too much or too little???

I thought about writing this post for a while. I go back and forth on this subject. But lately I see so many mom's thinking they are not doing enough school with their children.  Or thinking they have to cram so much in so they learn more.  One mom I know was upset with some testing scores and is adding more schooling to their children's day thinking they don't do enough.  Another friend I have has her kids in all kinds of classes.  Multiple classes of the same subject.  We all tend to get in that trap from time to time.... either thinking we are not doing enough or thinking we need to do a ton of classes outside the home or teach all day long so they absorb all there is to learn.

So here is my own thoughts.  Sometimes less is best.  Sometimes cramming too much makes them learn nothing at all.  

My own learning experiences... in college I had many tests to take on the material learned during class.  I crammed all that information into my brain.  Where did it go?  I will tell you most of it went into short term memory never to be thought of again after the testing. I remember doing that when studying for finals in middle and high school.  When I was in a class that wasn't a heavy testing class I learned so much more and most of it is still with me 20 years after college.  

My own experience teaching Samantha.... One school year we did a complete all in one curriculum, every day was laid out for us.  Along with that we did our favorite curriculum Five in a Row,  We also did Co-op classes I believe 2 of them weekly, we did once a month lessons at the museum, I think there might have been a few other classes thrown in there.  That one school year my daughter didn't retain hardly anything at all.  Our school days were long and frustrating.  Our lives were blah.  LOL it was the same thing day after day.  No fun in our learning.  The crafts in the curriculum were scripted.  The fun was not there.  I was teaching my daughter in a way I hated how its done in public school.  I can honestly say the only thing my daughter learned that school year was the lessons from the book One Small Square the beach.  It was because instead of following the curriculum exactly we took the book to the beach to show it in person and very hands on.  

What I learned from all this.  Learning is not a race.  A child learns so much more when they are not being crammed with information.  If a child isn't ready for something today there is always tomorrow.  The more we try make them learn the less they will retain.  

So if your at a point in your learning journey and your finding no joy in it at all. If your trying to figure out what to change how about making a change to 

less is more.  

Our days flow like this no more then 15-  20 minutes per subject.  Less is more.  We get our days done all subjects taught but its not a race.  We discuss the material, we enjoy the time reading together, we take many rabbit trails on our material if something really caught Samantha's attention.  She is learning and retaining it well most of it.  

******Now I do have to state this is the real world so its all not perfect.  There are still days when I hear do I have to do school today?  UGH math again I did it yesterday.  I love the one where my daughter wants to pay me $10 so I don't make her do math.  LOL  On a daily basis math can bring my daughter to tears... she is very sensitive.  There are days like in grammar when I know I taught her something and she acts like I am speaking a foreign language when I ask her to tell me what the preposition is in that sentence. But overall this approach to teaching my daughter has made our  learning journey so much better******