Homeschool Chat

[gerberdaisy1234]

Has anyone tried Click N Read or Click N Spell from http://www.clicknkids.com/ ? Thanks for any feedback.

 

[disneymom3]

Any recommendations for language arts for elementary age? I'm having a difficult time finding something we enjoy that will also challenge them.

I have just discovered and LOVE Christian Light Publications. They are basic and straighforward and really inexpensive. There is mention of God. It is published by I think, a Menonite group. Each Light Unit as they are called is $3.20 and 10 Light Units make up a year.

mommy2three, your story about your children just breaks my heart for all of you. Seems to me a lot of schools have policies on bullying but actually enforcing it is another story.

 

[CandyHead09]

Math U See *does* go through 5th grade and beyond, and you probably *could* adapt it for summer use. It's kind of expensive if that's all you plan to use it for, because you'd need the manipulatives (at least $35), the student book and the teacher video would probably be a good idea (my visual one watches it with me, but it's designed to tell the teacher how to teach the lesson).

I also highly suggest the math u see program! I was VERY bad at math as a kid and this program helped very much! a tutor is good too because they can see what kind of skills the child has and better understand their learning style and everything a tutor helped me as well :]

 

[Nicolepa]

I have just discovered and LOVE Christian Light Publications. They are basic and straighforward and really inexpensive. There is mention of God. It is published by I think, a Menonite group. Each Light Unit as they are called is $3.20 and 10 Light Units make up a year.

I wanted to be able to school year around w/my son and I needed something for my daughter (who is not HS'd). I ordered these for my daughter as summer workbooks and she is loving them. I loved that I could just order a couple at a time instead of a whole year!

 

[queenbeaz]

http://disneyyouthgroups.disney.go.com/wdyp/programs/programOverview?page=YESProgramOverviewPage

The deals are amazing. We got 10 day park hoppers plus the Homeschool Class "Engineering Behind the Magic" (which was awesome) for $179!!! They don't list the ten day tickets on the website. You have to call and get the pricing and then enter that in the text box when you order.

Wish we could go in September. I believe the dates are Sept 7-9. Hoping for next January (dates are 24&25). When you order your tickets you put in your arrival and departure dates for Orlando. Your tickets are then valid 7 days prior and after those dates. So if you want to do anything else while you are there you have plenty of time.

Also, this year they have tried something new called Open Enrollment that is a lot like Homeschool days. It was all of January and select dates in June and July.

Okay, I must be incapable of navigating Disney's website, because I cannot find anything about homeschool days and classes and whatnot! All I can find is for groups of 10 or more. I can never seem to find what I'm looking for there. That's why I come here!

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

http://disneyyouthgroups.disney.go.com/wdyp/listing/listingPageRender?page=HSDEventInfoListingPage

Try this one.

Near the upper left of Y.E.S. homepage there is a programs dropdown button. You can choose Homeschool Days. Then Event Information or Ticket Packages. If you want more than 5 days, call to get pricing. Hope this helps.

 

[GoofyG]

Does any one know the importance of accredited or does it matter? I'm stuck between a couple of choices for homeschooling. I need it laid out for me to teach her. I do know I got her Kindergarten test scores and she tested in high 2nd grade. I was looking between the http://www.aceministries.com/
or the http://www.k12.com/

I like that the ACE is Christian based, I have to decide around the 15th. Don't know if the K12 will let me move her ahead into a higher grade level if she needs it or not.

 

[Nicolepa]

Does any one know the importance of accredited or does it matter? I'm stuck between a couple of choices for homeschooling. I need it laid out for me to teach her. I do know I got her Kindergarten test scores and she tested in high 2nd grade. I was looking between the http://www.aceministries.com/
or the http://www.k12.com/

I like that the ACE is Christian based, I have to decide around the 15th. Don't know if the K12 will let me move her ahead into a higher grade level if she needs it or not.

IMO I don't think accredited means anything until maybe high school. It wouldn't even enter my mind for an elementary student. I totally understand needing it laid out for you. That is why I went with K12, everything is laid out. If you work ahead or move slower the schedule automatically adjusts for you. I've been happy with everything except math.

As for whether you can move up or not will depend. If you are doing it independently then you can do whatever you want. If you are doing it thru a Virtual Academy then it will depend on their rules. The worst case I've heard of is having to start on grade level and then they will move the student up in a month or two but usually they have no problem going up a grade. My VA offered to move my son up but I chose just to work at an accelerated pace in case he had gaps (which it what I was lead to believe in his school). In his case that was probably the best thing because 3rd grade has a lot more writing and he wouldn't have been ready for it.

In case you are interested I just got his Stanford test scores back. He was supposidly behind in reading and LA in public school. He scored 4.4 average (4th grade, 4th month) in Reading, 4.7 average in math and a 2.9 in Language, which would be just slightly behind average but he started way behind in the year. His overall average was a 4.2 for complete battery and a 4.6 for basic battery.

So I guess what I'm saying is the K12 seems to be working well for my child.

 

[Nicolepa]

Does any one know the importance of accredited or does it matter? I'm stuck between a couple of choices for homeschooling. I need it laid out for me to teach her. I do know I got her Kindergarten test scores and she tested in high 2nd grade. I was looking between the http://www.aceministries.com/
or the http://www.k12.com/

I like that the ACE is Christian based, I have to decide around the 15th. Don't know if the K12 will let me move her ahead into a higher grade level if she needs it or not.

Another thing, while K12 is not Christian based per say. I was really surprised at how much Christian stuff there was in the 2nd grade cirriculum. The gal who wrote The Story of the World wrote the 1st & 2nd grade history for K12 before writing her books and they are almost word for word the same. I found out about K12 from a Christian friend who had read about it in Dobson's Bringing up Boys book. I really think they were headed in a Christian direction until it started getting picked up by the public schools. I honestly can't believe a publicly funded school can get away with so much religion in their cirriculum.

 

[GoofyG]

I didn't think accredited meant anything at 1st grade. It was her standford test that i got that said she was 2nd grade.
My concern is how many hrs a day it will take too. She is a gymnast and does 13.5 hrs a week of practice, then she will have meets along with that. One reason why I was going to homeschool her. In her 13.5 hrs of practice it includes 2 days in the morning that is optional. I was having her do that because it is on the 2 days that I work.

 

[Nicolepa]

I didn't think accredited meant anything at 1st grade. It was her standford test that i got that said she was 2nd grade.
My concern is how many hrs a day it will take too. She is a gymnast and does 13.5 hrs a week of practice, then she will have meets along with that. One reason why I was going to homeschool her. In her 13.5 hrs of practice it includes 2 days in the morning that is optional. I was having her do that because it is on the 2 days that I work.

2nd grade took us about 1.5 -2 hours and that was with us accelerating the work. We did an extra Art, Science, & History and 2 extra LA a week.

3rd grade is taking us about 3 hours but I've switched us to more of a 4 day week. We are in a VA so we technically have to do 5 days a week but I ususally just do a math, or spelling words and log 20-60 minutes for the day.

 

[GoofyG]

2nd grade took us about 1.5 -2 hours and that was with us accelerating the work. We did an extra Art, Science, & History and 2 extra LA a week.

3rd grade is taking us about 3 hours but I've switched us to more of a 4 day week. We are in a VA so we technically have to do 5 days a week but I ususally just do a math, or spelling words and log 20-60 minutes for the day.

That's good to know, I was concern when K12 says 6.5 hrs a day. I would put her into public school for that many hrs. I was hopeing for not as many hrs a day. Is there stuff she has to do online? I was trying to figure out when we travel for gymnastics.

 

[Nicolepa]

That's good to know, I was concern when K12 says 6.5 hrs a day. I would put her into public school for that many hrs. I was hopeing for not as many hrs a day. Is there stuff she has to do online? I was trying to figure out when we travel for gymnastics.

Since the VA is technically a public school they have to go to school the same number of hours. Math for example is supposed to take 60 minutes. If it takes you 15 minutes then you still technically did 60 minutes of work so you mark off 60 minutes. On the flip side if it takes you 75 minutes you mark 75 minutes.

For 2nd grade Science, Art & History were mainly online (except for experiments). Math & LA could be done offline. For 3rd grade History and Art are still online but Science is about 50/50. They have you do more reading of books. For 2nd grade I really felt tied to the computer and it was difficult to school out and about. 3rd grade I am feeling less tied to the computer.

 

[NiniMorris]

i homeschoooled my two oldest for the past one and a half years and then 3 months ago decided to put them into public school. needless to say they will be homeschooled again next year due to alot of bullying at the school and the school doesnt do anything about it. my 10 year old DD got jumped by a group of 5 boys, my 8 year old son who is on the autism spectrum has been beat up 3 times now, one time he came home with 2 black eyes. I am so fed up with our school system. One of the 5 boys who jumped my daughter came over to my home yesterday and choked out my 8 year old son and punched him in the back several times, the police were called and nothing could be done about it since he is under the age of 12, then the parents of the boy came over here and started threatening me,and police were called again and nothing was done about it. that same boy was expelled from one of the public schools down the road for beating kids up and now hes been at our neighborhood school since FEB.

the school is doing nothing to protect the kids. they only have ONE adult on the playground supervising 400+ kids. I will be sending my 4 year old daughter this coming school year to public school for K. but will be requesting that she goes to another school and if she has problems at school then she will be homeschooled too/ my two old both have special needs, my son on the spectrum, and my oldest DD adhd, bipolar, RAD, ptsd, and my 4 year old is gifted with a very high IQ of 150 and tests out as a 12 year old child, and she is very headstrong and does not put up with bullying, she is not afraid to fight back.

I can SO relate to your story. My youngest two children are biracial. My DD9 is very advanced for her age (she was reading on a 6th grade level at the end of Kindergarten) When she was in second grade a little boy in her class told her he and his 'gang' were going to kill her and her brother because they were 'mixed' and 'mixed' people don't deserve to be alive.

Needless to say, my husband (a police officer) and I were LIVID! The school refused to consider it a case of racial bullying because the bullier was black.They told me since they were only in 2nd grade there was no way he could carry out his threat. My response was something along the lines of "if I thought he was seriously going to carry out his threat, I would have let the police resolve it and not the school" I did not want the little boy going to jail, I wanted them separated and the little boy TAUGHT that bullying was wrong. In second grade I really thought he was teachable...

After a week of my daughter crying to stay home, the school finally moved HER to another class. (punish the victim, not the abuser. She had a tough time trying to understand why she had to be moved when she did nothing wrong, only reported what the little boy had done to her.

That is when we decided to home school.

Two and a half years later, I discovered that trying to work with a gifted child, a special needs child, and my 2 year old grand daughter was more than I can handle, so after a lot of thought we put her back in public school.

The school assured me that the little boy in question was no longer in the school district and I had nothing to worry about. I made them promise that if he returned they would under no circumstances be in the same classroom...fast forward to about 3 months ago...guess who moved back into the district! And guess which class they put him in! And guess what he got in trouble for .... on his FIRST day in school!

I had several long conversations with the principal...and my lawyer...and hubby spent all of his free time having lunch with our daughter...in uniform. The little boy did not make it to the end of the year without being suspended and then expelled...but we really worry about next year.

I can feel your pain. We have considered private school, just not sure we can swing the tuition...


Nini

 

[danjoealexis3006]

Hi all! Has anyone here used K12 for an elementry student with learing disablities? They just opened it up in a district close by. It would be nice to have the planning and curriculum for free.
Thanks

 

[adisneymama]

Hi all! Has anyone here used K12 for an elementry student with learing disablities? They just opened it up in a district close by. It would be nice to have the planning and curriculum for free.
Thanks

I am using K12 with my DD but as homeschool option not the free public school. I do know that you can send them any current IEP's etc and they will assign your child to their special services team, but I don't know anything further. I decided to homeschool so that we didn't have to worry about the state assessments.

For those asking about the length of time with K12 (again this is the homeschool option) it takes us around 3-4 hrs total for all courses. Sometimes less. HTH

 

[Nicolepa]

Hi all! Has anyone here used K12 for an elementry student with learing disablities? They just opened it up in a district close by. It would be nice to have the planning and curriculum for free.
Thanks

I use K12 for my 2nd grader. He doesn't have a learning disability per say. He has a 504 for a hearing loss and stemming from that he is (was) behind in language.

He has done so well with K12. I had him do annual testing this year and he scored an overall average of 4.6. His lowest score was 2.9 (2nd grade, 9th month) was of course, language. But considering he had just completed 2nd grade he was right on grade level.

There are things I don't like, but for the price (free) I am willing to put up with them. For the most part I think it's a great cirriculum.

 

[danjoealexis3006]

Can I ask what you don't like about it?

 

[Nicolepa]

Can I ask what you don't like about it?

I dispise their math. They give no instruction on how to teach the concepts, spend no time actually mastering the facts tables etc. But to be fair they have redone their math this next year so I can't say what it will be like. Personally I can't take the risk so I've dropped K12 math for next year.

The other things I don't like are just due to my personal quirks. Because I'm with a VA we have monthly goals to meet and at the begining of the month I always stress about getting behind (we never do) but it's still there for me. I've finally resolved that by figuring out how much we need to acomplish per week. That way if we have a bad day I know we are still OK when we meet the weekly goal.

My son & I love their history. That is now his favorite subject. I love that the art goes along with the history. Especially in 3rd grade.

I wasn't a huge fan of the 2nd grade cirriculum. I felt it was way too easy for my child. I decided to give 3rd grade a chance thru the summer (started 3rd in April) and I feel it is much, much better and we will continue with everything except math for next year.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I can SO relate to your story. My youngest two children are biracial. My DD9 is very advanced for her age (she was reading on a 6th grade level at the end of Kindergarten) When she was in second grade a little boy in her class told her he and his 'gang' were going to kill her and her brother because they were 'mixed' and 'mixed' people don't deserve to be alive.

Needless to say, my husband (a police officer) and I were LIVID! The school refused to consider it a case of racial bullying because the bullier was black.They told me since they were only in 2nd grade there was no way he could carry out his threat. My response was something along the lines of "if I thought he was seriously going to carry out his threat, I would have let the police resolve it and not the school" I did not want the little boy going to jail, I wanted them separated and the little boy TAUGHT that bullying was wrong. In second grade I really thought he was teachable...

After a week of my daughter crying to stay home, the school finally moved HER to another class. (punish the victim, not the abuser. She had a tough time trying to understand why she had to be moved when she did nothing wrong, only reported what the little boy had done to her.

That is when we decided to home school.

Two and a half years later, I discovered that trying to work with a gifted child, a special needs child, and my 2 year old grand daughter was more than I can handle, so after a lot of thought we put her back in public school.

The school assured me that the little boy in question was no longer in the school district and I had nothing to worry about. I made them promise that if he returned they would under no circumstances be in the same classroom...fast forward to about 3 months ago...guess who moved back into the district! And guess which class they put him in! And guess what he got in trouble for .... on his FIRST day in school!

I had several long conversations with the principal...and my lawyer...and hubby spent all of his free time having lunch with our daughter...in uniform. The little boy did not make it to the end of the year without being suspended and then expelled...but we really worry about next year.

I can feel your pain. We have considered private school, just not sure we can swing the tuition...


Nini

So sorry you and your family went through all that. How sad for everyone. Hope you find something that works for you and your daughter.