2010-11 MDC Homeschool Roll Call

[phathui5]

With the new homeschoolers starting out this year and the talk of "not-back-to-school," I wanted to start a roll call thread to see who we have with us here this year.

Here's the questionaire:

How long have you been homeschooling?
How old are your children?
What grades would they be in?
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
What outside activities are your children doing this year?

[phathui5]

How long have you been homeschooling? Going into our 6th year.
How old are your children? Almost 10, 7, 5 and 3.
What grades would they be in? 5th, 3nd, K and Preschool.
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: Relaxed, eclectic, classical, real life.
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Life of Fred math for oldest ds
What outside activities are your children doing this year? Homeschool Gym at the YMCA, history book club @ library with other homeschoolers, speech therapy for 5yods

[annettemarie]

How long have you been homeschooling? This is our 7th year.
How old are your children? 11, 9, 6, 3, and twins on the way
What grades would they be in? 6th, 4th, 1st, and preschool
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: Waldorf-inspired, eclectic, gentle
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? To be honest, we're doing bare-bones, do what we can to get by homeschooling this year. My favorite piece of our homeschooling puzzle is our co-op
What outside activities are your children doing this year? Co-op, church choir, community children's choir, handbells, orchestra at the public school, piano lessons, ballet, Sunday School basketball league, and the three-year-old is going to our church preschool three mornings a week. All three older kids are in scouts.

[eclipse]

How long have you been homeschooling?This is our third year.
How old are your children? DS1 is 9, DD is 7, and DS2 will turn 5 at the end of the month
What grades would they be in? 5th, 2nd, and k/pre-K
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:I don't know (that's only three words, do I get a prize? )
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Life of Fred math
What outside activities are your children doing this year? dd is in girl scouts, and all the kids will be taking a few classes at our charter school (Mad Science and Art for all three, Chess Club for ds1, Learning Through Literature and Little Einsteins (more science) for the younger two, plus a Humane Society class and a Lego class coming later in the year). We might add in piano or guitar lessons for ds1, a homeschool PE class, maybe swimming for all three later on - we're still planning it out.

[CrazyCatLady]

How long have you been homeschooling?

This is the start of our second year.

How old are your children?

Just turned 6.

What grades would they be in?

She is in first grade. If she were in public school they would have held her back because of her reading and she'd be in kindy there.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:

Unschooling, bugs, park-days, fun, craziness.

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?

Our local charter school gave us some stuff to use if we want. We're loving the reading and science book (just regular first grade text books). I also like the Learn at Home series.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?

One day of "school" at the charter school. That includes Spanish, library, computers, art, science, theater, geography, and PE (long day). She also takes voice and ice skating lessons. And of course park days with the local unschoolers.

[MrsAprilMay]

How long have you been homeschooling? We've been doing preschool for a while, but this is the first year that we've officially notified the school system.
How old are your children? DD just turned 5 and DS is 2 1/2
What grades would they be in? K and not quite preK
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: eclectic; cozy; adaptable; fun; outdoorsy
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Um...I don't know about favorite book but my favorite learning tool is our nature box. We have a hand-held microscope, magnifying glass, field guides, tweezers, dropper, binoculars, compass and anything else useful tucked away in a tackle box. It's great for impromptu lessons at the park or nature preserve.
What outside activities are your children doing this year? We go to regular co-op once a week and preschool (really for preK-2) co-op every other week. DD is in soccer in the Fall and Spring. We also try to take advantage of all the free activities through our local parks programs.

[akwifeandmomma]

How long have you been homeschooling?

This is our third year.

How old are your children?

7, 4, 2

What grades would they be in?

2nd, pre-K

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:

Relaxed, eclectic, wholehearted, child-centered, life.

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?

Ambleside Online

What outside activities are your children doing this year?

Soccer, church small group, not sure what else yet...

[Dar]

How long have you been homeschooling?
Rain went to kindergarten and to 11th grade in a Russian high school. I don't count the years before kindergarten as homeschooling. So, I guess that makes this our 11th year...
How old are your children?
17
What grades would they be in?
High school senior.
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
radical unschooling, heavily academic, BUSY!
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Barron's World History SAT Subject Test prep book? Rain says her itouch, if that counts.
What outside activities are your children doing this year?

• Rugby, with our local women's rugby team
• Chemistry and French 201 at the community college
• Volunteer internship at the Aquarium
• Weekly Russian class at my university
• Weekly babysitting job

I think that's all, but it seems like a lot! Tomorrow she's heading to a city three hours away to play rugby... luckily the team carpools!

[Daffodil]

How long have you been homeschooling?
This will be our 3rd year.
How old are your children?
DD is 7 1/2 and DS is 4 1/2.
What grades would they be in?
2nd and preschool. (DS actually is in public preschool, but not for schooling. I expect he'll end up doing some kindergarten-level learning at home this year also.)
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Not quite unschooling.
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Does the praying mantis we just caught count as a piece of curriculum? We're all pretty excited about that. DD is also looking forward to having me work with her on more exercises from Drawing with Children.
What outside activities are your children doing this year?
DD will probably do swimming lessons and soccer and some kind of art class. We'll do a lot of downhill skiing and ice skating in the winter. DD may have some ski lessons if she's interested, or she may just ski with me.

[2xy]

How long have you been homeschooling?

This is our 11th year.

How old are your children?

15 and 18

What grades would they be in?

18yo would have graduated from high school this past June. 15yo would be in 9th grade.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: Unschooling, but not radically.

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?

N/A

What outside activities are your children doing this year?

18yo is working full-time and thinking vaguely about college. 15yo is learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

[yllek]

How long have you been homeschooling?
We're starting our 2nd year.

How old are your children?
Just turned 6.

What grades would they be in?
All of ds' work is considered at first grade level or above... with the possible exception of writing.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Eclectic.

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Hard to say. I have quite a few resources that I really like, but nothing is really standing out as a favorite. I'm a big fan of AAS. The CK materials have been surprisingly helpful.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
aikido, swimming lessons, OT, speech therapy, vision therapy, a once-a-week field trip class with other homeschoolers

[Dakota's Mom]

How long have you been homeschooling?
This is our fourth year.

How old are your children?
8

What grades would they be in?
3RD.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Relaxed, Laid Back

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
We love Time4Learning.com. We've used it since the beginning.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
Homeschool Soccer, City League Soccer, Nature Center Classes, Art Museum Classes, Environmental Center Classes, Historical Places. Lots of park days. We have just formed a small coop. We are starting out by studying legos.

Kathi

[newcastlemama]

How long have you been homeschooling? 1 year

How old are your children? 6 and 2

What grades would they be in? 1st

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: relaxed, eclectic, Spirit-led, unschooly

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? We are going to read about kids around the world through Voice of the Martyrs Bold Believers books by country. https://www2.vombooks.com/qry/qe_sto...5629bf11d5c319
I am excited to learn about and pray for people around the world. We are going to listen to their music and cook their foods too.

What outside activities are your children doing this year? Soccer this fall and maybe some indoor climbing this winter. We also do homeschool parkdays and will be joining the Discovery Science Museum and doing some activities there. My son really likes to get out and do things.

[MrsJewelsRae]

How long have you been homeschooling?
This is our 4th year.

How old are your children?
DS is 8, dd is 6, baby ds will be 2 in the fall.

What grades would they be in?
DS is in grade 3, dd in grade 1.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
From unschooling to school at home and everything in between depending on the day! Relaxed and eclectic?

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Hmmm...My kids just LOVE SOTW, which we will be continuing this year, we're almost done the first book, will start on the next one before Christmas. For me, I just love reading Linda Dobson's "Homeschooling: The Early Years". It just gives me some fresh inspiration and gets me vamped up- I borrow it from the library every August to give me new ideas. We're also really enjoying the adventures of Swiss Family Robinsons - such a great book, it is so interesting, exciting and educational all in one!

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
Hopefully a round of swimming lessons, skating ever wednesday with the homeschool group, and lots of field trips. We also live on a farm and they are getting educated in farming. We currently have laying hens, 4 turkeys, a duck, and 30 meat birds- the kids are heavily involved in their care and are learning a lot about raising poultry firsthand. They are researching other breeds they want to get. We also do Sunday School and Kids Bible Hour on Monday nights, as well as library stuff.

[Sunflower223]

How long have you been homeschooling?
First official year. We did some preschool-esque stuff last year.
How old are your children?
5, 3, and 1
What grades would they be in?
My oldest would be starting K this year.
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Eclectic
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
What outside activities are your children doing this year?
So far all we have planned is PE at the park with our local co-op. I want to try to fit in some hiking, maybe a family walk each day..

[Marimami]

How long have you been homeschooling?
This is our second year.

How old are your children?
1 DD, age 6

What grades would they be in?
If we kept her in her private school (attended for preschool and partial pre-K), she'd be in first. For public, they changed the cut-off her K year, last year, and would have been a whole 1 week too young, and they were insisting there would be no exceptions. DD would have been miserable.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
eclectic, laid back, secular

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
All About Spelling--my daughter just really loves it. We just started level 2.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
- Two weekly field trip/activity based homeschool groups (all year)
- One weekly topic-based homeschool co-op (all year)
- Weekly cheerleading class through another homeschool group's enrichment classes (ends late Oct.)
- Weekly clay class (hand and wheel) through local art school (ends late Oct) (homeschool and schooled kids)
- Weekly horseback riding (year round)
- Monthly art appreciation class with homeschool group at local art museum (all year)
- 2x monthly homeschool girl scouts group (all year)
- 2x monthly bookclub at library (homeschool and schooled kids)
- Optional weekly park day with another local group

[littlewing]

How long have you been homeschooling?
This is our 3rd year

How old are your children?
8 and 3

What grades would they be in?
3rd

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Relaxed, eclectic, classical, in pjs

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Can I count the library? What about my new dry-erase board that my husband made?

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
He has a 1-day/week co-op where he takes pencil drawing, ASL, guitar, PE and he was taking tennis, but it's been canceled, so we're hoping he can get in the chess class. Also, he's on the little league team, we are members of 2 field trip groups, and this will be his 2nd year of cub scouts.

[earthmama369]

Hey there, everyone!

We've been homeschooling pretty much from birth. DD asked for formal activities at 21 months old, about 5 years before I ever expected to have that conversation. That's a pretty good indicator at how our homeschooling path has progressed since then. Unpredictably!

My children are 5 years old and 4 years old. DD would be in first grade this year, based on the school district's cutoff date, though she would be very much on the younger side. DS would be in preschool.

Our homeschooling style is eclectic, global, and unschooly.

I've ditched the curriculum, but currently my favorite book find is the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History. Both kids are having a lot of fun picking random pages for me to read. The pictures are vivid and make great jumping off points for trips to museums, the library, and our dear friend Google.

Outside activities this fall include piano lessons for DD and gymnastics ("trampoline class, Mama!") for DS. They're also in Earth Scouts together and a couple local playgroups. I run a French exposure class for ages 2-10 and a Sensory Play Day for children on the spectrum and/or with SPD once a month, as well.

[SagMom]

How long have you been homeschooling? 10 years

How old are your children? 10, 15, 19

What grades would they be in? 5th, 10th and the 19 y/o would have graduated high school last year.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: unschooling

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Our most-used resource would be the internet. Also love the library and npr. Favorite resource would be our network of people.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?

All three are target archers. We go to museum exhibits and various theater.

10 y/o is into music--so, he's involved in lessons, workshops, etc. He's also on a bowling league.

15 y/o is continuing with community college classes, is taking an adult school class, is part of a philosophy discussion group, volunteers with two different organizations and will probably pick up a lab experience.

19 y/o is looking for work, but he's also working on opening a woodcraft business. And he coaches archery.

[dairy2dogs]

How long have you been homeschooling?
This is our first year.

How old are your children?
15 (I have a 12 yr old dd too but she's in public school)

What grades would they be in?
10th
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
virtual school connections academy

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Ds's loving all of it but his government class the most

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
going to the wellness center to work out