I am considering home schooling my 3rd grade dd.

[addieamama]

I am overwhelmed! I am not sure I could do it by myself. She has had 3 fabulous in a public school with amazing teachers. I wish the teachers were treated and payed like royalty!! I wish they were not struggling and over worked with WAY too many children in the class. 3rd grade is very different from k-1st. My daughter is starting to be frazzled, unfocused and her creative left brain is currently being set aside for the non stop testing. Thanks and any advice would be great.

[Gem0406]

3rd grade was where it all fell apart for us at public school - and yes it coincides with the "real" scores on benchmark testing.  I saw it coming (after visiting with 3rd grade parents and visiting the classrooms) and we did not even start 3rd grade - we made the decision to home school over the summer.

We had a great year - I started with a boxed curriculum but we soon found the confidence to go off on our own and adopted a Charlotte Mason style that has been a revelation.

After that year, we thought we had had a good time and skipped the "bad" grade, so we went back to pub school for 4th grade.  Wow.  We were so used to things like writing for pleasure, following our own curiosity, reading on a subject until we were satisfied, getting plenty of sleep, playing outside as much as we wanted, visiting family whenever we pleased, oh I could go on but I think you get my meaning LOL - lets just say it was a difficult adjustment.  

Now we are back at home - doing remedial math for dd10 and catching up on reading skills for ds6.  I am not a full time coach for benchmark testing and I don't plan on volunteering for that position any time in the near future.  I will confess that the kids and I do miss our school friends - we could try harder to make play dates, but we are homebodies.  It was just so easy to see those people at school.   I am not in fear of the kids being poorly socialized - quite the opposite!  The social situation at school is a nightmare.  It is more a case of having to make an effort to maintain relationships.

I say go for it, if you feel led to bring your child home.  Do learn about "de-schooling" (taking time off to get into the rhythm of being at home, not school), and do start light and add subjects as you find your feet.  Do try to regain the creativity that has no measure on the benchmark, therefore little value in the school classroom.

Good luck!  Have fun!

Gem 

[addieamama]

Thanks so much Gem. That really helps. I am going to do as much "homework" as I can on HS. I have many fears. I would be learning right along with her, that is for sure. I am no whiz in school at all and always was a terrible student. I have always believed so strongly in education, particulary public school and never thought I would consider HS. My DD is just like her dad, very smart, very artistic and creative, and cannot take tests at all....

Thanks again,
Melanie

[mommy2maya]

My daughter had a rough first half of third grade, but by january she was back in her comfort zone.  Fourth grade has been very much better than third grade.  

[Lisa1970]

3rd grade is the year I have said no way each time. It is really the high pressure test year. My children are quite smart, always scored top when tested (usually earned 100% on TAKs and one would score 94th %ile on ITBS and the other 99th %ile ITBS composite) so I was not concerned about what their scores. But the schools would do practice tests over and over. I mean literally, they would spend entire days doing pretend TAKs tests. They would tell the children over and over again that these tests were hard and if they did not get good scores, they would be flunked from the grade and have to repeat the entire year. The pressure was over the top. Kids who would have otherwise passed, would fail. The kids learned nothing that year because all their time was spent on taking and retaking sample tests. My sister, who teaches in this district, is forced to give practice run throughs each week. She is in an exemplary school and the pressure is all the more there. Of course, I am not sure there is less pressure elsewhere. They won't allow anything to be taught or done that is not on the TAKs. This means no spelling, grammar, handwriting, math facts, etc etc etc. (math is done with the calculator on the TAKs so they do not need to know how to really do math, just to push buttons on a calculator). It is just the worst year. And it does not get better.

[addieamama]

We started home schooling on January 10th. I have no idea what I am doing. I am pretty sure we are doing the right thing. Just looking for our groove!

[jeffsdear]

Congratulations! I am sure you guys will do great! Enjoy your time together :)