Homeschool Chat

[Disney_Angel]

However we choose to do it, homeschooling is WONDERFUL!!!

Many homeschool families have been persecuted by the government because of oversight issues. They have fought long and hard to have the right to school their children without government interference.

Cyber education is overseen by the government or in my case the Pennsylvania Department of Education. When speaking to folks who have no clue what cyber education is I say "homeschool" but in reality we cyber school..."un-schooling" at home. Now if they are really interested I will go on to explain the difference. But after a battle of explaining why my child is not an un-socialized, un-educated freak one rather thinks the finer points of homeschooling and cyber schooling is a moot point. And that is just on the DIS

 

[mickeyvixie]

The Elluminate chatrooms are only available white the session is live and the teacher see EVERYTHING the students type. And at the kindergarten,
first and second grade levels you have nothing to worry about.
NOt really worried, and I know it is a cyberschool, just my personal opinon but at that age they dont really NEED to be learning how to even use a chat room atmosphere. Kinda hard to explain but more like...let them be a kid a bit longer thing, does that make more sense?

In the kindergarten the elluminate was more like circle time. The teacher will put up an activity on the while board and ask each child a question this will give them the opportunity to circle the answer with their mouse. Later on your teacher may ask the children to read one by one from their phonics readers or the teacher may do a one on one with your child. As always you are welcome to sit next to your child and watch.
Well she may be missing those regardless for a few months since it will be awhile before we get her puter hooked up to the net in the schoolroom upstairs and this one hates Elluminate apparently Actually it is a Java issue with it I had a techie friend look at it and he said it is a problem with both Elluminate and Java. I can access everything else on the K12 site but the E. OH well, cant help it. I am just doing the online stuff (videos and such) on here and printing out the other stuff to take upstairs with me to work on.

I can't remember if they were mandatory in K but in first grade DD was required to attend...they will take attendance. .

Speaking of attendance...how do I do this tomorrow? Do I stay logged in the whole 5 hours? Or just log in and out as I do things on the computer? Do they know? Do they care? I love the cirriculum just a little disappointed that they seemed to leave out important stuff. What I dont understand is why none of this (the elluminate thing mainly) was mentioned in the info online(I did see the E bit but thot it was for info for the parents, not a chat room for the younger children) and by the reps from the school. They made it out to be less monitored ??? overseen???then what it is. OH well I will make the best of it for now I suppose.

**********PLease no one take this as a dis to Cyber schooling in general I just dont like being surprised with things that should be basic info for something like this. Thank you to those who have given me all the help so far. I will muddle thru or ask more stupid questions


OT>>>>>>>>Disney_Angel----------Whatcha DOING SUNDAY? We are having a get together at the MK and I see you will be down then too. PM if you are intrigued.

 

[disneymarie]

Just wondering, those who do not do an online school, how do you go about getting their HS diploma and transcripts for like college?

There is a graduation ceremony and diplomas are passed out. All transcripts can be sent to the colleges. The connections academy my dd is attending has a young man at Harvard now.

It is picking the right online school. Some are not as challanging, some extensive writting assingments and then the ones that are good blends and support.

It took me a long time to decide, but after going back to college myself, I am very glad I spent months investagating our options. I only wish I had started her last year.

All supplies, books and computer are supplied. Her books are the McGraw -Hill that she has been using. My dd is gifted and ahead in many subjects, her friend a grade ahead takes more time to absorb classwork and math. I am the same way, no clue what my dd is doing with absolutes and intergers . The structure of the program accomdates both girls individule needs.

I woould have had no oppertunity to place her in a private school for her needs. Plus her friend would be falling behind as the class moved on.....
Just our two families experiences.
dianne

 

[Disney_Angel]

Gotcha about the elluminate/chatroom No computer from school yet?
Darn...that could be frustrating! I have heard about the problems with elluminate and java.... oh boy have I heard. I am waiting for Science 2 Core kit.

Join us at the Agora / Yahoo group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12-Agora/

---- that is if your not already a member


OT>>>>>>>>Disney_Angel----------Whatcha DOING SUNDAY? We are having a get together at the MK and I see you will be down then too. PM if you are intrigued.[/quote]



I am PMing you!

 

[mickeyvixie]

Gotcha about the elluminate/chatroom No computer from school yet?
Darn...that could be frustrating! I have heard about the problems with elluminate and java.... oh boy have I heard. I am waiting for Science 2 Core kit.

Join us at the Agora / Yahoo group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12-Agora/

---- that is if your not already a member
!

We got the school computer...nicer then ours I might add I figure if it comes down to it, I can just copy all the lessons to disc (print feature) then just put them on the hers to save my ink. GOOD, glad to know I am not the only one with issues about it.

We haven't gotten our any of the Math, some of the extra Language Arts Books that are on the invoice and part of the Science listed on it too. Then again I just signed up 2 weeks ago so we are doing good I suppose

May just do the yahoo group thing after we get back... I STILL NEED TO PACK

 

[Disney8704]

Thanks for the info..but I was asking about if you did NOT go to an online school, how do you get the diploma and transcripts?

There is a graduation ceremony and diplomas are passed out. All transcripts can be sent to the colleges. The connections academy my dd is attending has a young man at Harvard now.

It is picking the right online school. Some are not as challanging, some extensive writting assingments and then the ones that are good blends and support.

It took me a long time to decide, but after going back to college myself, I am very glad I spent months investagating our options. I only wish I had started her last year.

All supplies, books and computer are supplied. Her books are the McGraw -Hill that she has been using. My dd is gifted and ahead in many subjects, her friend a grade ahead takes more time to absorb classwork and math. I am the same way, no clue what my dd is doing with absolutes and intergers . The structure of the program accomdates both girls individule needs.

I woould have had no oppertunity to place her in a private school for her needs. Plus her friend would be falling behind as the class moved on.....
Just our two families experiences.
dianne

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

You adn I could have a book group!

Me too!!!

 

[Denine]

LOL--yes I do have a good memory. Drives DH insane!

I really like the idea of Sonlight too, but I know my boys need way more hands on. If money were no object I probably would have used Sonlight for DD and MFW for my boys. However she got stuck with MFW and we just added more books for her to read. My claim is that once my kids are old enough to be independent I am going to do Sonlight for myself! You adn I could have a book group!

Sounds great!

 

[disneymom3]

Me too!!!

It's a deal! I have about 6 years minimum before I can do that and that is only if my boys do go off to middle school.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

Hi there I have a ??? does virtual charter school count as homeschooling? Anyone do this, we are considering PAVCS.org Would like to know what anyone/everyone thinks about this. I am an extremely busy SAHM, I babysit and take care of my ageing mom. I am concerned though that my children are not being challenged enough by their school. Our school is great if you have a special need child, but not so much if your child is smart. They do not seperate children therefore my son who is an honor student is also put into a class with a child who is barely getting by. I feel he is being held back, and not being presented with challenges to meet his needs.

 

[mickeyvixie]

Hi there I have a ??? does virtual charter school count as homeschooling? Anyone do this, we are considering PAVCS.org Would like to know what anyone/everyone thinks about this. I am an extremely busy SAHM, I babysit and take care of my ageing mom. I am concerned though that my children are not being challenged enough by their school. Our school is great if you have a special need child, but not so much if your child is smart. They do not seperate children therefore my son who is an honor student is also put into a class with a child who is barely getting by. I feel he is being held back, and not being presented with challenges to meet his needs.

It is just another name for cyber school. (AKA...homeschooling on the computer through a website that provides curriculum, etc) I looked into them when choosing one for my DD. PAVCS seemed (to me anyway) to be much more regimented with hours, etc so if you are as busy as you say I would shop around a bit before choosing a homeschooling program.

Depending on the child's age ability and/or type of program chosen it can be timeconsuming. PA state requirements for the cyberschools/virtual charter schools are 5 hours a school day for elementary age (cant remember High School but it is a bit more) and 180 days attendance per year.

Suggestion as an alternative.......not sure how old your son is but what about giving him some challenges yourself afterschool hours.? Get him some workbooks to do (check out teacher stores and even walmart and the Dollar Tree carry them). Have him take a class at a museum or a science center. Check around your area for groups that he can belong to. Scouts, chess clubs, book clubs, gardening clubs. Even special events can be challenging, have him figure out the velocity of a roller coaster. Lots of choices even in small town. Ask the school if he can help tutor the students that are struggling. THAT of course would depend on his age. I wouldnt do that until Middle school level.
Good luck

 

[mickeyvixie]

Well the above said........ any one else having fun logging onto Agora today...OY! Took me longer to eventially get back in then it did for DD to do the lessons. Teacher called, said it was a glitch. UMMMM>..no...the site is getting pounded cause it is the first day.

 

[nuzmom]

Suggestion as an alternative.......not sure how old your son is but what about giving him some challenges yourself afterschool hours.? Get him some workbooks to do (check out teacher stores and even walmart and the Dollar Tree carry them).

I was actually warned against doing this with my gifted son (2nd grade at the time). I was told that many gifted children will take this as a "drawback" to being gifted. They will quickly decide to not do quite so well so that they don't have to do extra work. This ended up being a part of our decision to home school.

However, when my DS was in kingergarten, it was only 1/2 day. He viewed it as "play time" and he did "school" after he came home.

 

[mickeyvixie]

I was actually warned against doing this with my gifted son (2nd grade at the time). I was told that many gifted children will take this as a "drawback" to being gifted. They will quickly decide to not do quite so well so that they don't have to do extra work. This ended up being a part of our decision to home school..

Good point but it would really depend on the child and their age. Also how it is presented to them. (again depending on the kiddo) If made into fun instead of extra work and involve parent/child time then it could succeed and some of the workbooks could at least provide a stepping stone to making up your (generic your) own challenges. I loved those books when I was younger couldnt wait till my mom bought me a new one.

 

[Disney_Angel]

Hi there I have a ??? does virtual charter school count as homeschooling? Anyone do this, we are considering PAVCS.org Would like to know what anyone/everyone thinks about this. I am an extremely busy SAHM, I babysit and take care of my ageing mom. I am concerned though that my children are not being challenged enough by their school. Our school is great if you have a special need child, but not so much if your child is smart. They do not seperate children therefore my son who is an honor student is also put into a class with a child who is barely getting by. I feel he is being held back, and not being presented with challenges to meet his needs.

Home schooling and cybcer education are two different options available to families who choose to school at home. It all depends on what style of learning is best for your family and how much oversight you feel comfortable with.

I almost went with PAVCS back in 2006 when my dd entered kindergarten. At the last moment we chose Agora. I loved the k12 curriculum and wanted to use it exclusively. I urge you to compare the two and decide how much of a workload you want. From my understanding back in 2006 parents were leaving because the cyber school was requiring too much work. k12 is pretty intense and to me that curriculum alone was more then enough. But it is all personal preference.

Agora has a Yahoo group that is parent run and I believe so does PAVCS.
Come join us there are many parents that have used both school and would love to answer your questions.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12-Agora/

Whatever you choose best of luck!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I have been thinking about homeschooling, i've been reading through these posts over the last few days! My dd9 just started 3rd grade yesterday and my dd7 is in 1st grade. My youngest is 4.
I feel this will work for my family! And the more I read posts here and think about it, I really want to start looking into this. This thread seems so helpful. I don't know anyone who homeschools, so I would be completely new to this.
Where do I start and what do I need to look into?? Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[Lora]

I have been thinking about homeschooling, i've been reading through these posts over the last few days! My dd9 just started 3rd grade yesterday and my dd7 is in 1st grade. My youngest is 4.
I feel this will work for my family! And the more I read posts here and think about it, I really want to start looking into this. This thread seems so helpful. I don't know anyone who homeschools, so I would be completely new to this.
Where do I start and what do I need to look into?? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Welcome! We've just started our 9th year of homeschooling. Since homeschooling was new territory for many of us when we started, we can understand where you are right now. The first thing you need to do is educate yourself on your state's homeschool laws. You can find the basics at www.hslda.org by searching your state.

Next, I would recommend getting a couple (or few) books on homeschooling from your library or other source. You need to read a bit to start discovering what direction you want your homeschool to take. There's a wide spectrum of homeschooling styles and philosophies out there. Take some time to write down your reasons for wanting to homeschool and your goals as a family.

You can then start researching homeschool groups in your area. It will be helpful for you to have some support so you don't have to "reinvent the wheel". We've been involved in co-ops, field trip groups, etc. and that's where we met many of our friends. If you can't find local groups, you can find a plethora of groups on the internet. This thread is great, but since it is just that - a thread, it's a bit difficult to find what you need sometimes. Since I use Sonlight Curriculum, I go to their forums with questions and for fun.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I have been thinking about homeschooling, i've been reading through these posts over the last few days! My dd9 just started 3rd grade yesterday and my dd7 is in 1st grade. My youngest is 4.
I feel this will work for my family! And the more I read posts here and think about it, I really want to start looking into this. This thread seems so helpful. I don't know anyone who homeschools, so I would be completely new to this.
Where do I start and what do I need to look into?? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Yes!! You can definitely do this!! Go to your local library and see if they have any books you can get about homeschooling. I like the one by Lisa Whelchel"So You Are Thinking About Homeschooling"--actually I got this one from LifeWay-most bookstores carry it. Also, anything by Karen Andreola is good. check out the HSLDA--they will list the laws required by your state. Here in Texas, if we homeschool we have to turn a letter into the school stating that we will be hsing from now on to get the kids un-enrolled from the school. That's it here-I don't know what other schools require.

Another good book is by Cathy Duffy-100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum---she lists her favorites,tells all about them and lists some websites for you to look at.Again, this can be bought at local bookstores. Are you interested in a Christian based schooling? Do you want it all packaged and sent to you by grade level? Do you want to do an eclectic schooling? These are some basic ?s to point you in the right direction. You will know what works best for your family after you start doing some research.We started out with ABeka and we loved it. But after a couple of years, we found that it wasn't working for us!! It's wonderful, but just tooooo much with 3 kids!!(for us anyway-may just be your thing---and it is good for starters because you aren't having to spend your first year in total confusion!!HA!).We now do a Charlotte Mason approach---more reading of literature and biographies for our studies and less workbooks. This has really worked for us. Now, for my daughter in Kind. she of course has workbooks for Math and Phonics, but we are working to learn to read,so she will be switching over before too long.

Sorry this got overwhelmingly long!!!! I just love to help people get pointed in the right direction for hsing. It has been the biggest blessing for our family and we love to share our experience with others!! All of us hsers on this board will be happy to help you!! By the way, this is our 5th year to hs and so far it's the best!!!

 

[Denine]

Yes!! You can definitely do this!!

Another good book is by Cathy Duffy-100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum---she lists her favorites,tells all about them and lists some websites for you to look at.Again, this can be bought at local bookstores. Are you interested in a Christian based schooling? Do you want it all packaged and sent to you by grade level? Do you want to do an eclectic schooling? These are some basic ?s to point you in the right direction. You will know what works best for your family after you start doing some research.We started out with ABeka and we loved it. But after a couple of years, we found that it wasn't working for us!! It's wonderful, but just tooooo much with 3 kids!!(for us anyway-may just be your thing---and it is good for starters because you aren't having to spend your first year in total confusion!!HA!).We now do a Charlotte Mason approach---more reading of literature and biographies for our studies and less workbooks. This has really worked for us. Now, for my daughter in Kind. she of course has workbooks for Math and Phonics, but we are working to learn to read,so she will be switching over before too long.

I love this book! I look at it a lot toward the end of the scool year to see what may work for us in the future.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Thank you so much for your quick responses, you are all so helpful here.
I'm going to go check that website out right now to check on our state's laws. And i'm definately going to go get a few books on homeschooling. I don't want to rush into this, I definately want to take my time, and find out all I need to know.
I did think about all of the reasons why I want to homeschool, and I do feel this would work out so well for my family compared to sending the kids to public school. And there were quite a few reasons, which makes me feel even better about it.