2010-11 MDC Homeschool Roll Call - Page 3

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by phathui5

How long have you been homeschooling? This is our 2nd year
How old are your children? 6 and 4
What grades would they be in? 1st grade and not-yet-school-aged
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: relaxed, child-led
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Not sure yet, we are starting later than most and are still awaiting many books. I'm very hopeful that the ScienceSaurus books on order will be interesting, I really enjoy science and the kids asked for several science topics this year--but I don't know how things will actually go.
What outside activities are your children doing this year?

We've got a local co-op, 1 day/wk that is a 50-50 mix of outings and lesson-type activities.

A small group does music & crafts, the themes this fall are time periods starting with music of the 1920s and 30s--I am so glad I have them to lean on, I am not at all musically inclined.

We're trying some classes, mostly science, at the local museum of natural science. DD enjoyed the first 2 classes, DS and I wandered the halls with a friend; I enjoyed having more one-on-one time with him.

[frugalmama]

How long have you been homeschooling? This our first official year, but since birth really.
How old are your children? Just turning 4
What grades would they be in? Here she'd be in Head start, but she places about half-way through K so we're calling it K.
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: Catholic School @ Home with extras
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? We're using CHC and really I love it all except for the religion program.
What outside activities are your children doing this year? HS PE once a week, might add in HS Bowling once a week as well. We don't do much really.

[jlpumkin]

How long have you been homeschooling? This is our 2d year

How old are your children? 8 & 4

What grades would they be in? 3d & PreK

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: relaxed school at home?

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? This year ~ Sing, Spell, Read & Write

What outside activities are your children doing this year? 8yo - horseback riding lessons, piano & girl scouts 4yo- T-ball and hope to start a fun w/ music class in Dec ~ Both enjoy library story time & Sunday school

[AllyRae]

How long have you been homeschooling?
This is our 1st year

How old are your children?
20 months, 3 1/2 years, 6 1/2 years (he's not homeschooled due to asperger's and his therapies)

What grades would they be in?
Preschool (plus Tot School aged. ;-) )

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Montessori, nature-focused, & Vietnamese language/culture

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Worldwide Montessori albums, The Handbook of Nature Center, Maryann Kohl art books

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
The one that's homeschooled is in gymnastics, martial arts, takes 2 classes a week with the homeschool co-op, and has 1 field trip a week with another homeschool group

[chfriend]

How long have you been homeschooling?
They've not attended building school. We registered as homeschoolers 3 years ago.

How old are your children?
9, 6

What grades would they be in?
4th (she misses the cutoff by 5 days) and 1st

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Child led, parent supported

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Reading lots and lots and lots and lots of books together

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
Both: violin; homeschool soccer, horseriding, scouts, art classes
9 year old: training for a spring triathalon, hs group outdoor games, environmental science class, dissection, Sunday school, playing with friends, cartooning class, anatomy class
6 year old: cheer/dance class; running, playing with friends

[chaoticzenmom]

How long have you been homeschooling? This is our 3rd year
How old are your children? 10, 8, 5 and 1
What grades would they be in? 5th, 3rd and k
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: relaxed, but Mom led. Concentration this year in math and history.
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Netflix is by far our favorite "curriculum" this year. We're doing Friday Pizza and Documentary nights and we're all having a lot of fun with it. I'm thinking of turning it into "homemade calzone and documentary nights."
What outside activities are your children doing this year? Piano, guitar, swimming, soccer, science.

[2honeysmamma]

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

How old are your children? 6 and 9

What grades would they be in? 1st and 4th, I think.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: holistic, eclectic, unschoolish, secular, fun!

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Kids: All of Harry Potter
Me: The Story of Us books
All: Our new pet garter snake, Severus Snape.

What outside activities are your children doing this year? 9 year old- piano, french, ballet/tap, soccer and a monthly book club . 6 year old- guitar, soccer. Both- an evolution science class taught at the zoo, a Native American Legends class, and a monthly nature class at our local nature center. My son might do circus and will probably start hockey and my daughter will probably do basketball in the winter. We are doing more outside classes this year than ever before!!

[zjande]

How long have you been homeschooling?
Officially, 10 yrs, since DD was in 4th grade

How old are your children?
19 yo graduate, 12, almost 5, 2.5, 11 months

What grades would they be in?
Oldest is in college, homeschooling my 7th grader, preK, and preschool

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Eclectic, structured

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Everything that's new. lol OooooOoo pretty shiny new curriculum! (Critical Thinking, Hakim science, History Odyssey....)

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
12 yo- Tae Kwon Do, outings with our local homeschool groups

[TanyaS]

How long have you been homeschooling?
We just started our second year.

How old are your children?
9, almost 6, and 4 (I also babysit a 2 year old part-time)

What grades would they be in?
4th, K, and PreK

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Relaxed but not quite unschooling

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
Math-U-See is still our favorite.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
Dance for my two dds
Soccer for my ds
Piano for my oldest dd
Homeschool group...field trips, co-op each semester, and other activities
Sunday childrens church
And they tagalong for my volunteer work with LLL and the state breastfeeding coalition.

[yansmommy]

How long have you been homeschooling? 3 years
How old are your children? 9
What grades would they be in? 2nd Grade
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: Montessori, unschooling, sensory-rich, life
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Inchimals...want to get some numicon again (lost everything in the flood here in Nashville)
What outside activities are your children doing this year? Special Saturdays, Sunday School, Therapeutic horseback riding, My Gym class and starting the Cello with a "Special Strings" program. She's a busy girl!

[LemonPie]

How long have you been homeschooling? 4 weeks
How old are your children? 7, 5 and 2
What grades would they be in? K and 2
Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: Relaxed Classical
What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Math Mammoth
What outside activities are your children doing this year?[/QUOTE] Karate and Gymnastics so far. Will probably add more in as we go along.

[craft_media_hero]

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

How old are your children?
Newly 7yo and 6 weeks

What grades would they be in?
She would be in second grade, though I wish I had delayed K for another year . .. though we might not be hs-ing now if we had delayed, and we love homeschool!!

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Eclectic, classical, creative, spontaneous, positive

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
We love love love our Classical Languages studies, though we have an eclectic mish-mash of materials and go at it in a really creative, non-traditional, and experiential approach.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
Right now, nothing because we are all still adjusting to the new little baby but she usually does her "PE" stuff through our local Parks and Rec and really enjoys those classes, so we will probably get back to that after we settle into our new routine a little more.

[kathymuggle]

Here's the questionaire:

How long have you been homeschooling?

6 years


How old are your children?

14, 11, 7
What grades would they be in?

9, 7, 3


Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:

community based, child led, Unschoolish


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

We love the internet! The library rocks, and we are having learning and bonding over documentaries


What outside activities are your children doing this year?

Swimming, gymnastics and drama. I am sure there is more to come! Ds is currently a young interpreter at a historic village and he is loving it.

[Momma Aimee]

How long have you been homeschooling?

formally this is year one, unofficially 18 months or so

How old are your children?
about to be 5 and about to be 3


What grades would they be in?

doing a pkrk / kindy combo -- 4's abilities are all over the board, the only reason i am official at this point is he has an IEP at the school for speech

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:

causal

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

math games

What outside activities are your children doing this year?

speech therapy at school
maybe other service time at school --
Bible Explorers at church
Sunday School at church
maybe tumbling if it can be fit in to the hours
OT therapy privately
i hope ST privately also

[Needle in the Hay]

How long have you been homeschooling?

My son has never gone to school, but this is our third official year.

How old are your children?
My child is 9.

What grades would they be in?
He is in 3rd grade.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Unschooling with annual home inspections

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
The "You Wouldn't Want to..." series.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
He's taking a weekly soccer class this fall and continuing with swimming classes.

He takes cooking workshops, but there are only about 8 per year.

He is going to try the kids' cinema club next week (it's monthly) and has a workshop at an art museum coming up.

We may add yoseikan budo (just an 8-week course) in a few weeks, but are not sure yet. He'll also continue speech therapy.

He only started getting into activities a little over a year ago.

[MissRubyandKen]

How long have you been homeschooling? 5 years

How old are your children? 10, 8, and 2

What grades would they be in? 3rd and 5th

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less: relaxed, classical inspired, secular, eclectic

What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year? Noeo Science with the Young Scientist Club Kits

What outside activities are your children doing this year? nothing scheduled and set in stone yet this year, aside from the usual trips to the library, zoo, local museums, ymca, cosi, local farm, etc, we are considering karate classes for the two big kids.

[MrsJewelsRae]

I just wanted to add, if anyone is in Ontario, try to find an Imagination Ink center in your area. We have one here and they have some great stuff for kids, they have crafts once a week and a huuuge book table of donated books that you can take as many as you want for free! Ours is open M-F as a drop in center at the mall.

[Jennifer3141]

How long have you been homeschooling?

Since the kids were born.

How old are your children?

6 and 5.

What grades would they be in?

They are both in first grade.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:

Secular classical, with more science than "normal."

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

History Odyssey, without a doubt.

What outside activities are your children doing this year?

We don't do much outside the home. We'll start an art class once a week next month and other than our weekly history co-op and regular playdates with other homeschoolers, that'll be it.

[Citymomx3]

How long have you been homeschooling?
Since Feb 2005

How old are your children?
Ds is 9.5 and is my last one homeschooling. My other 2 children are: Dd-16, who was homeschooled for 8th grade then went to follow her passion at a high school for journalism where she is currently a senior. And Dd-14 who was homeschooled from 3rd-8th grades (ages 8-13) and who is now following her passion as a dancer at LaGuardia HS of Performing Arts here in NYC, where she is a freshman.

What grades would they be in?
Ds would be in 4th grade.

Describe your homeschooling style in 5 words or less:
Charlotte Mason


What's your favorite book or piece of curriculum that you have for this year?
My favorite is the math curricula: Teaching Textbooks 5 and Life of Fred Fractions (we recently started doing "Fridays with Fred" and ds loves it).

What outside activities are your children doing this year?
Theater class (Tuedays 5:30pm)
LEGO Robotics class (Thursdays 12:30pm)
Museum science class (Fridays 12:30pm)
Chess Club (Fridays 4:00pm)
CCD (Sundays 10:45am)
Basketball (Sundays 12:30pm)

[Nazsmum]

How long have you been homeshooling? Birth

How old are your children?5 in Nov/ 2 in Jan

What grade would they be in?Pre/k

Decribe your HomschoolingRelax/unschool

Favorite book or piece of curriculumI like starfall.com and just lots of books from the library

Outside activitiesHomeschool meetup(mom's from MDC) Nature walks, outside play, inside play, play, play and more play