*** Homeschool List ***

[disneymom3]

Hey guys!!

Been out of touch for awhile as I haven't been getting my email notifications when new posts are made.

Does it make any of the rest of you just shake your head when you read those posts about "oh, I can't take my child out of school! It's illegal.....etc" I just go, Oh my, you people are giving the government waaaayyyy too much control over your child. It kind of freaks me out really.

Our update is.....drumrolll, please....DD is back at home!! I hate that dancing banana guy, but I am almost tempted to use him! She did the charter school for two weeks. After that first week, DH was pushing to yank her, she wanted to stay home and here I was being the only person to say, "let's give it a fair chance" when I didn't want her to go in the first place!!

I went to the parent meeting and the biggest piece of information I found out was that the class would always be taught as a whole group for math and language arts. How this translates to "teaching at the child's instructional level" I am not sure and the teacher and director were not able to tell me anything other than that they would be able to move her up one grade in math if she needed it. That really wasn't going to get her challenged and they just were not understanding what I was saying. Anyway, that and the fact that in Language arts the "challenge" words were words she had missed on her 120 words in one day spelling test and which she spelled all of them right when I did a pretest with her, just made me know that academically they couldn't hold a candle to what we were doing at home.

The greatest things to come out of this is #1 that DH is totally into homeschooling again. He was never against it, but was just sort of slacking off in his support attitude. Now he is totally there, back to knowing it is the superior choice. #2 DD is thrilled to be back at home and is also totally 100% into homeschooling. It has totally laid to rest any doubts she had that she was missing out on anything at school. And in fact, I am making sure I point out to her when we have opportunities to do things she would not be able to do in traditional school. (Like last week we had a tour of a pizza parlor and got to make our own pizzas and then went to a park to play with our whole co-op.) And #3 I too am reassured that homeschooling is a good thing and I am not being a bad mommy for keeping my kids at home.

On another note--has anyone used Meet the Masters, the art program and if so, what level did you use and what did you think? I want to get it, but with a K and 4th grader, can't decide what level to go for and not sure I want to spend the extra $$$ to do both levels.

 

[graygables]

I'm e-schooling 3 of my DDs (17, 9, 7 yo) with a virtual charter school. I did the traditional homeschooling and am a former English teacher. I hated the lesson planning! Now, when I tell people what we do, I don't feel quite as ostracized since it is, technically, a public school.

That said, does anyone have any advice/words of wisdom for an ADHD adult who is trying to homeschool an Asperger's child and an ADHD (possibly bipolar) child? I struggle so much with the day-to-day stuff. Schedules, routines, forget it. Even if I keep a list or a calendar, I can't stick with it (I try Flylady.net, but every day is a new day for me...no routine!) It was so much easier when we were unschooling (and more effective for all our learning styles!) DH is really committed to the program we are in b/c they provide services for DD and they reimburse all of their lessons and such, only he doesn't do flip with DDs...it's all on my shoulders. To further complicate matters, I cannot take medications as I cannot even get dxed b/c I have no insurance, so any modifications have to be on my own.

Any advice/wisdom is greatly appreciated!

 

[meandtheguys2]

dm3, glad your life has settled in again! A friend has been dealing with a similar manner, and as she and I have talked, you have often come to mind!

Lora, we decided to to 4 day school weeks during the October festival season. They are all over the place this month, and we have family to visit and tour with! I surely do love the flexability!

graygables, I see you are from OH. Some friends are doing the OH e-school and are really enjoying it. I am like you, though, keeping to a specific schedule doesn't work best for me. Using programs like "flylady" tend to hurt my productivity rather than help it. Not advice, but will ponder it. I don't sleep well , and come up with most of my best concepts in the wee hours of the morning!

 

[DawnM]

Hey, cool thead! We homeschool our 2 children, ages 7 and 5. We are expecting #3 this next late spring or early summer (well, we are adopting!)

I was a School Counselor for many years in Los Angeles and was a teacher before that in a public high school.

I quit my job last year and we moved from CA to NC.

Add me in to whatever message board you get together.

Dawn

 

[meandtheguys2]

Hey, cool thead! We homeschool our 2 children, ages 7 and 5. We are expecting #3 this next late spring or early summer (well, we are adopting!)

I was a School Counselor for many years in Los Angeles and was a teacher before that in a public high school.

I quit my job last year and we moved from CA to NC.

Add me in to whatever message board you get together.

Dawn

Welcome Dawn! Wow! I cannot imagine being a School Counselor in LA! I tried it for a bit in small town USA, and it made me crazy!

 

[DawnM]

Thanks for the welcome Michelle.

Honestly, I miss working in the LA school system terribly. I know that many of my friends cannot understand that, but it was my life for so long and I loved it.

It has been a hard adjustment in many ways.

But this is what I need to do for my own kids and there will be opportunities in other ways here, I just need to find them (or have them find me!)

Dawn

Welcome Dawn! Wow! I cannot imagine being a School Counselor in LA! I tried it for a bit in small town USA, and it made me crazy!

 

[pixiepower1971]

disneymom3-
I know exactly what you are going through. Last year I pulled my girls from school to homeschool. They were not challenged and just plain bored all day. We moved this summer and I questioned what we were doing...so did DH- he was deployed all last year so he never saw what we were doing. They tried the public school here(which is one of the best in the area) and were bored and unmotivated. They BEGGED to be brought home. They made it through Aug and most of Sept. It was finally DH who stepped in and said- enough , bring them home. YEAH! I am so happy and so are they. He was amazed to see how little they were learning. After talking to the school he realized it would be years before they would be challenged and by then they would have lost their love for learning.

So we are back to HS. Planning field trips and having a blast. I LOVE being able to pick up and go whenever I want. Kids and DH are liking it too. Their personalities had changed while in school. The girls(7&9) were fightng all the time and sullen. They have bounced back to their former loving sister status and they are happy and energetic again

DH has taken over science and geography. He is more organized then me. Great time for him with his girls!

I am more dedicated to what I am doing. HS is something that I had never thought I would do until backed against the wall with schooling options for my overachievers. I am now the biggest cheerleader.

I beleive all things happen for a reason. There was a reason they had to go back to school. I needed to see that traditional school is not the best for my kids...sometimes I feel selfish HS. I love having them home and being with them. Love the perks as well. I hate PTA meetings! But I learned it isn't selfish...it is the right thing for us, as a family.

 

[meandtheguys2]

Thanks for the welcome Michelle.

Honestly, I miss working in the LA school system terribly. I know that many of my friends cannot understand that, but it was my life for so long and I loved it.

It has been a hard adjustment in many ways.

But this is what I need to do for my own kids and there will be opportunities in other ways here, I just need to find them (or have them find me!)

Dawn

Fair enough! I spent about 5 years in OC doing social work kind of stuff (pre license) and there were some great blessings of diversity!

Back here, I live in a relatively small community, which has it's positives, but there are days when i am "California Dreaming!"

 

[TammyNC]

We are enjoying our forth year of HS. Some weeks are more of a struggle than others but it has been worth it to see how our son has progressed. Our daughter is thriving as well and they both have no desire to go back to public school right now.

I agree that things happen for a reason and we just try to take one day at a time and enjoy life as a strong family.

I love to hear other's stories.

 

[crazymomof4]

DS13 loves homeschooling and doesn't want to return to public school (did that up to, and including, 6th grade) but he is interested in taking woodshop class at the highschool. Actually, the woodshop teacher, a family friend, suggested I look into the possibility. I spoke with the principal and he said he would "check with the state". (He is a brand new principal so was not sure.) He got back to us that it is "against NJ State law for a homeschooled child to take public school classes." I think the woodshop teacher is more upset by this response than I am. He said that there "are homeschooled children in the state who participate in public school athletic competition, so why would they not be able to take a woodshop class?" He wants me to pursue it further. A friend of a friend is on the State Board of Education, so I may contact her.

Has anyone here had any experience with or can offer some insight on this?

 

[disneymom3]

PixiePower--your post pretty much covered what goes on here. I am having so much fun with my kids doing this, but never ever would have seen myself homeschooling even 6 years ago. I was really excited to send DD off to K, until the time came and every day that year as I put her on the bus I would think there had to be a better way. Thankfully, we have found what that better way is for us.

I too noticed a huge difference in DDs attitude. She was getting snippy with her brothers and just basically closing them out. Now, she is 9 and they are 5 1/2 and almost 4, but they have always been like the 3 Musketeers before. Suddenly, she didn't want to play with them anymore and would just sort of moon around or go in her room and close the door. I am happy to say that today she came back inside and asked the 3 yo to come out and play some game she and her other brother were playing. Very cool. I love how close my kids are!

Crazymom--I would think the laws on this vary by state so your best bet would be to contact either a local or statewide homeschooling support group. I bet they would be able to help you and maybe even put you in contact with someone who had done this before.


Michelle--I hope things work out for your friend. I really feel I have learned so much through this little experiment and am so glad we went for it and tried it out. I was really regretting it to begin with but I know it was the best thing to try and end up knowing that we were doing the best for us all along.

Welcome to the new folks!! Tnkbell, our OP is on her trip right now and I for one am very excited to hear her report and how her budget worked out for her when she gets back.

 

[DawnM]

Yes, I have many CA dreamin' days. But our house here is 3 times larger than our house in CA and 1/2 the price so things are very different. We make less money here and live much better than we did in CA.

Life is just "different" and takes some getting used to.

Dawn

Fair enough! I spent about 5 years in OC doing social work kind of stuff (pre license) and there were some great blessings of diversity!

Back here, I live in a relatively small community, which has it's positives, but there are days when i am "California Dreaming!"

 

[crazymomof4]

Crazymom--I would think the laws on this vary by state so your best bet would be to contact either a local or statewide homeschooling support group. I bet they would be able to help you and maybe even put you in contact with someone who had done this before.


Good idea! Thanks! I'll look into that.

 

[rjthkids]

I don't know how I missed this thread! Add us to the homeschooling list, although mine are very young. But, because of my daughter's special needs, we became an official homeschooling family on her third birthday. My family had a really hard time wrapping their mind around homeschooling, especially for a child with disabilities. Our daughter is blind and has other developmental issues. Luckily, we have a great program through our health insurance that enables us to get all her specialty instruction done at our home, unlike the school district that wanted to send her to their preschool for her therapies. Plus we get adaptive equipment! It's worked out well for us!

 

[meandtheguys2]

Welcome! I understand the family stuff. DH's mom had never heard of HSing before me. She spent the first three years saying "D is doing so well...you ARE going to put him in school this year!" She recently stopped this after spending a day with our kids and a crowd of other kids.

 

[DawnM]

I didn't "plan" to homeschool either. I even worked in the PS system! My child got into the best ps in the area (by lottery system) and I enrolled him for K. Literally, up to the day school started I wasn't sure, I just knew that I had an uneasy feeling about sending him to school at all. We prayed for a long time (all summer) about what to do. Neither DH or I could feel right about it.

So, after much prayer and discussion I decided to "try" HSing. We knew we were going to sell our house anyway, so giving up our "lottery entry" to the school wasn't a huge deal. We decided to try it for a year.

And here we are in year 3 and are loving it!

I keep reading the threads on this board about "should I take the kids out of school to go on vacation or not?" and think....."Oh, I am SO glad I don't have to worry about that!"

We are always off going somewhere when we want to. Lots of field trips, lots of learning vacations.

Please don't misunderstand me.....I am not anti-school. I worked in public ed. for 16.5 years. Many of my friends choose to put their kids into school. I am just glad I have the choice not to.

Dawn

PS: My mother in law doesn't get it at all! But she never approves of much of what we do so *whatever*.

 

[RubySlippers]

I would love to be added to this list! I currently have a 1st grader in public school but ..........I think we are going to try homeschooling next year!

Thanks
Ruby

 

[meandtheguys2]

Bumping out of boredom! Anyone up to anything interesting? I have a cold, and the boys have 5000 legos in the family room, and 3000 K'nex in the school room...I think I have lost control!

 

[TammyNC]

We are stuck on math today. Looks like we may be making a day out of it so we'll hit other subjects tomorrow. We aren't moving on until we get it.

meandtheguys2-hope you feel better soon. Sounds like they are having a hands-on learning day.

 

[meandtheguys2]

We are working on their fine motor skills! Thanks! Good luck with the math!