Does anyone have any advice-good or bad-on this type of school? It sounds appealing as I am so overwhelmed with curriculum and what to teach and when to teach it...etc. My son LOVES the computer (limited pencil and paper, lots of visuals). I would love any input.

I know Questions is very happy with it.

I think the big question to ask is if you can use it independently in your area--and thus adapt it to your child's needs just like any other curriculum--or if you must be associated with the public schools. The latter is much more restrictive from what I understand. (I'm soooooo not an expert on this, however!)

May I also be so bold as to suggest that you don't have to be overwhelmed. Honest. <reassuring pats on the back>

Check out "What Your Xth Grader Needs to Know" by Hirsch and/or "Home Learning Year By Year" by Rupp, follow your child's interests, make sure you do some work on all the required subjects (math, language arts, writing, science, health & safety, music, art, P.E., history, social studies...I don't think I missed any, did I?), and then just relax.

I PROMISE you that it is NOT as hard as you think it is. There are plenty of things about homeschooling that are a serious challenge. But what to teach does not have to be one of them. I think you're making WAAAAAAY more out of the coverage issue than is really required.

Curriculum is just another way of saying "what he should learn." With some help from books like Hirsch's and Rupp's, I'm pretty sure you have a better sense than you think you do about what he should learn.

Hang in there!

We will be starting an online K12 at the end of this month. I'm trying it out for 2 months (taking DS out of public school) to see how it goes. I'm still learning about HS'ing and didn't feel confident enough to do it on my own, so we'll start out with this while I do some more research!

Kriston, Thanks for your reassurance with the homeschooling. I love some aspects of it but really hate not knowing what if any progress we are making. I have the Hirsch book and flipped through it. The LA is very vague and that is DS6s weak spot. I looked into the Michael Clay Thompson series for that, Singapore for math, and the rest from the library. But I spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. DS6 loves the computer so naturally that would be a good avenue. How do you tell the difference between "public school online" and "independent work"?

Testing can help you gauge progress. Even if your state doesn't require it, it's not a bad idea to do your first year (at least) so that you know how *you're* doing. (Not really so much about your child's performance!)

If it helps, DS7 is 2 subtests away from finishing the Iowa Test of Basic Skills at (not above) his age level--I'm administering it and it cost me $40. Assuming that I'm not missing any questions myself (LOL!), he's missed no more than one question in any subtest. Granted, an age-level test is really easy for him, but still, if it's coverage we're talking, then I think this shows that its coverage we're getting! This despite the fact that he read Alice in Wonderland and CyberEd earth science rather than anything age-appropriate and we had no set math to do this year beyond what we felt like doing. Yet he seems to have mastered 2nd grade quite well without ever really doing any second grade work this year.

I promise you, I am just about the most laidback homeschooler you'd ever want to meet! I am practically allergic to curricula of all sorts! If MY child is doing fine on coverage, it's *really* not that hard!

One of the reasons the LA in these books is vague is because it's very open to adaptation. There's no one thing that kids ought to read, no list of books they can't miss, you know? Not really. I can assure you that Dickens is not on the normal 2nd grade reading list, but so what? My son was interested in the story, it was at an appropriate reading level for him, and he got a lot out of it. So that's what we read for a big chunk of the year. <shrug> Follow their interests!

I'm telling you, coverage is overrated. Your jobs as a homeschooler are to 1) teach your child how to learn, 2) teach your child where to find materials to answer questions (dictionary, Google, source material, etc.), and 3) teach your child to love learning.

That's it. Everything else is really just opinions about what an educated person in 21st C. America needs to know. The secret you're not supposed to figure out: There is no right answer. I can assure you that what **I** think one should know is very different from what his 1st grade teacher thought. I like my way better, and apparently so does the ITBS! But your way isn't wrong. Hirsch is handy, but his way is just another opinion, really. A more educated opinion, sure, but just an opinion. So is the curriculum that your public school is using.

Especially with a GT child, coverage just really happens on its own if you try to keep them learning something all the time.

Make sure your child has a well-rounded education that covers all the basics. If you do that and the 3 things I listed above as your job, you're doing absolutely great!

I promise!

I'll totally back your play on that one, CFK! I think it becomes necessary to be more systematic and documented when it comes to college prep. Good point. (Though even then it's about documenting what's been learned, and is still not really about coverage per se.)

I was pretty sure I remembered that hkc had a child fairly close in age to mine, but maybe I'm wrong and I should have asked. Oops! Sorry, and thanks, CFK!

Hi hkc - i briefly talked with some folks with the MNVA (the district in MN that uses K12 curriculum) last year about how it works with HG kids. I think you first do an assessment and your child starts at his/her readiness level, and then no matter how quickly they finish a course, they move to the next level. I believe the kids take the state tests according to designated grade, but the curriculum moves at the child's pace.

Since it's free in MN, it can't hurt to call them. MN virtual academy I think there was some discussion on the MCGT yahoo group about this too.

Thanks SPG. I did hear that MNVA is a little less flexible than Connections academy. I was looking at Cyber Village Academy. It is all online and I loved the topics covered. She said there are no timed tests, no pencil and paper so that we could do on our own at a very limited pace. Are you contemplating this route SPG?

Yes Kriston our little guys are close in age. My son will be 7 this summer. He placed in first grade for LA on timed testing and pencil and paper. Won't just plain reading bring that up by itself? And I agree with you 100% that kids need to be taught that learning is fun and this is where you find what you need. The teacher who administered his reading test told him he needed to speed up. When my son said he liked to go slow and enjoy the story, picturing it in his head, she said "There is a time and place for that. Not at school." Still not able to wrap my mind around that comment. I will keep everything you said about homeschooling in mind. You are very convincing.

Thanks CFK too for the heads up down the road.

LOL about my being convincing! I DID teach argumentative writing, after all.

Yes, just reading and talking/writing about what he's read will absolutely help him with LA! Yes!

I'm kind of shocked at the teacher's comment, actually. I mean, it's nice to be able to read quickly, but if he's *choosing* to read more slowly because he's enjoying it, then I have a hard time thinking that's an honest-to-goodness problem.

I'll accept that he needs to *start talking* about the fact that there are different types of reading that we use in different situations. But seriously, he's 7! A little perspective there, you know! You LEARN that sometimes you read fast and sometimes you read slowly, for pleasure. I don't think you have to have that down already at age 7!

My best advice about LA is to have him read every day from a variety of sources and styles of writing (directions, poetry, fun kids books, harder chapter books, nonfiction, magazines, etc.), read things that are hard and things that are fun and easy, and to make sure that he isn't just reading the sounds, but that he's comprehending what he's reading.

To check comprehension, you can really just ask questions about what he's read, both to see if he's picking up detail and to see if he's understanding subtlties like character's intentions and feelings, even if those are not explicitly stated. If it strikes you as important when you read it, then it's fair game for a question.

At 7, kids should be starting to ID setting, character, and plot. They should be able to retell stories they've read in an order that is more or less chronological and that hits the main points.

They should be improving their vocabulary, practicing spelling--though this doesn't have to mean spelling tests!--learning the basic parts of speech (noun and verb as well as subject and predicate), and how to divide words into syllables.

We hit most of that through reading and writing. We just talk about things as they come up. I do very little formal work on spelling, vocab or grammar. The less comfortable you are with this aspect of LA, however, the more formality might help you. But don't get overwhelmed. He's 7! You can teach him these basics! Because they are just basics!

Okay, I'm posting way more than I should. Sorry! I promise I'm trying to be helpful, not merely the annoying former English teacher who won't shut up!

First off he's only 6 so that teacher's comment really bothered me. He has great comprehension but that is because he pauses to "picture" the story in his head. He actually told the tester when she was asking him questions about what he had read, "How can I even remember the story when you kept interrupting me and telling me to read faster." Have to sympathize with DS6 here. He knows the parts of speech too. He tests into 3rd grade on their norms. He just doesn't read fast enough which sounds like a fairly common thread here. *sigh* So back to the homeschooling drawing board. Thanks.

Again - I love your posts! Maybe because I studied English too!! All great advice - and I'm shocked at what that teacher said too. We have to remember some people learn and read and enjoy kinesthetically and really need and want to go slowly to accomplish that. I doubt most teachers take that into account during their busy day!

BTW, there's a free e-resource about poetry up just for today (March 18) if anyone is interested.

http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

It does have a short New Testament reference in it, so it isn't 100% secular. But it would be pretty easy to a) skip that part completely, b) substitute something else there, or c) treat the Biblical passage it suggests as strictly poetry and not as religion at all.

Because their stuff is often religious in nature, I don't usually post from this site here. But this one seemed mostly secular (or easy to secularize, at least), and is relevant to this conversation.

If you're interested, get it while it lasts!

Hi - to clarify Kriston's comment re: k12 - we haven't started yet, but I have ordered it. I wanted the help with scheduling, wanted to make sure we leave no gaps year by year, prefer to have lesson plans and hands-on activities (not too good on my own in this area), wanted to see the progress for myself, and needed the reassurance. We'll be independent, which means I can pick and choose the courses and grade levelj, and just move DS up when he's ready. I did a lot of research, and the consensus seemed to be that it is a rigorous, comprehensive curriculum, and many seem most happy with grades k-5. Personal choice - but that's why I made it. I'd suggest you call them and get an online demo account, and join their yahoo groups where you can get the input of other parents. As I recall, they are k12gifted, k12users and k12parent2parent on yahoo groups. Good luck!

Questions, please come back and let us know how it goes...

Thanks, Questions! Sorry to be mixed up--I thought you started it recently. I didn't realize it was on-base for next year. Oops!

I knew you loved the yahoo groups, and I think that's a great rec for anyone considering K12! It always pays to listen in on users before you buy what they're using, I think.

Thanks!

Actually, we're starting it as soon as it gets here - just to confuse things further. They have online placement tests (which take forever, b/c they start one level below chrono age). He placed above level for language arts and math (so I guess I'm not doing that bad a job HSing...) and I signed him up for grade level for music, history and art. What I like about history and art is that they are linked together - so when they do American history, they do American art, too. Science is his strength, and I thought I'd accelerate him quite a bit in science - but he wants to start at 3rd grade, because he liked it so much. I heard there's a lot of writing in science, so figured why not. I'm told that I can just call and swap them out for something else whenever I want to. Also, you can cancel in 30 days with no termination fee (but there is some sort of sign-up fee which I don't think is refundable). So, at the end of third grade, I'm starting six courses from the beginning. But I'll just skip through the things he knows, and I expect we'll go very quickly through science, history and art.

I found this page, which was very helpful: http://online.k12.com/misc/helpfiles/courseintros/Course_Introductions.htm

If I had the time, I'd be able to do a better job of independent HSing, but I'm working and having a bear of a time keeping to any sort of schedule. I also found that I was personally happiest with programs like Aleks where I could see the progress. My problem is that I made the first year HSer mistake - bought all sorts of absolutely wonderful stuff, but can't get to it all. So I'm letting K12 take care of the basics for me, and then will use my other stuff to supplement.

And when I panic, I remind myself of what Kriston has said - he's beyond the local third grade curriculum, so we're in good shape - except with writing (as opposed to dictating), which has improved, but hasn't yet caught up.

Okay, good! I'm not so far off then.

I was starting to worry that I was a lousy listener and not a very good friend!

And thanks for adding that info here. I really appreciate your expertise in this area.

HA!



Hunh? I have expertise in this area? If only it were so. I think I'm getting K12 just so I don't chase eery lead down that I read about so I have TIME to teach and work. I don't seem to be able to help myself, LOL! Just a natural born researcher. Hmmm, it occurs to me that I sound a bit like DS...

LOL! The apple doesn't bounce far, does it?

And as for your expertise: everything I know about K12 I learned from you. Perhaps that's more of a comment on how little I know than anything else, but to me, you seem very knowledgeable!

hkc75 - you can look here to see what books and materials K12 uses for its k-8 courses: http://help.k12.com/messages/1468/1473.html
(These are the consumer direct materials, but I think they're all the same - except that some virtual schools even send the computers...)

questions/ziggy
please come back and give everyone your opinion on K12. We used it with my daughter as supplement between 1/2nd grade. At the time there was way to much busy work and lots of review necessary if we followed their schedule. It didn't work for us. I wasn't impressed with the reprints of materials rather than pay for a textbook idea either, for the money I was spending for materials. I will be interested to hear your take and if things appear to have changed now that they are being used by many public schools as an online alternative. Many people have asked me about it recently and I have been hesitant to reply.

It's interesting that you say that because when I first looked at it, I thought there were just a lot of worksheets, too. I know DS needs visual interest. That's why I initially intended to use it just for the extras - art, history and music. I'm not sure what convinced me to sign up for math and LA, too. I guess I read a lot of positive comments about all the courses K-5, and I need help fitting everything in. DS really wanted to do it, too, including science (which I thought we'd continue to do on our own). The advantage of being independent is that I can skip the busy work and the review at the beginning of each new grade. It's also nice for me b/c they have a lot of support available from other parents. Basically, I'm still scrambling, trying to figure out what will work for us. I'll post again, once we've had some experience with it.

We use time4learning.com for DS(almost)6. It has been an awesome experience for us - it's very comprehensive, it's totally computer based, it's absoulutely hilarious at times, and it keeps him completely engrossed. It lets you put them in a different grade for each subject, and you can move them around. DS is all over the map right now in everything from 1st to 4th, and it's working out great. The LA stuff is particularly funny, and I actually enjoy watching the lessons. It's only $19.95/month and has been totally worth it for us. I only subscribed because I was terrified I would "miss" something, and I fully intended to use it only sparingly to appease myself on that point, but we are using it daily now. He loves it and I love it. Win/Win!

DS loves it so much, we're not dropping it either. My favorite is the voice that says: "Lego, Ergo, Sum..."