Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments We decided to take the plunge into homeschooling

Still vacillating between excitement and fear... I feel off-balance, completely outside my comfort zone.

Thanks, I'll check it out. DD needs to work on spelling.

Really? I'm kind of surprised about the comfort zone part. After all, you have been teaching these kids their whole lives...

The fear and excitement part is totally normal though.

That sounds like a great first day! They're excited on their own and coming up with great ideas. Tomorrow is going to be DS last day. Yep, out of comfort zone and then back in!! Can't wait to hear your updates!

For the spelling...

If this is a tough area for your child, you may want to start with the Dolce words (I hope I spelled that right!). You can find them on various Internet sites. They are the most used words in the English language and they are typically found divided by grade level.

In the public school system, they often use these lists to develop their "word wall words." The kids are pre-tested and then given assigned spelling words based on which word wall words they know and/or don't know.

Another recommendation would be to try the Wordly Wise or Explode the Code books.

We don't really work on spelling but we do a word of the day each day. I give DS a word and he has to look it up in the dictionary for definition. Then the thesaraus for synonyms. If the word is used as a single form (noun) he writes a sentence using it correctly. If it has more than one role in language (noun, adjective) he writes a sentence for each. Sounds like a bunch but the whole thing takes 5 minutes or less. Every once in a while, I'll ask him to spell a few of them just to see if they're sticking....so far, so good. The wierd part is that if I ask him for a definition of a word that he did 3 weeks ago, he gives it to me word for word what he read out of the dictionary when he originally had the word assigned.

We did something similar to what you're describing when DS8 was 6 and 7, Shari. We haven't done it this year because looking up words he doesn't know (or figuring them out from context) seems to be second-nature to him and we've been focusing on learning cursive. I didn't want the newness of the writing to get in his way. But I thought that strategy was a pretty efficient way to get handwriting, spelling and vocabulary development done in one fell swoop.

WOW three new HSing families!!!! Good luck everyone! This is my 2nd year HSing my oldest, and my 1st year HSing my middle son.

I think I mean outside my emotional comfort zone. I hate change of any kind and have a hard time with intense emotions. But things seem better today... I think over time I will find my balance again.

Yes you will CathyA!