Hmm... I will definitely ask her if she has considered these. SOS looks especially good since she can choose which topics she wants to buy. If she likes to do school by putting on a video like MUS, this would be her best bet! Thanks for the tip!

I haven't told her she's neglecting them. This is what she tells ME. It's very uncomfortable; I try to stay away from the topic actually because I don't want to make her feel any worse than she already does. I called her yesterday to ask her about McGuffey Readers and how she uses them because I remembered she bought them a long time ago. She never used them and sold some of them. I told her that I was going to use the second reader for copy work soon. She thought that was a good idea and thought maybe that would help with her kid's spelling... then she just went on and on about how neglectful she is with their education. Anyway, it's frustrating, but I do keep my opinions to myself. That's why she still talks to me about it. I just don't see a way I can help her.

Thank you for making this clear. She is definitely option #2. I have no doubt unschooling can work, even though I don't understand it. From what I have learned about unschooling from this thread, I'm pretty sure this is not what unschooling is supposed to look like. She's not doing ANYTHING. She doesn't expose them to anything educational, from what I can tell. I think TJE is a method she agrees with, but doesn't implement, and uses as an excuse not to do anything. Again, I see her about once or twice a year, but talk to her about once a month. She's not asking for my help, I don't think. She knows what she is doing is wrong, she knows her other options, we've talked about homeschooling a lot in the past. She is the one that introduced me to TWTM! When I say she doesn't like teaching, I don't mean standing up and lecturing, I mean helping her kids learn... anything. It's hard to explain what she does and doesn't do because it doesn't make sense to me when she explains it either. Some days she talks about how she just wants to put them in school and that her husband is the one who wants them home. Other days she sings praises to TJE and in the same breath worries about how far behind they are and how she should do more. Some days she is determined to do school everyday and not let distractions interrupt, but most of the time she gets distracted and does nothing. She has had problems with depression, I know she is overwhelmed, her husband is only home on the weekends b/c of work, they don't have much money, she just has problems. This has been going on for a very long time. We have a great relationship and I don't look down on her or anything, I just feel sorry for her, and mostly for her kids. Advice is not something I think will help much at this point. She has had advice from the whole family. Her kids need some serious help catching up and she knows that. She needs to NOT homeschool because of her emotional/mental condition, IMO. At the same time, it's her family and her life and she has the right to do whatever she pleases. They ARE getting fed and loved. She's not abusive. Just emotionally unstable. As her family, we have debated whether or not to call authorities on her, or if that would even help? I don't know the laws for her state (GA). We have opted not to call, of course, but still I wonder. It seems like she would almost prefer the option was taken out of her hands and was forced to put them in PS. She feels too guilty to put them in PS herself, but she doesn't want to to school them herself either. Maybe I do need to be a little frank with her and just ask her what she needs from me. If I lived there I would be more than happy to tutor her kids and help her out.

Ok, well your responses definitely make me feel better about the situation. I guess I just don't understand unschooling. I don't ask what she does during the day, I don't give advice, and I don't tell her what my kids are doing unless she asks. (I'm very non-confrontational). She just starts confessing to me when I call her. It seems that now that my oldest kid is 5 and I've started homeschooling, its like she feels guilty around me, I guess because I do things differently than she does. ?? She confesses how she doesn't like teaching so she doesn't teach, she doesn't hold school, her kids are way behind, etc. She did do K12 at the beginning of this year but it required too much of her, so she quit. My advice was that I know of self-teaching methods out there, but they do have to know how to read first... Are they really reading or not? I don't know. I don't get to visit often at all, maybe once a year. They came to visit me about two years ago and the oldest, dd12, wrote "mery Crismis" (Merry Christmas) on our chalkboard before leaving. It is frustrating to see intelligent kids NOT be intelligent. She has now started to say they have learning disabilities, but I HIGHLY doubt it. I think she is putting the blame on them instead of herself. :mad: Anyway, I've stayed out of it the last 10 years and will continue to do so, I suppose. Thanks for the advice!

What do you do if you know someone that has 5 kids ages 4-13 that has home schooled from the beginning, but doesn't actually teach them anything? I was talking to her today and she said that her three oldest just picked up reading around ages 8-9 on their own. (I don't know how well they actually read). She didn't teach them. She doesn't like teaching. They can't spell at all. She loves MUS because it teaches them for her. "School" consists of her being in the same room with them so she is available for them should they want to learn something during that time, but it's hard for her to even have "school", as she is busy doing her own thing during the day. When they're not having "school" they play and watch tv. She is always telling me how awesome Thomas Jefferson education is, which is what she says she is doing. I haven't researched Thomas Jefferson, nor do I desire to do so from what she's told me of it. Is this unschooling? I'm sorry if I have offended anyone, but I don't get it. What she is doing looks more like neglect. Is this legal? Should I speak up or ignore it? BTW, she's my sister.:001_unsure:

I remember my dad trying to help me understand this concept as a teenager, but it just didn't click for some reason. I'm thinking it was because of my upbringing - I was given everything. I never had to work hard. I never really learned the law of the harvest. I was taught it verbally, ie.. if you do this then you can have this, but I never really experienced it. I think that's why that conversation didn't mean much to me. That being said, to teach my kids the law of the harvest I intend to teach them in many ways by not denying them opportunities to work hard and earn and reach difficult goals and fail. Hopefully, by the time they are teenagers, they will be able to look around, make a goal, know the price that must be paid, and know just as well that they can achieve it because they've done it a million times before.

I asked her if she would like to make her own schedule for her school work. So we sat down and I asked her if she would like to do math before or after breakfast... lunch? dinner? So we made a tentative plan like that will all the subjects. Then I wrote out another schedule that showed the times we usually eat meals and asked her specifically what time she wanted to do her work. I did this this morning. Her reading lesson ended up being at a time she didn't like, so I told her that tomorrow we'll look at her schedule and change it, but today we had to stick to what she had planned. She liked being in control and did her work without any prompting from me except to tell her what time it was. I'm going to make a chart tomorrow and do a velcro schedule so she can visualize it all a little better, and so it can be adjusted a little easier as well since each day our meal schedule is a little different anyway. It's a work in progress; so far so good though! :001_smile:

My dd5 can read now; she reads everything. But we're still chugging away in OPG and will finish it to make sure we fill in the gaps and cover all the bases. It takes 5 min to do a lesson... not a big deal. She reads other things for reading practice, but we always do a phonics lesson from OPG. I don't know how long it will take to finish the book; its not really a concern of mine.

I've printed out so much from this thread to keep and refer to. Anyone else have any suggestions? What a great topic! We're headed to the library right now to get books on butterflies, India, and planets... what my dd5 wants to learn right now. She also just wrote her own schedule for reading, writing, math, and chores and is way excited about it. Thanks so much!

No ideas here either. Our rooster just turned mean the other day; he attacked my friend's little girl. Once I get around to telling my hubby what happened, the rooster will die. Even if you are successful at hitting him so he knows not to attack you anymore, he'll still see that your kids are vulnerable and probably attack them. I like my rooster too and I hate to see him go, but it's just not worth the damage he may do to one of my kids. I'm sure Rooster Heaven is a nice place to be too, though.:001_smile:

:bigear:

:lol:

I know this thread is from a few months ago... but I have something to say. I bought RC a few years ago and now I'm borrowing the A2 cd and looking at it. RC is expensive and I am selling it because I don't like the book list. I bought LCC and I like it, but have been fluctuating between an all roman/greek education and a more liberal education. I feel strongly about teaching my kids out of the very best books and teaching them correct principles. I also have been doing a lot of reading and thinking about our constitution and founding fathers lately. I believe they were inspired and that the founding documents are like political scripture. What could be better study? Has there ever been a government more inspired than ours? I don't know much about Roman history, so I can't make a fair assessment yet, but I'm leaning toward a more liberal approach to my kids education for that reason. I want to focus more on our government and the founding of it than any other. SO... I'm looking at A2 today and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the book list! I've read some articles the author of A2 wrote and we are on the same page in thought... Pros: A2 is $99, it's incredibly easy to read, it's only 1 cd compared to RC's 12 cds I believe. I heard that the founder of A2 stole his idea from RC, but looking at the two curriculums, I don't see much that is similar except the idea of putting books on cd to print out... big whoop. Still going to research more, but theres my assessment from someone who has had both curriculums at home to look at.

I agree... shoot it anyway. I trapped a skunk and it was so cute. Then it sprayed me and suddenly it wasn't cute anymore.... at all. Shoot it! It's more humane than drowning.

Thank you!

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't find a thread that addresses it. Has anyone looked at or used both? What are the differences? Which do you prefer and why? Thanks!

Have you considered Rod & Staff? My dd5 is enjoying it. We're doing their first grade material, of course, but it seems appropriate for her. Let me know if you want more detail.

http://amblesideonline.org/index2.shtml this one too!

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html - 1000 Good books list http://www.schoolofabraham.com/goodbooks.htm ...and another one...

LOL!!! OHhhhhhh....:lol:

When do I move from "just visiting" to whatever bee status everyone else has? I don't get it. ???

I'm using HWT right now, but plan on switching when we get to cursive (zaner-bloser?). I've read other's doing that and it has worked well for them. I don't like HWT cursive either.

I have a 3 1/2 year old I'm teaching the letter sounds to. OPG teaches letter sounds through memorizing a poem, but that's not how my dd learns, it's too confusing, and it's not how I like to teach letter sounds. We do flashcards and games with the letter sounds, just stuff I come up with. When she is having a hard time with a particular letter I write the letter up on the chalkboard in the kitchen and whenever I can I ask her what it says (it's fun for her). When she has all her sounds memorized I'll refer to OPG lessons and teach blending by copying the words from the lesson onto a white board and play games with blending until she can read three letter words fairly easily. THEN we'll start going through the lessons in the book like normal. I wish I had started teaching her sounds earlier, like at age two. It seems like at that age it is more fun to memorize. My 17 month old is picking up on the letter sounds as I teach my 3 1/2 year old. We have foam letters in the bathtub and we chant 'b', 'b', 'bee"! 'wa', 'wa', 'double-you'! The "R" growls and barks, the "S" slithers and hisses. The "C" chases them around the couch making the 'k' sound. I don't like computer games or dvd's for my kids, and really you don't need them. Basically we improvise for a while. It's easy. Good luck!

I third the McGuffey readers. We love them here!

Self-teaching is our goal! Self-teaching is teaching them HOW to learn instead of spoon-feeding information all of the time. *sigh*... one day...