Homeschool Chat

[jacksmomma]

Can you be more specific about what you mean by homeschooling? At age 3 learning is mostly achieved through play and interaction with one's environment, not through formal learning. I never formally "teach" my children anything until they are five and yet they "know" a lot by that age. Relax and just be his mom. Play with him and let him enjoy being little. He has the rest of his life to do formal education but only 5 short years to be a preschooler who plays 24/7. Follow his lead... I hate to see learning facts and such pushed on a child too early in life. It rarely translates into greater intelligence as studies have showed that early learners level out by 3rd grade.

Let them be little. Trust me, that sweet time goes by too quickly and then you will long for those preschool days.

We do unit studies and we work for about a half hour a day. We do a lot of art projects and reading. He do not do worksheets or anything like that. We have a calendar and we talk about the days of the week and what day/month it is. We use starfall and he loves that! Maybe I should back off some...

 

[wvdislover]

I would just back off, like you said. He IS just 3. If he was in preschool, it would be mostly playtime. Trying to explain a chrysallis and the mating process of butterflies may be more than he's ready for. You can make it easier for him to understand, though...maybe have him wrap up in a blanket, and then break free of the blanket...kind of like his own chrysallis. This worked with my DD when she was in preschool. She wanted to play that game over and over! If you want to work on letters, put shaving cream on a table and draw pictures in it, kind of like fingerpaint! Stick a few letters in between the pictures, and he may not notice he's learning Or make letters out of homemade playdough (or the store bought kind). While we would all like our kids to be little Einsteins, it just takes time. Maybe, instead of working with him for 30 minutes each day, just do 30 minutes a few days a week to start, then build up as he gets older and matures. It's a learning process for both of you. Eventually, you'll each figure out your patterns and learning methods that work best for you. And remember, your learning method may be really different from your DS's learning method! Good luck, and keep up the hard work...it will pay off!

 

[nono]

On an unrelated note...have any of you struggled with copy cat behavior in your child? DS is generally really well behaved, but if we get around other kids who are doing inappropriate things he instantly wants to do what they are doing. How do you handle that (and why is it that only the bad behavior wear off, not the good?!)?

Any insights on either issue would be much appreciated!

I focus on the fact that different families do things differently. "In our family, we don't do that" is what I say and if I receive any resistance, I ask, "Do I do that? Does Daddy?" It always seems to get the point across. I think copy-catting is big around that age. I know I skipped flying into Orlando for that year, because my daughter, who flew several flights a year, suddenly started acting up on airplanes after seeing the things she saw on Orlando flights. (Tampa's not that far away).

 

[NHWX]

Any insights on either issue would be much appreciated!

I'd echo what other people have said. I'd include learning as play. Read a classic story sometime like "Blueberries for Sal" or "The Little Engine that Could." (lit) You could get a preschool cookbook like Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen. You'll get counting, sequencing and following directions. (math and precursors) Go to the Greek Festival or talk to a person who works in your community. Tour the firehouse with other preschoolers. (social studies) Watch caterpillars crawl on a stem. (science)

When my kids were really little and behaved poorly, sometimes I'd do the same thing, as long as they understood that I was a) not really meaning it and b) exaggerating. There's nothing like seeing Mommy standing in front of her shoes saying "I won't do it! I'm never, ever, ever going to put on my shoes again! Ever!" or whatever thing they decided was the thing they weren't going to do. Generally, they can see that it's pretty silly.

Enjoy having a three year old!

NHWX

 

[danjoealexis3006]

I am thinking of using this curriculum with my dsylexic DS (11) who is extreamly hands on. We were thinking Sonlight but I think he will be overwhelemed by the amount of reading and he is not an auditory learner. Can anyone tell me about it?
What do/don't you like? How long to complete daily? Is there a moderate amount of reading mixed with hands on? Thanks

 

[dancer4life22]

Hey everbody! im not homeschooled. never have been never will be but what is it like? how do kids make friends?

 

[disneymom3]

We do unit studies and we work for about a half hour a day. We do a lot of art projects and reading. He do not do worksheets or anything like that. We have a calendar and we talk about the days of the week and what day/month it is. We use starfall and he loves that! Maybe I should back off some...

I will be totally honest with you okay? I don't want to hurt your feelings in anyway, but I am going to throw it out there.


You do not need to "homeschool" a three year old. You need to play with him. Build with blocks, finger paint, mix colors, go to the park, read books. Get him together with other kids once in awhile so he can learn he is not the center of the universe (actually if you figure out how to teach him that, let me know. My 13 year old doesn't get that important concept yet, either. ) Find a mom's group that does playdates or do an ECFE class with him. Go on walks and listen to what you hear. If you happen to see a chrysallis, tell him what it is. If he is really interested in it, go to the library and get a book from the easy reader nonfiction section.

I know it sometimes feels like everyone is sending their kid off to preschool, but really, in this economy, they aren't. Preschools around here all have openings. It is not required to do any kind of school at that age, and you really don't need to burn him or YOU out before he's even in kindergarten. In fact, I am really a rebel and do basically the same thing as above for kindergarten too. My kids are 13, 9, and 7 and all read at or above grade level and their general knowledge is always at minimum two grades above their grade. Math eveyrone is on target. It will be okay.

 

[disneymom3]

Hey everbody! im not homeschooled. never have been never will be but what is it like? how do kids make friends?

Well, with your username, I bet you have dance friends that you dont' go to school with, right? :Same with our kids. They have friends from church, classes, sports teams, the neighborhood etc. I for one, have to turn down social engagements so that my kids can actually do their schoolwork. It's just a different path but not a strange one.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

Hey everbody! im not homeschooled. never have been never will be but what is it like? how do kids make friends?

I noticed you have Broadway and Disney= Love Where do children in Broadway musicals go to school? Where do they make friends? What about all those Disney child/teen stars? Their friends are not the millions of fans.

There are many reasons for homeschooling...but some homeschool so they can adjust their schedules around acting, dancing, ice skating, swimming, basketball, singing, painting, or any other passion.

Our children have many good friends (not facebook quality).

I taught in public schools for ten years. Most children who were good friends in school established that friendship outside of school (neighbor, soccer, dance, church, etc) Our elementary school didn't even want the children to talk at lunch. Hard to make friends when you can not even talk to someone.

Like Disneymom3 said, "It's just a different path but not a strange one."

Never say never.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Our children have many good friends (not facebook quality).


Like Disneymom3 said, "It's just a different path but not a strange one."

Never say never.

Amen Sister!! That is sooo true!!! Our kids have friends that our families know and we are comfortable with. I would be more leary of them going to someone's house if I didn't know anything about them...I just wouldn't do it. In this situation/environment, we usually know each other from church, sports, whatever, and know that we have the same beliefs and interests.

I learned early to Never say Never!!!!

 

[NHWX]

I am thinking of using this curriculum with my dsylexic DS (11) who is extreamly hands on. We were thinking Sonlight but I think he will be overwhelemed by the amount of reading and he is not an auditory learner. Can anyone tell me about it?
What do/don't you like? How long to complete daily? Is there a moderate amount of reading mixed with hands on? Thanks

At the time that we tried Oak Meadow, my son was probably 11 also. He liked the reading and the hands-on projects. But he didn't like the writing. We needed a more structured writing program at the time.

I would see if you could borrow a copy of a book, get some free samples of a lesson from Oak Meadow, etc. before you buy. We had English/History and Science for sixth grade. By January, we'd switched. It is a nice curriculum, just not for that child at that time.

NHWX

 

[dancer4life22]

Well, with your username, I bet you have dance friends that you dont' go to school with, right? :Same with our kids. They have friends from church, classes, sports teams, the neighborhood etc. I for one, have to turn down social engagements so that my kids can actually do their schoolwork. It's just a different path but not a strange one.

ok thats what i figured. it was just that my sister has been watching wife swap lately (its kinda funny but really stupid!) and theres all these parents that homeschool and there kids like do nothing and have no friends and i was like is that normal?)

 

[disneymom3]

OH dear!! Yeah, I think we discussed that wife swap on here, actually. I can't find it but a friend of mine recently posted a link on her facebook page to the Pioneer Woman or something like that with a contribution from a homeschooling mom explaining why shows and people like that make her life difficult. It was very funny.

I will go on facebook later and see if I can find it for you all.

 

[LegoMom3]

Hmm....I'm on the DIS and just noticed that I've lost my "DVC" theme and can only get the "default." They must be working on the server again or something....

Anywho! Back to your regularly scheduled home school forum! I actually came here to ask if any of you "unschool" or take the "relaxed home school" approach? Please chime in if you do or you have in the past!

.

 

[wvdislover]

We do a kind of "relaxed home school" approach. I do have curriculum for everything (my 5 major subjects), but we take it at our own speed. Our history is all literature-based, so we definitely go at our own pace with that. I'm trying to hit all 5 subjects every day, but if I miss something, life goes on. My DD12 has Asperger's and doesn't do well with extremely structured stuff like, say, A Beka. My goal is just to make sure she's learning every day, whether it's from schoolwork or life. Fortunately, we live in a state where it is relatively easy to homeschool, so I don't have to track days or hours. We do a portfolio approach, so I just have to be able to prove that she has made improvement from one year to the next in science, math, history, language, arts, and reading.

P.S. Come check out my pre-trip report, anyone who wants...link in my siggie! I leave next Tuesday...we're SO excited!

 

[tzuhouse]

Hi all. I've been around the DIS for a while, but never noticed this thread until now.

I've been homeschooling for 6 years now. We have two boys. Ryan is 5th grade (10) and Sean is 3rd grade (almost 8). This is the smoothest year so far and I'm very happy with the schedule we are doing.

Our new school year begins on the first Monday of June each year because it's too hot to do much in the summer in Houston. This allows us to take off a lot when it's prettier outside, or when we are going on long vacations or something.

This year the boys and I will be traveling to Orlando and staying with a friend for at least a month. We are going to see the shuttle launch and are prepared to stay for 2 months if it gets scrubbed a lot. We will do some schoolwork while there, but not every day.

We are heavily involved with Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and both my boys do Christian Youth Theatre. Ryan has just been cast in his 2nd production, which is Aladdin. I'm just hoping that they do move the shuttle launch up since we are now committed to the show until 11/8. We'll be leaving on 11/9 to go to Florida.

Nice to "meet" everyone!
Mary

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hi Mary I am your neighbor!!!!! I live about an hour and a half from you!!!!! And we start school after 4th of July...it was so hot this summer I might move us farther back into June next time...just toooo dang hot!!! What a fun time you are going to have!! I hope it launches right on time and you can enjoy that.


Legomom3~ I guess you could say we are relaxed. I too do a lit based History and loooooove it!! The boys do Teaching Textbooks for math, so that's just one lesson per day that they can pretty much do on their own...if they need help I help them, but the teacher on cd does the teaching. I try to do our stuff in the morning...we need afternoons for extra stuff and running errands, library time, stuff like that. I think most homeschoolers are more relaxed in general.Even if you are required by state to keep records, you are not as stressed as you would be if you had to get them up and out the door every day & deal with all the stresses of school-life. Every family has a schedule/agenda that they have to go by, but we all bend and formulate what works...so that in itself is relaxing!!!!

 

[chicagoshannon]

Well we are at the end of our first week of homeschooling and I must say thus far it is not going exactly like I expected. DS just is not as excited about the process as I thought he would be. I have struggled a few times with getting him to listen and focus, but he just turned 3 and it is our first week. Please tell me this is normal!

On an unrelated note...have any of you struggled with copy cat behavior in your child? DS is generally really well behaved, but if we get around other kids who are doing inappropriate things he instantly wants to do what they are doing. How do you handle that (and why is it that only the bad behavior wear off, not the good?!)?

Any insights on either issue would be much appreciated!

totally normal. My daughter always copies the kids too. (she's just about 2.5) I don't think you need to totally ditch the preschool. I started now because my daughter needs more of a structured approach. You need to do what's right for your family. That's what homeschooling is all about anyway right?

We play "games" on the computer (starfall) and the other day playing with shaving cream was a HUGE hit. She was supposed to be making shapes in it but was playing more then anything. She also really liked painting the other day. We do about 1 worksheet a day. Right now it's tracing and connecting lines. I like to throw some time with scissors in also. Our goals for this year are to learn to use scissors, pre-writing skills (tracing) and learning to sound out words. We also go to story time and music time at the library and she'll be taking ballet starting next week. Like you we do the calendar every day (now including our countdown calendar for Disney)

Just do what's right for you.

We do unit studies and we work for about a half hour a day. We do a lot of art projects and reading. He do not do worksheets or anything like that. We have a calendar and we talk about the days of the week and what day/month it is. We use starfall and he loves that! Maybe I should back off some...

Sounds like you're doing great. If he gets antsy just move on to something else.

Hi all. I've been around the DIS for a while, but never noticed this thread until now.

I've been homeschooling for 6 years now. We have two boys. Ryan is 5th grade (10) and Sean is 3rd grade (almost 8). This is the smoothest year so far and I'm very happy with the schedule we are doing.

Our new school year begins on the first Monday of June each year because it's too hot to do much in the summer in Houston. This allows us to take off a lot when it's prettier outside, or when we are going on long vacations or something.

This year the boys and I will be traveling to Orlando and staying with a friend for at least a month. We are going to see the shuttle launch and are prepared to stay for 2 months if it gets scrubbed a lot. We will do some schoolwork while there, but not every day.

We are heavily involved with Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and both my boys do Christian Youth Theatre. Ryan has just been cast in his 2nd production, which is Aladdin. I'm just hoping that they do move the shuttle launch up since we are now committed to the show until 11/8. We'll be leaving on 11/9 to go to Florida.

Nice to "meet" everyone!
Mary

welcome. How exciting to see the shuttle launch. My daughter wants to go there so bad thanks to PBS showing a shuttle launch. haha

 

[tzuhouse]

Thanks for the welcomes. This year has been going great for us. On Mondays and Wednesdays they do 2 days of Math, English and Spelling. On Fridays they do one day of each.

On Tuesdays we do Story of the World and General Science and Thursdays we do Chemistry and Study of the Universe. It's been great because I'm not standing around waiting for both of them to get done for the day so we can move onto classes we do together. They have to watch their time and get their work done on the MWF, and we are done by 1-2pm each Tuesday and Thursday, even with the crafts, experiments, etc.

Mary

 

[Praise2Him]

I actually came here to ask if any of you "unschool" or take the "relaxed home school" approach? Please chime in if you do or you have in the past!

We started hs'ing in 8th grade and (as a former teacher) I started out very structured and "school-like". I relaxed a little more each year and by the last 2 years, although we still used a curriculum, we pretty much were unschooling. Especially since DD is very self-motivated to learn and also that her interests are creative (she starts college today, majoring in Fashion Design & Merchandising), I realized that it's more important that she knows how to learn and not the specific 'facts' that are learned.

We are going to see the shuttle launch and are prepared to stay for 2 months if it gets scrubbed a lot.

We saw the International Space Station fly overhead last night and it was really cool!