Homeschooling - SUPPORT GROUP

[MeepBeep]

All of mine love to read, but hate reading the classics. Sorry this sounds so naïve, but can someone explain why they have to read them?  

I know the source is not the best, but it's actually a pretty good overview...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_book

To me the are simply well written literature that goes well beyond the surface of story and actually create and tell a much bigger story beyond the text...

I know CliffsNotes are a 'cheat' as a student but on the other hand as an 'teacher' that doesn't get why these books are deemed' classic works' it can really give you some insight...

 

[DMRippy]

All of mine love to read, but hate reading the classics. Sorry this sounds so naïve, but can someone explain why they have to read them?

To me it is all about the writing. They are well written so children learn sentence structure, punctuation, and most importantly to me VOCABULARY! They use words in classic writing we don't hear anymore. Having a good vocabulary is SO important.

Just a funny tidbit

I worked at a college and one of the students was a work study in my office. At lunch one day she was asking me about some words she was taught in school in South Korea. She wanted to know if I ever used them... or if any Americans used them. I explained to her that some Americans knew them and used them but the VAST majority just didn't. It is sad really. I am not a reader but I have a very good vocabulary and I plan for my children to have a better vocabulary than their parents.

 

[kajira]

To me it is all about the writing. They are well written so children learn sentence structure, punctuation, and most importantly to me VOCABULARY! They use words in classic writing we don't hear anymore. Having a good vocabulary is SO important.

Just a funny tidbit

I worked at a college and one of the students was a work study in my office. At lunch one day she was asking me about some words she was taught in school in South Korea. She wanted to know if I ever used them... or if any Americans used them. I explained to her that some Americans knew them and used them but the VAST majority just didn't. It is sad really. I am not a reader but I have a very good vocabulary and I plan for my children to have a better vocabulary than their parents.

I'm a huge reader, or was, these day's I'm an author as my day job and don't have much time to read books, as I spend more spare time on BYC or with my animals/video games..

I've never read the classics, and I usually have both a dictionary, and a thesaurus open to help me make sure I use a wider variety of words as an author, and to make sure i'm using them in the correct context, due to my dyslexia, because of not using them in day to day life.

As it is, my husband routinely tells me not to use such big words with small children, because I use words that are often too advanced for the listener.

However, in my case, I'm autistic, and I literally cannot dumb down how I speak for children, so I use too big of words. LOL But, I never got that from reading the classics, I got that just from reading in general.

I do think that the average person, didn't read the dictionary, like I did as a kid because I wanted to figure out new words, that I could use for fun. I thought it was funny to find words no one else knew and had to look up. I didn't know that reading and memorizing the dictionary, was considered odd, as a kid!

My 5 year old isn't reading yet, but she has a very good grasp on language, better than her 12-year-old brother actually, who does read a ton, including classic stories like "to kill a mocking bird" and "ann frank diaries."

I would say that understanding language, is more from using it, then just reading it. If you don't use the words you hear, read, or look up, the knowledge kind of goes in one ear, and out the other.

For example, I'm teaching sign language, and my kids are learning Spanish. I cannot keep a second language with out using it on a regular basis.

 

[room onthebroom]

Sorry this is such a belated reply. I think you guys know better than anyone how quickly & how crazy homeschooled households can get.

I want to thank you all for your input. You are a very informative and nonjudgmental crowd & I'm really grateful. I think I'm going to try a new approach. Instead of making the kids pick from the limited options in stock at the library, or telling them what to read, I will print up a long list of classic titles that they can each keep in their work space. This way they can spend time researching the stories through the Barnes & Noble & Amazon websites. They can read descriptions & reviews & pick out titles that might be interesting. We can request them to be sent to our library & check them off the list after they're read. I'm thinking this will be more appealing to them & if nothing else, they will at least become familiar with the books, premise & the characters. In theory, the more familiar they become with the storylines, the more likely they will want to read titles that fit their age & emotional status on any particular day. (In other words, can you imagine having to read Pride & Prejudice when you're having a Frankenstein kind of day & vice versa.) I have no idea if this will work or not, but I'll give it a shot.

Thanks again for letting me soundboard on here.

 

[GardenWren]

Hi there all! Y'all have no idea how elated I was to discover this thread! A little about me, I'm a stay at home mom/farmer/homesteader/small online business owner. I have 2 wonderful little girls, ages 5 and 1.5. My husband and I decided to homeschool when our oldest was still an infant and have worked with her (and now her little sister) from early on. After heavily researching the appropriate steps needed to start homeschooling in our area (Middle Tennessee) we decided to go through a "satellite school" in lieu of doing it "old school" (pardon the pun.) After thoroughly researching and corresponding with several academies, we decided on Aaron Academy, but due to their policy on enrollment, she was unable to start this year. (She was 1.5 months shy of being 5 at the cut off.) We have been working on schoolwork (I assembled a preschool/kindergarten curriculum and she's been literally flying through it) and she's doing very well. My question is, 1. Do any of y'all have experiences with satellite schools? 2. Since she's excelling in her studies, how will that play out since she'll be enrolled in the kindergarten grade? (I don't want her to get bored/disinterested going over the same subjects she already has down again.) 3. What curriculum/mix do y'all like the best?
With Aaron Academy we are in total control of her curriculum, they primarily handle all the filing, records, etc, thus why we chose them.
Any suggestions, advice, etc is greatly appreciated.

 

[DMRippy]

Hi there all! Y'all have no idea how elated I was to discover this thread! A little about me, I'm a stay at home mom/farmer/homesteader/small online business owner. I have 2 wonderful little girls, ages 5 and 1.5. My husband and I decided to homeschool when our oldest was still an infant and have worked with her (and now her little sister) from early on. After heavily researching the appropriate steps needed to start homeschooling in our area (Middle Tennessee) we decided to go through a "satellite school" in lieu of doing it "old school" (pardon the pun.) After thoroughly researching and corresponding with several academies, we decided on Aaron Academy, but due to their policy on enrollment, she was unable to start this year. (She was 1.5 months shy of being 5 at the cut off.) We have been working on schoolwork (I assembled a preschool/kindergarten curriculum and she's been literally flying through it) and she's doing very well. My question is, 1. Do any of y'all have experiences with satellite schools? 2. Since she's excelling in her studies, how will that play out since she'll be enrolled in the kindergarten grade? (I don't want her to get bored/disinterested going over the same subjects she already has down again.) 3. What curriculum/mix do y'all like the best?
With Aaron Academy we are in total control of her curriculum, they primarily handle all the filing, records, etc, thus why we chose them.
Any suggestions, advice, etc is greatly appreciated.

Hey neighbor! You are using an Umbrella... most in TN do that. It gives you more control over what is taught. I think Aaron requires testing like public school... that may have been why I opted to not use them. I am close to Nashville so I liked having the option of taking mine to classes on campus. First don't worry about what grade level she is in her studies. Let her go at her pace. She may slow down and get back in line with her actual grade. You can skip grades in TN I am not sure how that all works... just not going to worry about it. Down the road it might be something to look into but for now my oldest is just in 2nd grade and my youngest is in Kindergarten. My 2nd grader can probably out read most middle schoolers, but he is not as good at math so it evens out. My kindergartner is reading already and know some multiplication. Because we can pick our curricula with worry just let her advance in what she is good at and take her time with the rest! Good luck... enjoy the ride! There is a Middle Tennessee thread on here if you want to jump over there for chicken stuff.

 

[GardenWren]

Hey neighbor!  You are using an Umbrella... most in TN do that.  It gives you more control over what is taught.  I think Aaron requires testing like public school... that may have been why I opted to not use them.  I am close to Nashville so I liked having the option of taking mine to classes on campus.  First don't worry about what grade level she is in her studies.  Let her go at her pace.  She may slow down and get back in line with her actual grade.   You can skip grades in TN I am not sure how that all works... just not going to worry about it.  Down the road it might be something to look into but for now my oldest is just in 2nd grade and my youngest is in Kindergarten.  My 2nd grader can probably out read most middle schoolers, but he is not as good at math so it evens out.  My kindergartner is reading already and know some multiplication.  Because we can pick our curricula with worry just let her advance in what she is good at and take her time with the rest!  Good luck... enjoy the ride!  There is a Middle Tennessee thread on here if you want to jump over there for chicken stuff.

Nice! You're not that far from us at all. My husband actually works in Nashville. I didn't see anything about testing with Aaron but I'll be sure to scour their website to make double sure as that's not something we want, so thank you for mentioning that. Our second choice was Home Life Academy (I think I got it right). Right now we're working through a "mish mash" of curriculum I've put together to help get her in a good routine and such, she's a smart little chickadee. I love the Middle Tennessee thread! Between it and the Homesteaders of Middle Tennessee Facebook group, I've connected with several wonderful chicken loving people like myself. Now that I think about it, I believe we've spoken briefly about Isabel Leghorns a while back. I actually ended up acquiring a gorgeous trio of Isabels from cree57i a couple months back and am super excited to work with them.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I remember! There are several HS groups on FB for Mid TN and critters too!

 

[herfrds]

Finally got the fiber optic internet out here! DD started her foreign lanuage on Time 4 Learning and has taken off. No more freezing in the middle of a class or having the internet shut off due to wind.

 

[DMRippy]

Finally got the fiber optic internet out here! DD started her foreign lanuage on Time 4 Learning and has taken off. No more freezing in the middle of a class or having the internet shut off due to wind.

Hum... I am just outside Nashville and no fiber optics yet. They were working on White Space internet for the whole area but that fell through. ONE DAY!