Homeschool blues

I love homeschooling. I could write endless posts about the benefits of children learning at their own pace, in their own style.

But you know what? It's awfully hard. On me.

I can't rant to my heart's content here, for the usual reasons.

I'll just say that I wonder if things are going well when the dominant feeling in me is frustration. That just can't be right.

When incredibly gifted at math child can't remember 11-7: frustration
When almost teenager child constantly pushes the limit on computer time: frustration
When youngest child does nothing wrong, but talks incessantly to herself, thus distracting siblings: frustration.

Of course I exaggerate (that's what one does on blogs right?) - frustration isn't always at the forefront. But sometimes it gets so big, and really bothers me. That's when I do a lot of praying. "Hey, Big Guy! Am I on the right track here? Do I need a course change? Or is this just part of it all?"

On the bright side: MiniMe read her first words today! You know the old classics - "sat", "mat", "set" and "met".....I know them well. She is trés excited and I did all the obligatory summersaults and high fives and whoo-hooing.

The other good news is that I discovered the online math course we use is the "premier" educational tool. The guys who created it wrote a paper called "The Assessment of Knowledge, in Theory and in Practice" (which is still sitting on my desk - I will get to it, promise). Anyways it has charts that look like this:

and is considered to be on the cutting edge of education. Score for Sue!

I've been homeschooling for 9 years now. I've been through burnout before. It's a good thing to avoid, if possible. I need to cultivate joy in the learning/teaching process.

I wish I was better at that.