Home schooling?

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by Anonymous, May 3, 2004.

  1. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    She,

    Yes, definitely keep the fridge stocked--but only with waffles, burritos and pizza! Vegetable are tolerated, but certainly not asked for!

    The attitude is the other thing. Sometimes I have to work at not taking it personally. He's really not terrible, but he's definitely changed in the last year, and my husband and I are pretty stupid somtimes!:rolleyes: He really does have a lot of good attributes, so I keep praying that he leans in that direction, rather than toward his negative attitudes!!! I know God will give me strength and patience to get through this time, but I WANT IT NOW!!!:p I'm hoping for the best for all three of my kids. It's interesting to have reached a new plateau--that of the teenage years. I WANT to enjoy them, so I hope I do! :D
     
  2. She

    She New Member

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    Geez! My 5 year old has attitude. He doesn't get far with it but, he's got it. :D

    Deena, good luck keeping the frig stocked!
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    Deena, I've been told that there is a definate change at about that age. It has to do with them becoming "a man". What I'm being told is that the father needs to take over more of the discipline or authority than in the past; that the young person needs to recognize the mother's authority is an extension of the father's; and it has something to do with his need to pull away from his mother. It's been a "hot topic" at my Lady's Group, as most of them have boys that age. I told DH that this probably explained part of the trouble I had as a step-mom. My DSSs were at that age when we were married, and I was in the position where I needed to establish my authority when the while they needed to pull away.
     
  4. Brooke

    Brooke New Member

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    Ever read "Bringing Up Boys" by Dobson? If I am not mistaken, he claims that switch needs to take place much earlier--maybe around 5 or 6???? Can't remember.....hmmmm.....
     
  5. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    She, Actually my boys take after me---they love food! They've eaten a LOT since they were little, and I've been worried that when they get to the teenage years we'll have to mortgage the house to pay for their food!!! So, now the time is coming---hope we can keep our house! :D

    Jackie, I've heard that also. It seems to be quite true, and I'm working on myself to not be over-protective at this stage in his life, yet let him know I love him and will be there for him no matter what!:rolleyes:
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    Gee Deena I'm in Washington state too. Don't you love our weather lately??
    I think we got a little off topic. I just can't imagine being able to get any work done with my 7 year old whan my 3 year old is around.
    What does a daily schedule look like? Let's say for a 2nd grader, for example? Just give me an idea.
    Jennifer
     
  7. bemax3

    bemax3 New Member

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    Hey Jennifer,

    I have a boy that is third grade age and our day runs smoothly. His siblings are ages four and five. We don't do "school at home" so we don't have a set schedule as far as certain times to do certain things. We make a list at the beginning of each day of "must do's" and my oldest son, with a little input from me and his siblings, pretty much plans his own time. If he wakes up raring to go he may spend two or three hours working on a project or practicing piano. If he is a bit groggy, or we all are, we may head out for a run first thing instead of just our usual morning walk. Really though, so much gets accomplished here and the kids are great at keeping up with their responsibilities without me setting the pace.

    Michelle
     
  8. Brenda

    Brenda Active Member

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    Jennifer,
    We have a 'plan' of things we'd like to accomplish for the day - if we get it all done great - if not it's not a big deal.

    We let Andrew set the pace - if he's rearing to go and work on his math (which he could care a less if he ever had to do) then that's what we do. Somedays he won't touch his math - other days you can't get anything else done because he's so geared for math. Somedays instead of working in books, we take trips to town and go grocery shopping, etc. where he helps us figure out if 1 can of soup is 0.49 and we want 5 cans how much will it cost etc. He learns from the hands on things and (so far) this is what we've come up with . He's learning his math (and other things) from an everyday life perspective.

    In order to get him to learn about the community we live in (as part of the social studies 'curriculum guideline'), he wrote a penpal letter and "taught" the other child about the area in which we live. He likes the idea of being the "teacher" and so we guided him to learn by teaching someone else. (We told him the other child thinks that in Canada we live in Igloos - that got his thinking cap on and moving in the right direction.)

    We've learned that no two days are alike so we take each day as it comes and he sets the pace for learning. Home schooling offers flexibilty that I didn't see in the public school system and it works for us.

    Brenda
     
  9. vipdeal

    vipdeal New Member

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    Schedule

    Jennifer,

    We have a 6 and 8 year old. We keep the lessons short. Ususally 15 minutes to 1/2 hour increments. Then they take a break and play or eat lunch or go outside. Then we come together again for another short session, etc.

    While your 3 year old is working on a puzzle or doing a preschool type workbook or coloring page, then your 2nd grader can work on his level workbooks, textbooks, computer or whatever you choose to use. We also use the whiteboard alot to practice math and spelling. Check out http://www.saxonpublishers.com/ and click on Online Activities. They have wonderful math and phonics exercises starting at the Kindergarten level on up. (you don't need to use their curriculum for access, we don't). Your 2nd grader could do these while you play/teach your 3 year old. Your 3 year old may start to like some of the reading sites like starfall.com (great pictures and stories for beginning sounds and reading).

    We read alot of library books covering all different subjects that I read to both children at the same time or while your 3 year old is doing a puzzle or playing with legos. The older child can even start to teach the younger one to read. It is fun to watch.

    Remember you don't have to do 6 hours of sit down work a day. You can get most learning done in 1-2 hours (includes reading time, learning games, nature walks, etc.) for what they may have learned in a classroom setting with 30 kids all day.

    I hope some of these suggestions help you. Some days we get more done than others, but I don't worry about it. We have 365 days a year to learn together so alot is accomplished overall.

    Michelle S.
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    I would also keep dittos available for my little one. That way, when the others were working, if he decided that he wanted to "do school", too, I'd have papers ready to give him. If he just colors on them, that's fine. Sometimes I'll have an extra coloring page about what we were discussing (such as a state map when we were doing geography) that he can color on. He also is very independent when it comes to the computer. Someone once suggested (TinaTx, maybe?) of having activities in plastic bags he can do ONLY during "school time". Magnetic letters, sorting...that kind of thing. Last of all, does he take a nap? If so, be sure to use his nap time (while you still can, lol!)
     
  11. Brooke

    Brooke New Member

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    :confused: sc..sche...sched-oo-ul...:confused:

    All joking aside, when this public school year is over and we no longer give our time charitably to that institution, I have no doubt that we will not be needing to have a rigorous schedule for academics. If I tried to enforce an academic schedule it would mean prying my kids away from what they are learning on their own. Both of my kids have been taught at home from infancy (aside from a ds attending some public school)and I've been told by "official" people that their knowledge is far beyond that of their peers (one more so than the other). I have no reason to doubt that pattern will continue as long as we maintain the same routine, or lack there of, in our home.

    Don't get me wrong, we are involved with groups and orginizations that demand scheduling on our part, but the core of my children's knowledge has been obtained through conventional methods--ask a question, get an answer (even if the answer is "I don't know, let's find out") We have not yet encountered a need to schedule predetermined informational snippets into our daily routine. ;)

    I was reading through your post about working with your 7yo when your 3yo is around. I was thinking of the concentration than must go into working individually with 20+ kids the same age in the room. To me, even given the common demands of a 3yo, I can't imagine the needs of 20 7yo's being somehow easier to address. Classic apple compared to a bushel of oranges. :eek:

    Out of curiosity, what were you expecting to hear? I don't want to sound too presumptuous, but you seem to be trying to draw something out of us that we are not giving to you.
     
  12. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    Jennifer,

    Every child is different, so it's hard to say what will for sure work, but these ladies have made some great suggestions. I used to be a teacher, and once I got over the bejeebers of being in charge of my child's academic education, I realized that it really is easier to teach your own, despite the distractions, than a whole classroom! Some days when I was teaching, I KNEW the kids were just not into it that day, but I still had to make it through the curriculum, or the parents and faculty would NOT be happy! Now if we need a break, we take it! My kids LOVE exploring outside, playing at parks, figuring out the plants and animals and spiders and bugs we see, making a pier with rocks in the pond nearby, etc., etc. That is all healthy learning, and they do learn! Once we get back to the sit-down schoolwork, they are more clear-headed, and accomplish a lot more than if I would have forced them to sit there and get it done no matter what. There are times that something just has to get done, and they have to do that, but mostly I can allow them time to clear their heads and they are therefore more receptive to the learning process. I'm not sure if I stated that clearly, but at any rate, they do learn much more quickly at home than in the school classroom because they get one-on-one attention by the person who loves them most in the world! My first year of hsing, I had a 6 year old, a 4 year old and a 1 year old. It's not always easy, but I did a lot of hands-on stuff, and, as someone said earlier, took advantage of the nap-times to work with my oldest. 2nd grade doesn't need huge amounts of sit-down time, so the hands-on stuff worked well for him, and my younger two. Letting them explore in the back yard, explain to and describe what they saw and did, playing kickball and catch, singing kids songs, etc. My 2nd grader got interested in Presidents, so we found a placemat with them on and looked at that, we got books out of the library and read about different Presidents, and read about and looked at pictures of the White hose, etc. There's lots that can be accomplished by running things with their interests. We end up covering all the "school" categories, yet it's done in an interesting, usually more exciting way.

    Yikes:eek: I've gone on and on here. But it's definitely possible, and though not always easy, it's very rewarding for you as well as your child!
     
  13. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    Actually we didn't read about a white hose, we read about the White House! :p
     
  14. TinaTx

    TinaTx New Member

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    Jennifer.........

    It is much easier teaching them together than separate for certain subjects like history, science, foreign languages, art and music! You can adjust up or down as necessary.

    However, for the skill subjects such as math and some language arts, then each individual child's skill level needs to be worked on along with mom's tutoring.

    So to keep my 3yo busy, I prepared a huge number of Ziploc bags. You know the one gallon and two gallon ones.I think I prepared close to 50 or more. Each bag was *complete* in the sense it had everything he needed to work on a particular skill. So I could take them with me when we had to travel or waited on one of the other boys for music lessons,etc.Also if he brought one to me, I didn't have to get up to put something with it..I just explained and he started working. Everything was precut, premeasured, prepped, and included.I only brought down so many at a time and put in his red drawer from the top bookshelf. He could hardly contain his excitement to look each day in his red drawer.

    These are some of the ideas that I did... Each bag had a letter in it, uppercase and lower case together. He would trace those letters with pen,marker or crayon. The bag contained paper, letters, and/or stencils of that letter, stamp of letter. Also if i could make stick people of the alphabet letter, I would. It also contained small toys from the bottom of the toy box that began with that letter sound, if i had any. If I didn't find any, I tried to put some old coupons or letter from cereal boxes, soup labels peel off easily too. I put some pictures from an old card playing deck of animals and things that was not a whole deck anymore. I put a duplicate picture of our family in the bag for F for family. He was delighted with having his own photo!! Cheap plastic zoo animals, small bouncing balls out of gum ball machine, and plastic Jacks for J. I would also add a treat like jelly beans, gum or some other snack like peanuts that would keep a little longer.Just a little throughout not too much.

    I also did numbers. I took index cards and put dots (bought them from walmart) on the cards to represent values. i also bought stickers and used different characters or animals to show the value of the number. One side would have the number, the other side the picture. Look for smaller stickers for the larger numbers. I also had some old cardboard and cut up HUGE numbers. Then I would put a whole bunch of stickers in his bag and he loved sticking them/collaging all over the number. I also used my scrapbooking paper punches for motor skills. Some mornings he would punch for 15 minutes or sooo.hee hee I loved it!

    Some bags contained cut yarn complete with beads to string.
    One bag had licorice for neclace and cheerios (some got crushed, some were still good) for stringing. I added another licorce stick or two for good measure.:D :p Somehow one always got eaten! LOL

    Another one (actually several that I kind of spread out) had his name that I printed off in HUGE type and after I find a font that was good I put it in a laminated sheet. (can buy a box of laminated sheets from Walmart). It had a dry eraser marker in the bag with it.

    Another had a shoebox lid only in it cut with holes. I had put a shoelace in the holes. He could hold it in his lap and get somewhat familar with tying shoes.

    Some bags I made I wanted him to not open. So I glued and/or stapled because they were for *exploring and feeling purposes*. I used some blue hair gel and put plastic fish/sea animals in it. He could *squash and feel and see the ooze like a ocean*.. Ditto for birdseed. I used both an old litter bottle and plastic bottle. It was called *I spy*. he had to look for a button, safety pin, letter, a little men,etc.

    I did shapes...He put stickers on them..I also made simple pictures like a house , ice cream cone, traffic signal and already cut out the shapes out of construction paper. It was like a puzzle. He had to glue the pieces on the picture..I made a seal and he glued a *ball* (a circle) on his nose..

    Ok....Ok......I had many more ideas, but I think you get it:eek: :D

    This took a month or so to do,BUT I used them for the whole year, plus I still have a few left:D :D

    Someone told me we could even get together with other moms and have one mom make like 30 of the same theme bag..Then, come to the homeschooling group and *exchange* with other moms in the group and we all have one of each different skill/them.

    I don't like using the Tv as a babysitter:rolleyes: he has two programs that he watches and the TV goes OFF. After that, he learns how to entertain himself.. The emphasis on *learn* (an ongoing project):D

    So it is up to me to create the enviroment for him to learn and play in.

    I don't have ANY problems entertaining my 3 yo who just turned 4! He did have a lot of fun this last year learning!:eek: :D I will continue making learning fun and playing this year! I am not at a loss for ideas or the *want to*!

    I told dh I am a *one gal entertainment committee*!:rolleyes: :D

    Tina
     
  15. heatherwasp

    heatherwasp New Member

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    Fab ideas Tina!!!! I think I'm going to borrow those from you, thanks:D:D:D
     
  16. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    Tina,

    PLUS, you are my homeschool hero---you have such great ideas!:D I still wish I could go just be around you and She for a month or so and just absorb all that you do into my brain so I could do it too! I've had some pretty good ideas, and great times with my kids, but the consistent great ideas that you are so good at tend to allude me!:( But as long as my kids don't know how great you are, they'll think we're doing just fine! ;)
     
  17. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    I was reading through your post about working with your 7yo when your 3yo is around. I was thinking of the concentration than must go into working individually with 20+ kids the same age in the room. To me, even given the common demands of a 3yo, I can't imagine the needs of 20 7yo's being somehow easier to address. Classic apple compared to a bushel of oranges. :eek:

    Out of curiosity, what were you expecting to hear? I don't want to sound too presumptuous, but you seem to be trying to draw something out of us that we are not giving to you. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Brooke, at this point I think a room full of 7 year olds would be easier than trying to deal with my 3 year old and get my 7 year old to do anything! :eek:

    I am not trying to draw anything from you that you are not giving me- I am tossing around the idea of homeschooling and I wanted to do my Homework before I commit to anything, that's all.;)

    Wow TinaTX you have some amazing ideas! I'm trying to figure out how to print/save your post so I can set up some of them too! Hope you don't mind.

    Thank you to everyone who has answered my endless questions. I have not made up my mind yet. My hubby thinks I'm crazy, he's against it but he hasn't read your posts yet! I'll keep you posted...no pun intended....
    Jennifer:)
     
  18. heatherwasp

    heatherwasp New Member

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    Good luck Jennifer, I know my hubby thought I was nuts too. But he's come around more recently;)
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    Jennifer, you might want to sit and talk with your DH. Figure out WHY he's against it, and carefully (unemotionally, lol!) discuss them. Do your homework. If it's socialization, give him a list of different ways you will have your children involved of "social activities", so he will see that you won't have them locked in the house 24/7. Does he think you couldn't handle it? Even though I had been in the classroom for ten years, that was my DH's fear. After the first year, when my 6YO started reading "Charlotte's Web", he backed WAY off on that one! HSLDA can give you some studies on the scores of HS'ers on ACT/SAT tests, and how (generally speaking) they score higher. Tell him it will just be "year to year", and he can reserve his judgement until after the first year is done.

    I also believe that homeschooling should NOT happen if the DH is against it. (THis is JUST MY OPINION, so no one yell at me, please!!!) Now by that, I don't mean that he has to be gun-ho, 100% behind you. I mean that if he comes out and says "NO" you don't go ahead and do it anyway. Many men aren't too pleased, but are willing to let you try. And those guys usually come around eventually.

    And we DON'T get upset with honest questions, it's just that many of us have had to deal with the few obnoxious teachers out there that think they know everything and that we're totally uncapable to do more than popping out children. So if we come across a little strong sometimes, please be patient with us, and keep asking your questions!
     
  20. abcTammy

    abcTammy New Member

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    FYI to anyone wanting to print off any of the wonderful ideas. There is an easy way to print only the parts you want. Drag and highlight with your mouse, then "right click" and press "copy", next open up word or whatever program you use and simply "paste" it in.
    Tammy:rolleyes:
     

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