Starting homeschool in the middle of the year

[Calizzy]

MY school kids are in 4th and 1st grade. In the past we have always homeschooled, but this year they have been in public school. We are considering going back to homeschool after the christmas break, but I'm not exactly sure how to handle to do half a year. I suppose for math we will just go back to where we left off and keep going. Last year we did SOTW volume 1, would you start V.2 after Christmas, or just do some unit studies until the end of the year? Same for science, would you start a curriculum you can't finish is half a semester, or would you just do some unit studies?

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[regentrude]

I started in the middle of a semester. We never have used curriculum that is scripted by year; we just learned with a mix of materials.

 

But if you want to use scripted curriculum, you could always start a new volume in January and finish whenever you get done. 

[PeterPan]

You could ask them. Definitely make sure you correct or have resolved whatever made it necessary for them to go to school.

[Ellie]

MY school kids are in 4th and 1st grade. In the past we have always homeschooled, but this year they have been in public school. We are considering going back to homeschool after the christmas break, but I'm not exactly sure how to handle to do half a year. I suppose for math we will just go back to where we left off and keep going. Last year we did SOTW volume 1, would you start V.2 after Christmas, or just do some unit studies until the end of the year? Same for science, would you start a curriculum you can't finish is half a semester, or would you just do some unit studies?

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But January is the beginning of the year, right? And there are 365 days in a year, which ends December 31. So just pick up where you left off and keep going.

[fralala]

Depends on my kids and reason for leaving school (and leaving homeschool)-- but given my personality as a parent, I'm guessing I'd lean toward bringing on the fun things that homeschool does so well: the unit studies centered around my kids' interests, a minimum of formal curriculum (although they do love SOTW as a read-aloud), lots of field trips and library books and games and hot cocoa.

 

(I've never aligned SOTW with a formal school year, fwiw, or our use of curricula with the accompanying school year, so I am biased towards not attending so much to how much time things take and trying to fit our learning into a pre-planned amount of time.)

[Soror]

At those ages, I'd just do unit studies for content and picked up where you left off for skills. I'd throw out some ideas for history and science and ask them what sounds interesting and make a lot of trips to the library to find cool books.

[Calizzy]

Thanks for these responses. We didn’t leave homeschooling because we had any problems with it. It was just our situation. We moved abroad and then unexpectedly moved back 18 months later. It was a whirlwind and we just needed to send the girls to school to get our heads back on. We might finish out the year, but I’m also considering going back to homeschool after the break. I’m torn.