Hi, I am new to homeschooling and have started (charter schooling) this week. I have three kids home, 5th grade, 1st and k. I feel so over my head and wish I could send them back to public school but after removing them I lost my transfer and they can no longer go back to where they were attending. The problem is they were doing wonderfully, I was just burnt out and was spending up to three hours driving them to and from school each day, but they seemed to be doing well and I now feel I have made a terrible mistake. We are currently using a public school curriculum and it seems so intensive even for the little ones. We didnt complete todays lessons and I am exhausted. Have I made a mistake? Can I ruin them? Please help, I am in tears and dont know what to do next.
Are you able to operate as a private school? If you are, then you can make your own schedule and focus more on specifics and not fragments of a topic.
Can you drop the charter homeschooling and go to regular homeschooling? Once you try regular homeschooling, you might love it.
I agree that figuring out your own schedule and priorities might help. But, barring that... Take a deep breath and relax. Take a week off. (if possible, can you do that? can you make it up later if you choose to continue with the charter) What state are you in? and have you looked at the laws in your state?
Take a deep breath. Homeschooling really is not as scary as it seems at first. I know that it feels very overwhelming at first. Help us by giving us some more information and we can try to help you. As others have already asked - what state are you in, are you bound to the charter school, do you have a choice on curriculum ? You're not alone we are all here to help you. ((((hugs))))
Thank you for your responses. I live in california, it seems a little tricky here. I have contacted a local christian private school that offers a sort of umbrella to homeschooling. It is at a cost of $550.00 per year per student and I would need to purchase a curriculum (I believe mostly at my choosing). I dont know what other options are available. I dearly love my kids and went this route not because I felt the public schools were lacking but because I missed them and wanted them home with me. I had a notion of days where school ended at 1:00 and we would spend the remainder of our day reading and playing together. This is not the case. The curriculum we are using requires me to be with each of them teaching or guiding each step of the way and it has been crazy this week with each of them doing something different at all times. Also I dont feel like I am teaching them anything, just getting them through the work (it has not been very enjoyable). Maybe tomorrow will bring a better day - thank you again
I am unfamiliar with the laws in CA, but if you are able to relax with the younger two especially, I think you will really like being home. Depending on the education philosophy you subscribe to, the younger two may not really need much formal instruction every day. When my kids were that young, we worked on math and reading daily and explored our world and our interests the rest of the time. We read really great historical children's books and spent a lot of time answering the kids' questions and therefore learning all sorts of science. Your 5th grader might require a bit more time if you are wanting to continue with texts or workbooks, but when ds was that age, we would still get done with 4 or 5 subjects within 2-3 hours with trampoline jumping sessions in between subjects. I hope you are able to relax a bit, especially with the younger two. If you were to see just how little time is spent on instruction in the classroom at that age, you'd wonder why you send them to school for more than an hour anyway. (((((hugs))))))
Time for a field trip. Seriously. You'll learn so much together, the younger children will love to draw pictures and make models the next day, and the older child could write a report or a journal article. Think of some games to play on the journey there and back - such as looking for words that begin with each letter. Our high-school aged son still does this on long trips! Since you're following a schedule, you will need to relax it a little, but you could plan a trip that links in with the material they're learning.
Cyber charter school is homeschooling without many of the benefits of homeschooling like curriculum hand picked for your child, flexible schedule, the ability to combine curriculum for various age groups , etc. The second best option is to shop around for cyber charter schools. We have at least three choices in our area, and they are all different. Do you have other ones your could check out?
I think in CA you can operate as your own public school? TeacherMom - where are you??? She's in CA. Don't worry - it can be done.... no you won't ruin your kids. They probably need a break like you do - which is fine when you are homeschooling Check on the "days off" policy of the Charter School. Even after 3 years, I sometimes see the big yellow bus and wish they would just go - LOL. You can do it.... just relax (I'd say have a glass of wine - but it's only 8:30am on the east coast - but you can have some chocolate and wine later)
Im in california and also using a charter public school for my oldest (CAVA through K12) I hate it too so your not alone. Next year I am filing a private school affidavit, and homeschooling myself. This is something that I learned from other CAVA moms, you dont have to do everything they give you. Like in spelling, they will have crosword puzzles or dictation of sentences with spelling words in them. For us its a big waste of time because my DD would rather just study them and not do that stuff. So we mark it complete and move on. or if they give her 3 pages of math I have her do half that UNLESS I feel she needs more work in a certain subject. We only have to show one work sample per subject per quarter so we dont do every little paper. Yesterday she had to read a short story and answer a bunch of questions. well I have her write down every other story. Otherwise I just ask them myself and have a quick discussion about it. Our days are not as intense and crazy anymore...we still can have some long ones, but if its review that I KNOW that she knows well, we'll mark it complete and move on. Ive found a few different curriculums for next year that will fit my dd's learning style better and make school more interesting. See where you can cut back a little with things that dont HAVE to be written, will a brief discussion be enough on certain subjects? How often do you meet with teacher? How much do you have to show them? My dd also has 2 mandatory classes online a day (2 hrs total) so cutting back in some things help alot. I dont cut back in important stuff obviously
Lots of homeschoolers do their own thing in CA as a "private school". Checkout www.hslda.org for more info.
you might be better off filing as a private school yourself next year. When you homeschool yourself, your in charge. I plan on doing only 3 subjects a day so my kids can actually grasp the info. Plus you can do things that work for all the kids. Like study volcanos, make a volcano...all the kids can do that you just have to adjust it slightly for each child and their age. Like my K son will listen and learn about the different kinds of rocks, and be involved with making the volcano, but he wouldnt have to do any worksheets that I may make for his older sister. There science for all the kids and it took an hour or so rather than 45 mins for EACH kid using totally different work
Thanks again I tried calling the school in hopes of them getting back in and was told that would be mostly impossible. I know I'm just panicking so charter school is our only option until next year. We will muddle through, thank you again for your thoughtful responses, I appreciate them all.
sorry we had a district transfer that had been in place the last 5 years..its only been two days but once you decide to leave you cannot get back in, at least not now with the schools that have been shutting down, everything is so crowded... we went to the park after spending 4 hours this morning getting through half of what we were supposed to..I think we are going to blow off the rest of the day and read - thanks again
that is the problem I had until I started skimming and assigning about half of what they did. There is no reason they need to do 3 pages on something they know, so I have her do 1. and then make sure through discussion that she knows whats shes doing. It doesnt have to take that long. I was doing the same thing until another mom opened me up to this. My dd is way less stressed
for now I have to turn in all assignments...I assume it is because we are new. Our supervising teacher did say we could skip science and history until we meet in a week. That may make things easier in the future - thanks for the tip
were new too. Yours is just ran differently then. I use CAVA (California Virtual Academy) Its a free online public charter school as well. k12.com If you decide that you dont want them going to a reg school you might try that one next time. Because we seriously only have to bring in one sample from each subject every quarter. My dd also takes an online history and science class. She does really like that. She can chat with other kids in it and hear them talk when they read from the lesson online. The teacher can interact with the students. Its almost like being in a classroom. Only better. I know she'll miss that next year. I wish you the best for the rest of the year! Im sorry I would talk to the teacher and tell her that it is taking all day and your kids are fried. Its stressing them. maybe there is something that can be done
Hope everything with the school works out for you and hope you're able to "do your own thing" next time around. I think once you're able to do that it should go much smoother for you. Just hang in there hon, it's always overwhelming and confusing at first, and I can imagine it's doubly so when you have someone telling you WHAT you have to do and WHEN. All the best to you!
