i feel like i am barely keeping up with my 10 year old here is a break down on what we have been doing any thoughts of yours would be appreciated! 1st hour of the day is reading she is to write any unfamilar words as she goes to look up and write a definition then we move on to math so that i can teach her that 9x9 is 81 not 100 like the ps taught her:roll: after math we are both stressed and take a snack or lunch break depending on what time it is then we move on to grammer those wonderful things the ps system in my area does not consider important like nouns verbs adj and such that is the main part of the day the she is doing a research project on chipmumks (her choice) for science and phyed and friend time is tae kwon do laurie
I'm not 100% sure what you are asking. As a new homeschooler things are going to feel really weird and you are going to feel like you are waaay behind. So...let me see here...she starts with reading and if she doesn't know a word then she has to write it and then go look it up in a dictionary and write the definition. Gee that makes me want to read. NOT! I would pull out words that you think she might not know and go over them before she reads and then let her read. Then when you review and do comprehension and such you can discuss words she might not have known. Well...guess what you just grabbed your vocab./spelling subject requirements fo r the week. Math is math just make sure that what you are using is going with her learning style. Estimating is a good skill and should be taught but...yes she should know that 9x9 is 81. Do you know the tricks for 9's? That the answer added is 9. Yes, grammar is important and something that they aren't teaching kids anymore - along with phonics but....it is meat & potatoes. Try switching your order a bit. Sometimes that helps. Let her pick between grammar or math that she wants to do first. It gives them the sense of having control even though all the work still gets done. Are the only subjects you are doing reading, math, grammar, science & pe? I'd love to suggest more just trying to figure out what you are really looking for.
Oh, we're using Easy Grammar this year! I wish I had found it AGES ago. I put Rachael in it, and had Faythe do some English book I got free. Well, after a while, I decided it made SO MUCH MORE sense the way it was done in EG, that I switched Faythe to it and both girls are doing it together. Faythe is really doing very well. Rachael said that she wished she had it before the Grammar/Composition class I sent her to last year.
Shelia no we have done spelling and some looking at what history she would like to start with she wants to do so many things i wonder if there will ever be the time after the main ones are done...that is a good idea about the vocabulary words and i have gone over with her the good things about rounding (just not in your check book ) i need to know if there is any biggie that i am missing. Jackie- i will look into that easy grammar thanks! laurie
I just switched to Winston from Easy Grammar. Easy Grammar is really good, just a little blah is all. Laurie - If she's struggling with math facts try reading this essay. It makes the times table MUCH more manageable.
My kids did NOT do well with Easy Grammar! See? It depends on your child. Do you know her learning style? That helps figure out things to use that will "click" with her! We went to Rod & Staff English. It's REALLY good at teaching all that stuff, but we're two levels behind, because they started with all that stuff at a younger age. So my 6th grader is doing the Grade 4 R&S English, and it's going at a good pace for her. She is ahead in other things, but I hadn't found a good English/Grammar program that worked for my kids until I found R&S last year. DD just started with it this year. Hope things continue to work out! Remember not to do school at home. Go at her pace, which may be a little slower to get into the swing of things at this point. But it's okay, she'll be fine.
Dawninss thanks loads for that link i saved it i will try those things with her! Denna i have been trying to finger out her style of learning and am not positive....She is excellent at tae kwon do but that is her passion i think she may be a talker because she repeats everything but she does love to read maybe we are trying to hard to match ps she really wants to feel she is keeping up with her peers laurie
Laurie, The interesting thing is, since you have her home and are able to work with her one-on-one, she WILL learn as much as, and easily surpass her peers that are in ps! Homeschooled kids can move as quickly as they want to. If they choose to move quickly, then they can be miles ahead of peers very easily! When there is a large classroom, there is a lot of waiting, and going slowly enough to keep everyone on track, which doesn't happen at home!
Hi there and welcome to the spot! I noticed your other thread, about your first day, and that you've "just pulled" her from the system. How long ago was this? Most of us recommend a time of what we call "deschooling". This is a time to RELAX, and get the kiddo used to doing things at home. We recommend waiting, say, at least two weeks? before starting on anything school-ish. Take some time and visit the things in your area that are fun. Not sure where you are and how the weather is, but the first thing that crosses my mind is the zoo. Been to the zoo recently? What about a planetarium, or arboretum, or museums of any sort? How about just to the library to find out what genre of books your kiddo likes best? Your dd is old enough to have a little bit of input on her education. What is her favorite book or tv show? What does she think she wants to "be" when she grows up? Make a study out of this. Don't stress about making it too academic.... Does she want to be a veterinarian? Go meet one. Learn about the different habitats of some of her favorite animals, what they eat, etc. The library and the internet are your friends. Maybe, to help reduce the stress, it'd be a good idea to set the textbooks aside for a time and let her get used to the idea of being at home, and realizing that the point of being home is to learn at her own pace -- and for it to, at least a lot of the time, be fun and interesting!
Deena and DaLynn-thanks loads i do feel much better her last day was the last day before Christmas break and i thought that would be a long enough non school time maybe not. we love the library and Waukesha has a fantastic one we spend plenty of time there i you gave me some great ideas not to far away are the domes botanical gardens that would be fun! Laurie
That essay was brilliant! I have a visual/spatial & times tables have been the bane of our lives. My child can do the math but uses a complicated process to arrive at her conclusions ~ no working out showing!!!!! Yes, her answers are usually correct. I get dizzy when she tries to explain her processes to me & I'm a visual learner!
Laurie it sounds like you have the right amount of work to me for a begining to home school time.... the deschooling thing may be nessacary but I think from what I have heard that just takes time to regulate. I never sent mine to ps and always had a schedule of lesson times, at least an order of when and what so that could be something you want to try. Make a check list of daily things to learn and then go by that list finish when you have accomplished it? Or as you realise what areas are her strengths and weaknesses focus more or less on the areas in need too. I have a ds10 and we are doing Spelling, math 5 (horizon math from Aop.com) English 5 from BJU. which has grammar and other important lessons in it. Science and History which I don't do every day yet, just 4 days a week. Next year he would be in jr high in my area so we will change up things then, but I am doing school basically from 8 to 2 each day that includes a break time and lunch time break as well of course, but just so you have a idea of how long it takes for the lessons and all. OH, we do reading as well, I found an old book we got someplace which was some schools reading book I am sure, quite old though, and has some good stories in it. Ds started that yesterday and really enjoyed it. So that is our daily reading for now. I love the library and we get a lot of videos ( Eyewitness Science) and dvds, as well as books on what we are studying , so we get lots of reading time in. Welcome to homeschooling!
thanks much!this forum is a huge blessing we had a really fun day today with dice math games and the mammal scavenger hunt i think we are just learning school can be fun laurie
Laurie, I never stopped stressing last year! Check around your area and see what types of programs are offered to hsers. Our State Museum is free to hsers and their parents. This spring we went to an exhibit there that we had to pay for anyways but Joyce got in for $1 and I got in free for being her "teacher". Our zoo doesn't have this program BUT in Jan and Feb they have free Fridays which I try to take advantage of every year.
Thanks Jennifer now you gave me a new idea for a new question i guess it would be best to start a new thread Laurie
For what it's worth, our first year I'd just decided was going to be a very "try it and see" type of year. We tried something or other for a couple of weeks, and if it worked we continued it, and if not we put it aside until we found something else to try. We did this with EACH subject, as well as with schedules and activities. So, when our science book didn't work out, we just didn't do science for a couple of weeks until I found something else to try. Same for math - when writing out the problems didn't work, we did them out loud for a while until I could figure out how else to do them. (Ended up copying the page out of the book and letting him write just the answers instead of writing the entire problem.) Most of us don't do science or history every day. We do science 2 days a week, and history 2 days a week. The other day every week we generally devote to scouts things... so essentially we are doing science OR history (sometimes in the form of scouts requirements) every day. Some hs-ers don't even do THAT much. Our schedule involves a LOT of "every other day" activities. We only do 3-4 subjects each day around here. (I'm working with 3 kids on 3 different levels, and it takes us about 3 hours to do a full load of school work on any given day.) We do math and reading every day. We do language arts every day - sometimes in the form of grammar, and sometimes in the form of spelling. We do Bible every day, but sometimes it is in the form of history. And then we do either history, science, or scouts each day in a sort of rotation. My son is 8 and our schedule may look like this: Monday - English (grammar), Math, Bible, Science (and read a chapter) Tuesday - Spelling, Math, History (and read a chapter) Wednesday - English, Math, and social studies (often involves a large bit of reading), with a scout meeting that evening etc etc I also don't keep a time chart. He knows what subjects are to be addressed each day, via our calendar, and he chooses the order in which he does them. We are going to put together (for the new year) a magnetic calendar. Each subject will be written on a magnet, and placed at the beginning of each week. Then, if in any day there is a subject which doesn't get completed, it will be physically moved to a day later that week. Anyway. My sons are very visual-kinesthetic (have to see it and DO it to really "get" it), and so things where they involve movement of their bodies is always very helpful in learning and adjusting to anything new.
I think this is great! It gives a chance for you to learn your child's learning style, which is so important. Patty
Laurie.. sounds like you are doing a wonderful job with her already and line everything up. Do a few field trips call around alot of places in your area will take you in and show you are around. Just relax which comes with time and have fun.
Relax?! That word is not in my vocabulary! I haven't slept good in about a week because my stinkin brain won't shut off (or shut up!) when I try to go to bed.
