Homeschool Chat Part III

[laura.anne]

15yo is really struggling with reading/comprehension/analysis. She hates to read as it is. Got a late start due to vision tracking problems, has Asperger's and selective mutism, so the whole process was torture for her. I have been unsuccessful in finding a single genre or author that interests her (and believe me, we've tried). I've considered buying her a Nook (she's not a fan of my Kindle, prefers the color/shiny/backlit), but I don't want to spend the money if it isn't going to help her move forward.

We are using Life With Fred for math and she seems to be OK with that, although struggling here and there (she's a math-phobe, too). I kinda lost it with her the other day and told her to research it and choose 4 books that she wants to read for school, the only requirement is that they come from a 9th grade book list. She's still not found anything. I can't just hand her Huckleberry Finn and have her get through it, much less understand. I had Hound of the Baskervilles on my Kindle and had her read the first bit, but when we went to talk about it, she had no idea the Holmes had insulted Watson even though she could give me a general gist of the story so far. Things like plot, characterization, climax are all foreign to her.

I used to be an English teacher for a short time. I should be a trained professional, but to be honest, I NEVER had a student who could not comprehend and re-interpret what he'd read. None of my coursework prepared me for this. I'm simply at a loss.

Does anyone have any suggestions for reading comprehension exercises that won't make a high schooler feel "stupid"?

ETA: she writes just fine, but cannot create fiction. It has to be fact-based, research type stuff. She struggles somewhat, but can do it.

Do you allow her to watch movies as part of your curriculum? It might help to do something like reading and comparing with a movie adaptation (or even a Wishbone adaptation, if that wouldn't make her feel babyish). As an Aspy myself (although we are definitely not all alike) one thing that my brain fixates on is differences and similarities as well as categorizing, so that's something I immediately thought of. I will be thinking about this as I go to bed tonight... hope you find something that works!

 

[alliesmommy]

Jumping in here...but wanted to let you know about HEAR in Rockwall. They are a support group and have around 275 families in Rockwall and the surrounding areas. I have been homeschooling since the beginning (my oldest is 13) and we have done tons of activities with this group.

Shelley

Hi Shelley. A friend that's going to be homeschooling and I were looking over the HEAR website tonight! I've heard really good things about it. We are in Travis Ranch, so it's really almost closer to Rockwall than Forney for us anyway (Forney address). We were looking at the Kaufman County homeschool group, but I'm not sure I like that they haven't updated their website since 2009.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

15yo is really struggling with reading/comprehension/analysis. She hates to read as it is. Got a late start due to vision tracking problems, has Asperger's and selective mutism, so the whole process was torture for her. I have been unsuccessful in finding a single genre or author that interests her (and believe me, we've tried). I've considered buying her a Nook (she's not a fan of my Kindle, prefers the color/shiny/backlit), but I don't want to spend the money if it isn't going to help her move forward.

We are using Life With Fred for math and she seems to be OK with that, although struggling here and there (she's a math-phobe, too). I kinda lost it with her the other day and told her to research it and choose 4 books that she wants to read for school, the only requirement is that they come from a 9th grade book list. She's still not found anything. I can't just hand her Huckleberry Finn and have her get through it, much less understand. I had Hound of the Baskervilles on my Kindle and had her read the first bit, but when we went to talk about it, she had no idea the Holmes had insulted Watson even though she could give me a general gist of the story so far. Things like plot, characterization, climax are all foreign to her.

I used to be an English teacher for a short time. I should be a trained professional, but to be honest, I NEVER had a student who could not comprehend and re-interpret what he'd read. None of my coursework prepared me for this. I'm simply at a loss.

Does anyone have any suggestions for reading comprehension exercises that won't make a high schooler feel "stupid"?

ETA: she writes just fine, but cannot create fiction. It has to be fact-based, research type stuff. She struggles somewhat, but can do it.

Ok, I might not be much help but thought I would throw out a few random ideas that might spark some other idea.

My DS is not thrilled with reading or writing. He is a good gamer. Most of his fiction stories tend to be a retelling of the storyline from the latest game he has completed. It amazes me the details he remembers from the storyline. While they tend to have a great deal of dialogue and sound effects, they do included the elements of a fiction story.

We are in the car A LOT!!! So we listen to audio books all the time. The amount of details he recalls from these books is awesome. And even though my DD is a phenomenal writer, I believe listen to books has enhanced her writing ability. We have listen to so many good books but here are a few she might enjoy:
Cornelia Funk's books Dragon Rider (when she heard Brendan Fraser read this it inspired her to write Inkheart), The Thief Lord, The Inkheart series; Rick Riordan's The Percy Jackson series, and The 39 Clues series. Those are the first ones that pop into my head but there are so many good audio books.

I have another thought about some of the websites that you can participate in role playing stories, etc. but I will get more details together on that first.

 

[figment3258]

I have poked my head into this thread a bit here and there, but just wanted to post that we are now officially homeschoolers. DH and I bought our curriculum over the weekend! I am thrilled to bits and scared to death! DS will begin KG in September.

My next task is to find a co-op in my area. I am having a terrible time searching the internet. I guess I might have to get a facebook page to find the most current information. Anyone have any suggestions?

I found really great luck on yahoo groups. Just go t yahoo and search for home school groups in your area. Good luck! And welcome!

 

[adisneymama]

Does anyone here homeschool in FL? Can you tell me about the laws there. I've looked into them but it seems if I just homeschool using Bob Jones for example my child still has to take the standardized tests. It looks as if there are other options but I don't understand what they are or mean. We currently are in TX and it is very easy to homeschool here. Help! Thanks!

 

[MiniGirl]

Florida is not as friendly to homeschoolers as Texas, but it is still easy. We need to let the local school district know we are starting a homeschool program. We don't need to send the letter of intent each year -- just the first year. Then every year we need to either have our child take a standardized test and submit those scores OR we can have our children evaluated by a state certified teacher. All we need to show is that the child is making progress in line with his/her abilities. The state also asks that we maintain a portfolio of our child's work as well as a list of the books the child has read during the year. We don't need to show these to anyone (although the evaluator will look at them usually). These are just kept in case the district has any questions, etc. However, I do not know of a single instance where the district has asked to see these. Also, the evaluations are very relaxed and not intimidating at all. Many of the evaluators are former teachers who keep their certification current and do the evaluations on the side for a little cash to help offset their own homeschooling costs.

It really is easy though. No attendance records, grades, or need to get curriculum pre-approved. Of course, you could also go with an umbrella school, but then you would have to follow the rules for that school.

 

[adisneymama]

What is the evaluation based on? Your curriculum or what the state says? By standardized test does it have to be the state test or can you pick your own? How do they handle special needs kids? What is an umbrella school? Is that like a church that has a group of homeschoolers that you pay a fee to the church but use whichever curriculum you want? Thanks so much for the info.

 

[graygables]

Does anyone else school year round or do you take a summer break? It was weird at the orthodontist yesterday answering the inevitable "summer questions" like "what grade will you be in next year?" (we don't stick to a strict grade leveling) and "what are your plans for the summer?" (ummm, same as the rest of the year?) Lots of people think I'm horrid for "making the kids work all summer", but they get plenty of time off in the summer and the rest of the year. We live in FL, so it's not like there isn't anything we can't do all year long. My general response is, "I work all year, why shouldn't they?".

 

[Nicolepa]

Does anyone else school year round or do you take a summer break? It was weird at the orthodontist yesterday answering the inevitable "summer questions" like "what grade will you be in next year?" (we don't stick to a strict grade leveling) and "what are your plans for the summer?" (ummm, same as the rest of the year?) Lots of people think I'm horrid for "making the kids work all summer", but they get plenty of time off in the summer and the rest of the year. We live in FL, so it's not like there isn't anything we can't do all year long. My general response is, "I work all year, why shouldn't they?".

I would love to HS year around. Since I have one who's homeschooled and one who goes to school that is not possible. I am stuck following the public school schedule or my son cries unfair. He doesn't cry that when he's done at lunch though.

 

[Mouseketeer67]

Does anyone else school year round or do you take a summer break? It was weird at the orthodontist yesterday answering the inevitable "summer questions" like "what grade will you be in next year?" (we don't stick to a strict grade leveling) and "what are your plans for the summer?" (ummm, same as the rest of the year?) Lots of people think I'm horrid for "making the kids work all summer", but they get plenty of time off in the summer and the rest of the year. We live in FL, so it's not like there isn't anything we can't do all year long. My general response is, "I work all year, why shouldn't they?".

When my kids were little we homeschooled year round. When they got a little older they realized that other kids had summers off. They started complaining and I caved. I decided to let them have their summers off and it has kept me from burning out.

 

[bellebud]

We have a somewhat relaxed schedule during the 'school year', so we really just hs all year round, but I realize w/ a lot of other kids being off in the summer, if my kids want to go play w/ them, I just let them go.

But we don't stop our learning during the summer by any means. We seem to easily get it all in, without anyone feeling burnt out. I'll give them a week truly "off" here and there (besides all the vacations we take where we don't take their regular work w/ us), but again even then, learning is still happening, even if it's not what we regularly do.

We're very relaxed homeschoolers (not unschooling, not "school at home"), so we keep our schedule flexible. So far, so good.

 

[Rayvn]

I am thinking of HS for my 3yo who is on the Autism Spectrum. I am not sure how to go about it, but I know he loves to learn. He knows his ABCs and can count to 20. He can also cout from 10 to 1. He knows his shapes and colors. He doesn't talk a lot and very one track minded.

Leslie

 

[disneymom3]

15yo is really struggling with reading/comprehension/analysis. She hates to read as it is. Got a late start due to vision tracking problems, has Asperger's and selective mutism, so the whole process was torture for her. I have been unsuccessful in finding a single genre or author that interests her (and believe me, we've tried). I've considered buying her a Nook (she's not a fan of my Kindle, prefers the color/shiny/backlit), but I don't want to spend the money if it isn't going to help her move forward.

We are using Life With Fred for math and she seems to be OK with that, although struggling here and there (she's a math-phobe, too). I kinda lost it with her the other day and told her to research it and choose 4 books that she wants to read for school, the only requirement is that they come from a 9th grade book list. She's still not found anything. I can't just hand her Huckleberry Finn and have her get through it, much less understand. I had Hound of the Baskervilles on my Kindle and had her read the first bit, but when we went to talk about it, she had no idea the Holmes had insulted Watson even though she could give me a general gist of the story so far. Things like plot, characterization, climax are all foreign to her.

I used to be an English teacher for a short time. I should be a trained professional, but to be honest, I NEVER had a student who could not comprehend and re-interpret what he'd read. None of my coursework prepared me for this. I'm simply at a loss.

Does anyone have any suggestions for reading comprehension exercises that won't make a high schooler feel "stupid"?

ETA: she writes just fine, but cannot create fiction. It has to be fact-based, research type stuff. She struggles somewhat, but can do it.

We had a speaker on this type of thing at our recent conference. I am not currently remembering the info but will check with a friend and get back to you.

When my kids were little we homeschooled year round. When they got a little older they realized that other kids had summers off. They started complaining and I caved. I decided to let them have their summers off and it has kept me from burning out.

This is me exactly. When my kids were littler all their friends were homeschooled too. Now that they are bigger and more independent they know lots of kids in the neighborhood and it's hard to keep going. However, the big reason I have decided I like having the break is for myself. Gives me time to really prep for our studies the following year. And a chance to regenerate!! We don't take the whole summer off. Generally a couple of weeks with NO expectations at all, then 6-8 weeks with some work, assigned daily activities (learning games, specific minutes of reading etc.) Then we start school sometime in August. I like to start by then because we don't end up with lots of leftover work when it finally gets nice out and we just want to be outside in the spring.

 

[jacksmomma]

Has any/everyone named their homeschool? DH and I are currently brainstorming ideas, but have not come up with anything with real sticking power yet.

 

[graygables]

We jokingly called ours the "[last name] School for Girls". At one point, hubby wanted to add "wayward" once they were teens, but I said no.

 

[jacksmomma]

We jokingly called ours the "[last name] School for Girls". At one point, hubby wanted to add "wayward" once they were teens, but I said no.

Too Funny!

 

[Mama Who]

We jokingly called ours the "[last name] School for Girls". At one point, hubby wanted to add "wayward" once they were teens, but I said no.

My Border's Educator Card says that we are the Lastname School For Wayward Children!

 

[Nanu57v]

Hello, everyone! I'll introduce myself a little bit. I've been homeschooling from the beginning. We're about to finish our 6th year. Two of my kids are in school right now. We've used K12 every year so far.

I'm seriously thinking of leaving K12 for a variety of reasons. I've been researching all the curricula out there for months now, and my head is spinning! I've had no real free time lately. I've got things narrowed down now and when I make my final selections I will price things out. I'm trying to get this all finished before the K12 spring sale is over (just in case).

I'm having a hard time finding a literature program. I want to use real books and I need some guidance when it comes to including all genres and questions for comprehension, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'll list all my subject choices when I'm done b/c I'd love to hear your opinions.

Thanks!

You asked this a while ago...but Sonlight uses real books...just a seperate math curriculum. I have my credit card in hand and am about to order Sonlight and then Singapore Math.

 

[Jessica14]

If you are interested in a Christian progaram, Sonlight is the place to go. If you are not, Moving Beyond the page is very similar but not Christian based. I just ordered Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science from Moving Beyond the Page and Singapore Math from Sonlight. MBtP also offers a separate math curriculm that is not literature based. We are starting in September and are very excited!
Jessica

 

[chicagoshannon]

You asked this a while ago...but Sonlight uses real books...just a seperate math curriculum. I have my credit card in hand and am about to order Sonlight and then Singapore Math.

Which year are you going with? We have P3/4 and P4/5 for this coming year.