Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

meganrussell

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    328

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by meganrussell

    Who has gone from HS to public school BACK to HS?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    My four kids have been in school five days, as well. The only one who likes it is the 9th grader. My 7ty grader doesn't hate it - he just prefers homeschooling and would gladly go back to it. My 4th grader doesn't like the long days and misses our curriculum and doing things together. My 1st grader likes it okay, but misses being home and having more play time. As each day goes by, they're realizing it's not exactly what they envisioned! And I am, too. I MISS homeschooling. I feel like I have stepped out of God's will for my life. I prayed about it, but I more or less made the decision for ME and because I was pressured by the kids.

     

    I really can see us homeschooling again - SOON. After this first 9 weeks, we are going to reevaluate. I don't like the things I'm seeing and hearing about the kids are school. 4th graders flipping people off, 7th graders using the F word and so forth. My kids are not used to that behavior from kids. (We do have grown relatives who curse - not the F word - but never kids).

     

    My five year old and I don't know what to to work our time. We do his school, read books, visit the library, clean, play outside, sure....but when you're used to having lots of playmates, it's quite a shock.

     

    I regret putting them in already. 😟

    Considering after school

    in Parents' Forum Afterschooling Board

    Posted

    I would definitely not do all of it in one day. I would maybe do math and logic puzzles and books on Monday, play a geography game on Tuesday (scrambled states of America or where in the world - my kids like to play both), and read a chapter in story of the world on Wednesday and Friday, with maybe a quick activity one day. I'd also like to have a read aloud, maybe one for the older group and one for the younger group. I for sure don't want to burn them out. I'm not sure yet how the math and English is yet on the school, but so far it's looking light.

    Considering after school

    in Parents' Forum Afterschooling Board

    Posted

    I just put my four older kids in Public school, 9th, 7th, 4th and 1st grades. I am already missing homeschool, although I know it's only been a few days. I am considering after schooling them a bit because I may decide to homeschool again next year, possibly even after Christmas break. I am curious, how much is too much? How much do you expect? My 9th grader is the only one who has homework so far, so I can't really see how much time that will take. Here is what I was thinking if doing:

     

    1st grader - continuing with the phonics and reading portion of my father's world 1st grade (shouldn't take more than 20 minutes) and the math portion (maybe 5-10 minutes)

     

    4th, 7th, 9th graders - Story of the World, geography games, math and logic puzzles, current events, and a read aloud (aiming for 30 minutes, 3 days a week)

     

    4th grader -maths flashcards nightly (5 minutes)

     

    We do Bible time every night already. I read a chapter or two and we discuss and pray, sometimes sing.

     

    Does after schooling make kids sick of learning? I just can see where some things will be lacking in public school and want to keep the gaps filled.

    So....my four older kids started public school today.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    They all four love it. They had a great three days. I was surprised that each of them like it. I don't know how I feel though! My five year old and I had some long days. We didn't know what to do with ourselves! After cleaning the whole house, doing his school, and playing outside, we just kind of looked at each other. He kept saying he missed the kids and let's go pick up the kids and stuff like that. Hopefully it will get better for us. I have time for some more Kindergarten activities, just need to plan some!

    • Like 4

    So....my four older kids started public school today.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I would be happy to pray for them! I am sure you made the decision that is best for your family.

     

    :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

    I feel like it was the right decision. I prayed about it, but my husband isn't crazy about them going to school. He would prefer they be homeschooled all the way through. My 7th grader is playing football though, and my husband has seen how happy it has made him. But this morning, he kept telling me how sad it was they were going to school... So it made me sad.

    So....my four older kids started public school today.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I just peaked at your blog...It looks like this was a surprise switch. You already started your HS year?

     

    Hugs and prayers for you. Whatever circumstances led you to make the decision, I pray for peace for you. Your sweeties will be fine.:)

    Yes, it was a surprise in some ways. I had been considering it for a while. I was so overwhelmed homeschooling 5 different age groups, and my high schooler has really wanted to go to public. We have talked it over off and on for over a year. I just felt like it needed to happen now since she is starting high school. And I gave my others the option of going, and the four older ones wanted to go, too. So - they did. :-)

    • Like 2

    How Northerners Think Of The Civil War

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by meganrussell

    Your argument is the South wasn't quite as bad as Hitler?

     

    I did some work with the Louisiana Board of Education a few years ago. They weee building a model to see what demographic parameters in a child's life were most detrimental and most beneficial to their education. Also, there ere trying to figure out which factors were neutral. Everyone thought race would be neutral when things like poverty, family structure, living situation, where they were during Hurricane Katrina were controlled. It wasn't. But why? Because above and below the poverty line is not a fine enough scale. Free and reduced lunch was not a fine enough scale. Black people living in poverty in Louisiana as a whole are much poorer than white people living in poverty in Louisiana as a whole. And that is true throughout the South. We found the same thing when we tried modeling this in Georgia. This is the result of slavery. This is the result of Jim Crow. This is the result of racism. (And it is probably true up North, too, but I haven't worked there, so I don't know. But I did know it was to a lesser extent in Georgia than Louisiana.)

     

    The reprocussions of slavery are still felt today. So the South wasn't Hitler, but what the South was fighting for was to enslave and repress an entire race of people that they went and stole from their homelands. And to a large extent, they succeeded.

     

     

    I don't believe you can blame slavery in all of the problems black people have today. Slavery was wrong, don't get me wrong. I do not think in any way it was right or good. It was horrible. But black poverty today is not a result of slavery. I was born and raised in rural Louisiana. I see black poverty right along with white poverty. I see successful black people right along with successful white people. It's a mindset, a lifestyle, not a reprecussion from slavery. And reverse discrimination bothers me just as much as racism.
    • Like 1

    How Northerners Think Of The Civil War

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Yep. Do you think the attitude toward Germans today might be different if 50 years after the war they started erecting statues of Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler in public places and were still prominently hanging Nazi flags from their windows and cars? That's the correct parallel. I think we'd all think they were still racist. And not without reason.

    You really cannot compare WWII with the civil war. Hitler tried to exterminate an entire race of people, killing millions purposefully. The Civil War was the south trying to win it's freedom. The south didn't try to exterminate all the black people. Slavery was wrong, yes! But you're comparing apples to oranges here.

    • Like 6

    s/o makeup, what about your hair?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I have semi-frizzy, wavy hair. I usually wash it in the morning, let it air dry, and spray it with OUAI wave spray (from Sephora - $26). It always looks like cute beach waves. The wave spray tames the frizz and works really, really well. Maybe once a month I straighten my hair for church or a night out, but I almost always use my wave spray. I fix my hair for myself mainly - I am so much more productive with make up, fixed hair, and actual clothes on (no yoga pants or sweats). That's just me though! :-)

    How educated are you?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I definitely have self educated myself. I read voraciously, I am always researching topics for my kids school work, I love watching documentaries and informative shows, I have learned more in ten years of homeschooling my kids than eleven years of attending public school. Anytime I have a homeschool mom say to me that she thinks she won't be able to homeschool in middle or high school, I always suggest self education! It's so worth it!

     

    I have a high school diploma and a vocational diploma - I was a medical assistant. I have four entirely Hs'ed sons.

     

    The eldest was a national merit finalist and went to college on a dean's scholarship. He is in the honors program, halfway through his bachelor's program. He is majoring in religion with concentrations in Greek and something administrative (?), and minoring in philosophy. If he continues as he has begun, his mentor believes he will receive full merit tuition to seminary. His goal is to be a healthcare chaplain. He will graduate debt free; he works over thirty hours per week to pay his very small loans, and is also able to support himself in shared, off campus housing. He's something of a go getter.

     

    Son #2, after planning to go into skilled labor like his dad, decided at the eleventh hour to go to college. He received merit scholarships as high as his brother's and is also projected to graduate debt free. He starts school in three weeks. He plans to be a physical therapist, but if he finds he's good at going to college, he would like to go on to become a doctor - specifically, an osteopath.

     

    Son #3 is a rising eleventh grader. He is proficient in Greek and Latin, and total nut over history and classical literature. He's decided he doesn't like the careers associated with those passions, so he has decided to pursue another interest: He wants to be an orthotist and prosthetist. He has a health condition that makes him very familiar with this field, and he already has mentors and support. Right now he's working his butt off for merit scholarships. I think he'll make it.

     

    Son #4 is being moved from seventh to eighth grade this year, because his academic skills are proficient enough, he's got the maturity, and we want to get him into dual enrollment or early college opportunities as soon as possible. He's something of an artistic genius, and has mentors and teachers in our city who are helping him to prepare for art college.

     

    So that's us. I won't get into the reasons I didn't go to college, or explain how I learned to succeed at hs'ing. I will share a few opinions, for those who are considering hs'ing:

     

    1. Success doesn't just happen. Not sending them to school does not mean they'll learn more, contrary to many hs'ing families' opinion! I cannot count the number of hs'ers I've known who think their kids are smarter for not having gone to school, yet they haven't taught them, or filled the house with books, or anything. I'm sorry, but these are nearly all Gothard/ATI families (think Duggars). There's a word for what they are training their children in, and that word is ignorance. I am very concerned about the next generation of hs'ing in these families. The young mothers are not well educated enough to teach, have never seen it modeled, and don't even know what they're lacking.

     

    2. For others without a college education who do not intend to neglect your children, please find out what you don't know. "I think I'm pretty smart" doesn't fill in any gaps at all. Have the humility to open the door to the whole wide world. SWB's WTM and WEM are an excellent place to start! Get some subscriptions, or go to the library to read periodicals about a wide swath of life: Scientific American, The Economist, Forbes, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine. Read newspapers from the east coast. Add flavor with The Atlantic, New Yorker. Read something from another country, I like The Guardian from the UK. Listen to NPR. You can't broaden your child's mind or horizons if you won't broaden your own.

     

    3. Don't expect things from your children that you can't do yourself, or you'll top out on your ability to evaluate their work too soon. Work out those exercises yourself, the night before you assign them to your child. If your child is frustrated or fatigued by outlining, long division, composition, try it yourself so you'll know why it's hard! Model the discipline to conquer it. Learn together.

     

    4. When your child does outpace your ability to direct and facilitate his studies, admit it. (There's that humility again.) There is NO shame in hitting the wall - when care of younger children and household, need to work a paying job, or just topping out on your own capacity to learn at your child's speed - and you know it's best for them to outsource more or to enroll in school. But if you keep hs'ing past the point where he's able to learn and grow, then you should be ashamed that your stubborn pride or outgrown convictions are holding your child back! If the day comes that he needs more, give thanks for your time together and for the excellent foundation that YOU were able to provide, and let him go.

    • Like 3

    How educated are you?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    If it's possible money/time-wise, you could go to the CC and take a class in something that sounds like fun (some CCs are pretty cheap, others not so much, and most have all sorts of evening or weekend or w/e classes... or even online ones, though I'm not sure I'd recommend that for someone who hasn't been in school for a number of years and is new to college). When you've finished that class, you can say you've got "some college" to anybody who asks and on surveys and all that.

     

    Not that that is necessary at all, just saying it might be a possibility, if it makes you feel better. Like some PPs mentioned, there are plenty of gifted people with GEDs. For example, my wife got a GED because her parents wouldn't let her take summer classes in high school and she wanted to graduate faster, so she just dropped out after junior year and got a GED (and then went to college, which she didn't finish either... but she is one of those people who were bored in their primary school's gifted program, so it's not an issue of smarts, just other stuff).

    I was in the schools "gifted and talented" program, as well. *I* know I'm smart enough to homeschool my kids, and I love how much I learn by doing it! I have thought about going to CC, but I don't know if I want to give up my "free" time right now. :-)

    • Like 1

    How educated are you?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    You can do algebra. :) i just wanted to encourage you in that. When I graduated from high school, I had been so poorly instructed in math, I was phobic of even trying to tally a grocery list in my head. Teaching my kids math with Math U See helped shore up my arithmetic and later, I took classes at community college, where I had a fantastic remedial algebra teacher. My textbook was also very well done and included a Cd-Rom with instructioms for each lesson. I came to realize I'm not "bad at math," which is what I thought for many years.

     

    :)

    Thank you for the encouragement! My 9th grader is doing consumer math this year, so I can do algebra this year! That way I'll be prepared to help her next year. Would you recommend teaching textbooks algebra for me? Or something else?

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...