Reversing Public School habits, etc.

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  • October 11, 2009 at 3:06 am
    karoleeg
    Member

    Hello ya’ll!

    I am just starting my first year as a homeschooler, even though I knew I was headed here before I ever had kids. That said, circumstances led my husband and I to believe that we could wait and send our kids to public school for a few years. In retrospect, I wish we had never done that. But. I can’t change that now. Here’s the situation:

    We brought my oldest son, who is 10 years old and in 4th grade by ps standards, home this year. We initially started with a virtual academy, using K12 as a curriculum, but I dumped that two weeks ago and have been setting up a Charlotte Mason-based homeschool. Before I get into specific questions, let me explain the rest of the family:

    My second-born is almost 8, and is still attending the public school. I’d like to bring her home but…well….I don’t have any good reason why we haven’t, other than we can’t afford another set of math, etc.

    Our third and fourth borns are sons, ages 4.5 and 3.5. They are a year apart. The youngest has some speech issues, which I am becoming more and more convinced have to do with having nothing to talk about.  We are also expecting our fifth this spring.

    I have read For the Children’s Sake and am working through A CHarlotte Mason Companion. I am anxious to read Charlotte Mason’s own writings but prefer to read paper and not a screen, so I haven’t got that far yet. But suffice it to say that her approach, philosophy, viewpoints on education and children in general really resonate with me.

    Here’s the issue: Is it too late for me? My son has so many bad habits from being in public school (and in an environment at home that hasn’t been idea-rich, nor have we focused a whole lot in habit training). Chief among those are the lack of attention and disinterest in anything “school”. Is this reversible? Where in the world do I start?

    I guess what I’m really asking for is if anyone here has experience “reversing” habits and such that are acquired in the public school setting, and to give me hope that it’s possible and I haven’t waited too long!

     

    Thanks,

    Karolee

    October 11, 2009 at 2:49 pm
    mrsjamiesouth
    Member

    Hi, I am new to this forum, but I wanted to let you know we were in the same situation with ps and even tried K12.  This is our 3rd year home, but each year we have drawn more and more to CM.  I am using her guide this year and doing module 6, since that is where we left off last year.  I would bring your daughter home right away.  There are tons of free websites where you can get free math worksheets to last you until you can buy something.  In 3rd grade I would focus on adding and subtracting with borrowing and carrying, then introduce times tables once she has that mastered.  You can find free worksheets also on fractions and clocks.  Email me and I can send you a big list of sites that offer free curriculum, its  mrsjamiesouth@yahoo.com . One off hand is http://www.mathfactcafe.com .  Using her history modules you can get almost all the books from the library.  Follow the steps listed on the site here to changing to CM.  We started with reading good books, which was easy, and nature walks.  My boys love going on Nature walks, all you need really are cheap notebooks or loose paper and a computer is great to look up animals or leaves you might find.  My children are 9ds, 5ds, and 18 month dd.   This year we added in hymns, poetry, artists and music study, I am getting all the materials from the library, except drawing paper and a cd player.  Hope this helps and encourages you.

    Alexis

    October 12, 2009 at 5:15 pm
    karoleeg
    Member

    Hi Alexis,

    Thank you for the encouragement. I definitely feel that we need to bring my daughter home, but dh isn’t completely in agreement yet. I think he’s a little worried about what people think.

    We have started module one for history, and he’s taking to it. Haven’t quite got into science yet but we will soon! Funny how God set us up to match the history module. We’ve done a couple of nature walks. We’re reading a literature book and narrating. (He narrates orally from history too.) I think he tends to think we aren’t doing anything useful because it’s not HARD. We are doing some math and his math stuff is on the way.

    I’ll email you!

    Thanks,

    Karolee

    October 12, 2009 at 5:58 pm
    meagan
    Participant

    Hi Karolee!

     

    We just started homeschooling our boys (14, 10, and 9) this year.  Previously, they had been exclusively public schooled.  So, there is hope!  I hope that you can work things out to bring your daughter home, and keep praying for God to change your husband’s heart.  Like Alexis said, there is plenty of stuff for free available on the internet, and even your local library.  And try to get connected with some other homeschooling families in your area, many of these wonderful people are willing to share or sell inexpensively curricula that they have outgrown or did not work well for their specific needs.  We started with module one as well, and my boys are loving it! 

     

    Meagan

    October 13, 2009 at 1:51 am
    mrsjamiesouth
    Member

    For science we stick to doing fun experiments.  It takes more time to get supplies and clean up the mess, but all the kids can be involved.  We didn’t care for Apologia or any other science Book.  Right now we are doing Anatomy.  I ordered 7 animals from homesciencetools  for cheap and we got books on each animal from the library.  I sent you a link to free lesson plans for dissecting.  We are doing one animal a week with some breaks in between to learn about human body parts.  You can find good science experiment books at the library, just have fun with it.  My dh was not totally on board with the whole homeschool thing until he saw the difference it really makes.  He also works different hours, so he now gets to see our children more.  Try asking if you can do a trial run with your daughter until  after Christmas.  Explain it would not hurt for her to be home so short a time.  We did a trial run because my dh wasn’t ready to commit and that helped ease him into it when he wasn’t ready.  Mostly I knew that God was calling me to homeschool and he would work it out in my husbands heart for me.  I will pray for you.

    Alexis

    October 13, 2009 at 11:20 pm
    Rachel White
    Participant

    Another free math resource is http://www.homeschoolmath.net

    and a cheap resource is Math Mammoth. Then there are some free math books online. There will be a free one tomorrow through Homeschool Freebies for 2-5th graders and another one that was suggested here is “EVeryday Number Stories” at Google books and also Number Stories of LOng ago (free online or I can try to send you mine).

    Then I found this free homeschool resources page with links to free resources:

    http://www.homeschoolviews.com/resources/resources.html

    Remember the library for books and free audio books at Librivox.com (and the library), free reading books and all sorts of twaddle-free books online for free. Ambleside Online book lists are full of links to free books. I like Baldwin Online, Google books and Project Gutenburg.

    It is a slow process to change old habits; the “school” minded to “learning” minded. Unless your son enjoys some opf the more liberal arts aspects of a CM education, I wouldn’t introduce those directly this year. Some Classical music in the background, some art on the walls, etc…is good.

    Rachel

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