Homeschool Chat Part III

[chris31997]

First time homeschooler here, first day is tomorrow I have two daughters that are 3 and 5. My 5 is in kindergarten and my 3 year old I will be doing preschool. I am nervous about doing this as I want to give my kids the best education possible and I hope I am able to do that!

You can do it. Take it one day at a time and keep it short and sweet

 

[Belle0101]

Here's what has led to my questions:

DS13 is in the 8th grade in public school. He's never been academically challenged and he can't be promoted a grade level in public school because our district does not allow it. So, he has asked off and on over the years to be homeschooled and DH has always said no.

This year is the most frustrated he's ever been. As an example, school started 2 weeks ago and on the first day all of his teachers gave pre-tests. The idea being that at the end of the school year the same tests would be given and the students could see how much they learned. DS received an "A" on all of his pre-tests.

He told me last night that he was thinking of purposefully flunking all of his classes or getting in a fight so that DH would finally say yes. I shared that with DH and he still said no. The problem, as he sees it, is that DS already received a scholarship to a state college. If he is homeschooled he loses the scholarship.

However, I checked today and if he attends a charter or online school he can keep the scholarship. The online school I looked at offers a more challenging curriculum than what our public school offers and at earlier grade levels.

It seems like a good solution but I wanted to see what the opinion of homeschoolers might be. Naturally the website makes it sound like the best idea since sliced bread.

DS absolutely wants to go to college so scholarships are important. DH doesn't think that homeschoolers qualify for scholarships so I guess that should be a second question - there are scholarships for homeschooled students, right?

 

[::danielle::]

Here's what has led to my questions:

DS13 is in the 8th grade in public school. He's never been academically challenged and he can't be promoted a grade level in public school because our district does not allow it. So, he has asked off and on over the years to be homeschooled and DH has always said no.

This year is the most frustrated he's ever been. As an example, school started 2 weeks ago and on the first day all of his teachers gave pre-tests. The idea being that at the end of the school year the same tests would be given and the students could see how much they learned. DS received an "A" on all of his pre-tests.

He told me last night that he was thinking of purposefully flunking all of his classes or getting in a fight so that DH would finally say yes. I shared that with DH and he still said no. The problem, as he sees it, is that DS already received a scholarship to a state college. If he is homeschooled he loses the scholarship.

However, I checked today and if he attends a charter or online school he can keep the scholarship. The online school I looked at offers a more challenging curriculum than what our public school offers and at earlier grade levels.

It seems like a good solution but I wanted to see what the opinion of homeschoolers might be. Naturally the website makes it sound like the best idea since sliced bread.

DS absolutely wants to go to college so scholarships are important. DH doesn't think that homeschoolers qualify for scholarships so I guess that should be a second question - there are scholarships for homeschooled students, right?

I'll be completely upfront and admit that I know very little about online schools that meet and follow the state curriculum. My very brief research made me concerned that once you establish your home as a "school" (part I the online schooling requirements) is that you cannot later establish your home as a homeschool.
I have no real evidence or proof of that, it was a comment on a forum that I read once. I only mention it so that you know to research those rules in your state.

Best of luck with whatever you decide!

 

[momimouse27]

Belle, I don't think your child would have any problems depending on where he attends college. If he wants to go to Harvard, you might have issues. . I can only give you my experience. My daughter gets a $2000 per year homeschool scholarship. The real dough $$ is in the ACT and SAT scores. If your son does well in these, which it sounds like he could already ace them- then you're in business. IMO colleges rely heavily on those scores in giving out scholarship money. My daughter gets $1800 per semester just for her score.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[chris31997]

Here's what has led to my questions:

DS13 is in the 8th grade in public school. He's never been academically challenged and he can't be promoted a grade level in public school because our district does not allow it. So, he has asked off and on over the years to be homeschooled and DH has always said no.

This year is the most frustrated he's ever been. As an example, school started 2 weeks ago and on the first day all of his teachers gave pre-tests. The idea being that at the end of the school year the same tests would be given and the students could see how much they learned. DS received an "A" on all of his pre-tests.

He told me last night that he was thinking of purposefully flunking all of his classes or getting in a fight so that DH would finally say yes. I shared that with DH and he still said no. The problem, as he sees it, is that DS already received a scholarship to a state college. If he is homeschooled he loses the scholarship.

However, I checked today and if he attends a charter or online school he can keep the scholarship. The online school I looked at offers a more challenging curriculum than what our public school offers and at earlier grade levels.

It seems like a good solution but I wanted to see what the opinion of homeschoolers might be. Naturally the website makes it sound like the best idea since sliced bread.

DS absolutely wants to go to college so scholarships are important. DH doesn't think that homeschoolers qualify for scholarships so I guess that should be a second question - there are scholarships for homeschooled students, right?

If you are using a charter school online(not 100% sure on this on) or virtual school, then you can find differant schools of thought. On says that you are by defination homeschool however since you are using the public school curriculm then you are not. It can get quite heated. I know that if you are using a virtual school that HSLDA will not cover you.

That being said, I would start researching for scholarships. If you can find enough of them to off set what DH, is counting on because of his grades then you might have an aurgument. I would also look into dual enrollment options at the community college. Depending on your State, it might be paid for except books(FL is paid for high schoolers and homeschoolers).

 

[dis-happy]

Here's what has led to my questions:

DS13 is in the 8th grade in public school. He's never been academically challenged and he can't be promoted a grade level in public school because our district does not allow it. So, he has asked off and on over the years to be homeschooled and DH has always said no.

This year is the most frustrated he's ever been. As an example, school started 2 weeks ago and on the first day all of his teachers gave pre-tests. The idea being that at the end of the school year the same tests would be given and the students could see how much they learned. DS received an "A" on all of his pre-tests.

He told me last night that he was thinking of purposefully flunking all of his classes or getting in a fight so that DH would finally say yes. I shared that with DH and he still said no. The problem, as he sees it, is that DS already received a scholarship to a state college. If he is homeschooled he loses the scholarship.

However, I checked today and if he attends a charter or online school he can keep the scholarship. The online school I looked at offers a more challenging curriculum than what our public school offers and at earlier grade levels.

It seems like a good solution but I wanted to see what the opinion of homeschoolers might be. Naturally the website makes it sound like the best idea since sliced bread.

DS absolutely wants to go to college so scholarships are important. DH doesn't think that homeschoolers qualify for scholarships so I guess that should be a second question - there are scholarships for homeschooled students, right?

My DS was homeschooled all the way through; I dropped him off at college two weeks ago. He applied to 4 schools and was accepted to all of them. He was also offered tons of merit money, based on his SAT scores, gpa, and class rank (this one cracked me up). Due to dual enrollment credits he is already taking second year classes in his program of study and his 4.0 GPA transferred with him (not all schools will transfer grades with the credits but some do). His fellow O-Chem classmates are impressed with his chemistry abilities and he is already tutoring some of them.

Tell your dh that your ds could finish up 2 years of college while still in high school as a homeschooler...maybe that will sway him. Oh, in our state, those credits were free; we only had to pay for books.

 

[Belle0101]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

What we were looking at, according to the website, is a tuition free online public school. I'm not sure if that clarifies anything or not but I definitely need to look more into what the rules are.

DS doesn't want to attend Harvard. He has his sights set on Notre Dame. Maybe our first lesson should be about how money doesn't grow on trees.

Honestly, I'm a little intimidated to homeschool him but at the same time he is so frustrated with public school. I think if he could be challenged, be able to take some college courses, he would be so much happier.

Thanks again!! I'm off to read the rules of the online school more in depth and do some serious thinking.

 

[DisHmsklMom]

If your end point college is Notre Dame, you should visit their web sight. Here is the admissions info page, they have a number for info for homeschoolers.
http://admissions.nd.edu/admission-...tive-first-year-students/evaluation-criteria/
You may want to ask them about CLEPs that they accept, what ACT score they require for their honors programs (this is where the $$s happen), ect.
You can do this for any college he may the thinking about attending.
Just keep good records of everything he does for his high school years.
Good luck.

 

[sweetlovin']

Thanks everyone for the responses!

What we were looking at, according to the website, is a tuition free online public school. I'm not sure if that clarifies anything or not but I definitely need to look more into what the rules are.

DS doesn't want to attend Harvard. He has his sights set on Notre Dame. Maybe our first lesson should be about how money doesn't grow on trees.

Honestly, I'm a little intimidated to homeschool him but at the same time he is so frustrated with public school. I think if he could be challenged, be able to take some college courses, he would be so much happier.

Thanks again!! I'm off to read the rules of the online school more in depth and do some serious thinking.

Not sure what state you are in and this is my first time reading through the thread. My son is in Connections Academy and in GA it is an online public school. He started in 5th grade, a straight A student, but they put 35 kids in one 5th grade class and I pulled him out of the school. I will say for my child, Connection allowed him to go into the higher grades as long as he was able to test into them. So he is in Algebra with 9th graders, but registered as a 7th grader. He would not be allowed to do this in regular public school. Connections Academy in my state is a charter online school. My state also offers online regular public school 4th grade and up, but I do not think he would be allowed to move up grade levels as he was with Connections.

This was a great choice for him, but it isn't for everyone. I met some kids from the school that were having a really hard time adjusting to not having a math teacher. (That seems to be the hardest adjustment for online schooling from what the kids have told me)

Hope this helps with some in sight. My 3rd grader is asking to homeschool, but virtual school started the 1st week of Aug where I am. If I pull her, I will home school her and not use the online school for this year.

Good luck with your decision and I hope whatever you chose, your DH will stand by you.

 

[momimouse27]

Just like sweetlovin, I'm from GA and my daughters best friend is doing Ga connections. If you are doing online public school, then this is considered accredited and the same as if he were physically at public school. So, if his grades are good, and he has good sat and act scores, you won't have any trouble getting into ND. I'll second the thoughts on dual enrollment. This can benefit him greatly.

 

[sweetlovin']

I think there are a few of us Ga parents on here. I am in Gwinnett but a transplant from the Washington DC area.

 

[momimouse27]

I'm Gwinnett too, but grew up in MS.

 

[sweetlovin']

Oh, except "school is not for socializing!" as I heard ALL the time when IN school.

I LOVE this line!!

 

[trewin]

After running into some issues with my son in public school (I will spare the details!)- I wasn't happy with how the school handled things. I am now considering homeschooling.

If anybody cares to share, what are some reasons you are homeschooling? How does your child do socially? And what is your schedule like (how many hours a day do you work w/ your child, what programs do you use)?

I have a newborn, a 2.5 year old, and a 6 year old (first grade).

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

After running into some issues with my son in public school (I will spare the details!)- I wasn't happy with how the school handled things. I am now considering homeschooling.

If anybody cares to share, what are some reasons you are homeschooling? How does your child do socially? And what is your schedule like (how many hours a day do you work w/ your child, what programs do you use)?

I have a newborn, a 2.5 year old, and a 6 year old (first grade).

I just started homeschool my daughter this year (kindergarten) I also have a 3 year old that I work with. The reasons we decided to homeschool 1) Our school district is not that good, the school is not secure and they spend way too much time on standardized tests (about 12 a year). I also thought the school day was too demanding for a 5 year old, they start at 8:25 and end at 3:00. Being a stay at home mom staring to homeschool was easy for us.

I originally planned out 3 hours a day for schooling (as this is only kindergarten) and once I started I found it really only takes about 2 to 2.5 hours a day 5 days a week. Right now we just use workbooks like the Spectrum and Kumon books. As she gets older I will see what other materials are out there to use.

As for socialization my state (NH) has a nice size home school population so there are groups that we join where she can meet other kids. When she gets older she will start rotating to other peoples houses a couple times a month to learn different subjects. Right now I have another family that we are going to do art projects with 2 times a month.

Good luck with your decision and I must say just last week before I started I was terrified and 1 week in things are going great and she is learning like a sponge!

 

[sweetlovin']

I am going to pull my 8yo out more because she is ill often and we travel quite a bit. I think she missed about 5-6 weeks of school last year. 1 week for travel and the rest because she was sick. Her past teachers were phenomenal about giving work or letting stuff go depending, but 3rd grade we are traveling a lot. It's a preemptive strike.

I am just starting and a little nervous as well, but I think you will find a lot of support (here and in your town) as well as valuable resources on this thread as well as other links to homeschooling forums. I am going to keep my little one in the same history and science textbooks for this year. I think it will make the transition a little easier. I am starting her in a class called, "storybook quest" (classic book club with book reports and discussion) as well as an art class that is offered for homeschool children in my county. I am going to try a 2nd art class in Oct for her. She loves art.

Good luck trewin!!

 

[sweetlovin']

Have any of the experienced home school parents incorporated philosophy? I found lessons for including philosophy with younger children. Just wondering if anyone has found success and failings incorporating this into their curriculum.

 

[momimouse27]

I haven't done philosophy, but I'm letting my 16 yr old dd take sociology because she asked to. It might be good to just do some basic reading on the most important philosophers and their ideas. If you found lessons, that's great! I couldn't find anything much on sociology, so I had to buy a book off amazon.

 

[Aunt Stepody]

Homeschool buyers Co-op. has them at a very reasonable price.

Thank you!

 

[Aidensmommy22]

Hi everyone, I'm entering my 6th week of homeschooling. So far, so good! Question about WDW. We are planning a trip in January & I would like to incorporate some fun education while we are there. My boys will be 5 & 7 at the time. Can anyone give me any recommendations?