Hello all, I'm new to this forum and homeschooling. I have 5 kids. My youngest is 4. I am considering homeschooling him. My other kids are older and in school now, but I am thinking of homeschooling them for high school. Wondering what happens when you get "stumped" on a particular lesson? Thanks.
Welcome! Well, when we get stumped here, I hop on this site and ask the others. Chances are someone here knows. If not, I visit a few other boards and ask around them. There are things out there that can help us and our kids get through anything.
With high school, the kids are pretty much independent. I do very little actual teaching. Science and math are my weak areas. My kids are enrolled in a co-op for science for the labs, and we have curriculum for math which explains it all on CD so I don't have to understand it. The highest math I've taken is Geometry, and my oldest has gone all the way through Calculus at home. She has just finished her first year of college, and excels in math/science. (She's studying Engineering, and is enrolled in the Honor's Program).
When you stay "stumped". do you mean in terms of correct answers in the curriculum, questions the kids come up with on their own, or do you mean in terms of choosing curriculum, or something else? It's seldom that I've gotten stumped in terms of correct answers - the courses I prefer to use are the ones that have pretty much complete answer keys. If it's not quite complete, it's usually pretty easy for me to find the answers in the reading material. My publishers are usually "on call" if we can't quite get it, but I've never really had to call them. If it's a question the kids come up with on their own about the material or something related to the material, there's internet and library right handy, and I have a fairly extensive reference bookshelf of my own, and we can look it up together. I have no problem saying, "I don't know. Let's find out." If it's curriculum choices I'm looking for, then the folks here usually have many helpful suggestions. BTW, Welcome, Galaxy!
"Stumped" to me means that I cannot explain the answer given in the book. It means I've no idea how to get from the problem to the given answer of "2 x the square root of 14", or when I read about the velocity of something, I'm totally clueless as to how to even start to find the answer. I can read to her what the book says, but that's all.
I agree it depends on what type of stumped you mean. There isn't much you can't find out with google. We don't use a typical curriculum so I don't have answer keys, and my kids ask so many questions and I try to always answer them (even if I can't answer it right that second) My kids are notorious for saying "can we google it?" hahaha If you're talking about the kid just not grasping that lesson, it depends, you can either move on and come back to it later, try a different approach to teach the same concept or take a break.
lol... good lesson on googling when you are stumped... When Garrett was in 2nd grade, we were green homeschoolers. He asked me where rubber comes from. We were getting ready to leave and I had to hit the shower. I said well, I believe it comes from trees, but when I get done in the shower, if we have time we will google it. Halfway through my shower he barges into the bathroom. "MOM!!! I know where rubber comes from!!! It comes from condoms! It's manufactured by a company called Trojan." I about died...lol Yeah, google can be a great thing (or a total nightmare..lol)
I still to this day find myself laughing out loud about it. I think out of all my years homeschooling, that is probably one of my top favorite moments.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I guess I'm just VERY nervous, feeling like, oh my goodness, am I going to be able to do this? I didn't realize that the answers are in a key. I also didn't know that the math is explained via cd. I am a total novice. Maybe I should have used the username "Nervous Nelly".
LOL... we all began not knowing all the wonders that are out there for us. You will find everything you need eventually, plus way more that you don't need. It's a journey for sure. It has bumps in the road but it also has beautiful sunsets on the most romantic beaches.
