WHY OH WHY, did I think I could do this? Is it because of my intense interest in all things bookish, educational and challenging? Is it because I had a horrid experience when I went to school, esp. public school? Is it because I am stark raving mad? As in insane, not angry. :faint: Last fall, I became obsessed with homeschool, ah yes, I don't feel interested in LIFE if there isn't SOMETHING interesting to think about/research/obsess over. I now know EVERYTHING there is to know about homeschooling. Really. I've read about a 100 books, spent countless hours pouring over catalogs, spent well over $1,000 on materials, textbooks, misc. books, and bought TWO complete curriculums in addition to FOUR other partial curriculums to teach ONE child KINDERGARTEN. (Note: I have four children, ages -- 11 public schooled, 5 my poor child subjected to my homeschooling onslaught, 3, and 1.) I have planned, replanned, bought TWO organizing softwares, not to mention how many paper teaching planners....

AND I FINALLY STARTED last week. EIGHT days ago to be exact. And, I'm worn out. The intense attention it takes to teach a child is absolutely draining. I'm EXHAUSTED. However, even if I give up and put the kid in public school next year, THIS YEAR I MUST do this. I have to. My husband will divorce me if I don't. He's been through this scenario about 5 times with different things (massage school, college, Mary Kay, on and on). I have to do this entire year. I've spent too much money and I'm STUCK. How do I survive this??????????????????????????????????
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANY ideas/advice will be SO appreciated!!!!!!!!
~Jodi

I have grandama 1/2 time home school our daughter. Home schooling has it's place, especially for kids who clearly are not learning in the classroom and no good support is available.

I was homeschooled and It is the hardest job!My poor mother.Good for you for setting your mind to it.

Nice thing is you're never insane alone! :p I'm homeschooling my little ADDer too. Last year was pretty much an unmitigated disaster (hadn't been diagnosed with AD/HD myself yet and since I taught school for 12 years and had a masters in reading I was confident I would do a good job!). I was two trimesters late in turning in the paperwork for her school and consistency in teaching was sorely lacking. Here's the good news -- inspite of all my screw ups -- she actually learned a great deal and still has her self esteem in tact. Since she is dyslexic as well as AD/HD I'm not sure that would have been the case in full time school.

This year I'm on meds and things are going a lot better. A couple of suggestions on what helps me the most.

* In Kindergarten when I homeschooled her things went well, because I reported in regularly to an overseeing teacher, so my paperwork stay current and lessons matched up with the required curriculum.

* This year (2nd grade) what I'm finding works well is what I learned teaching in small schools with 4 grades in one room. When you make up units where most all of the subjects are related (this can even be done across grade levels for more than one child) you conserve time and make mental hooks on which to hang your new information, and establish the relevency of the task which is especially import with ADDers because they tend to not want to do something boring or for which they don't see any point.

A short example is as follows: You're studying Native Americans (Seminole Indians) in social studies utilizing resources like textbooks, computer info, etc. You take a trip to the library (reading and library skills) to check out topic appropriate books, you draw appropriate art or make a village (art), you write a report about what you learned (handwriting and language skills -- incorporating lessons on punctuation, capitalization, sentence structure, etc.), you watch a video or educational TV program about Florida wildlife in the Everglades (science) and discuss how that impacted the Seminole Indians. Add to that your math and spelling (which depending on your unit topic can also be integrated into the unit) and you've got a very productive school learning experience. Kids really do learn well this way, it's in a holistic learning venue and is better retained, and takes less of your and their time while holding their interest more effectively.

In case this sounds complicated or difficult to do, it's really not or I would never have managed it!;) Most of my lessons grow out of what's naturally going on in our lives (I'm not the best at preplanning - go figure!). Right now with Hurricaine Katrina, I'm working up our next lesson utilizing the science of weather, map reading, geography, and writing a letter to Granparents who were in it's path (several states up thankfully). For early learners a great readig program like Hooked on Phonics can be a helpful and fun to use. My kid loves it and finished level 1 all on her on is a very short time, because she got so excited about actually being able to read real books herself with stickers to show her progress on the trail, etc.

Better sign off -- you hit an interesting subject for me and my hyperfocus is kicking in -- don't want to bore you! :soapbox: If you'd like more information or if I just made this clear as muddy water, feel free to contact me. Be gentle with yourself --I think it's cool that you like learning everything you can and that you're kids are such an obvious priority for you.

Scattered

great post, scattered! thanks for sharing all that info. i love the idea of organising your learning units as you go. that's my style too! :)

Jodi, if there is a homeschool co-op in your area, i'd highly recommend joining. the group in our area organises field trips, and gets together for socialization and group studies at least once a week.

i'm not a homeschooling mom. i don't trust myself to stay on task with the important stuff. i can't even manage to help my kids get her homework done....

in a way i wish i could, i think my kids would benefit it a number of ways. but, i think i'd go stark raving mad! i am looking for to the school year because of the structure it provides. something i'm just not capable of -- even on meds ... :rolleyes:

luckily, i'm "the mom that makes everything fun." as least that's what my daughter told me this morning.... we'll see how long that lasts. :D

good luck, jodi.

wheezie

Thanks Wheezie! Co ops are a great idea too -- the more outside support and ideas the better!:)
Scattered

Thank you so much!! I'm feeling much better today. Tuesday was a DISASTER DAY, but I'm feeling encouraged today. This is a hard thing.

I was homeschooled loved it in Elem. School...wouldn't suggest it for High School...parents don't know enough about todays issues...put the kid in a private school if your worried about public schools....

My mother was a SUPER homeschooling mom in Elem School..I would actually Love to be able to teach my child till she was in 7th grade then send her on her merry way....

Some GREAT things my mom did:

1. she hired a tutor for Math and Science . The girl was going to college to become a teacher and needed the practice. She was AMAZING... Miss Jenny was her name.. I learned a lot from her. And it was also a good BREAK for my mom, she could make lunch do the wash...or go take care of the garden.....(so not really a break but a school break for her)

2. she became apart of a really COOL homeschool group...what was the name....the Undercover Kids...really cool christian homeschool group...we had plays..there were sports we had field trips we all did the same work books and would have meetings together...the mom's got support from eachother and feed back about the work books etc.....

3. she did an amazing job teaching us how to work with our hands...being homeschooled when i was a child was great for me...i can't sit still and being able to get up and walk around the living room or kitchen was good for me... we learned how to clean, cook...garden...we were taught the basics of living at an early age while kids these days don't even know how to fry an egg much less load the dishwasher...we all ( i have 3 other sisters) had sewing lessons were in 4-H classes....really got to enjoy living I think.....

4. she didn't give up hope when other families looked down on her for homeschooling even when we moved outta Chico and went to a different town...there wasn't much support for homeschoolers...was difficult but my mom kept pressing on she really wanted us to be taught all the important things not the crap that doesn't matter....

~ my older sister graduated when she was 16 years old...my baby sister went to school starting at 5th - 6th grade (cause my mom needed to start working..not enough money coming in) my sister below me started going to school when she was a freshman....me...well i was at the tail end...didn't graduate till i got my GED two years ago...sad yes...a homeschool kid not graduating...but its a silly story....~

another good piece of advice never stop caring about your kids school work even when they go to school they will HATE you...but never stop..cause later on they will love you for it...I wish my mom wouldn't have stopped caring ... she wishes she would have just let me go to school...I know I'm pretty darn smart thats how I got away with doing nothing....it's really not my mom's fault for being to busy and for the stuff that happend to me while she was to busy...but I still think that having your kids go to High School is a MUST... :)

so yea....i kinda like this subject...pretty much hits home for me :D

Home schooling can be extremely intimidating, but I'm taking it one year at a time and so far it's been going very well.

My oldest just started 3rd grade this year. For kindergarten, no lie, his time was spent with play-doh, coloring, playing with friends, and getting read books about things he was interested in. He learned to read with Calvin and Hobbes anthologies. I got behind in Math with him because that's my worst subject. I ordered Singapore Math, very afforadable, and he's not only caught up, he got perfect scores on his end-of-year testing last year. That is the only test he takes. The rest is practice or reviews, but not tests.

My second is repeating kindergarten. I strongly suspect ADD and I'm considering having him tested because verbally he's not as far along. But I need to do more research. That doesn't mean that on some things he isn't ready for first grade material. I love, love, love that I can meet my kids where their abilities are at, not "hold them back" because they don't keep up with other students.

Shelve your How To books, file away the catalogs, stop spending money and calm down. Find a co-op group. If you're not religious there are also non-sectarian groups out there, but it's your preference. Visit a couple. I have made wonderful, supportive friends in mine. And I have a chance to use my own talents to aid their children's schooling. My friend is having an elementary book club this year, she'll read different stories of Cinderella from different cultures and we'll create our own fairy tale. This is where I come in, my theater monster gets fed. The older students are doing Shakespeare w/o Fear and even though I've never trained or performed Shakespeare before, I have the exciting job of pulling them together for a performance. My point is.....HAVE FUN!!!

Find out what interests they have, go to the library and read about it. Play. Visit interesting places. The free city zoo works for us. My kids love the slugs and snails we find outside in our backyard. So we made a home for a few (ecology) and looked at books about them and fed them (responsibility). My children do not get taught science out of a book, but through their Roots and Shoots Program (started by Jane Gooddall) and their science is hands-on.

Now, is it easy for me? Heck no. I just love having my kids at home and getting the pleasure of being a part of everything in their lives. I'm ADD!!! I procrastinate, I'm forgetful. I am organizationally challenged. No software programs, yeah right, like I'll use the thing. *scoff* I did try to keep a word document and journal what I did with the kids that day.

"Watched "Human Body" DKknowledge video, traced outline of their body on big paper and labeled the parts. Wrote a letter to Grammy. Counted apples in the grocery store."

And lazy me, that's what we did over the course of two or three days. The rest was play-doh, coloring, PBS, helping clean (or not) and playing with friends. And for the record, that journal was discontinued half way through the year and forgotten about most days the other half. So it was nice to try.

There's a book I use to prepare for the year "Home Schooling Year by Year". It actually has too much information but it's all in one book from K to 12. Then I look at my state's "Standards of Learning". Just look at the list, not the lesson plans. That's it. And you don't necessarily even need that. Those are where I go, but I don't get a headache from them.

Your kids do not need to compete with the rest of the nation, but to grow and challenge themselves. Learning can be fun. It can also be a source of agony because they're naturally not always cooperative.

But it's kindergarten. No rocket science. Unless you WANT to make a cardboard box rocket ship and color it and watch a video about astornauts and look at books about outer space and count the stars together.

BREATHE! And go get your play-doh. You can carve numbers and letters into it, but it's ok to just mush it. That's manual dexterity/eye-hand coordination w/o a lesson plan. Cool huh? You can justify all kinds of things as being educational. Even lying in the grass and making pictures out of cloud shapes.

pm me anytime. I'd love an on-line resource myself. :D

Cool ideas and good advice, Eyeforgot! Funny thing is with my kid, some of the things she learned the most from last year, when I was so checked out, were things I thought were cop outs on my part (IE: Jack Hannah nature videos). You should hear her now -- bring up any of a huge range of animal life and she'll click into instructor mode and sound like an educational guide at the zoo. Stuff I don't even know. Math is a weakness for me too and she seems to be having an amazingly hard time with it. Even more than I can account for based on my teaching. I'm using all the hands on practical application things (IE: counting money) and she doesn't seem to get it. I'm having major trouble even getting her to add one to a number. What is Singapore Math and where do you order it? What did you like about it? I could definately use help in the math department.

Scattered

It's one word and a .com, ebay has it sometimes as well. Singapore has the highest math grades in the world. The math books I get (I don't get the teacher guides yet) are a textbook and workbook for each semester. (for second grade: first semester is 2A workbook and textbook, then 2B each for second semester. So four workbooks a year.) I find it affordable. They use colorful pictures and take a child step by step through the work, with plenty of review and visiting old skills, incorporating them into the new. I'll probably keep using it on through the higher grades but then get the teacher's guide if needed.

My oldest was willing to learn the simple plus and minuses if I used m-n-m's (skittles, marshmallows, jellybeans, yogurt covered raisins -whatever you allow). Subtraction was the best part and I liked explaining it several times through :D .

Sounds like your kid is a visual learner. My guys do well with that, too. Bill Nye the Science Guy is really captivating, and the DK knowledge books and videos are a favorite. They'll read about any subject in the DK books because the text is not too long. The pictures are vivid and contain loads of informative captions.

My oldest didn't get "money" until he wanted to spend it. So we just started a Balance Book, so I can teach him how to keep track of how much he has listing the date, description (deposit or what was bought) and then add or subtract the appropriate amount from the starting balance. Kind of like an early checkbook. I think it would be fun to use a real one from my checks, but I know we'd misplace it! So we put it in the back pages of his writing journal.

pm me anytime

For young children School Zone has great all inclusive software that will help if you're a bit intimidated by the math. The kids learn things like ordering and place value (a harder concept) with fun little alien guys and games. There's also a phonics and reading section. I wouldn't make this the entire focus, but kids learn a lot through play.
Yahooligans also has some great stuff for kids as far as animal and plant life that kids love to see. Also check out Discovery School. There's a ton of links from there.

I think the key thing would be in finding things that will partially engage your younger children so that the kindergardener is not distracted by syblings. Do things in small chunks and have the five year old tell about it to your 3 yr old. Kids teaching kids is amazing, and they'll pick it up naturally from a sibling.

Good info -- thanks -- I'll follow up on it. I discovered another neat on line resource for geography the other day called Geokids by National Geograhic. They have a real fun game called Geospy for learning continents, states, etc.

Ya'll take care!:D

I'm a special education teacher, but my hat is off to those of you who can homeschool. Between my ADD and my kids we'd be a wreck within the first two weeks. Especially with the baby at home too. It takes a lot of time and dedication.

When my daughters kindergarten teacher told me 3/4 of the way into the school year that she was going to fail,,,, I decided she needed some one on one and that no matter how hard it was,,, I was going to do this. Well, I was not on meds and my daughter has always had a rough time with learning things so i really did bite off way more than I could chew.

What I did instead was went to McDonalds 3 days out of 5. Wow how can they focus at McDonalds. I ended up having her work on one thing and then go play on the play land. she would come back and do one more thing and then go play. This still didn't work and she had to repeat kindergarden but hey it was fun and as far as everyone else knew,,,,, I was sticking to something lol (wow did I full them!!)

The funny thing is, my son is a year younger than my daughter and much easier to teach. He started Kindergarden for the first time that year when she went back for her 2nd time. When he went in, he knew his ABC's he could count he could add and put sounds together to make small words. I wasn't even trying to teach him but he picked up on stuff while he played. Surprised the **** out of me. He is now in 2nd grade and reads at a 4th grade level.

He is also very hyper and prides himself on the fact that he doesn't even have to try and he makes straight A's. As bad as this may sound, I am waiting for the day when he realizes,,, oh man this is kind of hard. He makes his sister feel so bad sometimes that he is younger than her and blah blah blah.

I keep trying to tell him that he is being really smug and one day it is going to come back and bite him in the butt. My sister use to try and do that to me until one day I beat her up and said,,, "you may be smarter than me but I am bigger than you and I will kick your *****. She was 10 and I was 15. That is sad!!! she ended up graduating 3rd in her class and has a BA in animal biology. She is pretty darn smart lol. Ok,, I have to go let my kids play in the water so I am going to stop rambling on lol.