Reading for DS on home schooling methods?

[LanaTron]

Hi, my ds is in 8th grade, and my dd is in 7th. I am needing them to begin to take more responsibility for their education, and thought that if they were to read about different types of home school methodologies, they might have a clue as to what will work for them. They don't seem happy with what I put together, and are reluctant to do much of the work.

 

I can think of having them read the rhetoric section of WTM, The Teenage Liberation Handbook (I think that's what it's called), and I am going to download How to Do a Connect the Thoughts Course course.

 

Can anyone recommend anything else?

[Kareni]

This may not be quite what you have in mind, but in the summer before my eldest started 9th grade, I asked her if she imagined that she would attend college. She said, "Yes." (Had she answered "No", I'm not sure what I would have done!) Given her answer, I asked her to find six colleges that sounded interesting.

 

I gave her a few books to look through to help her out with this. As I recall they were:

 

Cool Colleges: For the Hyper-Intelligent, Self-Directed, Late Blooming, and Just Plain Different by Donald Asher

 

Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges by Loren Pope

 

and a mega tome along the lines of this one Fiske Guide to Colleges 2009

 

Then I had her write to each one asking what the requirements were for admission and if they had specific recommendations for homeschoolers. One could of course do this all online; however, she loved to get mail.

 

The whole purpose of this exercise was to get her to see what colleges in general were looking for in incoming students. This way she could see that four years of English, three or four years of math (including Algebra), three years of lab science, etc., were requirements for what she needed to do if she hoped to attend college. That took me out of the bad guy role of saying, "I need you to do this or that"; instead it became "Colleges are looking for ...."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Nan in Mass]

What a good idea! I wish we could do something like that. My 9th grader is still getting over the shock of losing two brothers and a close friend in two years and is trying hard not to think about how he has to go live away from his friends and his family, too.

[jld]

I think it's great that you've offered them The Teenage Liberation Handbook. I'd love to hear what they think of it, if they decide to read it.

 

It's great you're willing to be so open with, and respectful of, your children.

[LanaTron]

Oh, yes, that is helpful! Thank you.

[LanaTron]

I'm getting burnt out w/ teaching 4 dc, working part-time (yet still struggling financially), and having all four dc in scouts.

 

That would all be okay, if they didn't act so unhappy with what I plan for their schooling (yet when I ask what they would change they say nothing...I just think they don't know what their options are). I don't know if it will work out the way I am thinking it could, but I've got to try something, or else I'm sending them all to school next year.

 

But thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I do try. :)

[Susan C.]

 

I can think of having them read the rhetoric section of WTM, The Teenage Liberation Handbook (I think that's what it's called), and I am going to download How to Do a Connect the Thoughts Course course.

 

Can anyone recommend anything else?

 

Hi Lana,

This is typically burn out time when you homeschool, so be easy on yourself! You may need to "coast" until after Christmas break! One of my pre-Christmas vacation tricks is to give each kid a few books to read, no reports, no work, just tell me a little about it so I know you read it. Then I can get ready for Christmas!

 

I'll tell what I did from upper elementary school on. We go to the homeschool book fair. A big one, I'm talking Orlando, FL, Winston-Salem, NC big. 200 plus vendors! I can't see where you are while writing this from from this window, but find one near you that is in a town where there are fun, cheap things to do, and one that has a low admission price. Winston-Salem gave us a deal the year we were unemployed, I just said I wanted to shop, no meetings, and they were happy to let us in for a small price. Another option in a larger city (we live in a small town) would be to go to a homeschool book store.

 

For preparation, it would help to know what type of learning each of your children thrive with. Believe it or not, some kids like traditional curriculum. There are plenty of books out there to help with this. One I like is Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. Funny, anything she rated high parental involvement was every book that ended up "on the shelf" and not used. Both of my kids ended up needing structure and even amounts of work, and they both like to work independently. Well, my son did, (he is graduated), and my daughter did, but lo and behold, this year, she wants to talk about things again. So, changes are in store...

 

Once you have an idea of what you want to do, pick two or three options for each subject. It is not fun to go into a fair clueless, it is overwhelming. If you know what you are looking for style wise, then it is fun to get to see the books and talk to those selling them. When I have things narrowed down, then the kids show up (hubby takes them out for fun and checks back in with them when I tell him to). Most of the time, they like what I pick, but every once in a while, I got the "ok, whatever" which meant to keep looking. If they don't like it a first glance, a whole year will be drudgery.

 

I hope this helps. Neither of my kids would have read the books you have in mind, but were willing on a limited basis to look at actual books I was thinking of using and telling me if they liked them or not. FYI both like school if it is interesting. Our worst years were when we had curriculum that didn't fit.

[Peela]

I agree....the Teenage Liberation Handbook is a good one. Not that I could get my kids to read anything like that. They would just prefer to complain :)

I too have kids in Scouts and it sometimes seems like our lives revolve around it. We have very enthusiastic leaders.

How long have you been homeschooling for? It can take a while for kids to learn the benefits and find their way. Kids who have been in school are used to structure, being told what to do, and an ongoing resistance to that, but not really knowing anything else.

My son told me he wants to go to school this week (loudly) because he has been so slack and we have only 3 weeks left in our year, and I have implemented a timed scheudle from 8.30- 3pm. He screamed. How could I do such a thing? Some of his friends have already finished for the year! Yet after a couple of hours of the new system (normally he would rush through and finish by late morning) he told me he actually liked it. It was more relaxed for him.

Over the years I have tried a lot of things. I have designed dozens of schedules and tried way more curricula than I would like to admit. But I have mostly kept the kids keen to homeschool rather than go to school. Ds only wants to go sometimes in order to try and manipulate me.

Towards the end of the year we often end up kind of unschooling. But by the beginning of the next year I am back into a schedule. This year, the slack part was 3/4 of the way through the year instead.

I like the idea of unschooling but I think you need a certain kind of kid to do it. I never felt my younger was that kind of kid, and my older would jsut do art all day.

Maybe you just need to keep trying different things. If we had just stuck with my original ideas of homeschooling, we may well not be homeschooling now. One of the things we have always done, which kind of glues us together, is have "together work" in the middle of our day- usually late morning- and I read aloud and we do other stuff together- like Thinking Toolbox at the moment. Its our favourite part of the day. Dd does her art then. Ds lies down on the couch. They feel they are getting a free ride and I am doing all the work- but I know we get a lot of good work done in that time.

I have been where you are many, many times. I just kept trying new things, and we have muddled through.

[LanaTron]

Hi Lana,

This is typically burn out time when you homeschool, so be easy on yourself! Unfortunately, I've been fighting this for a while (off and on for years), and it isn't all about home schooling. Financial issues play a large role.

 

We go to the homeschool book fair. Another option in a larger city (we live in a small town) would be to go to a homeschool book store. That is a good idea that I hadn't thought of. I live in the Houston area, and there are two big conventions w/ curriculum vendors in the summer. I know one of them also has sessions for teens...maybe I could find a session for them that would help our situation, too. We also have two HS book stores, one of which is very close to us.

 

For preparation, it would help to know what type of learning each of your children thrive with. One I like is Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. It seems to vary. Sometimes they act like they like me to teach them, sometimes they act like they want things they can do indpendently.

 

Once you have an idea of what you want to do, pick two or three options for each subject. When I have things narrowed down, then the kids show up (hubby takes them out for fun and checks back in with them when I tell him to). Most of the time, they like what I pick, but every once in a while, I got the "ok, whatever" which meant to keep looking. If they don't like it a first glance, a whole year will be drudgery. I've tried this with online samples, and it is as hit or miss as if I just made the choice myself. Maybe holding the books in their hands will help. But ultimately, I need them to begin choosing which subjects they even study, because if there is no interest in say, Latin, no curriculum in the world will make them like it.

 

I agree....the Teenage Liberation Handbook is a good one. Not that I could get my kids to read anything like that. They would just prefer to complain :) IKWYM.

 

How long have you been homeschooling for? It can take a while for kids to learn the benefits and find their way. Kids who have been in school are used to structure, being told what to do, and an ongoing resistance to that, but not really knowing anything else. My dc have never gone to school. We began as unschoolers, and it served us well when they were little. I began very relaxed WTM when my elder two were in 1st and K, and we have been more rigorous for about 5-6 years. I love the idea of WTM/neo-classical/classical, but I've always wanted high school to have a lot of flexibilty and freedom for my kids.

 

My son told me he wants to go to school this week (loudly) And last night at our Thanksgiving dinner, my ds14 said he was thankful for getting to home school. :) Which pretty much tells me he has no interest in public school, as he has said all along.

 

Over the years I have tried a lot of things. I have designed dozens of schedules and tried way more curricula than I would like to admit. We haven't tried too many different curricula due to $$ constraints, but I have tried many different schedules. We (mainly I) have a hard time following a strict schedule...I am more free-spirited, I suppose. But I sure do like the way they look on my excel spreadsheets. I get at least a sense (false though it may be) of control, I suppose.:tongue_smilie:

 

I like the idea of unschooling but I think you need a certain kind of kid to do it. I never felt my younger was that kind of kid, and my older would jsut do art all day. Yes, I don't think I could go back to pure unschooling.

 

Maybe you just need to keep trying different things. Yes, you're right, and that's what I am trying to do. My dh laughs, though, at how often I change our scheduling or change how we are doing things. ;)

 

I have been where you are many, many times. I just kept trying new things, and we have muddled through. Thanks for your encouragement.

 

Thanks to both of you for your comments and encouragement. I appreciate it, because I really don't want to put my dc in school.

 

(yea! After somewhere near 1000 posts, I finally figured out how to multi-quote!)