Brand new to homeschooling! I have ??? about pulling a child out mid-year...

[luvmybaby333]

Hi there! My name is Nicky. I am brand new to MDC and to homeschooling. I came here because I heard that this was a great forum for homeschooling parents (as well as those who follow other natural and family-centered paths. )

I have a few questions for all you experienced homeschooling parents out there.

The situation is that my 6-year-old (Ambrosia) has been in public school for 1½ years now. She started last year after some pretty radical life-changes that seemed to have set her back developmentally. I wasn't sure about sending her to public school in the first place... but after the year was over I had to face the facts that I had made the wrong decision. Then we were forced to make a choice again: keep her in public school and pass her to the next grade against her teacher's recommendations, keep her in public school and leave her with the same teacher for another year, or pull her out and homeschool her in a way that would allow her to catch up with her First-Grade classmates.

We chose to leave her where she was. I was feeling less than confident in my ability to teach her. Her daddy would have preferred to pull her out, but he took my lead. After a failed attempt at teaching her to read over the summer, I resigned myself to the fact that she was just "meant to be in public school."

Now, nearly ½ a year later, I realize that I made the wrong decision YET AGAIN. Public school just isn't working out. We don't like the restrictions, the environment, or the education she is receiving. I think she has a very sweet teacher but I feel that she learns in a way that would benefit best from a one-on-one approach.

After researching the (IMO ridiculous) laws on homeschooling here in Tennessee, I've come to realize that our only viable option for mid-year transfer out of public school is to find church-based campus to use as an umbrella cover. The problem is that my DH and I are not religious. Finding secular homeschool options, resources, and support here in Tennessee has been... difficult. I finally stumbled upon The Farm School, which offers a Satellite Campus Program for parents to work under. The Farm is considered a "church" so it satisfies the requirement for a church-based association. It is the most secular option we have right now and I am very grateful to have found it.

We will be submitting our application and fees soon. Unfortunately/ fortunately they do not provide nor recommend any specific curriculum. They believe that the curriculum should be completely based on the individual child. While this is great, and something I agree with, I am a little overwhelmed with the multitude of options out there.

We are on a budget, so purchasing a large and expensive curriculum package (that may or may not be right for our daughter) is really not an option. I've gotten a few links to free printables suggested (for math and such.) I would be very grateful to see what other people around here have to suggest. I would love to hear ideas on lesson plans and daily lesson structure. We would like to keep it secular (or, if possible, with Pagan leanings.)

I am also a bit confused about a few things. I really feel like our daughter has caught up to where she should be. I don't want to waste the rest of the year re-covering information that she's already "got" if I could be using it to catch her up. Is it possible to pull her out of Kindergarten halfway through the year (keeping in mind that she already has an entire year of it under her belt) only to move her directly to First Grade? How does that work? Are you required to stick to one grade level per year? I am so confused. I've felt really guilty that she had to repeat a grade and be set back like that... if it is at all possible I would really like to know how to advance her to where she should be.

A few key elements to our situation:

*Ambrosia does not know how to read yet.
*Ambrosia is very delayed in the handwriting skills department.
*Ambrosia is quite... distractable.
*Ambrosia is smart, but she will sometimes "forget" things she should already know. The word "the"... the number "9"... etc.
*I am not a well-spring of patience.
*We have a 17-month-old that will likely be hovering around during class.
*We have the space to create a "school room" but I am unsure of how to go about that.
*We are financially limited.

I also would like to hear from those of you with babies/ toddlers as to how you deal with lessons and the younger sibling at the same time. When I do activities with Ambrosia now, I try to offer Aurora something to do (that looks similar) so that she doesn't feel left out... but she invariably always works her way towards her sister and begins harassing her. I am a bit nervous as to how this will work out when ALL of Ambrosia's lessons are being conducted at home with the distraction of her younger sibling. My goal is to help her be the best she can be academically... not set her up for failure by trying to teach her in an environment that is impossible to concentrate in.


Please weigh in if you can. I would definitely appreciate any and all advice or support at this juncture. Thanks!!!



♥♥♥

[meetoo]

Hi and welcome!!!

I have a 6 yr old first grader and this is our first yr homeschooling too!
I also have a 4 yr old and a 11 month old so I can relate to keeping siblings busy.

Everyone told me when I took my DD out to "deschool" well sense we started in sept after summer break I figured she had all summer to "deaschool" so I didn't bother. I really think that was a huge mistake! If I were you I would take her out and totally Deschool for at least a month. Other then read alouds and playing games I wouldn't try to do any school. Maybe wait until after the holidays then add one subject at a time?

Has far has curriculum I think it is a super personal choice. It really depends on your goals, her personality, the amount of time you have, how much you enjoy planning, how much you want it to match up with your school/state standards, Etc.....

We are using McRuffy color 1st grade LA and math. Here is the link http://mcruffy.com/KP.htm . We are really enjoying it because I feel it is a complete program (I have my own anxiety issues about my dd getting behind ) but the author really tries to add in fun extras. The lessons are very hands on and it is open and go. I would however not put her in the first grade(for reading anyway). It seems to me to be a challenging program. I think she would probably place half way through the kindy level. It shows the scope and sequence and samples on the website. It might be a little expensive for you but it does come with quite a bit, laminated game boards, playing piece, color readers.

We are using Five in a Row and unit studies I throw together for everything else. http://www.fiarhq.com/ I only have the manual, I check out the books and go along books from my local library.

There are TONS of different curricula out there. I would take the time you are deschooling to look through everything. Figure out your goals and your DD's learning style, then try to find what will match the best. Homeschool so far for us has been one of the scariest, most rewarding, and most aggravating things we have done.


Oh and check your local library, they might have some reading programs you could test drive.

[Lillian J]

Just to step back and put things into perspective, I recently came across an old comment by Mark Hegener, Home Education Magazine co-publisher and homeschool dad of five children who are now grown: "All you need to homeschool is love and a library card."

Obviously there are all sorts of good materials that can be helpful in many subjects, but you really don't need much, especially for a 6 yr. old. If you simply make a simple list of the things you feel would be appropriate to provide right now, it's really a lot less overwhelming than it can seem when looking at all the things being promoted. Here's a list published by World Book on what the typical courses of study that the schools aim to cover by the end of each year.

There's no need to end up re-covering things she already knows - you'll be able to simply observe and dialogue casually with her as you go - it honestly won't be that complicated to see.

Here's a place to find out about your state laws, but I doubt very much that it matters what "grade" you name for her - Tennessee homeschooling. It's absolutely fine that she doesn't know how to read yet - she has plenty of time, and she's in the process of learning. Just take it slowly and let her rebuild a sense of confidence as she goes. She'll also probably need time to regain her original sense of the enjoyment of learning. Being outside the school pressure cooker she was in will probably be very helpful for her. It's also fine that she's distractible - she's very young, only 6, and it's not as if she'll need to be sitting at books and lessons all day. You'll be finding ways of helping her learn in her own way - observing and talking with her will go a long way. All children forget things as they learn - but it will all comes together - the important thing is not to make her feel pressured about it, because that alone tends to be a big element.

As for patience, I think the key is to deliberately back off from the intention of orchestrating the speed at which she learns and the exact way it should be accomplished. You'll be going through a lot of experimentation together, and it's important to remember that she's doing the best she can and will thrive best with your support rather than pressure or criticism - there's really no reason to even have to think in terms of patience, but rather in terms of best ways to offer supportive facilitation that isn't concerned with a time line.

You don't need a school room at all - but it will be nice for her to have a space where she can leave projects out without the fear of the little one getting into them. Learning at home doesn't have to resemble the way it happens in school at all - she won't need to concentrate in silence for great lengths of time in order to learn. You'll find that things can be learned a lot more easily, quickly, and naturally than they have in the school environment.

Here's a good, common sense intro to homeschooling:
Dear New Homeschooler.

And here's a thread about the crucially important decompression/deschooling time you'll both be needing!

Just take one thing at a time, and focus on supporting her in regaining her sense of confidence in herself and her own individual ways of learning. There's plenty of time.

Lillian

[AAK]

The best thing about homeschooling IMO is that a child can work at her own level. Mine is a different "grade" for math, language, and literature. Also, you move at your own pace. Anna will cover two years of math in one. But, grammar, she will just do what is expected for her technical grade level (4th).

I also have a 7 yr old that is in first grade. She is in ps but really should be at home (I will spare you the long story). She can barely read. . . school isn't teaching her to read in a way that works. I suspect that she is dyslexic. I have no idea if you suspect dyslexia or not, but wanted to suggest that you go to your library and check our "Reading Reflex". Read the first three chapters and then give your dd the assessments in the back of the book. You can then decide if you want to use that method to teach your child to read. I would also check out the yahoo group for dyslexia (again, even if you don't think your child is dyslexic this group is a fabulous source of information about teaching children to read even if reading doesn't come easily). http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/dyslexiasupport2/.

For math on a budget we like singapore math. I like that the year is broken into two separate books. So, you can use the online assessment and then decide which book to start your dd on. I don't think you need anything but the workbook for K or 1st grade. I am using them for 4th/5th grade and rarely touch the textbook. But, I have a really strong math background.

Those are the only two subjects that I would bother using a "curriculum" for. Spelling would be worked in with reading. Grammar would be to point out capitalization and endmarks. Again, this can be done with reading or shared reading.

Social studies in this grade in our state focus on families and communities. It could be fun to read books about different families. To make a project of your family tree, to call grandma to hear family stories, etc. For communities, I would look at your own community. What resources does it have. Visit the fire station, the police station, the library. Draw a map of your neighborhood or if you don't live in a neighbor hood, draw a map of your house.

Science. Let her be the driving force. What is she interested in? Dogs? Get some books, visit a shelter, find a friend with a dog, talk to a vet.

Bake cookies (math and science). Do sugar cookies and use cookie cutters that are of the alphabet to work on words. Make playdoh and shape letters. As a special treat get a bag of M& Ms or whatever. Sort them by color. Turn those piles into towers and get an early lesson in bar graphs. Make patterns. Finally, divide those m&ms equally between you and her and maybe the little one too and get a small snack.

Lots of art! Multisensory approaches to learning are great! Music: have a parade with homemade musical instruments.

MOST of this stuff can easily include your 17 month old! And, assuming that your little one still takes naps, I would use that time to focus on the reading or math book work.

At this grade, school doesn't need to look like "school". So, especially since ps doesn't seem to be working out, I would try to make sure it doesn't look/feel like school.

Amy

[aslyn]

Welcome from another Pagan family!

In our family we have 3 very social (and I do mean VERY) and loving children and a baby due in June..My Husband and I moved across country from Ohio to Cali for his job in feb. while he works 2nd shift I work 3rd (from home, but its still ALOT of work) Our cost of living increased 3 fold by making the move while our income did not!

Our DD (8 yrs old) cannot read. She has no disabilities, she has a "delay" (society loves to label) Her math skills are pretty much on target but reading is her challenge. Shes very artistic, loves to sing and dance and paint (shes not great at them, i don't think I will have a broadway star but its her outlet!) We have discovered the absolute easiest way to teach her is to make up a song to her about whatever shes learning. She loves to be read to and act the stories about princess, or whatever tv show she is into at the time (we ONLY watch Sci-fi, Nick JR and Animal planet in our house with the occassional movie. None of us are big tv fans) She is dubbed as the "flower child" and lives up to it in EVERY sense of the word!

Her brother (6) can read decodable books and sight words, his math skills are on target but DD is better at math "problems" than he is. His interests include superheros and he will make them up as he goes along, drawing pictures and giving them abilites that even some of the comic book writers would be envious of! He is generaly the mastermind behind all of the mischief around here. He detests sitting down listening to me read, in fact if I get him audio books at the library he is the happiest kid on the planet!

Our 3 yr old DS knows all his colors, shapes, can count to 10. He also like superheros but his imagination leans more towards pirates, ninjas, and Jedi Knights. He also does not like to sit still for story time. He will find something else to do that is more productive in his eyes.

All 3 of them have been raised together in a homeschool setting. We started homeschooling when #3 we about 4 months old and he always sat in on the "lessons". I would give him his baby key rings, and small toys to fiddle with as he sat in his carrier, I would print out extra coloring worksheets for #2 and let him in on the fun as well. I never hid any of them from the learning experiences.

My point is all children even ones that are always homeschooled, live together and are each others best friends..have completely different personalities and learn at a different pace..They have their own interests, strengths and weaknesses just like we do as adults. What works for 1 kid does not always work for another. So please don't beat yourself up because your DD cannot read. The truth is that at this age, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you are giving her the tools, love and confidence she needs to grow into a happy well adjusted person of her own.

As for a what to teach, well there are really no Pagan centered programs. Most hs Pagan families I know just omit the religious stuff from whatever program they are using. Circle Go Round is an awesome book for Pagan families with Crafts and Stories for any age group that you might wanna check out at the library. The library is the best tool for any HS family! We check out lotsa books and make copies of worksheets and things my kids find interesting. At this level I would focus on the core stuff. Your family is going to go through many changes and adjustments while you figure out what works for you as a whole so I wouldnt stress the little stuff! On our budget we bought Click N kids (on a total whim #2 thought it was cool) for $60..which is good forever, through all kids with 3 already and 1 on the way it was a good deal..and when/if we ever get done with it we can transfer it to someone else. We also use time4learning (much debate about this but its a great place to start if your kids like computer games and you don't have the budget for the more expensive programs) its $20 a month for the first kid and $14.95 a month thereafter..ours is $34.90 a month and they have worksheets you can print out to go with the lessons, there are also tons and tons of free sites (starfall.com) for worksheets on math/phonics,science themes, arts and crafts etc..I usualy do a mass printing once a week for the kids to pick and chose the stuff they want to work on. We focus mainly on Math and reading as "structured" around here, science is all natural and child led (we use google A-LOT for learning about animals,plants trees,space and the weather!) We don't do to much with history other than upcoming holidays or if the kids want to learn about a different culture we study up on the culture (ie the kids wanted to learn about china so we googled china, and got out some books about china and did some artwork about china and made a traditional dish) Music and Art again child led, To much structure takes the fun out of it IME. We did try a more structured approach through a k12 virtual academy but after 2 weeks it just wasn't working for us..and we scrapped it for our original program we do the worksheets though for the attendance requirement at least until we pull them

To give you an idea (gods I hate schedules!) our day looks something like this (we do school 7 days a week because we believe the learning never stops):

Mom wakes up has coffee to be nice to kids!
Kids start waking up..Big bragging rights for the day of the one who wakes up first
breakfast
Kids computer time-the kid that wakes up first gets the computer first. 1 lesson each on click n kids and 1 bubble each on time4learning or in the case of the 3 yr old 30 min of starfall , Mom does housework.
Lunch and playtime!
Dinner
Baths
Worksheets/coloring
TV time (nick Jr usualy)
book time-The boys can grab any book/magazine/comic they like to "read", usualy an audio book for my older son and a comic for my younger. My DD likes to listen to me read so I read to her (the boys hate it and will interrupt every 10 seconds)
Bedtime-In our house we dont enforce a sleeptime, we enforce that by 11 they are in their rooms for the night. They can play quietly or read books. They just cannot be running around the house! (this I am sure is different for everyone, we are on a 3rd shift kinda schedule so our kids are not normal go to bed by 8pm kids if we did that we would never sleep!)

So there is my book, I hth in some way..just remember your not alone!

[sahmmie]

I looked at the law in Tennessee and it looks to me like you will have to pay a fee of no more than $80 to file your intent after the cutoff date of Aug. 1st. Homeschooling laws can be very ambiguous! I've called HSLDA a number of times to clarify the law in my own state. Perhaps you can give them a call to see if you can withdraw her now and start homeschooling. I'm quite sure you can. Here's their website. www.hslda.org Good luck. Homeschooling is wonderful!

[CariOfOz]

Wow, it would chafe a bit for me too if the govt dictated that you had to be affiliated with a church to homeschool in my state (Pagan hs'ing mama here too only in Australia!)

First off, I'm not a wellspring of patience either, as you put it but we make do! The beautify of homeschooling is that when you OR your dd need a break, you can take one.

This is the tail end of our 2nd full year homeschooling (half of kinder too on top of that) and my biggest suggestion is to keep it simple to start off! You said your dd cannot read yet and that her writing is a struggle as well. Maybe start off with that. I use Headsprout (web based phonics) for my 5yo, but there are many options. Starfall is also online, and is free I am not familiar with a lot of the US based programs so hopefully someone can help you out! I downloaded, from somewhere.. will try to chase that up, some writing readiness worksheets that I printout for him as well. They have been great helpers for working on his fine motor skills and in turn his writing is coming along much better.

You said she's distractable... so keep it short! Tailor your focused learning time with her to about 15mins at a time, then do something active for a little bit. This helps me a lot with my 2 wild children

I wouldn't get too fussed about making a designated school room As much as I would love to have one (mainly so we could have a space to store all our stuff and keep the destructo 3yo out of it when it's not in use!), it's not really necessary. As long as you have a little bookshelf and a table somewhere, you're all set to start Eventually you'll have more hs crap than you can shake a stick at hehehe THEN you'll be needing that room so your house isn't over run (if you're like me anyway!)

You really won't find much at all in the way of pagan based curriculum sadly... I looked as well when I started! My answer to that is to use books like Circle Round to add a bit in the way of spiritual ed. For everything else I just look for secular stuff, which IS out there.

Have you had a good look at the different 'styles' of homeschooling to decide what you think you & your dd might like?

THere are things like time4learning, which is online based and does language & math basics I think. It's 'cheap' in terms of initial outlay as it's paid monthly at 20$ a month I believe. So no big outlay to start up, which might be helpful. There is also math mammoth, which I've heard is pretty good, and is very affordable.

Good luck!

[luvmybaby333]

Thank you all so much for the detailed responses. I really appreciate everyone sharing their POVs. Thanks also for all the links. I haven't visited any of the them yet, but I will very soon.

You've raised a good point about "deschooling" her. I've heard it mentioned before... but I wasn't sure what all it entailed. She's been very excited about the prospect of homeschooling ever since we asked her about it the other day. We told her that we would leave her in until after Christmas so that she could finish out the semester and enjoy the "holiday" activities, but she said she's okay with coming out now. LOL. My DH is on board with whatever I decide, but I was thinking that I would need to wait until after the holidays so that I could gather myself and get everything "planned" out. I was afraid that if I didn't start right away that we would not meet the 180-day compulsory attendance law for our state.

On the note of "deschooling" I should mention that she woke me up the other morning by calling me "teacher". Then later in the day she asked if she could call me teacher. Of course I said that she should call me mommy. That while I would soon be her teacher-- I was her mommy first and foremost. I guess that speaks to the idea that after even just 1½ years she will need to be deprogrammed. She's not the only one, though. I feel as if I'm having trouble getting rid of the ideas of strictly scheduled school. I guess it will be quite the "learning process" for both of us. My only concern is about how it will look on the books during the process. If we pull her out after next week, she will be unschooled for about 3 weeks worth of public school time (the rest of the time until January is vacation time.) I'm still confused about how that works. How do you keep track of what you're doing? How would they know? Boy, I wish I lived in another state that wasn't so strict about homeschooling.

I'm very glad to hear that she's not horribly off-base as far as her knowledge level goes. I think that my concern is definitely based on my preconceived ideas of what the public school system expects. As for my "patience" is does follow that if I maintain a relaxed attitude (NO pressure) then I have no reason to get frustrated. What's the rush? Why do I feel as if I'm on this crazy time-limit and if she doesn't know how to read or write a "d" neatly by a certain time then we both will be branded as failures??? It's crazy that I feel that way, and it's even crazier that I momentarily entertained the idea of carrying that pressure over to our homeschool life. That would be contrary to the entire point, wouldn't it? Every child learns at their own pace and in their own way. I need to take a moment to compose myself and realize that Ambrosia will do what she needs to when she's ready.

Last night I went over her final grade-card from last year. I can see what is "expected" from children her grade-level and she seems to have mastered to almost all of it. I suppose that leaves us free to move on to some First-Grade curriculum. Someone directed me to THIS site for math. It has printable work-books. As for reading... Over the summer I was actually using the Starfall site to try and teach Ambrosia to read. She seemed to be having fun with it... but I was pushing her too hard, I think. She does not respond well to pressure and I'm afraid that I was applying it so that she would learn to read before school started. Clearly it didn't work I'm hoping that it had more to do with MY interference than the site itself. The site seems to be pretty great and it's FREE. (Which is nice.)

To aslyn- I did actually find one site that has Pagan curriculum. I would have used them as our umbrella school but they are not accredited with only MY state of all states. (Go figure, right?) I could still purchase the curriculum, but since we have to pay for our admission to The Farm School Satellite program already, as well as buy whatever supplies we'll need, I really don't want to drop a large amount into an entire program that I'm not sure will "work"... IYKWIM?

I like the idea of basing science and stuff on her specific interests right now. She LOVES animals and really enjoys watching Animal Planet. I think that would be a good place to start. I really wish our library weren't so pathetic, though. I'm afraid that our resources in that respect will be somewhat slim, but I suppose it can be supplemented with the internet.

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by sahmmie

I looked at the law in Tennessee and it looks to me like you will have to pay a fee of no more than $80 to file your intent after the cutoff date of Aug. 1st. Homeschooling laws can be very ambiguous! I've called HSLDA a number of times to clarify the law in my own state. Perhaps you can give them a call to see if you can withdraw her now and start homeschooling. I'm quite sure you can. Here's their website. www.hslda.org Good luck. Homeschooling is wonderful!

That only applies if you file your intent before September 1st. Before August 1st there is no fee. Between August 1st and September 1st there is a max fee/ fine of $80 ($20 per week, I believe.) After September 1st there is no option for traditional homeschooling. The only options are transferring to a distance learning program/ private school online or to set yourself up with a church-affiliated umbrella school. Fortunately "The Farm" is considered a Church, but they require no statement of faith and are not, in fact, religiously based. I am very relieved to have found them. My DH was not willing to compromise by associating ourselves with a local Christian Church just to fulfill the ridiculous requirements of our Bible-thumping state laws.

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

Wow, it would chafe a bit for me too if the govt dictated that you had to be affiliated with a church to homeschool in my state (Pagan hs'ing mama here too only in Australia!)

First off, I'm not a wellspring of patience either, as you put it but we make do! The beautify of homeschooling is that when you OR your dd need a break, you can take one.

This is the tail end of our 2nd full year homeschooling (half of kinder too on top of that) and my biggest suggestion is to keep it simple to start off! You said your dd cannot read yet and that her writing is a struggle as well. Maybe start off with that. I use Headsprout (web based phonics) for my 5yo, but there are many options. Starfall is also online, and is free I am not familiar with a lot of the US based programs so hopefully someone can help you out! I downloaded, from somewhere.. will try to chase that up, some writing readiness worksheets that I printout for him as well. They have been great helpers for working on his fine motor skills and in turn his writing is coming along much better.

You said she's distractable... so keep it short! Tailor your focused learning time with her to about 15mins at a time, then do something active for a little bit. This helps me a lot with my 2 wild children

I wouldn't get too fussed about making a designated school room As much as I would love to have one (mainly so we could have a space to store all our stuff and keep the destructo 3yo out of it when it's not in use!), it's not really necessary. As long as you have a little bookshelf and a table somewhere, you're all set to start Eventually you'll have more hs crap than you can shake a stick at hehehe THEN you'll be needing that room so your house isn't over run (if you're like me anyway!)

You really won't find much at all in the way of pagan based curriculum sadly... I looked as well when I started! My answer to that is to use books like Circle Round to add a bit in the way of spiritual ed. For everything else I just look for secular stuff, which IS out there.

Have you had a good look at the different 'styles' of homeschooling to decide what you think you & your dd might like?

THere are things like time4learning, which is online based and does language & math basics I think. It's 'cheap' in terms of initial outlay as it's paid monthly at 20$ a month I believe. So no big outlay to start up, which might be helpful. There is also math mammoth, which I've heard is pretty good, and is very affordable.

Good luck!

Thanks for your response.

The only reason we are discussing a "school room" is because space is at a premium throughout the rest of our house. We have an unfinished sun-room that I think would be the PERFECT place for learning. It's bright (duh, LOL) and can be closed off and quiet if necessary. The rest of home is pretty open except for the bedrooms, which are way too small. We have trouble finding a place to store our craft supplies and her finished work as it is, so I think this will just be a good excuse for us to clear the junk out of that room and finish it up. While we're waiting, though, she can use clipboards and such like we're doing now. It's just that my DH is getting really excited about all of this and he really enjoys the idea of setting up a special learning/ craft/ D&D room. LMAO!

As far as all the different "styles" of homeschooling... trying to figure it all out is giving me a brain-ache. I do think we will need some elements of structure. Right now I live a very unstructured lifestyle as my DH works seconds and that has thrown me and the baby on a very whacked-out sleeping schedule. On the days that my ODD goes to school the baby and I will wake up as late as 1pm. I really NEED to turn this around if I'm going to be productive. It's kinda "all or nothing" for me. Either I have NO structure, or I need to have a neatly structured dayplan. I can account for variances, but the base-line structure has to be there. At the same time-- I'm not really sure what works best for Ambrosia. I just know that she needs the one-on-one attention. As for the rest... I guess I'll just have to figure it out as we go.

I dunno. I think I will focus on the reading and writing for now. I feel that once the doorway to reading opens up for her, then she'll be more excited about learning in general. I LOVED books when I was a kid and I really want to be able to share that with her. (Okay so maybe it is a little selfish of a desire, on my part.)

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by luvmybaby333

If we pull her out after next week, she will be unschooled for about 3 weeks worth of public school time (the rest of the time until January is vacation time.) I'm still confused about how that works. How do you keep track of what you're doing? How would they know? Boy, I wish I lived in another state that wasn't so strict about homeschooling.

Here's a thread on "Educationese, Reporting, and more for relaxed Homeschooers" I have a feeling it's going to be easier than you might think. There's contact information in that page on Tennessee homeschooling that I linked to earlier - I'd give her a call as well as talking it over with The Farm program. Lillian

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

Here's a thread on "Educationese, Reporting, and more for relaxed Homeschooers" I have a feeling it's going to be easier than you might think. There's contact information in that page on Tennessee homeschooling that I linked to earlier - I'd give her a call as well as talking it over with The Farm program. Lillian

Thanks so much!!!

I will be emailing the coordinator for program this evening. I still have to look over their long application, so the information might be in there.

I'm hoping it IS easier than I'm thinking. I just know that the laws seem so restrictive. This area is so uptight... which is part of the reason why we want to have her at home with us. I hate the idea of such stuffy, close-minded people having so much control over our family. I'm getting so very excited about schooling her at home... but at the same time I'm terrified that I'm going to "mess something up" somehow.

[maybemom05]

I am by no means a homeschooling "expert" but since you brought up reading and your sense of your daughter's "distractability", I wanted to suggest, "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons". You can probably grab a copy from your local library if you want to take a look at it - and you can pick up used copies online for less than $10. The lessons are pretty short - about 15-20 mins. I wouldn't call them especially exciting, but they are short enough that your LO won't get too annoyed by them.

I've also heard GREAT things about Handwriting Without Tears - I haven't personally worked with it, but am planning to get it in the next couple of months (My LO is younger than yours and I pushed a bit too hard on the reading, so right now we're doing more reading aloud and playing outside!!) You can buy some of these materials used online as well.

You've probably already found it, but in case you haven't, Rainbow Resource, is a huge catalog of homeschool materials. It's a fun site to get a better look at curriculum, materials, and assorted goodies.

Good luck with your exciting new adventure!!!!

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by maybemom05

I am by no means a homeschooling "expert" but since you brought up reading and your sense of your daughter's "distractability", I wanted to suggest, "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons". You can probably grab a copy from your local library if you want to take a look at it - and you can pick up used copies online for less than $10. The lessons are pretty short - about 15-20 mins. I wouldn't call them especially exciting, but they are short enough that your LO won't get too annoyed by them.

I've also heard GREAT things about Handwriting Without Tears - I haven't personally worked with it, but am planning to get it in the next couple of months (My LO is younger than yours and I pushed a bit too hard on the reading, so right now we're doing more reading aloud and playing outside!!) You can buy some of these materials used online as well.

You've probably already found it, but in case you haven't, Rainbow Resource, is a huge catalog of homeschool materials. It's a fun site to get a better look at curriculum, materials, and assorted goodies.

Good luck with your exciting new adventure!!!!

Thanks! In my searching I've seen both of those mentioned a lot. I'm especially interested in Handwriting Without Tears, as I have never had the best handwriting myself. I'm really worried about being able to teach Ambrosia. I have carpal tunnel and I'm so used to typing that my hand starts to cramp up after about a paragraph of writing something out.

I've also heard about Rainbow Resource. I used to love looking through their catalogs back when I was an infant teacher for a daycare. I'll definitely be taking a look at their site!

[aslyn]

Originally Posted by luvmybaby333

To aslyn- I did actually find one site that has Pagan curriculum. I would have used them as our umbrella school but they are not accredited with only MY state of all states. (Go figure, right?) I could still purchase the curriculum, but since we have to pay for our admission to The Farm School Satellite program already, as well as buy whatever supplies we'll need, I really don't want to drop a large amount into an entire program that I'm not sure will "work"... IYKWIM?

A word to the wise, stay FAR away from Goddess Moon Circle Academy! carrieofoz and I had a big discussion on this forum a yr or so ago about it so you should be able to search and see that as well as our story on the "cover school" It is an absolute WASTE of money, the program is all links to websites like starfall. The administration is nice BEFORE they get your money but they disappear once they have your check cashed. The site hasn't been updated in years and the headmistress was involved in quite a bit of money being taken from an online forum for a TV show (which I only found because they contacted me through here about my story with GMCA)

The program you choose is a personal decision and there are MANY MANY MANY of them, as well as different ways to homeschool. About once every 3 months my DH and I sit down and discuss what we have been doing, and where we feel the kids are at, whats working and whats not. As well as if there are any new cool things we would like to get for them, and our budget (money is ALWAYS an issue!) If I were in your shoes, I would pay for the cover school..But hold off on buying any program until your sure thats what you want (research research research!). Look on amazon and ebay for stuff that might be of interest to you.

Good luck!

ETA: if sleeping in makes you unproductive I must be the most unproductive person on the planet! our day doesnt even begin until around noon!

[DaughterOfKali]

This thread is fabulous! I recently pulled my son out of public school (1st grade) to homeschool him.

I have some workbooks but no real 'curriculum' yet. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for more ideas!

Nicky- Have you found Handwriting Without Tears online or in a book store?
My son definitely needs help with handwriting.

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by luvmybaby333

Fortunately "The Farm" is considered a Church, but they require no statement of faith and are not, in fact, religiously based. I am very relieved to have found them. My DH was not willing to compromise by associating ourselves with a local Christian Church just to fulfill the ridiculous requirements of our Bible-thumping state laws.

Awesome that 'The Farm' qualifies My dh was a bit skeptical when the distance ed program we wanted to use (it was being specially started for secular homeschoolers) was shot down by our lovely *snark* Minister of Education as UNNEEDED *splat* So the lady starting it was offered the chance by a Christian distance ed school to start an autonomous unit of their school. But they have been really great about allowing us to alter the forms, removing the religious slant if we choose, so we have actually been very happy with the school (yeah, colour me shocked hehe)

t's just that my DH is getting really excited about all of this and he really enjoys the idea of setting up a special learning/ craft/ D&D room. LMAO!

Hehehe if you've got an excited hubby, by all means take advantage! I know I would

As far as all the different "styles" of homeschooling... trying to figure it all out is giving me a brain-ache.

I dunno. I think I will focus on the reading and writing for now. I feel that once the doorway to reading opens up for her, then she'll be more excited about learning in general. I LOVED books when I was a kid and I really want to be able to share that with her. (Okay so maybe it is a little selfish of a desire, on my part.)

lol I think most of us totally understand about the brain ache.. we've all BTDT. Focusing on reading & writing will take you everywhere Especially if YOU read to her a lot, you can cover a lot of topics that way! Stories about seasonal stuff= social studies!, stories about animals can be science , you can even find stories for math. Plus just reading books to her will help her want to read hopefully.

And with that... I'm being told by the boys taht my break is over lol.. it's time to go do history odyssey and our science activity for the day. No fair cause mum is TIRED!

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by aslyn

A word to the wise, stay FAR away from Goddess Moon Circle Academy! carrieofoz and I had a big discussion on this forum a yr or so ago about it so you should be able to search and see that as well as our story on the "cover school" It is an absolute WASTE of money, the program is all links to websites like starfall. The administration is nice BEFORE they get your money but they disappear once they have your check cashed. The site hasn't been updated in years and the headmistress was involved in quite a bit of money being taken from an online forum for a TV show (which I only found because they contacted me through here about my story with GMCA)

The program you choose is a personal decision and there are MANY MANY MANY of them, as well as different ways to homeschool. About once every 3 months my DH and I sit down and discuss what we have been doing, and where we feel the kids are at, whats working and whats not. As well as if there are any new cool things we would like to get for them, and our budget (money is ALWAYS an issue!) If I were in your shoes, I would pay for the cover school..But hold off on buying any program until your sure thats what you want (research research research!). Look on amazon and ebay for stuff that might be of interest to you.

Good luck!

ETA: if sleeping in makes you unproductive I must be the most unproductive person on the planet! our day doesnt even begin until around noon!

OMGoodness!!! Wow. I'm glad I didn't decide to buy their curriculum. That's terrible. Thanks for letting me know! (Talk about bad karma-- It's amazing what some people will do to make a buck. )

So far, that's what I've decided to do. I'm going to pay for the cover school and buy some supplies that I'm fairly certain we will use. Mainly stuff like extra craft materials, a table & chairs, an easel, and a white board for me.

As far as curriculum, I guess I'm going to just keep researching around for what might work until January. When we get Ambrosia's progress report tomorrow I should be able to discern what areas we'll need to work on the most and then we can work from there.

And about the sleeping-- I'm so glad I'm not the only one!!! Our schedule is so messed up. I want to fix things, but in the meantime we all live like college bachelors or something (in regards to our sleeping habits. )

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

This thread is fabulous! I recently pulled my son out of public school (1st grade) to homeschool him.

I have some workbooks but no real 'curriculum' yet. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for more ideas!

Nicky- Have you found Handwriting Without Tears online or in a book store?
My son definitely needs help with handwriting.

I haven't found the book yet. I'm hoping to go to Hobby Lobby and the bookstore next to it sometime this week. I'll be scoping out homeschooling materials. (Books, project stuff, etc.)

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

Awesome that 'The Farm' qualifies My dh was a bit skeptical when the distance ed program we wanted to use (it was being specially started for secular homeschoolers) was shot down by our lovely *snark* Minister of Education as UNNEEDED *splat* So the lady starting it was offered the chance by a Christian distance ed school to start an autonomous unit of their school. But they have been really great about allowing us to alter the forms, removing the religious slant if we choose, so we have actually been very happy with the school (yeah, colour me shocked hehe)
Hehehe if you've got an excited hubby, by all means take advantage! I know I would

lol I think most of us totally understand about the brain ache.. we've all BTDT. Focusing on reading & writing will take you everywhere Especially if YOU read to her a lot, you can cover a lot of topics that way! Stories about seasonal stuff= social studies!, stories about animals can be science , you can even find stories for math. Plus just reading books to her will help her want to read hopefully.

And with that... I'm being told by the boys taht my break is over lol.. it's time to go do history odyssey and our science activity for the day. No fair cause mum is TIRED!

Thanks for taking the time during your brief break to offer words of encouragement.

I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of my excited hubby. He told me he was jealous that I would be doing most of the schooling while he was at work. He sat down and divvied up the subjects with me. We bickered over who would get what. LOL.

We are totally a book-loving family. I hope that if we keep reading to the girls then it will foster the same love of reading for them later.

[hipumpkins]

So far, that's what I've decided to do. I'm going to pay for the cover school and buy some supplies that I'm fairly certain we will use. Mainly stuff like extra craft materials, a table & chairs, an easel, and a white board for me.

You can get an art easel that has a white board. Ours is Melissa and Doug and while it is technically a kids' art easel I use it all the time and so do the kids. It's great for practicing handwriting, drawing, learning to tell time, anything you need and it is their size.

Also we used 100 Easy lessons for my very distractable daughter and it worked great. We didn't even do each lesson all the way as we skipped the writing part. that made each lesson even shorter and less then a year later my daughter is fluent reader. I can't say a grade level b/c I don't know but she can read Magic school bus books and is now moving into chapter books. she just turned 7.

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by hipumpkins

You can get an art easel that has a white board. Ours is Melissa and Doug and while it is technically a kids' art easel I use it all the time and so do the kids. It's great for practicing handwriting, drawing, learning to tell time, anything you need and it is their size.

Also we used 100 Easy lessons for my very distractable daughter and it worked great. We didn't even do each lesson all the way as we skipped the writing part. that made each lesson even shorter and less then a year later my daughter is fluent reader. I can't say a grade level b/c I don't know but she can read Magic school bus books and is now moving into chapter books. she just turned 7.

I thought about that. I like the idea of getting an easel that can be used for multiple purposes... I just need to look around. I doubt that I could afford a M&D one. I'm going to look around at the craft store, though. They may have something similar.

That's great to hear about your daughter. My little girl will be 7 in March and I would love to have her fluently reading at that age. I'm hoping that it just clicks for her. I will definitely be looking into 100 Easy Lessons. That sounds like our cup of tea for sure!

[hipumpkins]

...Also if you go the handswritng without tears website I beleive you can print out the lined paper.
We use this program but Dd still hates handwriting so it isn't a magic bullet.

One thing she did like was something called, "Little scribes" It looks religiious but it wasn't. It does have picture of monk but you can print out cute things for the kids copy on lined paper.
I chose the animal sentences b/c DD loves animals.

Not sure if you do santa but one thing that gets DD really working on handwritng is writng a letter to Santa. (Or if you have another spirit your child might write to)
I'm also getting her a Diary so I am hoping that will inspire more handwritign. As it is she writes only slightly better than her 4 year old brother; the difference is that he LOVES handwriting. It was his choice to learn it.


Also ABC teach has free printable pages for handwritng, math, games, dot to dots...some of the pages you have to member of the site but some are free.