Homeschoolers?

[Valgal]

This is our first year homeschooling and I wondered how many hs'ers are here?

[Emmy]

There's quite a few, I'm pretty sure. We homeschool - this is our 5th year.

[Jengerbread88]

We don't have kids yet... I always WANTED my mom to homeschool me, but she never did.
Kyle and I haven't discussed whether or not we're homeschooling or public schooling, but mostly that's because we don't have kids, so... we still have a few years before we have that discussion. :P

That said, I'm ALL for homeschooling... So if people have any information on it.... it might make me sway his decision...

[Paula]

I don't homeschool anymore, but I did homeschool my son and I really enjoyed it. But, he wanted to play football and our school district doesn't allow homeschoolers to play on the HS team.

[Leila]

We homeschooled Devin last year. This year both boys are enrolled in a virtual school. We do all the work though.

[MamaBee]

My kiddo is only 3... but I'll be starting preschool soon. Just order the curriculum last night! J really into the alphabet and sounding out words, so I thought I might as well jump in and try it. We aren't 100% sure that when school time comes we'll homeschool... depends on how J responds, how well I like it (I'm used to teaching adults... 10 years teaching computers), and if we can get into the charter school that we want (based on lottery system to get in).

[heathergw]

we currently unschool but plan on adding some curriculum in the future.

[Darcy Baldwin]

We're in our 5th year.

[Kara]

Kinda sorta -- I'm dabbling in some casual preschool homeschooling stuff. DS1 (almost 6) is in public school kindy. I worked full-time outside the home until this summer and hadn't even dreamed that homeschooling would be an option for us, even though I was very interested in it. Now that I am home, by the grace of God, I'm looking at it pretty seriously. We don't have the budget to send DS2 (almost 4) to preschool, so I'm doing Sonlight's P3/4 curriculum with him (books from the library) and DS1 listens along. (It's basically reading lots of good books together, along with some other school readiness activities.)

I'm considering this as a trial of sorts - DS1 is in a really good public school and I hesitate to pull him out when he's really enjoying it and having a very good experience. But DS2 is very happy to be at home and I may homeschool him for kindy, just to see how things go.

[jannylynn]

This is my 2nd year hs'ing my 3 kiddos.

[ccouch]

This is my second year homeschooling. DD is in first grade

[nonnie]

We home school my 7yo here in Korea - there was no room for him in school. He loves it, but I don't think we will keep it up when we move. He really misses being in a classroom with other kids, and I (for the 1st time) really really love the DoD's schools. If he wanted I would keep it up - the choice is really his.

[cheltzey]

We are--last week was our first week! You may have seen my thread a few weeks ago asking for opinions. I got some GREAT responses, so we decided to go ahead and take that leap.

[Sharon Kay]

My oldest went all the way through public school ... if I had known back when he was in kindergarten what I know now ... I would have homeschooled all of them all the way through!

I didn't start homeschooling until the 2nd one went into 8th grade and the 3rd one entered 7th grade ... so this is our 4th year ... I have a 16yo in 11th grade and a 15yo in 9th grade.

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by heathergw

we currently unschool but plan on adding some curriculum in the future.

That sounds SO interesting to me. I know it would never work for us, seeing as we've been in public school for 7 years. But it always intrigues me.

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by cheltzey

We are--last week was our first week! You may have seen my thread a few weeks ago asking for opinions. I got some GREAT responses, so we decided to go ahead and take that leap.

I'm not really good staying current in the forums so I didn't see that You'd have gotten some good responses from me too though!

[Valgal]

Oh I'm so glad to see so many hs'ers!!!!!! I have several friends who do as well, but this is our first year so I'm totally into connecting with other families. We started early september and have had our fair share of bumps, but it's going well and I loooooooooove being with my kids all day. We've done public school for 7 years, plus preschool and I've always missed them when they're gone. Last year I was so lonely I was at school about 3-4 days a week just to go between each of their classes to help out. I should've gotten paid!

Anyway, Johnny is in 7th and Eden is in 3rd.

[Priscilla]

I wish we were.

Will asked what 32 and 32 was yesterday and then he said oh, wait. It's .... 62? no 63?

I said try again. 2 plus 2.

Oh, 64!!

All that in about 30 seconds.

At school he's still barely counting over 20..

[Sarah8914]

These threads really tempt me. I miss my dd so much and I wish she was home with me more. I feel like school is way too long for what they learn (at least right now). Seriously, I could probably teach her a week's worth of classroom stuff in one day at home. But she LOVES it and I do think the experience is good for her.

I know it's important to connect with other homeschoolers, and I don't know if I would really want to (because I'm such a homebody and not very social unless it's close friends). And as long as we keep having babies, I know I couldn't devote the time to it. Pregnancy and the first year or two are tough for me.... as far as motivation goes.

But, you all inspire me.

[nonnie]

Originally Posted by Sarah8914

These threads really tempt me. I miss my dd so much and I wish she was home with me more. I feel like school is way too long for what they learn (at least right now). Seriously, I could probably teach her a week's worth of classroom stuff in one day at home. But she LOVES it and I do think the experience is good for her.

Sarah - this was one of the hardest things for me to get over - he finished all his work in like 2 hours a day - I kept giving him more and more - I was getting kinda worried about where he was academically, because he wants to go back to traditional school - so I went to the local Dod's school and had him tested -
Hello - everything mid to late 3rd grade - reading Late 4th early 5th!!!!!!! - He is suposto be in 2nd!!! -
After that I slowed down on him some - really we could do nothing for the rest of the time we are in Korea and he would still be ok starting in March back to school!!!! -

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by Sarah8914

I know it's important to connect with other homeschoolers, and I don't know if I would really want to (because I'm such a homebody and not very social unless it's close friends). And as long as we keep having babies, I know I couldn't devote the time to it. Pregnancy and the first year or two are tough for me.... as far as motivation goes.

But, you all inspire me.

It just so happens that my bf homeschools one of her 4 kids and she's the one who inspired me to do it in the first place. But even just connecting with hs mom's ONLINE is very helpful. There is an iVillage board that is sooooooo helpful. Some people there unschool, so public school during part of the day and hs the rest, and some hs 6 kids!

[newfiemountiewife]

We don't, but have tossed the idea around on more than one occasion, particularly since our littlest is having some focusing and attention issues. She is unable to learn well under a typical school system, but we are FINALLY now getting some assistance at school for her, to help her and her teacher. We work with her A LOT at home, which seems so unfair for her, since she spent all day at school, and now she has to spend time at home working too.

However, all of our kids love the social aspect of school, and since they've been publically schooled since the beginning, we won't take them out unless the situation changes significantly.

[rachaelsscraps]

I really don't think I have it in me to homeschool my 5 year old, I can barely get him to do 5 minutes of homework... but his teacher is driving me insane!
She writes him up for the dumbest things, he actually gets "timeout" for talking too loud.. well he's always been a loud speaker, it's part of his speech problem that he is seeing a speech therapist for.. He gets 4 write-ups everyday, I am so sick of getting them in his folder every damn day..
I really want to home-school him sometimes, but other times... I don't know... ugh..

[Valgal]

I haaaaaate when boys get punished for being boys! How many boys do you know that can sit still and speak quietly? I heard about one boy who was being tagged for ADHD for his behavior... IN GYM.

I do worry sometimes about the social thing. But they're both in sports, dd is in jazz, both have church groups and ds has a seperate young men's group. Not to mention neighborhood friends and cousins. I do make an extra effort at setting up times for them to be with kids though, don't want to let anything slip.

[ayaandjudah]

Rachael, that makes me sad. My daughter is in Kindy and she is having attention issues. She stands most of the day and simply can not sit in her seat. Her teacher told me she'd put her in yellow every day based on her behavior but she doesn't want to ruin my dd's self esteem.

Anyway instead of writing her up or giving her time outs, she's now working with her on a behavior modification process which includes a progress report daily. Instead of focusiing on her "not yet" marks the teacher is praising her for her "good" marks. We're only in the first week of this but I think the positive reinforcement is better than negative.

I'm sorry your teacher sucks.

[newfiemountiewife]

Alisa, that sounds like my DD, she's in Grade 1, but really having problems sitting and listening. She is a smart cookie, but can't focus long enough to do anything. We're waiting for an appt with a pediatrician, and hopefully that will start the ball rolling for her, even more than it is now.

Luckily, the school and her teachers are understanding, because they KNOW it's not just because she won't sit, she really can't. She really doesn't have the skills or maturity (or whatever the problem is) to do it. I am glad, because otherwise, she'd be written up every day.

[Sharon Kay]

Originally Posted by rachaelsscraps

I really don't think I have it in me to homeschool my 5 year old, I can barely get him to do 5 minutes of homework... but his teacher is driving me insane!
She writes him up for the dumbest things, he actually gets "timeout" for talking too loud.. well he's always been a loud speaker, it's part of his speech problem that he is seeing a speech therapist for.. He gets 4 write-ups everyday, I am so sick of getting them in his folder every damn day..
I really want to home-school him sometimes, but other times... I don't know... ugh..

Oh I have soooo been there done that. We lucked out ... I have a friend that knew me very well ... and my boys ... and recommended Switched on Schoolhouse ... both my boys are ADHD and the one has PDD-NOS/Aspergers/Autism (which we didn't find out until later) ... and it holds their attention VERY WELL!!!! It's the book to brain to paper that couldn't keep their attention. The software has games on it too so it is interactive. Wish I had started them at that age!!

[Sharon Kay]

Originally Posted by newfiemountiewife

Alisa, that sounds like my DD, she's in Grade 1, but really having problems sitting and listening. She is a smart cookie, but can't focus long enough to do anything. We're waiting for an appt with a pediatrician, and hopefully that will start the ball rolling for her, even more than it is now.

Luckily, the school and her teachers are understanding, because they KNOW it's not just because she won't sit, she really can't. She really doesn't have the skills or maturity (or whatever the problem is) to do it. I am glad, because otherwise, she'd be written up every day.

our pediatrician told us he was not qualified (trained) to diagnose these problems and sent us to Children's Mercy where they have been ever since ... but it took 9 months to get them IN to be diagnosed because they are so backed up! Mine are smart too ... it was definitely a focusing issue with my boys.

[Sharon Kay]

FYI mine don't have any problems with socialization in homeschooling ... in fact BECAUSE they are HOMESCHOOLED they are actually more social than before ... but that is my doing because we are so active in the homeschool community.

Once they got in the upper grades there wasn't as much time for "social" stuff because of all the homework ... they spent all day in school having troubles focusing and all night and weekend working on what they didn't finish during the day plus their homework. I won't go into the "nightmare of 7th grade" story.

Now they get their work done during a typical school day ... here is what our week is like ... let me know if they seem UNDER-socialized to YOU...

Monday night Boy Scouts and Homeschool Robotics Team (1st place BEST robotics team in the Nation by the way!)

Tuesday Homeschool bowling league ... and 3 out of 4 weeks ... MAKE KC ... electronics geeky meetings where adults and teenagers make all kinds of things (see Make Magazine to get ideas) together ... they use woodworking tools, soldering guns, computers, and etc.

Wednesday night family night at home ... thank goodness!

Thursday speech/autism class; bowling league practice; robotics team meeting; and 1 meeting a month for homeschool science club

Friday robotics team meeting

Saturday 9am to 4pm robotics team meeting

...this is in addition to any classes they may take at the science store ... which the kids would vary each time that they would meet.

PLUS our robotics competitions where they meet anywhere from several hundred children all working with robots to oh a thousand or so and spend 2-3 days with them.

Ummm do you think we can fit any more socialization into our calendar without going absolutely nuts? ... actually we do find time here and there ... lol

...in fact my oldest ds went all the way through public school ... and he NEVER was this active socially!!

[Valgal]

My ds and dh want to start a Lego Robotics league but it's so expensive! There is one at the high school but no more room for another team member. Suck!

[rachaelsscraps]

Originally Posted by ayaandjudah

Rachael, that makes me sad. My daughter is in Kindy and she is having attention issues. She stands most of the day and simply can not sit in her seat. Her teacher told me she'd put her in yellow every day based on her behavior but she doesn't want to ruin my dd's self esteem.

Anyway instead of writing her up or giving her time outs, she's now working with her on a behavior modification process which includes a progress report daily. Instead of focusiing on her "not yet" marks the teacher is praising her for her "good" marks. We're only in the first week of this but I think the positive reinforcement is better than negative.

I'm sorry your teacher sucks.

My son won't stay seated either because he's hyper, and because he has really bad allergies this time of year... Well, he's gotten written up at least 3x because he got up during centers to get a tissue...
Give me a break!
His teacher told me this morning she's going to try rewards. If he gets 3 smiley faces, he'll get 10 minutes extra choice time. I asked her if she takes a smiley face away when he gets written up for something else, she said no because that would go against the positive reinforcement... But after he gets written up, his choice time is taken away anyway so it's going against the positive anyway. When I went to pick him up this afternoon, she said she didn't even start the smiley face awards because she didn't print the paper off her computer (which is right there in the classroom)..
I really have to admit I don't like his teacher, at all... and it probably doesn't help that she's the same age as me! lol... It's her 1st or 2nd year teaching so she doesn't have much experience

I just don't know what to do. I really would homeschool him but with a 16 month old at home, I feel like I'll take too much time from her and what she needs... also I work at home doing my extracting, which is very time consuming... so we'd have some financial issues from that..
anyways... sorry for the novel

[Janet Phillips]

We are in our second year and are loving it! My kids are in 2nd, 1st, and PK (and a 2 year old making a mess of everything!) I LOVE that they get to do school for a few hours a day and then they get to PLAY like kids their age should. I also love that I get to go at THEIR pace...whether that be fast or slow (and is often different for different subjects). I don't have to worry that they are getting bored in school (like I was growing up) or falling behind and missing stuff. And I LOVE the education that just happens around the home all day -- they are with me to plan meals, to go shopping, to host luncheons, to just do life together

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by rachaelsscraps

I really would homeschool him but with a 16 month old at home, I feel like I'll take too much time from her and what she needs... also I work at home doing my extracting, which is very time consuming... so we'd have some financial issues from that..
anyways... sorry for the novel

You would be surprised at what you can do. Mommies are very resourceful and... AWESOME!