Second Cup of Coffee Today

my first method is to assign the subject, and the reading and let them try on their own. I have assigned reading, and book work with vocabulary and grammar that they can read and do on their own. I do a lot of oral discussion with my "unique" 6th grader. it goes much faster to put him on my lap, and cruise through some assessments to knock out lessons that he knows just does not seem to be able to focus on. he takes his text book and reads a chapter here or there. I put in post its of where to start and stop for him. if it appears that they have not picked up the low hanging fruit, I work with them to get them. each day we sit side by side and see what we need to pick up. what I do is block out one on one with each one on something that needs to be addressed, it could be working through a history or science assessment. there are 6 ways to skin a cat, I start by having them try to do it on their own without me 'teaching', then if that is not successful, I parallel play and find the answer myself as if it were my homework and show them the process. we will google it, we will check out the youtubes about it. I do not pretend that I know the answers, I 'act' like I am as dumbfounded as them, and we discover it together. it could be as easy as just orally getting the answers to the assessment, because they are not focusing on the question or it could be that we just need to pick up a video to get the point across. when it comes to having 5 under 12 in the house: I take turns, and sometimes divide an conquer. if I am working with one, I assign chores for others, or some PBS, or some art projects will buy me a 1/2 hour. but I do take up the whole day with schooling / housework / activities so it all blends together. I was a homeschool high school graduation and one mom said this and I have held on to it for years now. "Every Night I quit, I promised never to go back. The next morning, I would get up and try again." She homeschooled 8 children and this was her last child to graduate. I remember that when I am going to quit and put them back out on the curb for the yellow monster to eat them. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION My kids know that means that we will find a way, and it may not be the first or the 1001st way, but we will find a way. I HAVE NOT FAILED. I'VE JUST FOUND 10,000 WAYS THAT WON'T WORK. I only have to find ONE that will. I HAVE NEVER LET MY SCHOOLING INTERFERE WITH MY EDUCATION. The books and the system are just TOOLS, do not let them set your course. YOU set the course, you choose from the BUFFET. always take a clean plate each day. Do not let what went wrong yesterday cloud what could be right today.