*** Homeschool List ***

[sweet maxine]

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[disneymom3]

Lisa--in situations like the one with the principal, I always find it very helpful to focus on the phrase "for OUR family at THIS time." So, thanks so much for all you have done, blah blah blah, but we feel that for our family at this time, this is the best choice.

No threatening feelings for others, no burning bridges.

 

[mslil65]

I just looked at Flylady's site and see that she has a "Back to School" section for homeschoolers. Don't know if any of you subscribe to her system and I haven't read through all the info, but it looks like it has organizational info for HSrs. http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlyBaby_HS.asp

 

[mslil65]

I have been thinking. Seriously though...how do you teach a child to read? I know that is both a simplistic question and a very difficult question...but it's my biggest concern when it comes to teaching my child! I am trying to remember what it was like to not know how to read...and I can't. And I don't remember how I learned to read. I know we did phonics in school, but I am at a loss as to where to begin...you know...the real basics!

I am not concerned about teaching my little one how to read yet, but I know that I should begin within the next few years. I read to him daily and I know that's a huge part of the learning process...seeing and hearing the words, seeing the flow of the words from left to right, hearing the change of inflection based on the exclamation points, etc. I know that Montessori schools teach children to identify the sounds that each letter makes before they teach the name of the letter. They also teach lower case letters before upper case since 98% of sentences contain lower case letters. So...should I follow with that method? Is there a phonics program most of you use? Hooked on Phonics or something like that? (Which I've never actually seen before...so I have no idea if it actually works!) I know there are thousands of workbooks with letters and how to write them, etc...but how does that translate to reading? By becoming familiar with each letter and the sound it makes? I actually feel silly asking this question!

 

[TNKBELL]

The best thing I've used is "100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read" My Aunt in Madison is a special ed teacher and she said they use this to teach children with learning disablilities. My Dks don't have learning disabilities but it worked very well at the age of 5. Games are great to foster that love of reading, action commands( a game where you write 1 word or sentence progressively getting more difficult as the child progresses, put them in a hat or bowl and let the child choose one and act it out.) We put paper bag mail boxes on our Dks doors and send them mail to read, Treasure hunts where you write the clues leading them through out the house to find a treasure(chocolate works great!) Personal Stories, one of thier faves, write stories about them or you or thier favorite characters. Boggle and Scrabble are great too!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

And it cost money--but my daughter ended up learning basic sounds by playing with the leap frog stuff. WE have the magnets (well, about half of them at this point). They do have the Letter Factory game which I will consider when the youngest turns 3--give it to her for her b-day then she can play it with her sister.

I heard about teaching lower case letters--so I did that first. It made sense to me. They don't have to "relearn" as they do when you start with CAPS first.

The only reason we are teaching reading--DD5 has been inquiring about sounds for a long time--she knows all the letter sounds.....and she's been asking to read words.

From what I understand--when the child is ready for the next step from wherever they are now...you will know. We are now using scaredy cat phonics--which I explained both the good and the bad in the last couple of pages.

Can't wait until she knows enough to try the jr. versions of boggle and scrabble.

 

[mslil65]

Thanks for your insight TNKBELL...I'll look up that book...sounds like a keeper! I love all the fun ideas...especially the treasure hunt!
Lisa Loves Pooh...I've always wondered about the Leap Frog things...they are getting good reviews here. We do have the magnets and my son sings along to the sounds...so they're working! We haven't purchased any of the videos or the Leap Pad book systems yet...hmmm...that might be a great gift for his 4th birthday. I was reading about the phonics program that you are using...but I wasn't sure if that was for children who were already familiar with the basics or for those more advanced. Sounds like your little girl is definitely learning from it!
Completely OT...I just realized we're going to Disney in three weeks...woohoo!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

scaredy cat is multi-level. Earlier in the thread I discussed how I got her the first level--and by the time we started homeschooling (after tinker with about 10 letters in April/May)---she was done with it. So I had to get her the next set which is vowels--and teaches beginning reading.

 

[mslil65]

Ah...that makes sense. I must not have read the earlier threads about the Scaredy Cat program.

 

[jenfur]

I would love a DIS homeschooling board. We have been HSing DD (10) and DS(6) for a year now and I love it! Everyone else in my family, besides DH, is still skeptical though.

 

[sweet maxine]

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[nuzmom]

Sweet Maxine - glad it's going well. Aren't kids amazing? They absorb so much. Thanks for the update.

 

[sweet maxine]

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[Lisa loves Pooh]

So first week since my "send 'em to school flip out" of last week.

I woke up this morning and thought--gee it is soooo nice to not have to send them to school.

 

[TNKBELL]

So first week since my "send 'em to school flip out" of last week.

I woke up this morning and thought--gee it is soooo nice to not have to send them to school.

Aside from the numerous spiritual,educational,and emotional benefits of hs, fall vacations and little extra shut eye aren't too shabby either !

 

[merryweather's twin]

I am not homeschooling at the present time but did for 3 years and would love a board... I would love to start back up but family was so negative...

 

[liquid]

This is our 10th year homeschooling, and it's been great! Then again, my children have never been in school, so maybe I'm a little biased...

A Disney homeschooling board would be a lot of fun - count me in!

 

[meandtheguys2]

I am not homeschooling at the present time but did for 3 years and would love a board... I would love to start back up but family was so negative...

Isn't that just wretched? My MIL just stopped saying "You ARE going o send them to school this year?!" The funny thing was that she would say it after bragging about how well they are doing.

 

[4girlsmom]

Seeking suggestions from left-handers or parents of left-handed kids:

My youngest (3 in Oct.) is the only left-handed person in our family. What kinds of things should I do to accommodate her art-wise? Should she have certain scissors or anything else?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JMSMommy]

Lefties need to use Left-handed scissors the finger holes on righty scissors are wrong for lefties (and feel funny).

Also MAKE sure she is holding the pencil correctly. My sister hand the weirdest pencil holding grip I've ever seen until someone straightened her out.

One thing to keep in mind, most pots and pans are designed with spouts for right-handed people (when they have a spout on the side). Also, spiral bound notebooks might be uncomfortable for her (the hand rests on the spiral part). Another thing I remember from my sister is that using markers she'd smear the ink from dragging her hand across the picture (she had to learn to keep the hand up off the paper), so using washable markers early on would be good. Using a mouse on a computer is different (the mouse is on the left side of my sister's computer). So, if your child is using the computer a wireless mouse might be a good investment so they can move the mouse to the left of the keyboard where it is more comfortable.

While myself, Dh, and DS6 are all STRONG righties, we have many "southpaws" in the family. We think DS2 is ambidextrous (that is also in the family).