I’ve been debating on how to approach this topic… It can be a touchy subject for some. This is our full scoop on a few various learning methods we have gone through.
We have tried virtual learning through the school the first few months after schools were reopened during the pandemic that they were attending at the time. I have to say that I was completely disappointed with the program and the teachers.
The program they used was Schoology and it was either glitching or not loading work once the kids completed. The teachers were a completely different matter. The teachers wanted no distractions and siblings to be quiet. Distractions I understand… Siblings not so much since they all attended the same school they also had work to complete. Not to mention they were 11, 10, 7 and 5 plus they had never used a computer before so I had to be there. The zoom class was a joke, especially when they schedule multiple grades in the same hour. So I would have to chose which child got to zoom with their teacher so the other zoom meetings wouldn’t over talk the others. Not to mention there was a teacher or two that wouldn’t post work until the day of or forget all together to even post it. Then the teachers would email and complain that the work is not being finished. I wonder why?
The final straw to say the least was when I overheard the second oldest’s special education teacher for reading tell him, “that you know this and you wouldn’t be acting like this if you were here.” Now if you know this child, you know he hates cameras, videos and anything that puts him in the spotlight because it sends his anxiety through the roof. What the heck do I know?! I just raise them and live with them. So that was the end of their public schooling via virtual learning or brick and mortar learning experience.
When we finally switched over to homeschooling. I initially started after deschooling for a few months… We did school, but it was literally just the core subjects and nothing to heavy to ease them into the homeschooling process. Then I began to try different methods. Worksheets, unit studies, researching any topic one of them wanted for the week, read alouds and so on. Things were going great, but I thought they were getting enough and falling further behind than what public school had already put a few of them.
So what did I do… I tried to recreate school and teach them traditionally. Boy, after six months of it the kiddos and I were completely burnt out. It was a complete failure that taught me so much. Change my style of teaching and got new curriculum. Since then there has been little to no complaints and hardly any struggles to get through daily lessons.
You got to be flexible! I can’t stress that enough. If it doesn’t work take it out and try something else. Add games, movies, YouTube videos, field trips and so on to cut the mundane out of lessons. I can say without a doubt I wouldn’t change the way we school now.
Homeschool Aunt Chaos 