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Parenting & Farm Kids:  Words Of Encouragment Needed!!!  |
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Ca-Reds
True Blue Farmgirl
124 Posts
kristy
Clearlake
Ca
USA
124 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 20 2011 : 1:13:03 PM
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Okay so i finally got fed up with the California school system! Now i am going to jump in with both feet and Homeschool my girls (5 & 7). BUT i am real nervous. I mean i am taking my kids out of school! AND i will be there everything. This is appealing to me because i will know what materials are going in and what is staying or coming back out. I know that we have endless options for what to teach them that they don't have in public school. I just have the newbe jitters. I have confidence we can do this. Anyone have helpful hints to Homeschooling? The other thing is i am going to be teaching K AND 2nd grade. Has anyone taught more than one student at a time? How was it and how did you go about doing it???
"Plan ahead, it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark!" |
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Lieberkim
True Blue Farmgirl
839 Posts
Kimberly
Sunnyside
WASHINGTON
USA
839 Posts |
Posted - Oct 20 2011 : 1:52:59 PM
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Love homeschooling. In my case I just had no clue where to start or how to do it so I got Abeka because it has a great reputation and they actually tell you how and what to teach. It gave me the structure I needed to get started. Now that I've gained a little confidence I deviate from it a little to make it more tailored to my children. I teach two kids at a time. I find it works well. I get one started and then work with the other and then I'm available for who needs me, when they need me.
Good Luck!!!
Excuse the mess & the noise, my children are making happy memories |
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LuckyMommyof5
True Blue Farmgirl
500 Posts
Suzanne
OH
USA
500 Posts |
Posted - Oct 20 2011 : 2:53:19 PM
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You go, Kristy!! My husband and I got fed up with our public school system and with the set up of the private and parochial schools around us and made the decision to start homeschooling our girls beginning in Fall 2012. By then our oldest 3 will be 4th grade, 2nd grade and K (and our youngest will be 2). I was nervous starting, too, so we decided to enroll the girls in a distance learning program next year to start. They provide the curriculum and we have teacher support (via email or phone)n but I'll be doing the teaching at home. I liked this option for us to start because of the support and the curriculum, and it gives us the freedom to add in anything else we want to teach in addition. I've also found tons of classes offered to homeschoolers in our area in all kinds of subject and we've even found a private dance/phys ed/yoga instructor who can come to our house once a week next year and teach all the oldest girls at once in these areas! We're pretty excited!
Farmgirl Sister #3243
"The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong." - Laura Ingalls Wilder |
Edited by - LuckyMommyof5 on Oct 20 2011 2:59:22 PM |
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FarmDream
True Blue Farmgirl
1085 Posts
Julie
TX
USA
1085 Posts |
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Ca-Reds
True Blue Farmgirl
124 Posts
kristy
Clearlake
Ca
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - Oct 25 2011 : 06:14:43 AM
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Thank You all for your kind words. I just know we CAN do this! Pray for us...
"Plan ahead, it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark!" |
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Sourceress
True Blue Farmgirl
76 Posts
Elisabeth
Thurmont
MD
76 Posts |
Posted - Oct 25 2011 : 7:09:45 PM
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My personal experience with California public schools is part of the reason my kids are homeschooled. (Even though we live on the opposite side of the country now.) But enough about schools..on to the homeschooling :-)
We are primarily unschoolers/life learners, which means that we believe that the real world is the very best curriculum of them all, and that when children are free to explore topics that interest them, they will learn far more than if they are forced to study topics they feel no connection with. So we go places and do things and read books and it's generally very ecclectic. However, the boys have gotten into some lazy habits, and gotten behind, so we are now using Oak Meadow's English/Social Studies curriculum (we're doing the 5th grade one this year) for, well, English and Social Studies ;-) and Math-U-See for math.
I like Oak Meadow (http://www.oakmeadowbookstore.com/) very much in general. It's a Waldorf-based homeschool program which you can either enroll in and have a distance teacher who you send your assignments to periodically, and which issues a diploma when you graduate from high school, or you can just buy the curriculum and DIY. We chose the latter route, since we just wanted part of the curriculum, and wanted to use it at our own speed. As with everything in the homeschooling adventure, Your Mileage May Vary :-)
We chose Math-U-See (http://www.mathusee.com/) after experimenting with several other approaches with mixed success. We've been working with Math-U-See since the beginning of the school year, and so far the boys seem to be doing very well with it. I had gotten them workbooks in the past, but with only limited success. Both of them hate workbooks, and the workbooks would go un-completed. Finally I got smart and asked them what they thought they wanted, then did some research, came up with a couple of options, discussed the options with each son individually, and ended up with Math-U-See. This curriculum appealed to them because it has manipulatives, so they're not just filling out worksheets, they get to play with blocks. (I keep finding them building little houses and things out of the blocks that came in the manipulatives set..) In addition, I am thinking about getting some of the Life of Fred (http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html) books when our budget permits.
For science, we have gobs of material we got for free from NASA, plus a chemistry set and a snap-circuits electricity set, some model rockets..well, you get the general idea. Now all I have to do is figure out how to pull all that together in a comprehensive whole. :-)
The boys take swim lessons twice a week at the Y, and Galen is a Webelo and very active in his Pack. Corwyn is not interested at all in camping or hiking or anything like that, and since that's a lot of what Boy Scouts do, he's not interested in being a Scout. (More's the pity.) We're currently looking into 4H for him, since he likes to cook and make beaded jewelry, so we thought that might be more his speed.
Anyway..that's the summary..hope there's something here that helps, and always happy to talk homeschooling :-)
Lis
*the Sourceress*
pagan unschooling mama to
Corwyn (4/99)
and Galen (5/01)
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msdoolittle
True Blue Farmgirl
1143 Posts
Amanda
East Texas
USA
1143 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 10:52:52 AM
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We don't currently homeschool because we're very happy w/ our school BUT, trust me, it will never be out of the equation!
I have several friends who just began homeschooling this year and they LOVE it. :0)
FarmGirl #1390
www.mylittlecountry.wordpress.com |
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Ca-Reds
True Blue Farmgirl
124 Posts
kristy
Clearlake
Ca
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 11:05:39 AM
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Well my girls (emma & maddie) will be starting K12 on monday. I believe it will go well. My jitters have settled and now i am just excited! I just know there is so much more we can do homeschooling then is possible in the public school system. I look forward to meeting other families and going on outings that are new, fun, and adventuresome. will keep you all posted on how the first couple of days go... Kristy
"Plan ahead, it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark!" |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 11:19:31 AM
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Hi Kristy. I had no idea you had moved. I homeschooled my kids at that age. It was fun and they learned so much and helped each other too. We had some other families in our group and we did music and art and field trips. We had so much fun. And I was so organized. I wish I was that way now. You can do it. And the girls will be so much better for it. Get them to help you. And do lots of fun stuff. You will figure it all out as you go. You might think one thing will work and it doesn't then you will go on to another that might be better. So don't get discouraged. And you probably will at one time or another. But get back up and dust yourself off and start over. Each day is different. Like one day the kids will love doing it a certain way and you get all excited then the next day they want nothing to do with that. You're just starting out so try new things. Good luck and HAVE FUN!
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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countrymommy85
True Blue Farmgirl
898 Posts
Krystle
MT
USA
898 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 2:32:04 PM
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Good for you! We will probably send our kids to school BUT homeschooling will always be our backup in case we decide the schools aren't up to par. If we do home school I would use mostly Abeka, I know BJU has some stuff, not sure what k12 has and of course there is Saxon math. I have heard of a few other curriculums too but those are the ones I have heard the most about. Best of luck to you!!! :) Don't forget to try to find a homeschooling group you can get involved with too for extra support :) Oh and there is also the Home School Legal Defense (I believe that is the name of it) you can become a member of too if the school district gives you issues about home schooling. I know some people that were members and the county started giving them problems with social workers and such because they choose to home school and after they got that defense thing involved they had absolutely no more problems. I thought that was pretty neat, that home schooling people do have legal support. Anyways best of luck!
Mothers are those wonderful people who can get up in the morning before the smell of coffee. ~Author Unknown
http://countryrenaissance.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SunflowersAndHoney |
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Ca-Reds
True Blue Farmgirl
124 Posts
kristy
Clearlake
Ca
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 4:00:03 PM
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Kris, Yes we moved about 3 weeks ago. was not working out for us in Alabama. So we packed up and moved home to our house we had been renting out here in ca. How have you been? I started a chapter there in al and left it to my sister-in-law pam to carry on. I had so much fun that day we all got together. what ever happened to Daizy? We never got those little letters we all had written... Kristy
"Plan ahead, it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark!" |
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Ca-Reds
True Blue Farmgirl
124 Posts
kristy
Clearlake
Ca
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - Nov 04 2011 : 12:49:15 PM
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Hi everyone! Okay so we have done our first week of "Homeschool"! I am so vey excited. It was rough going at first, but we got it worked out. I think next week will just get better and better. The Girls are loving it. I even got some materials for my 3 year old son to join us. He is doing it all very well too. And it makes it easyer to have us all doing the same thing at the same time. Thank You all for your imput! Hugs Kristy
"Plan ahead, it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark!" |
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Parenting & Farm Kids: Words Of Encouragment Needed!!! |
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Words Of Encouragment Needed!!!
