Oh my, is THAT what that was?! My son was playing outside with his cousins on the side of the house, and all of a sudden, the house sort of started shaking- water sloshing around in fishtank, feeling like I was shaking around a bit in my computer chair. I got up to go yell at the kids because I thought they were doing something...pushing against the side of the house, I don't know! Found them in the backyard just talking to the next door neighbor girl, they weren't doing anything to the house. My daughter was just sitting at the table with her friend coloring, said they hadn't moved. It only lasted a few seconds. I'm in PA, too. Crazy!

Well, treading gently because I'm NOT really religious, but I don't think I would answer something like this with "pray that your attitude is changed." She probably needs to be heard out, and some sort of understanding of her feelings, even if you have made this decision for her, as is your right of course. But even though she doesn't get the final say, she's entitled to her feelings and opinions, and so I think you should hear them out, hear her reasons, reply to her reasons (as you already did), try to work together to figure out how you can help her get whatever she feels she is missing in a way that IS feasible (through homeschooling, which you've decided on) and try letting her be part of the decision making process to whatever extent you can. But saying basically "Too bad, deal with it, you better pray God changes your attitude" is sort of... I don't know. I don't know if demeaning is the right word. But sort of like telling her that she isn't entitled to the feelings that she has when everyone is entitled to feel a certain way. And this kind of thing CAN be hard on kids. We as parents need to understand that and sympathize with it to some degree even if we aren't going to change our minds. My two cents, anyway. I hope it didn't come across as offensive!

Dictation is not worth a head injury lol. Are you sure you have to do it? Can you shorten it? Try it again next year?

We start by reading aloud at breakfast. A fiction story or something for fun, not something dry/textbookish. I then try to give my daughter a choice of what she would like to start with for school after we're done with our breakfast/cleanup etc. Maybe your son would enjoy getting that sort of choice. Or maybe he needs to start with something more "active"- some morning exercise or something! A morning walk (which an even tie in to some community service, like picking up litter as you go), yoga, or something similar. Maybe you can think of creative/fun ways for some of these things to get done...for example, while writing spelling review words, my daughter likes making the first letter of each word a "bubble letter" and then coloring or decorating those letters. Or maybe you need to re-evaluate what is necessary and important for a six year old (I won't be doing any sort of spelling/spelling review at age 6 personally. If you feel you have to, maybe it would go better if he could do it standing, or do it in a more active or hands on way such as chanting the letters of the word while tossing a ball back and forth to you or writing the words on the sidewalk in chalk or some such).

I put 18 plus as my oldest daughter is 19 (I was only 18 when I had her)! She's never been homeschooled though and is still attending a special needs school/life skills class, which she will attend for two more years, until she's 21. My next oldest child will be 11 in October. She's the one I first started homeschooling by pulling her out of public school toward the end of her third grade year about 2 1/2 years ago. My "baby" will be 6 in November and he's the first one I'll be homeschooling right from the very beginning- I'm starting K with him next month. I hope to add one more to the family one of these days, too. :D

:iagree:

No. We would not be able to easily afford something like that, nor would I want to sleep in a hotel room alone/with kids without my spouse, I'd feel safer and more comfortable if we were all together. I would probably try to call ahead and explain the situation and see if I could find a place that would let us stay together. If I couldn't find one that would, then I confess, I'd sneak 'em in. I'd call back later to make the reservation or show up later and wouldn't even tell them how many kids I had with me.

We don't start til Labor Day. The schools here in PA near where I live go back on August 29th, but when I was a kid growing up in NY, they always started the Wednesday after Labor Day! We like to enjoy our summer, too. The winters are too long as it is!

I was not homeschooled myself, and I had things I liked about school and things I hated about school. My daughter started out in public school, too. I pulled her out toward the end of third grade. She was excited about it, but she DID go through a period of what I called "schoolsickness" (think being homesick but not) where she said she missed her friends and so on. It probably lasted a few months. It did taper off and then she stopped mentioning it and now says how much she loves homeschooling and how much better it is than public school and so on. I'd reassure her that she can keep in touch with kids she was close to if she has their contact number, that you'll be doing lots of fun things while homeschooling (field trips, hands on activities, more family time, more time for extra-curricular activities, whatever it is you want to play up), and just be understanding but firm in that this is what you are doing. You can of course celebrate her first day though- maybe you can go on a special field trip that she gets to help choose on the day the public school kids go back to school. P.S. She can get the "group" feeling in other ways. A sports team, a book club, a homeschool group or co-op, scouts, etc.

Even if you made your son memorize something long (and boring), I really doubt it will be committed to permanent memory. I'd consider it pretty pointless busywork myself. Don't feel obligated. If it doesn't feel imperative to you- it isn't. (We do sometimes "memorize" short things for school, just once in a while, and even then if we're not willing to go over and over and over and over and over and over it for a long time, it would soon be forgotten with only bits and pieces of it remaining in her memory bank, and some things I just do not think are "important" enough to spend that much time and effort on; it's just not high on my priority list. But then either is dictation or copywork or a second language, so do with that info what you will lol).

I agree with the others. My daughter was 8 and toward the end of third grade when we started homeschooling but I sat with her for EVERYTHING for the remainder of that first year. When she was 9 and in fourth, she did some things independently but I still sat with her for a lot, when she was 10 and in fifth, she did even more things independently but I still sat with her for certain things, and so on.

Assembly? That's what they'd call it in school, I guess :P

Maybe he's just trying to figure things out. Have a friendly conversation about it with him sometime when you're NOT in the middle of that "argument" with him, and just casually talk about how people have more than one role in life. To the teacher thing, I'd have said, "Well, I teach YOU, so I'm YOUR teacher." To the doctor thing, I'd have said, "You're right. I don't know as much about this kind of thing as a doctor does, but I have learned a lot in my life!" or some such. I wouldn't turn it into a battle or want to let him see it gets to me much as that might just make it a bigger deal in his head. I think he'll outgrow that "phase" if you don't make a big deal out of it.

Never heard of her but I love both covers lol

Happy birthday! :)

My husband does not teach specific subjects, I do pretty much all of that. What he does is help with any sort of hands-on projects that I feel he is better suited to doing than I am. So there are certain building projects, craft projects etc that I will ask him to do with her, and he'll do it. He works full time but doesn't go in until after lunch (and then works til like 9 PM or so), so he sometimes does this in the morning before he goes or sometimes on his day off. He's also the go-to guy if she's stuck on a math concept that I can't explain well since I don't like math. :D And, of course, he funds everything since he works and I don't!

Wanted to bump this again...if you haven't already seen it or registered, there's still time. :) 8 more days til we can start logging minutes!

The Grinch Sing Your Heart Out game. My 5 y/o loves it. So does my 10 y/o. It's entertaining for my husband and I, too, because, well, it's just kind of funny. It's a cooperative game and it involves singing together at the top of your lungs to sound activate the grinch's sled to come rolling down the "mountain" dumping out the presents that he stole so you can get them back, and who wouldn't find THAT entertaining? heh. My son also likes the Sponge Bob version of "Life." I think I'm going to buy "The Secret Door," that sounds like something he'd like and I could tolerate!

I always start on Labor Day.

I recently had about three hours to myself while the kids were with Grandma one night. I spent it in my recliner with a big slice of lemon meringue pie and a True Blood DVD. Worked for me. :D

I like Scattergories! "Pandemic" sounds cool, I'm going to check that out!

My 5 y/o (will be 6 in November, and is starting K this year) is currently playing soccer. It goes til the end of October. Starting in October, our Y has homeschool PE but that's only once a month through April, and he'll participate in that. Over the winter we do a homeschool bowling league that's only for like two months or something, once a week, and he'll do that. Then in the summer he might do teeball again if he wants to, and there's swim lessons (only two weeks) and sporadic art or Montessori summer camp programs- just a few weeks here and there, half days usually. That's about it. Next year when he's 6 (almost 7 and starting 1st grade) we'll add on cub scouts. But it's usually just one thing at a time, or two at most if things overlap temporarily.

Seconding this. It's geared toward students, too.

I bought TT5 used last year and had no problems. There is a code that can only be used a certain number of times, but all you have to do is call TT up and tell them that you bought it used and need help activating it for your computer, and they will get you going within just a couple of minutes. I think they did ask me the name of the person I bought it from, and then they went in their system and changed it to my name or something.

:grouphug: That's a good thing! And I am not sending MY baby off to Kindergarten next Monday. He will be the first of my three kids that DIDN'T go off to Kindergarten. Even my 10 y/o who is now homeschooled went to public school from K through most of third grade before I pulled her out and started homeschooling instead. I'm glad my son will be home right from the beginning, at least!