Hi everyone! I am a homeschool mom of 2 girls. We have been homeschooling since November of 2004 and love it. I am a former public school teacher and don't know what took me so long to bring my kids home. I have alot of reasons I love to homeschool. Flexibility of schedule, character education, rigorous (but FUN) academics, quality time with kids and the ability for them to participate in things they'd never have time to do if they were in school. My oldest plays piano, tennis, and trains our dog in agility. My youngest also plays tennis and piano and is an excellent artist. I lead a 4H group that focuses on public speaking. (4H is an excellent program for homeschoolers!) I'm looking forward to getting in on the discussions!
Hi and welcome. We are homeschooling our two youngest daughters. This is our second year and we love it. Our girls are in 9th and 4th grades. How old are your daughters? Hope you stick around. Everyone here is very friendly. Beth
Mine are sleeping late today too. We have very busy Wednesdays. Yesterday we took our church afterschool group to a farm. The kids loved it and were all worn out afterward. My youngest will be 10 in June. Have you always been in NC? My husband and I both grew up here. Beth
Welcome, Jill! My dd is asleep, also! One of the beauties of hsing. I am Jennifer from SC and I am hsing my dd who is 12 (13 in July). She is my baby (I have 4) and I am so thankful we are hsing. I have 2 dgds who are benefiting from this experience as they are ages 1 and 2 and eat it all up! Welcome to a wonderful group.
How old is your oldest? My girls are (almost 14 and 12) and my son is 8. I'm curious, because my oldest has showed our German Shepherd at the County Fair for 4-H. She (dog, not daughter lol!) had to be put down about a month or so ago with spinal degeneration. We had gotten another dog back in July, and she's been working with him. He's doing VERY well! Then we got another puppy two weeks tomorrow. She's 3 months old, and the kids have actually got her to climb the ladder into the top of wooden play area outside!!! So Rachael's thinking she might be easy to do agility training with, if we start now.
Jackie, do you have any book suggestions for the training? We can start a new thread even. Jill is seeing a thread hijack in progress!
Sorry, I don't. When she first started, she did it with two other girls at the 4-H advisor's house, and the advisor talked them through how to do it. We have a meeting today, so I'll ask the advisor about it! Maybe Jill's daughter has a book....? BTW, Jill, I'm Jackie, living in central Ohio. I'm finishing up Year 9 of homeschooling, and I am also a former public school special-needs teacher. My husband is currently teaching public school math (which I need to discuss with him, as my middle daughter flunked her Saxon math test today !) I'm thinking a switch from Saxon may be needed for next year!
Hi I am Katie and my ds' are graduating from high school, Abeka Academy next month. We have been home schooling my kids entire school career, 13 years! Welcome!
I can't believe all the posts since yesterday! Let's see if I can answer all the questions.... My oldest is 10 (11 next month) and my youngest is 8. :cry:Sorry about the dog...we had a Golden Retreiver put down last July - the morning before my oldest had to do a presentation on Guide Dog Training at the State 4H competition. She did ok though....got 3rd place. My husband and I are originally from Florida, but have lived in GA, MS, TX, back to GA and now here. Bless you for using Saxon. We tried for about 3 months and couldn't stand it.... There is a ton of information about agility training on the internet. We have been trying to make her several of the obstacles for training at home. A fun book for kids is The Trick is in the Training. Its not a specific agility book (although it has a few trick that are agility specific), but agility is alot about training in general. Another thing is to make sure the dog is used to other people, so we try to take ours everywhere we can - which is tough because she tends to get car sick. The most important thing is that it should be FUN for the dog and the trainer. I'd be willing to go with the hijack on this topic....:wink:
Yes, thanks, Jill! I asked the 4-H advisor yesterday, and she said that she didn't know of any good books. So I am glad you had one! BTW, Jill, if you want to see our new puppy, I've posted pictures here: http://www.homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?t=11813&highlight=claire
I can't access the pics. I guess I'm too new. I know some 4H programs have great dog training classes. I've heard our used to, but now they don't have any. We would have liked to do that to save some money...oh well. We have a faciltiy close by that has trained national champions, so we go there. The trainer is really great and LOVES having a young person in his class. She gets alot of special attention (like getting to be the "example") since she's a novelty.
Sorry!!! Keep it up, and it won't be long until you can join the ranks. Then we'll have to stop talking about you :lol:! I'm on my way to the library now (just stopped to get the name of that book you mentioned; Rachael wants to see if they have it!).
I looked for it online from our library but the only copy is in "trace" status. I only had time to run in and pick up my holds today but I'm going to keep looking through the catalog.
