Support for former homeschoolers now public schooling - Page 2

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by Charmie981

YAY! I'm glad she had fun and is looking forward to tomorrow. That's always a good sign. I'd like to know more about the part-time homeschooling option you're doing if you feel like sharing .

Well I typed a novel about it and then lost it. I guess you are lucky and get the short version now. :

A charter high school (8-12th) will allow a few kids to go part-time. They seemed to like dd's test scores and she impressed them when she shadowed. So, they have been very accommodating. They have a block schedule so a one year course is completed in a semester. She takes two classes a semester, 4 for the year, so it is like going half-time. She's there from 8:10 to 11:00 (actually 11:30 because she wants to stay and visit over lunch, but we can leave at 11 if we need to do so). Next semester she will be there from 11:30 to 2:20 ( or from 11 if eating lunch there).

I don't know yet if she is homeschooling high school with a few public school classes on her transcript or if she will graduate through this high school. We're going to see how the year goes and then negotiate for future years. They do have kids doing some online courses as well as dual enrollment at the university or community college. I think they have allowed some self-designed courses (pass/fail only) but I'm not sure about that or what criteria must be met. We are homeschooling Lang. Arts/literature, history, Latin, music, PE, and art. However, the school will not be granting any credit for these. This is fine with us at this point. She will take Biology, Geometry this semester and then Spanish and Physical Science next semester from them.

The school has a large percentage of former homeschoolers (perhaps 30%?), so they are somewhat used to us. I would envision our daughter doing some blend of their classes, online courses, dual enrollment at the college, and some self-designed courses. Not sure they are ready (or able) to jump out on that limb with us. They are being pretty flexible so far. They understand my dd is young and accelerated, and that we're taking a unique path.

I'll post later about dd's one awkward moment today.

[Marsupialmom]

He is waiting for the bus....

He is so excited.....

My dogs are confused. LOL There man cub is out front with out them.

[tanyam926]

Originally Posted by Marsupialmom

He is waiting for the bus....

He is so excited.....

My dogs are confused. LOL There man cub is out front with out them.

Awww.... It's sad isn't it? And happy, and exciting, all at the same time.

My ds did not want to go to school this morning, and it's only the second day. He has a really hard time waking up in the morning. I need to figure out how to make waking up easier. Any ideas?

I really hope he has a lot of fun today and gets excited about school. I am praying soooo hard. It was great to see his big smile when I picked him up yesterday.

[mom2ponygirl]

Ugh, dd has a cold. She has a cough but no other symptoms but feeling a little tired. She reallly wanted to go so I took her to school. If we were homeschooling I would just keep her home and take it easy. However, she really wanted to go.

Yesterday was great for her, except for one awkward moment. The teacher her group of 8th graders went with to do get to know each other stuff, asked them which class they all went to first period. She goes to Biology. The teacher started questioning her, why would an 8th grader be taking high school biology? She of course just looked at her and said, because I want to. LOL The teacher had to go all around school asking why are 8th graders taking Biology and can they even get credit? (there are 3 8th graders in the class and yes they can get credit). Anyway, she was evidently in a bit of a tizzy about it. The funny part to me was imagining what she would have done if she had realized my daughter was not only just an 8th grader, but only 10 (nearly 11) years old! Luckily for her she is tall and behaves in a mature manner, so except for the few who know her she seems like a typical 8th grader.

[Marsupialmom]

My youngest daughter burnt the pizza....her brother wasn't here to take it out. That is normally his job.

One thing with my son, I think he will have it easier because he wants to be their. He is craving the new environment. And as long as the girls keep on "acting" stupid we will be ok. He hates giggly boy crazy girls. He wants one that has brains and not religious. He might find a few of those in a high school, so I am a little more nervous.

[The Hidden Life]

Welcome, moms! Yes, Charlotte, you are welcome to post here.
We still don't start til 9/8 so nearly a month of summer left! Next week we have VBS and then two more weeks of stir-crazy kids til school starts. The weather here (Seattle area) has taken a turn for the cold and gray and wet, so they're all indoors most of the time! Fortunately my husband has been on vacation as well so he's been taking them biking on the trails and such. Tomorrow I go "into town" to get a birth certificate for my #3 for next week's elementary registration. Finally got all our immunization documents. And I finally put it out there on my blog that the kids were going back to public school this year!

I'm glad so many "first day of school" have already gone well. I expect ours will be great too but for my 3yo wondering why he can't get on the yellow bus! Maybe he will sleep in...for 180 days.

[hottmama]

My 6.5yo son is "trying out" public school for 1st grade this year (starts Sept. 8). I really want him to stay, but I told him we'll take it a week at a time. He really doesn't want to go, but my 3.5yo will be in preschool 3 days a week (for his 2nd year, he begged to go last year and loves it). I think my son needs some peer pressure to work on reading, he can read easy readers but hates to do it and our homeschooling involves a lot of whining and arguing. He's a very social, peer-oriented kid and I think he'll excel in school. Also, he's really great at math and that will be fun for him. Our public school is great. We're moving next year to a much suckier school district and we'll probably return to homeschooling for 2nd grade.

[freestyler]

Well, the first week of school is nearly over for my kids. They are 6, 9 and 11. Our 11 YO DD seems to actually really like the place, and she did beg to go (for like five years.) SO perhaps that will work out for her. I don't know how she will like all the tests and other yucky stuff. Our 9 YO DS, in my opinion, is just not a really great candidate for school. He is still just really physical----needs like 5 hours of exercise a day and just wants to build models and swim and skateboard. Last night was back-to-school night, and his teacher said that although DS has GREAT reading skills (we love reading at home!!!), his handwriting is really, uh, lacking, and Teacher was surprised that DS was not more advanced in writing. What can I say? I am unschooly, and I never liked forcing writing on him when there was a) nothing to write about, and b) he just does not have the fine motor skills yet. So that is annoying....that sense that you'd better get your kid on the conveyor belt with everyone else, blah blah ablah...

And I met our DD's first grade teacher. And saw what they do in first grade. UGH! You're probably saying, why didn't I check this all our BEFORE putting her in? Good question. I guess I just assumed it would be fine and after our great experience with the homeschool charter program, I figured how different could this be? A LOT different, it turns out. The little guys are forced to sit and sit and sit ALL DAY with almost no exercise or break. They have seven periods. The classes are ungodly long. They have TWO reading classes every day, with ridiculous drills and "spelling word" lists and all that sort of thing. Ummmm, my little DD is learning to read, and to love reading, by having half an hour of instruction with me most days, and by being read to a ton. And math, well, she's doing fine there too. I see no reason to bludgeon the poor girl over the head with academics at this early age. Her little sister misses her, she's missing our bike rides and walks, she's unable to get enough sleep at night (she's a late sleeper), and she comes home exhausted. I'm not liking what the first grade is doing at all, it's way too much hard core, forced and rushed acadamics. I'm taking her out in a week. Oh, and did I mention, the teacher is cold, severe, BORING and just plain not a person I'll give my daughter over to five days a week.

And for DS, the verdict is still out. For DD, I'd like to let her stay unless there is a pressing reason to take her out.

This is so stressful. Ugh. I hate it.

[catballou24]

my 6yo starts on the 24th...she really wanted to try ps, i'd like to keep hsing but am willing to give it a try. she's super social and already pretty far ahead for first grade, so i'm more nervous about her being bored than making friends (easy peasy for her to make friends..not a shy bone in that kid's body.. ).

as the day approaches, i'm having a hard time. dh and i decided that if the teachers start in on adhd stuff (she's really active but not attention deficit in anyway...i can see how the teachers might see it like that though), or there are serious problems then we'll just pull her out. otherwise we told her to give it a go until christmas then we'll see where things stand. she's excited, but also is comfortable knowing she can come back to homeschooling if she really desires that again. i'm the one having minor anxiety about it..

[transformed]

hi! My 6 yr old is off to kindergarten. We always thought we'd hs but there is just no support for it here and so he has no social interaction whatsoever. Plus, I dont think I am cut out for it. I need to breathe!!! (And with a 3 yr old and a tornado of a 20 mo old, I dont get to breathe much.)

I am actually seriously considering sending the 3 yr old to headstart because she is totally schooly and I think she would LOVE it.

My 6 yr old is terrified, however warming up to the idea of school...(I was an unschooler and spent a good amount of time bashing the system in front of him. )

I think its possible that we will try hs in the future when I dont have so much on my plate. we'll play it by ear.

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by freestyler

And for DS, the verdict is still out. For DD, I'd like to let her stay unless there is a pressing reason to take her out.

This is so stressful. Ugh. I hate it.

I'm glad your taking your little girl out, it just doesn't sound like the right place for her now. My dd would have hated most of elementary school - at least our schools. She was (and to some extent still is) a wiggle worm. She could handle almost anything academic if allowed to stand on her head or draw or jump up and down, etc. She lost a pen her second day of school (yesterday) because she had been fiddling with it while listening . She didn't want to climb under the tables to get it, so she waited until after class. Another girl picked it up as they were all leaving and dd was too shy to ask for it. :

She had a great 3 days except for her last class today. I think the fact that she was so tired, half-sick, and overwhelmed by all the crowding and activitiy she just couldn't take it. I came by to bring her lunch (she'd forgotten to grab it) and when she saw me her eyes teared up. She said she didn't want to stay so we walked out together and had lunch and a talk. She would have left after lunch anyway, but she didnt want to stay there any longer.
Hopefully she can make a full week, next week and start to adapt. She's the kind of kid who is ready to leave an amusement park after a couple of hours - just likes some down time on her own or in a quiet group. The chaos should diminish as everyone gets into the routine. I hope.

I agree this is stressful!

[SoCaliMommy]

Bumping this back to page 1

[Sneezykids]

Hi, count me in..

My ds is going back to ps this fall too. I hs'ed him for K, half of 1st and all of 2nd. He'll be in 3rd this year. Several reasons I made the jump. Even though his try in 1st went okay, I school of choiced him and the drive got really old, esp in the snow. I'm sending him to the local school, and the same grade, ironically, that I took my dd out from!

My son is going in with an ADHD dx and there is question too of him being PDD or Asperger's. I'm nervous, but he's under the care of a good child psychologist now and we'll be putting him under 504 plan.

HS'ing just isn't meeting his needs. My dd is outgoing and wants to DO stuff and he just wants to sit home and play video games, he's a homebody. He also has almost no friends because we're isolated in a rural area and everyone we know that also homeschools is at least 30-40 minutes drive or too busy to get together with. I'm tired of seeing him lonely and bored.

I hope this works out well for him. We had him tested too by his Dr. and he's on par academically for 3rd grade and even ahead some in reading/spelling.

I'm glad for that.

My dd will still HS for now. She's more work to put in school. LOL..neither of my kids really FIT in ps easily (thus the reason we HS'ed)!!

[The Hidden Life]

Thanks, Kami, for bumping this. I had my hands full last week with VBS and couldn't get things to post for some reason.

All our papers were turned in to the local schools today! With so many of you already well into your second or third week of school, I feel like we must be the last school district in the nation starting school! Still two weeks to go--September 8 is the planned start date--although now there are rumors of a teachers' strike. Oy.

I had to fill out about eight pages of registration papers for each of my three children--my husband wondered why this stuff can't be filled out online, of course--taking nearly an hour each. I went into the district office last week to pick up all the papers, but they have to be turned in at each particular school. Thankfully, it only took five minutes in the school office to turn them in, give proof of residence, birth certificate copies and sign the places I'd forgotten to sign (oops). I also had three choices for my 6th grader: 6th grade or advanced language arts, 6th grade or advanced mathematics and a choice of exploratory track (electives: art, computers, shop, study skills), band or choir.

Tomorrow we supposedly will be mailed teacher assignments for our elementary students and Sept. 3 my middle schooler will be able to go in and get her schedule.

This is taking forever!

Anyway, at least the weather here in the PacNW has gotten back to summer; sunny and in the 70's. There's time for a few last afternoons in the pool and plenty of long bike rides.

Now my thoughts have turned to all my homeschool curricula in the house: do I sell or keep it all? I am leaning towards sell, but probably I should be cautious since it's a major investment (or divestment, actually).

[transformed]

today was our first day. We didnt really "officially" hs, just dreamed of it...sent our 6 yr old to kindy this morning. (He is first grade age but for his sake I am not holding him up to the rediculous acedemic standards that Florida has...I would love to see him have FUN at school.)

Here is to FUN at kindergarten!

[Peony]

We sort of fit here, only DD1 will be going to a small private school. I never thought we'd be doing this. Living the school life will be an adjustment. We went to an ice cream social at the school tonight, school starts on Wed. Whew, that summer went by way too quick.

[catballou24]

Originally Posted by mom2ponygirl

She could handle almost anything academic if allowed to stand on her head or draw or jump up and down, etc. She lost a pen her second day of school (yesterday) because she had been fiddling with it while listening . She didn't want to climb under the tables to get it, so she waited until after class. Another girl picked it up as they were all leaving and dd was too shy to ask for it. :

She had a great 3 days except for her last class today. I think the fact that she was so tired, half-sick, and overwhelmed by all the crowding and activitiy she just couldn't take it. I came by to bring her lunch (she'd forgotten to grab it) and when she saw me her eyes teared up. She said she didn't want to stay so we walked out together and had lunch and a talk. She would have left after lunch anyway, but she didnt want to stay there any longer.
Hopefully she can make a full week, next week and start to adapt. She's the kind of kid who is ready to leave an amusement park after a couple of hours - just likes some down time on her own or in a quiet group. The chaos should diminish as everyone gets into the routine. I hope.

I agree this is stressful!

this sounds like my 3YO. she is so shy and just has a terrible time in crowds. she says already she is always going to be homeschooled, so we'll see...

dd1 however had a great first day yesterday and came home the little chatter box she is to tell me about it all... i'm glad she liked it, and her teacher is really nice. she explained that in her classroom, she doens't believe in holding the kids back so since lola is so far ahead with reading she'll have her own reading books and curriculum that is separate from the majority of the class who are still working on phonics. that pleases me as lola would get really bored really fast otherwise. she was thrilled to ride the bus home yesterday too. i was standing there with her little sis waiting for the bus and could see her waving her arms around and chattering away to the bus driver. when they stopped he was laughing and told me he knows our whole history now... i told him to beware, she'll never stop talking to him..he was cool with it.. so, so far so good...we are still going to supplement at home so she can keep the momentum we'd built up with her before school started. i was pleased when she told me the best part of her day was going to the library...she loves reading!

oh, and she was stoked to have homework already...

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by catballou24

dd1 however had a great first day yesterday and came home the little chatter box she is to tell me about it all... i'm glad she liked it, and her teacher is really nice. she explained that in her classroom, she doens't believe in holding the kids back so since lola is so far ahead with reading she'll have her own reading books and curriculum that is separate from the majority of the class who are still working on phonics. that pleases me as lola would get really bored really fast otherwise.

Sounds like a great start with a great teacher!

We're heading into the first round of tests - Geometry today and Biology tomorrow. She has the concepts down and is helping classmates in Geometry. However, I worry about whether or not she will catch most of her careless errors. Time will tell.

She has a regular group of boys she sits with at lunch. I'd like to see her branch out and meet some girls, but frankly, boys were always nicer at that age anyway.

[mom2ponygirl]

Good luck to everyone who starts school this week!

[SoCaliMommy]

Alexandria doesn't start school til 9/10 * i'm assuming it will be like last year and the list with what teacher the students have will be taped to a window at the school the day before *. I even enrolled Ryker into the city's preschool program that is like 2hours in the morning 5days a wk it starts on 9/14. Me and my mom are starting a business so it will give me time to sew/embroider stuff for that and enjoy the quiet house and the dog without the kids constantly trying to bug him.

I'm worried about how she will do in 1st after she struggled so bad in K
She even failed the school's hearing test and they never re-tested her hearing. and then she got sick and so she has a dr appt on 9/4 so im gonna have them check her hearing again. since last year when the dr tested it in aug she failed it then the school did it in nov and she failed again.