[pattyhenry35]

<p>well today i started homschool my girls and i hope it goes good and it christmas vacation then back to homeschool again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>does anyone have good actives or games or something i can do with girls</p>
<p> </p>
<p>one 14 ones 11 </p>

 

[kittie313]

<p>Remember to take time to decompress from the environment of public school first.  For some kids that could be up to a month or longer for every year they were in school.  I pulled my oldest after half a year in K, and we spent the 3 months of summer break decompressing before we started k12 last school year, and then this year I withdrew her and her little sister from k12 in october and we're still not really totally decompressed from the pace and structure of k12, so we're being SUPER relaxed and easygoing about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That's my biggest advice, give the kids some time to relax and adjust to not having to get up and go to school and deal with all the structure of it all.  Let them hang out reading and doing educational computer/video games, go on field trips, stuff like that.</p>

 

[heatherdeg]

<p>I agree.  Let them just do some fun, but loosely educational things.  Get out to the library once/week and let them hang there for a while--investigating what they like about it, reading a few books, etc.  See if there's a homeschool group that does social meetups (check meetup.com or Yahoo groups for this).  Do some crafts.  Cook with them.  Let them help plan meals and make shopping lists.  Decide how much "screen time" is acceptable for you and your family and allow that (we're starting a system of cards to represent 30min slots that my son can hand in for screen time    ).  Do you have a local nature center you can visit?  Even if you don't, if you're in a place where it's not uncomfortable to be outside--take a nature walk and look at what's different.  At that age, they can really dig into it. Learn how to do something fun together or teach them something fun (my mom was a knit/crochet person and taught us that).  So much fun things you can do that are simulataneously somewhat educational!  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The only structure I might impose at this point is just a morning routine that accomplishes whatever self-care/responsibility you want them to have ongoing (do you want them dressed before snack time?  Do you have them make their beds?  Do they brush teeth after breakfast?)  When we were foster parents, we would have to go through a similar "adjustment" period with incoming kids and really, this was the only stuff that was imposed on them.  VERY BASIC stuff.  Some kids function better with a little predictability and routine.</p>
<p> </p>