:auto: Totally cool. Where were you?

This has been my experience several times. One mom proudly announced how inclusive her group was .... right before she pounced on several people who used curriculum. Fortunately, most of the time we mix and match with all kinds of homeschoolers. We don't "segregate" based on philosophy or religion, but we do back away from a group or individuals who are aggressively promoting their agenda with little to no regard for our ability to freely choose what works for our family. :001_huh: :lol: at the similarity with dc. Mine might be voting for the all-day-video curriculum too, if the option existed.

To some degree, you'll probably always have a bit of this. I do. Educators are invested in the system of education and you're outside that. It's natural that they're a bit wary (if not downright dismissive) of your choices. It's natural for you (and any of us) to feel a bit naked out on our own. If you're newer to homeschooling, you will grow in understanding and confidence as the years roll by (hopefully). But you will have periods of self-doubt when your dc hit new levels or subjects that are a challenge. The relationship with your students evolves as they mature and become more independent. Curriculum choices are constantly expanding and confronting us with more options. Then there are the extra-curriculars.... We who choose to home-educate are actually very well-versed in education because we have to be to keep up. I try to be matter-of-fact about our choices without being confrontational. When people, particularly educators, are curious in a genuine way, I try to give them information about what works *for us* without challenging their livelihood. If the information resonates with them to give a more positive take on homeschooling, all good. But I do recognize that my choice to not use their system is, in a way, a challenge to the system they're invested in. So it's understandable that they will not be overly fond of my choice. :001_smile:

:lol: They're having fun with the stats! I liked Tim's comment about the "best outfield play in the 17th inning that he's ever seen." :lol: Who are you routing for?

I agree with taking a long view. Dh and I decided when kids were wee that we wanted to make sure they knew how to swim, golf and play tennis. Just the basic skills and rules of the game so if they had a date or a business outing or the urge to play, they would have something to work with. We see these three sports as ones that you can easily play into old age. We've since added skiing to that. Other sports were optional. When they've been interested, we've signed them up and they've tried "it" for a season, a lesson, whatever. So far, they've learned golf, swimming (including some competitive), ice skating, roller skating and rollerblading, skiing, basketball, baseball, and a little of volleyball, ultimate frisbee (!), hockey and flag football. But if it's a team sport, we sign up for the season -- it's only fair to the team. Right now they're loving the team sports. They've gotten to the level that the trophies they get are earned and they are good players. They aren't the best on their teams and they may decide in the next few years that they've had enough but it's been cool to watch them work hard at something and see the results. It's been nice for them to be on a team that pulls together and achieves a shared goal. It's been interesting to see them develop self-discipline and self-control, to remain calm under pressure, shake off the errors or bad calls, console a disappointed teammate, become a team leader, celebrate with their mates, challenge themselves physically. Alley, you asked for help in your decision -- those are some additional thoughts I've had about it. It didn't sound like your ds doesn't want to do any of it, just that he doesn't care for the boring practices. The above is some of what we've seen develop in the last few years with team sports. You and dh decide what's best for your family, but I don't think it has to be slavish devotion to an all-consuming team sport .... or nothing. You can find the middle ground. Sometimes with homeschooling they don't have much competition in their lives so it's good for them to experience it. But at 7 they aren't so keen on the practices, especially if they're boring. Good luck. :001_smile:

:lol: great minds!

Sadly it seems so.

Looks like you've already gotten a number of replies that support your desire to bow out. It's not for everyone. And some kids do fine starting a bit later when they've got more coordination and drive. One ds here really didn't like practicing and wasn't that keen on team sports in the beginning (theoretically, yes, practically, no :tongue_smilie:). And one ds has always wanted to play baseball, since he was wee. So if that's not really the case for your ds then it's best to figure that out early. :001_smile:

Dc here love playing baseball. At that age, they don't much like practices. Have the games started? What does your ds think of them? Is Coach doing it all himself? My comments here are based on your son's age: Practices should have a little simulated game time near the end but the rest should be split up into small groups -- a few batting while a few are doing infield (throws to each base, getting ground balls, practicing tags), a few outfield (catching fly balls, longer throws). I would step in and offer to help the coach to split up kids and do some drills, if you get it started, no doubt a couple other parents will participate. Look online, ask around, check books/videos out of the library if you want some different drills. I've seen some very creative stuff. One that the kids always enjoy is running the bases -- can be done like relays or chases or timed or .... Some leagues do have all the above expenses that you listed. If the fields aren't part of a county parks-and-rec or school network, then field upkeep and maintenance is part of all that fundraising. And yes, that first year is pretty alarming. We've been in leagues where it's built in to the price, and others where it's extra and you do the work. Also, most coaches are somewhat flexible about pants and socks. Some of that depends on your child -- does he care? We've had teams with all different color pants (grey, white, black). The cheapest are the ones without belt loops. We've seen kids wear sweatpants and shorts (shorts was in fall league, more relaxed). Once you get the socks, they'll wear them for years. The pants usually go for a couple seasons. Part of team sports is commitment to the team. If you and dh would like for your child to be a part of this, for the sport, the physical activity, the sportsmanship, the skills, etc., then you need to stick with it. Once games get started, some coaches don't hold regular weekly practice (again, at this age). But you want to think twice about quitting once you've started -- at this point, part of your money is already spent too. And if you and dh want to schedule a weekend off for a small trip, visit with relatives, family time, whatever, just let the coach know. Other kids will be taking off for scouts or things -- it's not like this is a high school team. I try not to be too rigid in the early years, we honor the commitment without letting it run our lives. I'd vote for giving it a try. Maybe after one season, your son will decide it's not for him. But I'd let him get a chance to play some games to see what all that practicing is about before I'd agree to quit. Hope that helps with your decision a little. :grouphug:

Good points. I've seen this with dc, sometimes they need a little space to get something. We've reached the saturation point so continuing on the same lesson or concept is pointless (like long division) but coming back to it and/or allowing some time for it to sink in while moving on to other lessons works well. In general, we do work for mastery, but I like the way you say this -- 100% mastery. And for OP, I'm happy if ds has a B in spelling. Some subjects just will not be an A for your student no matter how hard we might try or how hard we might work. :001_smile:

Dc try brang and broughten. :tongue_smilie:

My funniest example was when ds was in preschool. He used to cut out those teeny-tiny pictures of books in the Scholastic order forms. While we met the teacher before school started, he sat and cut out a whole pile and handed them to her. When I got an eval from the teacher several months later, "handling scissors well" was not checked. When I asked the teacher, she replied that she knew he could but it "hadn't been evaluated yet." So I guess it didn't exist. :lol: Locally, one friend's class had a short review lesson on filling in answer bubbles completely. :001_huh: Others (3tap, ellie, cheryl) here gave more specific philosophical answers which do address why this is detrimental to education. It's an unfortunate trend. There's so much hue-and-cry for accountability, I doubt that these types of tests will go away anytime soon.

I guess that's what I was thinking in my response. When the candidate expresses himself so clearly re: homeschooling, I would be watching him carefully, perhaps asking a question at a rally or meet-and-greet. Texans seem to be a pretty independent bunch, I can't imagine that Texan homeschoolers would be particularly interested to hear about future tracking or monitoring.

I'm not a Texan (but I've visited :001_smile: ), but I wondered why you say this, given the quote in the 2nd para. from the candidate and the 3rd para from his spokesman: White says, "Perry's claim of 10 percent dropout rate does not include students who continue in school, switch to home schooling, or have no follow up data. These students are not tracked, and the governor does not know whether or not they ever graduated." His spokesman goes on to say, "As governor, Bill White will bring a business-like approach to the problem. We need to have accurate counts of how many students are graduating, annual goals, and public accountability for our progress. Putting those statements together, the only conclusion one can draw is that the state needs to track home school students and see if they graduate. Who then determines when the home school student graduates? What is required for that graduation? This is an honest question. When I saw that it was a blog link, I figured it was a blogger's opinion, but these are direct quotes.....

That's what I was going to suggest.

Sounds like his staffers are helping to prop him up. If they did the research they would see that the island population has actually downsized by tens of thousands in the last decade or so. Even with this increase, the numbers wouldn't reach what they were 20 years ago. From an economic perspective, Guamanians may very well welcome the addition.

:iagree: Yes. Very sad. And whether it's impairment from an illness or medication-related, it's pretty clear that it is impairment. When I went to see the link earlier, there were other clips from meetings and speeches where he sounded much the same. Even his numbers for the dimensions of the island are confused. His loyal staffers are making statements for him but it looks like it's time for the poor man to step down from that position and go home to get some care.

Wow, Faithe, thanks for sharing all your experience. You've given me good food for thought here. I'm just posting to say that :iagree: with you on this last para. too. If not that child then the second or third one who will be completely different, just because. Parenting and homeschooling are humbling experiences. :001_smile:

Our first letterbox in the new area was placed by a family starting out with littles near their home based on Eric Carle stories. It was cute, a little tricky but not tough.

We owned Elemento, ds played Element-e-O at a game day. The 2nd one has characters like dragons that had characteristics based on the element (iron for strength, perhaps) -- anyway, they far preferred the 2nd one that we didn't own. The first one helped get the elements off the periodic table in a way that was helpful, but it wasn't a great game.

There is a woman in our area who offers homeschool classes for a popular writing program. For one class, a friend forwarded this woman's resume with cover letter. It was a mess with misspelling, grammatical errors, poor writing and organization. But people continue to rave about this person! They say she's enthusiastic, organized, encouraging and successful. They are quite pleased with what their children are writing and the progress they've made. So, my advice for you would be to research it further. If there are other red flags, I'd probably look elsewhere. But if you find, like I have, that the communication was an anomaly or there are enough offsetting factors, you may decide it's worth it.

If it's a lot of itching rather than just touching, maybe there is something to change -- clothing too tight, perhaps a little hygiene issue, soap/bubblebath irritation.

Looking for a decent beginner's GPS for hiking and geocaching. Not serious rugged orienteering or anything like that. What features do we need for that? Which brands would you recommend? Price ranges? Thanks for your help! :001_smile: