What to do???

[Hebrews3:13]

I wasn't sure where to post this and I did a brief search, but I am not having much luck.

 

I have been around here on and off for a long time. I remember when Susan first wrote her book I went to see her speak since I am not so far away and was enthralled. Back then I had one child and life was simpler.

 

So now I have 3 more and what I attempted to begin with my first has went down the tubes. I mean, I have homeschooled them, but not the way I had hoped. I REALLY want to give them a good classical education, but how do I do that? HOW? PLEASE HELP!

 

I am overwhelmed with all 4 of my children home. My third is autistic, so we are actually looking at a private ABA placement for him (another story) as he is non-verbal and difficult to even work with. I have to find some balance.

 

Does anyone do it like Susan? And how? Do you get anything else done? :confused:

 

I am most concerned with my oldest. I just don't even know where to start we didn't even get through the trivium once before all the others came along, my Mom died suddenly, autism, you know- life happened. At 8th grade- what do I really need to get in and do before she graduates. She is bright, but nothing compared to what she could be in my opinion.

 

I REALLY do appreciate your input- anyone. My kids test well and are not just sitting in the corner slobbering, but I so wanted things to be different. Sigh.

 

Thanks ladies. I like being able to talk to others on the ground too!

[Colleen in NS]

Does anyone do it like Susan? And how? Do you get anything else done? :confused:

 

I am most concerned with my oldest. I just don't even know where to start we didn't even get through the trivium once before all the others came along, my Mom died suddenly, autism, you know- life happened. At 8th grade- what do I really need to get in and do before she graduates. She is bright, but nothing compared to what she could be in my opinion.

 

Would it help to know that even Susan doesn't do it like her book? :) Have a look through her posts on this board - you'll get a glimpse of her reality as her kids have grown since she first wrote the book. She has also posted "A day in the life" articles in the articles section of the welltrainedmind.com site.

 

I just have two kids, and I love the WTM approach to education. I started off using it closely, and as I've gone along (and agonized many times over many things), I've "tweaked" it to focusing on the skills that are talked about in WTM. Things like math, grammar, writing, spelling, reading. I also add Latin grammar skills, but I wouldn't say that is essential if you are trying to get on track again. And then we have lots of reading, using a general plan of chronological history/literature and one science every year (this year it's medieval history and earth/space science, so lots of leeway in there for varied reading). So I keep the skills going in a routine every week, and *use* the reading as fodder for talking and writing skills. For example, if Tuesday is a narration day for ds, I'll get him to choose something from his history/lit./science reading to narrate. This streamlines things a lot, keeps the skills work mostly in the mornings for both kids, and leaves lots of room in the afternoons for reading and play time and exploring (and making up for lost time when we've had morning appointments or sickness or relatives visiting or dishwater water spill disasters or broken washing machines or...).

 

I'd suggest figuring out what each child needs in regards to skills, and start from there. You might have to set up a routine each day for how to work with each one, and then rotate from child to child. Once you get something going for that, you could decide where you want to start in history and just start reading or assigning reading from a basic "spine." Maybe read SOTW to all the younger ones and give the older one corresponding pages to read from the KF history book or something similar. Show the older one how to keep a timeline. Use the WTM lit. lists to get library books to "feed" your children with. Then figure out what science you want to do for the year and get library books and kits/experiment books to play with.

 

For your 8th grader, I suggest you post on the high school board - those ladies always have some great encouragement and practical advice for someone close to high school. You'll probably hear something along the lines of, "It's not too late - start where she is at, progress forward, and teach her how to learn for the rest of her life."

 

All is not lost. :D

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

If you are in Virginia, K12 is hoping to have a statewide public cyber charter school next year and it is already available in many parts of the state. SWB wrote some of the elementary history and the curriculum seems classical and rigorous. It is not homeschooling, but you would have teacher support, lesson plans, textbooks, supplies available to you. Plus they may have tutoring, remediation if needed, and probably a plethora of online classes to choose from to help you.

 

My ds has been using for over 2 years and we love it. I also know others who use K12 in the higher grades who are also quite pleased with it.

 

 

http://k12.com/curriculum_and_products/participating_schools_in_virginia/

[Friederike in Persia]

We try to follow the WTM, but not the way I would love to! This is probably one of the biggest struggles I have with hs, I know what we could be doing, but we're not there. A somewhat unhappy situation, since it makes for a dissatisfied mum.

So this is what I keep telling myself:

Compared to all the other homeschoolers I meet (not that many, considering where we live and that hs is illegal in my homecountry :)) we're doing more, most of the time way more.

My kids fit in very well when they go to ps in Europe, which they do every 2 years for a few months (a bit like yours testing well).

They are happy and content with a very good general knowledge.

If I could put the WTM and some ladies on the board here a bit more on a back burner, we could all :chillpill: a bit more, which would make for more fun.

 

Hope that helped a bit,