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Post by filingjointly on Jun 16, 2020 14:37:02 GMT -6
Hello! This is going to be so long, I apologize in advance for my loquacity.
I’m seriously considering the idea of homeschooling my rising K and 2nd graders this coming school year. My DD1 has Celiac Disease and normally has a 504 plan to help manage this at school. With all the new recommendations being made for next year, it sounds like all meals would be in the classroom, which is extremely hard for her because of cross-contamination. She’d run the risk of being sick every day. Added to the fact that my DS has severe asthma, I’m so uncomfortable sending them to whatever variation of Public school exists in the fall. And I really don’t want to do e-Learning again as it was very slapdash and repetitive the first time around.
Which all brings me to the homeschooling consideration. I do not have a background in education other than working at a daycare during college. I do have a college degree (in Accounting and Economics, so that’s unhelpful 😂). And I have stayed at home with my kids for years. But I’m concerned that I’m qualified to teach them. I meet the state’s requirements but I’m afraid I’ll be their least favorite teacher ever.
Second, I’m not, at the moment, planning for this to be a long term solution. I would hopefully be able to send them back to school in 2021-22. So is it strange or bad for their overall learning experience to have so many changes? My DD1 already had two different teachers and then e-Learning last year because we moved in January.
Third, I’m in SC in an area that trends heavily Christian. I would be following a secular homeschool curriculum as I’m Catholic and MH is Jewish and we haven’t decided how to approach religious education with this kids. Anyway, I’ve done a lot of searching and the only groups I’ve found here so far are definitely faith-based. Does anyone have any secular online resources or groups they recommend?
I have lots of questions about curriculum etc. as well but I’ll read older threads before I start getting any more annoying.
Thank you so much if you read to the end! You are a better person than I.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jun 16, 2020 22:42:49 GMT -6
filingjointly If you’re on Facebook, I recommend the group SEA (secular, eclectic, academic) homeschoolers. What curriculum are you looking at using? We secular homeschool so even if I haven’t used something, I’ve usually researched it or heard about it lol. Mine were K and 2nd grade this year (plus younger siblings getting in the way). It’s a pretty easy age group to homeschool and keep on track with public school. I know a lot of people rag on common core, mostly because I don’t think they really know what it is. Hint: it’s not new math. If you look at the standards for their grades you can make sure you cover the material that they would cover in public school and transition them right back in.
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 17, 2020 5:10:30 GMT -6
Thank you for your responses! I’ll be back this afternoon to reply.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jun 17, 2020 7:51:42 GMT -6
Okay, so right off the bat, YOU HAVE GOT THIS. You are qualified to teach your kids because you are good at seeking out information and then communicating it. You don’t have to have some special knowledge*. That’s what curricula are for.
I think if I were only doing this for a year, I wouldn’t bother with getting a curriculum designed for homeschooling because most are designed to build upon previous years and don’t necessarily line up with the SOLs for traditional school years. Look up your state’s SOLs for each grade and then teach to that with resources that align with common core, etc. And then add in fun stuff because that’s a big advantage to homeschooling- you can make it as fun as you want to.
Also health issues were a big push for us to HS as well, and it’s been awesome to have DS1 so healthy.
*Obviously different from a classroom setting.
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 17, 2020 8:13:33 GMT -6
Sorry, supper interrupted. I used Sonlight during the 19-20 school year. It is general Christian so it might be worth considering - easy to skip the parts not wanted. They also have Book Shark (sister companies) that is secular. It would be easy to combine both of your kids into one core (history and literature with bible in Sonlight) and science level. Then individual levels for language arts and math. I'm not familiar with other secular curriculums. I'm Catholic, dh is Methodist, and we're raising ds Catholic. and since we're getting ready for sacrament preparation I'm switching to a Catholic curriculum for the 20/21 school year. Another option available is to just get your state standards for your children's grades and teach those topics using whatever materials works. One thing I point out is that there is nothing in a public school curriculum that is not available in a well stocked public library. We definitely want to stay 100% secular for this year so I’ll check our Book Shark. I already have compiled all the standards for our state for the two grades and this summer we’ve been working through them a little bit, just so I can get an idea of where exactly my kids stand, where they’re strong, where they need extra help, etc. We love the library so we will absolutely be using it extensively! |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 17, 2020 8:18:37 GMT -6
filingjointly If you’re on Facebook, I recommend the group SEA (secular, eclectic, academic) homeschoolers. What curriculum are you looking at using? We secular homeschool so even if I haven’t used something, I’ve usually researched it or heard about it lol. Mine were K and 2nd grade this year (plus younger siblings getting in the way). It’s a pretty easy age group to homeschool and keep on track with public school. I know a lot of people rag on common core, mostly because I don’t think they really know what it is. Hint: it’s not new math. If you look at the standards for their grades you can make sure you cover the material that they would cover in public school and transition them right back in. Thank you! I’m going to request an add to the SEA group, that’s exactly what I was looking for. I have a 2 yo to contend with at home as well. And she is NOT CHILL. She doesn’t like screens (tra la la to her) and I’ve tried everything to get her to play independently and it all fails. So we were actually thinking of putting her in a part time daycare (she has no health issues and we’ve found one with really strict guidelines) so I could school the other two in the mornings. |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 17, 2020 8:31:19 GMT -6
Okay, so right off the bat, YOU HAVE GOT THIS. You are qualified to teach your kids because you are good at seeking out information and then communicating it. You don’t have to have some special knowledge*. That’s what curricula are for. I think if I were only doing this for a year, I wouldn’t bother with getting a curriculum designed for homeschooling because most are designed to build upon previous years and don’t necessarily line up with the SOLs for traditional school years. Look up your state’s SOLs for each grade and then teach to that with resources that align with common core, etc. And then add in fun stuff because that’s a big advantage to homeschooling- you can make it as fun as you want to. Also health issues were a big push for us to HS as well, and it’s been awesome to have DS1 so healthy. *Obviously different from a classroom setting. I was looking at using Blossom and Root as a curriculum this year, excepting math, where I was undecided but definitely wanted to use Beast Academy as a supplement. I’m Hyper Extreme Type A so I like having a schedule to follow and I’m nervous about being able to cobble something together with a lot of different sources, but maybe I shouldn’t be. I do want them to be able to slide right back into public schooling next year, so I’m definitely going to reconsider using a curriculum. I will say, part of my fear over teaching standards rather than a curriculum is that my DD1 is really gifted. She is a young 6 and going into 2nd grade. She was placed in K as a 4 year old after she was identified as a candidate for a new gifted mandate back in IL. So while she definitely still needs to learn new skills in math for example to be up to standards for next year, her reading/writing/language arts are already well above that. Which is why I liked the Blossom and Root curriculum there for her. It’s very literature and nature based, which lines up with her interests. As you can tell, I’m all over the place. Our school starts in mid-August so I don’t have too long to figure it all out. |
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jun 17, 2020 8:51:16 GMT -6
filingjointly B&R is actually really cool and I think it’d be easy to incorporate that into your goals because it’s adaptable in a way that some “open and go” curricula are not. Beast Academy is very fun as well, and if she’s gifted she may really love it, but she’ll also need basic math facts because BA is as much of a critical thinking program as it is a math program. We use BA and then fill in with Kumon Math workbooks, and DS1 consistently tests way ahead of his grade in math.
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 17, 2020 9:04:16 GMT -6
filingjointly B&R is actually really cool and I think it’d be easy to incorporate that into your goals because it’s adaptable in a way that some “open and go” curricula are not. Beast Academy is very fun as well, and if she’s gifted she may really love it, but she’ll also need basic math facts because BA is as much of a critical thinking program as it is a math program. We use BA and then fill in with Kumon Math workbooks, and DS1 consistently tests way ahead of his grade in math. Oh for sure we would use Beast Academy as just a supplement to another program. She is good at math, but still needs to learn all of the 2nd grade concepts before she can run with them. I actually have the Kumon workbook here (I ordered a bunch of different things from Amazon so I could decide what works best for us) so I’m going to take a look at it today. She’s been asking me if she could do some workbooks for fun 😂 so once I decide at least I can let her do that. We also have Prodigy and Xtra Math subscriptions that she likes. Thank you so much for your help. This is not something I ever thought I would do, not for any particular reason, I just hadn’t really considered it, and I’m not good at doing things I haven’t extensively planned for. |
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jun 17, 2020 9:11:16 GMT -6
filingjointly B&R is actually really cool and I think it’d be easy to incorporate that into your goals because it’s adaptable in a way that some “open and go” curricula are not. Beast Academy is very fun as well, and if she’s gifted she may really love it, but she’ll also need basic math facts because BA is as much of a critical thinking program as it is a math program. We use BA and then fill in with Kumon Math workbooks, and DS1 consistently tests way ahead of his grade in math. Oh for sure we would use Beast Academy as just a supplement to another program. She is good at math, but still needs to learn all of the 2nd grade concepts before she can run with them. I actually have the Kumon workbook here (I ordered a bunch of different things from Amazon so I could decide what works best for us) so I’m going to take a look at it today. She’s been asking me if she could do some workbooks for fun 😂 so once I decide at least I can let her do that. We also have Prodigy and Xtra Math subscriptions that she likes. Thank you so much for your help. This is not something I ever thought I would do, not for any particular reason, I just hadn’t really considered it, and I’m not good at doing things I haven’t extensively planned for. Oh man, you should have seen the mess that I was when we went to homeschooling. I literally decided overnight and it was panic inducing. Any time you need help making a decision or just need a pep talk, please reach out. It took me a while to chill out about it and find a good groove, and I don’t want anyone else to sit in that uncomfortable space longer than they have to. |
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jun 17, 2020 18:37:31 GMT -6
Okay, so right off the bat, YOU HAVE GOT THIS. You are qualified to teach your kids because you are good at seeking out information and then communicating it. You don’t have to have some special knowledge*. That’s what curricula are for. I think if I were only doing this for a year, I wouldn’t bother with getting a curriculum designed for homeschooling because most are designed to build upon previous years and don’t necessarily line up with the SOLs for traditional school years. Look up your state’s SOLs for each grade and then teach to that with resources that align with common core, etc. And then add in fun stuff because that’s a big advantage to homeschooling- you can make it as fun as you want to. Also health issues were a big push for us to HS as well, and it’s been awesome to have DS1 so healthy. *Obviously different from a classroom setting. I was looking at using Blossom and Root as a curriculum this year, excepting math, where I was undecided but definitely wanted to use Beast Academy as a supplement. I’m Hyper Extreme Type A so I like having a schedule to follow and I’m nervous about being able to cobble something together with a lot of different sources, but maybe I shouldn’t be. I do want them to be able to slide right back into public schooling next year, so I’m definitely going to reconsider using a curriculum. I will say, part of my fear over teaching standards rather than a curriculum is that my DD1 is really gifted. She is a young 6 and going into 2nd grade. She was placed in K as a 4 year old after she was identified as a candidate for a new gifted mandate back in IL. So while she definitely still needs to learn new skills in math for example to be up to standards for next year, her reading/writing/language arts are already well above that. Which is why I liked the Blossom and Root curriculum there for her. It’s very literature and nature based, which lines up with her interests. As you can tell, I’m all over the place. Our school starts in mid-August so I don’t have too long to figure it all out. I don’t use Blossom and Root, but I use a similar literature-based curriculum. So I hear about B&R a lot and I always hear great things. I think it’s a great way to learn. I also think with a very gifted child that you might want to look into self-directed education. Let her go down any rabbit hole she likes. I was that kid and I used to get really upset that we only focused on a subject for a short time and then they wanted to pull me away from it to do something else. It was not great for little bunny. But now you have the freedom to let her focus on something and learn everything there is to know about it. I would also suggest something for grammar. Even if it’s just mad libs. My oldest is years above grade level with reading and writing so sometimes I forget that she’s supposed to know things like what is a noun or how to use a comma. That’s sort of the next step after learning to read and reading for understanding. |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 18, 2020 12:47:40 GMT -6
I was looking at using Blossom and Root as a curriculum this year, excepting math, where I was undecided but definitely wanted to use Beast Academy as a supplement. I’m Hyper Extreme Type A so I like having a schedule to follow and I’m nervous about being able to cobble something together with a lot of different sources, but maybe I shouldn’t be. I do want them to be able to slide right back into public schooling next year, so I’m definitely going to reconsider using a curriculum. I will say, part of my fear over teaching standards rather than a curriculum is that my DD1 is really gifted. She is a young 6 and going into 2nd grade. She was placed in K as a 4 year old after she was identified as a candidate for a new gifted mandate back in IL. So while she definitely still needs to learn new skills in math for example to be up to standards for next year, her reading/writing/language arts are already well above that. Which is why I liked the Blossom and Root curriculum there for her. It’s very literature and nature based, which lines up with her interests. As you can tell, I’m all over the place. Our school starts in mid-August so I don’t have too long to figure it all out. I don’t use Blossom and Root, but I use a similar literature-based curriculum. So I hear about B&R a lot and I always hear great things. I think it’s a great way to learn. I also think with a very gifted child that you might want to look into self-directed education. Let her go down any rabbit hole she likes. I was that kid and I used to get really upset that we only focused on a subject for a short time and then they wanted to pull me away from it to do something else. It was not great for little bunny. But now you have the freedom to let her focus on something and learn everything there is to know about it. I would also suggest something for grammar. Even if it’s just mad libs. My oldest is years above grade level with reading and writing so sometimes I forget that she’s supposed to know things like what is a noun or how to use a comma. That’s sort of the next step after learning to read and reading for understanding. Do you use Torchlight? I’m thinking of using that instead now. I feel like it’s a better fit for both of my kids at once, though I would do both a K and 2 level. Like, My DS isn’t going to get The Hobbit (from B&R) at 5yo but I think he’ll enjoy most of the read-alouds for his sister through Torchlight. I’m definitely set on doing a lit-based curriculum. And then adding in LoE and Right Start. Maybe Beast Academy a little later. I have BFUS too. Plus we get Kiwi Crates for science. I’m not going to do everything all at once though. Starting small and building is my plan. Meanwhile MH is like, you should teach them piano and another language! And how to tat lace and Morse Code! He’s ridiculous. |
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jun 18, 2020 13:03:32 GMT -6
I don’t use Blossom and Root, but I use a similar literature-based curriculum. So I hear about B&R a lot and I always hear great things. I think it’s a great way to learn. I also think with a very gifted child that you might want to look into self-directed education. Let her go down any rabbit hole she likes. I was that kid and I used to get really upset that we only focused on a subject for a short time and then they wanted to pull me away from it to do something else. It was not great for little bunny. But now you have the freedom to let her focus on something and learn everything there is to know about it. I would also suggest something for grammar. Even if it’s just mad libs. My oldest is years above grade level with reading and writing so sometimes I forget that she’s supposed to know things like what is a noun or how to use a comma. That’s sort of the next step after learning to read and reading for understanding. Do you use Torchlight? I’m thinking of using that instead now. I feel like it’s a better fit for both of my kids at once, though I would do both a K and 2 level. Like, My DS isn’t going to get The Hobbit (from B&R) at 5yo but I think he’ll enjoy most of the read-alouds for his sister through Torchlight. I’m definitely set on doing a lit-based curriculum. And then adding in LoE and Right Start. Maybe Beast Academy a little later. I have BFUS too. Plus we get Kiwi Crates for science. I’m not going to do everything all at once though. Starting small and building is my plan. Meanwhile MH is like, you should teach them piano and another language! And how to tat lace and Morse Code! He’s ridiculous. Yes! You basically just listed all of the curriculum that I use lol. I wasn’t going to recommend LOE or Right Start because they are both pricy and I figured if you were only doing it for a year that might not be the way to go. But I loooove them both so much. I will say, that trying to do two levels for torchlight just didn’t work for me. I was going to have DD2 do the prek level for kindergarten but with my math and English instead of hers because I really liked the emotional intelligence aspect. But it just got to be too much. DD1 is second grade this year but we still did level 1 because we wanted to do ancients and we did the K level last year. I actually think you could easily do K or 1 with both kids at the same time. Just have your oldest read the books aloud to the younger one. That’s what I do lol. Less work for me! |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 18, 2020 16:40:13 GMT -6
Do you use Torchlight? I’m thinking of using that instead now. I feel like it’s a better fit for both of my kids at once, though I would do both a K and 2 level. Like, My DS isn’t going to get The Hobbit (from B&R) at 5yo but I think he’ll enjoy most of the read-alouds for his sister through Torchlight. I’m definitely set on doing a lit-based curriculum. And then adding in LoE and Right Start. Maybe Beast Academy a little later. I have BFUS too. Plus we get Kiwi Crates for science. I’m not going to do everything all at once though. Starting small and building is my plan. Meanwhile MH is like, you should teach them piano and another language! And how to tat lace and Morse Code! He’s ridiculous. Yes! You basically just listed all of the curriculum that I use lol. I wasn’t going to recommend LOE or Right Start because they are both pricy and I figured if you were only doing it for a year that might not be the way to go. But I loooove them both so much. I will say, that trying to do two levels for torchlight just didn’t work for me. I was going to have DD2 do the prek level for kindergarten but with my math and English instead of hers because I really liked the emotional intelligence aspect. But it just got to be too much. DD1 is second grade this year but we still did level 1 because we wanted to do ancients and we did the K level last year. I actually think you could easily do K or 1 with both kids at the same time. Just have your oldest read the books aloud to the younger one. That’s what I do lol. Less work for me! Thanks! That makes sense looking at the book lists. Were you able to get most of the books from a library? I was going to purchase the ones used all year and check the library for the rest hopefully. |
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jun 18, 2020 16:49:50 GMT -6
Yes! You basically just listed all of the curriculum that I use lol. I wasn’t going to recommend LOE or Right Start because they are both pricy and I figured if you were only doing it for a year that might not be the way to go. But I loooove them both so much. I will say, that trying to do two levels for torchlight just didn’t work for me. I was going to have DD2 do the prek level for kindergarten but with my math and English instead of hers because I really liked the emotional intelligence aspect. But it just got to be too much. DD1 is second grade this year but we still did level 1 because we wanted to do ancients and we did the K level last year. I actually think you could easily do K or 1 with both kids at the same time. Just have your oldest read the books aloud to the younger one. That’s what I do lol. Less work for me! Thanks! That makes sense looking at the book lists. Were you able to get most of the books from a library? I was going to purchase the ones used all year and check the library for the rest hopefully. I ended up buying most of them. Just because I’m assuming I’ll use them again on younger siblings. But I know a lot of people are able to get them at the library. Especially if you have a pretty good library system. Which I don’t but only because we’re a small town. |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 18, 2020 16:59:52 GMT -6
Thanks! That makes sense looking at the book lists. Were you able to get most of the books from a library? I was going to purchase the ones used all year and check the library for the rest hopefully. I ended up buying most of them. Just because I’m assuming I’ll use them again on younger siblings. But I know a lot of people are able to get them at the library. Especially if you have a pretty good library system. Which I don’t but only because we’re a small town. We have a very small town library as well and there’s never anything I want there but SC has a big statewide request system so I can request a book that’s at any library in the system. It can just take a while to get it. Knowing me and my proclivity to spend entirely too much money on books I’ll probably get annoyed and buy them too. I’ll just use the money I would have spent on bras and pants with buttons. I’ve basically buried myself in research for the last week and now I’m all excited by this prospect. As long as I can get my highly spirited youngest out of my hair for a moment or two. |
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jun 18, 2020 17:06:44 GMT -6
I ended up buying most of them. Just because I’m assuming I’ll use them again on younger siblings. But I know a lot of people are able to get them at the library. Especially if you have a pretty good library system. Which I don’t but only because we’re a small town. We have a very small town library as well and there’s never anything I want there but SC has a big statewide request system so I can request a book that’s at any library in the system. It can just take a while to get it. Knowing me and my proclivity to spend entirely too much money on books I’ll probably get annoyed and buy them too. I’ll just use the money I would have spent on bras and pants with buttons. I’ve basically buried myself in research for the last week and now I’m all excited by this prospect. As long as I can get my highly spirited youngest out of my hair for a moment or two. I also have a book buying problem. I feel like there could be worse things to spend my money on. I feel you on the wild 2 year old situation. I try to do things while DD4 naps, but usually it’s a lot of redirecting, or asking one of the older kids to play with her while I do one-on-one with the other big kid. I forgot to mention to look at My Little Poppies. She has a lot of resources and curriculum recommendations especially for gifted kids. |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 18, 2020 17:26:27 GMT -6
We have a very small town library as well and there’s never anything I want there but SC has a big statewide request system so I can request a book that’s at any library in the system. It can just take a while to get it. Knowing me and my proclivity to spend entirely too much money on books I’ll probably get annoyed and buy them too. I’ll just use the money I would have spent on bras and pants with buttons. I’ve basically buried myself in research for the last week and now I’m all excited by this prospect. As long as I can get my highly spirited youngest out of my hair for a moment or two. I also have a book buying problem. I feel like there could be worse things to spend my money on. I feel you on the wild 2 year old situation. I try to do things while DD4 naps, but usually it’s a lot of redirecting, or asking one of the older kids to play with her while I do one-on-one with the other big kid. I forgot to mention to look at My Little Poppies. She has a lot of resources and curriculum recommendations especially for gifted kids. Thanks! I’ll look her up now. We might put my littlest in a half day daycare program because she cried about 80% of the time we were e-learning. She’s a tiny little grumpfish who refuses to ever play independently or not be sitting on me. She’s been high-needs since the day she was born. |
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jun 19, 2020 14:32:20 GMT -6
We have a very small town library as well and there’s never anything I want there but SC has a big statewide request system so I can request a book that’s at any library in the system. It can just take a while to get it. Knowing me and my proclivity to spend entirely too much money on books I’ll probably get annoyed and buy them too. I’ll just use the money I would have spent on bras and pants with buttons. I’ve basically buried myself in research for the last week and now I’m all excited by this prospect. As long as I can get my highly spirited youngest out of my hair for a moment or two. I also have a book buying problem. I feel like there could be worse things to spend my money on. I feel you on the wild 2 year old situation. I try to do things while DD4 naps, but usually it’s a lot of redirecting, or asking one of the older kids to play with her while I do one-on-one with the other big kid. I forgot to mention to look at My Little Poppies. She has a lot of resources and curriculum recommendations especially for gifted kids. We use tons of her suggestions. I also listen to a lot of her podcasts. Sometimes they lean a little too FEELINGS for me but there is a ton of good info too. |
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jun 19, 2020 14:33:41 GMT -6
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Post by hawkward on Jun 19, 2020 14:35:58 GMT -6
Oh! Also bunnyfungo have you seen LOE is looking for customer support people? They want parents who actually use the program, and I thought of you. |
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jun 19, 2020 14:53:53 GMT -6
Oh! Also bunnyfungo have you seen LOE is looking for customer support people? They want parents who actually use the program, and I thought of you. Oh cool! I’ll have to look for that! |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 20, 2020 19:51:20 GMT -6
I did look at this program as well. And I’m waiting on delivery of her book, The Brave Learner, but as a very new homeschooler the program itself was a little difficult to figure out. I love the concept, but I really wanted something that was easy for me to apply. LOE actually matches up better with our SOL here too. |
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jun 20, 2020 20:30:58 GMT -6
I did look at this program as well. And I’m waiting on delivery of her book, The Brave Learner, but as a very new homeschooler the program itself was a little difficult to figure out. I love the concept, but I really wanted something that was easy for me to apply. LOE actually matches up better with our SOL here too. I think you’ll really like her book. Using the whole program I think is overwhelming but we use bits and pieces of it like poetry tea times and freewrite Fridays. |
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 21, 2020 19:32:50 GMT -6
I did look at this program as well. And I’m waiting on delivery of her book, The Brave Learner, but as a very new homeschooler the program itself was a little difficult to figure out. I love the concept, but I really wanted something that was easy for me to apply. LOE actually matches up better with our SOL here too. I think you’ll really like her book. Using the whole program I think is overwhelming but we use bits and pieces of it like poetry tea times and freewrite Fridays. I got the book today and I love it. Halfway through. It definitely lines up with my intentions to let my kids deep-dive on things with which they are fascinated. |
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Post by hawkward on Jun 22, 2020 10:23:17 GMT -6
I think you’ll really like her book. Using the whole program I think is overwhelming but we use bits and pieces of it like poetry tea times and freewrite Fridays. I got the book today and I love it. Halfway through. It definitely lines up with my intentions to let my kids deep-dive on things with which they are fascinated. She also has a podcast that is interesting. |
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Post by hawkward on Jun 22, 2020 10:50:17 GMT -6
filingjointly I just thought of this- if you haven’t made purchases yet, look through the last year or so of a company’s social media to see when they tend to go on sale. A lot of companies will have sales in early fall (right after most have already purchased for the year).
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Post by filingjointly on Jun 22, 2020 11:00:06 GMT -6
filingjointly I just thought of this- if you haven’t made purchases yet, look through the last year or so of a company’s social media to see when they tend to go on sale. A lot of companies will have sales in early fall (right after most have already purchased for the year). Thank You! I’ve bought a few things that I wanted to get bound in time to start but otherwise I just have carts full all over the place, waiting for sales! |
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hawkward
Global Moderator
Loss, Infertility
Posts: 19,637
Likes: 123,085
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Post by hawkward on Jun 22, 2020 11:10:54 GMT -6
filingjointly I just thought of this- if you haven’t made purchases yet, look through the last year or so of a company’s social media to see when they tend to go on sale. A lot of companies will have sales in early fall (right after most have already purchased for the year). Thank You! I’ve bought a few things that I wanted to get bound in time to start but otherwise I just have carts full all over the place, waiting for sales! I’m trying to remember all the things I wish I’d have known my first year! I spent so much money I didn’t have to. Another trick I learned was to have a blank notebook for each child and then the night before write down everything the child needs to do that day so they can check it off. Then underneath the list at the end of the day you can make any notes for yourself on that day that you might need. When I first started I only did one or two days ahead at a time but now I do a week or so because I know his pace for work better. |
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Pistol
Diamond
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Post by Pistol on Jun 26, 2020 5:33:26 GMT -6
Okay, so right off the bat, YOU HAVE GOT THIS. You are qualified to teach your kids because you are good at seeking out information and then communicating it. You don’t have to have some special knowledge*. That’s what curricula are for. I think if I were only doing this for a year, I wouldn’t bother with getting a curriculum designed for homeschooling because most are designed to build upon previous years and don’t necessarily line up with the SOLs for traditional school years. Look up your state’s SOLs for each grade and then teach to that with resources that align with common core, etc. And then add in fun stuff because that’s a big advantage to homeschooling- you can make it as fun as you want to. Also health issues were a big push for us to HS as well, and it’s been awesome to have DS1 so healthy. *Obviously different from a classroom setting. I was looking at using Blossom and Root as a curriculum this year, excepting math, where I was undecided but definitely wanted to use Beast Academy as a supplement. I’m Hyper Extreme Type A so I like having a schedule to follow and I’m nervous about being able to cobble something together with a lot of different sources, but maybe I shouldn’t be. I do want them to be able to slide right back into public schooling next year, so I’m definitely going to reconsider using a curriculum. I will say, part of my fear over teaching standards rather than a curriculum is that my DD1 is really gifted. She is a young 6 and going into 2nd grade. She was placed in K as a 4 year old after she was identified as a candidate for a new gifted mandate back in IL. So while she definitely still needs to learn new skills in math for example to be up to standards for next year, her reading/writing/language arts are already well above that. Which is why I liked the Blossom and Root curriculum there for her. It’s very literature and nature based, which lines up with her interests. As you can tell, I’m all over the place. Our school starts in mid-August so I don’t have too long to figure it all out. C just turned 6 in May and we'll be teaching him the same second grade curriculum that I'm teaching R. He already reads at a second grade level and is doing multiplication so I feel confident he will be able to slide right in. We already discussed possibly home schooling then covid hit and it just makes the most sense for our situation. R needs consistency (not bouncing between in school and online school and everything in between) and C needs a challenge. |
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