Ok, we live in Alaska, they are very pro homeschool here. We are doing K, DS turned 6 in Oct. I am reasonably sure already that we really probably did not HAVE TO DO K but really, it is a good thing. We have Calvert plus a ton of supplemental math, science and social study material. The school district requires/requests 3-4 hours of schooling a day. I am sure that is based on the standard 1 lesson a day but we are whipping thru 2 and tons of 'extras'. We already bought everything and want to use the whole curriculum as we do not know how the laws will be in the next location that we are (we are USAF and move next spring) and want the curriculum/requirements to have been met and many many sources said this curriculum is a shoe in so that helps. This is my issue, do we just finish up in January(at this rate we will) then do a bunch of supplemental or what have some of you done? I am NOT good at making up my own day of curriculum so in order to keep him on track as far as having some of each subject will be hard for me once I do not have Calvert as a guide. We are doing 8 lessons a week instead of 5 and that is doing a 4day 'school week'. Should I slow down and just be ok with a 2 hr day an do one less on a day instead? That seems silly as next year he will go to 1st grade (if we move somewhere with good schools or good private schools) and it will be a huge adjustment for him. There are MANY more questions, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let me say this though, if he was in K right now in a public school he would be bored out of his mind and causing trouble so this was a good decision to homeschool.
Well if your ds finishes all that work by January could you go ahead and begin first grade with him then? From what you said he seems to be moving along quickly and instead of having months off he could move on to the next grade level. Or another option would be to just have him read a lot - good classic literature, biographies of people he is interested in and things like that and then add in some math worksheets to go along with it. You can also get some pretty cool science experiments online and most of them use things found in your kitchen or backyard. We do a four day school week too and Fridays is saved for Shakespeare, art, and science experiments or field trips. My dd10 will be through with 5th grade math by January and then will go striaght on to 6th grade math from there. I hope this helps.
He is all over the map when it comes to grade equivalent so he is already doing 1st grade math but what I guess I worry about is what to do once he does go to school outside the home, they cannot place him based on where he is if he is ahead in some areas and on track on others, can they?:cry:
No not really. So is homeschooling for the long term not an option for you? Sounds like it would be great for him since he is all over the board on all different levels. With my dd10 we advance her as she needs to be for each subject. I guess if he goes to public or private school they will do an evaluation type test and place him where the think he should be. If he is really advanced compared to his classmates they may put him in a GT type class or ask if you would skip him up a grade. This situation just happened to my next door neighbor. She chose to keep her dd6 in GT and not skip a grade.
Yes, that is ture they will test him and decide where he should be place. I agree if you get done with everything in Jan. start 1 st grade. If you don't want to, slow down and do other things. Theres alot to do at that age. Field trips, experiments, and plan fun.
Also, too, it would depend on WHEN you put him into PS. It would be difficult in the elementary, but easier in the high school. That way, you could put him into 9th grade English and Calculus both without any problem if needed.
True, there are, that is for sure especially at this age. What I am afraid of though is getting TOO far away from the basics, sitting and behaving and doing lessons that are 'boring' to him since that is how it is done in school. I just do not want to get him totally out of the swing of being disciplined and having a routine type thing. Hard to explain
But, he IS only in K, I think you could be a bit more lenient at that age. He has LOTS of years of schooling and sitting down and having a schedule ahead of him. Maybe you can try lightening up a little, and do more hands on, field trip fun type things, and let him be a little boy and play and have fun for awhile longer. So you're for sure planning on putting him in school? Sounds like you're doing a very good job with him at home!
Do you have any clue as to where you will be stationed next? I am prior military and I know it can be last minute before you find out. My sis, Beth A. on this forum is also an Air Force wife "stationed" (I use that term loosely) in NY State. Her hubby is assigned to Cornell College working with the ROTC. Prior to that they were in D.C. for 5 years. The reason I'm asking is if you know what state you may want to find out there guidelines as far as what they require. I know some states require yearly testing, but here in SC it is our choice. The school has to "invite" us to take the test but we are not required. My sis is the reason I ended up homeschooling. Her son went from a very good private school to a verrry poor where they are at now and she ended up going the hs route a few years ago.
I have to agree with Deena he is a little boy, let him have fun and be little. He has alot of schooling ahead of him.
Oh he has fun, the other 10 waking hours of the day that is. Figure he only does 3 hrs or so of school now compared to public schools where they are there much longer. I want to keep him on track with a routine so just trying to figure out how to fill the 3 hrs or so with 'curriculum' after the Calvert is finished, know what I mean?
3 hours is required even in K? Sound like a bit much to me! At any rate, chores, cooking, sports classes, art and music classes, playing with different sizes of containers in dirt or sand, Awanas-type-things, educational videos, constructive (K'Nex, Zoobs, etc.), puzzles, number practice (counting backwards from 100, counting by 2's, 5's 10's, etc.), playing scrabble or Monopoly, coloring pictures, being read to or reading to you, working in the yard or garden, etc., etc., etc. Those are all learning endeavors and can be counted as part of the 3 hours. Recess can be counted as part of those hours, cuz that's what they do in school! These things can be set up on as loose or tight a schedule as you want to!
True, and we have always done that even before we started formally schooling him. He is/has been with me 24/7 since his birthday so that makes it nice, but unfortunately I must have taught him too much before he started.........so now we are running out but I think we will just talk to the advisor here too and see what she says. I do not want to make it just a free for all every day since in K they have some structure etc so I would not be doing him any favors by not having some sit down and do workbook type work, but am trying to avoid getting too far ahead. It is a balancing act it seems like. I just want to do this the right way so that I give him the education he needs to succeed in the real world and maybe I focus on that too much. :cry:
What is "the real world" anyway??? Statistics have shown that homeschoolers actually do better than schooled kids with socialization and jobs and attention spans. So, to me, the real world of jobs when they get old enough is taken care of! If you are homeschooling, he gets lots of one on one attention! That, in itself, puts homeschoolers way ahead often times. I worked with my kids before acutal school age too, most parents do. Then once they go to school they go at the school's rate, which, because of the dynamics of having so many kids in one classroom, goes much slower than you do at home! My kids are "ahead" also, many homeschooled kids are. So it CAN be tough to come up with things for them to do when they breeze through the regular schoolwork so quickly. You don't neccessarily want to hold them back and let them be bored, that would cause problems also. I think that's why some people said to just let him start the 1st grade work. Keep him challenged, etc. It's not uncommon to feel the way you do about schooling. After all, we were all (or most) schooled in a classroom where you had to sit still and have a schedule. But that's the beauty of homeschooling---they're learning well, and don't HAVE to have a set schedule, and sit-down time so much. That's called "School at home" rather than homeschooling. But it's hard to de-school our minds enough to realize that. This is my 9th year of homeschooling, and I am just now getting to the point where I feel okay about that! What I was saying is, often kids learn MORE when they're allowed to learn in what schools would call "unconventional methods". I don't un-school, that's too much for me, but I also feel that kids, especially little ones that have so much energy, don't particularly need to have such set schedules to learn. Directed learning is good, obviously, so you have a direction you're heading, but allowing their brain the freedom of learning with joy and excitement, is much more beneficial! Trust me, they are learning all day, so getting 3 hours of "schooling" in can be a piece of cake! Just do like you've done when he was younger, he's obviously learned well in that method! It's just someone else's idea that they need to have 3 hours of schooling that makes it soun like you have to sit them down, like in a classroom, and do classwork with them. You may not agree with what I'm saying, and that's okay. I'm just trying to help you see that a young child does NOT have to sit for 3 hours a day with worksheets and stuff to learn. They absorb so much at that age, and if too much is put on them now, they'll begin to hate it later! That said, I had a hard time, when my kids were younger, practicing what I'm preaching, though I tried and did better with my younger two. So it's just something to think about. Someone arbitrarily picked 3 hours, when your child is already learning all day! So you've got it made!
If you know for sure that the student will be attending a school next year, I would go online and seek and print out objective lists for his grade level. I would then look for things that I did not feel were covered well and spend time of them. I buy doing so that there were things that I was teaching but not with the same terminology that is used in schools. I also found placement tests online and look at them and make up quizes that use the same format for questions etc. After looking at the objectives lists and placement tests, I was able to make sure that my student would have a chance at showing what they know. I was afraid that someday I we could not homeschool my student would seem uneducated simply because they did not understand how to answer the test, or understand terminology.
I agree with being less school like if we decide to homeschool forever, however, up here many homeschooled younger kids then they went to public school and are failing and lost. I constantly say homeschooling will work if done right, unfortunately I guess I have met so many who end up ruining the little lives of their kids by saying they are homeschooling when they just really are not. Both sides of the spectrum, bottom line, as long as the child is where they need to be academically I guess it is all that matters at the end of the day probably. I am not debating your methods, and as you say, they have evolved, I am sure mine will also if we do this forever. I am all for fun learning, heck, that is what we did up till this year anyhow, and fortunately much of this is still fun. He is not complaining at all which is nice, he loves it, even the regimented/structured stuff thru Calvert. It is wonderful, I am just trying to find alternative enrichment methods and weighing the consequences they could bring if he goes to a public or private school at some point. Being military we know each state is different examples, some states/districts will not test a child for higher grade levels till at least 3rd grade some wont advance you to GT programs after 6th some have NO GT things like these concern me as you can see, maybe too much but being that we move again in the spring I really just need to make sure we are prepared.
Yeah, it's hard moving so much, cuz it seems just as you get settled into one thing, you're off again (I moved a lot when I was young)! I think you picked a great program in Calvert, I don't think I've heard anything bad about it! I understand now why you don't want to just go on to 1st grade stuff if he may need to go to a school where they won't let him advance to his academic level but just put him in with his age level! My 2nd ds did that---he just took off with the K work and was done by January. Since I was planning on homeschooling, I just let him go into first grade work. But I may have made a different choice if I wasn't going to homeschool. Maybe just a different curriculum would work to help keep him busy and structured. Calvert would be different than, say, A Beka, in their approaches, so doing something like that may be worth looking into.
Thank you, good point also, and I am glad you see what I mean, it is hard to explain on paper sometimes. You know I hope that I am able to teach DS to communicate effectively on paper, wow, they say it is a lost art. Anyhoo, on a tangent here....... Thank you and everyone else here for truly thought out answers and information, not fluff like many message boards have! I TRULY appreciate it! I hope someday I can be as helpful! Please do not shoot me but.........we do not have ANYTHING religious in our curriculum and I barely got DH on board with homeschooling recently so throwing religion in (not that he is anti at all, just thinks it is 'too much' for him at this age, he was overdosed in it as a child) is too much. I would love to know of some very interesting, child friendly, light readings that maybe take up 10-15 mins to supplement our day. Thoughts?
My son loves "Hank the Cowdog" books. They are very light reading, very fun, and very "boy". They are chapter books. "Old Mother West Wind" books by Thornton W. Burgess are also cute light stories. They are stories about the creatures that live in the forest, are often "moral" but not religious. They are OLD, but fun. Dover Publications sells them for a very reasonable price.
