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! 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 [/B][/QUOTE] Sorry, Jennifer, I'm afraid that I was getting the feeling that yet another professional teacher was trying to get an answer that would somehow confirm his/her notion that hs'ing is "just not right" It's kinda hard to detect intentions with the limited number of smilies we have to work with.....
Jennifer, I have to agree with Jackie in that you need the support of your husband... Learning that from experience. He wasn't under the same conviction that I was to home school and that has caused some hurdles that we've had to overcome (and our son was able to very quickly pick up on it). We are now on the same page - but it took a lot of 'conversations' to get us there. Again I think you need to sit down with your husband AND your child and on a piece of paper write down the pro's and con's of home schooling (with input from all of you). Any resistance may be as asimple as fear of losing 'together' time with your husband or something else like that. I really enjoy home schooling - it's been a learning experience for all of us. Wish the decision was easier, but it's different for every family... Brenda
I had no problem with my husband not agreeing with the choice to homeschool. Being that he works outside the home close to 80 hours a week I see it mainly as my choice. My choice was based on what worked best for our children first, next came for me, then for our household and family. As it turns out my husband is now thrilled with the choice in this being our third year. He spends much more time with the kids and revels in their thirst to learn. Just a personal choice but I would never put my children in an inappropriate educational environment just because my husband didn't want to jump on board with homeschooling. Michelle
Deena..... I'm a firm believer that each child has the RIGHT parent You know when I was at the convention this weekend one of the workshops was a *what is your child's learning style?*. It was two parts. Before she started talking about children, she spent a lot of time on *What is YOUR teaching style?* She addressed the importance of teaching your children's learning style. However, she said that if you don't teach with YOUR style that you AND your children won't be happy!!!, You know SHE'S RIGHT!!! Our personalities make the very people and teachers that we are! She used Cathy Duffeys terms: Perfect Paula, Social Sue, Complex Carla, Wiggly Wilma. I KNEW immediately which one I was! hee hee Any guesses?? I scored soooo high on Perfect Paula it wasn't even funny! You know the one that needs organization, structure, loves teaching manuals, schedules and a *stickler for detail*. But take me outside my circle and I freeze or is it melt? LOL... Pefect Paula and Social Sues make great companions! Social Sues like people, fly by the seat of their pants, love adventure and projects, are creative, and usually can't find their purse, glasses or keys! Thats my husband too, he's Social Sam. I have a friend who is a Social Sue. She and I get along great! I organize her schoolroom, she planned a FUN field trip for the kids! It was soooo much fun because of her participation and light hearted spirit! She is spunky and doesn't mind standing outside of her comfort zone... Sound a little bit like you? EH!!! So we need ALL kinds personalites! How boring life and teaching would be if we only had Perfect Paulas Tina
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 [/B][/QUOTE] Jennifer...... Please ..use them....I don't mind! A new homeschooler told me recently *Isn't every idea either beg,borrowed or stolen?* YEP YEP I agree A lot of my ideas come from simply a need. Others are rearranged to suit homeschooling. I agree with Jackie too about having dh support. Afterall our family is not a *one-parent decision making panel*. DH didn't fully understand, but he knew that training the character of the children was just as important, if not more! This can not be done by peers or by other individuals the early years when they are being molded. This was an ongoing process that needed our guidance on a *daily basis*. So many people, including teachers, come from ps to homeschool trying to set up their school and yes *philosphy* like the system they just left! So I would encourage you to examine the reasons why you want to homeschool and analyze those against a ps education. What are your priorities? I discussed with dh that I would be taking on a full time job. Would he be content with a little less for supper? Clothes that might be a little wrinkled here or there? A clean house, but maybe books everywhere? We prayed and weighed out what would be the most benefical for OUR children. We didn't find that we had any allegiance to a flawed SYSTEM. We were responsible to give our children the BEST education that we could. That included both the physical and spiritual man! So we quickly came to the conclusion that only WE could do that, not peers or strangers, no matter how nice and competent they were! Was my first year easy? FAR FROM IT!! We had numerous evenings when dh came home and found everyone in tears! Thats normal. Any new change like a new born baby or marriage will have such times. We could spend a huge amount of time on talking about each of our first year! Not to make light of handling a 3yo and 7yo (because I have both) , but in the whole scope of what we as homeschooling parents are doing that is not a big issue! I mean this with all respect. The reason I say this Jennifer is because circumstances are temporary at best, ever changing. Two years ago, I did homeschooling in the afternoon ONLY while my 1 yo napped! The *creature* was into everything! I did homeschooling in a room my first year that I moved a huge couch into so that I could put my feet up as I nursed. I wanted DS #1 to have good handwriting so I wanted ergnomically correct height of table/chair. So he worked at table, while I nursed baby. The baby fell asleep on the couch and we continued on! So what you envision now is VERY temporary! To coin a old phrase *this too shall pass*. That is the wonderful element of homeschooling that I dearly love. Homeschooling mercifully adjusts to the *going ons* in our life! That could be a marriage, adoption, death, sickness (long term and short term), moving, vacations,new born,college graduation, job changes,etc. So I guess the 2$ question is what are you and your dh priorities?That will help you to decide if this is the right choice for your family. Tina
Wow Tina, That Social Sue certainly does sound familiar!!! You're right, we each have our style, I just wish my style included a bit (LOT!) more on the organizational competency area!
I'm with ya, Deena!!! Hey, Tina......what are the common attributes for Complex Carla and Wiggly Wilma? And which Cathy Duffy book was this taken from? I am only familiar with her curriculum reviews....not that I've purchased the book, just, uh, previewed it in the book store....
Hey Brooke.... The workshop was 2 parts and each part was 45 minutes long. I have them on cd. I have a Wiggly Willy and I was beating me head up against a wall! I was listening again today to the first part, and am in the process of listening to the second part. I will go back over them in the next couple of days and make notes when she talks about books because I got away from the convention without getting the handouts. I think the name is actually Competent Carla/Carl and not complex when I listened again today. I do remember on Wiggly Wilma or Wiggly Willy that they are the chilren that drive Perfect Paulas and Perfect Pauls up the wall. She said a lot of kids are this when they are younger and can change into another one. Its more commmon to be two, but not have 3 different learning styles. YOu should know definetly by 8, but some moms can tell as early as 6 yo. Before that, you can't really tell. She did say her Wiggly Willys needed to stand at the table and not sit down. She moved the chair and he stands at table because he has to scratch, stretch, yawn, itch and move She said that when she reads to him, she has to learn to hold the book real close to her face, because he is sooooo distracting and irritating to her (she is a perfect paula). He rolls around on the floor! But when she ask him back what she read, he repeated the WHOLE paragraph. She went into more detail about how they like to do projects and not have a lot of structure. Also at break time, they need something active to do. She gives her son a chore like empty the trash, then he as like 5 or 10 minutes to play. BUT NO sitting down watching tv. She gave an example of what its like to be this way: She told everyone in the room to hold their breath while she talked. She talked, talked and talked! EVERYONE is about dying!..Then she said ok. BREATHE! Well thats what its like for Wiggly Wilma and Wiggly Willys. They WANT to please their parents and be obedient but its not their nature, its like sucking the life out of them... She had a lot more excellent examples! I know she mentioned Cindy Tobias. In her book she gives examples of what they need to do while you read. She said sweep. Its quiet so they can hear while you read. I will listen to the cd and jot down notes, and then maybe post them here under a thread called learning styles or something. They are EXCELLENT cds and worth the $$ I spent to buy them! Tina
Tina, is there a place I might pick those tapes up at? I know our convention sells most of their tapes after-the-fact for those members who didn't get to attend. That wiggler sounds alot like Fayhte!!! I usually let her color while we read, except on Mondays when the girls have to fold clothes.
hehehehe I need a clever, descriptive phrase for MY teaching style ... but there aren't many good adjectives starting with "k" Kathe
Re: CD/Tapes for Jackie! Jackie... Yes....the cds/tapes are the ones available after the show! I have never bought after the show(meaning when I left and came home) so I don't know if you can still get them. Since it still relatively soon after and since the group is a pretty big regional group, they may still have some. The name of the group is FEAST in San Antonio, Texas. BTW..Don't you have a brother in San Antonio? hee hee That just might work out.Also FEAST is one of the most active groups in Texas. SETHSA the other one in Houston is big too, but somehow the one in San Antonio seems to have a lot more going on, activity wise. The workshop session was titled *Understanding your child's learning styles* Part 1 and Part by Mary James and the other lady's last name was Broadway. I REALLLY like the information...so much more useful than just saying *visual, auditory and kinsthetic*..... Tina
TinaTX, I hope you find time to post more~please! I know I have a WW and PPaula here. Any tips on how to work with them together. I'd love to hear the cd myself. Tammy
Tina, you have SOME memory!!! My "Little Brother" lives in Boerne. Hey....think I could convince DH that next year I *NEED* to attend the conference there? I could fly down all by myself, stay with my little brother, meet you and She.... I'd even miss the conference up here..... Oh well! Don't think I can make it fly by DH..... Is there a web site I might order from, do you know? I know the first magazine edition after our conference here is pretty much devoted with Convention stuff, including a form for ordering tapes.
Jackie..... I tell you the *little things* I remember are sooo ridiculous! at least imho. I can't remember the balance in my check book, but I have ALL my friends phone numbers memorized! Go FIGURE! and I email most of them Oh well, Boerne...Boerne is gorgeous! We lived in Canyon Lake (about 20 miles from there) for about 2 years! Its a beautiful area with the lake close by! Wouldn't that be nice sometime to coincide your visit with db and a homeschool convention too? Bring Deena along and we'd have a great time at the homeschool fair Well hopefully this website will help. Its the website of the group in San Antonio. Its one of the most active in Texas. http://www.homeschoolfeast.com/ I'm sure you could email them directlty, and ask them. They are real helpful. Tammy, don't worry I will post about learning styles. I have been listening trying to figure out how to condense it to one manageable post without being everyone to sleep I will listen to tips on how to manage them. I just remember her saying again to keep your style in mind. When you teach your style, you have the *patience* to deal with a perfect paul, if your social sue or visa versa. She also talked some more about making your child go outside of their comfort zone. Teach them another style gently, or at least introduce it...Anyway, I'm still listening.....and taking notes. Tina
