[Spelling Bee for individual homeschooler?]

In case anyone else is considering this, I'll outline my steps here:

 

1. Call Scripps for information (I had to e-mail twice to get a phone "appointment" to talk to the representative).

 

2. Bees are organized by sponsors (usually area newspapers). If there's no group already in your geographical region, register yourself. We had the option of registering only our kid ($90 and goes straight to regionals, highly discouraged by Scripps, understandably), or registering a group for $130. We chose the group option and hoped enough others would chip in to offset that $130 cost (and they did).

 

3. As the sponsor, I needed to schedule a bee, provide a venue (they were not at all strict on this; I believe I could have held it in my home), and provide judges. I approached our public library about the venue, and they not only agreed to let us use their meeting room, they offered to provide judges and the reader, too (we also printed certificates for each participant). Through the library, we sent out a press release with the address of the library for people to join; as each family joined (and paid), I sent the family an e-mail with links to the private teacher and student resources from the Scripps website.

 

4. Hold the bee, and follow the very clear online instructions for advancing to regionals.

 

Hope this helps someone in the same position - I would have much rather dropped her off at our local school (1/2 mile down the street) and let them do the paperwork, but Scripps did not allow us to do that (despite my polite questioning and suggestions to the contrary). It turned out to be a great day for our family, so - if it's something your student is interested, go do it!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

[Spelling Bee for individual homeschooler?]

I did this two years ago.  Our co-op hosted a bee and I had 4 spellers!  LOL.  Check first to make sure there is a regional bee for your area.  The year I hosted the homeschool bee, the winner moved on to a regional bee in my state.  This year the same bee decided to exclude our county (grr), so even if I had hosted a local bee my DD would not have gotten any closer to Scripps.  Disappointing as she placed 14th the year before and was ready to try again.  I find Scripps is extremely difficult to work with if you are a homeschooler.

 

If I do decide to host a bee I will be sure to check for a regional bee that includes our county. Thanks for the heads up!

[Spelling Bee for individual homeschooler?]

Correct, from Scripps, not the local school. Even if the school allows it, Scripps requires that the student *ATTEND* the school. (I asked this very specifically, and pointed out that my taxes fund THAT school, and that our state does allow students to participate in extra-curriculars. No go. Scripps makes that rule.)

 

I had a feeling that was the case. Thanks for letting me know. 

 

So, if I set up my own spelling bee, do I have to do it through an official homeschool group or coop? Can I make one up just for the spelling bee? Is that how you did it Lucy the Valiant? I have a small group of homeschool friends that meet with twice a month for field trips but we aren't an official group and I can only think of 1 child that would be interested in the spelling bee. I think I can recruit a few more people in our area through facebook and email groups, though. 

[Spelling Bee for individual homeschooler?]

First- have you looked into the organization's rules (if any) for homeschoolers?

 

Next, see what the law is your state says...  in PA homeschoolers are allowed to participate in extracurricular activities.  Not sure if spelling bee is extra-curricular or part of the "graded" casses.

 

Then check with your local schools- public, charter, private, and see who is open to having a homeschooler participate.

 

Good luck!

 

Our state does allow homeschoolers to participate in extra-curriculars and I'm pretty confident my local school will let us join in their spelling bee. My concern is being eligible to move on to the next round. Does Scripps allow that? Has there been a homeschooler who has done this? 

[Spelling Bee for individual homeschooler?]

My dd wanted to do this last year, so I called Scripps and asked many of the same questions  you're asking; the short answer was that I ended up "creating" a Scripps homeschool spelling bee for my geographic region. It was $130 for the whole group, which I paid, and then asked each family to pay a $10 / family fee for being in the bee; we had approximately 25 kids and enough $ to cover the whole thing + a small bit leftover.

 

I asked our public library to help (as it was open to *any* home schooler in our area), and they very willingly did more than I had asked (I initially wanted only to use their space; they ended up sort of "running" it, which was AWESOME!).

 

We are doing the same thing this year as our "2nd annual home school spelling bee" - maybe that would be an option for you, too?

 

Interesting idea. I might consider it.

 

So the answer to, "Can I participate with our local public school?" is no?

[Spelling Bee for individual homeschooler?]

I'm looking at the Scripps Spelling Bee website to understand how to enroll my DD. According to the website we have to pay $94 ($169 after Oct 15th) to enroll our "homeschool family." I'm not really thrilled with that price tag. Even if we did pay it, when and where would my DD compete? Has anyone done this?

 

Is this really our only option? Can we compete at our local public school? We have no homeschool associations that sponsor a spelling bee in our area. We have driven far away to do a small homeschool spelling bee and DD easily won her grade level the past two years. They told us she can't advance because we don't live in that county. Any advice? 

 

 

[Fourth edition of TWTM...here's your chance to weigh in!]

I haven't read all of the replies and I'm sure this has been mentioned in one form or another but I would really appreciate more information on homeschooling accelerated learners as well as children with learning challenges. Bonus points for talking about kids who fall in both categories. How does classical education work for these children? 

 

[? for those who don't use a spelling curriculum]

I'd just skip spelling. 

[Does anyone use Saxon to accelerate-(either at home or school)?]

DD8 did saxon 1 and 2 in Kindergarten. It was so easy for her and the repetition was a downer. I moved to intermediate 3 in 1st grade and it was a little better, but not much. We were finished around Christmas and I did not want to do 5/4 so I decided to switch to Singapore 3A. What a difference! The repetition of Saxon really bogged us down. As a former math teacher, I think Saxon is a great program for many students and I wish I had taught from it instead of the terrible book that I used. For accelerated math students there are better options out there. 

[Question for People Who Plan :)]

I plan 32 weeks following the public school schedule but taking an extra week off in the fall and spring and ending 2 weeks early. I then plan about 8 half weeks in the summer for make up and rabbit trails. The 32 week schedule takes us through our work a little quicker but I find it is better to be a little ahead in case things get crazy in our lives. We start to burn out the last month of school and it is nice to end early. 

 

If I get behind, it is for 2 reasons:

1 - The pace I planned is too fast. Remedy, slow the pace and readjust the schedule accordingly.

2 - Something major has happened and we need time off to recover. Remedy, try to quicken the pace over the next couple of weeks to get caught up. If it isn't possible to catch up, use the 8 half weeks in the summer to do catch up. If something REALLY major has happened, I trim down to bare essentials and readjust my expectations for our homeschool. 

 

[Do you expect others to have their phone on "do not disturb" mode at night?]

Except, with an iphone you can make exceptions to the 'do not disturb'. My mother can always reach me no matter what my phone is set to. It is a matter of adding her name to a list. So can my son and so can DH. DH is in a band and often has late gigs. He frequently texts me very late at night to let me know he is leaving. Even if I do have my phone set to do not disturb, his always get through to me.

 

And with an iphone, if the phone is on do not disturb, someone can call and it goes silently to voicemail, the caller can call right back again and the phone will ring. That way if there is an emergency someone can get through.

 

So there isn't really a reason to have your phone's sound on even if you are wanting to be available for one or two or however many specific people. There are easy ways to make sure their calls or text get through no matter the time or the setting.

 

Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea!

 

Is there a way to program my iphone to automatically go to 'do not disturb' at certain times? The few times I've turned my phone on 'do not disturb' I completely forgot to turn it back on and missed a few important calls/texts the next day.

[Do you expect others to have their phone on "do not disturb" mode at night?]

I've gotten a fair number of texts during the night lately. At first I thought, "How rude!" but now I am beginning to wonder if the problem lies with me. My brother in law, that I am not particularly close with, texted me at 5:30 AM on my birthday to wish me a happy birthday. A few weeks later my sister texted me at 2:00 AM to ask me about a hoodie. Last night I got a text about midnight about a field trip in the fall. To me, texting is like making a phone call, and I would assume that a person's phone would make a noise and wake them up. Then I got to thinking, maybe it is socially accepted that everyone turns their phone off at night. Maybe I've missed this boat? Straighten me out here! 

[Homeschooling a child with anxiety.]

My child was much younger (age 4) when her anxiety made it impossible for her to attend a 3 days a week, 2 hours a day, play based pre-school. The teacher was amazing, the kids were kind and friendly, it was a great preschool! I struggled and struggled and struggled with the idea of pulling her out and finally did so in February of that year. The immediate relief was obvious and over time she has made steady improvement. She isn't 100% but I work with her almost everyday to help her see the world in a positive way and to face fears. I'm able to push her at just the right level to help her with out overwhelming her. I don't have plans to put her in public school but I know that now at almost age 8, she would probably do fine in a regular classroom. I'm so glad I had the courage to take that first step. 

[Competitive siblings (rivalry-ish)]

The best book I have read on this topic is "Siblings Without Rivalry." It won't solve all of your problems but will help you look at things with a new perspective. 

[Henry Ford Museum]

I'm not sure if the museum is worth the cost. I think Greenfield Village is WAY more interesting but also over priced. We did the factory tour a few weeks ago and it was really interesting, too. Again, overpriced. We did the museum on a free entrance day, we did Greenfield Village with some friends who had a season pass and could get us in for free, and we did the factory tour with our homeschool group so it was half price. If you can get a group of 10 school age children you can get the educators discount making it more affordable. You have to reserve and pay in advance, though. 

[Is Algebra easier than Prealgebra?]

I taught both Pre-Algebra and Algebra in PS. Algebra was always easier.

[Question for LDS ladies......]

Another thing to consider, accountability can vary from person to person regardless of their age. Consider someone who has severe mental handicaps. Are they are as responsible for their actions as someone who is neurotypical? God knows us and understands us perfectly and therefore can judge perfectly in each incidence of sin. 

[competitive family members?]

No advice. My MIL does this with her non-homecshooled grandkids vs my kids. She isn't anti-homeschooling but I can tell she has concerns about it. For multiple reasons (not just homeschooling) my kids really are more advanced then the children she is comparing mine with. It is awkward for me to talk about it so I try to do the whole pass-the-bean-dip thing but I can't say it is successful. 

[If we loved The Elements for chemistry, what would we love for physics?]

Thanks for the replies, I'll check them out. I've looked at a few things but haven't found anything that really seems to fit our needs. A few things we liked about The Elements:

 

1 - It is short, it has only taken a couple of months to work through it

2 - It has fun games that help my kids retain what they are taught

3 - It has the right balance of reading, experiments, and worksheets

[If we loved The Elements for chemistry, what would we love for physics?]

We are just finishing up McHenry's "The Elements" for chemistry. My kids have loved, loved, loved it. We would like to do something similar for physics. What would you suggest?

[What's the WORST book you've read all the way through?]

The Maze Runner series. I can't believe I was tricked into reading a zombie book. 

[Is Keyboarding Without Tears still quirky?]

I've used several online free typing programs and I thought KWT was by far superior for very young children. It may not be worth it for older kids. My 5 and 7 year olds have really improved their keyboarding skills this year. We will be sticking with it for next year. We had no problem setting it up and it hasn't been glitchy like others have mentioned. 

[Literature as a subject or not?]

I put together a list of books that I would like us to read next year with DD7. Some she will read on her own, some we will read together, and some we will listen to on audiobook together. I plan to simply discuss the books with her. No projects or comprehension worksheets or anything like that. My goal is to expose her to good books on a variety of topics that she wouldn't necessarily pick up on her own. 

[Who else tests for the heck of it?]

We aren't required to test. I use the ADAM and DORA tests and I feel like it has helped me evaluate progress in my children. I don't think standardized tests are the gold standard but they can provide some helpful information. 

[5th grade math, unable to finish book before summer break]

As a former math teacher, I can tell you that in public school NO ONE finishes the math book entirely. They pick up with the next grade level the next year and everything is fine. If you are determined to take the summer off, I would just move on to the next book. Don't feel guilty. The best solution, of course, would be to continue with math through the summer. You have to decide what is best for you.