Do you homeschool?

[mommyof3co]

I think it's great they keep up with it so much there Scorpio! Some places here they don't. You need no certification, you could be a total idiot with no clue what you are doing and totally winging it and you could still do it.

I've been looking into it more and more and have found alot of sites with curriculum and worksheets. I need to make more of a plan, I'm going to order some stuff so I can make it more of a school enviroment for him because I know it will make him feel special because he wants to go to school like Landon.

 

[mommyof3co]

Scorpio...do you mind if I ask you some questions about homeschooling since it looks like you might be the only one actually doing it currently?

 

[brownhairedmom]

i'm not doing it currently but i've researched it a lot & a lot of my friends are teachers so i've discussed it with them. I have a ton of links on it, on pretty much every aspect you can imagine. I can try to answer your questions though or at the very least point you in the direction of the info.

 

[marley2580]

I am actually glad that the govt doesn't keep a really close eye on what you're doing with your kids here (though they often try). One of the main reasons that I will be home educating is because I do not like the way children are taught in schools - i.e. they must be able to do x y & z by the time they are a certain age. I won't be following a curriculum as I believe that children learn through things they are interested in, one week they may be interested in maths while the next it may be space travel, and a month later they may be obsessed with the romans.

Mo3, why not ask your questions and we'll see if we can help, I was home educated and can easily ask my mum for you (she did it with 4 of us).

 

[Shifter]

I agree with Marley. If the government had proven themselves competent at arranging mass education then I wouldn't be planning to home educate my kids lol! What is the point of home education if you have to jump through a load of hoops to do so? The onus should not be on the parents to prove that home education is beneficial, (it has already been proven to be so) if the government has a problem with it they should prove why.

 

[brownhairedmom]

I think the reason they keep track so much here is so that you are in fact educating your children and they're also keeping an eye on the child.

For example, if some sick freak has a child and homeschools it, and they never get registered with the school board or doctors, then they could be keeping them locked up somewhere...you know? The educational thing here says that every child needs to be registered with the school board in their district either homeschooled or not. You can get put in jail here for not properly educating your child. I don't think its really strict, I think its just a means of keeping tabs that the parents are competent and not mentally derranged.

 

[morri]

Well here it is even stricter. You just can't homeschool your child. It has to go to any kind of state acknowledged school whether it is private or public. Of course before school obligation youre free to give it to a kindergarten or not. a kidner garten here is btw a nursery school, a place for children to go from about 3 years to 6 years (6 or depending on the development of a kid or simply their birthdate 7 ) is the age most children come to school here. Before it is doen you go to a test at a school to deem if your child is ready for school. If thats not the case you either stay in kindergarten or you go to pre school.

 

[mommyof3co]

What I meant by I wish it was more closely monitored was just to be sure it's actually being done. i have a friend who has some kids in her family that are "homeschooled" and her 7yr old doesn't even know all of her abc's or how to write.

Ok I have tons of questions..but just to get started...

How should I set up his day? I'm going to do it with Casen while Landon is in school, but I don't know how much time during the day we should devote to it? I mean he's learning all day from just everything, but how much should we actually sit down and work on it? I think he will thrive in an enviroment like that, he likes books and to write so I will be doing worksheets and things like that alot. I did find a website showing what core knowledge they should have but I'm really clueless where to start. What subjects would you focus on? I found a book I want to do for teaching him to read better..."Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"..anyone have experience with it? I read alot of reviews from homeschooling moms that said it was great. What about for math though? What curriculum is good for kindergarten-1st grade levels?

 

[morri]

I did some kinesiologic practices before I came to school, maybe doing that already is fine too (helps devloping a readable handwriting. ) I think you should maybe first plan 1 hour and see how his attention is doing and how much fun he has and extend it if he likes more or shorten it if he does not like it.

 

[mommyof3co]

Well I know he has a very long attention span, he can sit down and work through an entire work book on his own with little to no help, just lay on the floor for a really long time doing that one thing. He just loves it.

I'm going to set up a corner in my room like a little classroom for him because he wants to be in school like his brother so I'm going to make it seem like it's his own school. I think he will love that

 

[JayleighAnn]

I'm so jealous, I'd love to homeschool Halen bt OH won't let me, he's convinced we'll end up with a child who has no friends and can't get on with kids his own age as all he'll see all day are adults.

The fact that I'm planning to take him to loads of activities like swimming lessons, football and stuff (if he wants to go) doesn't seem to factor into this

 

[mommyof3co]

I've been reading quite a bit lately and I have found so much showing that homeschool kids that are very well adjusted, usually advanced as far as where they should be according to the schools. As long as they are in other activities not just hidden away in the house all the time I think it's great. I personally don't think I could handle doing all 3 kids all the time, so for now it's just this year with Casen and I'll probably do preschool type stuff with Hayden, unfortunately unless we move back to CO before he is to start school he will be 2wks shy of 6 when he can start school here in TX. Their cut off date is Sept 1st...no exceptions, his bday is the 15th..CO the cut off is the 15th.

 

[Shifter]

Children learn social skills from everyone, not just kids their own age. Plus, in the UK there are regional groups for parents who home educate so they can get their kids together for field trips etc, which I think is a great idea. And there are always clubs they can join etc. Home educated kids rarely lack social skills.

 

[mommyof3co]

Yeah, they have groups like that here in the US too

 

[morri]

I think it is only bad if the hometeachers try to put in any ideology in their minds thats bad.(Like i've read about kids who were homeschooled by their extreme right wing father some where in the US) but I think you have at every thing a bad side

 

[mommyof3co]

So I got all overwhelmed at looking at all the curriculum choices and reading tons so I started shopping for desks hahahaha. What do yall think of this? At this price I could get 2-3 one for Casen, one for Hayden to use to color on to keep him busy and 1 for Landon for homework after school...or I could just let Landon and Hayden share since they won't all be using them at the same time

https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3065263

 

[marley2580]

How should I set up his day? I'm going to do it with Casen while Landon is in school, but I don't know how much time during the day we should devote to it? I mean he's learning all day from just everything, but how much should we actually sit down and work on it? I think he will thrive in an enviroment like that, he likes books and to write so I will be doing worksheets and things like that alot. I did find a website showing what core knowledge they should have but I'm really clueless where to start. What subjects would you focus on? I found a book I want to do for teaching him to read better..."Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"..anyone have experience with it? I read alot of reviews from homeschooling moms that said it was great. What about for math though? What curriculum is good for kindergarten-1st grade levels?

They say in a lot of the books that I've read, that if you are going to do formal work, you should do it in the mornings. That's when your brain is more awake and able to learn. Therefore I would probably say to do it once Landon is in school, up until lunch time, then let him decide what he wants to do, but try and make it something that doesn't involve sitting down and working - e.g. a nature project, art etc.

Personally, with the actual sitting down and working, I would focus on the reading and writing to begin with and see if he asks to look at any other subjects. I have been told that art is really important as it gets kids confident about making marks on paper and naturally leads to writing. Growing veg and studying nature always goes down well with little ones and you can link it in to your worksheets - e.g. reading how to care for the veg, writing the names of the plants, keeping a diary of how the veg is doing etc. etc.

Check out the book I mentioned earlier, it's full of ideas and exercises.

 

[mommyof3co]

Thanks! As of now he writes all letters uppercase and lower, spells his name, mom, dad and his brothers names, and then just a couple of other words. But is starting to understand how to sound out a word to figure out how to spell it. He just needs to practice, he writes fairly neat but he's young so not great. I like the idea of growing the food and tying that in with other stuff, he would love that.

 

[CeliaM]

What I meant by I wish it was more closely monitored was just to be sure it's actually being done. i have a friend who has some kids in her family that are "homeschooled" and her 7yr old doesn't even know all of her abc's or how to write.

Ok I have tons of questions..but just to get started...

How should I set up his day? I'm going to do it with Casen while Landon is in school, but I don't know how much time during the day we should devote to it? I mean he's learning all day from just everything, but how much should we actually sit down and work on it? I think he will thrive in an enviroment like that, he likes books and to write so I will be doing worksheets and things like that alot. I did find a website showing what core knowledge they should have but I'm really clueless where to start. What subjects would you focus on? I found a book I want to do for teaching him to read better..."Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"..anyone have experience with it? I read alot of reviews from homeschooling moms that said it was great. What about for math though? What curriculum is good for kindergarten-1st grade levels?

Hey there, I've done a lot of research into homeschooling because I was planning on doing so with my eldest (till I got pregnant, and decided that I probably couldn't do a good job with 2 kids younger than him around). So, he'll go to school for K, and I'll hopefully feel grounded enough to teach him from thereon in.

Anyways, Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons is actually a pretty effective book. My friend used it to teach both her kids to read. It's very structured, but the lessons are short, simple, and effective.

Another good reading set is the Go for the Code series. Fun. More fun than TYCTR book, but probably also a slower route to the same goal.

Math - there are so many different ones!!! Do a search for the ones using an abacus, because that's the best way for him to learn to do math in his head. Makes it very visual.

 

[mommyof3co]

Thanks! Do you happen to know anything about Mammoth Math? I found that and you download it online, and it has printable worksheets, and is pretty inexpensive but seems good. So many are really expensive and with him being so young and this not being a full time thing not sure I want to invest a ton in just one subject you know?