*** Homeschool List ***

[dairyou]

Hi!

Just found this thread

We are a homeschooling family in California. We have 2 DS ages 14 and 12. We have been homeschooling now for 4 years.

I need to go back and start reading from page one. I have alot to catch up on

Deb

 

[barlowbugg]

HEy everyone...I posted probably two weeks ago and got lost....so sorry! Anyway, I will read tonight and try to get caught up...
As for us...we are sooooooooooooo enjoying the Thanksgiving break!
Also, who else uses Bob Jones and/or Sing Spell Read Write?
Just curious for some input.

Christian

We are soooooo going to Disney February 2006!

 

[disneymom3]

barlowbug--welcome! We are going to WDW in Feb too!

DD used Bob Jones handwriting last year for cursive, but I found one we like better this year. I have been pretty impressed with what I have seen of theirs.

My big news is (we have not taken the week off, just today and tomorrow. DD is in a community theater play and we will be missing more school than normal in Dec so figured we better keep at it this week.) Anyway, my big news is that DS5 is beginning to get the idea of addition. He even has some memorized! What with that and getting the concept of three letter words, I may not be a failure as a homeschooling mom afterall! I have just been soooo spoiled by DD who gets academic concepts practically before I can explain them that it is hard to get used to this guy. Of course, he has more common sense in his pinky than DD will probably ever have in her lifetime so we all have our gifts!

Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving!

 

[barlowbugg]

Cool! We go to WDW on the 26th of Feb.........Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

What other curriculum did you find that works better for you with cursive? I am not thrilled with the Bob Jones cursive at all.....however, we do use it for every other subject....

Christian

 

[staci]

Howdy Everyone! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

I just have a question for you all. As some of you may know, I do have my teaching degree but its not in early childhood. Beginning next week, I am going to be babysitting a friends children two days a week. Her daughter is 4, and will enter kindergarden in public school in the fall.

This little girl had a real lack of structure in her early years, and was a little on the wild side . She has been in an in-home daycare center without many structured learning activities (basically an all-day free for all). Her other provider has been out 'sick' for awhile, and I have filled in here and there over the last few months. This little girl has really come a long way with my house, rules and structure, which is why her mother is going to bring her to me on a more set schedule now. Most of the 'discipline' issues have been all cleared up, but I KNOW that there are things that she should/could be learning right now to better prepare her for kindergarden. However, I am at a loss with what to do with her. I want it to be 'fun' and I also will have to work around the needs of my 2 year old and her 6 month old sister.

I really dont need/want a whole curriculum, but I was just looking for some ideas on how to begin to work with her. Any great 'lessons', game ideas, toys, etc would be appreciated. I know you all are experienced with having multiple ages around, which is why I thought I would ask you all for help. I have some workbooks with great ideas for ds, but they are a little under her ability level at this point. I may post this question at a later date on the big board, as I know not everyone reads this thread.

I would appreciate any ideas you would have!

 

[TNKBELL]

Hi and Happy Holidays!! Staci... I have a DD4 and just wanted to share some ideas, lots and lots of reading as well as going to the library, in our area there are story times and activities for this age group and of course it's free. Puzzles are great and have lots of educational themes, magnetic alphabet letters for the fridge, art supplies, paint, crayons, safety scissors, clay or playdough, check out cds or tapes from the library as well as books on tape. The game memory for retention and Candyland is good for counting. Let her play with a calculator or help you set the microwave or dial the telephone. Does she already know her colors and shapes? Help to teach her phone number in a song format and then her address. When she starts wanting to write teach her to draw circles counter-clockwise this helps with letter formation. We made a game of it, drawing the sun, smoke, lollipops, spiders ect... Of course I'm sure her parents don't expect you to teach her everything. When I started HS I foolishly undervalued the neccessity for playtime, simple undirected playtime, it's important to not overwhelm them at this age, which I had to learn the hard way with my DS.

 

[staci]

Hi and Happy Holidays!! Staci... I have a DD4 and just wanted to share some ideas, lots and lots of reading as well as going to the library, in our area there are story times and activities for this age group and of course it's free. Puzzles are great and have lots of educational themes, magnetic alphabet letters for the fridge, art supplies, paint, crayons, safety scissors, clay or playdough, check out cds or tapes from the library as well as books on tape. The game memory for retention and Candyland is good for counting. Let her play with a calculator or help you set the microwave or dial the telephone. Does she already know her colors and shapes? Help to teach her phone number in a song format and then her address. When she starts wanting to write teach her to draw circles counter-clockwise this helps with letter formation. We made a game of it, drawing the sun, smoke, lollipops, spiders ect... Of course I'm sure her parents don't expect you to teach her everything. When I started HS I foolishly undervalued the neccessity for playtime, simple undirected playtime, it's important to not overwhelm them at this age, which I had to learn the hard way with my DS.

Thanks for the reply! She will get plenty of 'free play', I am assuming the only time I will really have to sit down with her is when I get the two others down for their nap. It really helps to hear those ideas. It shouldnt be hard for me to come up with things but I think it is just because ds is my WHOLE life right now, so it is hard to think beyond 25 months old, you know? I actually have candyland in the closet and I forgot all about it because he is too little. I think I will go buy memory. I forgot all about that game. I know her parents dont expect me to teach her everything, I dont think they really expect me to teach her anything. Her mom is just thrilled that she doesnt defiantly refuse to listen all the time anymore But I can tell she is very smart, and I know with the baby at home she doesnt have a lot of one on one time with her mom, so I want to help her out. I get Parenting magazine, and it comes with a little sesame street magazine with it. I have been working through those occasionally with her. I will definitely look into craft supplies. She would love the paint. We made cookies with letters and numbers last week - wow even the baby got flour in her hair and she wasnt even helping

Ive done the library a few times, but the baby was always AWFUL. So I kind of stopped going. But that has been a few months, I will have to give it a try again because I really liked the program, it was just very hard to keep the little ones occupied for that long. I have taken them to the toddler time (which is shorter than the preschool) but I dont think that she got as much out of it, as it was geared toward my son's age.

Any more ideas anyone, keep em coming!

 

[OceanAnnie]

Hi Staci,

Here's two websites I've found helpful. Hope it helps you too.

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
http://www.universalpreschool.com/how-to/teaching-young-children.asp

 

[sandieb]

I would be interested in the Homeschooling Board. Sandie

 

[staci]

Hi Staci,

Here's two websites I've found helpful. Hope it helps you too.

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
http://www.universalpreschool.com/how-to/teaching-young-children.asp

Thanks, heading to check them out right now!

 

[disneymom3]

Staci--you also might want to look into the series Five in A Row. There is also a Before Five in a Row. They base a "curriculum" on basic children's picture books. It is really nice because you can do various levels of preschool and even kindergarten and above all together. They take the story and then add things like art, science and math stuff to do in related activities. Very fun and easy to implement and you could do things that both your 2 yo and the 4 yo could participate in.

 

[barlowbugg]

Five in a Row and Before Five are great...I have those for my youngest two and we love it....great way to teach everyone something at one time, but on multi-levels.

Christian

 

[hsmamato2]

Hi and Happy Holidays!! Staci... I have a DD4 and just wanted to share some ideas, lots and lots of reading as well as going to the library, in our area there are story times and activities for this age group and of course it's free. Puzzles are great and have lots of educational themes, magnetic alphabet letters for the fridge, art supplies, paint, crayons, safety scissors, clay or playdough, check out cds or tapes from the library as well as books on tape. The game memory for retention and Candyland is good for counting. Let her play with a calculator or help you set the microwave or dial the telephone. Does she already know her colors and shapes? Help to teach her phone number in a song format and then her address. When she starts wanting to write teach her to draw circles counter-clockwise this helps with letter formation. We made a game of it, drawing the sun, smoke, lollipops, spiders ect... Of course I'm sure her parents don't expect you to teach her everything. When I started HS I foolishly undervalued the neccessity for playtime, simple undirected playtime, it's important to not overwhelm them at this age, which I had to learn the hard way with my DS.

agreeing...

 

[BugsandBeeatDisney]

Family of four kiddos and my oldest is in Kindergarten. I actually am knee deep in researching homeschooling!!!

I woud love to be a part of such a group!

 

[crazymomof4]

Like many homeschooling parents, I often let the kids chose a topic that they would like to learn about and add it to the curriculum. This semester my 14 and 16 yr old boys wanted to learn about cars. I bought a great book "How Cars Work". Also, at the library, I reserved a DVD, "Car Care Tips" which was described as teaching basic car maintenance. We just now popped it in and began watching............. well, it appears to be made for women who want to learn basic car care. The two "mechanics" who demonstrate things like changing a tire, checking the oil, etc. were very tan, buff and shirtless (Chippendale types)! They had sexy smiles, winked at the camera and flexed their muscles as they performed the tasks. My sons were laughing too hard to get anything out of the DVD, so I scraped it and went on the library website and put another title under this subject on hold.

This experience caused DS16 to remember the first time I randomly recorded a program from the History Channel. When he and I sat down to watch it during our lunch break, it turned out to be a program about the history of prostitution!

We try, but we're not perfect! It's just a good thing I'm not a public school teacher!!

 

[bear74]

subscribing so i can find ya'll later and do reserch online for homeschool resources.

Okay so I have finally caught up. I think a homeschooling thread whould be nice. My DD is 2 and will be getting the Pooh Toddler computer software for christmas. I am considering HS my DH says whatever i want my dmom is not so keen on the idea. when i mentioned it to my brother he kinda of snickered at me.
I copied down all the different programs that have been mentioned and if a web address was posted then i saved it to look at later.

 

[Smile]

Can someone add me to the list? Thanks

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I feel like a lazy mom for asking this---

But how many homeschoolers here use a maid service?

I ask b/c I hear of many homeschooling moms doing wonderful things with their kids and I'm educating as quickly as possible to attempt to get housework done. End result, house is still messy and I've spent no quality time with the girls.

I'm not talking basic clutter--but I just have a paralyzing feeling where I just cannot get basic stuff done that needs to be done. You know--so that in the event of an emergency, they don't show the conditions of my home on the 11:00 news.

Wouldn't be so bad if my hubby were here--but he is gone on a field assignment and we are finally feeling the pinch. He has hired a maid service for me while he is gone that will start the week after next.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This experience caused DS16 to remember the first time I randomly recorded a program from the History Channel. When he and I sat down to watch it during our lunch break, it turned out to be a program about the history of prostitution!

Probably bad for me to do so--but here goes....

 

[disneymom3]

Lisa--does your DH have a clone????

I have often thought in the last few months that what I really need is a maid. The problem we have as I see it is that we are full time teachers for more than one grade level at once and our home is also our classroom. DH is a wonderful guy, but I have to say he gets a bit irritated with the kitchen table and counters being full of school stuff. But WHERE am I supposed to put it all???

And that is just the school stuff--the basic housework is really tough--just finding time for it is a struggle many days. I find that if I give each of the kids a job a day and I do one at the same time, we have much more success. For instance, today, the 4 yo is swiffering bathroom floors, the 5 you is wiping down bathroom counters, sinks and mirrors, and the 9 yo is doing the toilets. My job is to scrub down the tubs and shower. (Three bathrooms only one tub in one bath and the shower in the other.) This way, we all work for about 15 or 20 min and all three bathrooms get done.