Monday, January 12, 2009

Burn Out

We had a good time at my sister-in-law's shower yesterday. She received a lot of nice things for her long-awaited daughter. However, I have been worn out all day today. Am I just getting old? It was a very dull day. Even the knitting I attempted did not go well. I have some very fluffy yarn that I have attempted several times to start a scarf out with. However, every time I get to about the second row, I find I have picked up an extra stitch. I have knitted with fluffy yarn before but that yarn wasn't quite as fluffy and I had an easier time telling the strands apart. I have a hard time getting started anyway so perhaps the curve is just steeper here. The first few rows are usually the hardest for me. Although...

I have also worked and worked on a dishcloth on which I have made absolutely no progress. The idea is to create a lacy effect around the edge by doing a yarn over at the beginning of every row. However careful I am to make sure I start the row with that yarn over I get close to halfway through, look back and see places where the "hole" is not there. And my perfectionist self won't let me just go on. I'm sure every time I used the dishcloth my eyes would seek out the mistakes. I did make one successfully for my sister-in-law, but it seems beyond me this time.

And while I'm on the subject of burn out, I am becoming less and less enthusiastic about homeschooling. This even though I am only schooling one. I'm not sure I'm actually soliciting advice here, because I think one would have to actually know my daughter and I for any advice that would suit us. I will say that my goal in homeschooling is to get her through a high school degree. Also to make sure she can get into college if she decides she wants to go. And that her interests are dancing and bunnies. We have a book about ballet that she has been reading out loud to me to practice and improve her reading skills, which I thought would be great to feed into her interest, but to tell the truth, *I'm* getting bored with it. I'm bored with all this stuff she's supposed to be learning, because it has nothing to do with what *I'm* interested in. I guess I'm tired of teaching grade school. Is that terrible?

5 comments:

Elephantschild said...

I can relate to the burn-out thing, even though we're only in the first grade level!

It's just plain hard in the winter, I think. I'm hoping I'll feel more positive about everything when it starts getting sunny outside again.

the captcha word is "imess"
No kidding!

Karen said...

I'm having a hard time staying focused on school too. January and February are the months when I want to hibernate and do the things I enjoy. Not reading "Mike Mulligan" yet again. Who cares if Popperville has a new town hall? Hang in there! Spring will arrive eventually and then we'll wish we had worked harder in January.

skatey katie said...

well barb, you know i am absolutely NOT qualified to talk about the homeschooling topic ANY MORE!!!!!!!
bwahahahaha
but can i resist putting my oar in?

ummmmmmmmmm.....

just a wee comment that my kiddos: pre-readers and readers alike LOVE books-on-cd, or iPod. i bet there would be tons to choose from that she'd love. i hope lol. and that may fill in a wee space before she's ready to devour her own?

and - it's winter. i'm sure you'll feel a bit of buzz again once spring peeks around the corner...?
here, have some of my sunshine. actually it's thundering and lightening/lightning (is there a verb for that?) here...!!!!!
mwah X

Barb the Evil Genius said...

I don't know why I always think I am alone in these things, but I'm glad I'm not.

Kate, the books on CD or whatever seems like a good idea. I'd have to dig around; I've never been interested in them before.

Elephantschild said...

There's LibriVox, too - lots of classics released as podcasts or streaming audiobooks.