Homeschool Chat

[teacups]

Let's just chat amongst ourselves.
I have been HSing for less than a year. I started mid-year this past school year with my then 3rd grade daughter and K son. It is GREAT! We'll never go back to PS unless, God forbid, we were forced to for some unforeseen reason.
I use various curriculum. I dont think I've nailed it down just yet. I bought Abeka for math on the advice of a friend, so Ill use that again this year and see what we think. Son excels in math, daughter in writing. BUt they're young yet. Who knows what their "thing" will be?
I found the best place for me to get advice and help was a local yahoo forum, as other online forums were sort of clickish and didnt include newbies, which is a shame. Newbies are the ones who need the most help! HSing is hard and confusing at first!
I look forward to hearing both of you tell about your kids and your schooling!
Happy Sunday!

 

[nuzmom]

teacups - I've heard about yahoo homeschool groups and have just never joined any. How do you go about finding one? I'm not familiar with yahoo groups AT ALL. Thanks for any help.

For what it's worth, we're still stuck on Saxon 87 or Saxon Algebra 1/2 this upcoming year (must decide and order soon) and what foreign language. I think curriculum is one of the hardest HS decisions!!!!

 

[sha_lyn]

Well I'm not teacups... but it is very easy to search yahoo groups.
Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/
in the search box just enter in a few key words

IE if you are looking for eclectic home schoolers in your area just enter...
home school, Pittsburgh, eclectic

 

[teacups]

Well I'm not teacups... but it is very easy to search yahoo groups.
Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/
in the search box just enter in a few key words

IE if you are looking for eclectic home schoolers in your area just enter...
home school, Pittsburgh, eclectic

Yep! Easy sneezy! Join Yahoo first, then search, then you will probably have to join that particular group. I found three in my area (there were also several religious specific ones), and they all inter-twine for field trips etc. I even joined one for a city in a different state that we were thinking about moving too, and met some super nice people there too!

LMK if you have any Q's.

 

[amez]

hi teacups and everyone else,

My dd is 8 years old, my ds is 6 and dd 4 years. We've always homeschooled although we've changed gears at various points. We love--it's definitely a way of life that is working well for us.

Nuzmom, Yahoo groups are a great way to connect locally and even globally. When we moved to Ohio it was though yahoo groups that I met some of my now closest friends here. We've used Yahoo groups to spread the word about a national convention we hosted and we've used them as communication for our local group.

Nice to meet everyone!!

 

[LegoMom3]

Let's just chat amongst ourselves.
I have been HSing for less than a year. I started mid-year this past school year with my then 3rd grade daughter and K son. It is GREAT! We'll never go back to PS unless, God forbid, we were forced to for some unforeseen reason.
I use various curriculum. I dont think I've nailed it down just yet. I bought Abeka for math on the advice of a friend, so Ill use that again this year and see what we think. Son excels in math, daughter in writing. BUt they're young yet. Who knows what their "thing" will be?
I found the best place for me to get advice and help was a local yahoo forum, as other online forums were sort of clickish and didnt include newbies, which is a shame. Newbies are the ones who need the most help! HSing is hard and confusing at first!
I look forward to hearing both of you tell about your kids and your schooling!
Happy Sunday!

Hi!!
I was just checking in here to see any new posts. We are heading into new territory this coming fall, so I have a feeling I may be here more often! For the first time, we will have all three of our kids home... I am SO excited and quite nervous.

We have home schooled on and off for some years, but always with our oldest son. We live in a small town with a small elementary school, and have always been comfortable having the kids go there and being involved. That has just changed!

We actually pulled DS11 out of the middle school in January of this year. He had started the year there (against my better judgement) because DH and I felt I needed to find a part-time job, so we had to put all the kids in school. DS8 and DS6 were at the elem. school and managed to have a pretty good year. The middle school was AWFUL (and the problems were teacher related, not peers!!). So, home he came and somehow we managed to successfully finish out this past year at home with him (it was definitely a tag-team effort!).

Well, our elem. school is undergoing all sorts of changes (thank you - NOT! - No Child Left Behind.... ) and we don't like any of them. In a nutshell, we are losing the parent-involved, teacher-directed local control of our little school to bigger and bigger government.

That's my cue!

Enter the "Well, it's high time we bring them all home for good" decision.

I am still nervous about giving up my job, but honestly I don't make all that much anyway, and it's nothing DH can't make up for with some extra odd-jobs or extra overtime.

Tighten the budget belt?....yep.

Cost of keeping my kids home?....priceless!

Right now I have absolutely no idea what we'll do for curriculum....Ugh! I've got different kids who like different things. I tend towards unit studies with workbooks for math and Language Arts. I do have Math-U-See but so far I'm the one who's having a hard time with it! Seems like it should be so simple, but I just have a hard time translating what I watch on the video to the application for my kids. We used some Math Mammoth - purchased and downloaded right off the Internet - this spring with DS11 and he really liked it. Very self-explanatory.

So, that's us! Like I said, I expect to be around here more as I try to adjust to something new!

Oh, one fun thing we are doing is having each kid pick a country in Epcot. They will research it a bit before our trip, and then see what more they can learn while they are there in September (DS11, especially, should be able to chat with a CM or two - people actually from that country!). When we get back, they will make a little report on their country.



.

 

[teacups]

Wow! You are in for some changes!! I bet for the better, too. Your kids will be so lucky to get to a regular HS situation. By regular I mean all the time. I am going to check into your Math Mammoth! I've used Abeka, with no real problems... but I am always on the lookout for new and better.
This summer we've been playing "Math Balls" in the pool. Instead of Cannon Balls, I ask a math problem, they answer correctly and get to cannon ball! They came up with it,. so hey, who am I to argue?

 

[NHWX]

Well, our elem. school is undergoing all sorts of changes (thank you - NOT! - No Child Left Behind.... ) and we don't like any of them. In a nutshell, we are losing the parent-involved, teacher-directed local control of our little school to bigger and bigger government.

....


Right now I have absolutely no idea what we'll do for curriculum....Ugh! I've got different kids who like different things. I tend towards unit studies with workbooks for math and Language Arts. I do have Math-U-See but so far I'm the one who's having a hard time with it! Seems like it should be so simple, but I just have a hard time translating what I watch on the video to the application for my kids. We used some Math Mammoth - purchased and downloaded right off the Internet - this spring with DS11 and he really liked it. Very self-explanatory.

So, that's us! Like I said, I expect to be around here more as I try to adjust to something new!

Oh, one fun thing we are doing is having each kid pick a country in Epcot. They will research it a bit before our trip, and then see what more they can learn while they are there in September (DS11, especially, should be able to chat with a CM or two - people actually from that country!). When we get back, they will make a little report on their country.
.

I live in the Conval school district. It sounds like you're in a similar situation but with a couple twists. Our 12 year old took Integrated Arts and math at our middle school (South Meadow) and while he liked his teachers, he mostly didn't like his peers. On the other hand, our now 15 year old tried the high school for just a semester and didn't like it all! So now we have both at home full time.

If anyone's interested in what is probably a fairly honest look at the staff at our high school, this is an editorial written for a local paper by a teacher.
http://www.ledgertranscript.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/LEDGERTRANSCRIPT/807030414/1315

We're going to be at Disney 9/20-27, just managing to get the beginning of the Food and Wine Festival.

If your kids like Legos a lot, have you considered involving them in a FIRST team? Your children would fall into the Junior First Lego League and First Lego League team ages.

We're using K12 (History, Lit, Music and Science), Thinkwell from homeschoolbuyerscoop-org for Math, The Paragraph Book for some supplemental work on writing and assorted programming for our soon to be eighth grader. As for the soon to be tenth grader, that's all up in the air!

Good luck - I firmly believe you're making the right decision.

NHWX

 

[nuzmom]

teacups - math balls - LOVE IT!!!!!

Legomom3 - welcome. When we made the homeschooling decision, I made 2/3 of our family income. HUGE adjustment. That was 5 years ago and I wouldn't trade one moment!!!! We squeeze our finances, but we're still able to enjoy trips to WDW. I would have NEVER believed that 5 years ago. Hey, there will be plenty of time to return to work after all kids are in college!!!!

 

[nuzmom]

NHWX - interesting article. And some people wonder why we don't want our kids trying to learn in an environment of chaos??? While I was reading, I kept thinking of the ninth graders taking the english honors test during the constant fire alarms. Just think, those would be some of the "brightest" kids - boy, the school was really giving them an environment to excel.


I don't say much on these boards, but I have to share with you all what has been happening a LOT lately to us. I'm sure you can relate.

Our family is out and strangers comment on how well behaved our children are. We thank them and say that we all have our moments, but we're very blessed to have the children we do. We've been told at numerous stores that our kids are the best behaved children that they've seen. Truly, my children are NOT perfect, but you know what - they are RESPECTFUL!!!! That's the main trait that I can identify as being "different". Ok, anyway, so 1/2 the time we get "talking" with these strangers and school comes up - these people WANT to know what school they go to. "oh" they're "homeschooled"!!! Really???? (like, how can that be - you guys seem so "normal")

And frankly, I'm SO SICK of hearing the socialization question!!!! I guess it's ok to act like a "the world revolves around me" BRAT as long as you are getting "socialization"?????

Of course, we know some very nice PS kids and families - I actually feel badly for them - having to deal with PS issues while trying to RAISE their kids (not letting the schools raise them for them). Also, my kids are not "robots" - they just speak respectfully (or are correct if they don't).

Ok, phew, got that out of my system. That should keep me from flipping out at the next person who says "REEEAAALLYY???? They're homeschooled????". At least for a month or so.

Thanks for listening!!!!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I don't know if we are allowed to post things for sale on here or not!!But, if you are interested, pm me or email me or whatever-several levels of saxon math, bob jones stuff and some ABeka. Just thought I would pass this on in case any one is interested.

 

[LegoMom3]

I live in the Conval school district. It sounds like you're in a similar situation but with a couple twists. Our 12 year old took Integrated Arts and math at our middle school (South Meadow) and while he liked his teachers, he mostly didn't like his peers. On the other hand, our now 15 year old tried the high school for just a semester and didn't like it all! So now we have both at home full time.

If anyone's interested in what is probably a fairly honest look at the staff at our high school, this is an editorial written for a local paper by a teacher.
http://www.ledgertranscript.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/LEDGERTRANSCRIPT/807030414/1315

We're going to be at Disney 9/20-27, just managing to get the beginning of the Food and Wine Festival.

If your kids like Legos a lot, have you considered involving them in a FIRST team? Your children would fall into the Junior First Lego League and First Lego League team ages.

We're using K12 (History, Lit, Music and Science), Thinkwell from homeschoolbuyerscoop-org for Math, The Paragraph Book for some supplemental work on writing and assorted programming for our soon to be eighth grader. As for the soon to be tenth grader, that's all up in the air!

Good luck - I firmly believe you're making the right decision.

NHWX

Hey!!!....we're in ConVal too!!!! Small world. Our middle is Great Brook, though, and since you linked to the Ledger article on the high school, I'm sure you saw last week's "headline" regarding Pierce in Bennington....That's us! The article was SO not the whole story. And there was an editorial, too, that was also quite slanted. We have really enjoyed our time at that little school, but things there are about to get turned upside down. There is so, so, so much more going on than "poor" test scores (they are not an accurate assessment of the student population; long story that I won't get into here).

Anyway, DS8 would be heading into 3rd grade there, in one of these new "split" classrooms of combined 3rd and 4th grades. I dislike that "plan" for so many reasons, so he's coming home! And DS6 would be heading to 1st grade, and I have no real problem with that scenario in and of itself, but I'd just rather have them all home, all on the same schedule, and all getting the academic attention and family dynamics that they need.

Yes, they all LOVE Legos! I've heard of those teams and was actually thinking of looking into it.

Thanks for your post!...I look forward to chatting with you more here!

.

 

[LegoMom3]

teacups - math balls - LOVE IT!!!!!

Legomom3 - welcome. When we made the homeschooling decision, I made 2/3 of our family income. HUGE adjustment. That was 5 years ago and I wouldn't trade one moment!!!! We squeeze our finances, but we're still able to enjoy trips to WDW. I would have NEVER believed that 5 years ago. Hey, there will be plenty of time to return to work after all kids are in college!!!!

Thanks so much for that encouraging word! It really helps to know others have gone through this. When money's tight, I can't help but think "How in the world can we do this?!" and then just as quickly, I think about the alternative, and think "I'm going to sacrifice my kids for a few piddly dollars a week???!"

It's funny, too, because we've taken all our WDW trips without any help from my current job! The first two trips were mostly savings and one small dip into DH's line-of-credit with his work's credit union. This year's trip package was courtesy of the Tax Rebate, and our spending money is just out of our regular savings! So YES!...there IS hope!!


.

 

[wvdislover]

Oh, one fun thing we are doing is having each kid pick a country in Epcot. They will research it a bit before our trip, and then see what more they can learn while they are there in September (DS11, especially, should be able to chat with a CM or two - people actually from that country!). When we get back, they will make a little report on their country.

Here's something interesting you can check out for your trip. Someone else posted a link to this company a while back, but they recently changed their web page to this: http://www.vacationeducationbooks.net/default.aspx It's actually a unit study about MK and Epcot! Looks really cool...I'm planning on getting it to work on before our Sept trip. Even though DD6 is still in PS (DD11 is HS), it will be great for both girls to work on. Gives me more reason to call our trip "educational" for DD6's sake (even though the school still probably will call it an unexcused absence. Oh well She'll probably learn more on our trip than she would at school). Best part--it's quite inexpensive, as far as HS stuff goes! Good luck!

 

[LegoMom3]

Here's something interesting you can check out for your trip. Someone else posted a link to this company a while back, but they recently changed their web page to this: http://www.vacationeducationbooks.net/default.aspx It's actually a unit study about MK and Epcot! Looks really cool...I'm planning on getting it to work on before our Sept trip. Even though DD6 is still in PS (DD11 is HS), it will be great for both girls to work on. Gives me more reason to call our trip "educational" for DD6's sake (even though the school still probably will call it an unexcused absence. Oh well She'll probably learn more on our trip than she would at school). Best part--it's quite inexpensive, as far as HS stuff goes! Good luck!

That

is

SO

COOL!!!

Thanks for posting that link!


.

 

[wvdislover]

I thought it was, too. Don't know who originally posted the link to it, and I was too lazy to go back and look for it, so, if you want credit, let us know Makes the beginning of my school year easy!

 

[Denine]

WOW! The AG curriculum really covers a lot of stuff. I was thinking of using it as summer enrichment course next year between 1st and 2nd grades.

I still need to order the MK and Epcot HS book. That looks so cool.

Not going for HS days. Maybe next year? We are going on the cruise in October and also the F&W Festival.

Right now, DD is enjoying the summer reading program. I got one of the Magic Treehouse books that we already finished. Now we are reading Pippi Longstocking.

I still need to order the 1st grade program and will be doing that next week or so. I already have the math for 1st grade. We really like HOrizons.

I am still waiting to hear from the school system regarding HSing for the 2008-2009 school year. They have 14 days to respond, but I haven't been keeping track. Hopefully I will hear something this week.

 

[CruiseBoundnKY]

We are new to HS'ing but not new to Disney

My ds is 5 and dd is 10. This year we are pulling dd out of public school and starting fresh with ds with HS.

We are very excited about it! Thanks to the poster for the links to the MK and Epcot books. Anyone know if there is anything about AK out there or a list of the animals at AK?

Looking forward to our first year. Glad to know I have disfriends that HS too.

Karen

 

[amez]

Here's something interesting you can check out for your trip. Someone else posted a link to this company a while back, but they recently changed their web page to this: http://www.vacationeducationbooks.net/default.aspx It's actually a unit study about MK and Epcot! Looks really cool...I'm planning on getting it to work on before our Sept trip. Even though DD6 is still in PS (DD11 is HS), it will be great for both girls to work on. Gives me more reason to call our trip "educational" for DD6's sake (even though the school still probably will call it an unexcused absence. Oh well She'll probably learn more on our trip than she would at school). Best part--it's quite inexpensive, as far as HS stuff goes! Good luck!

I got to meet Corinne (the author of the books) at our UWWG in January--very nice lady with a super sweet family.

 

[wvdislover]

Way cool!!! I would have loved to have met her! What a creative and ingenious person!