Homeschool Chat Part III

[nighttowll]

I will be homeschooling for the first time this year. My DD(12) just finished up 7th grade at the local middle school. For a laundry list of reasons, I'm pulling her out of our school system for 8th grade (possibly longer) and homeschooling her. Luckily, I found some great resources both from here and other sites and chose an online curriculum for her core classes, and I'm pulling together some electives too. Since we live in Texas, the rules are fairly relaxed, so there's really no reporting involved other than keeping records for later on. However, that leaves me with a question. When do we start? Since DD just finished her regular school year on Friday, I really want her to have her summer vacation. But at the same time, I want to ease into the program and I'd like to start sooner rather than later in case we decide we need to go in a different direction, etc. Any tips on when to start the "school year"? Public schools go back in late August - but we will be going to WDW in September for our yearly vacation, so there's really not much going on around the house

If you have a pretty low key summer planned, I'd start now. Maybe give her a couple of weeks to a month of free time. Then start in slow after that. Don't try for full time yet. Just choose 1 or 2 days a week as your homeschool days. You can count these hours/ days toward next year later on if you need them. Just write down the date, what you did, and the number of hours spent. For instance, 6/15 - math (general description: book / curriculum / program name, subject, pages if applicable) 2 hours. I'd look for a school record book where you can detail the time and a brief description of what you did per subject. This makes it so much easier to go back in the future, count days and hours, and see exactly what you have covered. You can then decide later on to turn these summer practice days in as a part of your year or not. Just because you have to legally do 180 days, doesn't mean you can't do more than 180 days.

I would be careful about keeping records, even if Texas is lax in its requirements. If you do decide to put your daughter back into school, public or private, you will want to have good detailed records of everything you did, tests, grades, standardized test results if you choose to do those, ect. It's always better to have too much, then to be missing something you may find you wish you had documented later on.

Starting in the summer, will give you an idea of how all this is going to work when school really starts, a chance to work out any kinks, and to build up a few extra days so that you will be able to take off more time during the school year. We never minded some school during the summer, when it meant longer breaks for Christmas, for vacations or for holidays, and more 3 day weekends during the year as well.

Summer school is also a good time to review and make sure your daughter is up to grade level. I'm not sure of your reasons for homeschooling, but I know many families find that when they pull their children out of school and give them curriculum placement tests, they are behind or lacking in some aspect of their education. Many straight A students who seem to be excelling at school are actually behind academically in some area when tested because the schools don't always teach at the level they should or run out of time to cover all the material. For instance, they maybe reading below grade level, need help with grammar or spelling, need help expressing their ideas, or simply need more practice with their multiplication facts because they never really memorized them like they should have.

If there are any areas your daughter needs practice with, I'd focus on those. Reading and reading comprehension are also never a bad place to start as these are really the keys to doing well on standardized tests, such as the ACT or SAT later on.

The other advantage to summer school is the chance to fit in some of the more fun hands on types of curriculum or camps that are available without taking time away from any academic 180 day lesson plans you might be using. It's a good time to pursue personal interests as well. If there are any special projects or subjects your daughter is interested in learning about, summer is a great time to look into those, and a great way to get her interested in homeschooling and for you two to bond.

 

[worm761]

DS just graduated from Virtual School. I homeschooled him when he was little but it didn't go over well in the teen years.

So it has been a while since I did the whole active homeschool thing. DD is 4 and starting to read and spell so I figure now is the time to start with her. I am planning to use Five In A Row with her.

Two questions:

1) For those of you that use FIAR, should I start out with Before FIAR? I have had her playing on Starfall and seriously considering Reading Eggs and Math Seeds for her. She is fairly smart. Knows her numbers, can count to 50 with no/little help. Can read soft vowel words like cat, help, stop, dog, etc. A current favorite of hers is the toddler board book of Hop on Pop. Just not sure where to start.

2) What does your homeschool classroom look like? Is it a dedicated room in your house? I don't really have that though I probably could move some stuff around. I was thinking of making a homeschool wall. I want a cork board and a white board. Maybe some school-like decorations. Anyway, just wondering what everyone else's room/ area looks like.

 

[DisneyMom5]

What does your homeschool classroom look like? Is it a dedicated room in your house? I don't really have that though I probably could move some stuff around. I was thinking of making a homeschool wall. I want a cork board and a white board. Maybe some school-like decorations. Anyway, just wondering what everyone else's room/ area looks like.

We have bookshelves in a smaller room we call the library. The kids each have a plastic box that holds their books and papers. Other than that, you can find a kid doing school in just about every room of my house. We don't do "school" like a school does. When we read together, we use the living room. Otherwise, they are everywhere. I've tried to get them to use the table, but they prefer sprawling on the floor. LOL
All that to say, depending on your family's personalities, school can look very different from house to house, and having a dedicated space can be really cool, but you might not use it as much as you think.

 

[worm761]

We have bookshelves in a smaller room we call the library. The kids each have a plastic box that holds their books and papers. Other than that, you can find a kid doing school in just about every room of my house. We don't do "school" like a school does. When we read together, we use the living room. Otherwise, they are everywhere. I've tried to get them to use the table, but they prefer sprawling on the floor. LOL
All that to say, depending on your family's personalities, school can look very different from house to house, and having a dedicated space can be really cool, but you might not use it as much as you think.

Yeah. When DS was little and I homeschooled him we lived in an apartment that was very small. We had a bookshelf full of books an a cabinet full of supplies but school happened wherever we happened to be.

 

[olwyngdh]

We have a bookshelf for her schoolbooks, and an antique child's rolltop desk (It was my Mom's) behind the couch in the living room. If I am lucky, the books make it back to the bookshelf instead of staying on the coffee table, and the desk is where she shoves things to hide them. She works, for the most part, on the couch or sprawled on the floor.

 

[worm761]

Thank you. We have been reading her books on the couch which is where we have always read. Though she seems to think that her board books are blocks and usually ends up building something on her little kids table with them.

 

[Gitts2008]

I had posted a few times awhile back about DD being bullied and not knowing if we should home school. Then I posted that we were going to home school. Well, we did it!

I want to thank you all for giving me the initial support that I needed to home school DD. It was not an easy undertaking but we made it through. DD still technically has three more weeks left of school, but we are basically done. With the exception of me messing up her CAT test scantron and her having to re-take it...Long story

To those that are on the fence: Home schooling is not that scary...really it is not. DD sliced her finger open with a knife at the beginning of the school year. It was very bad. She could not "do" school work. I of course panicked....How can we do our lessons if she can't write....Well DUH it's ok there are so many days in the year that we can just make it up. Some days we just stayed in our PJ's and watched Outrageous Science videos or "how do they do that?" This winter was brutally cold...so we went to Florida for three weeks and hooked up with a homeschooling group there.

What I could not teach, I looked up. What I did not know, I looked up. When I needed a mom break...I gave independent work. I took it slow and we got through it. We covered more science than needed, not enough history, but that's OK. DD learned. DD was not put in danger by going back to school. Yes, I am the weird mom who homeschools, but that's ok.

Does drama happen in homeschooling? YES! why I still have no idea, but I just removed myself from the situation of people. On a side note: why must people push their religious beliefs on others...why...oh...why...That was my biggest problem. We are not religious and too many people were who were not acepting of other who do not have Jesus in their lives.

So, if you are on the fence on homeschooling: It is the best experieince that you can give your child. Reach out for help, it's there. Don't listen to those who feel that you are brainwashing your child.

Thanks again for being there for me in the begining. I needed Disney'ers to help me and you did.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I had posted a few times awhile back about DD being bullied and not knowing if we should home school. Then I posted that we were going to home school. Well, we did it!

I want to thank you all for giving me the initial support that I needed to home school DD. It was not an easy undertaking but we made it through. DD still technically has three more weeks left of school, but we are basically done. With the exception of me messing up her CAT test scantron and her having to re-take it...Long story

To those that are on the fence: Home schooling is not that scary...really it is not. DD sliced her finger open with a knife at the beginning of the school year. It was very bad. She could not "do" school work. I of course panicked....How can we do our lessons if she can't write....Well DUH it's ok there are so many days in the year that we can just make it up. Some days we just stayed in our PJ's and watched Outrageous Science videos or "how do they do that?" This winter was brutally cold...so we went to Florida for three weeks and hooked up with a homeschooling group there.

What I could not teach, I looked up. What I did not know, I looked up. When I needed a mom break...I gave independent work. I took it slow and we got through it. We covered more science than needed, not enough history, but that's OK. DD learned. DD was not put in danger by going back to school. Yes, I am the weird mom who homeschools, but that's ok.

Does drama happen in homeschooling? YES! why I still have no idea, but I just removed myself from the situation of people. On a side note: why must people push their religious beliefs on others...why...oh...why...That was my biggest problem. We are not religious and too many people were who were not acepting of other who do not have Jesus in their lives.

So, if you are on the fence on homeschooling: It is the best experieince that you can give your child. Reach out for help, it's there. Don't listen to those who feel that you are brainwashing your child.

Thanks again for being there for me in the begining. I needed Disney'ers to help me and you did.

 

[Ellester]

DS just graduated from Virtual School. I homeschooled him when he was little but it didn't go over well in the teen years. So it has been a while since I did the whole active homeschool thing. DD is 4 and starting to read and spell so I figure now is the time to start with her. I am planning to use Five In A Row with her. Two questions: 1) For those of you that use FIAR, should I start out with Before FIAR? I have had her playing on Starfall and seriously considering Reading Eggs and Math Seeds for her. She is fairly smart. Knows her numbers, can count to 50 with no/little help. Can read soft vowel words like cat, help, stop, dog, etc. A current favorite of hers is the toddler board book of Hop on Pop. Just not sure where to start. 2) What does your homeschool classroom look like? Is it a dedicated room in your house? I don't really have that though I probably could move some stuff around. I was thinking of making a homeschool wall. I want a cork board and a white board. Maybe some school-like decorations. Anyway, just wondering what everyone else's room/ area looks like.

I haven't used BFIAR, but I've looked at it and it really doesn't look like much other than a good list of books you probably already have! ("Good Night Moon", "Runaway Bunny", "Corduroy", etc.) I would probably just go right ahead with FIAR and just do what you want from it. It's pretty "pick-n-choose" anyway. I am using it, albeit not regularly as I would like, for the 3rd time through with my 5yo dd. The books are like old friends now! I also really like the Rod & Staff preschool workbook series. They are inexpensive and very low key. My younger three have all really liked them. My son did Reading Eggs and liked it. I think they come up on Homeschool Buyers Co-op from time to time. My 5yo likes ABC Mouse, mostly to play but I think she does get some educational value other than feeding her virtual hamster!

As far as a classroom, we have bookshelves in the dining room so that is technically our "school room". Of course the X-box is also in there so maybe "entertainment room" would be more appropriate! My highschooler has all her stuff in her room. She brings out what she needs help with. We do her Chemistry experiments in the kitchen on a card table. Each of the younger kids has a medium Rubbermaid bin with their current books in them. I have IKEA boxes for DVD's so their math, Latin, art, and other misc. educational DVD's are technically supposed to live in there. Nothing gets me madder faster than "I can't find the Math-U-See disc!". The kids are ever so slowly starting to realize that so have been better about immediately putting them back where they belong. Most of their "seat work" is done on the kitchen table. We don't have desks currently, other than my oldest who has one in her bedroom. We do have a small hand me down Pottery Barn Kids table and chairs that my 5yo uses from time to time. It lives in the school room and also has boxes of science stuff on it currently. We have a large white board that I hung in the breakfast room, where our kitchen table is. It is used for lesson, reminders and such. I also have a small, table top white board easel that I really like. I am contemplating getting an alphabet poster or banner to put above the marker board. I think it will help dd5 with handwriting, although she does know most of her letters already.

How exciting that you get to start again with a little one! I have cried each time my kids have read their first words, nothing beats that!

 

[Aliceacc]

Hi everyone,

I'm a high school math teacher,in a non- common core school. We're going to IPads next year, and I'm in the process of finishing writing an Algebra I textbook for us to use.

It's more explanation than examples, all in easy to understand language. At the suggestion of my department chair this morning, I'm thinking about trying to get it published

So here's my question....what now? If YOU were looking for this book, where would you go to find it? A particular publisher or curriculum company? Amazon?

Do I turn to the education magazine that has already published some articles I've written?



Any guidance you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nighttowll]

Hi everyone, I'm a high school math teacher,in a non- common core school. We're going to IPads next year, and I'm in the process of finishing writing an Algebra I textbook for us to use. It's more explanation than examples, all in easy to understand language. At the suggestion of my department chair this morning, I'm thinking about trying to get it published So here's my question....what now? If YOU were looking for this book, where would you go to find it? A particular publisher or curriculum company? Amazon? Do I turn to the education magazine that has already published some articles I've written? Any guidance you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

I know many people use Rainbow Resources to source curriculum. It's kind of the be all end all of everything that exists, but a booth at one of the major curriculum fairs probably wouldn't hurt either. You can never have a enough publicity, so your magazine probably isn't a bad idea either.

 

[chris31997]

I had posted a few times awhile back about DD being bullied and not knowing if we should home school. Then I posted that we were going to home school. Well, we did it!

I want to thank you all for giving me the initial support that I needed to home school DD. It was not an easy undertaking but we made it through. DD still technically has three more weeks left of school, but we are basically done. With the exception of me messing up her CAT test scantron and her having to re-take it...Long story

To those that are on the fence: Home schooling is not that scary...really it is not. DD sliced her finger open with a knife at the beginning of the school year. It was very bad. She could not "do" school work. I of course panicked....How can we do our lessons if she can't write....Well DUH it's ok there are so many days in the year that we can just make it up. Some days we just stayed in our PJ's and watched Outrageous Science videos or "how do they do that?" This winter was brutally cold...so we went to Florida for three weeks and hooked up with a homeschooling group there.

What I could not teach, I looked up. What I did not know, I looked up. When I needed a mom break...I gave independent work. I took it slow and we got through it. We covered more science than needed, not enough history, but that's OK. DD learned. DD was not put in danger by going back to school. Yes, I am the weird mom who homeschools, but that's ok.

Does drama happen in homeschooling? YES! why I still have no idea, but I just removed myself from the situation of people. On a side note: why must people push their religious beliefs on others...why...oh...why...That was my biggest problem. We are not religious and too many people were who were not acepting of other who do not have Jesus in their lives.

So, if you are on the fence on homeschooling: It is the best experieince that you can give your child. Reach out for help, it's there. Don't listen to those who feel that you are brainwashing your child.

Thanks again for being there for me in the begining. I needed Disney'ers to help me and you did.

Good for you for taking the plunge and becoming one of the crazy ones

The joys of homeschooling: taking extra days when needed, extra time, and study what/where you want or need

 

[Aliceacc]

I know many people use Rainbow Resources to source curriculum. It's kind of the be all end all of everything that exists, but a booth at one of the major curriculum fairs probably wouldn't hurt either. You can never have a enough publicity, so your magazine probably isn't a bad idea either.

Thanks; I'll look into it.

 

[Gitts2008]

Good for you for taking the plunge and becoming one of the crazy ones The joys of homeschooling: taking extra days when needed, extra time, and study what/where you want or need

Thanks

 

[MissNurse]

Hey, everybody! I am kind of at a loss. We love homeschooling, but my two are having some issues with friends. They simply don't have many. We live in a small town (moved here 3 yrs ago) with a new tiny homeschool group. Most of the kids are younger than them. Mine are 9 and 12. We attend church, and they are a part of the youth group, but the church is about 1/2 hr away, so they only really see those kids during scheduled church activities. We all went to church camp last week, and I saw that they were having trouble fitting in with these kids. Don't get me wrong, no one was mean or anything. These kids all go to school together and more or less grew up together. I noticed that my two just pretty much hung out with each other or me. I made them go off with the other kids a few times. They had a good time and both said they want to go back next year. The only available extracurricular activities around here is sports. Neither of my kids are athletic or want to be. Baseball is the big thing, and DS (9) does not want to do that. We live in a great neighborhood, and there are a few kids that they run around with occasionally, but none close by are DD's age. They are all way younger. There is ONE girl in our homeschool group that she really likes and gets along with well. I am just frustrated trying to find something for them to really get involved in. I would be open to starting something through our homeschool group, if I could get an idea. DD is very naturally talented in art/drawing, but I don't really have any resources for that. DS is totally zoned out on video games. I am really trying to limit that, but I don't know what to encourage for him to do. We live in the South, and the heat is brutal. I hate to send him outside for very long!! Sorry to get so long-winded, but do any of you have any suggestions? TIA!!!

 

[DisHmsklMom]

Since it is summer how about a book/movie club? You could do it one or two afternoons a month and invite all the kids right around your kid's ages.
We've done book clubs for years and they keep on growing.
Books I would suggest to start with -
Johnny Tremain
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Jungle Book
Robin Hood
Ben and Me
All have great movies and are good reads.
Hang in there, things always slow in the summer and there will probably be more new homeschoolers this fall joining the homeschool group you belong to.

 

[lovemy4sweeties]

Do you have an online homeschool group in your area? A lot of our group outings are posted to an online group. I can understand that it must be very difficult for you to see your kids not connecting. If your kids aren't athletic, maybe you could find an art class, drama club, swimming classes, or any club that is organize through your town. It doesn't necessarily have to be homeschool classes. Although, if you can find some homeschool classes your kids can attend that would be even better. Once you've met a few kids who your kids connect with, maybe you could organize a weekly hang out group for kids close to your kids ages.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

Hey, everybody! I am kind of at a loss. We love homeschooling, but my two are having some issues with friends. They simply don't have many. We live in a small town (moved here 3 yrs ago) with a new tiny homeschool group. Most of the kids are younger than them. Mine are 9 and 12. We attend church, and they are a part of the youth group, but the church is about 1/2 hr away, so they only really see those kids during scheduled church activities. We all went to church camp last week, and I saw that they were having trouble fitting in with these kids. Don't get me wrong, no one was mean or anything. These kids all go to school together and more or less grew up together. I noticed that my two just pretty much hung out with each other or me. I made them go off with the other kids a few times. They had a good time and both said they want to go back next year. The only available extracurricular activities around here is sports. Neither of my kids are athletic or want to be. Baseball is the big thing, and DS (9) does not want to do that. We live in a great neighborhood, and there are a few kids that they run around with occasionally, but none close by are DD's age. They are all way younger. There is ONE girl in our homeschool group that she really likes and gets along with well. I am just frustrated trying to find something for them to really get involved in. I would be open to starting something through our homeschool group, if I could get an idea. DD is very naturally talented in art/drawing, but I don't really have any resources for that. DS is totally zoned out on video games. I am really trying to limit that, but I don't know what to encourage for him to do. We live in the South, and the heat is brutal. I hate to send him outside for very long!! Sorry to get so long-winded, but do any of you have any suggestions? TIA!!!

If your DD likes art- creating an art class can be easy and fun. You might need to charge a materials fee. You can pick an artist, read a book from the children's nonfiction section at the library, share some photos of examples of his/her style, provide the materials for the kids to create. Let the kids have at it! Or if you are looking for more instruction there are lots of video programs online or that you can order. Just set up the TV and provide materials (or a list that each child needs to bring)

Does you DS play Minecraft? There are many ideas for groups that you can do with that. I won't list those since I am not sure if he plays Minecraft. Also homeschool buyers co-op has offers with youth digital from time to time for courses in app design, 3D game design, etc. if you need that link, pm me.

When it comes to friends- quality is better than quantity.

 

[MissNurse]

If your DD likes art- creating an art class can be easy and fun. You might need to charge a materials fee. You can pick an artist, read a book from the children's nonfiction section at the library, share some photos of examples of his/her style, provide the materials for the kids to create. Let the kids have at it! Or if you are looking for more instruction there are lots of video programs online or that you can order. Just set up the TV and provide materials (or a list that each child needs to bring)

Does you DS play Minecraft? There are many ideas for groups that you can do with that. I won't list those since I am not sure if he plays Minecraft. Also homeschool buyers co-op has offers with youth digital from time to time for courses in app design, 3D game design, etc. if you need that link, pm me.

When it comes to friends- quality is better than quantity.

Thank you for your reply. I agree that quality is always better than quantity. Our family is just having issues as a whole connecting with people in this community. My DS does play Minecraft as well as DD. They play online with many different people (under our supervision, of course). DS has made good friends with a boy from England. They chat all the time and play Minecraft. They laugh at each other's accents. It's kind of funny. Anyway, I would definitely appreciate the group ideas!! Thank you!

 

[nighttowll]

Hey, everybody! I am kind of at a loss. We love homeschooling, but my two are having some issues with friends. They simply don't have many. We live in a small town (moved here 3 yrs ago) with a new tiny homeschool group. Most of the kids are younger than them. Mine are 9 and 12. We attend church, and they are a part of the youth group, but the church is about 1/2 hr away, so they only really see those kids during scheduled church activities. We all went to church camp last week, and I saw that they were having trouble fitting in with these kids. Don't get me wrong, no one was mean or anything. These kids all go to school together and more or less grew up together. I noticed that my two just pretty much hung out with each other or me. I made them go off with the other kids a few times. They had a good time and both said they want to go back next year. The only available extracurricular activities around here is sports. Neither of my kids are athletic or want to be. Baseball is the big thing, and DS (9) does not want to do that. We live in a great neighborhood, and there are a few kids that they run around with occasionally, but none close by are DD's age. They are all way younger. There is ONE girl in our homeschool group that she really likes and gets along with well. I am just frustrated trying to find something for them to really get involved in. I would be open to starting something through our homeschool group, if I could get an idea. DD is very naturally talented in art/drawing, but I don't really have any resources for that. DS is totally zoned out on video games. I am really trying to limit that, but I don't know what to encourage for him to do. We live in the South, and the heat is brutal. I hate to send him outside for very long!! Sorry to get so long-winded, but do any of you have any suggestions? TIA!!!

Are there no other larger towns or cities nearby? I know you probably wouldn't want to drive 30 mins to an hour every day, but maybe you could find a group you could meet up with once a week or just for special field trips and stuff. Where I live, lots of people come from all the smaller neighboring towns to join groups in the larger city, and most cities offer a lot more programs. For instance, many zoos, museums, and parks have homeschool programs. Also, check local gyms, the library, YMCA, and bookstores. I know all of those offer homeschool programs where I live.

Also, do you have a regional group for your state? You can usually get in contact with that group online, and see all the meets ups and special events for your region. Again, you might need to drive to attend some of the events, especially field trips, but it could be a good way to meet people who might be just a town over, you didn't even realize where there.