It's official!

[DaughterOfKali]

Today is our first day of homeschooling. Woohoo!

I suspect I'll be spending lots of time in this forum now.

Feel free to give tips/advice/ideas, etc to me on this thread.

[Mama~Love]

Congratulations! The best thing you can do is RELAX and go slow. Don't want to get burnout!

[elizawill]

have FUN!

[sapientia]

congrats! I have homeschooled off and on through the years and am currently homeschooling a 13 yo and 9 yo and love it!

[shaywyn]

Yay!!

[tbone]

[DaughterOfKali]

Thanks everyone!

Wondering if anyone has cold called/emailed museums, etc, to see if they offer any special discounts/memberships to homeschool families.

[sapientia]

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

Thanks everyone!

Wondering if anyone has cold called/emailed museums, etc, to see if they offer any special discounts/memberships to homeschool families.

yep, anything even remotely educational I have requested a homeschool/educators discount and most of the time have gotten it. (I love the Ringling Museum here in FL.) I've even called gatorland and dinosaur world here and gotten discounts. Some places want proof, though.

[DaughterOfKali]

Guess I'll have to bring the stamped/signed letter to the school with me everywhere I go.

[TEAK's Mom]

Welcome!

[CariOfOz]

WOoot! Get thee in here

My best advice is to come to this board for just about anything homeschool related you need to ask about hehehe. When I started hs'ing about 2.5yrs ago (wow has it been that long??) I had really no idea about hs, what it was, wasn't, what it looked like etc. These ladies have been super helpful on our journey

Also if there are curriculum reviews if you're looking for ideas etc, and if you want something 2nd hand someone here will know where to find it

Most of all though.. relax, have fun, and remember that with just YOU and ROO, 6hrs a day is not what this will look like You'd both be pulling your hair out! Keep things short, and if he acts like he's had enough... pick it up again later! One of the joys of home ed is that you CAN do that and they really get a lot more out of things when they are feeling receptive

Awesome to have ya over here hun

[jlpumkin]

have fun!

[DaughterOfKali]

I think he didn't realize that this is going to be happening every day and not just a one day thing.

[amis2girls]

yay congrats!

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

I think he didn't realize that this is going to be happening every day and not just a one day thing.

too funny!!!!

[DaughterOfKali]

How does one deal with feeling overwhelmed?

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

How does one deal with feeling overwhelmed?

for me, i felt overwhelmed a lot in the beginning honestly (worrying)...but that's my personality, and i was really afraid i was going to homeschool "wrong".

my advice - take it one day at time & one year at a time.

[Hibou]

Welcome to homeschooling!
I haven't been on this board much over the summer, but I do try to check in now and then because I always find something interesting here.

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

How does one deal with feeling overwhelmed?

Make a cup of tea and sit quietly for a little while!
Don't (I speak from experience!) try to do a whole bunch of enriching activities with the kiddos when you are feeling overwhelmed because that stressful energy will just spill out onto them. For some reason, I've noticed that this usually happens when I'm already under the weather and barely keeping up with the house, laundry, etc. We're unschoolers so things are usually pretty relaxed around here, but I've learned that when I start stressing about what the kids are/aren't learning, that's when I need to just back off and take a deep breath, and think things through before proceeding. I've also found that it helps to keep a record (journal, photos, or a blog) of your homeshcool life. When you have those lulls that feel like you're not doing anything, you can just look back and see that in fact there's probably been a lot going on.

[DaughterOfKali]

Ooh, a journal would be a great idea. Or a lesson plan book.

[Peacemamalove]

yay !!!! welcome to homeschooling