I sat down and counted all of the activities my homeschoolers were in this year and realized that their plates just might be too full. Looking at my son’s schedule, I counted Drama club, Chorus, Introduction to Drama Class, Piano Lessons, Music Theory Class, Worldview class, and Avid Editing. That is just on Monday. On Thursdays he takes, Geometry, Spanish, History, Physical Science, and Language Arts. He also takes Fencing class once or twice a week.
Holy Moly… That is 13 different classes. Technically 3 of them are clubs, but you get the picture. That is a lot of pressure for a 14 year old. Now in our defense, he is only struggling in Spanish, and all of these classes with the exception of Fencing is part of a Fine Arts program for homeschoolers. While we enjoy the program, I am finding that he has less time to personal creativity and freedom than he used to have. Yet changing this schedule could remove him from a program that he loves.
Still we have looked at what he is doing and figured out what to cut and what to keep. It was a hard decision, but on the financial and academic front, we were all over loaded. I will talk more about next years plan toward the end of the year when it is solidified.
My daughter has a similar schedule and loves it. If it where not for the incredible amount of structure, she would probably waste away listening to music. She’s just not motivated in the same way my son is. She thrives in this kind of environment. While we will probably make some changes for her as well due to financial constraints, we must continue to provide the same kind of constant structure that she is currently getting.
Public schools tend to provide a lot less classes and activities for a student in a typical week. There is time for about 6 classes and maybe one club and one sports activity for each student. I actually think that this is a good and sane number, at the same time, for some students, it will still be too much, and others could handle a much bigger load. I know in my case, I would have loved to have the opportunity to add one or two more classes (as I never got to take foreign languages) I would have gladly given up three years of Phys Ed for one year of Spanish. Still, not learning a language is the only real regret I have about my public school education, that and the fact that I was not offered Honors classes even though I was an A student.
So how do you know if your homeschooled kid has too much on his or her plate, or if they need more? Well, you have to look at each kid as an individual. You have to measure their degree of happiness, frustration, academic success, and determine if they have any time for themselves, just to relax and think. If this is in balance, then you are probably on the right track. If not, then you have some thinking to do.
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Time to Plan for Next Year’s Homeschool Program