I have three kids ages 7, 6 and almost 5 (January 3rd and my baby turns FIVE!!) All three do very well in school for math and reading and even my 4 year old reads a little. Of course, she's always been ahead for her age....I'm sure that's due to learning from her big brothers!! 
Anyway, even though they do well academically, they are getting in trouble behavior-wise. All three of my kids are off the chart extroverts, very high energy, (been diagnosed with ADHD) learn easily but are bored. They aren't the types that learn by sitting down and shutting up. They are very curious kids and love to explore and do hands on tasks.
During the summer months, we move up to our beach house. This is where they truely thrive. All day long, they are outside in the woods, finding different bugs, worms, frogs, etc. They flip over rocks in the nearby river and catch all sorts of interesting things and we keep them in a bucket to observe them for a couple days before letting them go. We look up the creatures in a book, identify their body parts and what they might eat....and what may eat them! They love to work with legos, building blocks, do puzzles, LOVE dinosaur facts, going to the zoo and learn about life through experiences, not books.
We moved to this area because of the exemplary "blue ribbon" schools yet I'm having a hard time with how they are learning and what effect the school is having on them. I'm concerned with the constant punishments at school effecting Dakota's (my oldest) self esteem. He kicked a block of ice on the playground and the teacher put him on the "timeout wall" for the rest of recess, his music teacher calls me and tells me that he got a "consequence" for not raising his hand before speaking and his reading teacher told me that he had to miss out on a group activity because he hugged another student.
I know that certain behaviors are expected and that he does need to keep his hands to himself and listen to the people trying to teach him however I don't think isolating him and punishing him for his lack of impulse control is the answer. I'm not trying to make excuses for him but honestly, being quiet, being calm, sitting down, reading instead of doing just doesn't come natural to him. He works very hard and is often upset with himself for disappointing his teacher. A few times he has smacked his head and said, "My brain just won't listen to me mom....I hate it!" That makes me so sad and just breaks my heart to hear that.
Anyway, I wondered if you ladies think homeschooling would be the answer. I have so many ideas about where to take them, how to show them experiences, letting them run around and DO things and having their "massive amounts of energy" utilized instead of supressed.
I have a few questions regarding Michigan homeschooling laws, different curriculums, co-ops, unschooling, etc. I have been reading the posts here and they are really full of information! It might take me a few days to look at all the websites posted but if anyone in metro Detroit homeschools, I'd appreciate your input!
Any advice is welcomed! Thanks for reading all of this.
Jen
Anyway, even though they do well academically, they are getting in trouble behavior-wise. All three of my kids are off the chart extroverts, very high energy, (been diagnosed with ADHD) learn easily but are bored. They aren't the types that learn by sitting down and shutting up. They are very curious kids and love to explore and do hands on tasks.
During the summer months, we move up to our beach house. This is where they truely thrive. All day long, they are outside in the woods, finding different bugs, worms, frogs, etc. They flip over rocks in the nearby river and catch all sorts of interesting things and we keep them in a bucket to observe them for a couple days before letting them go. We look up the creatures in a book, identify their body parts and what they might eat....and what may eat them! They love to work with legos, building blocks, do puzzles, LOVE dinosaur facts, going to the zoo and learn about life through experiences, not books.
We moved to this area because of the exemplary "blue ribbon" schools yet I'm having a hard time with how they are learning and what effect the school is having on them. I'm concerned with the constant punishments at school effecting Dakota's (my oldest) self esteem. He kicked a block of ice on the playground and the teacher put him on the "timeout wall" for the rest of recess, his music teacher calls me and tells me that he got a "consequence" for not raising his hand before speaking and his reading teacher told me that he had to miss out on a group activity because he hugged another student.
I know that certain behaviors are expected and that he does need to keep his hands to himself and listen to the people trying to teach him however I don't think isolating him and punishing him for his lack of impulse control is the answer. I'm not trying to make excuses for him but honestly, being quiet, being calm, sitting down, reading instead of doing just doesn't come natural to him. He works very hard and is often upset with himself for disappointing his teacher. A few times he has smacked his head and said, "My brain just won't listen to me mom....I hate it!" That makes me so sad and just breaks my heart to hear that.
Anyway, I wondered if you ladies think homeschooling would be the answer. I have so many ideas about where to take them, how to show them experiences, letting them run around and DO things and having their "massive amounts of energy" utilized instead of supressed.
I have a few questions regarding Michigan homeschooling laws, different curriculums, co-ops, unschooling, etc. I have been reading the posts here and they are really full of information! It might take me a few days to look at all the websites posted but if anyone in metro Detroit homeschools, I'd appreciate your input!
Any advice is welcomed! Thanks for reading all of this.
Jen
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To me, two of the best things about homeschooling are spending time with my child and nurturing his love of learning.
: I remember that, now. It was a dumb rule.
