I may have to put my Ds into school for the first time in his life, next year. I run a daycare and next year almost all the kids I watch will be going to preschool. My dh and i have discussed what I should do to make money if this happens and there are not many options. I make a lot from my daycare. I either need to go back to full time teaching or go back to full time Grad school. We have 5 children and my dh does not make enough on his own to support us. (He is just a city teacher.) So anyway, I am scared to death that if I put my ds in school, they will tell me he is behind. He is only a first grader and last year we did not do much. He can read o.k now, but I am sure they will complain about his math skills. Just yesterday I was on the phone with my other child's computer teacher and she said she did not know what school my son came from, but he does not know much about computers. I was like, "Well, he homeschooled last year, so he was with ME!" Has anyone ever been in this situation? Have you ever had to put your child in school? Did you give them any test to see where they were at? Did you start teaching them more as a school at home, so they could learn what the school teaches? I am in a panic. I am never sure if keeping my ds home is the best thing for him. If I put him in school I am afraid they are going to tell me how I failed to teach him this or that. I am afraid that he will not be able to follow all their rules. I am afraid that he will like it. I am afraid that he will hate it. Get the picture...:cry:
Take a deep breath and try to relax. I knew a family that had 2 daughters that were homeschooled and one year their father got cancer. They didn't do school at all the whole year. They are required to be tested every spring, and guess what...they were above grade level. Then they next year there dad was still being treated and they didn't do school for the second year in a row...they tested higher than grade level, and then the next year their mom got cancer...and they didn't do school. They still tested higher than grade level. The family didn't do ANY school for 3 years and their girls were still doing great. Just because your son doesn't know much about computers doesn't really say whether or not he is smart...my kids don't know much about them either and my oldest is 9. As for reading...I dont' push my kids, my 9yo started reading when he was 7 and now that my ds is 7 she is learning. Sometimes their techers at church have asked me why they can't read when all their classmates can and I just tell her that I teach them when they are ready, I don't force them to learn before that. Of course they dont' like my answer...but oh well, I do what is best for my kids. I wouldn't worry about your son and his reading. He is probably fine and 1st graders aren't pros at reading anyways since they are still learning. Can you take more new kids into your daycare this next year? Can you tutor kids after school? I dont' know where you live or what the market is like there, but I know around me there are always parents looking for a good daycare and there are tons of opportunities to tutor kids. Just a thought. I hope that what ever you choose to do that it works out for you!
I was going to ask... cant you just take more kids... I run a daycare too and always have kids and If I have a spot i advertise. Im always full.....
Good Question! I have one child i am loosing that pays me a huge amount. He is full time and his parents love me and wanted to pay me what they thought I was worth. Nice I know! The other children are part timers. So my problem is I am tired of advertising. The kids I am loosing I got through word of mouth. I have tried advertising, but it always ends up that the person is a young single mom who works as a waitress, or some wacky women that I hate. It is best to get people through word of mouth, because then the person is at least somewhat normal and has a career. I just don't know how long it will take to find a new group and in the mean time my dh and i could be getting behind on bills. :roll: It just may be time for me to return to the work force.
I was thinking the same as my2kids... I don't know why you can't just get more kids, there are always tons of kids around here and we live in a tiny small town area
If it were me, I'd do all I could to catch him up. In this district, and I'm sure it's anywhere, they want certain things accomplished by a certain time. Find out that info for your district and go from there. That way, if he does go to school,you don't have to worry that it will appear like you didn't teach him. If he doesn't go, he will be ready to go on at home as usual.
well.........you can 1 of 2 things.....you can just deal with it and advertise......even "career people and word of mouth refferals" can be jokes as responsible adults as I have had both and try to get more kids to replace the others leaving or you can go back to work probably making less money and throwing your kid into a public school that obviously you have issues with or your child would be there now. HTH Might be harsh but its honest.
(((HUGS))) I was just about to post a similar thing. Dh and I discussed this morning about putting our ds (9 y.o.) in public school next year. Dh's job is about to end and he doesn't have another job lined up yet. I don't bring in any money right now. I believe if I put our son in public school for the next grade level (by birth date) he would be behind. Tomorrow I am going to call the school district to see how one goes about enrolling a homeschooled student for next fall and how they find out what grade level the child should be in. We have a few months to get ds caught up, I figure. If not, maybe I just let him repeat 3rd grade. In your situation though I would look for more day care kids some how. I wish you and your family all the best!!!
If he reads well, that's 3/4's the battle at that age. You have plenty of time to get him up the speed in math IF he is indeed behind; I wouldn't be surprised, however, if you find that he right on target.
If they say he is behind, they would have said it even if he were way ahead. Public schools, here anyway, are always looking for anything to tear down homeschoolers. I seriously doubt he is behind. My 5 yr old is right on target supposedly and he cannot read at all. He can barely add, does not subtract at all. He is in public school. I know other kids are way ahead. My 8 yr old was reading chapter books before kindergarten. But when he went, he was one of the only ones reading. Maybe some others were and parents were just not saying. I was not saying at all. I would listen to the other moms though, the ones who were bragging, and they would talk about how their child read a particular book and it was the -at book. Ok...well, my child could read those books years earlier, but I did not want to brag or diminish anyone's good feelings so I did not say anything, I just said good job. Can you get more children in for the daycare? What about taking in homeschoolers and starting a homeschool day out program? If you lived here and did that, I would soooo hire you. Seriously, I would love someone to take my children, the elementary aged ones, one day a week and do art, science projects, any hands on stuff with them. They could play together and socialize and everything. Oh, if only they had that. If someone did that, I would be so happy. I would pay...lets see....I have 2 school aged children, maybe the going daycare rate for that? $20 per day per child, so that would be $40 for maybe a 6 hr day? Plus, did you see the person who posted on workschooling? If she lived near you, she could really use a "homeschool day out."
