[GiantGi]

My oldest is five and has never attended any kind of school setting. We didnt send her to K in the fall due to her age.

My husband is 100% for homeschooling. I am still kind of on the fence but I am leaning towards it myself.

We are involved in a homeschool club locally and we go to homeschool playgroups. I have surrounded myself with great support and have found lots of local families who are homeschooling.

I would say 80% of the time I am so pumped and excited to get this ball rolling. Then, there are the other days where I just dont know if I can go through with this.

I feel overwhelmed with the choices of books and learning styles. I am leaning towards the Charlotte Mason style but how do I know if that is the best choice.

Some days, I feel overwhelmed with my kids and house in general and wonder if my kids would be better off in a school setting instead of here at home. How can I be sure I am doing the best for them?

Then there is the paperwork aspect and having to answer to NYS. What if I screw that up??

If I am having any kind of doubt, should I keep pushing forward or do I throw in the towel?

The best advice I have gotten thus far is to take it one year at a time. I was freaking out about having to teach chemistry or the like but that shouldnt be my focus. We can cross that bridge when we get to it.

So Mommas, will you think back to when you were considering homeschooling? Any pointers or tips you could toss my way?

 

[kewb]

Read Homeschooling: Take a Deep Breath. You Can Do This. This is the book that gave me the confidence (push) I needed to firmly say to dh this is what we are doing. We also view it as an annual thing. This was our first year homeschooling and we love it. Now that we are in the last few months of homeschooling for the school year we discussed as a family if this is working and do we want to contunue. A resounding yes, if you were wondering.

I know a couple of hs in NYS and they tell me even though filling out the reports is a pain it is easy to do. The key, they tell me, is to meet the requirement of the laws. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Autumn Breeze]

I considered it very briefly when my son was prek age, because we intended to send him to school. I found that I had a REALLY hard time teaching him. And we were just working on letter recognition, using 1 letter a week!!! I was also teaching him to write the letters as we learned them and

:

Anyway. So we sent him to school and kindergarten was rough. I questioned my reasons for sending him to school, and wondered if I sent him too early (even though he turned 6 in Kindy!) or if I should have just HS'd from the start.

He made good grades, and learned to read, and loves reading, loves school. I decided it was ok, and as he got older his maturity would help him out at school. First grade has proved WORSE than Kindy. He's a very active child with a very small attention span. His grades are fabulous, but he just has no focus. He disrupts classes, and other students ability to comprehend sometimes! SO, we're pulling out of public school and home schooling next year.

ALL that said to say..I know your delima. There are SO MANY CHOICES out there and how do you know what will work for you!? The truth is you don't know until you try it. I'll be trying a virtual school through K-12 with my son, and even though I've looked at it, and shown him a sample lesson we won't know until we try it for a while if it works.

Keep looking around, look around all the links here in the forum and just read. There are a TON. I think I've had 50 tabs open in one window just looking at everything. I've book marked around 40 links and am adding more every week.

Breath. Look. Don't plan. Not yet. Not until you see something that *you* like.

 

[GiantGi]

Thank you

 

[hipumpkins]

Don't buy anything if you do a test run on the book from library first. This will save you oney and the feeling of, "Well we bought it now we should try and use it"
BTW..my friend uses a modified Charlotte Mason approach and it works very well for her.

 

[wholewheatchick]

This book might help you. I haven't read it myself, but I'm doing interlibrary loan to obtain it. Homeschooling Methods: Seasoned Advice on Learning Styles.

http://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-...9127767&sr=8-1

John Holt's updated book of Teach Your Own might also be a good resource and motivator. I do own that one, but have to finish my other books before I start it! Can't wait to read it, though.

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Own...9127864&sr=1-1

 

[GiantGi]

Thanks for the book recommendations

 

[Lissybug]

Hey Mab

I'm pretty interested in the Charlotte Mason Approach too. Here are a few links I like a lot:
http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml They have a "Year 0" Yahoo group which is pretty helpful, even if you don't plan on using the Ambleside curriculum.

http://understandingcharlotte.blogspot.com/ This gal has four kids (just like you will soon !

) She blogs about her homeschooling in the Charlotte Mason style.

http://www.fresnofamily.com/homeschool/CM.html This has information and links about Secular Charlotte Mason (because I can't remember your religious affiliation right now, so was thinking perhaps this might be useful)

As for being overwhelmed and not knowing if this is the right choice- I certainly have my ovewhelmed day too. Right now Charlotte Mason resonates with me. Her writings feed my soul insofar as my children's education goes, so right now this is the approach I am leaning towards. However, things certainly might change, and I think that's ok. I am happy to start out this journey like this (with lots of time in nature and building good habits, not doing more formal schooling until ds1 is a bit older) If our needs as a family change I think I'll see that (and after many late night obsessive internet reading sessions, lol) I'll find a new way to go.

 

[skueppers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MabMama I feel overwhelmed with the choices of books and learning styles. I am leaning towards the Charlotte Mason style but how do I know if that is the best choice.

Some food for thought:

How do you know that whatever curriculum is used by the local public school will be the best choice for your kid?

I would argue that it's rather unlikely that the public school curriculum will be ideal for your child, simply because it's one size fits all. As a homeschooler, you have the advantage that if Charlotte Mason doesn't work for your kid, you can quite easily just do something else!

 

[treehugginhippie]

subbing.

 

[Plummeting]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skueppers How do you know that whatever curriculum is used by the local public school will be the best choice for your kid?

Wow! I just had a "duh, why didn't I think of that?" moment. We definitely are going to hs, but I have had one family member ask how I'd know that whatever we chose would work and it never occurred to me to ask them that question. I never thought about it at all. Thanks.

 

[GiantGi]

THanks for the links Alissa!

I also wanted to say I borrowed that book, Take a Deep Breath, from the library and I liked it so much I ordered it off eBay and it should be here today. So thanks again for that idea. I have requested the other book recs through interlibrary loan.

I have been doing a ton of research on this and am looking at all the curriculums. I really think I need something layed out for me. At least for the first year. I am leaning towards Oak Meadow but havent made a purchase just yet.

 

[Mizelenius]

It sounds like you have a very good support system already, which is fantastic!

My question is-- if you HS, what is the worst that will happen? Will you always have a clean house? Probably not, but will you if your DD is in school? Probably not!

I am pretty new to HSing, but one of my favorite aspects is that NO decision has to be for forever, inc. the decision to HS. In just 5 months, we have made a lot of changes with how we do things, and will continue to do so as everyone's needs change.

Your DD is only 5. You don't need to buy ANYTHING at this point. Take her to the HS groups, read to her daily, visit the library, play outside, talk to her, etc. You do not need to know her learning style right now. She will tell you if you spend time with her just letting her be. Trust me (and I was a teacher), this time with you is FAR more than she would be getting at school, both in terms of quantity and quality.

One of the best things is that your DD can work at her pace. When my DD was in school, one of the things she was required to do was to complete 33 math problems in 5 minutes. There was no way she could do that-- her hand does not work that fast. It was a big deal, too, according to the teachers, as it would have lowered her math grade had she stayed in school. But, at home, she actually likes working on algebra-- but she still can't write that fast. The good thing is, she doesn't NEED to; she doesn't need to fit into anyone else's arbitrary mold. I am confident, however, that should she need to do 33 problems in 5 minutes for her job as an adult, she will be able to do it. But it's OK that she didn't do it at the age of 6. You can let your child be HER best at home.