Does your child struggle with feeling overwhelmed by school work? My older son, (4th grade) struggles with feeling OVERWHELMED with many things in life. We had a pretty good handle on it during the first half of this school year, but once we got back to school from time off for the holidays, the overwhelm reared its ugly head. He would come in the classroom in the morning, see his list of things to do, and meltdown. Some days we would eventually get on track and other days we wouldn’t. Sigh….
It was time to review how we were structuring our day. I went through his list and calculated how long it would take to complete his individual tasks (if he would just start them!) and we were still on track for about 90-105 minutes of individual work per day, which was our plan. Then I double-checked to see if all the tasks were at an appropriate level for him. We were all good there!
So next, I decided to pull out a daily planner that we had tried in the fall. We had only used it a few times because he would become resistant to writing any of his tasks down and instead used it as a time to complain about each subject. This time however, I unknowingly worded my instructions differently and it worked to calm him down! Love when we accidentally stumble upon a solution! We were able to come up with a plan for each day and for the most part stick to it.
To read more about how we use this planner and to download your free copy, head on over to Outmatched Mama, where I had the opportunity to participate in her Conquer the Homeschool Slump Series! You will also find many other ideas for changing things up mid-year in your homeschool We can always use some fresh ideas, can’t we?
