Bump...

Sorry, no info on promo codes but I just wanted to add that both my girls used HeadSprout and they loved it. If you don't find a promo code, IMHO it's worth to pay for the subscription. They now have an edition for reading comprehension for older kids.

Thanks for all the kind words and insight! Rosie-I agree with your idea of presenting dh with a schedule. I have a pretty good idea what materials will be used through the elementary years at least. I can definitely come up with a comprehensive plan that will appeal to dh. Scrappy-I can relate to almost everything you post here! I think we may be living in parallel universes. By no means has dh hopped over the fence but my persistence, the evidence we see in our dc each day, testing, grade acceleration ordeal, and with severe budget cuts heading to our already under performing school district dh cannot continue to ignore the hard core evidence. I am not a religious person but I have meditated and contemplated this topic for a long time. I can only have faith that what happens is supposed to happen. I wish you luck in your journey. Mama-Unfortunately, we've been kinda stuck with public school since the beginning. We have always lived on one income and the alternative and private schools in our area are very expensive. Also, I'm just not convinced that our dc will be able to receive a better education than at home. Thanks for sharing your story. It's great to hear that you have other options other than public school. I've been scouring these boards the past few days and it always makes me happy to hear of people making homeschooling work. All the best to you and yours! Rebecca-you share sound advice. Fortunately for me, dh isn't so much stuck on the details. However, he wants to see for himself what homeschooling in our home would look like. I have no doubt that he trusts my judgment when it comes to planning, putting resources together, and/or abandoning ship when something just isn't working (i.e. Singapore Math....looks a lot easier than it is....somehow I just can't wrap my mind around how to teach it even with the HIG's....that's another story altogether though). We live in NJ, he works in NYC. He's pretty much gone all day and tremendously appreciates and continuously applauds the effort and dedication I put forth in researching, planning, and implementing. He just doesn't have the time for the datails. He trusts that I will pound thoughts and ideas into opportunities to better our children's lives. He is continuously amazed at the rate in which our children continue to evolve as individuals. The fact that they show increasing growth socially, emotionally, and academically is extra icing. Christina-You've go a good point! I know for sure that socialization, potential lack of structure, parent/teacher/child relationships/conflicts, familial objections, and just the unknown (we don't even know any families who afterschool let alone homeschool) are all factors in dh's hesitations. I've been working on showing him evidence to help alleviate his fears. Gingersmom-I'm in Central Jersey, Somerset County. Yes, I know the homeschooling rules in NJ are lax and it's super easy to disconnect from ps but dh doesn't so I want him to see for himself. Angie-It's great to hear you have more flexibility with your school district. It really helps the advocating process when the administrators are willing to work the the parents. Good luck to you! What I find that drives me in the direction to homeschool is the unwavering faith and belief that that we can, should, and are ultimately responsible for the future of two precious beings whom we have been entrusted to help find their own geniuses for the purpose of making this world better than how they found it. "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thanks for your advice once again. I will ponder all that has been said. Ciao P.S. I'm thinking I should start thinking how I can shorten my posts.

Imagine that!!! I figured this topic deserved it's own thread.....Hola!! Backstory: Long story short....maybe. Since the time when our now dd9 (almost 10) was in ps first grade and I was first introduced to The Well Trained Mind, I fell in love with and was completely sold on the idea of homeschooling. I've been home with the children since the very beginning and was already successful in educating them as soon as they showed readiness. However, long before my accidental yet fateful encounter with TWTM that one fine day, it was actually dh who planted the "we can educate them at home" seed. Before then I was absolutely sure that our children would be public schooled, no questions. At the time I felt quite unqualified to teach them anything related to school. The idea of homeschooling was absolutely unheard of to me and an even more unheard of to the people in our community. It simply wasn't done. Period. I was just as happy to give my children over to the schools system. After all, isn't that what those brick and mortar structures full of experts called teachers were for? I was absolutely convinced they would know much more when it came to their education. I skeptically agreed to teach dd and we began using HeadSprout Phonics' online program (sidebar: it was also dh who suggested Headsprout....he works in education and knew the original owner) . Dd took the lead and I just followed. We were already used to weekly library trips, museum trips, zoo trips, park trips and picnic lunches. We sang our ABC's and 123's, and the like. After a while with our routine I gained more and more confidence and found it completely natural to provide extensions to her learning, as long as she was ready, of course. Now, back to the fateful WTM day. We had been afterschooling dd at this point but there was always the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that always told me that homeschooling would be a better fit. I was sure of this as much as I was sure that mothering was and is the most important thing I will ever do in my life. I came to view as homeschooling as a natural extension of our already enriching family life. What people are more qualified to teach their children than their own parents who would have been their primary teachers until they reach school age? The more and more I thought about it, the more and more I convinced and empowered I became(helped along the way by TWTM, of course). I was so passionate (almost the point of obsession) about the idea and I assumed dh would be as well. In the ten years we've been married, we have always done things differently, a little bit unorthodox. We are happier people because of it and we feel our children have benefited as well. We have always shared the same parenting philosophy and agree on almost everything when it comes to our family. Imagine my surprise and yes, tears of frustration when he absolutely against homeschooling!!!! I was devastated. Here I was in a state of utopia and then to feel defeated and deflated. He was so adamant in his convictions not to homeschool that I just couldn't go against him. After all, he is their parent too and I have to respect his views even though I may not like them. We agreed that the "happy" medium would be to afterschool. I have gone along with it every since. Fast forward to the present and here we are with dd6, finding ourselves in quite a predicament. For quite some time we'd been fighting with the school district to get dd accelerated from K to 1st but the feeling in the pit of my stomach has been telling me the whole time to stand firm and present dh with the reasons why this kid may just benefit from a home learning environment.is has gotten ever so strong and screaming at me to defend my position on homeschooling once again. On and off during the years, dh and I have entered in some heated debates over homeschooling. What has sparked this sudden turn of events you ask? A cocktail of living in NJ, being pounded with lots snow, added to that a lot of time off from school, and mix with leaving dd with a lot of time to ponder the what if's. This past Friday dd had a complete meltdown (the spends a lot of time thinking about how the world works) and essentially begged us to homeschool her. She says she likes it a lot better when mommy teaches her and doesn't understand why I can't homeschool her because we "sort of do it anyway when we do smartwork (dh's coin term for afterschooling). She likes what she learns at home and once she "learns something she can move on to learning something else." In school, even in first grade, she has to "wait on the whole group (25 kids in the class.....our school has the biggest class sizes in our district) the kids are meaner than in kindergarten, and they still act silly." Of course, I have to leave the room because my eyes are welling up with tears. Since the beginning of this school year, dd has been feeling tortured in the school setting and I am absolutely convinced that she will continue to flourish at home, given the opportunity. We've been doing well so far. I'm glad dh was home that day to hear dd first hand tell in her own words how she feels because I think that has convinced him to ponder the idea. Just this morning he told me he is 50/50 sold on the idea. He would like me to come up with a "snapshot" of what our homeschool days would look like. I get that. Needless to say I've been planted in front of the computer not only putting together a schedule but also gathering curriculum choices, articles, posts from these message boards, NJ State Law on Homeschooling, booklists, homeschooling groups/co-ops, teacher "professional" training (to show him that I intend to educate myself further as well), etc. I've been a maniac in the cyberworld for the past couple of days! Someone on the curriculum boards said that dh's need to be sold on facts and not emotion. I think my husband will respond better to just the facts. Any advice, suggestions, concerns would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I've been riding on a rollercoaster since early September. I'm getting dizzy. Thanks in advance. I tried to keep this short didnt' happen. Forgive typos and run on sentences. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight.

darlasowders-dd turned 6 on December 1. Yes, I would agree with you. Our initial problem was definitely a geographical problem. BTW-I don't think anyone will throw stones at your for responding to an old thread. I personally like adding comments to old ones just in case someone else can benefit from whatever I have to say. I'm from the "there is no such thing as too much information" school.

I have used ETC with my dd6 since she was 4.5 as well. She began in Book 1 and is now about 75% done with Book 3. We also do the 1/2 books. So, technically she completes about a level per year. Doing the 1/2 books is a preference. She doesn't need to use the 1/2 books but I use them so that she can have more exposure and therefore more mastery. She tends to pick up concept quickly and then want to move on a little too fast for me. For some, using the 1/2 books is too redundant. Dd really enjoys her ETC and happily does it independently. I really like that it reinforces reading, spelling, and writing in a gentle way. Due to Handwriting Without Tears and now ETC, my daughter has immaculate handwriting. ETC is definitely one of the resources added to the pot that enhances dd's learning. My advice...start from the beginning but move quickly through the earlier levels. I always like to begin easy and then build from there. I noticed it builds confidence in my children. At 4.5 years old, my dd's hand would tire from all the writing and since the beginning with Book1 I only assigned two pages. As she got older and built more stamina, I still maintained the two page limit but she often completed more. I purchase my ETC from Rainbow Resource. I want to say they sell it the cheapest but don't quote me on that! I think they definitely ship it the cheapest. You may want to try a level and see how it fits. I'm one of those people that has to have curriculum in my hands in order to get a feel for it. Best wishes on your journey!

I bought mine used at half.com. I just checked and it looks like they have many for sale. I highly recommend getting and using this book. It has many, many math games for children with varying math abilities. When my children are not in the mood for math work I always suggest a game and this is one of my go to resources. This woman has used it as part of her living math curriculum: http://www.squidoo.com/transitioning-to-living-math Good luck on your math journey!

Explode The Code

Thanks again to you all for letting me rant and rave and share. When I come here I feel like I'm part of the norm. Something as special and natural as enriching the lives of my children by expanding their educational experience in not looked upon favorably in the outside world. I'm oh so privileged to be a part of this community.

Mabelen-Don't you just love the Kindergarten set? The possibilities for wonder seem limitless. I love that my dd6 just loves to learn. I am dedicated in helping her cultivate that motivation. As far as Math Mammoth.....so far so good. We just completed the Which is More? lesson in the 1A worktext. What's so clever about this curriculum so far is that Maria Miller (the author) comes up with genius ways to stimulate the student's thinking process while folding in review at the same time. Let me s'plain: The lesson begins with introducing the greater than, less than concept. She explains, to the student by the way, that "the symbols < and > are like a 'hungry alligator's mouth." Right away, dd totally gets it. She then proceeds with the lesson in which she has to identify the bigger number and then read the numbers using the appropriate symbol. This is a three page lesson but we "parked" here because it is a concept she has never learned before and I wanted to give her some time to let the information to sink in. The next day, we review the symbols then she has a go at the next page in the lesson. Here's the brilliance of this program.....not only does she have to figure out which is greater than, less than, and even equal to, she first has to add a set of numbers to determine which is greater than, less than, and equal to. Addition from previous lessons is now being folded in as review. Did I lose you? Here's what I mean: In the first page of the lesson she had to do something like this: "Circle the bigger number. Read using 'less than' and 'greater than' ". 1 < 3 In the second page of the lesson she had to do this: "Pick a number so the comparison is true." 2 3 4 2+____ < 6 I don't know about you guys.....this just about blew my mind!! Anyway, all this to say that I am really, really liking this Math Mammoth. Someone on the curriculum boards said that a child won't be able to progress too far in this program without knowing the information. It will become apparent if the child has comprehension or not. I think I know what she means now! At first glance, the program looks easy enough but I do have to say that looks are definitely deceiving. In this case anyway. Have a good one! Ciao

RightStart hands down!!! We started RSA when dd was 4 goning on 5. We'd just finished SM EB and I didn't want to move into SM 1A so I decided to give RS a try. We loved it and it was so low key and stress free to teach. I loved teaching the material and she loved learning the material. We cut each lesson in half, kept them at 15 minutes and always concluded a lesson by playing a math game. DD loves, loves, loves playing the math games! Dd is now 6 and we've moved on to RSB along with Math Mammoth.

Thanks for your advice Christina. I have actually thought to do what you have suggested. Judging by how arduous and lengthy our process has been thus far, I'm thinking the district would have to come up with another set of Guidelines for such an arrangement. I don't think they have taken lightly to us forcing their hand (believe me, it was like trying to drag a cow out to pasture) and we're happy to leave the situation as is for the moment. If things change for us in the future, homeschooling will be our next course of action. BTW-Princess P (dd6) has taken to the new arrangement like a fish to water. Just tonight she told dh how happy she is to be in first grade and wouldn't accept going back to kindergarten. She's so happy to be learning for a change. When I picked her up from school today she told me all about how hail the size of baseballs can fall from the sky and be very dangerous. She loves that kind of stuff! We're still in the embryonic stage, so to speak, and I don't want to speak to quickly but so far, so good. Right now we're focusing on living in the moment and taking things as they come, one day at a time.

For you Sam's Club members, they sell a magnetic white board which would compliment AAS very well. It's a Quartet Dual Side Whiteboard/Bulletin Board and measures @ 2' x'3' (I measured the frame, the measurement will be slightly less if you only measure the actual work space). You do have to check on your store's availability but I was just on their website and my local Sam's still has it .

I just wanted to update and say that my Math Mammoth Light Blue Series CD arrived today in the mail. I'm very excited to get started and see how it goes. Have a great day!

Hello dear afterschooling friends! Yet another math post.... I've been reading through every Math Mammoth post I can get my eyes on over at the curriculum board. It looks fantabulous. I love how it's described as very user friendly (I am a self proclaimed math phobe...SHHHH, don't tell anybody!) and having all the elements of Singapore Math but with a lot more review. Are any of you using it in your afterschool or are thinking about using it? Math is a definite focus in our afterschooling and currently DD9 is using SM3A/3B (occasionally skipping around in this level to follow topics covered in school ) with some RSC (mainly the subraction sections as a refresher) with some MM multiplication. DD6 is only using RSB but is loves worksheets and uses to help pass the time while I afterschool DD9. She often complains how RS doesn't have enough worksheets for her to practice. I'm thinking using MM with dd6 will help me catch her up to speed in first grade math at school while continuing with RSB which I love, love, love. What do you think?

:lurk5:

You may also want to check out the Accelerated Learners board here. You may be able to get some ideas there. Also, you may consider doing enrichment activities with your dd. Maybe unit studies would work? All the best!

My dd sounds just like yours. I also thought dd wasn't gifted until she was tested for possible grade acceleration by the school district. I figured since she does process information very quickly and effectively, she was just ahead because of the work we do at home. Turns out she really is "gifted" and requires modified instruction than that of her peers. If you haven't already, check out my post a few threads above this one. We'd been fighting the district tooth and nail since the beginning of the school year and we finally got the OK to have her skipped into fist grade. She begins next week. I think one of the main things we had to consider was that our dd's needs were not being met in the current Kindy setting. Our main argument was that she had the right to go to school and learn and that the district had a responsibility to meet her needs, no exceptions. Had we not been confident and steadfast then we could have easily been convinced otherwise. We took our dd's lead and followed through. The fact that her teachers and school Principal were completely on board with our plan helped tremendously. BTW...our older dd9 is also academically ahead of her peers and although we could have pushed for her as well, emotionally we just didn't feel she was ready. With dd6, we considered academics in addition to social/emotional readiness and once we were able to check off all the boxes we knew we had to proceed. It hasn't been easy and we've spent many sleepless nights wrestling with our decision but we believe we've made the right one and only time will tell now whether or not we were right. Nobody said this would all be easy, right? My best wishes for you and your dc.

It sounds like you have made the right decision for your DD. I am beginning to realize that we can only make decisions about what is best right now, and worry about the future, in the future. I keep thinking about where DD will be years from now, but I just need to focus on now and what should we do for K in the fall. :iagree: Completely.

NYC-Like you, I am also not in a position to homeschool. I think we've found a sweet spot with our afterschooling although I'd love for the kids to have a shorter day at their ps. In the end, all I desire for my dc is a solid academic foundation and also a love of learning. I'm a native New Yorker! Dh works in the city and commutes from Jersey every day. Jenny- They had my kids for 6 hours a day, yet couldn't teach them thoroughly. I felt that if I was going to have to teach them, then I should have the six hours a day! I second that emotion. When I "homeschooled" my girls this summer it took us a lot less than 6 hours to get through their subjects. More power to you!

I have a vivid memory of me as a young girl of about 10 years old standing on a stool over the stove making my family's dinner. My mom worked full time and wasn't home in the evenings in time to make the nightly meal. As soon as I showed readiness, I was tasked with this all important responsibility, every day after school, after homework of course. Also at that age I was expected to help clean the house on the weekends and go to the laundromat with mother every other weekend to help with the laundry. I never thought anything of it since there were other kids in the neighborhood who had it worse. It was just a way of life. My mother was a thorough, patient teacher. As a result, I was one of the few in my college dorm who could fend for herself when it came to these "domesitic" responsibilities. Fast forward some years (I won't say how many), I think the training has paid off. I can't deny there were many times when I just didn't feel like doing chores but I have to say I'm better for it today. Now that I'm a mother with two daughters of my own, I can see how delegating household responsibility has benefited both them and me. Because they are much busier with afterschool activities than I ever was, the bulk of their chores is reserved for the weekends but in a nut shell here's what they are tasked to do: Weekdays Make up beds Take out breakfast ingredients (dd9) Set up the table before mealtimes (alternate or do it together) Clear the table after mealtimes (alternate or do it together) Wash breakfast dishes Wipe down bathroom counter at night (alternate per week) Room rescue (ala Fly Lady) before bed Weekends sort laundry fold and put away clean laundry clean up common loft play area clean up bedroom and bathroom vacuum bedroom and loft That's pretty much it. What they do already is a tremendous help! This week since they've been off from school since Wednesday, I had them de-clutter their closets. It's so great they can do stuff around the house and do it well. They always say they can't wait to be all grown up. I always tell them that with "freedom comes great responsibility." I think they're beginning to get the meaning of that.

Hi all, OP here wanting to share more about our situation. Last school year, when dd was in 1/2 day Pre-K we knew Kindergarten would be an "interesting" experience, to say the least. Academically, we knew it would not provide enough challenge for her. Because she had never been in school in a full time setting, we opted to let her begin Kindergarten and see how things went. We even requested dd's present Kindergarten teacher because she was reputed to have high expectations and a more rigorous approach to teaching while maintaining great relationships with her students. We were all excited to this school year to begin! For the first two months dd cried, alot. She didn't cry because she missed her family or home, or because the day was too long, or because she couldn't make friends, or because her specials weren't fun. She literally was bored to tears. She couldn't believe she was forced to sit in class and re-learn the three R's. Yes, we were very much aware that school is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. That is the reason why we decided to go ahead and have her begin Kindergarten anyway. We wanted to make sure that she really wasn't missing anything. I can't deny that dh and I are a bit nervous about what the the future will bring but for the right here, right now, we strongly believe we made the right decision for our dd. Her teachers and the school Principal were in our corner as we advocated for dd. Had they told us that they could indeed differenciate instruction to meet her needs, we would have preferred to keep dd in Kindergarten. They were very candid in their admission that the only thing they could do for her was to push for grade acceleration. The IAS was used to determine dd's eligibility for whole grade acceleration and her scores put her in the category where whole grade acceleration was recommended. She's very excited for the move to begin next week and I think this will be the right fit for her. Our feeling is that she is academically and socially ready. I only wish we had a crystal ball. Parenting would be much easier with it.

Bump...

Hello all, I thought I'd share that we did advocate for grade acceleration for dd6 back in October. After our initial request, we got a lot of push back from the school district. They cited lack of grade acceleration guidelines and policy as their main deterrent. After a long and drawn out process, which led to a week's worth of testing last week (very nerve racking), we met with the "Kindergarten Acceleration Committee" this past Tuesday and it was determined that dd will begin first grade next week. Up until the decision was made, we struggled with and kept going back and forth about continuing with the process. We remained adamant about not having dd accelerated so late in the school year but I think (and hope) in the end we made the right decision. Poor girl was bored to tears (literally) most of the time in Kindergarten. Why didn't my mother tell me this thing called parenting wasn't going to be easy?! I tell ya!! Thanks for "listening." Have a great day!

NYC-Makes your head spin doesn't it? The main reason why I continued teaching my children after they began public school was because I saw serious potential holes to their education. Our school district ranks in the middle and I could see how a kid could slip through the cracks when not paid attention to. So, the decision to afterschool came naturally to our family. We have always stressed that learning doesn't only happen in school and since we've done this all along, the dc just accept it. When the time came to pour through math curricula for dds I knew I wanted to find a program that would explain the why behind the concepts and promote a deep level of understanding. We settled on Right Start and now do a hybrid of Singapore and Right Start. Slow and steady has been our pace which doesn't much worry me because we have already seen the impact of our efforts. Good luck to you and yours. BTW-are you in NYC? Pippen-That is exactly what the teacher told me. I think it stinks though because the standards have been the driving force for a long time. I'm not really worried for my dd but I do for those children in her class that are struggling and aren't able to grasp the material due to the pacing. The teacher suggested I bring my concerns to the Principal and I do intend to do so. Have a great day everyone!!