Any Other Home Schoolers on Here? (page 2)

My kids are medically fragile. I tried special education in public school but they couldn't take it. This past year, my middle child was in public school for the first semester and ended up having to have two surgeries because of getting infections. So, Changeling, there are many reasons to homeschool.

Regarding the education they get, GLT is right. The results depend upon the effort and dedication you put in. And thanks for the compliment, GLT!

YKnot, I have discovered that I have to have an overarching plan for the year but I do my lesson plans one week at a time. With three handicapped people in my family, seems like we're always having to juggle the schedule for someone to go to a doctor appt. or because someone is sick, etc. I also homeschool year round because my kids can't put in a full day of school the way a healthy child can.

Loz, I agree that have you have to do what is best for each child and that can vary from year to year. After five years of homeschooling, my middle child was just restless and I thought he might be able to handle public school but it ended up being a mistake because his health suffered so badly. It was a shame, too, because he really liked his teacher and all of the people at the school just love him. My son loves trains so the principal would bring him model train magazines to look at!

Tammy, I hate to say this because I'm Catholic but I really don't think that the majority of Catholic schools are much better than public schools. The class sizes tend to be smaller but the teacher salaries are really low so it can be hard to attract the best teachers. Here in the Cincinnati area, there are well over 100 Catholic schools but, believe it or not, there's only one that I feel is good enough for my kids to attend. Unfortunately, they can't attend because they are special needs kids.

And I don't like public schools in part because they are, frankly, run by the government. The government doesn't do anything else very well or very efficiently and they don't run the schools well either. One of my teacher friends who teaches what would be called "bad kids" gets upset over the testing because her students aren't academically inclined. However, they are working on trades in her school and a lot of them are whizzes at the trades but don't read well and, hence, don't test well. Thus they get less money and are looked down upon. However, they will probably be great employees and get good paying jobs. The inability to be flexible is a great weakness in the public school system. Flexibility is one of the great things about homeschooling.

We finally finished up 2009-2010's work and have a little break. We're going to start up school on the Tuesday after Labor Day.

I must admit, the break is nice.

StAnn

BTW, Tammy, if you did want to use a Catholic homeschool curriculum that is very challenging, Our Lady of Victory is very good. You can do it as an actual online school or just buy the materials. I also like Seton and have some things from Catholic Heritage Curricula. Many people like MODG, Mother of Divine Grace. Most people I know pick and choose from among all of the available curricula because they like one group's math program better and another group's science program better, etc. I like Seton science.

Some Catholics use Sonlight, which is decidedly protestant, but they just throw away the history sections and use history resources from Catholic suppliers.

Just FYI.

yknot

LOL, my kids have never done a 'full-day' of school......

I only have sit-down school three days a week Sept-May (usually done by 1pm at the latest).....the rest of the time we do hands on or field trip projects.

My only real gripe with public school is dumbing down, teaching to the test and over-crowded classrooms...... the first two could be eliminated with class maximums at 15.

As for curriculum, I mix it up......What works for one doesn't the other. I live in a uber-homeschooling areas so we borrow and trade constantly.... and if I can't find what I am looking for........most colleges have Pre-K-12 from the big publishers and for the price of $20 I can check them out for a month at a time (plenty of time to scan!)

I am pretty sure I have used most curriculums......yes even 'new system school' and 'pear blossom'

StAnn

YKnot, how about Switched on Schoolhouse? Tried that?

tec

Well, my son had a taste of home-schooling in May/June, because he was expelled. The rough part of it was that we finished the day's work by one pm, and he saw how quickly he could progress being homeschooled. Apparently, his class had been going slowly, because there are a lot of special needs kids. I understand that, but it is frustrating for him, because of how smart he is - and they did a lot of group work.

Junior High won't be the same.

I don't really care about which program I follow - I'm not Catholic, I just didn't know what I was at the time I enrolled him in school, so I wanted him to have some sort of religious exposure. Its not that heavy-handed in a school.

But my younger son loves school and needs to be out of the house. So it would be bad to homeschool him. My oldest is anti-social enough as it is, I find... I'm just going to have to see what happens in September.

On the plus side, financially, I could homeschool and then still do before/after school care to bring in some money. I wouldn't have to worry about lack of a job, at least.

Tammy

JeffT

Techinically, this fall we will be home schooling our six year old granddaughter. We think, given some of her problems, that public school will be a disaster. She has been in private preschools and kindergarten so far.

This is where we have her enrolled this fall http://www.the-attic.org/

We sent her uncle to a similar program for about two years. A lot of coaching and assignements to work on at home. Just after his sixteenth birthday he got his GED and went to community college. He's now majoring in environmental science at the University of Washington.

Here's a link to my wife's school http://www.livingwisdomschoolseattle.org/ for this coming year she's traded places with the person listed as the kindergarten teacher because she has about six times the experience.

teaching should be left to teachers.

People who can't teach their own children shouldn't be allowed to have any.

Any Other Home Schoolers on Here?

yknot

StAnn

StAnn

yknot

StAnn

tec

JeffT

sweet pea

DaCheech

JeffT

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