Please point me in the right direction!!!!! I'm so burnt out I'm crispy here. I need to find a place, internet or otherwise that allows you to do full assessments on your children to find out exactly where they stand academically. I have been homeschooling since 1999 and I can't fathom another day of it. I know that this is a phase but it has been a very long one and if I can't pull out of it soon I'm going to have no choice but to put them in public school. I know there has to be something out there I can get to but for the life of me I can't find it and I'm exhausted from searching so if somebody knows a good place please let me know so I can at least know where I stand with what I have and have not taught my kids. I know they know alot but I'm really scared they don't know enough and I'm doubting myself really seriously right now. :cry:
homeschooler06 found an online test, I believe. http://www.homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?t=5591 It's the thread entitled spelling.
I should have come here weeks ago and asked this question, it is like going to the doctors. You know when you leave the house you are feeling like crud but as soon as the doctor pulls out that massive needle you feel wonderful amazingly quick. Look what I found: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_5th.htm
I'm so glad you found that. I hope it answers the questions you were having. Boy-- 8 yrs of hs'ing is very impressive. Good for you!!
PKMom I can so simpathyse with you! Even if I can't spell it today! I am also in your boat, I thought I was so ready for next year, and well I am with one child! The other one I am ready to throw to the wolves! I am trying to figure how she can get out to Private school with a scholarship or something just so I can ... and I Shutter to say it but its true... not have to deal wiht another teen ! Esp a girl! I remembered my times with ds15 trying to teach him math today while trying to teach dd13 her algerbra.. she knows the work but suddenly doesnt know what to do... I showed her the work, she still did not knwo what to do then decided she knew and that I am doing it wrong, funny I took MY work from the TeACHER BOOK! it is so frustrating though and I want to run away! Anyone else out there ready to join me in a MOMS OF HOME SCHOOLERS run away?
I'm ready to run. I have no other choice, dh say they are not going to ps. I am so thankful that we are done for the year. It seems like overnight dgs went from a little child to a teen - he has 9 more months until he is 13, but his actions are saying he is a teen now!!! I am so ready to run... Wait for me I'm a little slow being a grandma LOL
you folks are scaring me............. No, really! Make sure that your plans for next year take the "teen" needs into consideration. They are very social creatures and need peers. Perhaps you could opt in to a class, or sport at PS, or something like that. Also attention spans take a drastic plunge at that age. You might set up a program that looks more like K or 1st in terms of duration of lessons. I highly recommend the use of wind up kitchen timers to help with staying on task. these creatures tend not to wake up well and need to "veg" for a while. Perhaps adjusting the schedule a bit could help with this. Chores can be done by half away kids LOL
I'm right behind ya. My DS is 13 on Mon. 4/30. He has been rolling the eyes, giving me attitude, and he has been really rough (emotionally) on his sister lately. I was actually crying the other day after a particularly tough day. He was particularly disrespectful that day. It hasn't helped that Dad's away. I know that has made it worse. This teen stuff stinks. On top of the Asperger's stuff I am ready to rip my hair out. Hey, maybe we'll all lose a few lbs. with all this running.
Okay, this is fun, but what is a "half away kid" ?? I already have adjusted her schedule to fit her attitudes, she spends half hour on school work anyway and then goes and reads in her room, comes back does another half hour class and does cleaning in her room. Takes a break and then reads some more ... I am not exagerating she occasionally will take an hour to do her Algerbra becuse she hates it, but other wise because she is extremely bright child she does work double time and gets it right. Does just the required amount too. My ds does an hour of english and math, and history, science and Bible, each 30-45 mins so I have her scaled to her age, its just the attitudes of that smart girl that get to me, the know it all you cant teach me stuff
That is an awesome site!!! Thanks so much for sharing it. I was a teen girl and I remember going to high school. I wasn't catered for my attituded or attention span. I got graduated with a 3.75 gpa. I understand that as homeschoolers we have more and flexibility but that doesn't mean we cater. The truth is you won't always feel like going to school. You won't always feel like listenting to a lecture. But that's life! I remember classes lasting about 45 minutes or so. Maybe I wasn't on my game everyday...but for the most part you had to get over yourself and get your work done. That is just life. There are no such thing as mental health days in the real world. (mental health days: days you take off because you are not up to par or tired...I new someone who called it that when she called off for no good reason.) I know we need patience and understanding but I am never in favor of catering.
Highschool classes run for 45-50 minutes each. So if you're in a highschool grade, I guess that's what you do when you're in school. I guess you don't have to make them longer while teaching at home, but if they're going to go to highschool at some point, or to college, then I think it'd be better to have them sit and concentrate for that length of time on one thing. It'll be tough for my ds13 next year! He's got lots of energy, but he'll have to start doing better at that!
Okay, my oldest is 7, how many years of bliss do I have left. I'm still afraid, really. That should have been "half awake" oops. (My dd's struggle with sight words comes to her honestly) I used to think about my dd growing up to a pre-teen like my little sister was and I trembled. Now I have 2 dd's and the thought of two of them like that is something I seldom contemplate. then I come here to relax while reading the posts and ...................................... On the idea of whether or not to immulate school periods or not, I guess that would depend on how exaperated you are and how challenged or at risk the student is. At some point, a kid with a short attention span who can read and do algebra if only for a few minutes at a time might be better off than one who does neither. I know that had I had the option of working on subjects as long as I needed to or being able to dabble at them and come back to them repeatedly would have made my world a different place during my miserable jr. years. This with strong guidance, of course It would have been disasterous without it. I can remember when I first discovered that the kids down the street who went to a private church school had PACE (??) materials that were workbook type materials that they did at their own pace, I was green with envy. Even with jr., and high schoolers, emmulate "school" when it works and abandon it when it does not. the real world, unlike school does not demand that you perform equally in all subject areas.
Perhaps purchasing an SOS for math would help? I have to admit, I'm scared too, lol! Mine are 9, 6, and 4. Already ds9 has attitude with the rolling of eyes and saying things under his breath. If I had done that to my mom I would've been picking my teeth up off the floor. For me, I just take stuff away. I don't think a mental day here and there is such a bad thing. (One of the reasons I homeschool is the flexibility.) But I also think that taking a mental day per week is not good unless the work is made up over the weekend I guess. Ds9 was in a Christian private school in 1st grade and did the PACE thing. To tell you the truth, I didn't like it because he would spend too much time on one thing dilly-dallying. It was the teachers fault letting him do whatever he felt like. Here at home there is no dilly-dallying or no tv, no Xbox, no computer games, no phone, no playdates, etc. Work comes first. A break is taken when needed to have a snack, read, take a walk, or whatever though. Sometimes the work blows over to the next day, but still no games til the work is finished. I don't harp and yell, but they know the deal and it is their choice if they mess around with too many breaks and end up hitting it hard Saturday morning so they can have the scheduled afternoon playdate.
