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how do i start

post #1 of 7
9/16/12 at 9:59am
Thread Starter 

i would like to have a 6 month curriculum in place before i pull my DD out of public school and start to HS her.  how do i make a curriculum though\

 

 

My reasons for wanting to HS-

 

1) services offered at school are not very good, and I end up pulling her out any way to get private speech therapy

2) I feel like I dont see my child all day, and when I do she is exhausted and wants to veg out

3) I dont like that they dont have gym or art everyday, so I have evening classes for that, or we do it on our own at home

4) homework--  if im helping her with homework for 30-45  minutes a night, why not just homeschool for a few extra hours

 

 

do these sound reasonable

 

why did you chose to homeschool 

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post #2 of 7
9/16/12 at 6:01pm

First, I would like to politely suggest you read up on deschooling first.  Many children, when coming out of a school environment, need time to decompress and in a sense reset themselves. 

 

I dont know that you need 6 months of a curriculum.  In the beginning, for many, there is lots of trial and error in figuring out what works best for the child (and the parent:) ).  I would hate for you to feel "locked in" if something doesnt work. 

post #3 of 7
9/16/12 at 7:01pm

I agree with greenmagick.  Kids are so programmed to 'school' that going to anything different needs time.  Having a plan is going to be very difficult for both of you.  There is nothing wrong with saying 'kiddo on Tuesdays lets go to the park after speech therapy' or 'lets go to the library on Fridays' type of thing.  But a formal learning plan is a bit much.

 

IDK how old your DD is but she needs to de-school and just 'be a kid'.  Yes, 'be a kid'.  If she is going to speech therapy, give her time to concentrate on that aspect of her life.  If you feel art and physical activity is important than make lots of time for those types of activities.  Learning and can does happen during Art, playground, Speech therapy, library, etc. 

 

Go find a homeschool group, or several groups,  see what other families are doing - just as there are a million different classrooms, there are a million different ways to homeschool.

 

School does not need to happen  M-F 9am-3pm.  We school when it suits us best, that can be weekend evenings!  Right now its Sunday night and kiddo is working on a programming class. (not homework, just the class).  Later he will read for a couple hours.  He was talking about creating some 3-D art on graph paper tomorrow.  IMO that counts as art and math both.

 

I've been homeschooling DS for 7 years and honestly, I don't really have a 6 month plan. 

post #4 of 7
9/16/12 at 7:14pm

I agree with the deschooling, as suggested by the previous poster.

 

As far as making your own curriculum, that's rather a large question and people do it in all sorts of ways.  I would take the time that your daughter is deschooling to check out various learning philosophies and maybe make a list and talk with her about it to see what style she's more drawn to.  That will at least narrow down curriculum options.  Some curricula are full packages with every subject, some you can pick bits and pieces.  You may opt against any curricula at all, depending on what resources you like.  Once you know what direction you are leaning toward, check out curricula that have that follow that philosophy.  If you find yourself liking a little of this and a little of that, then maybe spend a lot of time on MDC reading threads on various resources, or check out www.homeschoolreviews.com.  Also, it's worth checking out Ambleside Online, which is free and Charlotte Mason-inspired.  For each grade level they have great reading lists that I like to browse.  AO also has other subject resources listed if you want to go by that. 

 

For us, we are Waldorf-inspired but I definitely draw from many resources.  I like Oak Meadow quite a bit for a holistic and gentle, nature/arts based curriculum.  I'm also able to buy bits and pieces of it, so I don't have to purchase an entire grade level package which may have bits I don't want.  I also like the booklists on AO and Sonlight.  Rainbow Resource has an awesome catalogue that gives detailed reviews of different curricula.  I also quite like the workbooks from The Critical Thinking Company.  I'm using a language arts workbook and math workbook from there this year and love them.  They are some of the best on the market as far as ease of use, content, size, lay out ... I'm very impressed with them.  We do many hands-on things with our homeschool, like drawing, painting, clay modeling, logic puzzles and games (we love Think Fun games and other logic games like Set).  I have no desire for our homeschool to be dry and boring, so even though I employ workbooks (they definitely have their place since we have a newborn at home at the moment), I don't want to be entirely stuck at the table.  My daughter is 6.75 so we also start our homeschooling time with singing and dancing to keep things peppy.  Not knowing how old your daughter is, I don't know if that would help or not, but it does make homeschooling time fun, even if you are just doing stretches to a CD for 5 minutes each morning.  I kind of like celebrating that what we do is not like institutionalized schooling.

 

I chose to homeschool for many of the reasons you listed--I didn't want to send my daughter off for a big chunk of the day; I didn't like how school functioned or how they viewed the learning process (like testing, homework, etc.); I didn't like the school environment with punishments/rewards ... well, a whole host of reasons.  We wanted freedom and time to relax and be together, and that's just what we have.  

 

Best wishes!

post #5 of 7
9/16/12 at 9:26pm

FWIW, while I agree that you will find homeschooling to be such a different animal from school that you and your child would benefit from "de-schooling", I understand your desire for a plan and structure.

 

Some people transition out of a regular school mode by using boxed cirriculum that has textbooks and is very school-like.  

 

Creative Homeschooling by Lisa Rivero is a good book to look at to consider styles of teaching/learning and to read about a number of people who switched from school (although IIRC most of them left school because their children were not being challenged enough in school).

 

The Well Trained Mind is a good book (which has a giant homeschooling forum) that has a structured style to the learning and lots of suggestions for resources.  

 

So anyways, your reasons to home school sound reasonable.  I generally pick the most positive ones to share with people - for instance that you want to be with your child during the best part of their day and they are so tired in the evenings.  Something that doesn't insult or attack their way of life.

 

For making choices about what to use for each subject, I think finding a topic or two that your daughter really loves and digging into those with her (a "unit study") is a great way for her to learn a lot while you are still figuring out how you want to "do school" with her.

 

Good luck!  It's fun.

post #6 of 7
9/16/12 at 9:46pm
On the administrative side, know your state's law, and plan what you need to do to be in compliance.
post #7 of 7
9/17/12 at 3:00am

I agree with the previous posters as well..

 

I spent the time in August to plan to December, its just plan not going to work. I quickly found that my oldest is great at math and eats it up like its cool.. Shes almost finished the whole years worth of math work and we have only been "doing school" for a month or so. Reading, where I thought she would excel, has been extremely slow going.. I have found the reason for it (she needs glasses) but we are no where near where I thought we would be.. I think its good to have some idea but realize it will probably be thrown out of the window quickly. Thats the beauty of homeschool, you can adjust plans to fit the needs/personality of your child.