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new to homeschooling
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I haven’t actually started homeschooling at all yet, but it is my goal for next year. I have 2 boys, 10 and 6 and they are currently in grades 4 and 1 respectively in public school. I like their school for the most part: many of there are atleast three staff members who attend our church, and I am very involved in the school as a lunch superivsior and library volunteer.
Homeschool has always been what I’ve wanted to do, but my husband has not been as supportive until recently. Our 6-year-old has been diagnoised with ADHD, and while his intelligence/learning scores in the superior to very superior range, he is not functioning in the classroom environment well at all. I completely believe that the one-on-one instruction in the homeschool setting is the way to go with him. Short lessons to hold his attention, and the ability to go at his own pace — accelerating in those areas where he needs to be challenged– and the fact that he loves to read (he reads and spells at about a grade 5 level without making any real effort) makes CM a no-brainer for me. The methods even seem perfect for our 10-year-old who stuggles with a learning challenge of his own. He will be more reluctant to leave PS, as he is more peer dependant, but that causes me to be a little fearful as he only has one more year before leaveing the little-rural-200-students-school for grade 6 which is located at the huge-drug-infested-(among other many other social problems)-jr highschool.
Anyway — to get back to the topic: I have been doing a lot of research on this and other sites, exploring CM philosophy, methods, and resources, and I think I have the start of a workable schedule, taking into consideration the fact that I work in a Church office from 9am-noon Monday to Friday. I will not be able to start guided learning until 1pm most days, and I would like to be finished by 3:30pm. I will be taking the boys to the office with me most mornings where they will be able to work on independant assignments such as finishing the previous day’s math lesson, assigned reading, etc. There are also several areas where they can play in or out-doors. I can also put them to work doing small jobs around the office, such as photo-copying, running across to the post-office, etc.
My schedule includes a lot of combined learning: History, Bible, Geography; Science; Nature Study; Liturature; French (which I plan to start 2nd or 3rd term after I’m confident everything else is running smoothly); Poetry, Picture study & Composser. I plan (obviously) to do Math seperately, though I am still unsure which program to use. I am hoping to get to a curriculum fair so I can see some of the products up close and get a feel for them. Also, I plan to do copywork with both of them this year, and perhaps begin to transition to dictation in the second or third term if the 10-year-old’s written out-put has improved significantly (this is his one of his areas of struggle — he currently sees a ocupational therapist once a month to work on small motor skills and printing).
Is it reasonale to expect to be able to accomplish all of this in a two and a half hour time period? I have considered that I may have to move Literature to the evening, and may have to take advantage of audio books that we can listen to on the 10min drive to and from the Church building.
All of this looks so good on paper, but the idea of implementing it all sometimes feels overwhelming. A large part of me wonders if I can really do it. I feel that I owe it to them to try.
It certainly is reasonable to accomplish that in just a few hours, as long as you remember to keep your lessons short (although I’d abandon parts of the schedule in a heartbeat if something really tickles that day’s fancy), and if you are not scheduling every subject every day. Nature Study and Science are usually not every day subjects, nor is Geography. Also, most CM homeschoolers alternate composer studies and picture studies. And we often incorporate Literature into our bedtime read-aloud routine.
One thing is key as a new homeschooler. Your children (especially the 10yo) will need time to adjust to the newness of it all, so if everything is not getting done every day, just relax for the first month or so and build up your schedule slowly. Consider your first weeks of homeschooling as “on-the-job-training,” just as a new hire in a company does. You are new to this, so do not be hard on yourself when things go differently than planned, and treat yourself and your boys when you have a good week.
You have done a lot of planning, and that is very admirable. Trust your instincts about CM methods and what is best for your boys. God gave you this particular set of sons, and He is giving you all of the skills you will need to do this. Some of these gifts might not be “unwrapped” yet, but they will be there just when you need them.
Blessings,
Sue
I think you have been reading up well =) It looks doable – short lessons, not each one everyday. I hope that it goes well – it has really helped our children. If it is getting stressful as you start, remember that PS kids usually need 1 month per school year attended to unwind and de-stress from the “stuff”. Just cut everyone some slack as you ease into it. It can seem “too easy” after PS, but stick with it. Is this enough? is a big question during the transition. Second guessing yourself all the time just wears you out! I don’t mean that you can’t tweak something, but don’t throw the process out. As things come up, ask here. The ladies here are so knowledgeable, practical, and kind; they will help you a lot through the transitions.
I found that it was easy for me to make a general schedule with the days across the top. Down the side it has Family and each child. I jotted down which days I wanted to do what, and it helps me to balance out the days time wise, and I don’t forget something I wanted. I don’t put my lesson plans on it, just the subjects. (I have seperate lesson plan sheets). This was my way of reassuring myself that I had a plan – a real one – and kept me from second-guessing myself.
This is my first year using only CM methods, and my children from PS with learning issues are thriving. The hardest part was the de-stressing and changing the attitudes of the kiddos.
You can do this – and you will enjoy it! =)
I think it sounds great. We do our lit before bed, composer study in the car (you could do hymn study, poetry, and anything else you can find on audio in the car as well). Having them do independent stuff at church will help. I work for a friend one morning a week and the girls take their reading and anything they can do without me sitting next to them at her house. They spend the rest of the time playing and helping with her baby, a great experience for them. I also think having them do small jobs at church is great, they learn service and how much work it takes for a church to run smoothly. We clean at our church one morning a month and the girls help some and also help watch the young children of the other moms while we clean. They are learning so much responsibility. There will be hard days but if you start simple, with the major subjects only while you get your feet wet and then add more as you get more comfortable you will figure out what works best for your family. Oh, and we do character traits Sunday night before bed and if our week is crazy we make up a little time on the weekends or over public school breaks (which we usually take as well for a break for us). You can do it!
Thank you, ladies, for your input and encouragement. I certainly don’t plan on doing everthing every day, and I am planning to alternate composser and picture study. I don’t know much about either, myself, so I’m learning along with them, which is perhaps one of my favourite parts of this whole adventure! I also realize that it will be a big adjustment for all of us, but especially our older child who has already spent 5 years in PS.
I am a little concerned about costs because I am on a strict budget. Our Library is not large, but there is a network of Libraries in the province, and many books can be borrowed from other branches if our local library doesn’t have them. I may also be able to continue to access the PS library where I have a good relationship with the staff. (families of students borrow from the school all the time). They won a grant four years ago from Indigo that tripled the size of their library. Also, my mother and her husband are huge literary buffs, so I’m sure if I put together a wish list they will be able to help out with some of the purchases as gifts. We have several of the books listed in the literature section already, and in fact we’ve read several of them to our 10 year-old in the past. I will need to purchase the bigger part of the spine books in order to ensure their availability when I need them. I would like to purchase the All-day seminar DVDs, but would like to limit my other purchases from SCM to the top one or two most indispensible. Any suggestions? Also, looking at Fulbrights science books: would anyone recommend one as a place to start over the others? I would like to use the same books for both boys for the next two years, then hopefully our older son will move into a higher level, more independant study in grade 7.
Well, for purchasing used curriculum, I have used http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com. You transact directly with the seller, and I’ve had good success with them. In fact, we will be using Fulbright’s Zoology I (Flying Creatures of the 5th Day) next year for my 5th- and 6th-graders, and I got a copy there for (I think) about $15 (U.S.) including postage.
We use Interlibrary loan sometimes, but our county library system has many, many branches that share books, so it works for us. I haven’t seen a PS library for several years, but back when my stepsons were in 5th grade, I recall that their school library was top-heavy in things like Harry Potter and very twaddle-y stuff….hope yours is different!
Sue
Well they definately have twaddle-y stuff, but as I am in there fairly often, I have discovered a good number of resouces in the history, geography, poetry & literature sections (they have about a half-dozen books of Shakespeare plays retold for children that I’ve seen recommended on a couple of theCM websites).
Thanks for the website link — I will check it out!
Checkout http://www.booksamaritan.com for help with books.
If you are doing the planning yourself, I’d recommend the “Planning your CM Education” for a purchase
Happy Homeschooling!
Sounds doable but I agree–give it time.
We began HSing last year with our then 11YO, 7YO and little sister tagging along. 🙂
Our oldest had the most difficult time. He was completely excited and ready to come home. He was not looking back and yet, he had to *unschool* the most. It was like the freedom I gave him (with independent work) was almost too much. This year he has SOARED in his independent work and is often done first though he has more ind. work than our other children.
All of that to say, you have planned well and be prepared for your children to need to time to decompress from the PS environment where there is little to no freedom to work independently.
LDIMom,
it’s nice to hear from someone who is fairly new to HS and started with children the same age mine will be when we start in the fall. 10 yr old is not looking forward to HS –he’s quite peer-dependant at this stage. He whines terribly if he has “no one to play with”. I know that it will take time with him, but we’ll start with the important skills and ease into the year. We will make sure there is plenty of opportunity for family fun and one-on-one time with mom & dad that PS kids don’t get.
How did you ease the transition for your then 11-yr old? Any additional tips?
Thanks again, everyone!
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