Homeschooling - SUPPORT GROUP

[DMRippy]

Great thread! Great links. We are just getting started in homeschooling so look forward to all the information we can get. Will be working on Kindergarten and 1st Grade. We are lucky Oklahoma is an easy to homeschool state, but still a little nervous about taking this on full time. (We did prek at home though.) We tried to homeschool after school for the kindergarten kid, but he is usually too tired so that didn't work well. It was better to let them just play after school and do more nature projects (hikes, garden, animals), than to try and do much sit down school work. They are looking forward to homeschooling this summer a bit (to see how it goes before fall).

Glad you could join us! The more the better. I have a K and a PreK so we are in about the same place.

Do you know what you are going to use?????? Mine is going to be a mix and match and fill the blanks as we go kinda thing for the first few years. Structure will come later when they are older.

 

[DMRippy]

Mass is very regulated-- about EVERYTHING!!!

THe plus in general is that the education is remarkably good on the whole-- a friend said the other day-- 6th in the world. THough I do live near a town with a high number of home schooled children. Getting connected is not easy though.

So I appreciate your willingness to share Donna!! Another chicken friend sent me some Mass links and that helped me find other links. Though much is not free. I tried signing up for K12 as i was an ad on another educational site-- but couldn't seem to pull off creating a connection or membership or whatever.

I am all for free as I feel like I pay a lot out of pocket for school activites and field trips. CHeaper to drive my own kids to zoos and such. ANd I don't think the teachers know much about zoo animals, or early pilgrim life-- as none of them farm, and I have worked at a zoo.

Sorry I always sound like I am griping-- I find it hard to stay positive about public school. But for now I will supplement.

WHile washing dishes, and the 2 drying, I have them a spelling challenge. Used a school spelling list and asked each to spell a word, at random so each got hard and easy words. It is about learning to spell a new word, not getting them all spell right. Even I can't spell every word-- I need spell check often enough!! lol

I have ALWAYS wanted to homeschool. My oldest is 26 and I tried to figure out how to homeschool him all those years ago, but then I was a single mom and no money and you had to buy all the books and that was more than I could afford with no child support coming in. I thought about private school that seemed more doable for some reason back them but was still out of reach. He is very smart and if he had had the right kind of education no telling what he could have done. He is doing fine but college escaped him. He has ADHD and teachers had no patience with him. He had one teacher that had taught for over 50 years and she said he was the smartest child she had ever seen.... I just didn't have the ability financially to work with him.

I WILL NOT REPEAT THAT MISTAKE! Life is different now. Hubby is retired I don't work other than with chickens and we have the financial ability to do what we feel is right.

I would like for this thread to be a place to share what works and what didn't and things we find along our journeys we can share.

I know there are LOTS of other homeschoolers on BYC and I hope they find us too. There is a WEALTH of info on the net and we can't find all the little gold nuggets ALONE!

 

[Arielle]

My oldest has asbergers and ADD, he figets but stays seated so the teachers kinda miss his issues. He is on a 504 but it is rather up to the teachers to implement. I need a more rigid format to verify their efforts. In the last meeting I pointed out that I should be notified when he gets a low grade-- all his grades went UP everything over 95 but one class which fell. and took him right off of high honors. HE brought it home to redo but never did that and never returned it. Complete ADD.

We can only do the best we can at the time.

THis year the 4th graders started using Xtra Math on line-- I did not like the timed efforts. Puts too much pressure on when kids are still unsure of their answers. ANd we got more wrong answers because of dial up. I had stopped practicing the times table as my son was doing this online math on the weekends . . . and then did some reveiw during Feb vaca and he could not do the times tables-- very slow-- he had back tracked. ARGGGGGG. I contaced the teacher- I was pulling my son from the program AND he was NOT to do it in the class room. We are back to practicing the times tables in the car while waiting for the bus. I also have the older brother quiz the younger brother-- and then turn it around and the younger quizzes the older. Win-win. Younger is back up to speed on his times tables.

Game--- use a deck of cards. put down 2 cards-- child adds the numbers ( I pull the face cards until they can understand they are valued as a ten) . THen play war-- each player puts down 2 cards to be added together, and then the totals compared, the high wins all 4 cards. Later this can be done by multiplying. My boys played for hours.


Introduce fractions and measurements by playing with measuring spoons and plastic measuring cups. THen progress to simple recipes like brownies-- my kids stood in a chair to make their first batch. Each made a batch of their own at the same time. Expect a little mess and flour everywhere. THen bake and eat. As they grow up and really start learning fractions, I have them make cookies and double the recipes. Write out the quantities and use that for measureing flour, and oils and eggs, etc.

Serves as many functions-- gets kids comfortable in the kitchen. BOth my kids are pretty handy in the kitchen now( 10and 12). ANd I don't need to provide every meal -- they can fend for themselves. Understanding that a mess is always expected but they also help with washing and drying now too.

Hope this was of interest for those with younger children-- progress is about building on an early introduction of a seemingly simple activity.

ALso Safety first. ALWAYS.

 

[Arielle]

Stone Soup-- I stumbled on this book called Stone Soup. We read the book and then made the soup. THe kids even washed a stone to put in. ( I said I put it in, when they were not paying attention, but just could not bring my self to put it in. lol ) and when it was ready the kids had a bowl of soup.

I told the librarian about my proud acheivemnt -- thinking I had been clever-- she had been a teacher and did that same activity with her students.

Sometimes books get the creative juices flowing.

My kids liked Caps for Sale. I drew out a lot of hats with a sharpie, and let them color each hat, and cut with a scissor. Good for motor skills. THen I drew out the man and cut him out. CHild glued man on a colored paper and glued the hats in a pile on his head.

My kids are passed these activites but perhaps they will fit in with something you have planned.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Stone Soup-- I stumbled on this book called Stone Soup. We read the book and then made the soup. THe kids even washed a stone to put in.  ( I said I put it in, when they were not paying attention, but just could not bring my self to put it in. lol ) and when it was ready the kids had a bowl of soup. 

I told the librarian about my proud acheivemnt -- thinking I had been clever-- she had been a teacher and did that same activity with her students. 

Sometimes books get the creative juices flowing. 

My kids liked Caps for Sale. I drew out a lot of hats with a sharpie, and let them color each hat, and cut with a scissor. Good for motor skills. THen I drew out the man and cut him out. CHild glued man on a colored paper and glued the hats in a pile on his head. 

My kids are passed these activites but perhaps they will fit in with something you have planned.

I remember reading Stone Soup to my son and daughter when they were young! A lovely story and a sweet lesson about community (which I hope they somehow magically absorbed.) not perhaps the best recipe??

 

[DMRippy]

PLAYING CARDS FOR ADDITION????? I LOVE THAT!!!! I have started working with the 5 year old on multiplication. No pressure just working on it.

 

[NotInThecity]

Glad you could join us! The more the better. I have a K and a PreK so we are in about the same place.

Do you know what you are going to use?????? Mine is going to be a mix and match and fill the blanks as we go kinda thing for the first few years. Structure will come later when they are older.

We are going with a mixed program also. "All About Spelling", DK Science with DK Science Workbooks (and plenty of 'hands on' experiments), lots of handwriting (copywork), probably Saxon Math for the 1st Grader, introduce art and music (very basic--read a brief page/book about artist/composer and look at artwork/listen to music--no worksheets or anything), little bit of general history and as much outdoor activity as we can squeeze in. We were going to hatch chicks for 'science'...but the incubator didn't work, so will postpone that for a while.

My soon to be 1st grader is a science nut, while the soon to be Kinder is an animal nut. The Kinder will be working on the same items, just a 'lighter' version. They have both been through the Confessions of a Homeschooler K4 program and it helped them out a lot(and it was inexpensive). Both are reading well for their age groups and I think that program helped that. These first few years are intro to everything it seems like.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
Let me know how you like ALL ABOUT SPELLING. Is it this one? http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/letter-sounds-app/ have you tried the free apps?

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I remember reading Stone Soup to my son and daughter when they were young! A lovely story and a sweet lesson about community (which I hope they somehow magically absorbed.) not perhaps the best recipe??
haahaa-- maybe I remembered it tasting better than it really did. Or I tossed in some herbs and a chicken too!! lol

I dont think kids absorb the morals of the story very well , but it is useful when a real life incident happens and then relate astory they know well -- or at least that is how my kids work. We watch a lot of movies and I try to use those stories to ID main charachters, the theme or themes, etc.

 

[Arielle]

PLAYING CARDS FOR ADDITION????? I LOVE THAT!!!! I have started working with the 5 year old on multiplication. No pressure just working on it.

WHen it is play and just a very short time, learning is fun.

I had one child getting multiplication a year earlier than another-- just different in how they learn.