Brand new to homeschooling! I have ??? about pulling a child out mid-year... - Page 2

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by 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.

Thanks!!! I'm gonna check out those sites. Printables are the bestest.

I suppose it really does depend on her individual likes and dislikes, though. I was never really able to master handwriting. I can do it, obviously, but I hate it and it's all to easy for me to fall into chicken scratch. I am seeing more and more of myself in Ambrosia as time passes. I shouldn't be surprised if she never gets into handwriting... or if it takes her the next 3 years to learn how to ride a bike. LOL (Poor kid!)

[skueppers]

Regarding reading, you might also take a look at Progressive Phonics:

http://progressivephonics.com/

My daughter has made amazing progress with this program; the "reading together" format really works for her. And it's free!

She's not the type to be interested in explicitly learning the phonics rules and sounding words out. Her eyes totally glaze over. However, with Progressive Phonics, she is internalizing the phonics rules, the same way I did when I learned to read.

[LilyGrace]

Welcome to homeschooling!

I agree with many of the replies so I won't be tedious and repeat it all, but I did want to offer another suggestion for you. At the top of this forum is a book list about children who homeschool. During your deschooling period you may want to check a few of them out at the library. I think looking at the way other people learn can be so helpful for kids trying to break from the school mold. They can see it's okay to be relaxed and do things different ways, with or without a teacher, at home, or in a car, inside or outside. It's just learning.

And, while a school room can be handy to store things, I find we get more actual learning done when we don't attempt to limit ourselves to it. If you walk in our house you'll find a beautiful room filled with books and toys off to the left, with the big armchair nestled in a corner and the library bag next to it. The room is never used. The toys and such are on trays to make them easily transportable to wherever we want to work. The living room couch has been our snuggle spot, rowboat, underground railroad stop..the backyard was one of the best spots for biology and art.. I'm just trying to say give yourself a place to store things, but take advantage of that freedom you have to do anything and go anywhere you want!

[ocelotmom]

Originally Posted by skueppers

Regarding reading, you might also take a look at Progressive Phonics:

http://progressivephonics.com/

My daughter has made amazing progress with this program; the "reading together" format really works for her. And it's free!

She's not the type to be interested in explicitly learning the phonics rules and sounding words out. Her eyes totally glaze over. However, with Progressive Phonics, she is internalizing the phonics rules, the same way I did when I learned to read.

I second this suggestion. My 6 year old was very resistant to every other method we'd tried (Hooked on Phonics, 100 easy lessons, BOB books, Tanglewood's Really Reading, memorizing sight words...). Progressive Phonics has been great for him, and he's made a lot of progress since we started using it.

I feel they work well because the child gets real entertaining "stories" long before they're able to read all the words themselves, and the fact that they don't have to read every single word means that getting through a lesson is less tiring than, for example, trying to read a whole BOB book.

They also have handwriting worksheets, flash cards, and activities to go with each book, which I'm starting to utilize to a greater extent.

And it's all free! Can't beat that!

[Jeannettea]

more ideas

I thought I would post this in case you are like me (I like to make sure I'm not "missing" anything while hs'ing).

I looked this up for you to give you the direct link for your state of TN:
http://www.state.tn.us/education/curriculum.shtml

Go to that site and then click the subject, then from there choose the grade level. You will see then a list of what the state says should be mastered during that grade level.

I print this for my own state at the beginning of every year, and once a week, I look over the subjects' lists and determine if/when we have covered any of the objectives. If so, I write the date beside it. By Christmas, I'm able to see at a glance what I've covered a LOT and what I need to really make an effort to address before the end of the school year so that I get it all in.

A big plus is that you can look up lesson plans for teachers based on grade level, and lots of times they already reference which of the objectives they cover so that makes it easy!

Just a thought! Hope this helps!!!

And please remember - hs'ing is soooooo easy at the very young age you're describing. You're going to LOVE doing it!!!

Also, here's a link to about.com's page for hs'ing in TN:
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/.../Tennessee.htm

[SoCaliMommy]

for helping keep organized
its free
Homeschoolskedtrack

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by skueppers

Regarding reading, you might also take a look at Progressive Phonics:

http://progressivephonics.com/

My daughter has made amazing progress with this program; the "reading together" format really works for her. And it's free!

She's not the type to be interested in explicitly learning the phonics rules and sounding words out. Her eyes totally glaze over. However, with Progressive Phonics, she is internalizing the phonics rules, the same way I did when I learned to read.

Thanks! I'm definitely going to check it out!!!

Originally Posted by LilyGrace

Welcome to homeschooling!

I agree with many of the replies so I won't be tedious and repeat it all, but I did want to offer another suggestion for you. At the top of this forum is a book list about children who homeschool. During your deschooling period you may want to check a few of them out at the library. I think looking at the way other people learn can be so helpful for kids trying to break from the school mold. They can see it's okay to be relaxed and do things different ways, with or without a teacher, at home, or in a car, inside or outside. It's just learning.

And, while a school room can be handy to store things, I find we get more actual learning done when we don't attempt to limit ourselves to it. If you walk in our house you'll find a beautiful room filled with books and toys off to the left, with the big armchair nestled in a corner and the library bag next to it. The room is never used. The toys and such are on trays to make them easily transportable to wherever we want to work. The living room couch has been our snuggle spot, rowboat, underground railroad stop..the backyard was one of the best spots for biology and art.. I'm just trying to say give yourself a place to store things, but take advantage of that freedom you have to do anything and go anywhere you want!

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely have to check those books out. I haven't heard back from our umbrella school yet about a couple questions I had, so I don't know exactly when this process will begin. But it doesn't hurt to go ahead and start thinking like a homeschooling mommy.

I do feel that we will benefit from having a school room. As you said: whether or not we do much of our learning in there, it's going to be important for us to have a place to keep projects and supplies. Space is at a premium in our home and I have to stay super organized or else it all goes to hell. Plus, I feel that Ambrosia will occasionally need to be able to sit down and focus on not-so-exciting work like handwriting practice. Knowing her, she will need to have a bright and distraction-free area to get that work done.

Originally Posted by ocelotmom

I second this suggestion. My 6 year old was very resistant to every other method we'd tried (Hooked on Phonics, 100 easy lessons, BOB books, Tanglewood's Really Reading, memorizing sight words...). Progressive Phonics has been great for him, and he's made a lot of progress since we started using it.

I feel they work well because the child gets real entertaining "stories" long before they're able to read all the words themselves, and the fact that they don't have to read every single word means that getting through a lesson is less tiring than, for example, trying to read a whole BOB book.

They also have handwriting worksheets, flash cards, and activities to go with each book, which I'm starting to utilize to a greater extent.

And it's all free! Can't beat that!

Certainly can't beat free! LOL

Originally Posted by Jeannettea

I thought I would post this in case you are like me (I like to make sure I'm not "missing" anything while hs'ing).

I looked this up for you to give you the direct link for your state of TN:
http://www.state.tn.us/education/curriculum.shtml

Go to that site and then click the subject, then from there choose the grade level. You will see then a list of what the state says should be mastered during that grade level.

I print this for my own state at the beginning of every year, and once a week, I look over the subjects' lists and determine if/when we have covered any of the objectives. If so, I write the date beside it. By Christmas, I'm able to see at a glance what I've covered a LOT and what I need to really make an effort to address before the end of the school year so that I get it all in.

A big plus is that you can look up lesson plans for teachers based on grade level, and lots of times they already reference which of the objectives they cover so that makes it easy!

Just a thought! Hope this helps!!!

And please remember - hs'ing is soooooo easy at the very young age you're describing. You're going to LOVE doing it!!!

Also, here's a link to about.com's page for hs'ing in TN:
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/.../Tennessee.htm

Thank you! That is very helpful!!! I'm going to save the next couple of years and print them off. It really does help to have some sort of guideline to base my own lesson plans off of!