Hi, all. I am HS'ing my 6 year old (1st grade) due to some medical issues he is having. I pulled him out of school mid November, so we are very new to this. I am doing it through the school district, so they are providing the materials, etc. They also said I could supplement with my own, and they are very lax about it. My problem is, I have no idea what I am doing! I am basically doing what they are providing, and that's it. It just doesn't seem like I am doing enough. Currently we are doing: Math (Houghton Mifflin) Science (Harcourt) Social Studies (Harcourt) Language Arts (worksheets) Journal time (free writing) Reading (Houghton Mifflin) and of course, his own books. All of the materials are the same as they are using in class, California curriculum. I feel like I am falling short. I am not in the best of health and also have 2 other small children at home and am having a hard time balancing my time. I feel like I need to do more, but not sure what. Projects, art, anything. As it is, he is really only doing a max of 2 hours broken up throughout the day. I just don't know what more to do and if I am failing him right now. So please, if you have any suggestion, I would really appreciate it. Thanks! MM
Hey MM, first of all, here is a hug! (((( )))) Secondly, don't be so hard on yourself. Give yourself a break, you just started hs-ing. I think after you are at it for awhile you will determine what you feel he is lacking. Take it one day and one step at a time. Take baby steps, add an art class. What type of projects does he like to do? What is he interested in? Add some math flash cards and make a fun game out of it. Kids can play a game and not realize they are learning. Hope that helps!
First of all, WELCOME! Second, Find out what your child's learning style is. Someone may have a site to go to, or you can Google learning styles. Read up on them to help you determine what his learning style is, then try to teach him in that manner. He will much more readily learn and retain what's taught if it's taught in a way he can grasp it well! Next, does your state require a certain amount of hours? If not, don't worry about it. If so, don't worry about it! What I'm saying is, what you're thinking you should be doing is "school at home". Homeschooling is different than school at home. Homeschooling means you follow some type of guidelines for what to teach (if you wish, some homeschoolers and undschoolers just go with the flow), and teach it in a way that your child learns best. If he's done in 2 hours, GREAT! One thing you need to realize is that though the kids are at school for 7 or so hours, they're not sitting down and doing schoolwork that whole time! I'm guessing they get about the same amount of time in that you are! They just have to budget time for the kids to stand in line for recess, have recess, stand in line at the drinking fountain, get a drink, stand in line for the bathrooms, go to the bathroom, stand in linr to sharpen your pencils, sharpen the pencils, etc. Get my drift? There's a lot of "wasted" time in school because they're dealing with a large group of children. Your son doesn't need all that extra time, because he can just do those things when he needs to. I started homeschooling my oldest in 2nd grade. I also had a 4 year old and a baby. It takes some juggling, but it can be done. The main thing is to relax some. Realize that your child is learning in all that he does. He is being taught by the person that loves him most in the whole world, he is not going to be bullied or labeled, he can get his work done in his time. Sometimes he'll need extra help, and you'll have to slow down. Sometimes he'll get it in a flash and can run through that section quickly! Go at HIS pace, don't force some arbitrary ps schedule on him! Trust me, he's learning and is in WAY better shape than ps! I think you'll do fine! Kudos for making this choice! I hope you stick around here---the ladies here are GREAT!
Welcome and congratulations on making and following through on a big decision. We have a first grader also. When I look at your schedule, it looks very full to me. First rule of homeschooling- don't compare to others. Even the public school system. 1st grade is when they should be developing their love of learning. I doubt we do more than two hours when it's added all up. If you want to do art or music, do it instead of your lesson for that day. If you google what you are studying and add"art projects" to it, you'll get tons of ideas. Pat yourself on the back,it sounds like you are doing a good job.
Thank you, guys. I just want to get it right, you know? My DH is not very supportive of HS'ing, so if he feels DS is not learning enough, it will back to public school. I think I am pretty lax with his schedule, we do not do Science and SS every day. The one thing I do make sure is a daily think is Math, reading and writing. If you don't use it, you lose it kind of a thing. You all have made wonderful suggestions. I will take a deep breath and try not to stress myself about it so much! I have found that the demands they put on our 1st graders here in CA are so much higher than when I was in school. Obviously, it was too much for him, as he developed a severe anxiety about going to school, so I will cut the little guy some slack.
It is easy to get overwhelmed. Allow yourself to get into the groove of things and then start incorporating more into the curriculum. My kids LOVE reading so a trip to the library is awesome! When I teach my kids math, they are like me, they need to see the literal sense of what it being taught. So I taught fractions by using measuring cups full of liquid and such. My kids are very hands on so things made sense when we do them "for real" and also in their books. You will feel better about what you are doing when you are more sure of yourself. Having the support of other hs moms is really a big help. The feeling that you have from day to day may seem abnormal but you will find that we all have felt the same way from time to time. Hang out here and ask all the questions you like or just post asking for a pat on the back or some support. We are here for ya!
MM, without realizing it, you have just stumbled upon a great truth: your child can get done in two hours what it takes his peers all day to accomplish, in spite of the fact that you have many distractions! A private teacher friend of mine used to tutor high school students who couldn't attend school because of medical problems. She claimed that in three hours they could keep up with a whole week's worth of assignments! Your experience, her experience, and the record of thousands of other tutors and homeschoolers verify the fact that one-on-one teaching is very effective. Congratulations! And let your son join in on cooking, reading to the younger ones, and learning all he can from "real life" experiences.
I also have a 1st grader (and 2 younger children) we do about 2 hours a day, 3 at the most. Most of that time is spent coloring while I read and doing geography puzzles. I honestly don't know why it takes us as long as it does. When he buckles down he can finish phonics, reading and math in about 10-15 minutes each. Lisa
One website where you can find lots of activities and arts and crafts projects is www.enchantedlearning.com For $20 a year, you have access to everything on the website, and you can print things without the advertisements showing up on the page. Activities are organized according to topic, so it's easy to navigate. I agree with others, in that it sounds like you've got lots of stuff going already! It takes a little while to switch gears into homeschooling, when regular "school" is all you know. That was the case with us, when we brought our son home in 5th grade. You Can Do It!
I also have a 1st grader and on a normal day we only do about 2 to 3 hours. Other days we do more because we also do history and science- though that seems to have taken a backseat the past few months. Is he learning? My guess is yes. So I wouldn't worry. Is he asking to do more? If so then let him do more. For art check kindeart.com there are all sorts of neat projects on there. We started the year off with a bang- musis history, ancient word history, science, writing, ect. I'm 16 weeks pregnant and the first trimester I didn't feel like doing much of anything. So we were lucky if we got language arts and math done on a daily basis. We're back on schedule now but I still haven't added history and science back in. So basically we get about 2 hours in- today math took us about 30 minutes because we did some work on the white board, spelling, writing, grammar, and phonics. 2 hours was all it took.
I agree with what's been said- if all the teachers in the schools had the advantage of a one-to-one ratio (or even one-to-three), the school day would be A LOT shorter. I have an almost 9yo, an almost 5yo, and a 3yo -- we're working on 3 different levels, and if we spend a full 4 hours a day (TOTAL, ours is very broken up as well), then we have had a LONG day. Crayola.com has some fun art projects. Find a "Wee Sing" book and tape for music if you want to include that. None of us do science or social studies every day. Here's a thought - he's old enough now to join cub scouts, and that provides a lot of extra projects and learning.
I agree and will add one question, do you have a reading time? I noticed the language arts and journal time, if you want to add hours to your school add in half an hour of reading both read aloud and silent reading... this can consist of library books and whatever else you have at our disposal. You can add in some educational game time, I know some of the schools here in Ca have computer time for kids as well, they play reading and spelling games. My kids have always had educational game time up to this year, we don't have any new ones to work on so they have not been on for a while. But tomorrow I am adding Algerbra 1 to my dd's math time , its a math game that reinforces the math she is learning. This kind of thing is fun, and gives your child a chance to apply the learning and you a chance to check his work!
I wonder how the curriculum is going for you? I would find it pretty hard to adapt schooltexts for home use myself. I'm also wondering if they gave you teacher's editions for yourself? You may find as you go along that curriculum meant for homeschooling might fit your home better.
It is possible though, My friend who got me into homeschooling used the public schools books cause she had no $$ to pay for anything else. Plus she needed the help of the guide they gave her. She followed along and did a pretty good job homeschooling her 5 children. They had assignments and such and did it in thier own time as much as possible, they knew if they finished early they were done early. most people I hear can take 2hours and do a full day. I get stressed when we get done with everything and its only noon myself so I add on reading or other educational stuff
We just switched to public school textbooks for everything but phonics. I want to keep DS in textbooks so he knows how to learn from them since someday he will need that skill. The newer ones are not as dry as the old ones were when I was in school. I like that they have so many projects right in them that are fun also!
