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Merry

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Everything posted by Merry

  1. Hello everybody, I appreciate all of your replies. After a few days of thinking about this, my son and I agreed that he would do relaxed homeschooling this year which would mean using workbooks for writing and reading, finishing up a Biology textbook that he started last year, and using a different Geometry curriculum than last year and then reading historical fiction as one poster suggested and watching some educational videos such as Great Courses. That should be a good fit for his current anxiety. His therapist said that there is definite hope for recovery so I think in the meantime he needs this type of school. Then I suggested that he try taking a class or two at the local community college next year and he likes this idea very much. So he has a sort of a definite goal to work toward, preparing for the community classes next year; and this makes coming home seem less of a negative thing. I am not sure of the exercise thing, though. We'll just have to figure that out.
  2. My 11th grader son has been depressed and anxious since the death of his father four years ago. He was home schooled up to tenth grade when he asked to go to a public high school. I let him go but he had to come back home last spring after being bullied. So we moved to a better school district last summer and he transferred there. However, he has been missing a lot of school due to insomnia and anxiety so I am considering bringing him back home even though he wants to try to keep going there. I'm not sure if he can so I want to be prepared with a curriculum. My priority though is his mental health so I think it would be best for him to have relaxed school at home this year. He still has a lot of geometry to finish from last year as well as biology and he did almost no English either. He was tested in his English class at the school recently and got very high scores in a shorter time than most of his classmates. His teacher commented that he could have been placed in an AP English class. So...I tried using a Biology textbook with him last spring which was a flop and it seems that workbooks don't work very well for him. Online classes don't work well for him either. He doesn't mind doing a grammar workbook though. So can you give me an idea of what relaxed home schooling in eleventh grade looks like? He wants to go to college so it does have to be at least somewhat academic.
  3. Ha, I guess this is sort of what my son is hoping that I will do, just graduate him while he is attending another school without all the credits that he is supposed to have. Okay, I will make a list of all the credits he will need and what he must do to earn them and present them to him. Thanks.
  4. My son is enrolled in the public high school as a part time student. He had dropped two classes recently with the understanding that he would take them in home school instead. But he could go back full time next year if he wants to if he chooses to go that route and he still wouldn't get a diploma from the school as he has too many credits to make up to graduate next year. He would have to go for two more years to get enough credits to graduate from there. The school does not accept any home school credits at all. (He was home schooled in ninth grade and part of tenth grade). On the other hand, if he gets his credits from both the home school and the public school this year and next year or he could just go to the school full time, then he could get a home school diploma from me using his home school credits in addition to the public school credits rather than getting a public school diploma so that he can. graduate next year rather than in two years if he were to get his credits only through the public school. He is fine with the home school/public school combo but what bothers me is that the home school diploma would not reflect the true home school experience if you know what I mean. He would be getting about 3/4 of the credits from the public high school.
  5. Hello, I haven't been on the boards for a long time as my son had stopped homeschooling a while ago. Well, he had home schooled on and off since ninth grade but when he went back to public school full time this fall as a junior, he was told that he had to repeat tenth grade if he wanted a diploma from them as they did not accept any credits from our home school. So... if he were to continue going there for just two years instead of three, and I give him credit for math, foreign language, English, science, art, and P.E. that he took at home which would only be seven credits out of the 24 credits needed for graduation, then he could graduate in two years. (He has other credits from outside classes). But what I am wondering about is whether he would have earned enough credits to justify a home school diploma. The home school diploma shows that he completed his education mainly at home while a public school diploma shows that the student went through the public high school. My son is fine with not getting a public high school diploma and with skipping the graduation ceremony even though he doesn't want to do any more education at home which makes me feel a bit uneasy about issuing him a home school diploma. But then again I want to support him in finishing school in two years instead of three. So what's the best option where a diploma is concerned? Are there any home school regulations regarding this? I do know that private schools will not issue their own diplomas to students who do not take the bulk of classes with them.
  6. That's a very good idea about using a public online school. In fact, my state has one through the high schools though it's not free. I'll certainly look into it. Thanks. And I'll check with his therapist about doing cognitive behavioral therapy.
  7. I have been on these boards for over a decade now. For the first time, I sent a child of mine to a public high school last fall. I had homeschooled my five older kids successfully but our circumstances changed so off he went. Now he wants to come home. He said he had been bullied. Also his girlfriend broke up with him last weekend and told all their friends that they got in a big fight and put the blame of the breakup on him. He hasn't made friends with anyone outside of his girlfriend's circle. He has been in therapy for nearly a year for depression and self harm. I had hoped that being out of the house at the school would help him work through his depression but apparently it is a bit worse now. He's had to add a new medication to his current medication. Also his therapist said that he has poor coping skills and for him to try to live as normal a life as possible which includes going to school everyday. He has missed a lot of school due to various colds, stomach aches, and appointments with doctors. He has severe insomnia too. The problem is that he was not very cooperative in doing homeschool with me in the past and also I'm afraid of setting a precedent for him to quit when the going gets tough. Perhaps he just needs more time to adjust to being in a b and m school after having been homeschooled all his life? Would he have more opportunities to strengthen his coping skills by practicing them at the school? It's a tough call for me. I am a widow and so I don't have the support and strength of a dad to back me up in homeschool. I do wonder though if I find a curriculum that would fit him better this time round that he would be more cooperative. He is nearly sixteen by the way. Also he is having no problem with the academics at the school. In fact he is earning money tutoring and helping classmates with their homework. I'd appreciate the feedback from you guys. Thanks.
  8. Hello, I'm deaf myself; and no, there aren't any boxed or online curriculum packages that include closed-captioning. I have looked for one for years. But the only way to know for sure is to contact the curriculum providers and ask them directly.
  9. Thank you for your feedback, everyone. My son had been a strong math student until his father passed away three years ago. He did fairly well for the first two years after that but then he had a very rough year so he was unable to work consistently. He is doing a lot better now but unfortunately he got behind. He is willing to finish Algebra with me and then do Geometry with me also later in the year but he was hoping to take it at the public high school. I'll share with him what you guys said.
  10. Well, my soon to be a tenth grader son still is only half way through Algebra 1 and he wants to take Geometry at the public high school this fall. So would it work for him to continue and finish Algebra 1 this year at home while taking Geometry at the school?
  11. I put my foot down and forced him to go to the urgent care clinic. The doctor took x rays and said that there was nothing broken but that he was suffering neck spasms from being hit. He said that even though the accident had happened three weeks ago, the spasms were obviously caused by the jar to the body and that I was right to bring him in today. My son is back in bed and resting. I regret not taking him to the ER right after the accident. Like an idiot, I waved the driver on after my son was hit because it was not a serious hit. But you just never know.
  12. My teenager son's neck is hurting so badly that he can barely hold his head up but he is refusing to go to the doctor. What happened was a few weeks ago he was hit by a car while crossing the street. Fortunately as the driver was making a right turn and saw him, he stopped the car almost immediately but he did hit my son's knee and kind of pushed him a few feet across. His knee hurt and he was shaken, and then his neck started hurting a few hours later and got worse over a few days but then it got somewhat better. But he woke up this morning very sore. Should I put my foot down and make him go to the doctor? Can the doctor do anything for him?
  13. Florida Lisa, you are an amazing mom! I also lost my husband suddenly three years ago. My five oldest children had already graduated from homeschool by then but I still had a 12 year old son left at home. He is now fifteen and he does not want to homeschool next year. I am not sure if his dad were still alive if he would be feeling this way. Not having a father is hard indeed and changes things.
  14. This.....this is why I posted and asked about whether I was being overprotective or not. It seemed to me that throwing a basketball at someone's head was serious. The boys have been friends for many years so it's not as if the friend was not used to my son's teasing him. My son said that the teasing was not worse than usual so he was quite surprised when he was hit by the ball. I am not sure if his teasing was getting worse or if the friend's temper was getting worse this past year or maybe both. I was not there when that happened. I will talk again with him about toning down his teasing. The P E class was already over when this happened but they were hanging around while waiting for the younger siblings' class to end. So the teacher was not responsible for them. I plan on being there from now on just to keep an eye on them and serve as a deterrent to their tussles, so I hope. I won't pursue this any further as most of you seem to think that I was overreacting. Thanks for the feedback.
  15. It is common for the homeschoolers to take a few classes at the high school. The school seems to be friendly to them. I decided that I will go ahead and make an appointment with the guidance counselor and see how it goes from there. I will try and see if they will allow him to shadow the classes.
  16. There is a homeschool PE class that takes place once a week. A friend of my son's, an older teenage boy, got into a quarrel with my son or maybe my son started the quarrel. Then he picked up a basketball and deliberately threw it at my son's head, breaking his glasses. Fortunately, only the frame was broken and the insurance covers the replacement frame but my son will be without glasses for one week. So I texted the boy's mother about it. I also told her that this was not the first time her son had been rough with my son and hurt him. She texted back that my son kept saying stuff to upset her son and so he told him to stop but when my son wouldn't stop, they got into it. She said that playing around could get too far. First of all, her son is bigger and older than my son. Second, I don't think hurting my son is the right way to go about making him stop picking on him. I agree that playing around could get too far but still.... Am I being overprotective of my son who is now fifteen years old by the way? How should I deal with this? Leave it up to them? They do see each other quite a bit at the PE classes and some homeschool events.
  17. My freshman son has been begging me to let him go to the public high school next year just because he wants to be a "normal" kid. Most of his friends go there. He has been taking two classes with a university model school and two online classes and math with me. So I really want him to continue taking two classes with the university model school next year as the teachers there are excellent. Then he could take two classes at the public high school and one online class at home. The schedule would be something like this: MWF English and Biology at the university model school T TH Latin with an online school P E or elective is not decided yet. These would be in the morning. Then the other two, geometry and history/social science, would be in the afternoon at the public school. It looks good on paper but what I am concerned about is that he would have to make a lot of transitions during the day and the week. He would have to be going from one school to another on MWF and going from the online class to the school on T TH. He would have different kind of teachers for the three situations and he would have to deal with three different styles of classrooms. I had wanted very much to continue with the same way of schooling I had been doing ever since I started homeschooling twenty plus years ago and I still believe that this is the best kind of education I can give to the kids. So that's why I wanted to keep the university model classes and my son, himself, wants to keep learning Latin through the online class. He does have anxiety/depression issues. He is getting professional help for them but I am concerned that he still might struggle next year. I could let him try the schedule for a few weeks next fall and then he can see if he can continue this way or make a change. I just don't want to set him up for unnecessary stress if I can figure out in advance if it truly will not work out for him. Have any of you tried a similar schedule with your kids?
  18. I am considering letting my son take a couple of classes at the public high school next year but I got to wondering how that will be funded. I don't understand how students are counted by the city or state. Are the students counted as full time students for budgeting purposes whether they go full time or not? The reason I am asking is that I am getting the feeling that the people in favor of public schools are concerned about having as many students enrolled as possible so as to increase the funding from the state. Also would he have his record filed with the school no matter how many classes he may take or whether he gets a diploma from that school? And I am trying to find any good statistics about the school. For instance, my son said that he heard of ten girls getting raped on campus last fall. I find that hard to believe. If that's true, why are not the rapes getting reported? If they are, why are they not in the news? If a girl is raped on college campus, that is big news locally. I have not yet talked with anyone at the school but I'd like as much information as I can get before I go. I prefer that my son not go there at all but he has his heart set on going so I am working out a compromise of having him go part time this coming fall. A lot of the homeschoolers are doing this.
  19. Thank you for sharing. My ds, a ninth grader, has been begging me to send him to a b & m school next year so that he can be with his friends. I had no idea where to start to get him to do some shadowing. I just called the school and they said that I have to register him first before they will let him go on campus. Now I have a better idea of what to expect and I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will change his mind after he sees the classes and want to continue homeschooling. It's been difficult because his father died nearly three years ago so I feel like I have little or no authority over him. Anyway, now I know what papers I need to bring with us when we see the guidance counselor.
  20. I agree that you should ask them. They most likely will appreciate your remembering that it is their son's birthday and also that you asked them beforehand. They will let you know whether they are up to having your daughters over on that particular day.
  21. Well, these are actual leggings for girls that my son is wearing. Not meggings or jeggings.
  22. I just talked with my son about dropping the class. He doesn't drop the class so I talked with the provider about his problem with keeping up with the reading. The provider was very understanding so I guess we will keep going with the class and just hope that he passes it at least. Also the psychiatrist is booked for six weeks so I am making some adjustments in his other subjects.
  23. My fourteen year old son first started out wearing skinny jeans last spring. Then a friend of his, a girl, bought him a pair of leggings for him without my knowledge. He wants to wear them in public but I have forbidden him to do so. But he does wear them around the house along with a pair of high topped boots. Are the teenage boys now wearing leggings to school and other places? Is that a new fashion fad? For sure, the conservative homeschool and church groups would freak out if they were to see him in the leggings. If this is really a legitimate fashion choice, then I might let him wear the leggings to the mall and the park if he really wants to. What do you think?
  24. Hello, well, I had posted a few times about my son who has been struggling with his grief over losing his father suddenly to a heart attack two and a half years ago. He has been seeing a wonderful therapist who recently recommended that I take him to see a psychiatrist for an evaluation for possible anti-anxiety medication. So..I would like for him to finish his ninth grade with a good feeling of accomplishment but he is struggling with his two online classes. He has done very little reading for the Great Books class and is falling way behind on the vocabulary and grammar drills for the Latin class. So I think I will let him drop them. They are very challenging academically and fast paced. I am afraid that they have been overwhelming him and increasing his anxiety level. However, I don't want him to feel like he was not capable of doing them if I were to let him drop them and also what should he do for the rest of the year? He is at the point where he doesn't feel like reading very much nor writing. The only thing he seems to be enthusiastic about doing is the Daily Grams (a grammar workbook) and maybe reading the Lord of the Rings. How would that look on his transcript though? If he were to drop the two online classes, I would make it clear to him that they were for medical reasons, and that he still would get credit for ninth grade English as long as he completed the grammar workbook and read a few books and did book reports. That way, he would not blame himself for not being able to keep up with the classes. Is that sufficient for a decent 9th grade course? It's difficult for me as a teacher because it's not as if he is severely depressed to the point where he can't get out of the house or something and he is doing well with his two outside classes at an university model school so I don't want to start a precedent of having him give up on a class if it's a bit too much work but at the same time I an concerned about getting him to heal. It's a tough judgement call for me. I am just feeling that even if he were to get on anti anxiety medications or any other medications soon, he is running out of time to do make up work for the two online classes and also I am feeling that he is at the point where he is so anxious about them that the classes are ruined for him, kwim? So I guess I just really wish that we could take one or two months off right now and then pick up the classes again and maybe just finish them late into the summer but that's just the nature of the online classes and also of any brick and mortar classes that he will have to take eventually in the future. Ugh.
  25. Danny's smart phone actually is huge contributor to the problem. How the heck do I regulate his use of it other than taking it away completely?
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