Homeschooling The Rest of the Year??
924101
First, find out what your state requirements are.  Go to www.hslda.org  or  www.nhen.org  so you know what is expected.  Then you decide what type of curriculum you are interested in:  all book work, computer work, on-line programs, correspondence type.  There are tons of curriculum to choose from.  You could also try to talk with other homeschoolers to find out what they use and why they like it.\nWith that being said, we use Alpha Omega's Switched On Schoolhouse.   We love it, it's all done on the computer.  I know several people who use Sonlight curriculum, Bob Jones, and Saxon.  Any of these are excellent choices.\nChoosing what to use is an overwhelming task that you have to be somewhat patient and persistent with.  Then most families try several ones before they fine "the" one that works for them.\n\nI did not mean to sound so negative.  We LOVE homeschooling and would never do anything else.  Choosing curriculum can just be a huge ordeal!\n\nGood luck with it all.
894647
PLEASE DON'T TELL MY KIDS! They'll think I deprived them of all that fun leisure time all those years!  LOL\n\nI do know of one homeschool family who did that with their son, and it was horrible!  His mother claimed they were "unschooling" and all he did was play video games all day.  My daughters were friends with him and couldn't believe how far behind he was.  He couldn't read, write or do math anywhere near his grade level.  It was very sad.\n\nAnyway, that was only one of numerous homeschool families I was acquainted with.  Unfortunately, that's the one everyone focusses on and talks about.\n\nSue
1077800
As a homeschool graduate myself, I know you all are going through a lot.  It's hard to keep things together, especially if you are living on one income, like my family did.  I just want to encourage you to keep up the fight- for whatever reason you are homeschooling.  I wouldn't trade my homeschooled years for anything.  As far as homeschooling and working a full-time job, please, do whatever you can as far as putting your family on a budget, cutting back on superfluous spending and so forth, before you go out and get another job.  Part of the beauty of homeschooling is being able to spend those critical years with your children- and if you're working full-time, it's very difficult to do everything that needs to be done, let alone find time for any extracurricular activity.  The last thing you want is for you family to struggle because you don't have enough time for each other (hubby included). Let your younger children started doing chores around the house.  Your older children can help out there, too.  My mom worked cleaning houses and apartment complexes while my siblings and I were growing up, and we helped her do and earned a little money of our own on the side.  All of us worked at some sort of job outside the home by the time we were 14 years of age- some people may think that was awful that we had to do that, but some of the best lessons I ever learned, I learned on the job.  It's also a great way to teach good work ethics, honesty, reliability, dedication, etc, by EXAMPLE.  It's a better teacher than any lecture.  Best wishes to you as you continue your journey. :)
1148515
There's not much to pay for really!  Depending on what state you are in, you can probably do it for almost free!  A library card, internet access, some paper and pencils are just about all you need!\nI'm homeschooling my three children for almost nothing.  My 8 year old is doing the most focused work, so I'll tell you what I do with him. \n\nWriting: a $9 workbook from Wal Mart called "The Complete Book of Handwriting."  This goes from age 5-10 or something like that.  For older kids, they don't need much, just practice. \n\nReading: Whatever library books he's interested in.  We started off with a phonics program from A Beka, but you can find phonics curriculums free online if you look hard enough.  A Beka has a book called "A Handbook for Reading" that you can get for about $12, that teaches all the phonics sounds. \n\nHistory, Science, Social Studies:  Look at the WorldBook encyclopedia Scope and Sequence website.  They'll have a list of what should be learned at each grade level.  Then you can go to the library and find REAL books about those topics. You can look for science and history projects online for your topic. You can watch movies and educational tv shows about your topic.  \n\nMath:  For math, we use workbooks from Wal Mart. "The Complete Book of Math- Grades 5-6" is what my 8 year old son is using right now.  They're cheap (about $9 a piece), and cover everything that needs to be covered.  If your child needs extra practice in something, you can look online and find free worksheets.  Example:  My son needed help with long division.  I did a search for "long division free worksheets" and found a lot of them that I downloaded and printed out for him. \n\nI've educated my son for about $40 per year!   It's a lot cheaper than most people think.  Of course you could go out and buy an expensive $500 curriculum, but it probably wouldn't work for your child, as most homeschoolers tend to realize that the all in one curriculums just aren't for them.  Try it the really cheap way that I just described and I'm sure you and your children will love it!\n\nIf you need any more help, please email me!! I love helping people with these things!
281700
I homeschooled 3 boys from K to Grade 9 but I have no experience with girls. I think though girls can be started earlier as they have better motor skills than boys.\n\nPersonally I think it is not productive to start too early. Try incorporating learning into every activity, e.g helping measuring for cookies etc.  Why do we wash our hands. What is soap made of. \n\nLearn to see the teachable moment. In other words if he/she is interested in dinosaurs and you wanted to do plants, choose dinosaurs because you won't get too far otherwise, but get round to talking about the sort of plants the dinosaur might eat.\n\nYou know your child best, and in the early years less structure and more investigation I think is better. My kids liked nature walks, watching bugs, checking out how flowers were made etc. as you go on you might want to get a workbook to guide you along. \n\nThe most important thing is teach them to learn and find information for themselves. You know your child best so don't listen to a lot of experts who are going by preconceived ideas. Relax and have fun.\n\nI loved homeschooling and my boys all grown now are planning to do the same for their kids.  They all are good guys, love their family, don't do drugs, etc etc and work for a living which in todays world I consider an achievement.
161268
Try Costco or Fred Meyers or any other larger retailer. They have great homeschooling products that could help you continue your education.
771268
PreK age is a great place to start because you don't have to legally do anything and its a great time to try out homeschooling to see if it fits your family for later years. I would suggest becoming involved with a homeschooling group for support in case you decide to continue for K.\n  PreK can be a lot of fun.  Keep worksheets to a minimum(if at all) and concentrate on lots of hands on, discovery learning, messy crafts, nature walks, etc.  Read out loud a ton of picture books on a variety of topics.  Take the time to point out letters in the titles and later see if you child can pick out certain letters.  Make a number line on the driveway or on your stairs and have your child jump to certain numbers.  Do simple addition and subtraction with a variety of small toys or food.  Look at things with a magnifying glass.  Study space  and other themes.  Cook and play with measuring cups and spoons in water or beans. Play letter or number matching games, make letter puppets that say their sounds. Trace letters in pudding or mud. Graph m+m's, match leaves, grow frogs and butterflies...the list goes on and on.  It is so much  fun!  You will be amazed at the results!! \n  If you do decide to homeschool for elementary, check out your state homeschooling guidelines.  In our state, we fill out a paper notifying the school and we need to prove progress in math and language arts.  Progress can be proved by a national test in our home once a year or by a portfolio we create demonstrating progress.  Social studies and science are wide open and can follow a student's interests and don't have to be tested.  Some states don't require any testing, others have more specific requirements. ---
831680
You are perfectly qualified and within your right to homeschool.  It sounds like you would benefit from it.  Firstly, you should check out www.hslda.org for all the legal information in your area.  Then you should check out your local library, or even Yahoo Groups, to find a support group, that way you'll know what kind of clubs and things there are for homeschoolers in your area (for when you are ready to be out there again).  \n\nGood luck with your decision, and I hope you feel better soon.
548811
I had homeschooling and I really don't advise it. It gets boring and then he might not finish. In my case I did not finish. I think it is better of going to  Public School or even better a Catholic School.
627177
With the ages you have there is no real need to spend a ton of money on curriculum.  Of course you can, there is nothing wrong with it, but you don't have to.  Find and attend book fairs where you can look through all the different books to find the ones that fit for you.  Most of us do not use only one company for all our books.  Right now my oldest is going into 4th I also have a 1st grader and kindergartner.  We use a lot of little books from Walmart, Target, Dollar General just cheap books for their age range.  Saves a lot of money.  Google subjects and topics you want them to study also, there are a lot of great free resources on-line including lesson plans and worksheets.  Don't stress, homeschooling is fun so let it be!  Another great idea for children of different ages are Unit studies.  Just adjust the difficulty for the age.  Ex.  Learn about birds.  Watch birds, track their eating habits, color, bird calls (Science) graph the number of each type of bird you see (math) draw/paint/color birds (art) go to the library and get books on different birds (reading) write an essay (Language arts).
244392
There is no reason why you can't finish your highschool learning at home. Thousands of kids do every year.\n\nStart with:\n\nThe Teenage Liberation Handbook: how to quit school and get a real life and education \n\nalso\n\nLots of info at Jon's Homeschool Resources here:\n\nhttp://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/
645241
Congratulations! Now is the time to get that Prozac prescription...just kidding!\n\nReal things to do to get ready for next year:\n\n1. Find out if your school uses a standard form or expects you to use your own for Present Levels of Performance reports. Review the district form, or ask to speak to a veteran sped teacher in your district about the paperwork requirements. The same goes for your lesson plans. Do NOT turn to a regular ed teacher for this. You MUST link up with a veteran sped teacher. The sooner you have the "templates" and "cut and paste" part of your paperwork down, the less time will be sucked out of your busy schedule during the actual school year for the routine stuff.\n\n2. Ask to look at a sample district IEP, or even better yet, if they know your caseload already, look at your kids' IEP paperwork. Get to know the paperwork format backwards and forwards. \n\n3. If you can review those IEP's now, review commonalities in individualized goals and modifications, and center your planning around linking the curriculum to those shared elements (tweaking from that point for further individual needs is easier than going student-by-student from the ground up).\n\n4. If you can get into your school over the summer, do it. Start working on organizing your classroom now. You won't have time at the start of the school year, especially as a new teacher, with the additional new teacher orientation meetings, additional sped staff meetings, and possibly incoming IEP meetings prior to the children returning.\n\n5. Did I mention hooking up with a sped teacher from your building (or a nearby building at the same level) as a mentor? Your district may assign you a "mentor," but he or she may not be special ed. If your official mentor is not special ed, you are not going to be able to turn to them for many things. A veteran sped teacher knows the ropes...the ones that are so different for us than for the regular ed teachers.\n\n6. If you haven't done so already, start to invest some of your own resources in alternative curriculum, materials, etc. Most districts either provide only a little, or no funds, for alternative materials at the building site level. Start to build wish lists and wait for the sudden "we have $100 each teacher that must be spent by day after tomorrow" announcement, too. Ensure open communication for yourself both with your school front office and with SPED central office. When I started in my classroom, I was provided with one copy each of each regular ed textbook from for each grade level (K-5), and access to the school materials closet. Excellent resources for getting the real materials and curriculum you immediately need to start things off, are your prior cooperating teacher from student teaching (if that worked out ok), and your sped colleagues. Make sure you write your name on EVERYTHING that you either buy with your own money, or gain through hand-me-downs.\n\n7. Have a clear picture in your mind about the roles you and each of your educational assistants will be playing within the classroom. What decisions will you maintain full control over, what will you delegate to them, and how will you ensure both quality services from your EA's, and their job satisfaction so that you won't have rapid turnover? Always be alert to the different support requirements between 1:1 EA's (assigned to a particular student) and EA's assigned to you as YOUR assistants for general use across your program(s).\n\n8. At the start of the school year, identify the following people, and throughout the year work on building positive professional relationships with: the school secretaries (who are the real heart of any smoothly functioning school); all therapy providers (SLP, OT, PT, etc.); the school counselor; the other sped teachers in your building; every single educational assistant whether they are sped or not (you never know who and when you'll be to
147149
OK, it's not free, but it is a SUPER program.  www.readinga-z.com.  I homeschool my 5 year old and have been incredibly impressed with his progress.  You can check it out for free.  The cost is pretty steep (like $80/year), but it is SOOOO worth it.  Reading is necessary to every other discipline (science, history, even math).  Get behind in reading and you'll have a tough time keeping up in everything else.
856722
hun, your happiness is key. I personally think you are showing a great amount of maturity in looking at this from the perspective of the future, weighing pros and cons.\nYes, you could get a scholarship if you are good enough, but you must also take in to consideration the schedule. Even though I am a homeschool mom, I do not live in a protective bubble like some people think we do, and I know tons of public and private school students. Those that are involved in high school sports or band or things like that are VERY busy with practices, games, clinics so on and so forth. BUT, they are committed to it. They want to be that involved and they want to do those things as long as they can, and they are hoping for scholarships so they can do that particular thing through college.\nThe highschool softball team in my city is very competitive, and it is very involved in our community, as they conduct clinics for our Little League and girls softball league teams.\nKudos to your parents for raising such a bright individual.\nYou do what you know is right for you.
1075873
I never thought I would be advising someone to KEEP their child in school, but I might make the exeption here. If you want to homeschool to give your child a better education, then go for it! But, if your only reason is because the teacher is young, that's not going to work. Homeschooling takes EXTREME dedication to your child, lots of work on your part, it takes patience, and persistence. You have to be willing to do whatever is necessary to learn what you need to teach and how to do it. You have to enjoy your children enough to have them with you 24/7! You have to be willing to taxi them to the different opportunities for social engagement like sports or dance classes, whatever. A lot of homeschooling is done outside the home, in the form of educational outings, where they learn hands-on about the world around them and social engagement with ALL age groups, not just their peers. All of this is GREAT for them, but it's a sacrifice on your part, and you have to be willing to do it. See, it's not just a simple decision to be based on the fact that a teacher is young, that really has no bearing on anything. Plus, you have to take into account how your child is going to react. It's a lot harder to pull a child out of school then it is to have never put them in in the first place, this can cause resentment and I don't feel it should be done unless the parent feels it's necessary, and feels that the fight is worth it in exchange for the better education. Good luck to you, but I suggest you think about it some more, do some research, get to know the teacher and see if you still feel he/she is not adequate as a teacher, then go to the principal if you still have concerns. If the principal is unwilling to help, then go to the school board. Try some other options first, because it's not an easy job. It's a very rewarding job, and most beneficial to the child, but it is a sacrifice.
926432
Study, do your homework, see if there is extra credit that you can do.  There is still a lot of time in the school year.
873282
i think at the end of the semester.  around christmas maybe???