Starting Monday, need advice

If there’s an extra that you just know he will love, perhaps you could do that and the basics and then gradually add others. Starting slow & simple helps to not ovewhelm the children or mom! Especially if he was having difficulties & you want to foster a love for learning.

Math Mammoth has a long list of online links for math games.  We use LOTS of those to reinforce lessons learned.  I agree with the take it slow vote.  School was probably rushed and frenzied for him.  Home should be peaceful and encouraging.

Also be sure to start at or below his level to help build up his confidence.

For further help, post your schedule here.

My 4th grader has been hs from the beginning and we have done 8 (tough) days of school. I wish I would have started back slowly after our 6 weeks off. But we are starting to get back into it. We haven’t done any new math lessons yet because I felt that would be too much yet at this point. Maybe we will cover more math next week. I am tempted to go faster to catch up but that would be pointless if I leave him behind in the dust without enough understanding. Also no extras yet for us except playing music and doing Scripture memory. We will add poetry, hymns, picture study, etc. with time.

I had both my older girls in PS until 4th and 5th grades. One of them has a learning differnce (we are also using Dianne Craft’s methods for a while to help her Auditory Processing Disorder). 

And do you know what I honestly think? They don’t do picture study, music study, nature study, Shakespeare, etc. in PS. These are the things that are SO COOL about a CM education that make it different and FUN! In my opinion, delaying these things denies your child the chance to see beyond PS and start to heal his heart regarding learning and his own struggles because there are no right or wrong answers in these subjects and they only take 5-10 minutes a time, except the nature study. 

I would start with one or two required subjects like math and reading, but make sure that you add in all the fun things now. It will help him change his attitude about hating school and help him find one thing that he is passionate about. This happened with my dd that was struggling so hard with health and related learning difficulties. She discovered Nature Study, and through it, science as a subject isn’t so scary. She LOVES nature walks and finding things to discover. I let that be her success through her nature journal. She felt no stress about doing it right and on time. After your son has a chance to have some success with this most basic schedule, slowly add in more formal study of science and history.  

Combine a few subjects together. For example, listen to literature out loud while he builds lego kits or does other things with his hands. It is a fabulous way to introduce him to the classics of literature in a very non-threatening, overwhelming way. We have started doing puzzles as a family this way and love it. 

We do creative art (watercoloring painting, pastels, drawing, clay, etc) while listening to classical music. It has been proven that classical music brings an overly stressed, tired brain (think kids with LD) to a resting place and helps them be ready for the next onslaught of information overload. Use lots of opportunities to play it very softly in the background.

I agree with 4myboys about the documentaries and her other suggestions. 

You are not going to ruin your child. He will heal and grow just fine as you take it short and slow. =)

Oh, the QueenLL has some fun picture study built in! LOF is a great choice for math too.

I think the best thing that happened to our hs that has spilled over to enrich our everyday family life is a new love and appreciation for classical music. I love Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto. It is great to lift a bad mood. If your ds is familiar with older Looney Toons he may like Rossini as some of his music was used in the cartoons.

For Netflix there is a George Washington documentary my ds9 has watched about 5 times. We have also watched one on Jefferson and one on Dolly Madison. Ken Burns The Story of America is good. We have seen some on Egypt but it was a few years ago and I don’t remember which ones. There are a lot of good choices on there. They also have Creatures that Defy Evolution for science.

I forgot about Drive Thru History. There are some on Netflix and they are all on iTBN or on the TBN on the Roku. We, including dh, love them! There are some threads on here about shows on Netflix that might give you more ideas.