So, DH and I made the decision to begin homeschooling DS5 and DS8 next year. We were unhappy with the current school but thought waiting it out until the end of the year would be okay.

Due to some recent events with the school, that has changed. I'll not go into the details here but the environment there is not good for DS8 and I'll not continue sending him there. This is all very abrupt and I'm feeling a little shell-shocked. We've been discussing this with DS8 prepping him for next year so he's not totally freaked out by any of it. On his own today he came up with two projects to pursue and he's really excited.

Since I was already preparing for this, I have good ideas about math curriculum but I'm at a loss right now with ELA. I am planning to do Michael Clay next year but I don't really want to start that mid-year. Do you guys know of anything that would be simple to implement mid-year?

Did anyone else pull their kid out of school and quick-start homeschooling?? Did you survive Thanks!

Yes and yes.

For us, the first key was finding some outside classes (either fun or academic) to make sure are DDs social needs were met.

Academically, most people recommend a detox (or 'deschooling') period. Maybe instead of a formal curriculum, you and your DSs could come up with a list of books to read and then organize a fun activity / assignment for each one (discussion, writing, further research, illustration, etc).

While you may still move to a formal curriculum later, this might be a nice easy transition into the less structured world of homeschooling. And it will teach you all to be more relaxed about learning.

I have to say that the biggest change for us since we started homeschooling has been a mental shift in our thinking about education. It was really a paradigm shift (and is therefore a little hard to describe).

We stopped worrying about all the window dressing of school (tests, ranking, scores, etc.) and have focused more on how do we get DD the very best education for her. We stopped caring about the "system" and it's opinions. We stopped feeling under the thumb of bureaucracy and politics that we couldn't control. We stopped feeling like we were lacking in options (now we have a surfeit). It's been liberating and I believe that change will stay with us even as we move back to a more traditional setting (DD is transitioning to an online public school for highschool).

I think that I should note that we are NOT unschoolers. DD has been in a series of brick and mortar classes with a teacher and other students. She requested (and we provide) grades. We are big believers in the process of teaching and learning and directed effort. It's just that we learned how to distinguish that from all the other silliness and dross that public schools layer on.

Just relax and you will do just fine.

Us too! Just pulled her out at the end of October. Not only are we surviving, we're doing GREAT. Homeschooling changes everything, in all the ways that Ivy said and more. One of the great things about starting is that you don't have to be Ready. Once you've withdrawn them, you just wake up in the morning and don't take them to school. You have plenty of time to figure out how you're going to do whatever it is you're going to do.

You probably know all this, just like I did when we started, but that doesn't stop the feeling that you're leaping off a cliff going "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

We did this twice, when DD was 5 and 7, when, after months of meetings, it became plainly obvious that the school was not going to offer her the appropriate education they're legally required to provide. Both times the homeschooling went very well.

As for ELA, DW just browsed local bookstores/internet for workbooks at the appropriate grade level, and mixed and matched her assignments from them based on our DD's specific needs. DW also used the spelling and vocabulary lists published weekly by teachers in our local school district, again at the grade level that was appropriate for our DD (which was not the same as her official grade level at all).

You could easily do MCT's Island level books in a semester (ask me how I know...).

Thanks everyone.

I'm glad I posted here. I really thought the MCT would carry us the whole year...I guess we'll just see. Flexibility is key here, I guess.

I did find a homeschool PE class that starts next week and he's at chess club right now. It's all going to be fine

I do feel as if we've jumped off a cliff but it is also very freeing to be done with the school.

It can feel like you've jumped off a cliff when it's abrupt. Been there, done that. Over time, however, you'll feel less like a deer caught in the headlights. Nothing is etched in stone and few things in life are not irreversible.

This is my third yr homeschooling. I think there's a spectrum or bell curve, if you like, with both unschooling and homeschooling. There are extremes or radicals with both. Some parents take a completely hands-off approach with unschooling and virtually no limits or boundaries with anything, it seems. Others seem to be very traditional and conservative and swing the other direction. The majority probably sits somewhere along the middle, though at times it may not always seem that way.

If you've got a child who is more externally motivated, follows directions, is more a sequential thinker and is more a sitter, then homeschooling with a curriculum may work for you. If you've got a child who is more intrinsically motivated, struggles with following directions, isn't a sequential, and is more a race around the room type, then trying to pin your child to a set curriculum at a set time and place may not work for you and you may have to err towards unschooling. It really depends on the child and how they tick.

Regardless, most children are more willing and cooperative when there is a degree of choice involved (ie. would you like to read The Hobbit or Fahrenheit 451 to read) or are at least under the impression that their input counts and they have some choice over their lives.

This is our first year homeschooling and I was so nervous the first few weeks! We had a similar situation with our school district and had no other option. Now that we're in our second semester it is getting much easier! It you want to use a specific text it's totally okay to start it now, then take your summer break and then finish in the fall of next year. You may find that your kids are moving through a particular text really fast and you'll have to move up to the next level anyway. (we've done both of those now)

If you want to study ELA for thee rest of this school year you could just pull random stuff together. Some ideas...

Study some random topics...

Idioms are fun....check out several books about idioms from the library, use google...try and use 5 idioms a day in casual conversation.

Study some fun literature topics: my son is nuts about Greek mythology but legends, Native American stories, and traditional stories from eastern cultures are fun too.

Study the six traits of writing or six traits of effective writing (google I am sure you will find ton of information) one at a time.

Do author studies...find an author he likes...read many of the author's books...find him/her online or find a biography about the author.

Vocabulary study...lots of fun ways to do this.