MAYDAY! MAYDAY! I want to continue homeschooling, but I need HELP!

Hello, all!

I am new to homeschooling and in desperate need of your input.

I eagerly welcome your suggestions about the following:

1) Schedules (potentially “block”?) for parent-driven programs (like my current A Beka curriculum) that would enable me to teach her AND do my schoolwork

2) Video programs

3) Curriculums that offer a balance of video & parent driven instruction

4) Programs I should avoid (…if you’re able to disclose that in this forum!)

5) Behaviors to avoid (i.e., retaking the 5th grade by reading everything like I am now? )

I have provided a detailed account of my situation below. And by detailed I really mean long! I extracted the bulleted list above for those of you don’t have all day to read my thesis-like post, but still want to help as best you can! Thanks in advance!

Here’s the story…

Last year my 10 y/o DD was homeschooled by a teacher with a small class of K-4th graders and she excelled. The teacher used the A Beka curriculum and my DD completed the year in 6th grade Spelling and Pre-Algebra—she was on par with completion of the 4th grade books for the other subjects. Less than 2 weeks before this school year started I called her homeschool teacher to ensure that she had the funds to purchase my DD’s textbooks for this year. She informed me that she could not teach her this year because “she was too challenging for her” and “there are no returning 4th graders so she won’t have any peers”. Needless to say, I was shocked & overwhelmed because the public schools in my area are less than stellar, and all of the local charter schools had lengthy waiting lists. Since I am currently unemployed, I considered my “free time” to be a blessing and an opportunity to teach my own DD.

I acquired the A Beka textbooks that my DD needs for this year from her old teacher & have been relatively successful with continuing my DD’s education; however, my inexperience and lack of notice about this undertaking has rendered me pretty overwhelmed over the past few weeks. I was enrolled in college courses that I dropped when I began teaching my daughter, but I have to re-enroll as a full time student by MONDAY (10-12-09) to remain on schedule with my program. This is where the wisdom and experience from you comes in!

Currently I am VERY hands on with my DD’s instruction. I read every chapter before I assign it, take notes and deliver lectures, almost daily, for each subject (to include a brief lecture on the roots, prefixes & suffixes being explored in the spelling list for the week). I also read the literature I’ve assigned (Diary of Anne Frank) before her and identify additional vocabulary words to add to her word lists each week. Additionally, I create worksheets / handouts to reinforce the info throughout the week. These practices encompass my entire day and the better part of my evening, but I remain vehemently opposed to sending my daughter to the local public school (for MANY reasons). I am also aware, however, that a homeschool education provided in a mediocre fashion (which I fear could occur when I re-enroll in school) could serve as an equally or greater disservice to my DD. Therefore, I eagerly welcome your suggestions about the following:

1) Schedules (potentially “block”?) for parent-driven programs (like my current A Beka curriculum) that would enable me to teach her AND do my schoolwork

2) Video programs

3) Curriculums that offer a balance of video & parent driven instruction

4) Programs I should avoid (…if you’re able to disclose that in this forum!)

5) Behaviors to avoid (i.e., retaking the 5th grade by reading everything like I am now?  )

I also welcome any other input that you deem valuable. And I apologize for the lengthy post, but I wanted to provide you with as much information as possible so that you can better assist me. Also know that I am not married to A Beka. Ideally I would like a program / schedule that blends the video & parent driven methods so that my DD is not relegated to a desk all day, but still grants me the time to do my work as well. Thanks to all of you in advance for your help. I REALLY need it right now!

 

Why are you creating worksheets for her to do? I know for sure that Abeka is a very workbook-driven curriculum [having taught it professionally], so I'm not really seeing why you're creating more worksheets for her.

Why are you creating MORE vocabulary words for her? If you want your daughter doing more with her literature books, I'd recommend looking at Progeny Press for study guides; they cover comprehension questions, application questions, and vocabulary. It's a workbook your daughter could do entirely on her own with you just checking it over.

You sound like you're really fixated on worksheets and more worksheets. Again, having taught professionally, that's mostly just busy work. If you want to test comprehension, just ask her aloud for a lot of it.

Your daughter is also at an age where she should be able to read and figure a lot out on her own. Again, I know Abeka; they had plenty of explanation in the areas of grammar and spelling and vocabulary that you really shouldn't have to lecture on any of it. Let her work on her own and come to you when she is confused. Don't treat the situation as though she'll be confused from the get-go.

There are a number of computer-generated curricula and DVD-driven curricula out there, but it sounds more like what you need is just to step back and let the curriculum you have do what it's supposed to do.

 

Ooooh, I see!

Thank you! I suspected that I was complicating matters.

I was creating worksheets becuase my DD blows through the assignments in the books so quickly that the she's ready to move on the next subject before my "schedule" allows, and to reinforce what she learned to ensure that she's digested the information before testing. Last year I observed that she does very well on tests that are provided shortly after the information has been presented, but doesn't recall it as well as she should if you ask her about that info a week or so later. I think I felt that if she did more assignments to reinforce what she's learned, that she would actually learn vs. reading and regurgitating the information to perform well on the test, but not long after.

I've added more vocab words for her so that she can obtain a more thorough understanding of what she's reading. Before I started this she would approach me whenever she identified an unfamiliar word and ask what it meant. Now I select the words that I think she may not know a week before the pages are assigned so she can look them up and become familiar with them before she encounters them in her book. Since this is important to me I will definitely look into Progeny Press as you suggested!

Thanks so much for your personal and professional recommendations. I will definitely focus on supplementing less and letting A Beka (et al programs) do more!

 

Why not send her to the dictionary when she doesn't know the word? That will also teach her those skills.

Honestly work with your daughter - she may not need extra stuff - you might cause burn out.

Doesn't Abeka have a DVD program as well so you could use that for some subjects?

I don't know Abeka - but I know that you can always add additional "classic novels" - you can look at Ambleside Online for those or google "Great Book List"

 

some kids are just quick with the work....... one of my daughters is always first done while the others need more time.

but just use your google to find some extra worksheets or fun things to do....... I put in "spelling worksheets" or free printable worksheets and get a lot of choices

 

I think that if you do all of the Abeka work plus worksheets that you've made, you are BOTH going to suffer from burn out-- and FAST!!

You said that your dd breezes through the work and does well on tests presently shortly after but has trouble recalling the information later. Maybe she needs a different way of learning to help her retain facts longer. Not all of us are book and worksheet learners. That's what is great about homeschooling. We figure out what works for us and teach that way (especially with the scheduling!).

I agree with the others that there is probably much that your dd can be doing on her own. You just need to be available for her.

 

To chicamarun: Thank you for your input! I used to refer her to the dictionary, and still do when she randomly asks the meaning of a word, but with her reading I've noticed that looking up words as she goes drastically decreases her pace and her attention for the book. <sigh> I will consider other ways to approach this.

I just learned this morning that A Beka has a DVD program and I'm going to explore this as an option. I I will also look into Ambleside Online and "Great Book List" search as you've recommended. Again, thanks.


To ABall: Thank you! I will look into sites that offer free worksheets to minimize the need to draft them myself.


To Sixcolar: Thank you. I have already spoken with my DD today and she asserted that she would prefer to function independently, with the exception of History and Science courses...her least favorite. In the meantime, I will continue to observe her to determine how she learns best so that I can fully exercise the latitude that homeschooling provides.

 

It sounds as if she could work well with a list. Every day, spend about a half-hour or so going over any work she did the day before, and giving her assignments of what she needs to do for the day. Write it all out as a check-list. She seems to be motivated to work independently.;

As far as math goes, check into Teaching Textbooks. They are designed to be used by the child EXCLUSIVELY, without adult help. It is expensive, because it's all on CD, but well worth the money. My oldest uses it for her upper level math classes.

 

History: to free you up at little cost source something like Sonlight's *living books* for history reading list & simply assign a research paper on the time you are studying. This can be very flexible & allow her to study those aspects of history that she finds of more interest.

Science: Try Considering God's Creation which is very visual & hands on & worked extremely well with my non~academic, not keen on science elementary level child. There is lots of cutting, pasting, modeling & some research but much could be done without your direct input.

All the best.

 

If you DO decide to use CGC, there's is a LOT of tedious cut-and-paste. I found it easier to copy them ENLARGED. Some I copied on card stock. It really made it easier.

 

You mentioned that in 4th grade she was working on 6th grade work. Let me warn you that the Abeka DVD program doesn't allow you to enroll more than one year ahead of "normal" (and you can't mix-n-match grade levels by subject, either). It's also much more expensive than ordering the books and doing it yourself. We looked into the DVD option for my son, but they wouldn't allow us to order it (turning 4 years old, in 1st grade). If she's working through it that quickly, the DVDs will be very boring for her as well. Looking back, I'm glad I wasn't able to order them. My son blows through work as well. I supplement with different types of activities, experiments, and books.

 

I was thinking about the DVD Abeka program too. Check into that online.
Also you can use a lot of lessons that are on youtube to help teach your dd. So you re free to be there and let her listen to the lessons on youtube while you are working on your own.
Are you doing Online college courses?
Schedules -- I make up alist of things for my ds now12 but have done this for three years increasing how many days a week he gets me telling him what to do next and how many he checks off_ he checks the list off going down it with the classes he needs to get done. I include how many minutes he needs for a break, what suggestions he could do on that break as well!
Then what to have for snack somedays even are added in so that I can work on the things I need to for classes I teach at church.
I am there, here with him but he does the work, when we get to History and Science I set aside time to be hands on if needed and I am available for his SOSmath.
SOS is a computer program for schoolwork. IT is a LOT of typing in the answers for math, but he is enjoying it this year for the most part and his grades are done by the computer program.
It comes in all subjects btw. IT is Christian based so somethings reflect that, but not everything.
AOP.com
It is set to be an independant study program, has instructions and mini tutors and audio files to listen to that help with the teaching. There are times I need to step in and bring in more information, or find a Youtube video, we are finding this part fun!
Ds loves youtube videos and I like the visuals they have for him.
There are also DVD teaching maths like Math U See, and Teaching Textbooks... your dd may want to do one of those, though they cost more.
There is also help for math on Purple Math, and from some on this site!

hmm, I agree light up on the worksheets, Abeka is very strong curric and she will remember it.

 

for History we are using Mystery of History, there is alot there that she can do alone or with your help, see my other note ab out how I do my History stuff.

For the dictoinary thing have her just go back when she is done reading, give her the ideas of what the word is or write a note for later to look it up? If she is doing this independently maybe a reading journal would help?
She coudl write down what books, what pages, chapters etc that she read each day and record any words she did not know.
You could set aside some time for her to lookk up the words in her book journal?
Reading journal, book journal same thing?

 

Thank you, Teacher Mom!

Thank you for sharing your schedule and programs / methods (e.g. YouTube) for me to consider as I proceed. I will lighten up on the worksheets and you and everyone is suggesting! I think it will be beneficial for BOTH of us!

 

2littleboys: Thank you so much for the information about A Beka's DVD program. The inability to teach my DD at the appropriate grade level is very important to me. It was actually the catalyst for her participate in homeschool last year! With this information, along with the input of others, I'm definitely feeling more confident about my ability to proceed AND retain my sanity. Many thanks!

 

Making Science Fun? Sign me up!

Thanks for the referrals for her least favorite and my most hands on subjects! I will definitely explore both of them further.

 

Thank you!

Thank you!

 

I’m also new to homeschooling with a 5th grade daughter. However, I was a high school teacher for ten years and have a master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction and can tell you that even with that background, writing good quality applicable worksheets is labor intensive for me. I’m very “curriculumy” and knew I wouldn’t be able to leave much regular curriculum alone but would always be looking for ways to improve, individualize, etc. I also knew for sure I wasn’t going to be able to handle that for this many subjects so at the onset I told my daughter that she’d be getting two programs (language arts and math) pretty much straight out of the book and that I would put my efforts into history, science and reading.

That was the original plan, anyway. I’ve found that there’s tons of good reading stuff online for this age group—vocabulary lists, study guides (now often called “literature circle discussions”), etc. (Check Scholastic, Glencoe Literature Library, author websites.) My daughter is coming out of public school and was totally frustrated with years of spelling lists and vocab that were worthless because it was too easy so I have also been going with terms from her reading. But to keep it manageable 1) that’s the only spelling/vocab we do, 2) I do 10 terms that will really benefit her per week and the rest carry over to the next week and 3) I use blank forms for her to fill in for 3 of the 5 days per week (definitions, writing sentences and practice—on day 4 I make a vocab practice worksheet and on day 5 she has a quiz). By my way of thinking I would rather have her interact with ten challenging words per week and see her really “own” them than interact with every new term she comes in contact with. The first novel she read this year was really vocabulary rich so we’re still working off that list and it’s paid off as she’s running into those words everywhere now that she really knows them. I also think there is benefit to teaching a child to work out the meaning from the context clues and NOT look up every new word because there are times (tests, meetings, etc) in life when we won’t have a dictionary available.

For Language Arts, she’s attending a writing class for homeschoolers and I’m having her do Easy Grammar. There’s no prep work for me but I have found for some lessons I need to sit down with her. It’s good review for me too since I never had a good grasp on much of what she’s learning. It’s just a few minutes—maybe 10—each day.

Science---this is absolutely KILLING me but I was a high school science teacher and my daughter has always hated science. After looking at a lot of homeschool curriculum I wound up going with the book she used in public school (Scott Foresman Science Diamond edition) because I liked it best. I tried a couple of different approaches but what she’s responded best to have been guest lectures via DVD by Bill Nye the Science Guy, along with a few experiments per chapter. Like I said this is killing me as I have the background to absolutely anything with her with this material but so far his dvd’s have covered 90% of what’s in the book and have the added benefit of showing a lot of demonstrations and places. She’s happy because it’s not just reading and answering questions on worksheets and she gets some hands-on. I’m happy because she’s liking science more and now that her attitude is improving I hope to expand to add more variety. And honestly, having Bill handle the lectures frees up a lot of time for me. Oh, and I should mention I found I had to leave the room when she was doing the labs or else she wanted to rely on me for every step. Now she’s found she likes the feeling of working independently and only calls me in when she really needs help.

For history I started out thinking I’d use Sonlight but it’s wound up that we’re using some novels from the their list and I’m supplementing with activities and extra reading materials. It’s taking up the lion’s share of my time but she loved history up to last year where a year of reading the text and answering questions at the end of the chapter put a damper on that. Nothing I'm doing will help ease up the demands but Sonlight on it's own could.

She may be returning to public school for junior high so I stuck with the math program the school was using (Everyday Math but I wouldn't recommend it as the teacher's materials are difficult to use). I thought it wouldn’t require much in the way of supplementing since it’s been around for ages but there are some times when she needs more practice or I don't think they've been thorough in their presentation. I always look around online first before starting a new worksheet though. I give her a list of what needs to be done for math every day and she works independently unless she has questions.

One other thing for you to think on is that your daughter may really benefit from activities other than worksheets to help learn the content of a subject or to learn differently about the subject. Projects, hands-on activities, doing research and writing a report, keeping a writing journal, field trips—these kinds of activities have great learning potential and will help get you off the lecture/worksheet writing merry-go-round.

One last thing: we go pretty hard through the week so on Fridays I've been trying to schedule a little lighter, mostly independent work day for her and she loves it plus it helps me have some time to get some work done. We take care of whatever I need to be involved with first thing in the morning and then I let her go at it. Often on Fridays I'll include a DVD that ties in well with what she's learning (thank you, Netflix!) and a snack or pizza for lunch just to make it fun.

Good luck to you in finding what will work well for the both of you.

 

Thank you, Pippen for taking the time to draft such a thorough response about curriculum & scheduling ideas. I will definitely be looking into the Bill Nye DVD's, as well as, the text that you mentioned. Right now my DD is completing the last few chapters of her 4th grade Science book (she hates the subject so she didn't blow through it last year like the others) so I have to purchase a 5th grade book (and ancillary materials) in the near future. When I mentioned Bill Nye she jumped up and started mimicking him and told me that her homeschool teacher used to show her class his DVD's last year & it really helped her learn the material. GREAT!

I have planned few field trips for us so far and I will continue to do that to reinforce the information vs. dong worksheets.

I, too, plan to send my DD to a private junior high next year so it is very important that I ensure that her curriculum is throughly covering the 5th / 6th grade material that she's working on.

Again, thanks a TON for your help!

 

just curious but why did you choose to send them out for Jr High?
I sent two of mine out in highschool... because of both the difficulty levels and other reasons .