I was talking with a homeschool mom at the pool – “talking” is the very loosest sense of the word. I had just swam 20 minutes of crawl stroke, and I was incredibly short of breath. The other mom said that she avoids such fatigue by alternating crawl stroke and breast stroke. What a genius! Now to be truthful, the real reason I was short of breath is because I’m out of shape. But let’s put that aside for a moment and think about how this can apply to homeschooling.
First of all, you need to alternate the school year with regularly scheduled breaks. It doesn’t have to be in the summer, but it does have to be a break. In my homeschool, we did do some summer school. 15 minutes of math, and 15 minutes of foreign language, and some reading. The rest of their summer school I just “collected” from their activities and delight directed learning – that part wasn’t like school at all! Remember to take a break in the summer.
Secondly, it’s a good idea to alternate the hard subjects with easier subjects during the school day. Math – heavy! Then reading – fun! Alternating your easy and difficult subjects can help them learn more during the hard subjects, and learn more about their interests and passions when they identify the easier and more fun subjects.
I guess a third application would be to get more physically fit…… Ugh!
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J W says:
Summer break doesn’t have to be in summer, either. We used to live in the South, where summer is miserable. We took breaks in the fall and spring. We were done with each school year sometime in April. Had we stayed, being finished in April would have been fantastic for graduating seniors!
July 30th, 2009 at 4:41 am