With my senior, struggling finishing her year, I feel like we need a quick change of tack. Again, I realize that the main job of homeschooling is not really schooling. Unless you define "schooling" as motivating.
We mistakenly assume it's all about books and ideology when really, those are the LAST pieces of the puzzle. If I find the most PERFECT math curriculum, but I can't get my 10 year-old to sit down and do it, who cares about whether it's a good fit for my student, whether it's advanced, or correlated to some standard? As they say, the best tool is the one you actually use.
Homeschool, as it turns out, is for the manager, the people expert, the motivational guru. If you've checked my resume, you know I am none of those things. But I think if I had to do it all over again, I would spend less time on the latest-greatest phonics approach and much more time on "How to Win Friends and Influence My Students". You can lead the kid to the workbook, but you cannot make them work the book. HOW TRUE IS THAT?
So, what's the answer? Well, I don't know. I'm still muddling through. I'm just saying the problem is making itself ever more apparent. Attention paid to goal-setting, success principles, time management, that sort of thing would be time well-spent. Maybe a semester class called something like, "Self Management"? Maybe a few minutes a few days a week all year long? Maybe a "Morning Management Moment"?
#1375 on the list of things I wish I'd known before I got hired on for this gig.
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