Hi i am new here and new to homeschooling. I will be teaching my three girls grades K, 3 and 5th..i am a member of a support group and a co-op that meets three times a month. any advcie on getting organized? i live in a double wide mobile home with not a 'room" just for schooling..i need schedule ideas too...thanks in advance! nic in Tn... :-D
Welcome to the board, you are in a wonderful place and there is alot of nice ladies who will help with any question you have. My name is Kris and I homeschool two wonderful daugthers who are in 5th and 7th grade. Are doing some work up above there grade level. We love homeschooling there are times it's hard for everyone, but most the time it's fun and we love it. Just use your dining room table as a desk. Have some plastic containers to put books in for each child with there name on the outside of box. They can keep all there school supplies in the containers and all there books and when you do the subject they go to the container find there books get them out and do the subject when you are done you can put them right back in the container. They don't need a room just to learn or a school room any room will work. Kids can learn anywhere and love learning, so it's not hard for them. Good luck and hope to see you around
Hello and welcome! I am homeschooling my two boys ages 8 and 6 and both are in second grade. We live in an apartment that is 980 square feet, so I completely identify with your space issue. We homeschool in our dining room. I have a whiteboard on the wall. I have a four shelf bookshelf. One shelf for each child, one for my teacher stuff, and one for books that will be read this year. I also found a cute little four drawer dresser that holds our paper and other needs, pencils, etc. Our computer is also set up there as well. I have found it is easier to have everything you will be using everyday readily accessible in the area your kids will be. That way no one is running around looking for things. As for scheduling ideas, just be flexible. It will take you awhile to get in a groove and as your family changes, your schedule will change as well. For example, last year we did a school at 8 am schedule and I followed a very rigid plan. Reading, Bible, math, etc, no deviating! This year it is working much better for us for me to plan out what I want the kids to get done in the day, but let them choose what they feel like doing first. We are also starting at 10 am. The boys work much better later in the morning than they were earlier. They get done the same amount of work in three hours that they were taking 5 hours to do with this little adjustment.
Do whatever seems to work best for you! There is no right or wrong with HS'ing! Take what Homegoddess said about starting around 10:00. Works FINE for her, but would never do at my house! We're up at 6 so we can have breakfast with Dad, and then are going strong with our studies no later than 7:30. Schedules are good, but you need to control them. Don't let them control you! Feel free to deviate as the need arises. It's OK to throw the plan or schedule out the window when something happens. My kids spent the whole day last spring watching concrete ramps being poured at the corner! Very interesting! Oh, I'm Jackie. I'm starting my 7th year homeschooling, two dd's (9 and 11), and one ds (5).
Hello and welcome! I hs two teen boys. When we started hsing, they were in 3rd and 6th grades. They couldn't sit at the dining table together without picking at each other. So the youngest one did his schoolwork in the living room floor for 2 years. Finally, we got the kid a small desk and put it in the living room. They have to have separate spaces or no work gets done. We really don't stick to a schedule, but we do have our routine. We try to tackle the hardest subjects before lunch. The afternoon then can be a bit more relaxed. It's good that you have found a good support group.
Welcome, I am Staci and mom to two boys ages 14 and 16, we have been hs since K and have been using Abeka from the very start. We are very pleased! There arent any rules to where you have to homeschool, on the couch, dining room table or where ever you feel comfy. Sometimes schools give away old desks, that is what we used for our boys when they were younger and we had a bedroom that we set aside just for their school room. So two desks in the livingroom works or just at the dinner table. In our early years of schooling I was a schedule maniac and have loosened up a bit. We still do school the same days and hours but I am more flexible in my thinking and have stopped caring what "someone might think" if we were "seen" in public. I stopped that thinking when a ps girl was gallavanting around town during school hours and walked away with one of my pretty decorative large rocks. So kick back and don't stress, things will fall into place. And if your older kids can help the younger one, let them, it makes them feel really good and important. So welcome and visit anytime, many nice ladies who are more than willing to give a helping hand or a kind ear. Enjoy!
Hi! We are in our second consecutive year of homeschooling. I have a 9yo son and 6yo daughter. We have always been pretty relaxed with scheduling, but I've found that we do our best work in the later AM. This might change since hubby is working 3-11 now and is home during the day. He's very busy around the house and such and the kids don't work well with all the distractions. We have talked about the kids going to bed earlier and therefore getting up and started/done with school by the time hubby is in full swing. We'll have to see how it goes. We use Math-U-See (new find for us that changed our lives for the better), Mystery of History, Considering God's Creation (science), and my daughter uses Explode the Code for phonics. I've had to tailor a curriculum to meet their individual needs rather than one specific publisher. One of the many blessings you will find with homeschooling! Hope you enjoy this forum, I know I do
Welcome.. I have a K this yr, 3rd and 5th grader. All boys!This is my 6th year. You are starting off right by joining a support group. Just watch this first year that you don't try to do too much. Newcomers are eager to get everything done *right* and they get burnout before the first few months. Remember if you think you are keeping the roads *too hot* your first year, then cut back on some activity. Home is a nice place to be. I always recommend trying to get something laid out for you in the beginning, curriculum wise. This can have both good & bad effects. The good is that the planning is done for you and most newbies are just not confident enough at first to trust their gut that *this is right, or this will be enough*. They set a standard and one you can find out if you like or not. On the other hand, watch those boxed curriculums because we get thinking we HAVE to do EVERYTHING they say instead of say *tweaking* (adding or taking away) the curriculum to fit our child's needs, our family lifestly or our philosophy about homeschooling. I have had both small and large places to homeschool. Some things I enjoy having are a notebooking size DVD player. Its portable and can go anywhere. Chore charts because i did not realize early on how if I couldn't get my kids to clean their rooms and be responsible for that, how I could get them to be self motivated learners? Lots of books such as *A Survivor's Guide to Homeschooling* and tons of catalogs and resource books, and making my own planner book. One more important thing, adopt your philosphy on homeschooling. This is real important because if you keep a list of your priorities, when times get tough, you know which *subjects or activities* to delay until the next year. Schedule wise when it comes to teaching 3 at once, the general rule of thumb is to teach the youngest first. For example, I know my 5th grader and 3rd grader take longer to work on math. So I get both of them started first (sometimes) and then work with the youngest. He is young so he doesn't need a lot of time, but needs it first when he is fresh. My oldest has at least 4 hrs worth of work right now and it will probably go up to 6 by highschool. Then if my youngest *aint a bit interested in school* one morning LOL, I switch. I start on some harder subjects with my oldest first or more time consuming ones like Composition or Latin. We have tons more ideas, just don't get *glassy eyed* on being new. Be patient with yourself and your children AND dh. He needs to be informed as you go along the way. Again, I'm glad your here! Blessings Tina
Welcome! We teach our 7 yr. old son, who is in second grade this year. I teach most of the subjects, and dh teaches Bible, history and spelling. We live in an apartment (read: limited space!), but our first year (K5), I set up a school area in the small room off of our bedroom [small table and chair, white board, cabinet, etc.]. This didn't work too well, as it is crowded, I couldn't run the dryer in there during school hours, and the light was not the best. I gradually gravitated toward the living room, which has the best light and is the largest room in the apt. It has two areas, dining and living, but the dining table was too big for our ds. The coffee table was "just right", coupled with a child size chair. So that's what we've used the last year or so. [Kris, thank you for the tip on using plastic containers to haul the school supplies back and forth! Ds has his books in two backpacks, but I always carry my books and supplies in from the spare room, where I have a cabinet for our school things.] Ds is rapidly growing, though, so this will probably be our last year at the coffee table and we will graduate to the dining table! As far as schdules go, find out when your children learn best. I'm a night owl, but my ds is a morning person. His best work is done before lunch. So I try to get all the hard subjects completed by then, saving his favorite "easy" subjects like science, history, art, etc. for the afternoon. However, we often get everything done in the morning, if we start by 9 a.m. You will get a lot of good advice here at the homeschool spot! Blessings,
I have been reading everybody's advise on here and I wish that there had been this web site when we started 10 years ago. It would have avoided a lot of mistakes and headaches. You all are awesome!
We Live in a mobile home also and it can be pretty crowded with all the kids, us and a menagerie of pets. We have no designated place for schooling either. We have a large marker board on a wall in the kitchen for standing in front of the "class" explaining things type of situation. Bookshelves in kitchen, living room and bedroom for books. Papers and supplies in several storage units throughtout the house. The kids work at the kitchen table, livingroom coffe table, bedroom table, or wherever else feels right at that time. None of us are morning people, we tend to do alot of work in the afternnon or evening. All in all, i keep it pretty relaxed. We have no schedule per say. Over the weekend , I will make the assignments for the following week, tweaking them along the way if needed. The only "rule" we really have is that the work assigned for that day gets completed. I use to worry that they may not be learning certain things with this type of schooling. Things such as time management, punctuality, organization, and things like that. But I found they are learning those things through different means. They attend church and youth groups and hold jobs. They learn through these activities that there are places and times that you have to be at designated times. Well, here I am getting off track. For our family, we keep everything kinda loose. I am sure that you will find what style works best for you and yours. But I beleive as long as the kids are getting their education and you feel comfortable then there is no wrong way.
Try not to over buy things and books. You can have way too much. Then it gets really a mess. When you see books at a yard sale or discount buy only what you will use don't buy them all. The kids don't read everything you buy. Maybe I can take my own advice. LOL
Now that we have a bigger house, I am seriously considering making one room a library with built-in bookshelves. Each member of our home has their own 4-tiered bookshelf and then we have a collective one in the living room area. And that doesn't include the countless books in boxes that we have not bothered to unpack for lack of shelves to put them on. I wish I would listen to Lorna, too! I've started giving away my unused preschool stuff finally....now that my youngest is 6...only took me a few years to part with it! :lol:
Welcome! Hi, I'm Carol. This is my first official year of homeschooling (we homeschooled pre-school after pulling our son out of the ps program at Christmas). I have a 4yo daughter and 5yo son who are both in Kindergarten this year. We are using Sonlight for the majority of our work, with Horizon Math, Critical Thinking and various odd-n-ends (read: things I found on clearance :wink: ). We usually do our schoolwork on a little kid-sized card table I found at the dollar store. For reading, we either sit on the couch together, sit on the floor, or take a blanket outside and read under the trees. We usually start around 8am (give or take) and are finished by 11am. That's the beauty of homeschooling: you can do what works for your family! You've had some great advice, already. I'll just add one more thing that hasn't been mentioned: you DO NOT have to follow the public school calendar. We more or less school all year, taking off when we need to -- not when dictated by the school district. Right now, we are taking the last week of each month off. This allows for doctor's appointments, trips to see family out of town, etc. without interrupting our schedule. One of the best pieces of advice I got when I started was: when you have one of those days when you get up and think "I CANNOT DO THIS TODAY!" (and trust me, you or your kids will have those days)....it's OK to give yourself permission to have a "Mental Health Day" and take a break. I've had a couple and usually by the afternoon, I'm out of that mood and we still get in a full day of schoolwork. Welcome and feel free to post any questions or comments you may have. We're all in this together!
One child uses the kitchen table and the other one is in the den, (on a 4 ft. table bought from Sam's Club). This way they can have their space. We have no set times. When one is doing English the other is doing Math. And vice versa. That way I can help both. This is our 3 year to hs. I am hsing a 4/5th grader and an 8th grader. As far as books go I usually get the McGraw-Hill books from Sam's. We have a Math, Reading, and a Comprehensive Curriculum for my son. We are using the LifePac for English and Spelling, and I have written Pre-Algrebra booklets, and Abeka Lit. We also use the internet and the library for History and Sicence. I will usually let my dd and ds work after lunch with their projects. Because after 12:30 they are tired and need some fun things to do. I am also teaching them piano lessons and computer lessons. Good Luck.
Hello all! I'll jump in here and formally introduce myself. My name is Michelle and dh and I have three kids - 8, 5, and 3. The youngest two are girls. We are a really busy family as my dh just got this new job and works at home, so we have become more involved in outside activities. We have out ds in football and piano, with karate to start after football, and cubscouts. The girls are in dance and the older girl will start karate with db, and brownies too, if I can swing that. I feel like my head is spinning. We live in MI (much to my chagrin) we moved here to be closer the the dh's family as his dad was diagnosed with liver cancer and passed away this summer. I am a college prof and teach parttime at two colleges - kalamazoo valley and ITT tech. I also write freelance for some newspapers and for Practical Homeschooling. I also work part time with my dh on his new job too - as a copyeditor of all things! I'm glad I found this site!
Wow, Carol!!! You've learned in just one year what many "new" hs'ers take a LONG TIME to learn!!! Good for you!!! It's great not to have to un-learn being stressed out over the minor things!!! Gwenny, you sure have your plate full! WOW!!! My middle child loves dance, BTW!
Hi! Lumpy here! Hsing for the 5th year. Poppet is in third grade this year, and, so far she is loving it! Welcome!
