I'm seriously looking into homeschooling. I am giving up on the school system to teach my children.

How do you know what style of teaching will work best for your children? I have looked up the different styles of learning, but they seem to be able to learn under all styles. I would think, there would be a dominant learning style. How do you know for sure, before buying?

How did you get started with homeschooling? What was your first step? How did you explain it your children? The number one fear I have is, I won't be able to teach them well.

If homeschooling doesn't work out, how difficult is it to integrate them back into public or private school.

How long do you plan on homeschooling your children? Is it a good idea to reintroduce them back into school when they reach HS?

Sorry, I know I still have a lot of questions.

We started h/s when radical acceleration proved to be a bad fit for DS6. I told him that we were going to "do school" together just he and I so that he could move at watever speed he needed to and explore topics that he wouldn't have the opportunity to do in school.

We started with one subject. Math because it was DS' favorite. Once I felt like we had that down, we added another, grammar. One piece at a time until I felt like his curriculum was full. Everything we use was bought independent of everything else, we don't have any boxed curriculum. I had a lot of conversations with him regarding what he'd like to learn. We've only been at it a couple of months and I already have a list from him as to what he'd like to learn next.

As far as styles go, he hates worksheets so I try to keep them to a minimum. Other than that, he's pretty open. History is his least favorite subject so we read the text out loud together. We also are charting the explorer's courses on a wall map and using movies to supplement the text.

I don't believe that I'll have the option of integrating DS into the school system, he's just to far ahead on everything.

As far as being a good teacher goes..... The most important quality in a teacher is someone who cares. You obviously do. Teaching is a lot like parenting, you're just teaching geometry instead of table manners. Give yourself some time to settle in, find out what works and what doesn't and just know that you are in the unique position of meeting your child's need on an individual basis. Teachers in school can't do that!

Enjoy!

My first suggestion is to take it one day at a time. We started "emergency homeschooling" with plans to return to some bricks & mortar school after a year. We just started our third year, with no plans for that b & m school on our horizon. It's hard to predict the future!

I'm not saying that you shouldn't think about the future at all, of course, but I feel like it's hard enough to make a good choice for right this second. Trying to anticipate what my kids will need years--or even a decade!--from now is just impossible. Small steps...

If your kids do well with all styles of learning, then don't worry about that. Do a little bit of everything and adjust as needed. I think some kids really require a certain teaching stye. Others don't. If you have a "don't" kid, then rejoice in your good fortune and don't worry about it. One less thing.

Are your kids onboard about homeschooling? Do they like the idea? If not, then it will be significantly harder to do it. My current homeschooling motto is "You can lead a kid to homeschooling, but you can't make him learn." So if they aren't buying in, you will have a hard year.

If they are buying in, then the conversation(s) about it should be pretty easy. Because I'm homeschooling one and have one in public school (who may well go to a private school next year...), I talk about homeschooling--and school in general, for that matter--in terms of meeting needs. Different kids have different needs. It's hard for a classroom to meet the learning needs of some kids, so we'll try something else. A laidback, nonthreatening, non-critical attitude helps, I think. That's not easy if you feel let down by the school system. I know from personal experience! But it is helpful, especially if you want your kids to be able to play with kids who are in a b & m school.

My best advice is to buy VERY little/nothing your first year. Most of what you buy won't work for you. If you buy, I'd recommend that you buy cheap stuff you won't feel bad about dumping if it doesn't work. The first year of homeschooling is more of a learning period for you than for your kids. It is NOT the time for big investments.

As for how long we plan to homeschool...until it doesn't work for him as well as something else would, I guess. I suspect that he may want to do something different at puberty (though he currently attends a "school for homeschoolers" a couple of days a week, so he sees some girls). That would be fine with me. But he's only 8. I have a hard time thinking that far ahead!

Keep talking, if it helps.

Thank you for the replies.

BWBShari,without a curriculum are you nervous you will miss something he needs to know later? I hear what your saying about be too far ahead to reenter school. My thought was, HS offers so much diversity in courses available to them. I wouldn't want them to miss out on something they enjoy.

Also when HS age arrives, I'm fearful they will be way beyond my abilities to teach. I would be learning as much as they are.(LOL) How can you teach, if you don't know the subject??

My husband right now is still on the fence. He has issues with socializing part of it. I can convince him, if I have enough facts to back me up.

I have submerged myself in reading anything and everything I can about homeschooling. Most of the sites I've been to have redundant info, which is good. I did come across one thing that bothered me. One site said "some colleges require higher SAT or ACT scores and higher sub scores to be admitted". Another site said "some colleges were seeking out home schooled kids for admittance"

Kriston, Small steps comes very hard to me. I have to plan as much as possible. I know things change, but I readjust accordingly. I just don't want to set them up for failure down the road.

I haven't talked to the kids about homeschooling yet. I'm still in the research stage. Oldest son could stay in school, he is happy at school, but there are a couple of issues he needs addressed. Nothing major. The youngest, needs to be home schooled, things are not improving, he is an underachiever and has low self esteem. He needs help, but he's not getting it at school. The teacher doesn't know what to do with him.

Do you guys have any favorite home schooling sites you visit, with up to date info and resources?? There's soo many out there. You just don't know which ones are good, especially if your new to this.

Hold the phone...

Be aware that "curriculum" just means "what they learn and what skills they should possess." EVERY child has a curriculum. But this doesn't have to be something pre-packaged.

There are websites like http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum/grade2 (all grades are listed there on the sidebar, not just grade 2) and books like "What Your Xth Grader Needs to Know" by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. to help parents put a cohesive plan together.

It's not as hard as you think, I promise. Our first year, we read a lot of library books. Cheap, easy and flexible!

Kriston, I can't thank you enough! So much is congealing in my brain with your help.

I was at the library yesterday and did see those books.

Thank you again for all the info and encouragement.

One last question. What happens when the the student knows more than the teacher?

I second all the advice already given. For reading up on curriculum and listening to others state pros and cons I look to http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/index.php It is the most active homeschooling board I have seen. You can find people there who use just about everything although the board originated for those using "The Well Trained Mind". There is also a forum for accelerated learners. I find the curriculum and high school forums very helpful. There are also many great lists out there that you can pull from and use when you visit your local library. Many are mentioned on the board referenced.

I second not buying to much the first year until you get a feel for how you are going to teach and how your child would like to be taught. After our first 15 months I changed just about everything but my younger DD's math program. I changed my approach completely and my kids are really liking the new way. I call it my learning year.

There will always be resources, online classes, community college classes, tutors, DVD or CD-Rom instructed programs, teacher's guides, you name it there will be a way to find what you need for your child. Sometimes half the fun is learning as we go. I am learning so much more than I remember learning in school, right along side my DC.

It happens a lot. There's no shame in saying, "I don't know. Let's look that up!" After all, you wouldn't expect a teacher in a bricks & mortar school to know everything, would you? So why should you have to? A lot of things we learn together.

Gaps scare everyone once in a while. I just had a gap panic at the start of this year as were were facing down pre-algebra and I was doing all I could to delay it. My foot-dragging didn't go well, however. DS8 has some gaps--he doesn't have all his times tables down 100% cold yet, for example--but he needs the conceptual work that pre-algebra provides, given where he is in math, or he gets cranky. Reviewing without giving him new concepts, too, was a bad, bad thing for his behavior (and my sanity!). Now that we've moved ahead and we merely toss in some facts review as a side dish instead of the main course, he's back to his usual cooperative self. Live and learn...

Remember that kids in b & m schools have gaps, too. No school teaches *everything there is to know*, after all, and even if they did, some kids don't get stuff the first (second, third...) time they're exposed to it. The nice thing about working with GT kids is that they learn quickly, so if there are gaps, they will be able to fill them quickly.

If you find that your kids don't know something they need to know to learn the next thing on the list, you can always go back and teach/review it. It's one of the biggest benefits of an individualized education.

I know it's scary. Totally BTDT, I promise! But keep in mind that you just have to do as good a job as the school is doing. That thought helped me a lot the first year so that I didn't become overwhelmed. If you're unhappy with how your school is doing with your kids, then that's not that hard to do, right? That first year, I realized that if my then-DS6 read a developmentally appropriate book for 30 minutes a day and played outside the rest of the time, he'd be happier and would learn more that he was in his b & m 1st grade.

Naturally he did much more than that the first year. But setting the bar pretty low helped me gain my footing. Remember that your child's education is a marathon, not a sprint. There's plenty of time. Perfectionism is not your friend if you're homeschooling. You WILL make mistakes. That's normal. (It can actually help you with your kids if you use your mistakes to talk about perfectionism. I sure do!)

As for getting back into the schools, I have a friend who says homeschooling is addictive, and I think she's right. Be warned...

We have not transitioned back into a school, so I can't speak from experience about that. I am with Shari, though, that I think it would be a challenge to do so with an HG+ child, given how they tend to gallop through the curriculum. We try to go deep and wide (i.e., studying things like foreign language that wouldn't be taught in our school system), but some measure of going fast is pretty inevitable, especially in the areas that are the child's strengths. That tends to make a return to school challenging after a few years of homeschooling.

However, if you try it for a year and don't think it's for your family, the public school has to take your child/ren back. The fit may be harder, but they can't refuse your boys.

I second the "what your X grader needs to know" series. It's a good place to start from. Also you can look up your state educational standards and just make sure you cover them in some way or another.

When the kid knows more than the teacher? I think that happens a lot in school to HG kids. I think Wolf knows more than I do about dinosaurs and possibly the solar system. The answer? Books, books, and more books with a side of internet thrown in for good measure. Then you can add in mentors or outside classes etc...

Also if your district offers a homeschool based charter or Independent Study program you could see about transferring to that. It will give you the teacher back up and support you might feel you need starting out homeschooling (it's what I did) but you still have to make sure it's a good fit... Also most curriculum supplies are supplied by the district that way and you can still work at your own speed and level.

I'm guessing we've about a year to go before DS and his math are going to be out of my realm. But there are ways around it. A program like EPGY and a tutor/mentor onhand to answer the things he doesn't get.

I agree with Kriston that going deep and wide are good choices for trying to slow a child down. In addition to the core subjects my DS is learning Greek, studying Roman Mythology, Computer Programming and learning to type.

You can print out the state standards for the year to see what the expected learning is for your childs grade level if you are really afraid of missing something.

I agree, CFK.

I think some places have a lot more options for upper-level work in high school, and that's good to check into. I know some states even have ways for high school students to dually enroll in high school and college, effectively giving kids greater challenge and college credit for free. Those sorts of programs are absolutely worth considering.

I think it is important to note that there's no wrong answer about going back to school or homeschooling all the way through. Either is possible, depending upon the specifics of the situation. I don't think that homeschooling in and of itself necessarily rules any option out. However, what happens between now and then might rule some options out along the way. You just can't predict that until you're there. I think it's hard to know what any HG+ child will need years ahead of time, homeschooled or not.

I can say for our part that we're moving through things much faster than I was expecting to, and there's no way DS8 could return to elementary school. The private GT school in town is a possibility, but I'm not sure. We'll see...

This is our first year homeschooling and I had every emotion that you are feeling. I was a public school music teacher for 10 years and had miles of experience but still was terrified that I would be doing my DD9 a disservice if I decided to HS. I decided that I needed a structured curriculum that would guide us with pre-made plans and lessons (strange, because my school system couldn't afford a music curriculum so I never had that structure during my entire career). We are using the K-12 series as independent learners, that means we are not affiliated with any of the many state, virtual academies that use K-12. So far, I've been happy. I like the structure and scheduling options it gives you and I've been very pleased with all the curriculum content so far. I really liked the placement testing that allowed DD to accelerate in her stronger subjects. We have recently started using Life of Fred as a math curriculum, there wasn't anything wrong with the K-12 math, DD just HATES the traditional math method and needed a change. We still do the core K-12 lessons and assessments but she is using and enjoying LOF much more. I would agree with everyone that you don't NEED to buy anything your first year, it just made me feel better about my decision to "have a plan". Take some time to allow your children to explore what they are interested in and don't get stressed about having some relaxed, fun learning for a while. Then, add some structured lessons a few at a time till you find a balance that works for your family. At this point, almost 6 months into the journey, things are going great and we have no plans to go back to a B&M but, never say never. I may not continue with K-12 forever but it has provided some good training wheels for us as we learn how to make this work. I'm not affiliated with K-12, there are other curriculums that provide the same kind of structure and that would help to bridge the gap. I just wanted to share what has worked for us as new homeschoolers. Good luck! I think you will enjoy the ride and if you don't, you can always get off.

K12 as independents works well for us,too,for many of the same reasons. I think the best advice cull through the advice you get and the research you do, and choose what works for you and your child and is within your comfort zone. Homeschooling ranges from unschooling to scheduled traditional school at home, and you'll find supporters of each and everything in between.

Thank so much for the ideas, opinions, and personal experiences. It really helps in making the best possible decision for my children.

After reading a lot of the replies on here, I called 2 people at the NH coalition of homeschoolers. What great people to talk to! I spoke to one person for about 2 hours. I have set up an appointment with the person I talked to. I will be going over to her house to see a typical home schooling day. I'm hoping this will relieve most of my apprehensions.

I'm very excited about this! I just wish my husband could go too.

Thank you again!

Hi, Tall boys,

I'm late to the party, but just want to encourage you to give it a go, if that's where your heart and circumstances are leading you. I think, for a lot (not all) of boys in particular, elementary school is a pretty rough go, and some time home with mum might be just the ticket.

There are a lot of great free resources out there, if you want to give a few things a try to see what works the best for you and your kids. I think Melissa mentioned the Well-Trained Mind boards--there were several threads earlier this year that listed dozens of sources for free curricula. We love the free math from the University of Plymouth Centre for Innovative Mathematics Teaching, for instance. And the library is such a wonderful resource. We do buy a fair amount of curriculum, now that I more or less feel like I know what I'm doing, but there are lots of ways to get your feet wet without getting in too deep!

We've homeschooled from the get-go, so I can't address any transition issues from personal experience.

I know what you mean about being an obsessive planner--I've been reading university catalogues for at least two years now, and my eldest is 8! So I'm nuts, but there we go, that's not news. Whether or not the lads go to high school or not, I don't know (partly depends on when Frenchie decides to retire), but I figure it can't hurt at least to have some idea of which way we should be steering the ship, just in case we collectively decide to stay the course with homeschooling.

Well, when all the metaphors get too aqueous, I guess it's time to go...it has been pouring here for a month, and I have water on the brain, I think!

peace
minnie

There's nothing wrong with being a planner, and I hope I didn't sound like I was being critical.

I know that IME (and that of the new homeschoolers I've observed), just about the only honest-to-goodness mistake you can make (especially if you are a planner) is to be too rigid, too set on one path, too resistant to changing if something doesn't work as well as it might. It's next to impossible to be underprepared for homeschooling, since you can always find/buy more stuff. One trip to the library or the museum or even the grocery store or the Internet can provide days or weeks of homeschooling material. But it is VERY easy to be overprepared!

I've learned a lot about valuing loosey-goosey-ness since we began homeschooling. Especially with an HG+ child.

I hope that clarifies. I don't want to make it sound like planning is bad. Just that it's easy to overplan and get stuck in on a set-up that isn't workable. And THAT can be really painful for all invoved, not to mention really expensive. Staying with a curriculum that doesn't fit is the one way I know of to turn a child off to homeschooling. Especially the first year, exploration time is key.

Oh, Kriston, I hope you didn't think that I thought you were being critical--you're never anything but kind and super-supportive here of people and their ideas and choices and musings...I was just laughing at myself, looking up the entrance requirements for the kids' current ideas of "what they want to be when they grow up", so we can plan the right high school path! Really, I know that there are other things I could be doing...like, oh, say, vacuuming, or scrubbing the tub surround, or, you know, like that--but it is much more fun finding out what it takes to get into astrophysics for my four-year-old!!!

I myself do find it helpful to think a certain distance out, just because I am a very bad Decider--I tend to have a lot of regrets about decisions I made too quickly (I wish I weren't like this, but you gotta play the hand you're dealt)--so I do like to think a long time and investigate and look at samples, and so on, and talk to other people, and then feel pretty confident that things will suit the kids all right. So far it has worked pretty well--but don't know whether it's luck, the planning, or the general easygoingness of my lovely kids!! Probably the last, I suspect. And I certainly agree that it would be fatal to stick to something that wasn't working, just for the sake of the plan.

Hope y'all had a happy Yankee Thankee!

peace
minnie

Aw, thanks, Minnie. You're kind.

It wasn't your post specifically, and I didn't take offense at all, certainly. I just didn't want to seem to be coming down harder than I intended on planning.

I think really I'm coming down hard(ish) on worrying too much and trying to anticipate ALL the possibilities. There's just so much we can't know ahead of time, and I would hate to think that people might be scared of homeschooling because it's not always a neatly laid out, predictable path. It isn't, but as it turns out, that's okay. It all works out anyway.

You know?

Hello, I am very new here. I would encourage anyone not to hesitate to home school. I fretted over the socialization thing and what not as well for quite some time and I now believe it is a non-issue. In my own experiences at a public school, parochial school, and a prep school, I experienced and witnessed rampant bullying. I also experienced pressure to fit in and what not. Therefore, I think that school can potentially have many negative social consequences. I also think that there are so many activities for a child to participate in as well.

In regards to curriculum and ability to teach, I also think that there are so many options out there that there is no need to worry. I am utterly amazed at all of the resources that are available. The Well Trained Mind message boards have a wealth of information. Plus, there are many Yahoo Home school groups as well as local groups depending upon where you live. We participate in a weekly, all day co-op with classes in addition to using a public cyber charter school.

Best of Luck:)

Thank you all again for the responses. I did check out the links that were provided. The Well Trained Mind is huge. I could spends days in there.lol

I really feel I want to do this, especially for my youngest. He needs to get out of school. He needs to be able to learn at his speed and not the speed of the class. But, before I can comfortably do this, I need to read and learn how to motivate him.

Can anyone recommend a book on how to motivate a underachiever??

The curriculum we use through the cyber school is K12 and I am quite pleased so far. I do tweak it sometimes, but not very much:) They also use narration and dictation depending on the grade as a way into writing.

Often when a child is allowed/encouraged to learn at the appropriate level and about subjects that interest him/her, underachieving is no longer a problem. Get rid of the boredom, and often (though not always), the problem takes care of itself.

I don't have any books to recommend, I'm afraid.

This is my hope and what DD8 claims will fix her current underachievement issues.

We are doing k12 for DD5 this year. DD8 has attended a private school since K and is in 3rd grade this year. Our intention was just to do k12 for one year and then put DD5 in the same B&M as her sister.

k12 is going very well for our youngest and we don't believe we could put her in a B&M school for many reasons. In the meantime DD8 has been struggling to find challenge in her school and we've been dealing with underachievement issues. After over a month of consideration she has decided to do k12 next year. This wasn't what we had planned, but she's very logical and convincing. We're flexible so we're now planning on schooling both girls at home next school year. Big changes!

DD8 says that next year will be different because she will be allowed to work at her own pace so will always be motivated. She has dropped all expectations of her current school and is focusing on just enjoying being there. She says next year is when the real learning will begin.

Hi Exo - Welcome! So glad you are here! If you don't mind my saying...

6 months seems like a long time to coast. Maybe girls are more tolerant? Seems like the schools should be willing to do something in the meantime...although I totally get not wanting to go through the pain of advocacy. I just know that my son can talk a great line, but in the end, he is still a child, and not so great at 'Know Thyself.'

If your daughter has a better track record, then that's a different story.

Does your DD8 get much homework? If not, and she is just loving the social aspect of school and motivated to finish the year, why not 'insist' on 15 minutes of homework on the nights she doesn't get any from school? Or be very agressive about letting the teacher know that you won't be requiring her to do homework that isn't at her readiness level, but will be substituting your own for your daughter to hand in?

Best book on reversing underachievement is Sylvia Rimm's 'Why bright kids get poor grades' - problem is that there are 250 pages of blaming 'home factors' and then a little paragraph that explains that for gifted kids, just being in the regular classroom is enough to do all these terrible things.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Thanks Grinity. I did find this on underachievement. Duke Strategies to Motivate underachievers

We talked to the kids at dinner about what they thought about homeschooling. I have to say, it was an interesting conversation. We told them it was something we were just thinking about. Oldest worries about everything.

Oldest wants to go to school then have us home school him till dinner time. He wants to learn faster. I feel he can be convinced easily. He's having a hard time with the thought of leaving his friends. We reassured him, he will still have play dates with his friends from school. He's trying to compromise with himself really. He was asking if he could go to school till noon then come home and learn.

Youngest isn't sure. He is having a hard time picturing me as a teacher. He was very quite through the conversation. He needs more time to think about it. Not that it matters, he needs homeschooling the most, but I do want to hear his thoughts and fears. I want him coming into this with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn from me.

Good for you for approaching it as you are. I especially like that you're giving them time to sort through their feelings about it. You are a wise woman!

LOL, Grinity! I think I'm on page 249!

I appreciate the thoughts as we're still trying to figure out how best to handle this year. It's a long and convoluted story really, probably deserving a new post. Overall though it has been more a shift in her focus. Her primary issue is with not feeling challenged in math. This has been an issue since day one at the school.

We have not stopped advocating for her, though admittedly if we were planning on having her back at the school next year we would be doing lots more. She has decided instead to put her focus at school into other areas and not in math. She has been enjoying project studies they have been doing and loves a number of her special classes. It just happens that math is her favorite subject and the one in which we struggle to find challenge for her in school.

It does not help that the school's solution this year is to supply her with at home, optional enrichment. She has enough at home materials already. It only further convinced her she should be learning at home.

Our biggest concern the first few months of school this year was how her frustration with math at school extended to not wanting to do anything else at home for fear of getting further ahead. Since she made the decision to not expect challenging math at school and to school at home next year this has changed. She still has no desire to do the optional work sent home by the school but is going back to doing some of the at home enrichment we have here. She just won't tell her school she's doing them.

It's helped that I've begun doing some of DD5's k12 work in the evenings. DD8 jumps right on in and we have to get creative with her. It's been a nice trial run in a way. I do know that I should push ODD a little more then I do because actually we never really have. She's always been self motivated when it comes to her learning.

Thanks again!

Hi,Kriston! This is good advice, lol. HS'ing has been very expensive for us b/c I keep researching and reading and trying more and more and/or different. I need to chill! Actually, I just need to make a decision, lol!

Shopping for materials and curricula can be addictive! Nobody told me that when I started out.

It sounds like DD has struggled quite nicely and found a solution that works for her! Good Job!

So sad to hear that the schools idea of accomidation in Math is to send home work. ((gurrr)) But the special projects do sound interesting. And the fact that DD8 is joining in with younger DD's homeschooling in the evening doesn't sound like underachievement to me. Sounds like your family has faced some challenges and is handling them well.

Smiles,
Grinity