Sounds good! Send me a message when you are ready to get started Rebecca! Rebecca in NY

I have a 10 year old boy who is home schooling for the first year. He loves to create his own things out of Legos, mine craft, nature, animals.... He is not a big writer but I think he would enjoy short communication with a distant friend his age. My daughter is 8 years old and in public school but she would LOVE a pen pal. She is into games, animals, reading, reading and more reading, crafts, learning languages, HGTV shows and pretty much anything you can think of. She just loves to learn and be in touch. Texas Mama I think she may be a match for your girl! Rebecca

I am new to home schooling so take this with a grain of salt but maybe he would enjoy a long term project woven in along with those shorter term assignments. You can either direct it and give him a research assignment perhaps on an animal of his choice etc or he can have more freedom and choose a topic that he is interested in. Once a decision is made then I would have him take out a few books from the library and look online as well to learn about his topic. You can teach him how to take notes, create and outline, make a rough draft etc. It can be broken down into parts and include as much or as little as you like -drawings, charts etc. If it works out you could assign one research project per month or so depending upon his interest and speed. As you move forward you can add more elements to what is expected of him. Another idea is to do more hands on science experiments. He can design an experiment that may take time or make observations over time... Rebecca

Yesterday was my son's last day! I delivered our letter of intent to home school today and emailed his school as well this afternoon. As of Monday we will home school, today was a break day :) . In the car after a visit to the park my son told me he has been waiting for this his whole life (to home school that is, he is 10 yrs old) and that he felt such joy. So my answer to you is- any day that works for your family is the right day!

We are new to home schooling and live in Westchester County. I would love to connect with any families who are close by or who belong to any local online home school forums. If you know of any groups and can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it! Thank you! Rebecca

Thank you for your replies! I was just reading about the Pass test. Do they score it based on percentiles, personal growth or both? Would it benefit my son to take it once at the beginning of the school year and then at the end of the school year to show improvement?

Hi Everyone, I have recently decided to home school my fifth grade son after he has cried every day about the pressure in school and being forced to work under demanding time restraints. My concern is the standardized assessments that I will be asked to have him take for the district at the end of every other year. He has an IEP in the public school and receives special ed services. (I have not pulled him out yet) He has not been known to score well on any standardized test and I am concerned that if he falls below the 33 percentile we would be put on probation. My question is- are there any gentler tests to chose from? Is there a way to preview a sample test so I can get an idea of what he would need to do in order to meet the 33 percentile requirement? Any thoughts are appreciated! Rebecca