Homeschool Chat

[beautybelle]

What do you all know about the quality of the "deluxe" curriculum in the homeschool supercenter? Im thinking about ordering that for my son because is almost half as expensive as my other choice which is Abeka. Son is going into 6th grade.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

I am thinking of homeschooling my boys next year. They are 10 & 7. My ten year old has stuggled in school for entire time. He has been diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD (inattentive). He is reading at a beginning 3rd grade level and cannot keep up in math ( this is usually his best subject) and can not spell very well. He recieves services from the school and has an IEP. The school has informed me that he will no longer be able to provide group instuction (4 kids to a group) because of staffing cuts. I am very tired of fighting with the school. All I have gotten is a kid who thinks he's stupid ( he is very bright) and I am sick of it! So I have a few questions:

1. How do you teach two grades at the same time? My youngest is reading a higher level than my oldest ( this will be a problem) and he demands my attention when both my DS's sit down to do homework. This is VERY distracting to my DS10 who will get mad and yell at him. And then it is difficult to get my DS10 on task again.

2. How do you know if what you are teaching is what your suppose to be for that grade level ( my 10 year old has a lot of catching up to do)?

3. How do you keep the kids entertained all the time?

4. How do I tell my husband I want to put graduate school off for a year.?

Sorry this is so long! I just want my son to be happy like he was before I put him on that bus for the first day in preschool.

One thing you can try is time4learning.com This is a wonderful online program that will engage your children and you can adjust levels for each subject area. It is very easy to review lessons from previous grade level or go up to next level. This might be good to try for the summer. Even if you decide not to continue into school year it will give you an idea of where they are and give them the positive reinforncement they need.

 

[lori1043]

OK so I am no language arts/writing phd, but I did NOT like IEW. It is more like a "how to take notes from a passage and put the same paragraph back together in your own words" class but with extra words(adjectives and adverbs called dress-ups).

I was REALLY unhappy with the course and so they only took it one semester at our co-op. BUT every other mom, besides me and maybe 2 others, LOVE it.

My oldest handled it well, but there is little room for thier own words. My youngest hated it. She is a lot like me though!

I just wanted something more like creative writing I guess.

You live, you learn.

Lori

 

[Corinne Johnson]

What is IEW?

It stands for Institute for Excellence in Writing.
They produce a writing program that works on skills using a checklist system, and sequentially building from one skill to the next.
We did not participate in the classes offered here, but all the moms who did are raving about it. Most of them plan to use it again next year.
I am an author, I love writing, it was never an issue for me. But, I do think the IEW is more geared towards the kid who needs to know how to write a term paper academically, but is not interested in writing for writing sake.
It's pretty pricey, so I wouldn't spend for it, but maybe you can ask around and get it used, or borrow, or share like our group did.
As a side note: the group here is fairly confident that they will be able to sell the one they bought on Ebay and get most of their money back when they are done with it.

 

[danjoealexis3006]

First off I want to thank you for making me feel welcome! I am feeling a little overwhelemed so keep the suggestions comming.

Ok, i'm sure you'll get more advice than I can give, because I am starting out this year too!! But your story made me feel bad because that's what I feel about my dd9(almost 10) She HATES going to school, she actually has anxiety issues. She is very smart but does not do well on tests and with homework. She is reading below level and struggles in math too.

I want to say hi to 3princesses&aprince, it is nice to have someone starting out where I am. I feel the same as you do, my son is under so much stress that he has been getting chest pain ( DR said it is stress related). I know how you feel.

You are a mom!! You are putting your son first at a time when he needs you. That's how you tell him This is what mommies do! You have tried school for quite some time, and it's obvious he doesn't respond there and needs a change. Now is the time.

Thanks for the advice Disney Mommy 3. Your're right I am a mom first and foremost! I have stayed home with my kids for 11 years and recently I finished my BSW degree in the last two years. However, in my heart I know that this is the right thing to do. I am having lunch with my husband today and I think this will be a good time to talk about it ( I hope he's having a good day). This subject has came up in the past and he has never been on board but last night he said he was worried about DS and the next school year! I wanted to go further but then the phone rang in the office and we never got back around to it. Wish me luck

There is a series called, "what your X grader needs to know" goes k-6. It is secular, but easy to use and I sometimes look over it just to see if there is anything we missed. Mostly, to put my own mind at ease.

I have seen these at my local library, I will check them out and maybe it could give some guidance of what we need to do to get back on track. I am going to take things slow with him though.

There is a lady at my church that hs her kids so if my DH gets on board I will give her a call and see if we can meet. I am not sure about the laws here in Michigan and I am sure she can help out. Thanks again everyone and I am looking forward to being a perment part of this board. Now all I need is a little pixie dust!

 

[lori1043]

Just one opinion here
1.Give them different schedules. My oldest helps me out all day, and I give her personal one on one time in the evening when little ones are sleeping.
2.There is a series called, "what your X grader needs to know" goes k-6. It is secular, but easy to use and I sometimes look over it just to see if there is anything we missed. Mostly, to put my own mind at ease.
3.I don't entertain my children. I have six, so they pretty much entertain each other, but I do read out loud to them a lot. I try to choose books with lots of action and fast moving stories. We loved the Narnia series.
4.I wouldn't be able to homeschool at all if it wasn't for my wonderful husband, so I would suggest getting him on board with your plans.
Lastly, from my experience (we did 1.5 years in PS, then homeschooled for the last eight years), I believe that you could do a little of this and a little of that, do a lot of nothing and your kids would still be better off at home with you.

#4-AMEN to that. I think all hubbys need to be on board for HS'ing-IMHO
#1- love that-sweet

It stands for Institute for Excellence in Writing.
They produce a writing program that works on skills using a checklist system, and sequentially building from one skill to the next.
We did not participate in the classes offered here, but all the moms who did are raving about it. Most of them plan to use it again next year.
I am an author, I love writing, it was never an issue for me. But, I do think the IEW is more geared towards the kid who needs to know how to write a term paper academically, but is not interested in writing for writing sake.
It's pretty pricey, so I wouldn't spend for it, but maybe you can ask around and get it used, or borrow, or share like our group did.
As a side note: the group here is fairly confident that they will be able to sell the one they bought on Ebay and get most of their money back when they are done with it.

This is how I feel about it. Maybe having girls, and we all like to write stories and such, we needed more wiggle room. I just didn't like it at all. And it is SO popular, so I guess it is great for others.


Lori

 

[theduck619]

Is three to four hours per day a good start for pre-school/kindergarten? We want to make sure they get enough but we want them to be kids as well.

Thanks to everyone who posts on this thread. the info i have seen is amazing!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Is three to four hours per day a good start for pre-school/kindergarten? We want to make sure they get enough but we want them to be kids as well.

Thanks to everyone who posts on this thread. the info i have seen is amazing!

That is the time frame I was thinking on for my 5 yr old this fall as well, maybe even a little less some days!!

 

[lori1043]

honestly, you can spend about 1-2 hours on preK IMHO. I did a wonderful preK curr called Hands On Homeschooling and it literally took about 45 minutes, so we doubled up a lot!! It was one of those Christian curriculums that was FUN, she learned and we had lots of bonding time. I am a firm beleiever in letting the kids be kids when they are this young. Yes, they are teachable, but attention spans are pretty short.
You can get a LOT in thier little sponge brains in litle time. Enjoy these years!!

Lori

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Personally, I think that's way too long for that age group. I tend to lean toward Charlotte Masons ideas and she says around 30 minutes per subject--depending on the child----some kids won't last 30 minutes at 4 years old. We do phonics for about 30 minutes, depending on the day we are having. Some days we go longer, some days a wee bit shorter. Math is the same way. Each subject you add as they get older follows the same pattern. If after 30 minutes they aren't doing it or are having trouble, just put it away till next time. Like I said before, lots of reading to them is ideal. Plus time to cut, paste, color, paint, whatever your family has fun with. Then just lots of 'pretend' or play time. They are still very young at the Pre-K or K level.

The longer you school with them, the more you will learn their little habits and patterns, and it will come more easily to you. Remember it's okay to have fun during 'school' time!!

 

[NHWX]

Is three to four hours per day a good start for pre-school/kindergarten? We want to make sure they get enough but we want them to be kids as well.

Thanks to everyone who posts on this thread. the info i have seen is amazing!

I think our public kindergarten is only 3.5 hours long and that includes recess, snack, calendar time, pledge of allegiance, announcements, collecting milk money, etc. I think our state requires that nap time be available for 4 year olds. So, I'd say if you put in an hour of academics and another hour in other learning (calendar, looking at bugs, painting, etc.) you'd be good to go.

NHWX

 

[NHWX]

I'd definitely recommend skipping writeguide.com. We used it for a month last year to prep one son for the essay portion of the SAT. The tutor basically ended up saying "Your son doesn't like to write and doesn't write well. I can't help him." but in a more round about way. Essentially when he didn't write like you might expect, she didn't know how to teach the material. Luckily, I didn't pay for more than a month. And Duh! If he was a good writer, I wouldn't have paid for a tutor.

We're going to try writeathome.com this year.

fingers crossed,

NHWX

 

[lori1043]

I'd definitely recommend skipping writeguide.com. We used it for a month last year to prep one son for the essay portion of the SAT. The tutor basically ended up saying "Your son doesn't like to write and doesn't write well. I can't help him." but in a more round about way. Essentially when he didn't write like you might expect, she didn't know how to teach the material. Luckily, I didn't pay for more than a month. And Duh! If he was a good writer, I wouldn't have paid for a tutor.

We're going to try writeathome.com this year.

fingers crossed,

NHWX

My friend uses this and loves it. I am going to use it for my 6th grader this year. not sure if I will use it a whole year or one semester.

Lori

 

[graygables]

Is three to four hours per day a good start for pre-school/kindergarten? We want to make sure they get enough but we want them to be kids as well.

Thanks to everyone who posts on this thread. the info i have seen is amazing!

Placing soapbox:

I look at it this way: how many hours a day did pioneer children spend in "school" when they were 3, 4, 5, 6, 7yo? (in PA: 1895: Compulsory Education Act mandated that children between 8 and 13 years old attend school for at least four months per year) Probably not much, if any at all. They played, the followed their parents around and asked, "why?" ad nauseum. They played some more. They learned to wash the dishes and sort the clothes and pick beans and help as much as they were able. They might have learned their ABCs and to count. Important foundations that are laid in those early play/why/helper years, not learning to recite the times tables at 5yo. These children grew up to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, inventors, mechanics, ranchers, bankers, you name it. There were some pretty smart cookies some of whom may have only had 2.5 years of formal education by today's 8 month standards.

I recently read research (I'm looking to find the references) that indicated that children should NOT begin formal education until around 8 (funny correlation between the early compulsory ed laws...) years old. They are still maturing their verbal and motor skills and aren't ready for structured learning yet, either in the schools or at home. Once they hit 8 or 9 (for ADHD students, the brain matures later) they explode into their skill sets and can really assimilate the information passionately and with purpose.

My 13yo was a non-reader, non-writer, non-speller and I, the English teacher, was mortified and really struggled with it. I took her to a tutor, we had her tested, we did everything to beg this child to read. We did learn that she had a tracking problem and that was taken care of with vision therapy, but she still wasn't a reader/writer/speller. Then, BOOM. 9yo came along and suddenly, she was reading on level, she was writing, and her spelling has improved dramatically. I didn't do anything different, I just let her "grow into" her learning.

I think we spend too much time worrying what other people think about our kids and how we rear/teach them and we would be better off if we worried about it ALL a lot less. I'm not saying that they should be left to roam and be feral children (like my nieces and nephew...whole other story ), but at the same time, let them play and learn and play some more. TRAVEL with them. Take them places. Let them touch and feel and see and explore.

I spent less time in a classroom than I spent IN one growing up. No, my parents are NOT homeschoolers or even supportive of it, but I was sick a lot and they were all about travel. We lived in Germany and whenever my Dad had a long weekend, we were in our 15' camping trailer going SOMEWHERE. Maybe over to a flea market in France, maybe sledding in the Black Forest, maybe to a museum in Switzerland. Once stateside, we kept it up, museums, zoos, road trips. My folks were NEVER about "perfect attendance" and we'd go to Dallas for a few days or the Grand Canyon when it suited my Dad's work schedule. Travel is one of the reasons I chose to homeschool.

Don't sweat the hours. Don't sweat the facts. Answer the whys and let them play.

Picking up soapbox...

 

[cattayhi]

My daughter and I have done a couple of lapbooks and they were lots of fun! Our first was about the Life cycle of butterflies with games a Mini Eric Carle book, charts to color in English and French and more.
She seemed to enjoy learning about the life cycle and remembers it well!

 

[danjoealexis3006]

Well my DH said that he thinks its a good idea to hs DS10 but he doesn't think that my DS7 needs to stay home with me ( I don't know how DS7 will react to knowing that his big brother gets to stay home all day with mom??) We talked to my DS10 last night and he says he's worried about not seeing all of his friends. We assured him that he will still get to see some of them, play baseball, and still learn the trumpt but he's still worried about it. I am not sure how to ease this fear. He did say that he did like the idea of not having to see his special ed teacher anymore. I made it clear that the only way I would be able to help him is if he worked with me and he agreed.

I have a few more questions:
1. Does anyone know of a good reading program for a dylexic.
2. Has anyone used Math U See. We need to learn our multiplication tables. We also need to review division and fractions (reducing).
Thanks!

 

[wvdislover]

Well my DH said that he thinks its a good idea to hs DS10 but he doesn't think that my DS7 needs to stay home with me ( I don't know how DS7 will react to knowing that his big brother gets to stay home all day with mom??) We talked to my DS10 last night and he says he's worried about not seeing all of his friends. We assured him that he will still get to see some of them, play baseball, and still learn the trumpt but he's still worried about it. I am not sure how to ease this fear. He did say that he did like the idea of not having to see his special ed teacher anymore. I made it clear that the only way I would be able to help him is if he worked with me and he agreed.

I have a few more questions:
1. Does anyone know of a good reading program for a dylexic.
2. Has anyone used Math U See. We need to learn our multiplication tables. We also need to review division and fractions (reducing).
Thanks!

I have not used Math U See; we use Teaching Textbooks. I have heard a lot of good things about MUS, but it is also expensive (manipulatives, etc). My DD11 has learned SO much with TT this year! We have gone from struggling in all areas to being able to find place value; do long addition, subtraction, mult., and division; work with fractions; greater than/less than; etc. I have stopped focusing, however, on her trying to learn all her multiplication facts, and am focusing on making sure she understands all the processes, instead. As my DD's special ed teacher from PS told me, "No one walks around asking you what 7x8 is...they just whip out a calculator." She uses a calculator, math chart, and most recently, a Magic Math multiplication facts "board" (a yellow plastic thing with all the facts listed on it on buttons that you have to push to see the answers). She knows a few of them, and I am still working with her on trying to learn as many as we can, but I'm not going to hold her back from learning other stuff, just so she can get those facts down. They may come, they may not. She does know how to get the answers she needs, though, which I deem as much more important. Maybe work on the facts some with your DS, but don't try to hammer then into his head. He'll be homeschooling--you get to decide what he needs to learn (for the most part!).

Also, while you'd like to have both of your sons home with you, it might be more advantageous for your DS10 to be home alone with you, at least for the first year, so he can get more of the one-on-one time he needs. It's something you just really have to look at. Good luck!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Well my DH said that he thinks its a good idea to hs DS10 but he doesn't think that my DS7 needs to stay home with me ( I don't know how DS7 will react to knowing that his big brother gets to stay home all day with mom??) We talked to my DS10 last night and he says he's worried about not seeing all of his friends. We assured him that he will still get to see some of them, play baseball, and still learn the trumpt but he's still worried about it. I am not sure how to ease this fear. He did say that he did like the idea of not having to see his special ed teacher anymore. I made it clear that the only way I would be able to help him is if he worked with me and he agreed.

I have a few more questions:
1. Does anyone know of a good reading program for a dylexic.
2. Has anyone used Math U See. We need to learn our multiplication tables. We also need to review division and fractions (reducing).
Thanks!

Can't answer those 2 questions, but just tell him about the friend-thing that he will still see them. I had to deal with that with my older son. He is the one that talks about friend time. The other 2 are content to see their friends on Wed night and Sunday at church, and then when we get together for them to play or spend the night. That's just something that is part of the give & take of HS. No, he probably won't see them EVERY day, but he will see them sometime! Maybe just having him home for at least the 1st semester will be good for both of you---maybe after Christmas holiday your hubby will be more open for the 7yo to come home too!!!

 

[theduck619]

I really appreciate your input. The great thing about these boards is you get to throw out different ideas.

 

[Denine]

Hello to all the newbies!

Definitely no more than 2 hours a day for a PK/K student.

We finished 1st grade today! DD is officially a 2nd grader! She still needs to finish 2nd grade math, but that won't take her long. She loves math.