*** Homeschool List ***

[vhoffman]

Hi, Schultz!

I'm starting to think they need to be seperated, too. However, ds falls apart without structure. DD does well in ps, its just that I'm not satisfied with the quality of teaching. But theirs is a highly rated school and they both passed the state tests. I'm leaning now towards keeping dd where she's at and enrolling ds in a charter school that is more geared towards kids who need extra attention(he has adhd). It would be a juggling act, but perhaps better in the long run. I just don't think I'll have much success trying to homeschool ds, he's exhausting to keep entertained/engaged/on task all day.

 

[vhoffman]

Just lurking here and still rethinking homeschooling. I was at school today for awhile and it seemed there was a lot of busy work going on. My kids both complain that there's not enough time to finish their work because they're always trotting off for something, seems they're in the hall half the time, and a lot of time is spent coloring, cutting paper, etc. I wish they'd emphasize basics more!

I'd really like to have just a semester or so with both kids just to reinforce those basic building blocks. I really don't think I'd hs all the way through high school. But its frustrating and painful for me to see them so missing the forest for the trees!

Well, I have nothing to offer here from experience, so I'll continue to lurk and ask an ocassional question. I might gear up to hs starting next semester, give me a chance to get my ducks in a row and a good transition point.

However, a few questions for you homeschoolers--

how much time do you spend per day on hs?

How much of your hs involves crafts?

Do you use rewards to get tasks done?

What do you do with the kids when you're through with the lessons for the day?

Thanks for any input!

 

[vhoffman]

Hey there Schultz!

Looks like you have 3 children, including one infant/toddler. How do you structure your days? Both my kids are in 4th grade so I could be on the same lessons with both, but how do you handle 2 at different levels, and a baby? Looks like you've got your hands full! Any organization tips appreciated! BTW, you've got some cuties!

 

[Belle5]

Just lurking here and still rethinking homeschooling. I was at school today for awhile and it seemed there was a lot of busy work going on. My kids both complain that there's not enough time to finish their work because they're always trotting off for something, seems they're in the hall half the time, and a lot of time is spent coloring, cutting paper, etc. I wish they'd emphasize basics more!

I'd really like to have just a semester or so with both kids just to reinforce those basic building blocks. I really don't think I'd hs all the way through high school. But its frustrating and painful for me to see them so missing the forest for the trees!

Well, I have nothing to offer here from experience, so I'll continue to lurk and ask an ocassional question. I might gear up to hs starting next semester, give me a chance to get my ducks in a row and a good transition point.

However, a few questions for you homeschoolers--

how much time do you spend per day on hs?

How much of your hs involves crafts?

Do you use rewards to get tasks done?

What do you do with the kids when you're through with the lessons for the day?

Thanks for any input!

I must say that after reading some of your other threads about the problems with your son I am not sure that homeschooling is the right choice for you. I have seen families pull kids in and out of school for a year here, a semester there. It is never a good situation for anyone. Honestly, your son seems to have little regard for your authority and homeschooling would be a disaster under those circumstances. I think of homeschooling as a lifestyle, not a bandaid.

Belle5
16 year homeschooling veteran

 

[Lora]

The problem was what to do with all the time? The basic lessons I could cover in 2-3 hours tops, then what? I found I needed my time, too, for things like housework, errands, etc. I tried including ds with these tasks, but it just wasn't working out. I found he did best with a structured environment.

I'd really like some suggestions as to how homeschoolers fill in the "free" or non lesson time, etc. Thanks, I deeply admire anyone who's successful at homeschooling, I just wish I could do the same.

I do include my girls when I have errands and housework. It's not easy, but I really feel that it's important to stick with it. This is also life (housework and errands) and they need to know how to manage time and take care of the home. Did you do any "extras"? Sports, music, art, co-ops, field trips, etc? Did you belong to any kind of support group or anything? We usually have at least two outside activities going on each semester (right now it's choir and swimming). My girls also take piano. Our support group gets together weekly (we don't always attend) at a local park. We do a field trip with that group almost every month as well as a library presentation day once a quarter.

We don't seem to have a lot of down time after that, but my girls do get rewarded with chunks of playtime (includes tv, computer, etc.) for completing their jobs/schoolwork on time. My girls have rarely had trouble finding something to entertain themselves, though.

I have created a magnetic chart with time goals for groups of tasks. I think I have a photo of it somewhere if you'd like to see it. I'd rather email it than post it on the DIS. It's worked pretty well and even keeps me on task sometimes.

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

Hey there Schultz!

Looks like you have 3 children, including one infant/toddler. How do you structure your days? Both my kids are in 4th grade so I could be on the same lessons with both, but how do you handle 2 at different levels, and a baby? Looks like you've got your hands full! Any organization tips appreciated! BTW, you've got some cuties!

Thank you. As far as splitting my time between 2 sets of lessons and my 2 y/o, it's not easy. DD10 is a 5th grader and DD4 is doing kindergarten work. We decided to go with Calvert and they way the plan out their lessons works well for us. We start about 9am. I start DD10 off with Math, make sure she gets it, and then she starts her work. She's been taught to try to figure things out on her own and then if she dosen't get something to ask. Once she's started, I start with DD4. Her work requires alot of instruction so that's where most of my time goes. After we complete her first subject(usually math also) she'll take a small break while I start on the next thing with DD10 if she's ready. It's alot of back and forth, but that's fine. While they are both doing work. DD2 will be playing with legos, lincoln logs, on the computer, etc. On wed. she didn't feel very well so I did my instruction while holding her. We're usually done about 1pm. Like I said, we've only been doing this for 4 days, so I'm no expert.

 

[mello]

However, a few questions for you homeschoolers--

how much time do you spend per day on hs?

How much of your hs involves crafts?

Do you use rewards to get tasks done?

What do you do with the kids when you're through with the lessons for the day?

Thanks for any input!

I haven't posted in awhile, so thought I'd chime in on the thread again! By way of background: my kids are ds 13 (7th grade), ds 10 (5th grade), and dd 3 (just starting some very informal preschool stuff). We've been homeschooling since the oldest was in 2nd grade, so 5 years.

How much time per day do we spend? I personally spend maybe an hour a day explaining/helping them, though I keep myself available for most of the time they're working, which is about 4 hours a day on average. They have gotten more and more independent each year. When we started, I spent about 3-4 hours a day in direct involvement. A lot of that included reading to them, which I rarely do anymore (except of course short stories to the youngest).

How much of our homeschool involves crafts? Virtually none right now. When the boys were younger we did the occasional art project, but most of our art involved art appreciation - looking at fine art in books, going to museums, etc. I do have lots of art supplies available though, and if they want to sculpt, paint, draw or whatever, they can, and sometimes do on their own time. My dd is just now getting into coloring, cutting, and taping, and she considers that her "school" while the boys are doing table work. In the past I've enrolled the boys in various art/craft classes at our local art school, or the YMCA or wherever.

Do we use rewards to get tasks done? Hmmm... Well, there's, "After you finish your table work we'll have lunch", and "If you finish everything you're supposed to do for the week, you can play on the XBox over the weekend", and things like that. But we have no formal reward program.

What do we do when we're finished lessons for the day? It varies. We generally do school from around 9 or 10 ish to around 1 or 2 ish. Sometimes in the afternoons we run errands. Sometimes we do some chores or projects around the house. Sometimes I have the boys watch/play with their sister so I can get something done. Mostly it's just free time, which they tend to spend playing board games, building legos, watching the occasional video, reading whatever they choose, riding their bikes, playing roller hockey in the driveway, or running around in the backyard with capes and sticks, etc (amazingly the 13 yo still does this on occasion, though it's getting less). We have a rule that the XBox is allowed only on weekends, and any tv watching before dinner has to be educational, so their free time during the school week is usually put to pretty good use.

HTH and good luck with your decision making!

 

[disneymom3]

Just lurking here and still rethinking homeschooling. I was at school today for awhile and it seemed there was a lot of busy work going on. My kids both complain that there's not enough time to finish their work because they're always trotting off for something, seems they're in the hall half the time, and a lot of time is spent coloring, cutting paper, etc. I wish they'd emphasize basics more!

I'd really like to have just a semester or so with both kids just to reinforce those basic building blocks. I really don't think I'd hs all the way through high school. But its frustrating and painful for me to see them so missing the forest for the trees!

Well, I have nothing to offer here from experience, so I'll continue to lurk and ask an ocassional question. I might gear up to hs starting next semester, give me a chance to get my ducks in a row and a good transition point.

However, a few questions for you homeschoolers--

how much time do you spend per day on hs?

How much of your hs involves crafts?

Do you use rewards to get tasks done?

What do you do with the kids when you're through with the lessons for the day?

Thanks for any input!

I think it is great that you are giving this a lot of thought and really taking into consideration if it is for you and your family or not. One thing I have to say is that it really is best if both you and your DH are comitted to this. At least for a year to start. I agree with a previous poster that taking them out and putting them back in is hard on everyone.

My kids are 10, 6 and 4 (almost 5.) We spend a really varied amount of time on school each day. On average it is about 3 hours of table time which is broken up. I do a lot of what Tara described above as far as bouncing back and forth. DD10 has been homeschooled since 1st grade and at this point is pretty independent. I have to start her out with her basic assignments each day. I am working on some kind of form for that (any suggestions would be appreciated!!)so that she can be more independent with it. The spelling program we use requires 5 to 10 minutes of my time each day for testing, but we only do spelling three days a week. The other two she does a Latin and Greek program which needs about the same amount of time from me. DS 6 is much more hands on for me. We are suspecting some processing disorders which are making reading hard for him, so I am very involved in various reading things for him as well as writing practice and his math is pretty hands on too. I did just get a work book for him so that on days when I have less time, I can hand him a few pages and he can go for it. The four yo is a busy guy. He does lots of preschool books, cutting, gluing, coloring etc at the table while the other kids are there. For break time we have a shelf of learning toys available--that includes stuff like Magnetics, Knex, Legos, puzzles--that they can choose from in between specific lessons. In the afternoon we read, play outside and do whatever errands etc we need to to. The reading is mainly for the new curriculum we started this year and I am still seeing how that will work.

two days a week my kids all have an hour of "quiet time" in their rooms. They can do whatever they want--within reason--but they need to be independent and in their own rooms. That gives me the much needed down time that moms who have their kids home all the time may need.

Good luck in your decision!

I haven't been on the Dis in awhile because we were on a LONG trip to Florida and we were in WDW.
I just returned and I noticed there is a Spanish board now on the Dis. Has this always been there?
Why can't we have a homeschool board? I've e-mailed the moderators and posted new threads in regards to the homeschooling board so what else needs to happen?
Thanks for any info!

It seemed like they were looking into a homeschooling board and then nothing happened. In the time we have been trying to get the hsing board, the photography board, the gay and lesbian board and the Spanish board have been added, so I am basically thinking it is never going to happen. It's really a disappointment.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Well, I have nothing to offer here from experience, so I'll continue to lurk and ask an ocassional question. I might gear up to hs starting next semester, give me a chance to get my ducks in a row and a good transition point.

However, a few questions for you homeschoolers--

how much time do you spend per day on hs?

How much of your hs involves crafts?

Do you use rewards to get tasks done?

What do you do with the kids when you're through with the lessons for the day?

Thanks for any input!

We just started on Labor Day. We spend 2-3 hours per day on Monday-Thursday. On Fridays we go to our "co-op". (It isn't really a co-op but that is the most familiar term and sort of like what it is). That is three hours followed by lunch in the park and playtime with all the kids in that group.

I'm joyfully pregnant, but regretfully I suffer from morning sickness BAD and all day! So I get pretty worn out and for right now the "reward" for completing school is tv time watching Noggin. I hope to phase that out soon and the reward will be one or two programs if that much.

We go straight through as I am trying to train my daughter to focus and if we break even for 5 minutes....my mind will wander and it will turn into 10, 20, 30 minutes or more. I will switch things around frequently and not necessarily complete work in the same order each day.

We use the syllabus from Mother of Divine Grace school. It outlines 32 weeks of work for our school year and this is the backbone of our homeschool. "Core" subjects and recommended work time is from their suggestions.

Our "core" coursework is poetry, religion, phonics, and math. One day a week is art (sometimes an activity, other times appreciation and recognition). We add in handwriting (she loves those worksheets--she can't get enough of them. ), Story of the World for history (classical method so we are doing Ancient History right now), and Science which we will begin in a few weeks (the science curriculum has much less weeks than the rest, so we will phase it). History is Monday-Wednesday and Science will be on Thursdays. We will also include Spanish.


Her "core" coursework only requires an hour a day--and we add the other stuff b/c it is crafty and/or fun. We usually begin about 8:30am and concluded in the 10am-11am hour.

Next week, I have a craft calendar for the different months of the year and we will begin that as both of my girls love arts and crafts. That will be the *reward* for school work completion. My children can be bribed with glue and paint.

When we are through with lessons we handle errands and such. On Tuesdays is the bulk of there activities as scheduling just wasn't kind to us this year. Thursday is gymnastics. We will eventually work in a chore schedule as well when I am not so sick any more. (all day morning sickness--it is easing up for me, but when I start feeling nauseaus... ).

ETA: I should mention I have a first grader and a pre-schooler. The pre-schooler though somewhat dictates what she will do for me. We purchased a phonics center workbook for her that we made envelope center activities for her. She also has some pre-school workbooks. With story of the world, she does the same activities though she "writes" what she thinks is words, but she does the craft activities as well (sometimes with help and sometimes on her own).

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It seemed like they were looking into a homeschooling board and then nothing happened. In the time we have been trying to get the hsing board, the photography board, the gay and lesbian board and the Spanish board have been added, so I am basically thinking it is never going to happen. It's really a disappointment.

Aways back they had a Q&A thread and I did ask about this.

Boards that are added are sometimes based on what they perceive would be of benefit to the DIS community and others based on popular request by PM to mods.

While this thread is going strong, the mere existance of a the thread isn't enough to request the board. If all those interested would continue PMing the mods, we would have better chance at success. It doesn't help if it is the same people over and over again though.

It also doesn't help when we mention other boards. I know it stings to see a knew one added especially if you had no idea that there was even a need or desire for one. But it doesn't help the cause either. (Kind of like when your children start the "It's not fair that blah blah blah can do such and such).

PM a mod on this board--and keep on requesting.

The squeeky wheel just may get some grease after all.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I doubt the mods read this thread. You'll need to PM them.

I don't know that they read this threads or not--but straight from two webmasters fingers.. (Alex and (I believe) Kathy). They agree--we need to be PMing the mods!!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Its all about points, prizes, games, etc. The wrong message is being sent. The message ps is sending is that school work and learning are a means to an end, such as some cheap trinket or extra play time, not the value of learning for its own sake. They seem to be pleasing the school, they've both passed the standardized tests, so I guess that's their standards. I've had people tell me that I'm worrying too much about their education, if they pass the statewide tests, they're at par with their peers, so don't worry about it.

I feel like I'm doing all the teaching, anyways, or I should say re-teaching. If they spend their days playing games, earning reward points for prizes, games, etc., they won't be able to switch gears when they come home and get real about learning.

I think sometimes it is more than that.

While I disagree with the teaching to the test mentality (my babysitter last year--they put away their math text books and were working on just standardized test math workbooks for weeks in preparation for the FCAT. Even they thought it was silly! )....

Education is sooo much more than "fancy book learnin'".

 

[disneymom3]

Aways back they had a Q&A thread and I did ask about this.

Boards that are added are sometimes based on what they perceive would be of benefit to the DIS community and others based on popular request by PM to mods.

While this thread is going strong, the mere existance of a the thread isn't enough to request the board. If all those interested would continue PMing the mods, we would have better chance at success. It doesn't help if it is the same people over and over again though.

It also doesn't help when we mention other boards. I know it stings to see a knew one added especially if you had no idea that there was even a need or desire for one. But it doesn't help the cause either. (Kind of like when your children start the "It's not fair that blah blah blah can do such and such).

PM a mod on this board--and keep on requesting.

The squeeky wheel just may get some grease after all.

My point was not that it "wasn't fair" but simply that it seemed as though it was determined that there was a need for some other boards and not a homeschooling board. We can certainly keep trying but I agree with you that if the same 5 people keep PMing the mods that is not going to be effective. I would still love to see it happen.

 

[Mommy2Lots]

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[Denine]

Tara: I need to see what day we are going to MNSSHP.

We start school 1 week from today.

I have PM'd the moderators in the past about our own board. I think we would have more activity if we didn't have to search through the thread for info.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My point was not that it "wasn't fair" but simply that it seemed as though it was determined that there was a need for some other boards and not a homeschooling board. We can certainly keep trying but I agree with you that if the same 5 people keep PMing the mods that is not going to be effective. I would still love to see it happen.

No worries. I didn't think you were.

I just remember several pages back where some posters to our thread did get upset about particular boards being added. When we reach that level, we do not represent ourselves well. That is all I was saying.

Might be a good idea on each page flip of the thread--to remind others to PM the mods if they are still interested.

 

[Mommy2Lots]

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[Nanu57v]

Okay, I only read back the last month, but I have a question. DH and I are still in debate over homeschooling but I still have plenty of time. My question is, where do you go about getting a curriculum? I'm a certified teacher, so if I were homeschooling I'd want to have flexibility, but still have some sort of outline so I make sure I don't miss something obvious.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Okay, I only read back the last month, but I have a question. DH and I are still in debate over homeschooling but I still have plenty of time. My question is, where do you go about getting a curriculum? I'm a certified teacher, so if I were homeschooling I'd want to have flexibility, but still have some sort of outline so I make sure I don't miss something obvious.

My main source is Rainbow Resource -- they have a monster sized catalogue that makes for good starter reading on what you can get. They write detailed reviews of a good chunk of the material they sell.
http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php


My second source for the route we opted to take: "Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum by Laura Berquist". From that I got a reference to a particular school with a syllabus that follows that. I still "design" some of my curriculum, but use the syllabus as my "core" and then supplement with items that pertain to that style of education.

My third source if I am still at a loss, I inquire with my local homeschooling group where there are more experienced parents who have tried different things. They can give you a first person point of view review of something they have used that worked very well or didn't work well at all.

The most popular choices in our home school group: Abeka, Switched on School House and I'm blanking on the others.

Homeschool conventions are also good as you can often shop in a vendor area to look, touch, and feel the different items availalable. Often there are vendors that sell complete curriculums.

I can also download from my county the expectations for the different grades to have an idea of what they expect my first grader to know.

As an educator you may be able to check with your county and then find materials that would help you meet those objectives.

I use my printout just as a checklist. Taking it out every now and then to see if she is mastering what they expect. She met all expectations last year for Kindergarten with the classical curriculum materials that we utilized.

We also have two teacher supply stores--one that caters to educators and another that caters to homeschoolers. The one that caters to homeschoolers actually sells entire curriculums as well. So that may be something to look into when you are investigating what you may like to use.

 

[famofsix]

Okay, I only read back the last month, but I have a question. DH and I are still in debate over homeschooling but I still have plenty of time. My question is, where do you go about getting a curriculum? I'm a certified teacher, so if I were homeschooling I'd want to have flexibility, but still have some sort of outline so I make sure I don't miss something obvious.

Hi, this is the second year I am homeschooling DS. I have the two older children in PS too. He is now in second grade. I am also a certified teacher so for all the ELA I do a literature based approach with a phonics workbook and phonemic awareness activities. I used a lot of library books...free! We also play a lot of educational board games (got lots from retired teachers and garage sales) and the word sort stuff. For math, I use Harcourt Brace Math Advantage (friend got this for me from her co-op but I have seen it on ebay too). I bought the Harcourt Brace Science off Ebay too. I integrate Social Studies into the literature approach. Health and Safety I do thematic units. Art, PE and Music I don't buy curriculum but I plan activities and we joined a PE group at the local college geared for homeschoolers. The beauty of homeschool is you can be flexible and find what works for you and your children). My state, NY, is very regulated one (I am expected to take attendance )so if I make changes in the year, I just indicate it on my quarterly report. I keep a daily log of what we did and any assessments I noticed through the day. Anyone can homeschool, but since you are a trained teacher you have the advantage of the "lingo" and your training where you can put together your own curriculum based on your states standards and your experience with assessments and evaluations. It gets trickier in the older grades so if I continued past 5th grade I would probably go with a curriculum package. You can request the "benchmarks" for each grade level from your district (or report cards) so that you know you covered the basic material at each grade level if you want to correspond with the District overall scope and sequence.