Homeschool Chat

[TLHB70]

When I sent this out in my group, this is one of the responses I got.
I know of several people who have already written to scholastic and
subway. Here is Scholastics response:

"We are deeply sorry that the Subway contest has offended you and
thank you for voicing your concern. Our intention was never to make
independent schooled children feel discriminated against or excluded
from this specific promotion. Throughout the course of the year
Scholastic runs a number of contests and sweepstakes that are open
to all teachers and students. The eligibility of this contest in
particular was solely put in place to award a large group of
children with the grand prize of $5,000 worth of athletic equipment.
We do however understand how home-schooled children could benefit
from this type of prizing and will make sure eligibility is open to
everyone in future promotions...."

Thank you for posting this response. I will forward it on to the group.
I am happy to see that they will change eligibility for future promotions!

 

[teacups]

Hello All. I begand HSing my two kids mid year. My son is in K and my daughter is in 3rd. If we were at PS my K son would be taking part in a graduation ceremony of sorts, where the kids wear (adorable) hats and sing and etc. I have fantastic pictures of my daughters ceremony. Question: Do any of you mark the end of a year, or passing of a grade at home? And if so, how? I will do something, but not sure exactly what yet. I will include both kids, but make it a big deal for my son to be entering 1st grade. Thanks for any ideas.

 

[LegoMom3]

I'm just curious, how many of you posting here are full-time stay-home parents? Or, perhaps I should be asking, who here is NOT, and still home schools??

I used to be home, but DH and I felt that I "had" to find a part-time job last fall. I did, and I really like it, but deep down I would rather be home with all the kids.

My dilemma is in looking ahead to next fall. We currently home school DS11 (pulled him out of a very bad middle school experience over the winter). DS8 and DS6 are still at the local elementary school, but both want to be home next year.

I am wondering how we will ever do all three of them if I can't be home. DH works nights, so he is home in the mornings while I"m at work. He just barely handles getting stuff done with DS11 (not for lack of enthusiasm, but he works long hours and often has work-related tasks that need finishing). I get home in the afternoon (about an hour before DH has to leave for work) and despite my best efforts, I find it very difficult for everyone to just switch gears after lunch and have me do the bulk of the home schooling (when the neighborhood kids are coming home off the bus, that's hardly when you want to be just starting your day!!).

I am wracking my brain trying to figure out where to cut our budget so that I wouldn't need to work, but so far I'm still coming up short. It also kind of bugs DH that despite working so many long hours, it's still not enough to get by on! (we don't have a lot of consumer debt - a couple of small cc's that will be paid off with next year's tax refund).

Anyway, I'm getting off track here. But I'd really like to hear from any parents who do have to work and still manage to home school their kids.


.

 

[teacups]

Can you teach a HS class? (Or, it doesnt HAVE to be HS...) I teach art, and I HS. I have tossed around the idea of teaching once or twice a month. I dont know how much $$ you would have to make to help out... but it might be worth checking into. Good luck.

 

[disneymom3]

Hi guys. Sort of back but not really. Just wanted to assure all of you who were concerned that I did nothing that I would call inflamatory to get banned. Don't want to bring this thread into it, but if you want more info, I was not pleased by the thread on the CB that is stickied to the top regarding "hostile website."

So, as I said I didn't want to bring this thread down or OT but I did want to clear up that I didn't flip my lid or anything.

Take care all!

 

[Mommy2three]

has anyone ever used the stevenson learning skills? i just ordered the stevenson reading green set, which is the beginners set, i am hoping it will work well with my son who has adhd, bipolar, auditory processing, and several other disorders, who is six years old.

 

[tnmomof4]

I went yesterday to an Abeka book display, and I ordered all our new curriculum.

The guy was really trying to push the DVDs on me. He said that homeschooling 4 kids is a lot, and that the DVDs would be what I would need.
He had the kids watch a sample, but they didn't really seem to like them. It just seems like the DVDs would work for some kids, but not the ones that don't focus very well.

 

[TLHB70]

I am attending the A Beka hotel meeting/display in a couple of weeks to order our books for next year. I will be starting the DVD curriculum with my oldest DD. She will be in 8th grade. I want to have a practice year with it before we hit high school. I have used A Beka for her every year so I feel very comfortable teaching it. I just knew that we needed the DVDs for high school because of labs, electives, etc. I want her to have a practice year. I will continue to teach my youngest DD on my own, without the DVDs; she will go into 5th grade.

 

[tnmomof4]

I will think about using the DVDs when my boys are in 7th or 8th grade. A practice year sounds like a great idea!!

 

[Denine]

Just wanted to let you know that DD finished K last week and can't wait to start 1st grade.
DD already started watching the DVD music class we did last summer. She doesn't know what to do with herself if she is not in school.

I am looking forward to a vacation before we start up again.

 

[AQW]

Greetings from another homeschool mom who just found this thread!

I have two kidlets (6yo and 3yo). Dexter is in kindergarten, Celeste tags along for the ride. We're in SoCal, so we do a lot of our schooling at Disneyland. We've never been to WDW, but might be going in January. We also have our first Disney cruise lined up for September.

We've been pretty unschool-ish this year; I've slowly started introducing some curriculum the past couple of months. We're doing Explode the Code for phonics (which DS *loves*) and MUS for math (which we just started). It's been an amazing journey this first year - Dexter went from crying in September about not getting to go to school, saying things like "I have to go to school where I can learn from a teacher because only teachers know things; you're a mommy and mommies don't know as much as teachers" - to crying last week when DH teased him on a particularly squirrely day that if he didn't shape up we were going to send him to building school. What a change!!!

We school year-round... we "do school" when we feel like it, and don't do school when we don't feel like it. My two primary goals for HSing right now are to read to the kids every day, and to answer all Dexter's questions with intention (rather than give a pat answer or brush him off). Just by doing those two things, we have both learned a LOT this year! I work part-time at an educational research lab - and yes, my status as a homeschool supporter and parent is a complete scandal around the office! So far I haven't had any trouble balancing HSing with working two days per week; we'll see if it continues to be this easy.

That's all I can think of - nice to be here!

 

[mommyof2princesses]

Hey all. I am finally back from a mini vacation to the mountains. Then I needed a few days away from DIS to get my house in order and entertain MIL who is staying a few weeks.

We got my daughter's results back from her IOWA's and WOW! She blew it away! I definetly made MIL a believer now!

I have purchased much of our curriculum already although we still have a fe things to buy for next year. We have decided to do Saxon math for Algebra. I got a great deal at a consignment sale...the test, solutions book and DIVE cd for $20! DD is also doing American lit and we got the one from BJB. I paid $20 for teacher's books, text book and tests! And it was brand new!

I also got 3 years of Apologia for elementary for my younger DD and paid $30 for all 3 books! Yeah me! They are also brand new!

Gotta love consignment sales!

 

[Tera_&_Gibson]

Hi all! I am fairly new to the dis boards and thought I would post over here too

We have ended up unschooling this year and it has been great! DS is 5 and our only. We babysit m-f 6:30am till noon. A one year old and her PS sisters that are 7 and 12. I take a bag of things for us to do or play with and that helps alot.

I keep going back and forth between unschooling that is obviously working really well for us and sonlight! Hard to trust myself I guess.

Anyhow Hello!

Any other unschoolers here?

 

[wvdislover]

Any other unschoolers here?

I'm considering doing more unschooling with DD10 next year. We're doing SOS right now, and it's going ok some days, other days are really bad. I thought it would be great for her since she enjoys doing stuff on the computer so much and hates to write, but she gets frustrated and overwhelmed easily. She does have Asperger's and some other issues going on, so I ordered some books from Amazon about homeschooling and AS to see what they have to say.

 

[TLHB70]

I will think about using the DVDs when my boys are in 7th or 8th grade. A practice year sounds like a great idea!!

I thought that would be safest because I want to do the A Beka program which has A Beka keeping all records. I assume this will be the choice we need for college; this way she will have transcripts. I wanted this practice year to have her adjust to videos before they start keeping records.
Our hotel meeting is next Tuesday. If I order there, instead of online or by phone, I save $125! That is great with me!

 

[TLHB70]

We got my daughter's results back from her IOWA's and WOW! She blew it away! I definetly made MIL a believer now!

Congratulations!
I can't wait to get my DDs' scores back. We tested May 21 to May 23 so we will have to wait a little longer.

 

[AuroraBeauty]

Has anyone ever done the Kyoiku Dojinsha’s Mathematics Workbook which accompany the Tokyo Shoseki's Mathematics for Elementary School?

My DD will be starting 1st grade HS Curriculum (for her English portion) and I'm looking to move into a more formal program rather than just 'worksheets'. Worksheets have been very good but she does a true curriculum for her French program so I'm trying to get them more aligned.

I know there are many great math curriculum to choose from. One catch for me is that I need to stay away from anything that might be faith-based. I know, seems odd for a math curriculum. (No flames please!, I'm still new at this homeschool thing). However, we are not Christian and I would rather use a more 'secular' curriculum.

If anyone has ever used the Tokyo math curriculum, I'd like to hear about it. Also, if you just love your 'secular' math curriculum I'd be interested in knowing why. I know each child is different and what works for one won't necessarily work for another, but I'm trying to get a sense of what great math curriculum is out there.

Thank you in advance.

 

[sha_lyn]

If anyone has ever used the Tokyo math curriculum, I'd like to hear about it. Also, if you just love your 'secular' math curriculum I'd be interested in knowing why. I know each child is different and what works for one won't necessarily work for another, but I'm trying to get a sense of what great math curriculum is out there.

I love love love Singapore Math (US edition, but they have recently published a CA standards edition also). It is completely secular.

 

[lori1043]

Hey sha lyn!

Waving hello as I pass on by-haven't checked in in a while.

Welcome all the newbies, to our wonderful homeschool thread.

Has anyone ventured over to that new homeschool board that was being readily pushed by some others- In a nice decent non pushy way, but I never went. It is enough to keep up with this one. Besides, I do love the Dis even though there are people out there who have no problem containing some thoughts that can offend. But you can get that anywhere.

Wondering how that Parade poll is going. Gonna check!

Lori

 

[AuroraBeauty]

I love love love Singapore Math (US edition, but they have recently published a CA standards edition also). It is completely secular.

Thank you for your recommendation. I hear a lot about Singapore Math and it seems very intuitive to use. I'll have to look at it more closely.

Thank you again for your help.