Starting to homeschool for 7th grade

[dziejen]

Has anyone had experience with starting to homeschool a child after they have completed sixth grade?? Will you continue for high school? I have been gathering info about homeschooling my children and I am scared that I couldn't handle starting with my oldest dd but I would be thrilled to make it work for our family and dh is on board too. My other children will be 7yrs (she is in first grade now) and 9 months in September when we would start. Thanks for your stories!

[jadedone80]

Congratulations on your decision!

I can't really give you any suggestions because we have always homeschooled.

One thing I have heard is that children being pulled from PS should have "down time." I think it is something like one month for every year in school.

There is an awesome book titled The Teenage Liberation Handbook, by Grace Llewellyn that give you some good information on starting to homeschool your 7th grader.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

[Theoretica]

My oldest came home around that time, she's graduating from homeschooling this year. I was going to recommend the TLH but the pp beat me to it! Great book....AWESOME for parents and teens.

Bellevuemama

[Prane]

I started homeschooling ds at the begining of 6th grade. We were both a bit unsure at the begining but I think it has been the best thing for our family. We began homeschooling because we were uncomfortable wth the middle school ds would have had to attend but since then have realized how positive homeschooling is and we are actually bringing my dds home as well. Even though we moved into this house for the great elementary school.
As for high school we are taking things a year at a time and we will see what happens. Something I have seen as positive starting with an older child has been the sense of doing this together. I started out with a schedule and a packaged curriculum but as we have both become more comfortable we focus more on his intrests and meeting his goals. He is happy with his education and his choices and that has made a difference his self esteem and sense of accomplishment. Not to mention all the yicky middle school stuff you can side step a little if not completely avoid.

[Stinkerbell]

Great answers!

I dont know if you intend on using purchased curriculum or not but we downloaded the Scope and Sequence for 7th grade in our state from the internet. I printed it and it's on the fridge. We use that as a springboard for ideas.

It has helped me feel like I am "starting somewhere" instead of floundering around. We are really unschoolers but I still feel like I want to toss ideas on the table for them to pick up as they see fit. Knowing what the school system has decided to use as curriculum helps me at least bring things I may not have otherwise thought of myself to the front of my attention. For example, "scaling and estimation" is on the math scope and sequence. My son loves medieval weaponry at the moment so we talked a little about how we could scale a wartime weapon to backyard size. This got his gears turning and now he has drawn plans to build a trebuchet.

The Unschooling Handbook has been a great resource for us, too.

[mommy68]

I just started homeschooling my middle schooler again last month. He used to be homeschooled when he was younger. His younger siblings are still in school right now. It was challenging at first and he does get lazy sometimes and lacks discipline and desire to complete tasks but I stay on him gently when I have to. I plan to H/S him for the long haul this time!

Good luck!