Hi I am new here but I have been reading a lot of the postings and they've been real helpful. I just started homeschooling my two children this year. I have a daughter in 8th and a son in 7th. I pulled my daughter from a very good Christian school due to financial reasons. Thankfully, the school allows both my children to be actively involved in extra curricular activities such as sports and pep band. My son has been struggling ever since 5th grade. I tried to put him in the Christian school in 5th grade but it didn't work out so I sent him back to public. I was constantly getting calls about his work not being done and even had "meetings" where I sat with my son in front of all his teachers. It literally felt like I was facing a firing squad! I soon realized homeschooling him would be so beneficial as his learning style was different and the school really wasn't helping him in areas where he was lacking (i.e. reading and writing). They just kept pushing him and pushing him. I took time to re-introduce phonics to him in the few months I have had with him and he has agreed he is finding reading much easier. But lately I have had struggles with him trying to get him to do his work here at home as well. I have to work part-time to help make ends meet and sometimes I feel so STRESSED! I recently discovered I developed high blood pressure and migraines since I began. I live in NY and feel so bound by their home education laws. I wonder if I am trying to hard and worrying to much about what I get covered. Am I beginning to push him to much? (BTW, my daughter is the polar opposite. She think she knows more than I do! LOL!) I am using a beka material and feel pressure to finish the books before the end of the year. I wonder do I need to strive to finish the entire history book or science book. Do I follow the kids pace? What about testing and quizzing? I wonder if I need to look at different approaches. Looking forward to getting to know some of you and hoping I can give some ideas and support as well.
Welcome! I have a 9th grader and 7th grader. I'm not sure what the laws in NY are, and we aren't traditional textbook users, but for me, if they finished 80% of a textbook, I would call it "good." Not that we should compare with the public schools, but did you ever finish a textbooks in school? I didn't. Most textbooks have a good bit of review the next year anyway. Best wishes!
Hi Ginger Welcome! I am from WNY too (over by Rochester). Ok first things first....relax!!! The regulations are not that bad when you realize you control what is under each topic. What things are really making you feel boxed in? There is no law that says you must complete this entire curriculum. You can adjust your IHIP at anypoint in the year if you feel you need to change curriculums. I usually put down "selections from...." on my IHIP so I do not feel tied to having to finish the curriculum if it just is not working. I know the regs say you need to do 80% but you need to determine 80% of what, maybe you only plan on doing 4 chapters of math in a quarter then you are required to do 80% of those 4 chapters. You need to start where the kids are. Abeka, I know some folks love it but I hated the few books I used with sd. I found their tests to be cumbersome and not really demonstrating understanding just spitting out facts. Sd was not good at that but she understood the material which I thought was much more important. I ended up rewritting tests for her. That being said I really do not believe in alot of tests before high school. Your kids are at an age where you should start introducing tests or quizes but they should not be overly stressful. Do you allow them to go back and correct the tests for additional points? That is one way of doing it (we always did 1/2 credit for all corrections). You might want to look at some different curriculums for the kids that play to their strenghts. There are alot of different options out there. For social studies you might want to look at curriculums that use literature as a spine. Beautiful Feet is a good one that might work well for you. You choose the level that fits the reading level. As for science most of the middle school/high school kids I know use Apologia. We really liked that for sd in high school. They even have the book on an audio cd so the kids can listen to it if they are an auditory learner. Also have you joined a local LEAH chapter yet? If not I would suggest joining one for some local support. Also in June is the convention in Rochester. I would really suggest coming up for even just one day to hear some of the speakers and check out the vending hall. You can get alot of great ideas there.
Thanks! Believe it or not that helped so much! What made me feel boxed in was the required amount of instruction in each subject. And I was also worried my kids were going to fall behind their peers. I am also worried a little about the standardized test requirement. You are absolutely right! I just need to take a deep breath and relax. I am going to step back and reevaluate my IHIP. I must admit the school district here has been great to work with and they really don't seem to pick apart my IHIP. With my daughter, who I started teaching right at the beginning of the school year, I had it all detailed by chapter and topic. I had the approval in just a couple days. I pulled my son out in November and all I did with him was send in a list of books and again I had the approval in the same amount of time. Since reading the posts on here and your reply I feel like a great weight has been lifted! Thank you!
Does your son has organizational issues? Is he willing to work with you? Come up with ideas (ie: keeping an assignment book or page or something, one place to do most of his work, one specific place to keep his work, etc.) My ds12 recently decided he wanted a more formal "schedule" to follow. Not my way of doing it, but it really is working better for him! See if he has any ideas of what might help. You could give him a specific amount of time to finish; if not, you're moving on to the next subject, and he can finish it later that evening (ie: when Dad's home, so he can help reinforce it!). He's been in school; he understands the concept of homework!
You will need to test your daughter this year but you can hold off and test your son next year and do a written narrative. You need to test every year starting in 9th. For middle school (7th and up) you need to complete 990 hours for the entire year, since you started in Nov. you only need to complete approximately 725 or even a little less depending on when you pulled them. You do not need to break this down by subject, you can just put a total for the quarter on your quarterly report. So if that is something stressing you out don't do it. Some folks do break down the hours in high school to show credits (109 hours equals one unit in NY) but then again you are not required to do that. My sister never did and her sons ended up in college just fine. As for IHIPs I do not think most districts even look at them (although some do). The key is to try and be as generic as you can on your IHIP and if they need more information then you can supply it later. I do not even think our district reads the quarterly, just checks off we sent it.
