My kids are 10, 7 and 16 months. THe older two have been in what is considered an EXCELLENT school district from kindergarten. They are both extremely high achieving in all areas. They will be going into 2nd and 5th grade next year. WE have decided to homeschool them for various reasons. (accelerate their learning schedule, more famliy time, time for field trips, eliminate the busy work, and more..) Our problem now is deciding what route to take. I am leaning towards going through the district so that the kids are still somewhat integrated in their current school (field trips, assemblies, instrumental music instruction, school play, etc) so that if we decide it is not for us, they still are somewhat involved in the school. Our money situation is not good right now, so we do not have money to purchase a lot of materials. I *think* I like how the district will give me what I need, along with the ability to purchase and get reimbursed for curriculum I want to use. I don't mind the record keeping they require and I already have a good relationship with the teacher who leads the program. I completely understand that it is more "public school at home" than homeschool, but I dont necessarily believe that is a bad thing. She told me that I can use/purchase faith based curriculum with my own $ and she will work it into our lesson plans. Does anyone have experience with this? The people that I know who homeschool do it the traditional way, so I really have nobody to ask about this! I was homeschooled for a few years growing up and I just remember how we were light years ahead of everyone when we went back to school.... ANy advice would be much appreciated! ANd I am sorry if there is already a post about this subject, I did do a search and was unable to find anything with the wording I used.
What state are you in? HAve you check hslda.org regarding the laws in your state? Me, personally, am leary of any district involvement. Of course I live in PA which is a very regulated state. If they dictate your curriculum, you won't have much more freedom to do the things you want, it seems. Now, you could live in one of the districts in your state where the school is good, very pro homeschooling, etc. I don't know. It sounds like it's a nice workable program. I would recommend you check out the laws in your state first and make sure those are the guidelines you follow NOT the district's guidelines they don't always mesh with the law. I hope that makes sense.
I have no experience with this, however, I have heard of it. To me it sounds like the best of two worlds in one sense. Me, being the constant rebel, would not want to be held accountable to a school district. yet, if I still had the freedom to teach what I wanted, when I wantd and in the manner I wanted...I would think this was awesome! In that way the kids may really be getting the best of school and homeschooling. As long as your children are free to be light years ahead...I don't really see a problem here. So, I am sorry, I have no real advice or experience. I just someone who lived in MI for a short time who had this option. She lived in the area so briefly she didn't do it though. However, she spoke very highly of what she learned about it. On the surface it sounds great. We have a few Christian schools in my area that have homeschool programs. The child is part of the school, yet homeschooled. The child can particpate in sports, gym class, art class and field trips. Once the child reaches junior high and high school, he can, if there is room, take 1-2 classes at the school in addition to the other things I mentioned. Since it's a private school, there is a yearly fee. Because your child is part of the school there is oversight done by the school. A teacher is assigned to the family to oversee attendence and go over lessons, etc. From the woman I know who participates in this, it is not invasive at all...the teacher does little more than check attendence and make sure the kids are learning. lol. Seriously, I was told the accountability was nothing at all..but that's this school, I don't know about anything else. I have not taken advantage of this myself, since I still hate any accountability...LOL...the school is not all that good, and I don't always follow a traditional school year. However, I am considering this option as there are not many homeschooling co-ops in my area. I hope I didn't waste too much of your time! LOL. Sounds like your district is pretty open to allow a faith based curriculum. Does the teacher in charge plan out the lessons? What is the role of the teacher in charge? By the way, from what you describe...I would do it even with my rebel spirit. LOL. Seems like there are plenty of advantages like you already know the teacher, you can get reimbursed for your expenses, your children will kinda go to school but not...sounds good. I loved school growing up, I would love a chance like this for my kids.
We have a simmilar program here. I did not look into it for the boys, but I had for my dd. At that time the amount of involvement they wanted from parents was tooooooo much. They wanted 15 hours a week where you were at the school teaching other kids...ugh. I hear it has changed, but our district allows some participation, (ds does band at the middle school) so I am just doing that.
It really does not cost a lot for curriculum. I generally have spent less than $100 a year. If you go through the public schools for curriciulum, you will still need to do their busy work. You listed ridding of busy work as one of your reasons for homeschooling as well as wanting more freetime for family time. I don't think this will happen. You are going through what most of us go through when we first start homeschooling. I went up and looked extensively through the public school textbooks and wanted to imitate it all. But in the end, once I settled in to homeschooling, I found the public school materials to be seriously inferior. They are made around the idea of classroom management. They also do constant curriculum changes based on whatever theory of the year. The children are largely experiments there. How well things go academically really lies in the teacher to make up his/her own stuff to keep the class alive and doing real things. In the end, I do purchase a math curriculum. But I can honestly tell you that more costly does not mean better quality. I did Singapore Math which cost me about $30 a year. There are plenty of other less expensive options too. I did Spelling Workout for spelling, but you can easily get lists off the internet and even spelling game ideas if you want them. You will find lots of places for story starters on the internet, which is the current approach for teaching writing in the public schools for children. History and Science really should be taught from an interest led perspective. Those are things that are generally not remembered unless the child was interested at the time. Use your library for this, go online, and watch learning TV. Textbooks for this will give small exerpts on little topics, but never go enough in depth on anything to make it interesting or teach anything on the topic. Even when I used textbooks in the begining for these subjects, once a page was read, nothing was ever remembered beyond that day. We have a lot of books in our home, most of which I purchased at the used book store for very little. But most of which I could have gotten at the library. I likely spent more money on the new shelves I had to buy than the books. I hope this helps.
From the meetings I've had with the teacher, the kids will NOT have to do busy work. They will need to take the basic tests, but if they only need to do one worksheet to "practice" the material, or even if they understand it without doing any worksheets, then they don't need to do it. We went over some of the teacher's guides she had available and she mentioned that I do not have to do everything in there. SHe pretty much told me that I could pick something and she would work it into the curriculum. (an example we talked about was using the map on the wall, picking a place the kids were interested in, researching it, etc) We need to meet with her only one hour a week, although she does offer four more hours a week of group activitites/lessons in the "homeschool" classroom. The teachers let the homeschool kids join the classes for science experiments and things like that. The teacher plans out the lessons, IF I WANT. She said that she typically begins planning out the lessons for each student, but usually the parents then want to do it themselves. I live in CA. I don't know what the laws are regarding this, but I do know the kids would have to meet the minimum CA standards, which, going through them, they will have already passed for NEXT year. I did meet with our principal ( a wonderful woman) who asked my wha our longterm goal is. To homeschool through high school, college, what? I honestly do not know the answer to this. I am terrified of my daughter going to middle school. I already see how a lot of the girls treat her and it can be ugly. Thank you all for your opinions/advice. I am really struggling with this decision!
I agree that with you about middle school, if your child has problems. During middle school and high school a person is starting to develop a sense of who they are and how they fit into the world. I know a few that were damaged forever based on being teased in high school. In many ways we never escape who we were in high school....good or bad to a minor or major extent.
I heard alot about that when I started homeschooling the girls, but it wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't want to follow someone rules. But, that is me, I wanted to teach the girls what I wanted to teach, not what someone told me to do.
That was my main reason for never joining the homeschool programs offered at a few schools in my area. lol.
http://www.freetohomeschool.org/laws/analysis/California.pdf There are the laws. If you do what you are suggesting you are not considered a homeschooler just so you know. I'm teaching middle school <ack> and 4th grade right now - and honestly it's not as hard as it seems. You need to know about the laws before you jump into something that sounds really good. Do some background checking and see about other people who have done it. In CA it looks like you have an option to become a "private school" and you record attendence which is pretty easy to do. There are a lot of free & low cost options out there that are a lot more in-depth than anything you will get in the public school system. Good luck!!
It doesn't sound like much is 'broke' where the kids are now. Why are you trying to 'fix' it? The school sounds great as you described it, the kids are doing nicely as you describe it.You want to use the school curriculum so they can still have opportunities at the school. You might purchase the curriculum they get now for free. A teacher will lay it all out for you and you meet with her regularly. Maybe I'm misunderstanding?
I live in CA and it is my understanding that anything offered through the public school is considered an independent study and not homeschooling. Yes the work is done at home but the director picks and chooses what work needs to be covered. You can purchase your own "extra" books if you want to teach your student something else, aside from what is required. But the extras will not matter, to the school, as long as your child can pass the test. After all, it is about state standards. Two of my sister's children work through an independent study program and they are alright with the results. The other sister operates through a charter. She would operate privately but she can't afford it and the other just wants her children out of public school. I homeschool for different reasons so an idependent study program wouldn't work for us. But if it works for you and meets your academic expectations, then great. You have to do what will work for your family. Good luck and welcome to the board. Even if you operate through an independent study program, please continue to pop in. We have a few other parents who use a charter or ISP.
I lived in CA during part of my high school years and I was "homeschooled" through the district my sophmore year (although it was called independent study in CA). I was required to meet with a teacher once a week and we would go over my work and she would grade me. I have to say it was the best year of high school for me. I didn't have to be ridiculed or judged by my peers, and I could focus on my work and I was so surprised when all the work she gave me only took 2 hours a week! I went from a B,C student to a straight A student. I think it was because I could actually focus on the academics instead of "does my hair look ok, am I wearing the right clothes, etc". I think that a program like that can be very beneficial especially if you are new to homeschooling and nervous about it. I can say that if I had never had that experience I would probably not be homeschooling my own children. I thank my mother for having the insight to pull me out even though I initially didn't want to do it. I figured I would lose my social life...but instead I found that my true friends weren't even going to school with me, they were friends I had through church. And my social life was great! In fact I had more time with my friends than I had had when I was in school.
First, I was want to thank you all for your responses! I absolutely understand that going through homeschool is technically just public school at home. As far as fixing what isn't broken, I think that is part of my problem. My kids are both doing so well in school that they don't need or get attention/specialized instruction. In third grade I was concerned because my daughter's reading scores declined, but because she was above grade level, it didn't bother her teacher. I feel that my kids should be able to learn/do more and are being held back by their situation. So the teachers are essentially "not fixing what isn't broken." According to their STAR reports, they are both 4-5 years above grade level in reading, and are advanced in all their "benchmark" testing. We are fortunate to be in a great school district, but I still want more for my kids. They are involved in extracurricular activities, but we all feel stressed just getting to those and trying to fit in homework. Our family time suffers because of this. My husband works most weekends, so if we HS or ISP, we will be able to get a lot of that done when he is working and have more family time. We have been so busy with everything that even going to church was taking a backseat. We are really trying to get our priorities in order and page after page of homework just isn't where our hearts are. As far as Junior High/Middle school goes, I should clarify why I dont want her there. SHe is not teased much, it is more that the girls are jealous of her? That is all we (teacher,principal, librarian, aides, etc) could come up with. She is very blessed. She is a beautiful, intelligent girl who happens to excel at everything. (I wish I could have been that fortunate ) I would like to think that she is all sweet all the time, but of course I am not there all the time, but the authority figures at school tell me that they have never seen her act like she thought she was better than anyone. Some girls boo her during PE (cuz she wins. she is pretty competitive, she will not throw a game of anything against kids her own age. ) They tell her she cant play handball/tetherball at recess. SHe has been playing with special ed kids at recess and then gets teased a bit about that. She tells me that those kids are nicer and they are good people, so she doesn't care. D could I be more proud? isn't that what is important????? We all want our kids to be successful, but being kind and being a good person is a much higher priority) I know a lot of the boys seem to like her quite a bit , so that makes me very nervous also. She does have a few friends who are girls, but at school, they are the sit down and talk type and mine is the play and run around type. I spoke with the HS/ISP teacher again this morning and I think that we will go ahead and do it, then if we are not happy, we can always go our own route. I've been looking into this for months, but I am kind of sad to be "leaving school." I am a VP in PTA, and on several committees, so I almost feel like I am leaving, not just the kids. Yet, I really think it will improve and enhance our lives. I have also felt overburdened by PTA business and it will be nice to focus on MY kids, not the whole school! I think our situation is different that a lot of families that decide to homeschool. I would not be heartbroken if my kids stayed where they are at. Even though we live in a different school district (thats another thing, we will save the 2-3 5 mile trips a day), my kids have been fortunate to go to school in an excellent district where *most* of the teachers genuinely care for the kids. I just feel that we can do better at home. I kind of wish someone could swoop down and tell me "DO this, and it will all work out PERFECTLY, your kids will love it, you'll love it and it is exactly what you need to do to raise kind, successful children." Anyone???
THanks! Its been changed! Last year before the court garbage went on it said we did not have to do any number of days but had to keep attendance fo the days we did teach. Now we have to be teaching for 175 days, thats five less than the year before last! Wee! I like that! IT is alway good to recheck California home schoooling stuff because it tends to change almost yearly and the way the courts play games it hard to know when it will change.
know what, My friend who mentored me in homescooling when I started 13 years ago went through the school district, she met with a MR West who was a nice Christian man,he helped her in areas she needed help and gave her advice, but doing the teaching was up to her, they did provide school books if she wanted them and took what she gave them to work with her with to get a lesson plan together. It worked out great! Her kids eventually went to Public school in High school and one in ps, but that was not because of the schooling problems because she had to go back to work. the kids always wished they had stayed homeschooled btw. they totally enjoyed it! I hope that encouragesyou! Take yoru first year with the school get the help you need since you know the people and all, then test the waters for whats out there that is so much more interesting and exciting next year!! YOU CAN DO IT!
The 175 days only applies to public school students. California homeschoolers, that operate privately, still decide how many days they will complete in a school year. Even though I am not part of a homeschooling program anymore, I still complete 180 or more. It is just a habit now. I feel weird if I do less. LOL
Call me crazy, but I wouldn't change a thing. Maybe I'd drop some activities to make for family time. If I could be guaranteed that my girl would have as great a school experience as yours has, I'd enroll her next week.
i'm new at homeschooling this year i live in virginia if anyone has any advice for me please reply. i need to know the subject requirements for kindergarten.
