Would he do 10 min free-writing sessions? You can offer prompts, and set a countdown timer, and let him write about whatever (prompt or other). No grading, no sharing unless he wants, no worry about exactness. DS and I have been doing this for 3 weeks and his stamina is improving! He’s always had pencil aversion

We do make a lot of assumptions when we only get a snippet on FB. But we *have* to make some to fill in the gaps of missing information, and it isn’t a far leap to add in other things. That is not to say it is a fair or correct assumption, but that I don’t think people are trying to judge any particular person - I think what we are trying to say is there’s a problem in homeschooling, and whether it is parent attitudes and misconceptions, school problems, student problems, or a combination of all, it seems to be that more and more kids are being undereducated (or at minimum under-taught) in the name of homeschooling, which is problematic for the individuals and for the perception of homeschoolers as a whole. In cases like these - parents feeling the school has failed the child and homeschool is the only option - is throwing free curriculum without instruction or mentoring in how to use the materials really a step up? Whether it’s the best a parent can do or not, is seems to be less than enough. We can’t tease out what the situation is if it is not presented, but I think few would argue that quick, easy, no-parent-involved, is not a recipe for success, except in the most driven individuals.

Sometimes I pass over commenting, feeling they aren’t after sound advice anyway. But other times my sense of justice for their kids is too strong and I just.have.toSay.SOMETHING I suppose it goes back to my questions from earlier about whether we have a duty or responsibility to combat the misconceptions about “free” “easy” “handsoff” and the like, if not to help keep a good name for homeschooling then for those poor kids who are receiving a “free, easy, hands-off education.” ?

Uh, what??? ETA why would you not have curriculum from your school, and why would you have used LfC for AP or even high school??

My heart goes out to you! Last year we had kids in 1) Ft, 2) half day K, 3) dual enrollment, tech center, and LDS Seminary, and 4) two electives at school and rest home. And to boot there’s an A day B day for the high school/tech center/seminary, a T/Th and M/W/F schedule for college dual enrollment, no bus to school for K, and every Wed the elem let our 2 hours early and the middle/high started 2 hours late ? It was a logistical nightmare!!! This year is better since youngest is home full time, and oldest takes time between seminary and dual enrollment to study on campus, and DS’s electives are 1st and 2nd period so he can ride the bus to the middle school. I’m just wishing my oldest *wanted* her license - it would make a lot of things easier. At any rate, good luck with the year!! Sorry it’s crazy ? We just finished week 3. A few bumps, but nothing terrible so I’ll classify as a good start.

We have used US and Standards (CA) editions. Besides what is described in that link above my observation is that the HIGs in standards are slightly better, and the Standards texts continue in full color through at least level 5 (haven’t used 6) where’s in the US Edition I think it switches after 2nd. Also, Standards has more review built in. US has more things correlated to it (eg CWP, IP, etc). Each one of my children's Math journeys have been slightly different but when we have used Singapore we use US in 1st-2nd and Standards in 3-5th - it’s mostly arbitrary based on what I could get at certain points in time. Currently my 1st grader is using US Ed 1A with IP and games/activities from RS and Miquon. Really you don’t need to supplement with Singapore, I just gave my favorite activities or things I think will work for this learner, and we are moving at an accelerated pace so I want more games practice and less pencil practice. Its hard to go wrong with either.

My Dd used it in 7th. It is a good text, and “early high school” is probably a good description. EO Wilson is the father of ecology, and his text reflects this (personally I love that and it will probably be a good thing for your wildlife biologist wanna be). We did separate labs (I taught biology lab at co-op that year and I have people text options of RSO Bio 2 - which my marine biologist wanna be DS did as a 5th grader - Life on Earth, Apologia, and the CK12 middle and high school books). My Dd who used LOE is now dual enrolled in college introductory biology and finding that LOE was a good prep for it. Just a warning about the iBooks - they are HUGE and take forever to download, so be patient. Also I suggest downloading only one of the “books” - there are seven IIRC - at a time and deleting it before adding the next one. ETA - I did add labs I pulled together, and tests that I wrote for each semester. I was a Wildlife biologist and a biology teacher in a former life, so that was actually fun to do.

Do you think it’s true feelings, or trying to save face/console their pride?

Rso bio2 - lots of room for independence work, it’s well laid out, and solid science.

Thanks for all the input! I made some minor changes to wording taking in the suggestions. Moms all seemed to respect it, i think there was only one family out of 10 at the meeting who didn’t sign up. Onward to starting classes in two weeks!

Fair point. The expectation because of younger kids. We could put an age limit, ie if your child is under the age of 8 please stay on the premises and be readily available if needed.

They are once a month. They are enrichment, project/theme based and intended to be fun group activities. There are very very few academic Homeschoolers in this town, and there are very few enrichment options for Homeschoolers (eg no art classes for kids at all in town, no math/Sci/tech except summer or through school, basically nothing geared towards HSers)

Tomorrow is an over and a preview. Each point on here will be more thoroughly explained in discussion then, including what constitutes readiness in our best estimation. I am planning a 10 minute math activity for each age group, and I’m not sure what the other moms are doing as a preview. When I put the offer out for math circles 5 months ago I answered a lot of questions and let everyone know I would do a preview at the end of August. That’s the best I can do. As far as baby sitting comment, maybe it is condescending but if you never intended to use it as a baby sitting service I doubt you’d be offended. If you have another suggestion I do have time to change it before the morning. As far as “afford you the right” it was intended to convey a mutual equal footing, to say that this isn’t some kind of binding contract (and you stand to lose nothing if you leave, like $$) and you don’t need our permission and neither do we need your permission to say “this isn’t a good fit.” I don’t want to be authoritarian or condescending, but I do want to be clear and up front, so how would you convey the idea?

I changed a few things and ended up with the below expectations. We will explain with some specifics at our meeting tomorrow. Thanks to all for input. We are teaching these classes with the intention of providing our kids regular association with a community of peers in a learning environment, at the same time without overburdening families with too great a commitment. We are parents, like you, and have families, homeschools, and outside responsibilities which all need our time and attention. However, we also recognize the value of community and know that it takes effort to establish one. We want this to be a mutually beneficial experience and therefore ask participating families to meet these expectations: • Families should be committed by attending each week • Families should be committed by being prepared having done any outside work • Families should be committed by participating in class activities • Parents must stay close by (in the library or at the park) and be available by text to come right away if needed. This is not a drop-off child-watching service. • Parents need to pick up their children promptly at the end of class • Parents need to be certain about their child(ren)’s ability and desire to participate in group learning, and whether the group is a good fit, before committing • Only respectful speech and action will be accepted from participants and teachers • Families are responsible to obtain their own copy of the book club book each month • Families will be asked to donate some materials and possibly pay a small amount to cover art supplies • Families should check our group Facebook page regularly, and definitely in the hour before class, to be up to date and in case of cancelation • Priority for space in classes will be given to families with older children participating, and there will be a 10 child cap for the 5-7 year old classes • Priority for space in classes will be given to families participating in all three classes (Book Club, Math Circle, and Art) • In the event there is any incompatibility between participants or their parents and these expectations you will be asked to find (or start) an alternate group, and we afford you this same right to part ways We believe establishing these expectations up front is important to forming a community that will operate well and be long-lasting.

No, I hadn’t even considered it. We live in a state with “free range child” laws in place so it would surprise me, but I will definitely check. Thanks!

Ya, I’m not sure how to strike the balance. That’s why I’m seeking the advice here. We have three families with shared values and are just trying to add 3-5 more. I’m 2 years new in this place and don’t know lots of people, and of those few Homeschoolers, so that is why we made a public invitation. I tried joining up with a similar group attempt the year we moved here and it fell apart from non-commitment. At this point I’ve had it with flakiness. Life happens (that’s fine, I understand) but more often it is people who just want to enjoy the benefits on their terms without the commitment. I’ve been burned enough times, but it has more to do with the general rise in flakiness, expectation that things are “free,” and expectation to have it customized to what you want. I see this everywhere around me - it is so antithetical to what I value. The way I see this is we are offering something - a community for regular group learning and association, with minimal required of families in terms of time or funds, but instead with commitment to the group/people by being consistent and responsible - and if you share those expectations then we are excited to have you join us. If you don’t then maybe you will be inspired to make your own group.

Our music teachers work this way too, and I get it. I do not want to be in charge of funds being redistributed - too big a chance for people to claim they didn’t get their refund and I don’t want to track with receipts - much bigger hassle than we want.

Hmmm... possibly? But probably not time frames, instead tasks (eg 6-8th will have one novel a month, math problem set of 4-8 problems, and need to bring required materials for art class).

These accounts are so frustrating!

All this talk about score increases causing suspicion, while definitely an issue, only makes the nature of this recent recycled test more aggravating: if you had an unfairly high score because of access to the recycled test *and it’s your first time* sitting the SAT, with no previous score, no one can objectively question your score!

Thanks for the specific suggestions! I think you are right that some kids act very differently with mom right there. So how do you ensure that parents are immediately reachable? We cannot charge a fee (library use policy, if we charge we can’t use the library). Yes, dropping the first phrase in that sentence is probably a good idea. Thanks!

Yes, it bugs me when the K4 moms do this. I was a parent of a precocious 4 year old oldest child who was grade accelerated by our cover school, but I always went by age for activities. We once lost a family at co-op that had two teenagers and the director invited a family from the wait list with 5 kids 6 and under ? Our nursery was already overflowing and mom nursery leaders were burned out. I totally understand the family that wa Ted to join - I was once the mom of three kids age 4 and younger and it was an exhausting time of life, but it’s also not the time of life where kids need co-op. I understand about older kids getting serious about studies - that’s why we are only meeting once a week for one hour close to the end of the school day. There is one co-op in town and it’s exclusive and honestly the classes aren’t very rigorous. Other than that there are play groups, and soon there will be a field trip group. So in my mind this is all the more reason to give preference to older kids.

Never thought of this, I’ll consider it. It is essential saying “priority given to families in upper age groups” but maybe not so bluntly. Thanks.

I do see your point. But we seem to have a million families with kids 6 and under and much, much fewer with kids in middle school. The reason for the expectation is because our main purpose is to build a community of families and particularly with the older kids - between the three of us instructors we have 5 kids in the upper two age groups and only two in the youngest (plus high schoolers and beyond), the youngers don’t really need it but are along for the ride. And we noticed there’s a huge interest by families where their oldest kid is 5 or 6. If we didn’t give priority to families with multiple ages we’d hit the 10 child capacity for the youngest group and the few families with kids in both older and younger groups would not be able to do it. So maybe that doesn’t seem fair, but how do we address that we are really looking primarily for families that skew older? This older-younger disproportion has been an issue in every group homeschool setting in every state I’ve lived in. It would be difficult to build a sense of community for the kids if the families of the instructors have participating kids who are 7-14 and the majority of other families have kids 6 and younger.

Oh no need to wince. This isn’t my first foray into offering classes. It is my first in THIS location, and they seem to be flakier than the average flakey homeschooler. But I can’t charge them or I cannot use the library. Also, charging them does give them buy-in but it also can make some people think they can run the show or make unrealistic demands of those trying to do their best. Perhaps my stern tone was an attempt to ward off the flakes, but you’re right they are just words.