former homeschoolers now going to school -- 2nd term - Page 3

[Peony]

I posted once or twice on the old thread and figured I'd reintroduce myself. I read your posts freestyler, I'm so sorry.


DD1 is in 1st grade, we homeschooled for pre-school and K. She goes to a small private school that she adores. The school is an interesting one, Christian, but the focus is on outdoor education, mixed age classrooms, and a relaxed environment is what pulled us to this school. We do not share the same religious beliefs so that has been the most difficult for me to handle, but I will say that the Christian aspect is minimal, just 30 minutes of chapel a week and then a couple songs in the morning.

DD1 made such a smooth transition, I still am in shock. She did not want to go to school, but I needed her to. She is not on the same level as other students in reading, she is dyslexic, is still a non-reader, the only one in her room. She has a private therapist that come in 5 days a week to work with her, the school goes out of their way to work with us on this issue. She has never said anything about other students commenting on her "special teacher", the teacher is very in-tune and I know she would never allow it. There are several other students in the school that have the same arrangement. I have been in her classroom before when the students started fighting over who got to read to DD1 during what is supposed to be quiet reading time but someone gets to read to DD1, they all wanted to do it. On everything else though, she is keeping right up. I am amazed, they started doing fractions after X-Mas break and she picked up right up! She went into 1st grade well below K level in everything.


Finding friends has not been a problem, the school goes from K-8th grade and I feel like she hangs out with everyone. Last week was a ski trip for PE and she went off snowboarding with the"big" kids as she calls them. I really can't think of a single issue that has come up during the school year. One of the girls in DD1's class, there are only 3 all together, had a problem with telling DD1 what she could or could not do. DD1 is so much smaller then she is that the other girl would literally pick DD1 up and carry her to where she wanted her to go. The teacher nipped it in the bud quickly, and while I think the other child constantly keeps the teacher on her toes preventing such things, DD1 has remained mostly obvious to it.

[MJB]

Originally Posted by Sneezykids

Who all here is thinking of going back to homeschooling again??

We are!
I would like to homeschool my oldest again next year. I think he was happier at home, and I'm not happy about the education he's getting in school. He was doing 2nd grade math at home last year, but is in a 1st grade class with literally no differentiation in math so he hasn't learned any new math at school. The "social studies" curriculum seems overly basic and I'd rather he be learning history. They haven't helped him with handwriting at all, which he really needs to work on. We're moving to another state where the public schools aren't as good as they are here (although we applied to a magnet school). Also, he goes to his dad's 2/3 weekends and I miss him when I only get to see him from 4-8:30pm and 1-2 weekends a month!

However, I am having a baby in late July/early August and I just can't deal with 3 kids at home this fall. My 4 yr. old was selected for early admission to a private K-8, but we are waiting to find out if he got a scholarship. If not, I will be homeschooling him (1st grade math, 3rd grade reading) and will probably send my 7 yr. old to school. I'm also planning on going back to school to become a nurse-practitioner (need a second bachelor's and a master's), on top of homeschooling and caring for the new babe.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by Sneezykids

Who all here is thinking of going back to homeschooling again??

We are, but then we always planned on going back. At this point, most of Rain's homeschooling is really college classes anyway - we're looking at both the state university and a community college for next year, to sort of round out her homeschooling transcript. She's still not sure if she'll get one from Russia or not... the story there keeps changing. At any rate it will be pass/fail, if she gets one, since in many of the classes she started out understanding nothing.

It's been an interesting year. I saw her go from motivated to burnt out as she struggled with being told to do things she didn't think were helpful to her learning and not being given enough time for the things she did think were helpful. One week she told me that for one of her classes she hadn't completed her assigned homework but had done all of the optional assignments, because they were more valuable to her. I figure it's up to her, really. The Russian system seems big on telling students that they're stupid and lazy and won't amount to much, and while the other 4 kids with Rain didn't seem as affected by this, she really, really didn't like it.... even knowing that it was just how they taught there. I really think she doesn't respect a lot of her teachers...

[annethcz]

I just wanted to update my last post. I realize that some of the things I wrote came out rather adversarial, and I really didn't mean it that way. I just wanted to come up with a mutually beneficial way for my kids to continue at the school that they love. And truly, although there are occasional issues, they love school.

Anyway.... DH and I met with the school director last night. The conversation went really well. She was SO excited about our kids coming back next year. Yes, she was happy about what it meant for the school in terms of funding. But she also made sure to let us know how she (and the rest of the staff) appreciate what our family brings to the school. My kids are leaders, they bring an infectious curiosity and desire to learn to school. Our kids would definitely be missed if we left, and it felt really nice to hear that.

Our demands (LOL) were well recieved. We talked not only with the school director, but also with several teachers about DD1's placement for next year. They were all in agreement that the best placement for DD1 next year would be to officially skip her a grade (she's been unofficially skipped for 1.5yrs) and allow her to move up to the next multi-grade classroom. We did talk about the possible implications, especially when it comes to maturity and social factors. But the fact is that DD1 is already good friends with the older kids, and she has matured quite a bit in the last 6 months and is a leader in her class. We have no desire to push DD1 ahead, but we do want her to be appropriately challenged (her behavior before she was skipped ahead was HORRENDOUS). And we will be open to changing her placement if it isn't working out well.

As for the math curriculum.... all of the teachers and the school director HATE the current curriculum. They have another curriculum picked out, and if the funding is available it will be the first thing that is replaced. We talked with the director about the possiblity of changing the curriculum for just the younger students, and it sounds like there is a good possibility that this will happen. In some ways, I feel like the damage has already been done with my older kids, and I just don't want DD2 to be subjected to the same.

All in all, I'm really happy with the way the meeting went. We were on friendly terms before, we're still on friendly terms, and all is good. I also feel really good about the fact that keeping my kids in school may mean that one of the best teachers at school will keep her job.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by annethcz

As for the math curriculum.... all of the teachers and the school director HATE the current curriculum. They have another curriculum picked out, and if the funding is available it will be the first thing that is replaced.

What are they using now and what do they want to switch to?

Our Update

DD#2 is doing great. She's in the spring musical at the high school (and she's only in 6th grade!) and she is going to district in chess. She is just blossoming in so many ways and having a blast.

She's learning to navigate more complex social relationships. When she homeschooled, she had friends at swim team, friends at homeschool group, friends at scouts, but none of these people knew each other and the relationships were pretty simple. Now she has friends from the neighborhood, friends from her class, friends from her class last year etc. and these different people have issues with each other over all sorts of little things.

DD#1 has now been officially dx'ed with PDD-NOS and has a 504 Plan at school. She's reducing down to 5 (45 min) classes a day to see if that works better for her intense sensory issues. The school staff is great with her and it is WONDERFUL to have a team of people to help me with the complex issues of my special child. I can't really say that she's doing great, but at least I don't feel so alone in trying to figure her out.

[sanssouci]

Peony,
Do you mind if I ask you where you live?
That school sounds so unique!

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by annethcz

As for the math curriculum.... all of the teachers and the school director HATE the current curriculum. They have another curriculum picked out, and if the funding is available it will be the first thing that is replaced.

Have they considered using something like MEP? http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm
There would be some printing costs, but the entire curriculum is free online. It appears excellent.

[mkksmom]

Hi! It's nice to find a thread where people can relate to gong back and forth about hs and ps. I feel like I devote so much time to this issue. I'm a former grade 1 ps teacher, and I sent my dd, now 5.5 yo, to public school for preschool and loved it. I mean it wasn't perfect, but we all adjusted and it was a great experience for her. It was 2.5 hours, 5 days per week and was just the right amount of structure and socialization for her. Then she went on to kindergarten, which was full day. There were more kids, the teacher was only there for about 8 weeks before going on maternity leave and it wasn't a good fit for our family. She was sick for 5 out of the 8 weeks she attended and was stressed out. She stopped reading at home, and she was reading all day before that. They had her in a reading group where she was reading the same books that she had already read with the preschool teacher. Everything they did was a review for her. It was the same type of worksheets each week, just on a different letter of the week. Socially, she liked it a lot when you ask her, but she came home stressed out about social situations every. single. day. She's very sensitive and cannot understand why other kids would call names. She is still hung up on the fact that a little boy called her previously favorite hat "weird." She's that weird kid whose mom packs her healthy lunches and makes her wear a warm coat and a hat if she is cold. We had like no time with her at all. I had just had a baby in September, and she hardly got to kiss on her sister because this was at the peak of H1N1 and she was constantly sick. The breaking point came when I had to take the baby and stay with my parents while dh cared for dd at home with some crazy virus (very high fevers, swollen eyelids and feet). We decided that a year of academic review was not worth the socialization, especially when she was so focused on what the other kids would think of her.

Anyhow, the main issue I had was that it was a full day program, and she is a summer bday so younger than most of the kids. But she is academically advanced and there is no differentiated education there. Even the guided reading program which is supposed to be leveled wasn't being used properly for her. So now that she will be a year older, we are thinking about sending her back there. Really, the ideal is for us to move to the district where I used to teach. I know that if you do not differentiate what you are teaching there, you do not get tenure. However, we aren't in a place where we could move in time for Sept. I wish the school would just let her go to the specials (spanish, art, PE, music, library). Or I wish I weren't such an introvert who hated the idea of getting involved in the hs co-op. I really like the idea of seeing the same kids every day anyhow. I wish I could find a half day program somewhere. Socially she does better when I am not hovering around.

All that to say that I am nervous and undecided and it's draining to try to decide. Just needed to get all of that out.

[LauraLoo]

Lurking.....

I pulled my ds out of school 1 1/2 years ago when he was in 2nd grade. He was begging (understatement) to be HS'd. Now he's asking to go back to school. We've been talking it through - what it would mean for him. This would be a different school than the one we pulled him from.

DD goes to PS, and she's happy. I'm processing.

[LauraLoo]

Did I kill this thread?

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

Did I kill this thread?

I don't feel like I have much to say on the whole former-homeschooler thing anymore. We are settled in at school. There are pros and cons, but overal it is the right thing for my kids.

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

Did I kill this thread?

I think the thread waxes and wanes. Dd is finishing the school year, but we will be homeschooling full-time next year. I'm feeling pretty done with the school thing until college.

Of course, dd may want to go back and get the traditional high school experience and we will revisit the issue. I'm just hoping she doesn't. LOL

We're both tired of all the time spent on standardized testing, the drill on topics that cover a list of state mandated benchmarks with no time for deep discussion, really poor state-mandated textbooks, etc. She's gotten a lot of positives from school as well though. She loved the whole science fair experience (went to regionals and her paper won an award). She knows now that she can handle the whole class routine, take notes, keep up with assignments, etc. She's learned the importance of paying attention to details and catching her careless errors so that others know that she knows the material. She will have 4 credits from a highly ranked high school to put on her homeschool transcript. She's had two really good teachers, a mediocre one, and one that was really pretty bad. She's managed to maintain a good relationship with all of them. She's learned that she can hang with older kids comfortably.

We'll keep tuning in and see how it goes for everyone!

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

I'll come out of lurkdom No PS yet but we're getting ready for the transition and I like reading the posts with others' experiences.

We're a homeschooling family. We did it on our own for 2 1/2 years, then switched to a virtual school in February of this year. DS will be in 3rd grade next year and I'm 95% sure that he'll opt to go to public school. I'm nervous (as is he) but we do agree that he'll enjoy the social aspect. The virtual school has been good for getting him aligned with the PS 'standards' so we don't have to worry about the 'getting caught up' that was my original fear. DD will still be doing school at home (at least 2 more years.) I think that having them split will be the most difficult stage so far. Living both the PS and HS life...

I've enjoyed HS for the most part but I think we're ready for the next stage.

[SoCaliMommy]

Alex is still struggling her way through 1st grade, finally got part of the evaluation results which was saying ADHD-Inattentive type,auditory processing disorder, and significant speech delays.She qualified for Special Education Services under the primary eligibility "Specific Learning Disability" and a secondary eligibility of "Speech and Language Impairment". and it goes on to say how " Alexandria's needs cannot be met through general education services or intervention alone, and that Alexandria requires special education services. Furthermore, Alexandria can be expected to comply with school rules and procedures that are implemented for all students. "

She came home last friday with a slip saying Lunch Detention and it said " Alexandria is having a hard time with following school and classroom rules "

[LauraLoo]

I'm glad to know that I didn't kill this thread! lol. I should probably go and find the 1st term thread so I can process a little more. I kind of feel like my ds has given me a pink slip

In some ways, I think this is a positive personal growth step for him. I am very afraid that he will not be challenged and this is what caused us some big problems before we pulled him out of PS. He will be in the highest grade at his school (4th grade is as far as the elementary goes) and I recently found out the they have eliminated any accelerated or differentiated programming due to budget constraints. We are too late to be put in the lotteries for any nearby districts that still have accelerated programs and I do not want him to go to middle school as a just barely 9 year old. I am in the process of setting up an observation day(s) with the school and finding out if p/t enrollment is an option. At least this time I fully know what our options are if school doesn't work out!

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by SoCaliMommy

She came home last friday with a slip saying Lunch Detention and it said " Alexandria is having a hard time with following school and classroom rules "

I got it put in my DD's 504 Plan that she is not to be given TOW (lunch detention to complete homework).

If the issues that your DD is having are directly related to her dx and the detention isn't going to help, then it is worth advocating for.

At the same time, I'd find out exactly what she was having a hard time time and work to come up with a plan to get to the root of the problem.

[SoCaliMommy]

I plan to find out why, it was issued by one of her teachers, she has 2, they split the week up. I plan on going to talk to the teacher that gave it tomorrow about it if she's there.

[coleslaw]

Subscribing...

I put a post on the homeschooling side, but now realize that you are all over here. After always homeschooling my 9yo and 3.5 yo, we are doing school next year. I'm so scared and so sad, but also hopeful, if that makes any sense. I'm burned out, so in one sense I'm relieved, but still sad. I feel like I didn't have what it takes to something so extrordinary. Anyway, it was my daughter's idea, so it's kind of like I was fired. She wants to be with friends and she is concerned that she isn't learning what other kids her age are. I understand. She will know kids at the public school from Girl Scouts. Ds is going to preschool (I planned that to have more time with DD - oh well!).

I went to a bookstore last night and got so sad thinking of all of the books I would have gotten excited about showing her, buying to learn about with her, etc. Of course, I'm not letting them know how I feel.

Anyway, it's good to read other's experiences. It's given me a lot to think about and prepare for.

[aslyn]

The munchkins brought home report cards Thursday.

Rowan (k) is kicking butt..he got all S's (the equivalent of A's I guess) and a comment from the teacher about how he is a wonderful addition to the class and a joy to have as a student. He has won "student of the week" and "Outstanding Behavior" awards and is very happy in school.

Kira (2nd) had all N's (the equivalent of all f's) except for Art,Music,Gym. They are still using her "tier 3 intervention plan" which includes a modified cirriculum until the evaluations are complete. The school psychologist will be sending home the report on the 19th, We had to make an adjustment to assess her fine and gross motor skills as part of the evaluation so that and the IQ test will be done on the 14th. The school has been awesome with her but I'm still wigging out as I know this is a looong drawn out process, but it feels like an eternity!

School has been good for them, and we plan on sending them again next yr.

[earthflower]

we are probably going ton do charter school next year~ been schooling for 3years and I don't want him to get burnt out already plus its ds2's turn for preschool~