tedearly
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Posts posted by tedearly
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Howdy,
Haven't come close to what we were paying for 2 in private boys school.
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Howdy-
DD has finished 2nd grade both years using IP. If the problems were too difficult, I would work through them with her. Or sometimes I would use the problems at the end of the year as a review test of sorts. It wasn't difficult to find good use for them.
I think DD watching me reason the problems out are valuable part of her learning.
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Howdy,
What a great post. The twins each have an iTouch and Macbook. They will be studying out of Henle next year.
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Howdy,
We are doing memoriapress.com
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Howdy-
We are doing this next year for the twins Middle School. They are also working through Basic Language Principles from a Latin Background this summer. Both as re-mediation in English and a preview of Latin. Our home school advisor recommended it highly. Time will tell for us.
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Howdy,
Perhaps a personal example would help. I am home schooling twin 7th grade boys for the next 2 years and a 2nd grade daughter in TX. Twin boys are probably going to the boy's high school. So I called the Math chair to see what her experience had been for success through the years at the high school. She gave me input which I used for determining my math curricula. Some math programs for this high school were a very poor fit. I will also be talking to the high school registrar for any possible shafnus. I also think because of these problems, there will be more hoops for me to jump through that before. HSers tend to migrate to this school. So this is contingency plan for the future.
Additionally, I showed a teacher widely regarded for her gifted programs who knew the twins and dd what I was doing for the twins this summer and the next 2 yeras and she said it was better than the school I was withdrawing them which has a strong academic reputation.
If God forbid, I could not teach them, they would be enrolled in our parochial Catholic School. I have talked to the parachocial school board president who oversees the curricula and we talked about educational standards. Our "problem" would be that some of the children are at least 2 years ahead on some courses and closer to 4 in others) compared to the grade they would be entering. I have had to make peace with that realizing if they entered traditional school, there would be a lot of emotional baggage to deal. So a breather in academics would allow them the space necessary to heal in other ways. The big draw for home schooling to me is the excellence. This is the trade off DH &I have made with our current decision.
The true problem is when the home schooled kids are woefully under prepared or that the curricula used would leave them with gaps that a school system is't prepared to fill. They then have both the transition of traditional school setting coupled with academic struggles. The child psychologist I spoke to experienced this is one of her patients. And some of these kids are under prepared because the parent didn't take the time to find out what to teach minimally required standards, hence my admonition to find out what local requirements are. Then home schoolers use euphemisms to explain away their poor planning. This is when I cringe.
This situation is where the angst that the professionals in CC, private high schools, private school board members in personal settings have shared with me. One board member, public school OR, said in his experience with home schooled children my attitudes/plans were a minority opinion. He said my children would do well if needed to cycle back in where others he saw struggled mightily. This experience caused him to push more requirements on to home schoolers whenever possible. Being from TX, I really don't like more gov. regulations and so I hope raising this topic from time to time might stop the ps from further regulations because it isn't needed.
Contingency plans aren't something some home schoolers consider to their children's detriment and the school's buden. I am treasurer for our home school group so I am hearing & seeing quite a bit first hand what is passing for education in other homes.
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My gifted db went to college at 17 and partied so much he barely passed. Btw, he turned 18 in November of that first year. Sure, some boys can go at 17 and do well, but being bright is no guarantee. He then took a year off or so, went back to a different university and graduated when he was nearly 24.
True, true, true.
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We haven't gone the ps route only private schools. And in the private schools we have choosen, parents are very much involved, curricula and otherwise. And prehaps the teachers could keep up with the academic resposiblities if they weren't so loaded up with other chores proper to parents. Whenever, I say I home school I am always quick to point out it is not because of ps teachers. They are asked to do an impossible job and are to me unsung heroes.
The point of my remark is that one should have an exit strategy as the OP is considering. Taking a generality to a specific example is always a tricky business. Regardless of how home schoolers are on the norm, I am getting to know more of them who are just as ill prepared as the ps you mentioned and so do the professionals who have to deal with them. A contigency plan is the buzz word. And what does a home school contigency plan look like is the question? I do not want to hijack the thread so if there are other remarks, we should start a new thread.
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What is CD Geometry?
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Ah, so you started him "early."
Your dilemma is an example of why I encourage parents to know what their state's cut-off date is and to use the grade level their dc would be in if they were in school whenever it's necessary to hang a grade-level label on the dc.
Ellie you are exactly right. Home schoolers do need to know what the prevailing educational circles are doing. Every time I hear a parent say they have no clue, it makes me cringe. To many sad stories due to ignorance and/or laziness.
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I am so looking forward to math next year with Fred.
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I think an exit strategy should always be considered. One of the reasons we were so hesitant to adopt home schooling was the dismal preparation of some home schooled students entering into the system as seen by educators having to somehow make it work for them. Just last week, talking to a child psychologist, she had a very sad case of where parents were oblivious to educational standards, seeing her for therapy to manage their poor choices. As we will probably transition our sons into high school, I talked to the current math chair. She too had seen students with serious math gaps from spiralling curriculum trying to place into more discreet studies. This guided us away from Singapore and Saxon and towards LOF and Dulciani. Now if the school, OP wants to attend uses Saxon, then LOF may not be her best fit. This is why it is impt to know the options in ones own particular situation.
OP is very wise to be thinking this process. Sad when one doesn't.
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Howdy,
I was at a party yesterday with a number of home schooled families and heard one mom say she doesn't know what the state's requirements are for each grade. I wasn't asked my opinion, but frankly that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
There should always be an exit strategy in place. I have been to too many funerals and have sat at too many bedsides of young families in crisis due to disease or accidents or debt to think otherwise.
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Thanks for the reminder about CWP, I ordered 4,5,6 RR is out of grade 3.
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Gratis for posting.
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I too have an extensive math background. I see math facts drill as separate from the math curriculum used. That is why I download drill sheets regardless of topics engaged.
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Howdy,
DD 7 yr uses Rosetta stone in afternoon.
Twins 13 yr, 7th using Basic Principles of Language with Latin Background this summer. I then have them enrolled in an online Latin program. They will be using Henle's books. I took an online Latin program 2 years ago Oxford Press books 1-3, more rigorous than the twins this coming year, and found it meaningful having an excellent teacher availale for questions.
I would not have liked a DVD or trying to self teach myself so I am not having the twins do that either. I got the material learnt and it is used weekly at Mass.
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I give a page of math facts and a page of clocks downloaded. As she progressed, the font got smaller. She can finish both of those off quickly now at 8 pt. We also will do some oral recitation. I am not expecting her to have these down cold unto somewhere in 4th grade (according to the state) or 2 years from now. Something snapped in my older 6 kids that when they hit 9-10 yrs, they knew them. My home schooling advisor says this is common.
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Howdy,
Ditto on using the textbooks. Number bonds is critical to mental math. I never would think to add 9+6 as 10+5 but Singapore does. Same with the capacity problems with x leaving one container and filling another, what is the difference between the two. Same with distance problems. Don't skip the textbooks. DD is on level 3.
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Howdy,
DD is on level 3. We have done 1&2. We sit together and go over texbook problems together. She then does workbook problems independently. If there is a difficulty, I either print up more practice problems, go to CWP, or IP. We finished almost 2 months early so we used the test books as review problems until Memorial Day. I actually liked going over material from Sept in April but next year I might use the tests in the sequence given. I had used the review sections as tests each friday. We covered a chapter/week with math fact drills (add/subtract/multiply/divide)and telling time work sheets included each day.
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I have 5 sons. I will probably be putting the twins into all boy high school so that they can play lacrosse, one brother made all state. This was a big factor in not doing Singapore Math or Saxon for algebra. They are in 7th grade and high school decisions affects curriculum choices in middle school. Also, if something happened to me, they would go to traditional schools. So I think it is wise, to always have this exit route considered.
When is your "school year"?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Howdy,
Labor Day to Memorial Weekend. Then dc learn in other ways- Critical Thinking Problems, camps, visiting family, family vacations, Reading Enrichment, certification courses, sewing, etc...