Sometimes you just have to stop and find a new direction...

Yes, I know, it's been 13 days since I posted here.  That doesn't mean we're not doing anything structured - it just means that I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how our homeschool needs to look right now.  I would love to sit everyone down at the same time in the same place every day and go down the list of subjects and things to do for school but it's just not the right thing at the moment.  I've thought about unschooling but the kids have some bad habits that I think they seriously would not accomplish anything.  I've also considered trying the school-at-home thing like I said above and just trying to bull my way through but with burnout, I know that's just going to make things worse.

So, right now I'm seriously considering a few months of what I'm calling "life school."  We desperately need to get into a routine to get the house in order and keep it that way, as well as getting a room finished in the basement for Emmy and possibly one for Kjeri (if we can convince her to move down there).  The idea is that we would mostly scrap the academics and focus on learning some of the basic skills needed to care for oneself and one's home.  Mostly cleaning, cooking, personal hygiene, nutrition and exercise, first aid and home remedies for illness, food storage, goal setting, personal finance, and the skills that we will use to finish the basement.  The only formal academic subject we will keep is math.  Everyone is so behind where I think they should be in math (except Miri) that I don't feel like we can ignore it.  I will also watch for opportunities for writing assignments and teachable moments as well as expect plenty of personal reading time.  I'd also like to spend more time playing board games and baking with the kids.

It sounds pretty rigorous written out like this (at least to me it does) but what all of this really means is that we'll work really hard together to live a more orderly life.  I think Flylady can help and I've got to figure out how I want to implement all of it so that I don't just keep talking about it and never get anywhere.  So that's my next plan.  Hopefully, I can find something that will work for us.

What did you learn today?