I am sorely lacking in the motivation department this year. I'm finding it hard to force myself into a routine with my daughter. All summer long I had a routine going for myself. Get up, cup of coffee, light snack, workout, then whatever else needed to be done for the day. No problem there. But now that the school year is here I'm a complete mess!
I wake up at 5:30, get one child up and ready to catch the bus at 6:30. On Monday's and Tuesdays I get the older boy up at 6:40 and drive him to school. Dd, who is kindergarten (homeschooled,) just has to go with the flow of whatever is going on and I just can't get a routine going!
I have, at least, created a binder with objectives, and day planner for our school days. That's helped a lot.
But then I also have the added issue of everything I'm trying to teach her, she already knows. I went to the ADA website today to find an interactive lesson for kids on dental hygiene. It showed a picture of a mouth opened wide. She pointed to the back of the throat and announced that was the uvula! How do you teach a child who knows more than you do!?

I can relate to you. We do have a routine however things were going better before we got our curriculm (ACE) I ordered late and we had been having school for a week when we got it. But I do find that being ORGANIZED is the key to everything. Dont give up, hang in there. I have a boy 5 he seemed to do better with things that I made up on my own than he does with the curriculm. I think it is not enough of a challange for him. He already knows all his letters and their sounds and is beginning to read. He also knows how to count to about 30 and recognizes his numbers and shapes. I have found it hard to keep his attention he seems board. Hopefully we will adjust. This is our first year homeschooling my older children go to school. They are girl 16 and boy 13. The hardest thing we are dealing with is the 18 mth old girl that is very busy, any sugestions on what to do with her while we homeschool??!!

Sorry, I would also like to add. You might find it helful if you do things like lay out everyone's clothes the night before and also do baths at bedtime. We only do half day kindergarten so it helps me to be able to get chores done from 12:30 till when everyone else gets home. I keep a list of things to get done for the day and go by it!! If they dont get done we wait till the next day or even week if possible. Laundry is done on a daily basis!! It also helps to make menu's for the week. If you dont stick with it no big deal but it does help. I hope this helps you. It sure does me!!!

Thanks for the boost daklwil. Making an actual schedule and sticking to it is not a strong point of mine. Matter of fact, I can't watch Super Nanny because she times out the entire day for the family and it gives me the willies!
However, we are beginning to do ok. By 8AM dd is to be getting ready for school and we start about 9-ish. She's loving it and that helps.

I think with young kids it's important to remember that they are just "little kids". You aren't doing high school here. Kindergarten is really pretty easy, and very basic stuff. We used very little formal curriculum at that age. If they already know the things they "should" know, that's great! Enjoy spending time together, involve them in what you're doing, and have fun in the process. You'd be surprised at how much they learn just through every day life experiences. They actually learn a lot of math concepts through helping with things around the house. They can sort laundry, sort the silverware, match socks, etc. That's the same skills needed to do the matching exercises on many K math worksheets, but they're practicing useful life skills and helping their families at the same time. My son learned to add and subtract by counting cars on a parking lot whenever we'd go somewhere. He'd count how many were there, then I'd ask "If 2 more cars came, how many would there be then?" or "If 3 cars left, how many would there be?" It was a game to him and he loved it, but he learned a lot without ever doing a math worksheet. Later he practiced his math facts while jumping on a pogo stick. He'd bounce along, I'd say the math fact, and he'd try to answer it before the next bounce. Or I'd put flashcards on the stairs and he'd hop up and down, giving the answer to the flashcard before he could go on. He loved trying to jump all the way up the stairs without missing a question. So don't stress over the curriculum. The point is to educate your child, not necessarily to finish a book or stick with a schedule. I do agree, having a routine does help, but especially when there are other people in the family, learning to be flexible is an important lesson to learn, too.

As for the 18-mo-old, we did K with my oldest when I was pregnant with my 4th, then did 1st with him and pre-K with #2 the next year, with a toddler and a baby in the mix. Talk about learning to be flexible!! A lot of people suggested we do school during the baby's naptime, but that never really worked for me. Instead I tried to involve my little ones in everything we did. My toddler could sit in the high chair next to us and play with math manipulatives, color with crayons, use Play-Do (as soon as she was old enough not to eat it). She's sit on my lap when we did read-aloud, even when the books were over her head. She liked being a part of the action, and I knew where she was so I wasn't distracted by what she might be getting in to. It is a challenge to homeschool with little ones in the house, but the rewards are definitely worth the effort!

Ok, I've caught the homeschool bug now. I'm in to it and having a great time with my daughter. I'm taking it easy knowing that it can be quite impossible to have a 5 year old sit for 4 hours a day. Instead, we are spending time together, cooking, cleaning, sorting....of course we have a lot of Math stuff and all the basic K stuff too.
Thanks guys!

Thanks Lori!!!
i dont know about anyone else but your advice sure helped me!
We do have school time from 8:30 till 12:30
However we are very flexiable because we have to be!!! At first I was stressed and thought I would loose it but after reading so many post i learned so much!! We do a lot of activities like we count macaroni, write letters in sugar and lots of other fun things in the kitchen! ds does help with the laundry and lots of other chores, also at the grocery (boy is there a lot to learn there). We do alot with big colorful blocks also. I want school to be a fun, loving expierence for our whole family. My most favorite time is reading stories. I love curling up with the kids with a book of fun stories! There is nothing better in the world.