*** Homeschool List ***

[jonestavern]

1. Read read read to them (Since they were 3 I started out reading 10 minutes at a time, and now we read about 2 hours out loud a day..
Hope this helps.
Tara

Yes, Tara's so right!
I began reading to DS16 when he was 1 1/2 weeks old. I read Shakespeare & the King James version Bible, & then more age appropriate children's books-- like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom--(read in a rhythmic manner--for teaching the alphabet). I did this also with DNnow23, & I like to think it was a tiny building block in her academic sucesses!
DSthenveryyoung & I read every midmorning for about 40 minutes, every afternoon & Dad still reads to him at night for about 30 minutes.
At 13 he passed the SAT in the langauge areas, & he passed with flying colors w/o any SAT prep classes!
the alphabet song was his favorite--& only way to soothe a tantrum! --for years. I made up a numbers song & he also liked that. we also had the chunky alphabet & number 'puzzles'--
I also believe classical music can be very 'mind ordering'. I like to play this, very low, during the day or at 'class' time, or when we are discussing stressful topics. Like my Mom, I would play, very low, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach, Beethhoven etc during naps or during the day.

Jean

 

[disneymom3]

Hey guys, I posted this on the community board as a separate thread but wanted to say it here too so am copying it. I will still be homeschooling my kindergartener, but this is a big change for us:

Okay, so DD is in 4th grade. We have homeschooled for the last three years after she attended public school for K and truly learned nothing the entire year. We have had fun these last three years. I love homeschooling, she loves homeschooling, we have learned a lot and all has gone really well. Don't know how to explain it other than the hand of God but something got me looking into the charter school in our area. Make a long story short the waiting list didn't involve much waiting, we got a call on Sat that she could come if she wanted to, went for our tour today and she starts tomorrow.

Whoa! I am getting ready for this emotionally. She is thrilled, which is most important after all! We are going out tonight to get a first day of school outfit and she is so excited she can hardly even stand herself!

I feel confident that this is a really good choice for her at this time. She is very outgoing and confident and I know she will do really well. But at the same time, it feels like the end of an era and I am rather sad too. So.....send some prayers and pixie dust this way DIS friends---I probably need it more than DD.

Oh, on a side note, I asked the principal what they do about family vacations as we have WDW planned for Feb (and one has to have priorities afterall!!) and she said they were totally open to the fact that family trips happen at all different times of the year, they just ask to know ahead of time when possible and they are very willing to work with the student on anythign that would be missed. Phew--glad we covered that!!

 

[meandtheguys2]

Julie, we all have to make the best choices for our own. Good luck, and God bless you and your family!

Michelle

 

[LIFERBABE]

We are in the DFW area FWISD and would very much appreciate any resources on how we can start homeschooling next fall.

My Ds's are currently in the 1st and 3rd grades.

Thanks
Crystal

 

[Lora]

We are in the DFW area FWISD and would very much appreciate any resources on how we can start homeschooling next fall.

My Ds's are currently in the 1st and 3rd grades.

Thanks
Crystal

Hi Crystal! Homeschooling is great in TX! The best places to start are www.hslda.org and www.thsc.org. Those are national and state organizations that support homeschool legal issues. There you should be able to get a good idea of what your rights and responsibilities are as homeschoolers in TX. I have made contacts here in Austin by doing searches on the web for "homeschool" and the name of my community, etc. There are many homeschool groups of different faiths or homeschooling philosophies.

If you're looking for curriculum ideas, I would personally recommend Sonlight if it's Christian content doesn't conflict with your own personal beliefs. www.sonlight.com
It is a literature-based curriculum that is rich in history and reading. They also sell math, science, foreign language, etc. on their site.

 

[LIFERBABE]

[/QUOTE]

If you're looking for curriculum ideas, I would personally recommend Sonlight if it's Christian content doesn't conflict with your own personal beliefs. www.sonlight.com

.[/QUOTE]


Thank you so much Lora!!

We are seriously considering it and these are some great resources!!

 

[Lora]

Thank you so much Lora!!

We are seriously considering it and these are some great resources!!

I should have also mentioned that even if you don't choose Sonlight, they have GREAT forums in the same format as the DIS.

Ok - now I really need to focus on getting ready for our trip. We're leaving in 3 days!!!!!

 

[studentmom]

Hi everyone!
Could you add me to the HS list, too? My dd will be 5 this November, but I'm going to wait until July to start a K curriculum. (She's had many ear infections in the past and it's effected her speech and grammar a lot. She's also behind in some other areas as well).

I was going to send her to preschool this year, but I might just try and work with her at home...I thought my hs her for kind. would be the best thing for her, to get her where she needs to be- at her pace--plus other kids can be cruel sometimes. I'm scared, though. Afraid I'm gonna totally mess up or forget to teach her something.

And wow, there are SOO many curriculums out there . I guess I have about 10 months to pick one. We don't have a lot of money, but hopefully I'll stil be able to find a good curriculum for her. Plus I'll be taking classes a couple of nights a week. But I feel so strongly that she should be HS, at least for her first two years. I'm so excited.

 

[TooBoyz4us]

Count me in for the list as well!!!

A local homeschool friend, who also happens to be a Diser, mentioned this thread to me and I came in search of it.

We just started our 3rd year homeschooling,2 boys,5th & 7th grade.
We use Switched On SchoolHouse and Saxon Math.

 

[disneymom3]

Hi and welcome to all the new posters! Looking forward to getting to know you all. Sure would be easier if we had our own board though.

So, DD has been in school for 4 days now and let me tell you how much I hate it. I hate waking everyone up at 7:00 in the morning and getting the boys dressed and everyone having breakfast and being out the door by 7:45. May I point out that it is not even December when it is still fairly dark at 7:45! I hate not knowing if we can do something in the afternoon because I don't know if DD will have homework or not. I hate that DD was spending time counting vowels in words in school on Weds. (May I point out that she is in 4TH grade!!) I hate that all the other academics are way below her or things we have already studied--science is weather and social studies is maps and communities. I hate that some little boys were chasing her and pulling her hair on the playground for all three days and I just found out about it yesterday because she didn't want to tell me. I hate that none of my kids will be able to be in the very inexpensive homeschool gymnastics class I was intending to send them to because her pick up time is right in the middle of it. I hate that DD is gone all day and that I can already see her relationships with her brothers deteriorating. Y'know, friends will come and go but she is stuck with these brothers her whole life andit woudl be nice if she had a good relationship with them. I hate that if I keep her in there, then next October, our planned two week trip to PA is not going to happen.

PHEW. I think I am done.......I just am in a quandry here about what to do. She is bored and she admits it. She doesn't like that there are mean kids she has to deal with, but she really does like that there are "friends" to play with all day. So, how do you decide what is right and where you need to be. I honestly felt God's leading in placing her there to begin with but right now I am trying to figure out how long He wants her to stay. DH is ready to pull her out, like yesterday. He is soooo not impressed and has suddenly turned into a militant homeschooling dad. Didn't see that coming! He has always been suportive, but I think in the last couple of years he has started to take for granted that this is just what we do. This whole thing the last few days with the Pledge of Allegiance being banned has really sent him over the edge. Ugh.....I just needed to vent.

The big problem is that the people in my life either have always thought we are nuts and have finally come to our senses (like MIL) or are homeschoolers themselves who just don't see any point to the school system at all. I just can't get any answers or impartial feedback, so I come to the DIS of course.

I am just feeling really confused. One friend whose kids go to school and who can't wait for summer to be done every year says I need to give it time to work. Another friend who homeschools says they are never going to be able to meet her academic needs in a classroom. I do not want her to get complacent about not being intellectually challenged, but I do want to give this a chance to work because I know God brought us on this path for a reason. DH says the reason to him is clear--it is to expel any doubts we had that homeschooling is the right course of action.

Let me clarify, that I have throughoughly enjoyed hsing (we all have our bad days and I admit to those.) and DD had no complaints other than the missing out on social interaction.

Somebody talk to me.....

 

[EricaLovesMickey]

I'm a homeschooler. I teach my 2 DD who are twins....14yrs.....9th grade. I never thought I'd be doing it this long.

Erica

 

[disneymom3]

And wow, there are SOO many curriculums out there . I guess I have about 10 months to pick one. We don't have a lot of money, but hopefully I'll stil be able to find a good curriculum for her. Plus I'll be taking classes a couple of nights a week. But I feel so strongly that she should be HS, at least for her first two years. I'm so excited.

I just wanted to give you my 2cents. I have been homeschooling DD for three years and DS1 is now K age. For first grade for DD I bought nothing formal, just put together stuff that worked and used the internet a lot. 2nd grade I got a little more formal. 3rd grade, I had a math and spelling curriculum and used Story of the World for history and then we just explored topics we were interested in. This year we were headed into fourth (see my post above) and I got a formal full curriculum for her and DS in K. I have just about totally scrapped the curriculum for DS. We just do fun activities for learning letters and I really concentrate on the toys we have being focused on learning. It is going well and thankfully I bought my kind. curr. used so I didn't spend a fortune. So, don't stress too much about having to choose a curriculum. For all my years of just playing it by ear, DD is way ahead of her class in all subject areas. Half the time she didn't even know she was learnign. I'll expand on this more later because right now I have to get DD from school. Yippee.

 

[gibmom]

Hey disneymom3! I'd say you should follow your DH's leading. Are you able to socialize with your friends everyday? Most of us can't get together with our buddies everyday. Families are everyday. You could make a priority for your DD to spend time with her friends on the week-ends. Maybe you should go back and think through what you hope school to accomplish. As you are discovering, there's no way to beat the go at your own pace, one on one tutoring style of learning that HS provides - if academic education is what you want from school!
Just my 2 cents.
Julie G.

 

[staci]

disneymom3,

well, my ds is not school age yet, but I did go to public schools, and have my teaching degree, but have yet to use it. (just to let you know where I am coming from).



Only you know what is best for your family. However, the first few weeks of school are not always representative of the rest of the year. A lot of it is getting to know each other, review, and a time for the teacher to discover the needs and personalities of each of her students.

I would suggest that you voice your concerns asap with the teacher. Call or email her, schedule a one on one meeting. I would make your educational goals clear to her, and I would also make sure she hears about the playground incident. Make sure that you can establish a good relationship with the teacher from the start. It is totally UNACCEPTABLE that the boys were picking on her, and they should get an earful at school. On the flipside, life outside of the school system requires us to sometimes deal with people who are less than pleasant, and this may be a good time to help your daughter learn to deal with those people.
After talking with the teacher, I would set a timetable in your head for how long you are willing to give school a shot. Maybe a fall break, or thanksgiving? Some point that would be an easier transition to switch back. But remember, you felt it was God's intention for her to be in this school, and even his work doesnt always come with instant gratification. Give it an honest shot, whatever you and DH feel that would be.

And finally, if it doesnt feel right by the date you determine, bring your daughter back home. You know what is best for your family.

 

[Lora]

DH says the reason to him is clear--it is to expel any doubts we had that homeschooling is the right course of action.

Somebody talk to me.....

Julie,



My kids have never been in PS. I spent enough time there as a teacher to know that I would never doubt my decision to homeschool. This is hard, I realize. This is just going to take some prayer and willingness to go where you thing God is leading you. I'll pray for you, too.

 

[disneymom3]

Oh, thanks guys.... I feel a lot better after reading these responses.

I really like the idea of setting a date to judge the situation by. And good point made that I don't hang out with my friends everyday. I have voiced my concerns with the teacher and had discussed this with the principal before DD started school. I will keep up with that.

DD came home from school today pretty much a mess. Now, I am going with the idea that some of this is definitely adjustment time for her. She is having to adjust her sleep schedule to accomodate much earlier mornings than she is used to. But she is quite frustrated about the learning situation. The thing is though, there is not a lot the teacher can do about some of this. They are learning about polygons, adn DD cannot understand why the teacher has taught them this and keeps reviewing things they have already learned. I tried to explain that some people don't learn after beign told somethign once and then she was really annoyed that this pattern is probably going to continue.

DH and I will talk this weekend and figure out what a good timeline is. DD was crying today and I pointed out to her that I wanted her to give it a fair chance and we would all pray and ask for God's leading in what the right choice was. She was sure that she had to stay there all year now that she has started and I did tell her that we have choices that we are free to make, but we are not going to make our choice hastily.

I will keep you all updated and thanks for the encouragement and prayers. I really appreciate it.

 

[TNKBELL]

Julie... Just want to send some encouragement!! You have the ability to make an informed decision and besides your Dh nobody else can make that decision. I agree with the giving it a good try theory, unless you are all totally miserable of course. I think most people on this thread would want to see you come back to hs, but every family has to do what is best for thier lives. Does your Dh feel that God lead to the decision to put her in school? Was the decision made by both of you? I know that you do most of the work as most of us hs moms but the results are sometimes more visible to our Dhs' because they are seeing it from a different perspective. God Bless you and we are here for you!!

 

[disneymom3]

Tnkbell--that is a good point. I will have to have DH really look at what his opinion was before she started. I think it was more of my decision than his. He basically said if you think this is a good decision then we should do it. I am a pretty strong willed person and he is not so I do try to work on stepping back and following his lead more but honestly I am not very good at it. I know he agrees with the idea that we left it in God's hands as it was his idea in the first place!

I am so glad I have this thread to "talk" with you all. It really has helped.

 

[TNKBELL]

Julie, I think most hs moms I know are strong willed!! My Dh is the same way, I make most of the decisions too, but I always want his input, sometimes it's just easier for him not to worry about it(his perspective).The main reason Dh wanted to send the kids to school was so that we would have some alone time on his days off during the week(not a very strong selling point with me!). Alone time is important, but not when considering the Dks' future. Dh was skeptical when I started hs but now he is sure of our decision and has been encouraging me through my rough days and even pitches in here and there when I ask him to. It helps to involve him, it keeps him interested and the kids feel that the whole family cares and is involved . We do most of our field trips as a family and that helps me not feel so overwhelmed.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I found this website recently:

http://universalpreschool.com/how-to/curriculum-for-preschool.asp

I really like it. It has some good ideas and great resources. Just thought I'd share!