We moved late August. Needless to say, things have been unsettled ever since. It's 5 weeks into the school year and I finally feel like we are getting into the groove. I'm HSing a 5th grader and a 2nd grader with a 3.5yr underfoot. She is in preK two days per week for 2hrs so that has been quite, uh, refreshing.

Dazey

We are having a great time. We don't follow the school year here as such (which starts in Feb), except for activities we do that run for a school term. DS (who is 6) has just started to show a strong interest in school-y type resources (we are unschoolers), so I've been providing him with lots of those. I sent him the link to the Khan Academy and he is loving it. I wasn't sure if it would hold his attention but he can't get enough.
Next term he will be going to a pilot program at a small independent school which will eventually run one day a week. They will run workshops for homeschooled children with a dedicated teacher (DS's old art teacher who is wonderful). Essentially we are using it as a babysitting/social opportunity for our boys.
DS is also going to start circus classes and is going to a 3 day day camp at the circus school next week (holidays). He is very very excited.
Right now I'm trying to remember to go with his flow. He has days of intensive maths learning, days where he just needs to be outside, days where he lies around and reads or crafts (like today, he has a cold)and days where he just needs to play with his friends. I'm also finding that at different times of the day he is more receptive t different kinds of learning. Maths is definitely a late night activity and writing and drawing happen best in the morning.

I would like to respond, but it's late and my brain is fried from a l-o-n-g day of homeschooling.

We're doing fine. I don't even know what week we are in right now (7...9...23?). We've finally hit our groove and are moving along nicely. I am thankful each day for the opportunity to educate my child at home. It is usually exhausting, but so much fun! I love the little surprises (most of them, that is), like discovering his amazing insight into poetry. He's six, but he can read a complex poem and 'get it' when I'm still sitting there scratching my head. He can understand poetry even better than literature which I find rather surprising. That discovery has been the biggest surprise for us this year, thus far.

That's all I have time for, but I do very much appreciate hearing from you at-home educators!

We are doing all right too. It is technically school holidays here. The main difference that makes is that some of our regular stuff isn't one, but we can slot into some good school holiday activities.

We have been trying a new approach involving a lot more intervention from me. We are generally unschoolers but my children seem to do better with more structure and me introducing more new experiences/ideas. So I am getting ideas from an online curriculum and introducing them sort of sequentially as we time/inclination allows. (Sorry, I tried to add the link but it appears to be down at the moment.) It is chronological, and atm we are doing the Ice Age!

We are doing well. We have the most out of the house stuff this fall we've ever had (evolutionary science, Spanish, music lessons, 2 playgroups/field trips, plus dance and circus). So I'm feeling pressed for time! If we had a couple more school hours at home a week, we'd be in good shape. We're very much focusing on core subjects at home right now (language arts and math) and a little history. When our science class wraps up in 5 weeks we may shuffle things around again.

My 4th grader started "real" Algebra (as opposed to side lights and dabbling) this fall and that is going great. He was more than ready. My 1st grader is struggling with perfectionism.

It's a fantastic start for us. There was a bit of a bump at the beginning but someone with more experience than me, chalked it up to 'beginning of the year excitement being over'. We're in a nice groove now. It is exhausting though. I'm sleeping quite well these days, until I'm up at 3:00 worrying about curriculum! I'm enjoying the planning and layers of enrichment and DS's anxiety is very low and he's developing a nice work ethic. It's wonderful to watch. I started Spanish and Latin, to see which he would like better. He loves both of them! He retains SO MUCH!! I think we hit his readiness level in most areas, so I've started introducing different problem solving activities to work on anxiety and rigidity issues. He's entering into the end of SM and I've been watching to see how much he understands the more complex problems. I just thought 'this will be interesting'. Wow. He gets it. I look at something and think this may be to much and then have to step out of the room, because it's a little disconcerting to see how much he grasps it. I'm glad everyone is doing so well here and thanks for your updates-

My 12-year-old is enjoying his one day a week co-op writing composition class, everything except for the pages of grammar worksheets that have to be finished by a deadline, something that he is not used to but I know is very good for him.

He got A+ on the first two papers he wrote. The teacher wrote notes about the things she really liked in his writing. He is becoming more confident about adding humor in his writing because she is encouraging this.

I don't think the last paper he wrote will get an A because he waited until the last possible moment to write it. Since he managed to write the first two papers quickly and did so well, he thought he could do it again, but this time at the last minute he had a bad headache. He does not write as well when he is in pain. It sucks the humor right out of him except for the sarcastic kind. He is still learning to work through the pain.

He doesn't particularly like his state history class. He thinks our state is boring. He knows much more about Japan and its culture than his own state.

He reads for hours in bed every night on his iPad. He always keeps up with the latest news. He always reads the latest science and technology articles, but also keeps up with the latest popular music and things his sister likes to talk about.

He continues to do well in piano and the musical theater group he has been in since age 4 and he has so much fun in this. He gets a lot of positive feedback for his ability with improv and his sense of humor.

Same here, just different subjects There are quite a few classes/activities I would like them to try but I don't think I can add more to our already busy schedule. Just the amount of the homework/music practice from the outside classes can be quite overwhelming.

Otherwise we are good. It sure helps that this is our DS8 3rd year of homeschooling, so I feel like a pro. I believe both DS6 and DS8 are working on their levels and get to do plenty of challenging work each day. Now if only I got more time for myself.

I'm so happy everyone is doing well Wish I could say the same here. I feel like an awful parent, I hate homeschooling I am trying to give it a chance. I can see the benefits, we have just gotten off to such a rocky start. The first 2 weeks there were site problems , and this program uses the computer a lot, then they accidently unenrolled us, that took a week to fix, the last week and a half I've been sick (as in walking dead sick,lol) I've had about 2 good days so far, on the up side it can only get better from here

I'm wondering if this is a good idea when his life is being so affected by migraines and sleep disturbances. It can be confusing to the brain to be exposed to bright light in the hours before bed. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/ipad-kindle-ebook-sleep.html

For sure. And, the good news with homeschooling is if you don't like how it is going you don't have to ask permission to change it. Just do it!

I quoted your entire post because you shouldn't have to deal with all of these on a regular basis. Hang in there! It will get better.

Okay, so I'm not the only one! This is truly my biggest problem with homeschooling my child; I don't get in bed on time EVER! I'm one of those people who does best with 8 - 8 1/2 hours of sleep each night. I think I've probably averaged about 6-1/2 for the past year or so.

I think, too, that we're still figuring things out with my ds, so there is still some adjusting and trying-on-for-size that is going on. I hope this will cease by the end of this year, though I fear that when I have to come up with a new curriculum next year, I will be back in the same boat.

What I have truly found most difficult --> stressful <--- has been trying to stay with him as he makes the leaps. We've schooled for 11-12 months now. In that time I've gone from trying to do Kindergarten work with him (before I had a clue about his needs), to first grade work, and now to second grade work. Since we started this last session, I've not had to do any major tweaking. I hope that we'll be okay through the end of the year (2010), but if his growth this past year is an indication of future growth, I'll be doing some tweaking during the Christmas break.

I didn't mean to ramble about all of that. I couldn't help myself when I read all of your posts with those great details! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoy reading about what others are doing.

thank you both for your words of encouragement, I am going to stick it out. I realize this is not how most people begin. Hopefully a month from now I can tell everyone how smoothly everything is going

Skylersmommy - It will get better!!!! That first year was such a learning year, for both of us. Then the next year when I brought my 1st grader home, it was a whole different learning year.

LOL Skylersmommy. I feel that way 1/2 the time. I feel like a bipolar homeschooler. Some days I love it. We get lots done, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Other days, I'm pretty sure I've single-handedly flunked him 2 or 3 grades. hehe Do I get an award for that? So I'm right there with you skylersmommy. You're not alone!!!

Remember that it's a marathon, not a sprint. They don't have to learn everything TODAY! They have years and years! Even a bad month or two is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Honest.



Sorry to dash in and dash out, but some days the marathon thing is all that keeps me going, so I wanted to post it. Since school started for us, I've been reading but not posting. I want to get on here and add my update, but I haven't had time. Soon!

Hi Kriston!!!

Yes it is marathon. Some days, I need reminding of that.

Dazey

You summed up how I'm feeling exactly

skylersmommy and hkc:
I am in the same boat as you! Some days are diamonds and others are coal. I think they are supposed to be gold, but the song doesn't fit that way around here lately!

I just picked up the book Creative Homeschooling by Lisa Rivero. She really hits home for me in terms of why we homeschool. I feel more relaxed now about how things are going. I'm always having to remind myself, as others said, that this is a marathon not a sprint. I'm trying to focus on the long term goals and remember not to do "school at home."

It's been really hard to try juggling hs with starting a new business but I think I'm finding a rhythm there. Some days we do lots of kid focused activities and then I may have a couple of days where I'm more focused on work related activities. I need to stop feeling guilty about those days and just move on to the next round of "school days."

The important thing is that I've noticed the kids are more relaxed and happy this fall. Last year was so stressful for the family. Still adjusting to many changes in our lives but we seem to moving forward. Guess it can't be all that bad if we are headed in the right direction.

I LOVE Lisa Rivero's book! It's the best thing! I even recommend it to non-homeschoolers because I think the info about learning styles--while not so much in vogue anymore--is so useful for speaking with teachers, even if you're not teaching yourself.



I've loved reading the updates. I'll finally add mine.

We've had a busy start to the school year, in part because the school-for-homeschoolers that my kids attend part-time changed buildings--after we had already registered and paid for classes 4 days a week!--due to circumstances beyond their control. It's now 35-40 minutes away instead of 20-25 minutes. We had some carpool help, but it wasn't very reliable. (Note: never set up a carpool with someone unless you're *sure* they're reliable! Lesson learned!)

That's the bad news.

The good news is that after a few really tough weeks, I decided to rearrange the schedule a bit, and now we have more time at home. I still drive both ways 3 days a week, but at least we're home more. That's been a good change and I feel more sane. It will get better still when soccer season ends in a couple of weeks.

The even better news is that both kids are as happy as can be.

We started DS6 in the school full time 4 days per week, so I was really only teaching him one day per week. But he had tested out of both Math 1 and 2, but was skittish about skipping 2 grades in math, as was the teacher. So knowing that it would probably not work, I agreed to let him take Math 2. It was way too easy and required a lot of busy work. So I used the scheduling changes as a chance to drop his math and reading/writing classes, and now I'm teaching those. I give him less time-consuming stuff that actually makes him think. He's happier and is actually learning. His reading seems to be coming along quickly all of a sudden, and his writing improved more in one lesson with me than it has in the past 18 months. I wasn't sure he'd work well with me, but he's really doing okay with it.

Socially, he's mostly hanging out with DS9 and his friends from last year (aged 10-12!), which worries me a bit for DS6. But those are the kids who play the imaginative games DS6 enjoys, so I guess that's what he's going to do. The older kids do seem to accept him--certainly DS9 welcomes his participation and defends his right to play if anyone gives him trouble (there's just one kid who's not always nice). But he has some classroom buddies and he adores school this year, both the work level and the social stuff. He likes his TaeKwonDo class at school and he raves about his hands-on science class. It seems like a pretty ideal fit.

DS9 is doing great, as usual. He started going only 2 days a week, but now he's going 2 additional afternoons a week so he gets to see his friends more regularly. He loves that. Even though he's 1-3 years younger than the kids he hangs out with, they are so excited to see him. He walks in the room and the boys yell his name, like they did with Norm on "Cheers." It's great to see.

He wouldn't trade homeschooling, particularly with the addition of the school-for-homeschoolers, if we paid him. He's as slow at getting his work done as ever. That's still maddening! But he's learning and he's happy. He loves his econ class, he's doing very well at algebra, and he seems to be progressing well in general.

So now that my mess of a schedule (and the resulting mess of a house...) are getting squared away, it's looking like a pretty good year.

I love that book too.

We are having a less than stellar stretch at the moment. We are having some rough times right now. Just lots of little things becoming a problem. ugh!

Hi everyone. We are doing well this year. My DS loves his co-op classes. He also likes to work. He is 4yo so we do a mix of unschooling and "homework" as he calls his worksheets/projects. He just finished his 1st grade spelling book and loves to read to his little sister.

The only thing is he can be a night owl at times.

I am feeling better about math. Until recently my 12 year old son was spending very little time doing math. He finished the Life of Fred Decimals and Percents and Fractions books a while back and I have only been having him do a few word problems once in a while when the purpose was really to make sure he could write out the problems and keep the columns straight, that kind of thing, because he has motor dysgraphia. I think pencil and paper math might always be slow for him because of the writing involved.

With the Life of Fred books he always picked up the concepts quickly, he loved the way the books were written, and there were not very many problems to do, so he liked that. But I wanted him to get a little more practice with middle school math before really getting involved in Algebra, which he has been doing only once in a while. This is a kid who would much rather read than do math anyway so I was looking for a fun way for him to review middle school math and build up speed. I found something called IXL math and like some of my son's video games there are achievements that he can earn and he has been doing about one hundred problems a day, sometimes on his iPad in bed at night. I never thought my son would ever do math willingly in bed. It keeps track of the time it takes him to do the problems so he answers the questions as quickly as possible and he has to be accurate even in spelling or the answer is counted as wrong. When his score is up in the 90's, any wrong answer (typos included, like spelling hundredth without the d) will knock his score down about 10 points so he is learning to work quickly and accurately. He always gets the answers faster than I can and uses a lot of mental math when he does math on the computer but I will always beat him in pencil and paper math because I do not have dysgraphia. IXL costs about $10 a month and we will find something else if he get tired of it, but for now I am happy.

A little update from last week, now that all the bumps are behind us I'm running into something else. I mostly HS the youngest, she just turned 6 and is in 1st grade,(DH mostly works with DD7) we're using K12,I'm following the lesson plans, but DD6 will always change the direction the lesson is following so I just go with it, is that what most of you do?

For example the science goes into the three states of matter, but dd knows this stuff and doesn't want to hear it. She wants to know more about the atom and how the 'proton', 'neutron', and 'electron' work. And what would happpened if you added more or less of any of these things what would you end up with ect... She does something like this with every lesson

I guess my question is, do you do what the HS program requires and then add what you need to add/ or do you just not do that lesson/ or do I need to find a different HS program?

This is why I never bought/used a curriculum package for our first year and why I usually recommend to others not to. I find it hard to make them fit the kids' needs, especially the first year or so when you're still figuring out what your kids' needs are.

Yes, I would absolutely do what you're doing and just follow your DD's lead. Unless there's some reason to think that your child is falling behind, why teach lessons that your child doesn't need?

BTW, my son would have been annoyed with the notion that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds like K12 isn't mentioning plasma, and plasma is fab!

Kriston, thank you for the advise Honestly the reason we started this way is so that we would have some direction on what needs to be taught, but I'm finding out quickly I should have gone more independent. I think once I get my HS feet wet and know what I'm doing I going to change that.

Even though we were behind about a month in starting, now we're ahead, she's goes through the material like it's nothing.(which may be the reason for all the detours in her lessons) I'll just keep following her lead

Your right about the plasma, don't see it anywhere, geez.... maybe they touch on it later?

Question for young inquiring minds.......

There are actually 5 states of matter, can you name them?

DS7 brought this up to his science teacher last week when she only presented 4, ended up getting a demerit from her. Not because of the information, but because of his indignant delivery and refusal to let it drop.

Homeschooling part time is proving more difficult in some ways than full time. By the time DS gets home has lunch and does his homework, neither one of us feels like doing more. I'm looking into audio history since we drive 40 minutes each way to school and back.

Do you have to report to K12?

If not, I can tell you that we had great luck with just checking books out of the library that interested DS back when he was 6/7. Especially in science, this worked really well for him. To make sure we weren't missing anything important, I just used guides like "What your 1st Grader needs to Know" by E.D Hirsch http://www.amazon.com/What-Your-First-Grader-Needs/dp/0385319878 and websites like this one: http://www.worldbook.com/typical_course_of_study.html. But especially in science, there's a lot of variety about what kids learn. There isn't one "right" course of study. As long as the kid is learning something every day and you move between all the sciences (earth science, biology, astronomy, etc.), you'll cover the bases.

Every kid is different, so do with all this what you will. But for us it was great to be able to study things that interested him at a pace and level of complexity that suited him, and the library books are free. FWIW, three years later, at age 9, DS is a science whiz, way ahead of his age-peers in terms of what he has been exposed to in science, so it definitely didn't hurt him to go off-road.

The first year for every homeschooler is a learning year. You're figuring out what works and what doesn't. That's normal and healthy. Really, it sounds like things are going well for you. (Even if it doesn't feel completely like it is...)

We also use k12 and while we don't stick to the curriculum exactly DS6 really enjoys it for the most part. As long as your DD can pass the assessment it doesn't matter HOW you teach the lesson - so feel free to let her go off on any tangents you desire and then take the assessment when done (there's no way she won't be able to pass the assessment if you're going more in depth!)

You can also 'rush' her through the 1st grade science (or any subject) by assessing out of things she isn't interested in doing - that way you get to harder things more quickly.

We're in the process of adding my K'er to doing k12 so our lives will become more messy (umm interesting I mean) in the next few weeks. Neither one will be at level yet but we're getting there.

I do love the fact that we were able to quickly get DS6 into 3rd grade math and he is 1 unit away from finishing the 1st semester of it already. We're almost to new stuff even - so far only a few concepts or words have been new to him but he's happy and enjoying it still so all is good I think.

It just so happens that I can... thanks to our good friend Aurora Lipper .

Huh-hum.... the five states of matter are:

solid, liquid, gas, plasma, and BEC

Yes, we follow these little rabbit trails... well, most of the time. The bad part is that we both enjoy going down them and if I'm not careful we'll spend an hour on something that should have taken ten or fifteen minutes. I do have a (free) curriculum that I use as a skeleton, but tweak a bit here and there, and then I add to it quite a bit. We don't barrel through our school books, though he reads a lot on his own and would devour all books if allowed. We tend to go slow and wide with school. We cover a lot of areas, and he gets a lot of what he's interested in at the same time. He's really good at filling in the gaps, as are many of these children. Last year's deepest focus was marine biology. This year it is botany. He's recently started writing poetry (really good stuff, too!), so I suspect that's where we'll be focusing in the spring.

Once you find an outline and some goals that you generally feel comfortable with, you can use that to start pulling your own things together. Get what you need to in there, but feel free to move away from the structure or plan when your child's interest is piqued. As you ease into this, I think it will become easier for you and you'll see that it can work this way. Best wishes on all of that. Have fun!

great suggestions Kirstin I do feel like I'm getting the hang of this I just need to get the materials she needs to learn what's interesting to her


I'm looking forward to her getting to a point like your DS Courneyb and I know(hope) it's coming soon


BWBshari Solids, liquids, gases, plasmas, and Bose-Einstein and yes I had to look the last one up ,lol

I never heard of that 5th one! How cool!

Wow great link to the e-science, that looks like a program both dd's would love..they really like the hands on stuff


Yes, we follow these little rabbit trails... lol too funny but that's what it feels like

For us the Rabbit trails are the whole point

I heard of the Bose-Einstein only in The Dissapearing Spoon and on the Big Bang theory. I wouldn't think of it off the top of my head if the three states of matter came up.

�" There is no end to scientific endeavor. �A true scientific theory is always opened to being disproved. �"
�-Popper's Falsification theory

I was googling this quote and landed here http://www.experiment-resources.com/falsifiability.html
Then I clicked on the kids link and I saw an experiment using paper airplanes and bar charts to prove which is better. �What could be better? �The boy's all into paper airplanes because they had one on Special Agent Oso on the Disney channel recently, and he's done bar charts a few times in his workbooks. �I should have known there's a webpage for paper airplanes. �We might do this soon and introduce science fair project elements and show him how to fold paper all at the same time!
I'm going to paint that quote and hang it in my kitchen because it's pretty and inspirational.

http://www.paperairplanes.co.uk/planes.php

My 12-year-old son, who always loved to argue, found another good debate site--debate.org. He really enjoys reading the debates and tries to get me to read and discuss them with him. We have not been able to find any debate classes and I am not much help since I never took debate, so I decided he needed a rule book so he can perfect his skill in arguing.

I am still amazed at how easy it is to go to amazon.com, look at sample pages of books to find just the right one and then have it immediately sent to the iPad so we can start reading it right away. I decided to get A Rulebook for Arguments.

They don't offer middle school debate classes at our public school so this is another good thing about homeschooling. This is another interest that he can follow without any kind of restrictions.

We read a few chapters of A Rulebook for Arguments last night together and we can see how it might also help him in his co-op writing composition class. He is still making A+ on every paper, but it is getting harder. So here is another thing that is keeping him from doing as much math as I would like for him to do, but it is hard for me to tell him to stop reading and learning things that he enjoys so much to do math.

I have to admit that I don't find math as interesting as science, history, and everything else and this makes it harder for me to encourage him to do more of it.

Nice to hear how everyone is doing!

Hope your year continues to go well!