Homeschool Chat Part III

[retired13]

There are places at Epcot where you can make your own roller coaster and a lot of learning experiences.....I think I just searched educational ideas at Disney.....

 

[momimouse27]

I think the little passports they sell in Epcot are great for geography. My kids used to love filling them out and talking to the CM's in each country about where they came from.

 

[trewin]

Thanks for the responses...

I am going to start Horzons for 3's with my 2.5 year old and just do what she can handle for now and start getting on a schedule. We have nothing to lose!

As for my six year old, we'll wait and see for now. At first I started looking into homeschool b/c of some issues he had and the schools lack of a response. However, as I force him to sit down and do his homework after a long day at school. I realize how frustrated he is. Sure, it's part of life and I want him to develop good habits. I just don't think he's responding as well as he should be because of the pressure. Maybe he isn't ready for first grade, maybe he doesn't respond well to how they are teaching, maybe the schedule is too much...we are just going to work on pinpointing the problem and trying to work through it for now. I suppose it is only the 3rd week of school. It is a nerve wracking decision!

 

[sweetlovin']

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?

Disneyyouth.com has classes for kids their ages. I have done the older classes, but the tickets are less expensive. If you are an AP holder, it's not worth buying the tickets, but if you aren't, I really enjoy the classes. Oh, my kids enjoy them too

 

[sweetlovin']

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.

I am going to cover the basic philosophers, although I did find a board for philosophy for kids. Thank you!!

Sociology is what I studied with a focus on children and family in college. That would be a hard class to find.

 

[momimouse27]

It was! We finally found a Holt sociology book, and so she's just reading the material, doing some online research and then being tested on it. But, hey, I'm big on interest based learning. She's also studying Japanese(using a book that was recommended to us by one of the salesgirls in Mitsukoshi dept store in Epcot ).

Enjoying her studies has been the key to digging my dd16 out of the hole she was in after our private school debacle last year. Much better so far this year!

 

[chimilady]

Sociology is what I studied with a focus on children and family in college. That would be a hard class to find.

If she's the type of person who enjoys listening to lectures in addition to her reading, there are TONS of free courses out there. And plenty in sociology and other subjects. UC Berkeley has open courseware, Yale, MIT and others. They're from previous years, and follow a text book, so you could probably find a matching textbook for pretty cheap online since it would be an older edition. Then I would test using some of the questions at the end of chapters.

Here are a bunch at Berkeley including Intro to Soc: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/series.html#c,d,Sociology

Here is one Soc class at Yale: http://oyc.yale.edu/sociology

I didn't see any Soc classes at MIT, but I'll post their main page anyway in case it could be useful to someone else.
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/find-by-department/

Edited to add - BYU has some High School level Sociology courses online, but they are not free. Not bad though, especially when you consider no texbook is required. And you wouldn't have to worry about figuring out how to test. Here is the link - under "Social Sciences - Contemporary Issues." http://is.byu.edu/site/courses/index.cfm?school=hs

 

[sweetlovin']

If she's the type of person who enjoys listening to lectures in addition to her reading, there are TONS of free courses out there. And plenty in sociology and other subjects. UC Berkeley has open courseware, Yale, MIT and others. They're from previous years, and follow a text book, so you could probably find a matching textbook for pretty cheap online since it would be an older edition. Then I would test using some of the questions at the end of chapters.

Here are a bunch at Berkeley including Intro to Soc: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/series.html#c,d,Sociology

Here is one Soc class at Yale: http://oyc.yale.edu/sociology

I didn't see any Soc classes at MIT, but I'll post their main page anyway in case it could be useful to someone else.
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/find-by-department/

Edited to add - BYU has some High School level Sociology courses online, but they are not free. Not bad though, especially when you consider no texbook is required. And you wouldn't have to worry about figuring out how to test. Here is the link - under "Social Sciences - Contemporary Issues." http://is.byu.edu/site/courses/index.cfm?school=hs

I forget about taking college courses You are right, there is a ton out there

 

[DawnM]

Just making sure you all know about the $8 Legoland tickets for HS students every Monday until Dec.

You do have to provide proof (Letter of Intent or whatever).

Adults/Parents are $25

http://florida.legoland.com/en/buy_tickets/Groups/education/Home-School-Days/

 

[DisneyMom5]

Thought you guys would appreciate our first day of school pic.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

Thought you guys would appreciate our first day of school pic.]

That is awesome!

Does anyone have any advice on how to entertain a 3 year old (who is not ready for school) while trying to teach a kindergartner? My 5 year old is doing awesome so far but my 3 year old has been a HUGE challenge! She won't give me any time to do anything. Even if I bring something for her to do she would rather be on my lap trying to take attention away from her sister. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[GusGus77]

That is awesome!

Does anyone have any advice on how to entertain a 3 year old (who is not ready for school) while trying to teach a kindergartner? My 5 year old is doing awesome so far but my 3 year old has been a HUGE challenge! She won't give me any time to do anything. Even if I bring something for her to do she would rather be on my lap trying to take attention away from her sister. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I feel for you! I have a kindergartner and a ds who will be 3 in November. He wants the attention AND is not a big fan of traditional quiet activities (coloring, playdough, puzzles.) He also does not care to do "school" like his big sister so that wasn't an option for us either. So far we have bought him a couple of new toys that ONLY come out during school time. Because they are new and because they are limited, it helps somewhat (he has a hammering set that you hammer nails into a board and a drill set where you are supposed to drill the screws into patterns.) Sometimes we just wait and finish when daddy gets home if he is being really distracting. We also have some things he can do with us. For example, spanish is interactive. He can watch the videos, read the books with us, listen to the music, etc. (I was surprised to hear him counting in spanish the other day!) I don't expect him to learn it like I do my daughter. He also listens to any stories we read for school. Sure, he may not get them, but that doesn't matter.

The plus of it, though, is that it keeps me from doing too much in K. My daughter loves school and it would be easy for me to keep piling on different subjects or more work. With the little one, I can't do that, so it allows her more time to play and just be creative which she really needs to be at her age. I don't think traditional school children get enough time for that. It also gives my daughter the opportunity to learn some independence. We may go over handwriting and then she practices (completes the page in her book) while I sit in the same room with ds and interact with him. I am there if she needs help and I can check on her every few minutes to make sure she is writing correctly. But she doesn't need me hovering over her while she does something like that.

It definitely isn't easy, but so worthwhile!

 

[sweetlovin']

Disneymom5 - my kids all LOVE your picture

 

[DisneyMom5]

Disneymom5 - my kids all LOVE your picture

Thanks! We had the idea to hold up signs on Tower of Terror or Splash...but realized we're such chickens, we prefer to hold on the the ride! LOL

 

[Jessica14]

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?

One thing we did was read Cinderella stories from around the world and compared and contrasted them with WDW's Cinderella. We also did simple machines and then looked for them when we got there.

 

[momimouse27]

Thought you guys would appreciate our first day of school pic.

http://s22.photobucket.com/user/disneymom5/media/IMG_1173-001.jpg.html

This is just awesome.

 

[DisneyMom5]

There are some PBS dvds for a good price on Amazon, as well as School House Rock. Just a heads up if someone would like them as a supplement for school, or as a Christmas present. We're doing Am. Hist, so I got Liberty Kids.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...iberty+kids+d,aps&rh=i:aps,k:liberty kids dvd

 

[sweetlovin']

It was! We finally found a Holt sociology book, and so she's just reading the material, doing some online research and then being tested on it. But, hey, I'm big on interest based learning. She's also studying Japanese(using a book that was recommended to us by one of the salesgirls in Mitsukoshi dept store in Epcot ).

Enjoying her studies has been the key to digging my dd16 out of the hole she was in after our private school debacle last year. Much better so far this year!

I truly believe kids learn better when they are happy. I am so glad she is able to enjoy her studies She is sure to excel in whatever field she chooses

 

[sweetlovin']

There are some PBS dvds for a good price on Amazon, as well as School House Rock. Just a heads up if someone would like them as a supplement for school, or as a Christmas present. We're doing Am. Hist, so I got Liberty Kids.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...iberty+kids+d,aps&rh=i:aps,k:liberty kids dvd

Thank you for letting me know. I am starting American History next year, but I might get these while on sale. Did you happen to participate in the American History Disney Youth Program at MK? Just wondering if it is worth the time next fall or winter.

 

[quandrea]

Thinking of pulling my four yo twins out of kindergarten. I homeschool our nine yo. Have for two years now. The twins are sick all the time. They bring everything home so that we are sick all the time. The previous two years of preschool were the same and illness is literally ruining our lives. Dh is getting a chest X-ray right now and won't join us on our wdw trip next week because he is too sick to travel. We have been dealing with coughs, sniffles and ear infections nonstop since mid August.

In addition, the twins seem to bring home the unwanted behaviour of the week without fail.

Thoughts, suggestions.