Posted on 07/29/2009 3:45:07 PM PDT by teenyelliott
Your kids WILL complain about being bored at home, too. But at least you have the ammunition of being able to remind them of their time in school. I'm going to guess that it will quite a while before you hear the complaints. Once the novelty wears off.
FWIW, this was our schedule for the year....
We started math and English/reading in early Aug., because those subjects had so many lessons in them. My goal was to be halfway through our curriculum BY Thanksgiving.
I found that the kids did best if we did full 5 day weeks. If we took one day off for a three day weekend, I had a lot of trouble getting them back on track. They wanted to know why they couldn't have ANOTHER day off. It was the same amount of trouble whether they took off one day or one month.
We didn't so up a lot for Christmas, but I found it extremely difficult to stay on track for the holidays. So as soon as the kids were done with half the year's worth of curriculum in every subject, they could set it aside until after Christmas.
Talk about motivation..... The kids virtually always had everything done half way by early December at the latest. Then we could kick back and really enjoy the holidays. We could go out shopping during the day, bake, clean the house, all without the pressure of trying to fit school in.
After New Years, the weather around here is so bad that it's just not worth fighting, so school really kicked in again and we went at it full time until done, because everyone knows, once the weather turns nice, NOBODY wants to be indoors studying.
An acquaintance had a child with issues headed for trouble kicked out of public schools, he was so bad. He was labeled as ADD/ADHD and/or some other learning disabilities as well.
She used Switched on Schoolhouse and just loved it and so did he. He did absolutely astounding with it, mostly on his own.
Very cool!! I know that SOS is good for kids with some learning issues like dysgraphia because they don’t have to actually handwrite stuff and can type it instead. It’s worked really well for us!
My kids are about 10 years older than your kids, and living in Texas, not Kansas, we started home schooling in the 80’s.
We averaged 1 1/2 years of “school” per year, in some subjects two full years of curriculum. These are normal kids, and I expect that any self motivated kid will enjoy the self-pacing of home schooling.
My son took the GED after the 8th grade, as an entrance exam to a college prep school, and aced it. We decided to let him attend the school rather than going straight to college. As a high school student he could compete in Teen Bible Quiz, if he graduated he could not, even at 14. So he chose to quiz.
I don't know about the laws in Kansas or about your support decree (if any), but once they graduate then truancy laws do not apply. It is worth a trip to the library and see if she could graduate early.
Alpha Omega Academy is Christian-based and encourages teachers to bring God into the classroom--an obvious plus over the statist-run online schools. Alpha Omega is especially good if you are evangelical and think that the Earth is literally a few thousand years old. If you don't believe this, then I would suggest possibly opting out of the science and Bible classes and doing these classes on your own. At least look more closely at these subjects before signing up. As far as I know the other classes for Alpha Omega do not include this interpretation of biblical time.
I don’t see anyone else asking this question, but I’m still going to do so. Can you define what you mean by “distance learning”??? Are you considering a boarding school for your child, or sending them away somewhere to school? I’m not sure what you mean. Others here are giving you input about online learning, which is a great way to go, but not at all referred to as “distance learning”.
If you ARE considering sending your child away someone, I would beg you to reconsider. If you’re looking to have them finish their education through online resources, that is a great idea. I’m not sure how you’re differentiating between homeschooling your two youngest, and schooling your older one somehow differently. I homeschool four children as a single mother, ages 7 to 15, and we have a wonderful life, so I know it can be done well. Good luck...
its the same vendor... they have their "charter school," meaning public school at home program--which they heavily promote... it's attractive because it's paid for by tax dollars... and then they offer their curriculum as a purely homeschool program where we pay for each class... it's quite expensive... we used it for one year... it was really good... they keep attendance and completion records for the students... they have tutors to answer questions, etc... i just like putting together our course of study myself... that's one of the things i love about homeschooling... so purchasing a boxed curriculum took a lot of the fun out for me... we will be using some distance learning for our oldest son (eighth grade)... by the time he's in 10th, i hope he'll be taking a hunk of his classes at the jr. college... we'll see!
here is one definition of distance learning... when i worked in corporate education, this is what we meant by distance learning...
Education in which students take academic courses by accessing information and communicating with the instructor asynchronously over a computer network. Also called distance education.
“Distance learning” is schooling led by a teacher who is not in your home.. Usually it’s done online — the students are in a virtual classroom with the teacher and other students. There are various methods employed for correspondence between the teacher and the student.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_education
The same term is used to refer to people who take university level classes online.
Right, the state-run online school have most of the disturbing aspects of the regular government schools, in terms of leftist teachers and curriculum. Even the math courses are touchy-feely. Getting a curriculum that matches the state-curriculum is NOT a positive selling point!
No no, I wouldn't do that. I meant an online school, rather than home schooling.
I’m in Kansas.
Thanks for the schedule information. That is one thing I was wondering about.
That might be a good option for my youngest child. I might try that along with the Great Books program for her. Her imagination makes it difficult for her to concentrate on workbook kinds of lessons.
Exactly! Once I looked through the enrollment packet, I just threw it all away.
SOS starts in 3rd grade. We love it!!
That was just us. Everyone does it different. I found it easiest, though.
I have used their reading lists. I tried to enroll in an adult version of their Great Books discussion list, but there wasn’t enough interest and it was closed.
Another site you might look at is the Hillsdale K-12. The entire curriculum is available for download and it is free. It is quite comprehensive and challenging.
Oh thank you. I love having that kind of thing available for reference and ideas.
Great advice! I’ve been collecting the Hillsdale curriculum for years by purchasing on ebay and amazon. Many of the books are out of print, but they are excellent!
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