has been one of those weeks for a lot of us. I don't have any advice for your son who doesn't care to draw, but I hope you get some sound advice that will help you and him get over this hurdle.
I LOVE your log! And proverbs 16:3 has pulled us through a lot lately. Hold onto it, this too shall pass
God Bless!
oops, I meant LOGO not log! lol
If your son hates drawing, drawing maps everyday is going to turn into a drag for both of you. Could you have him assemble a booklet of maps that he marks accordingly? Or could you make a template for him to cut out, glue onto another page and then mark as necessary? Or could you just have him highlight/outline the different countries on a world map as he studies them? If your son can learn the information without drawing the maps, then it has still been successful. The drawing is just a means to learning, right? Well, maybe he learns better by simply looking or reading about the countries. Then again, he may get better drawing them if you just try doing it for awhile. You know best, but those are some ideas.
Great ideas, Michelle! Thanks so much!!!
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I love the superpower graphic. I feel like that on good days. On days like yesterday, I feel like crawling into a cave and becoming a hermit.
Awww {{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}} I am glad you guys made it through. I was praying hard for you guys!! I sadly am no help with the drawing question, I'm sorry. I love all of your journal this week (and every week) this week though seems to hold something extra special for me… hope. I hope you guys have a great weekend!! Tomorrow is a new day…
Love the title – wish I had the superhero cape to help in our homeschool day on Wednesday!
New follower
http://www.realcoake.blogspot.com
KC
I keep hearing about Classical Conversations around the blogosphere. It sounds like quite a job! I hope and pray things smooth down to a nice routine for you all soon.
Love that logo!!!!
LOL…all of it is so very well put. I liked the FAKE it advice. Still, you had me at the title – LOVE IT!
We are doing CC foundations this year and have found these two sites helpful for the maps: http://jimspages.com/States.htm and http://www.coloringcastle.com/state_coloring_page…. The first link is not drawing at all, but it will help with state placement. I don't know if they will be helpful for your son, but it's worth a shot!
Great blog by the way!
-Laurie
Laurie,
Thank you so much for the helpful links!
Blessings,
Sue
[...] sure you check out the other journals linked up at The Homeschool Chick’s [...]
Dear SuperMomChick, If I could just slow down time, just a little I wonder if I could get more done. Thanks for continuing to host this link-up.
My superpower would involve slowing down time and getting this house cleaned, too. I hope that with a little time you guys get comfortable with the curriculum and that you forget that it was ever a challenge! Have a good week!
I understand completely with CC – we are a week ahead of you. Our first week was tough 2 and quite honestly the second wasn't that much better although he new more of what would be expected. The geography is just too much imo so we are focusing on one goal at a time!
Oh Melissa, I feel your pain! I think that we're starting to get the hang of CC, but HOLY COW it's a lot of work!!!
One goal at a time is very good advice. Thank you so much!
I am new to this…and love it. Thanks for doing it!
Hi Sue! I love the pin and the whole concept of Homeschooling Super Powers! Although we don't begin CC until September, my thought is that your son is going straight into Challenge without having done Foundations and so he shouldn't be expected to draw maps from freehand like other students that have completed multiple years of map work in Foundations. I would think that it would be reasonable for him to begin with tracing and labeling the maps (like we are going to do in Foundations this year) and move toward a goal of being able to draw them by hand, but not all at once! We are going to use maps inside of sheet protectors and dry erase markers or tracing paper and a pencil when we begin new geography grammer. Later in the year we might be able to draw from memory, but not at first. Have you already discussed this with your tutor? What were her thoughts? I hope you find a workable solution!
Rachel,
You are sooooo right! It's a major shock to the system jumping into the Challenge program never having done Foundations. After talking to our tutor, we are actually going to stick to just tracing and labeling for now.
I love your dry erase ideas and will have to try that for sure!
Blessings,
Sue
I just found your blog and wanted to say "hi" and "thank you"!! I am hoping to homeschool next year and your blog has already encouraged me SO much! I have never known many people who homeschool so I am trying to realize that not all homeschoolers have 20 kids and wear denim jumpers (not that that is bad! It is just NOT me!)
Thanks so much, Katie! I hope that you love homeschooling next year as much as I do. It is truly one of the greatest blessings of my life!!!
Sue,
I love your blog! We also just started Challenge A. My daughter did NOT like drawing the map, either. So we broke it into chunks. We folded the US map into eight sections (to make a grid) and then folded her paper into eight sections (to make an identical grid). Then she was able to draw one section at a time. It seemed to help. We will see how it goes this week!
-Christie
Christie,
Your folding idea helped us so much this past week. Thank you so much for sharing the idea!!!
Blessings,
Sue
I want a t-shirt!
Ok, I've never looked at your blog until today, but I just wanted to mention that I got a cool book today called Interactive 3-D Maps: American History (Scholastic). While the book may or may not be what you need, I think the concept is cool — th students assemble the maps from cut-outs. Maybe that or something similar would help?
Thanks so much for the great suggestions!!!
Is it a hard-fast rule that he must DRAW the maps?
My son likes to make maps out of dough and uses red food coloring to make the lines and blue for rivers, etc…
Could you son try this, perhaps?
Judy,
I'm with you! I would whip out the salt dough in a heartbeat if I could, but we're stuck with drawing our maps from memory.
Love the catchphrase!!! What an awesome perspective to have about homeschooling.
Everyone has days/weeks like yours. Sometimes treading water takes all the energy I have…then the rescue swimmers are called in. You are not alone…and never will be!
Aw, thanks for the love, Sue!
And I like the suggestions you got here for helping with the map-drawing drama — especially the idea for tracing the map (inside a page protector) with a fine-point dry-erase marker. My Foundations kids are doing that, and I can see how it will help them when they get to Challenge A. It is tough to jump straight into drawing the maps without having gone through the earlier stages — particularly if drawing is not your thing. I say, try whatever works!
Sonya,
I love the dry erase idea and think that I'm going to give it a try next week for some extra practice.
Thanks again for all of your helpful ideas and support!!!
Blessings,
Sue
I found your super hero logo on Pinterest. I came hoping to find it on a t-shirt. Do you have any plans to make them? I think you could sell a BUNCH.
DUH!!! I just checked the sidebar. Ordering now.