*** Homeschool List ***

[Ellester]

I just decided to homeschool my 7 year old who is currently in second grade. I am SOOOOOO excited. From picking our curriculum (Sonlight) to imagining all the "field trips" from making a room into a class room to buying all the supplies... it's all too much to fathom! Anyway - put me on your list and I'll be checkin in from time to time.

P.S. Our recent trip to Disney World helped solidify this decision...

Welcome to the board! What core are you getting? We love, love, love Sonlight. Works great for our family. I think you'll find homeschooling works so well with military life (we're not military, but we live 15 minutes from Ft. Benning and know lots of HS'ing military families). It's one constant for the kids amidst their many moves.

I wanted to know what you all think of this, a friend of mine hs's her younger children but her dh wanted to keep their oldest in school. She's in 5th grade public school this year. Friday, she came home in tears. Her group voted her out, Survivor style. This was not a social group, it was her reading and science group. The class is divided into groups of four, they sit at the same table for these subjects. The teacher has allowed them to vote out members if they wish. The voted out child must then go sit at a desk by themselves. I have to admit that I and the other moms hearing the story were a bit flabbergasted. I really don't know what the teacher is thinking this will accomplish?

Also on Friday, I was driving my older dd to park day and we had her friend with us (they are both in 4th grade this year). We were talking about football and dd mentioned that they had had Panther's day at her school a few years ago when they went to the Superbowl. This was the conversation:

dd: I had to go to public school for a couple of years (spoken like school was prison or some other undesirable location).

friend: Really? What was it like? (said with something akin to horror)

dd: Well, it was OK. It was pretty boring.

I thought it was hilarious. I didn't realize my dd had this secret knowledge of life on the "other side"! She's somewhat of the oddity among her friends who have never been to "building school".

 

[NATALIEBELLESmom]

Has anyone ever considered full-time RVing while homeschooling? I'm on the road so much as it is that I've been toying with the idea. My biggest concern is that DDs love their dance classes. That is our only tie to the area right now that would be difficult for them. They both have some special needs that make social relationships difficult anyway, so they don't have any "friends" per se, most are online anyway.

I actually went today and looked at some 5th wheels, that's how bad the bug is. Anyone do it? thought about it? think you could?

We did RVing for about 6 months when my DD was 8. I was just starting to homeschool at the time and it worked out great. The only reason that we stopped was that my hubby's grandparents both got ill and his parents need the help taking care of them. From there things in our life just changed for awhile. I would say that if you think that you can do it then go for it. It brought us some much closer as a family and the people that you meet along the way can truely be awesome. We are now talking about doing it ourselves again and there is a network of homeschooling families that do rving. I do believe I rented a book from our library on it and there are some websites out there. I haven't searched this topic in awhile and my DD is now 10 . She still talks about it and wouldn't mind doing it again. The one thing I most mention is that you have to be able to let go of material things as everything will not fit in the RV. Good luck

Theresa

 

[hsmamato2]

a few weeks ago- we had a homeschool group campout,at the campground we met a hs family who was just beginning their year long camping trip together in a big camper....they were planning on the halloween party at WDW on THE date I believe-I know I was envious of their freedom! I say if you can do it,do it!
BTW,I haven't posted here for quite a while,but we're whole life hs'ers, using the entire world as our main curriculum!(with a little great math work thrown in for good measure)

 

[sha_lyn]

I wanted to know what you all think of this, a friend of mine hs's her younger children but her dh wanted to keep their oldest in school. She's in 5th grade public school this year. Friday, she came home in tears. Her group voted her out, Survivor style. This was not a social group, it was her reading and science group. The class is divided into groups of four, they sit at the same table for these subjects. The teacher has allowed them to vote out members if they wish. The voted out child must then go sit at a desk by themselves. I have to admit that I and the other moms hearing the story were a bit flabbergasted. I really don't know what the teacher is thinking this will accomplish?

I think that teacher is nuts. That poor girl and all the others who've been voted out. What is the world is that teacher thinking. What educational value could she expect to come out of voting out your peers? I can see nothing positive aspect to this at all.

 

[TheRatPack]

TheRatPack...... That small homeschool group wouldn't happen to be CHE would it?

Nope, it's the Chatt/NWGA group

 

[npmommie]

HI!! We are homeschoolers here too! My dd is "2nd grade" , my ds is not doing anything formal yet. We are very relaxed in our style, I piece together curriculum. We have a lot of fun!

 

[disneymom3]

Has anyone ever considered full-time RVing while homeschooling? I'm on the road so much as it is that I've been toying with the idea. My biggest concern is that DDs love their dance classes. That is our only tie to the area right now that would be difficult for them. They both have some special needs that make social relationships difficult anyway, so they don't have any "friends" per se, most are online anyway.

I actually went today and looked at some 5th wheels, that's how bad the bug is. Anyone do it? thought about it? think you could?

That would totally be my dream! I would do it if I could pull it off in a heartbeat. My dad retired when I was only 13 and for many years before that my parents planned that when he did, we would buy an RV and travel the country and my mom would homeschool me. It didn't end up working out and I have always wished we had been able to do it.

Ellester--are you SURE that is what is going on at that school? Is it possible the girl or mom could have misunderstood? If that is really what is happening, that is horrid. WHY would a teacher sanction bullying which is essentially what this is? Kids have such issues with that cliquey type of behaviour anyway I can't imagine a teacher supporting it! That needs a call to the teacher to make sure mom understands what is happening and then a call to the principal to complain. I can't even imagine.

 

[Ellester]

Ellester--are you SURE that is what is going on at that school? Is it possible the girl or mom could have misunderstood? If that is really what is happening, that is horrid. WHY would a teacher sanction bullying which is essentially what this is? Kids have such issues with that cliquey type of behaviour anyway I can't imagine a teacher supporting it! That needs a call to the teacher to make sure mom understands what is happening and then a call to the principal to complain. I can't even imagine.

The mom is going in to talk to the teacher tomorrow. I'll let you know what the outcome is. I know the mom was quite upset about it on Friday, I think her daughter called her from school to pick her up. She was at park day on Friday and normally she doesn't come because she gets out of school too late.

 

[SusanMomOf2]

Hey! Thanks for the welcome! I chose Core C cuz I don't want to miss out on any books! She's reading and doing math at level 2 cuz of her ps schooling (for math I chose Saxon). I picked level 1 science because it seems like that's the year it gets real exciting. We have a mix! Glad to meet a fellow SL'ing DIS'er. LOL!

About the friend's daughter - yeah days like that (daughter coming home crying for some reason or another) is a huge reason we're HS'ing. I don't understand the reason to vote anyone off your team unless it is a game for a class period where there is a winner based on smarts. But for a long period of time? Strange indeed!

Well, 3 AM, I need sleep sometime!

Welcome to the board! What core are you getting? We love, love, love Sonlight. Works great for our family. I think you'll find homeschooling works so well with military life (we're not military, but we live 15 minutes from Ft. Benning and know lots of HS'ing military families). It's one constant for the kids amidst their many moves.

I wanted to know what you all think of this, a friend of mine hs's her younger children but her dh wanted to keep their oldest in school. She's in 5th grade public school this year. Friday, she came home in tears. Her group voted her out, Survivor style. This was not a social group, it was her reading and science group. The class is divided into groups of four, they sit at the same table for these subjects. The teacher has allowed them to vote out members if they wish. The voted out child must then go sit at a desk by themselves. I have to admit that I and the other moms hearing the story were a bit flabbergasted. I really don't know what the teacher is thinking this will accomplish?

Also on Friday, I was driving my older dd to park day and we had her friend with us (they are both in 4th grade this year). We were talking about football and dd mentioned that they had had Panther's day at her school a few years ago when they went to the Superbowl. This was the conversation:

dd: I had to go to public school for a couple of years (spoken like school was prison or some other undesirable location).

friend: Really? What was it like? (said with something akin to horror)

dd: Well, it was OK. It was pretty boring.

I thought it was hilarious. I didn't realize my dd had this secret knowledge of life on the "other side"! She's somewhat of the oddity among her friends who have never been to "building school".

 

[mickeyjen]

We love Disney AND homeschooling! This is our first year HSing DS5 and DD3 is doing nearly everything he is...

We've ordered Miquon Math and are using Hooked on Phonics and BOB books for reading (which we LOVE). Everything else we're doing in unit studies with materials from the library. Oh, and forgot Handwriting without tears... we've just started using that one... seems to be going well!

 

[Ellester]

Hey! Thanks for the welcome! I chose Core C cuz I don't want to miss out on any books! She's reading and doing math at level 2 cuz of her ps schooling (for math I chose Saxon). I picked level 1 science because it seems like that's the year it gets real exciting. We have a mix! Glad to meet a fellow SL'ing DIS'er. LOL!

About the friend's daughter - yeah days like that (daughter coming home crying for some reason or another) is a huge reason we're HS'ing. I don't understand the reason to vote anyone off your team unless it is a game for a class period where there is a winner based on smarts. But for a long period of time? Strange indeed!

Well, 3 AM, I need sleep sometime!

We started with Core C (it was Core K then) our first year, our older dd was 7 and starting 2nd grade. We loved it. We skipped Sonligh last year to do an American Girl unit study. This year we are doing Core 1+2 and we've been enjoying it so far, in fact I am going to read our read aloud right now for our bedtime story.

I am interested to hear the details about my friend's daughter. She did say it was the teacher's first year, so we'll see if inexperience had anything to do with it.

 

[beautybelle]

Ive been looking into the HS thread for a long time and I can now officially say "count me in!!!" I've started HSing my DS10 this year and Ive ordered Core Curriculum. Does anyone have any experience with this curriculum? If so let me know what you liked or disliked about it. I dont have it in yet so im excited to see whats in it.

 

[SusanMomOf2]

What is the American Girl unit study all about?

We started with Core C (it was Core K then) our first year, our older dd was 7 and starting 2nd grade. We loved it. We skipped Sonligh last year to do an American Girl unit study. This year we are doing Core 1+2 and we've been enjoying it so far, in fact I am going to read our read aloud right now for our bedtime story.

I am interested to hear the details about my friend's daughter. She did say it was the teacher's first year, so we'll see if inexperience had anything to do with it.

Is Core Curriculum one of the Sonlight Cores? or a different curriculum altogether? Good luck!

Ive been looking into the HS thread for a long time and I can now officially say "count me in!!!" I've started HSing my DS10 this year and Ive ordered Core Curriculum. Does anyone have any experience with this curriculum? If so let me know what you liked or disliked about it. I dont have it in yet so im excited to see whats in it.

 

[beautybelle]

Its a whole curriculum onto itself. You can buy it with basic books or customized. I was going to go with Calvert but it was taking too long to get everything lined out so I went with this company. Next year I will probably do Calvert though.

 

[FamilyReed6]

What a great thread, I homeschool my kids as well. DS's (10and12) do the Switched on Schoolhouse program, as they are both computer geeks like their dad, and this curriculum is mostly computer oriented. DS and DD (4and2) respectively, "work" on some basic preschool curriculum that you can get anywhere (just counting and alphabet, basic printing, etc.) We wouldn't change a thing, we have so much freedom just to be a family and have fun. Both of the older boys are approx. 2 years ahead of their peers by grade level, but light years behind them in sophistication and street savvy, could there be any other reason than maintaining your childs innocence for as long as possible for homeschooling.

Our local art museum offers art classes, so we do that for art appreciation. I love all kinds of music, so we could be listening to Hip-Hop or Opera in the car at any given time. For geography, mapping, and just generally getting out, we Geocache, which takes us hiking in some of the greatest places our area has to offer.

Anyway, now that I've given our life story, just want to say; thanks for the thread. We will certainly be watching for great ideas to add to our curriculum.

 

[lori1043]

we have AG books unit studies -teacher guides-for some of the characters. I just last night, got an AG unit study for just the "Meet......" books for $10! From theteachersdesk.info
We LOVE AG-hence the club we have started!! Our next meeting is 11/2, and it will be about Kaya and we'll be planning a lemonade and cookie sale to help rebuild a local church that is not quite done yet!(we are in the Katrina hit area).

I think Sonlight looks wonderful, yet overwhelming!! I heard from some moms that the 1 year curr. can take 2 years to get through it all!! I love the literature base though. I have thought about it many times, but find it high priced!! I gues if it takes 2 years though, it all pans out financially.

Lori

 

[graygables]

What a great thread, I homeschool my kids as well. DS's (10and12) do the Switched on Schoolhouse program, as they are both computer geeks like their dad, and this curriculum is mostly computer oriented.

We use SOS, too, not just b/c DDs (11 & 8, 6th and 4th grades) love computers, but b/c sometimes it's better to let "someone" else do the teaching and I just do the follow up. They use that for their basic curriculum and then we unschool the rest of the time, following what they are interested in learning about. Right now, it's meerkats...

 

[sha_lyn]

Warning..... I'm about to jump on my soap box.........

I know some of you really think that HSLDA is a good orgaization.
I just ran across a link to one of their newest warnings
http://www.hslda.org/Legislation/National/2007/HR3685/default.asp

Things like that are why I am so agaisnt them.

 

[Shmu]

Wow. Disney lovers and home schoolers. Count me in on this site. I have home schooled for the past 14 years. Have an 18 and 15 year old. Can't wait to get to know some of you and to learn and share. You would think I would have home schooling figured out by now. I'm still learning. But that's what it's all about right?

 

[hsmamato2]

There is a lot of dissent over HSLDA,and I believe for good reason. Though I hear some report some good things, overwhelmingly I'm hearing reports of 'not good' things.... www.home-edmag.com has many articles about this subject....personally, we're lucky in our state to have local advocacy groups to turn to if legal issues come up, I think it's in every states interest to have their own statewide network of info and helpers when it comes to this,b/c each state varies on it's policy for homeschooling....just my .02