I’m seriously thinking about homeschooling dd2. I’m not sure the purpose of this post other than rambling. For those of you who started hs’ing after your child had been in public school, how was the transition? I plan to start some basic hs’ing with all of the children today, though at this time dd2 is the only one I’m serious about. My dd1 thrives in public school and it seems as though dd3 does too (dd4 and dd5 are still young). I want them in the environment that is best for them. I want to do the hs’ing starting today to keep their skills up – one of the reasons I prefer year-round school. Nothing major – some math and journal writing plus finishing the library’s summer reading program.

Do you have any websites that are helpful? Do you use a package curriculum, random textbooks, or do your own thing? Thanks for your support!

I'm starting dd who has been in ps. We are loosely using the well trained mind method...classical education. There is so much out there...it can be overwhelming!! The WTM has a website that is great and has message boards. It is pretty Christian based but the curriculum you chose can be secular too!

How old is your dd?
Do you want a Christian program?
Why are you taking her out of ps?

Five in a row is an easy and great program!! Lots of people really like the boxed curriculum like: Sonlight and Calvert. You have other small ones at home, so you want to make it easy for you and interesting for your dd's!!

AAaargh just lost my post :(

Anyway we are hs'ing ds this year. I knew that it was time to do it when I couldn't bring myself to send the registration packet back. I had it all filled in & ready, but just the thought of subjecting ds to it for another year broke my heart. He was struggling with the social issues and well we talked about the teacher that he had, and that just made things worse. We finally announced to family over the weekend because I was starting to order materials and thought they might be upset if they had to piece it together themselves.

We are going to be doing a literature based curriculum (ds loves to read) I'm using the Sonlight book list with a few modifications as I see fit and just doing my own activities and schedule with it. I'm letting ds have a good say in what we do. So for math he really loved the math that Lincoln used. So I'm ordering the student workbook from that company (Pearson Scott Foresman http://www.scottforesman.com/index.cfm ph#1800-522-2259) Also since July 1st I've been using the homeschool tracker software to track our school days, that way we can be more flexible during the school year because we only have to do 180 days for the whole year. (Although ds thought it would be cool to do 200 and have a 200th day of school party) Tomorrow we are going to watch the shuttle take off and do a few space activities and writing and I'll count that as a day.

Let me know if I can help you more, I have quite a few links in my favorites that I will share. But I've got to run right now What style do you think would work best for your dd? I think that there is a homeschool group in this area, but they are online. I'll be making a few phonecalls this week to investigate.

:) Good Luck!

Here's kind of a run-down as to what lead me to where we are now: http://www.amitymama.com/vb/showthread.php?t=208692

Amy, you don't have to do a certain number of days per year. That's only public school, not private/homeschools. There is a hs'ing group here in a way. Nothing formal. Skateland has skating for hs'ers on Wednesdays, I think. Call them to see if you're interested.

We're Christian but the curriculum doesn't have to be. I'm thinking of doing kind of a test run in the next few weeks since our main concern is that I'd follow through. I'm such a procrastinator! :eyes:

My dd2 is 9 yrs old and going into 4th grade. Her reading level is probably closer to 3rd grade though. I'm not planning to hs dd1 (12 yrs, 7th grade) or dd3 (6 yrs, 1st grade) at this time (dd4 is 3 and dd5 is 9mos).

Honestly I'm not questioning if one-on-one instruction would be better for her. I know it will. My main concern is doing her justice. The funniest part? I'm a certified teacher! LOL (K-9, elementary ed.) My goal is to help her develop the skills so things will click and she'll excell in high school, college and beyond.

Ok I read through that realy quick. I'm a fellow procrastinator, BTW. (Shhh I'm supposed to be working right now) DS was laveled as ADHd innattentive, I'm not sure if that's the appropriate label for him ( as if there could, but anyway) While I'm a procrastinator I love to read books and ds loves to be read to. That is why we are choosing a literature based curriculum, if its something that we both like to do we will do it. Also making the learning fun will help both of you. Everyone says to make it fun for the child, but make it fun for you too. There are software packaged that you can buy and the computer basicallly does the teaching. THink the Waterford program. They might be cashy though. For us doing the trial run through was what convinced me that this is what we need to do. I did lose my temper with ds a time or three. But I can rationalize that at least I'm the Mom who still loves ds very much. After I cool down I can use the knowledge of seatwork doesn't work for ds and look into other options, like teaching games and activities that will teach him the same thing with out the redundancy. WHere as a ps teacher has to deal with the 25 other kids in the classroom, the students have to complete the worksheets and practice sheets that the teacher has assigned because 1., that's their grade and 2. they don't have anything else scheduled for them to do (that might not be true for all teachers, but for ds's this year it was)

Thanks fpr the head's up about the local stuff:)

I guess at this point it isn't a question of how, but if. I know I can do it. We've been hs'ing in a way for the past few days. Even dd1, who I won't hs at least at this time, is asking for math worksheets. They're loving it! Right now I have three of them journaling. Of course the 3 yr old is just drawing pictures but it's something she enjoys. Right now they're discussing the fact that Sue is my name and the name of a dinosaur and that they are all baby dinosaurs. LOL

We just need to decide if we're going to take the leap. :eyes:

I was wondering how you were getting along. :) FWIW what pushed me to do it was a couple of things. First, its never too late to start hsing, except after they graduate. ;) Being as I'm a procrastinater, I was afraid that the time would slip away. In fact I really wanted to homeschool for K and 1st, but just didn't do it and really those 2 years were harmful to ds. I can't get those back. If you are worried about dd and her LD and falling behind, well the only way that you will know for absolute sure is if you're there. Yes the teachers say that they will let you know and keep tabs on things, but... then the year gets going and its gone. With ds I asked every day and things were great, until all of a sudden things were bad, real bad.

The second thing is - one year can't hurt too much... One year of hsing and having fun and learning can't get your child/ren too much.

It sounds like you are having a lot of fun this week :) We need to meet at the park or something. Let me know when you want to. We are free most of the time.

I took DS out of public school during his Kindergarten year. He had gone to the same school since he was three, attending a Pre-K program for speech delayed children. His experience was terrible and I couldn't bare to continue forcing him to go back.

That said, DS has a very short attention span, was likely headed for an ADHD dx in public school, and has absolutely no use for doing seat work or anything typical to a classroom environment. I personally love workbooks and etc., but I cannot hold his interest in them, and school always becomes a battle if I try. So, we try to do mostly hands-on stuff, and I've purchased items here and there to piece together a curriculum individualized for him. We're still figuring out what works...but that's the beauty of homeschooling. If it doesn't, we can put what we're doing away and start all over again until we find something that does.