Homeschool Chat Part III

[Cinderkella]

Hi Cinderkella, we are just starting with homeschooling, so I don't have as much advice as I'm sure others will have, but I know the first step will be the HSLDA website to find out your states laws. From that website you can also find a list of any homeschool groups in your area. That is where I found mine. We do Co ops, field trips, monthly meetings, weekly park days etc together.

I think you are thinking about this at a great time. I am taking my kids out of public school, I think it would be a much easier decision to start from the beginning. I thought about this for years, it's such a tough decision.

Thank you for the response 3princesses+aprince. I'm going to check out the website you mentioned and start looking into this a lot more.

Just curious - how many hours a day do you plan on devoting to homeschooling? How do you teach 4 different children who are at 4 different grade levels? I have three children, so I'm just really curious about how to work out a schedule. Thanks!

 

[Nicolepa]

Thank you for the response 3princesses+aprince. I'm going to check out the website you mentioned and start looking into this a lot more.

Just curious - how many hours a day do you plan on devoting to homeschooling? How do you teach 4 different children who are at 4 different grade levels? I have three children, so I'm just really curious about how to work out a schedule. Thanks!

The big thing is to combine students when possible. Usually for Science & History. The lesson is the same for them all but the expectations are different for each child. If you children are close enough you might even be able to combine a couple of them w/Math or LA if one is behind or ahead. The big thing to remember is that w/hsing you are not tied to a grade level, you teach where your children are at, not where they are "supposed" to be.

The public school is all about making everyone average, those that are behind get the most help, those that are ahead are literally ignored until they become "average". And the average kids just plod along. I have 3 children, one is still in school because she is highly gifted and in a special program (but was ignored until she go into the program), one at home who was constantly told how behind he was when he was in school and a 2 yo.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I'd go with the general consensus -- why force a break if everyone's raring to go? Jump on that energy now! If, after a few weeks, the "honeymoon" wears off a bit and you feel like everyone needs some down time, you can work it in then. That's the beauty of homeschooling -- it's flexible to meet your family's needs.

Have a fun trip!

Thanks! I figured why wait too? But, i'm new at this, so maybe there was something that I wasn't thinking about!

Here's what I'd do. I'd either go out for breakfast, or make something fun that they normally can't do on a school day because of time. Then I'd do light school and slowly work up to a full schedule. Just be aware that, even though they are excited you may not get much done. It's an adjustment. They say it takes a week per year of PS to get into the homeschool groove or mindset and it was exactly that long for my son (including preschool time).

I do think i'll just start out with math, LA, History (cause that's what they love) and some reading for the first week then to see how it goes. We actually have something planned for Monday night that we wouldn't be doing if they were going to school the next morning because we'll be out late. We are going to a farm. They have a Jac-o-lantern illumination and night time hayrides through their apple orchard (spooky )

Thanks! And my dd11 has been in PS for 6 years, so I sure hope it doesn't take her 6 weeks

Thank you for the response 3princesses+aprince. I'm going to check out the website you mentioned and start looking into this a lot more.

Just curious - how many hours a day do you plan on devoting to homeschooling? How do you teach 4 different children who are at 4 different grade levels? I have three children, so I'm just really curious about how to work out a schedule. Thanks!

Well, this will be my first week coming up, so i'll definitely be posting about how it's going and how much time things are taking us. The 14 yr old in my signature is my step son, he does not live with us, I just have my 3 girls. As for teaching different ages, that's what I was most concerned about when I started thinking about this last year. But I also, am combining History and Science. For Science I recommend looking at Apologia. They have different topics, we're starting out with the Land Animals one and doing the Swimming creatures next year. I've looked through the chapters and the activities and all of my girls can do it. I will have my older dd doing a little bit more work with the History and Science and my other 2 doing things to their ability. The Science "animals" one has you tracking animals on a map, and keeping a "Journal" where the kids can draw each animals footprint. It looks like a lot of fun. There's a lot of info on each animal. I expect my younger 2 to just get the point and my older dd to remember facts.

As for Math and Language Arts where they clearly cannot be taught together, I don't know if i'm going to have them doing math at the same time and I'll just help them along the way or have them doing it at separate times so I don't have each one of them asking for help at the same time. I am using an online spelling program. Spelling city.com. You do have to input your own words, but once you do that your kids can play games with their spelling words. Hangman, writing sentences, unscrambling. Then they can even take tests. There are many more games as well, can't think of them all right now. I figure spelling games will be great for the one that I am not working with at that moment. It will keep them busy and they'll be learning their spelling words.

 

[robinsegg]

Has anyone taken their kids (ours will be 11, 8 & 2) on an "educational vacation" to Washington, DC? We're hoping to do this late September/early October next year (won't go early-mid Sept. because it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11). Any tips?
Thanks!

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

So, I was on the teaching textbooks website earlier today and oh WOW, it looks amazing. I'm going to stick with the Abeka Math for all 3 this year, but for next year for 6th grade with my oldest, i'm going with that. I viewed a sample lesson and it makes everything so clear. The price almost scared me away, but i'm glad I watched the lesson. You cannot put a price on that one! Then when the other 2 get to 6th, I can use the same book, just buy new workbooks. (Or just do them without the workbooks, they say you can do that too, you'd just have to write the problems out) Math is not my strongest area, so that is amazing. It's like having a tutor . So, TT it will be for them all after that!

We love Teaching Textbooks. Remember when you see the price that not only can you use with your other children but you can resell. It tells you on their website that it can be resold many times. Just call them and have them reset the install code. I have called. I just as if they could reset, they ask for the serial number and TA DA...all done. So even if you get the lower grades that you can not reuse, you can resell. It is worth the money even if you could not resell. As far as the textbooks go. My DD likes to use hers a a reference manual. She prefers to do her writing on loose paper. My DS has never touched his textbook. So I think one textbook is all you will probably need for most levels.

Has anyone taken their kids (ours will be 11, 8 & 2) on an "educational vacation" to Washington, DC? We're hoping to do this late September/early October next year (won't go early-mid Sept. because it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11). Any tips?
Thanks!

We live about 45 minutes from the DC Metro. We use the Metro to go to DC about once a month or so for a fieldtrip.

How long are you going to be in the area?

There can be a lot of walking if you are trying to do to much in a day. Use the metro or bus to help reduce walking when you can.

If you want to do the Washington Monument, I would reserve your tickets online. They are free if you just go there but they are first come, first serve. So you may get to the visitor center at 10:00 and have a time of 3:00 or they maybe out of tickets. If you reserve online you pay a small fee (I think it was $1.50 per person) but it is worth it to be able to preplan your day.You can also schedule a capital tour online. If you want the links to tours pm me and I will look that up for you.

If your children like doing Junior Ranger badges at the National Parks, there are several you can earn in the area.

Where you wanting to stick with The Mall area of D.C. or explore a larger area? You could spend days and days just exploring the Smithsonian, Monuments, Capital, etc in that area but there are also many other wonderful places a short drive away.

If you want to explore other areas, there are some great National Parks around for a different type of walking. We love Great Falls for hiking and rock climbing. Lots of history there as well.

We love living so close to so much history. Many places where you can live it. There is a one room schoolhouse not far from DC where the children participate in a typical school day from 10-2. They pick a child's name with a short description/bio. They become that child from the time period for the day. You can dress from the time period as well. (My children were thankful we do not use those hard bench seat desk.)

Feel free to ask any questions

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I am actually thinking of a Washington DC trip in the spring as well. My kids are 11, 9 and will be 7 by then. I can't wait! I've never been before so I don't have advice though.

And thanks for the teaching textbooks advice, that's cool! They do look wonderful.

 

[lyncecelia]

Hi guys!

I'm genuinely curious on how you guys do homeschooling? Not on a "why you do it", but more of "how do you keep up" perspective? I'm considering it for the future and I'm just wondering what exactly I would need to be capable of doing. A degree in education? A degree in anything? Any recommendations?

My worry is that because of something (medically) that happened a few years ago, I wouldn't be a good teacher. I lost a lot of my reading and math skills. And while I was able to work the reading up, I'm still working on math. It makes me feel like I wouldn't be a good fit for this in the future? Do you grow with your kids? Study the material beforehand? What about when they get in the higher subjects in HS and you can't keep it?

Hopefully someone can enlighten me. I just want to say that I admire you all very much for doing this with your kids . I wanted my mom to do it with me so much growing up.

 

[graygables]

Hi guys!

I'm genuinely curious on how you guys do homeschooling? Not on a "why you do it", but more of "how do you keep up" perspective? I'm considering it for the future and I'm just wondering what exactly I would need to be capable of doing. A degree in education? A degree in anything? Any recommendations?

My worry is that because of something (medically) that happened a few years ago, I wouldn't be a good teacher. I lost a lot of my reading and math skills. And while I was able to work the reading up, I'm still working on math. It makes me feel like I wouldn't be a good fit for this in the future? Do you grow with your kids? Study the material beforehand? What about when they get in the higher subjects in HS and you can't keep it?

Hopefully someone can enlighten me. I just want to say that I admire you all very much for doing this with your kids . I wanted my mom to do it with me so much growing up.

I think everyone who homeschools has weaknesses in some areas (me = math), so what we do is find ways to fill in those gaps in the knowledge. I took one DD completely through high school, my 3rd DD is now in 9th grade and my youngest is in 7th. As they get older, they become more and more independent and able to find the information they need. We use Teaching Textbooks for math, which is great because I am pretty much out of the picture except for grading their workbooks. If DD isn't getting something, she can ask me, and if I don't know, we have the whole WWW to search for help. If it came down to it, I could hire a tutor, if necessary, but that hasn't been needed yet.

As far as a degree goes, I have a B.A. in English, so that really does give me an advantage when it comes to language arts, but certainly not necessary. My degree is also in education, which is, essentially nonsense, IMO, and was never any use to me in a public school or a home school.

Children are natural learners, so the important part is finding ways to encourage them to love learning and they will make it part of their lives forever. I'm always Googling something I want to know more about and my DDs are the same way. We love the conversations that start out with, "Did you know...?"

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

Hi guys!

I'm genuinely curious on how you guys do homeschooling? Not on a "why you do it", but more of "how do you keep up" perspective? I'm considering it for the future and I'm just wondering what exactly I would need to be capable of doing. A degree in education? A degree in anything? Any recommendations?

My worry is that because of something (medically) that happened a few years ago, I wouldn't be a good teacher. I lost a lot of my reading and math skills. And while I was able to work the reading up, I'm still working on math. It makes me feel like I wouldn't be a good fit for this in the future? Do you grow with your kids? Study the material beforehand? What about when they get in the higher subjects in HS and you can't keep it?

Hopefully someone can enlighten me. I just want to say that I admire you all very much for doing this with your kids . I wanted my mom to do it with me so much growing up.

There are so many options and resources that you can go from one end of the spectrum where you create all your lessons and units to the other end where your child logs on and completes all there lessons online. We go for a nice blend. Some things I get to plan, organize, create and teach; Some curriculum we purchase and follow (some you can read lessons word for word); Some are computer based that they do on their own; and Some they actually take classes. How you organize all that varies from family to family.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

Has anyone taken their kids (ours will be 11, 8 & 2) on an "educational vacation" to Washington, DC? We're hoping to do this late September/early October next year (won't go early-mid Sept. because it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11). Any tips?
Thanks!

I am actually thinking of a Washington DC trip in the spring as well. My kids are 11, 9 and will be 7 by then. I can't wait! I've never been before so I don't have advice though.

And thanks for the teaching textbooks advice, that's cool! They do look wonderful.

My DD just turned 12 and DS is 8. Let me know if we can help you out with any more questions. We love living in this area (even though I often talk of moving closer to Disney

 

[Nicolepa]

My worry is that because of something (medically) that happened a few years ago, I wouldn't be a good teacher. I lost a lot of my reading and math skills. And while I was able to work the reading up, I'm still working on math. It makes me feel like I wouldn't be a good fit for this in the future? Do you grow with your kids? Study the material beforehand? What about when they get in the higher subjects in HS and you can't keep it?

I absolutly grow with my kids! My son is only in 3rd grade, but already my spelling has improved & I know so much about early history thru the 1600's it's crazy!

Like a previous poster said there are programs out there that will teach the kids on the computer, or give you a script.

What is required depends on your state. In my state I either have to have so many college credits, or take a couple of classes thru the state to become eligible.

 

[Cinderkella]

Is there anyone on here homeschooling in Pennsylvania?

 

[mommylovesdisney]

I am a little concerned because I am having a hard time finding any homeschooling groups in my area (central nj)! I would reallly like to meet some folks nearby before we start...

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Well, we officially start our school work tomorrow. My kids are excited. My dd11 knew about this but I did not tell my dd9 and dd6 as I didn't want the whole school to know. My dd6 said "really, this is the best day ever" and it's nice that we don't have to "send" them to school tomorrow because dd9 will be visiting the doctor. She has had a cough for a few weeks, but it's getting worse. And now her nose and eyes are yucky to top it off. We were supposed to be going to a Halloween thing tonight, but we're going to put that off until next weekend now. (Dh and I did go to a very scary one last night with friends, it was THE BEST Haunted attraction i've ever been to.)

Hope everyone had a nice Holiday weekend! Have a nice day

 

[Denine]

Hello to the newbies! I have been off again from this thread.

Calvert is a secular program.

We leave for WDW this week. We are going on the cruise and then onto the World!

We love going to DC! There is so much to see and learn!

My weakness is also math. When I have troubles explaining something to DD, DH steps in. Remember, we may have some weaknesses, but we also have strengths!

 

[Michelle and crew]

I am a little concerned because I am having a hard time finding any homeschooling groups in my area (central nj)! I would reallly like to meet some folks nearby before we start...

Our library works as a clearing house for information here. You might call them and ask if they have any information on local homeschool groups.

 

[robinsegg]

I am a little concerned because I am having a hard time finding any homeschooling groups in my area (central nj)! I would reallly like to meet some folks nearby before we start...

I always recommend that new homeschoolers go to the library and ask for her information to be sent to the local group. The people working at the library (esp. the kids area) almost always know the families who homeschool!

 

[knitster]

I haven't read the whole (gigantic!) thread yet, but wanted to introduce myself!

I'm a Amanda and I'm a homeschooling mom of 3. Caedmon, my 9 year old, has be homeschooled since Kindergarten and is now in the 4th grade. Presley, my 4 year old, is in the same private Christian preschool that Caedmon attended and will start Kindergarten at home next Fall. And Hendrix, my 4 month old, just nurses a lot. :lol:

I'm excited to have a place to chat about homeschooling with fellow Disney fans!

 

[jcmaro]

I want to introduce myself and then I have a LOT of questions! I have 3 kids, DS - J (age 5, currently in preschool), DD1 - R (age almost 3, currently in preschool) and DD2 - N (age 5 months). DS was recently diagnosed with ADHD and had a very rough start to the year. For anyone who doesn't know there are a lot of aspects to ADHD other than hyperness and one of the biggest ones for us is the impulsiveness that is about 3 years behind. So he can act like a 2 year old in the way of acting before thinking. I really don't want to start him in the public system and have it "in his record" of everything that goes on at this young age. It is very possible that between getting older and the behavior therapy he is in he will eventually "catch up" to others his age. Until then I'm looking at homeschooling. Here comes the questions...

I have no idea how to do it, or where to start. My biggest concern is how to do it with having other younger kids around. If I start DS in K next year, I will still send DD1 to preschool several days a week because 1 - I love the school (private Christian preschool only) and 2 - she loves going and 3 - it would give me sometime to work with DS. But I still will have DD2 to deal with. I guess my biggest fear is not doing it right, or good enough, and then having that failure on myself. Does that make sense? Anyone have any resources to help me out? Thanks!

 

[disneymom3]

jcmaro...I understand what you are saying. It's hard to have busy little boys sitting in school all day. And with how academic kindergarten has become many of them, with ADHD or not cannot deal with it.

For K and dealing with a baby, first off, you don't have to do a lot for kindergarten. Talk about the weather, the days of the week, season and read. Count stuff. Go outside and listen. Read. Paint. Play with playdough. Get some DK Learning videos about various animals from the library and watch them. Read.

Did I mention read? Read while you nurse the baby. Put the baby in a stroller and go outside. Have the older one watch a library video while you deal with baby being fussy.

I bet you will have such a nice time just being a family that your daughter will be dying to stay home.