If your child may one day enter school again...

[AimeeM]

If it's on the table that your child may, within the next year or two, re-enter brick and mortar school, how do you center your teaching methods and curriculum choices?

I am CONSTANTLY second guessing myself because I know, that on some level, we need to keep up with the local Catholic schools. I know that she will eventually go back as that is our goal for all of the children.

For example, I'd love to use WWE for writing, but I know that it would put her seemingly "behind" by Catholic school standards of writing and where the priorities are in the types of writing instruction.

Same thing for history. I want to do a year of Geography and World History using All Ye Lands, but I know that at her grade, she should be doing YET ANOTHER year of American History (blah - we are so over that after several years of nothing but :tongue_smilie:).

 

How do you balance it?

[UmMusa]

Aimee I found some books by Spectrum that are specific to grade level writing. They guide the student to make topic sentences and supporting sentences. I also found a book Test Prep by Spectrum that says "aligned to state and national standards". We're using those to show the kids what writing and tests will look like at a school.

[AimeeM]

Does this take a lot of time, or can it be coupled with a program like WWE?

Aimee I found some books by Spectrum that are specific to grade level writing. They guide the student to make topic sentences and supporting sentences. I also found a book Test Prep by Spectrum that says "aligned to state and national standards". We're using those to show the kids what writing and tests will look like at a school.

[Sevilla]

If she's already had American History then I would do whatever you want for history - don't think twice about it :).

 

I would make sure she's got some sort of equivalent writing and math instruction - those are the two areas that are hardest to enter from one schooling environment to another (even transferring between two different schools/districts can throw that off).

[Karen in CO]

I teach my kids the best that I can each year. I choose the methods and materials that I think are best. Schools do start each year with review, and most assume kids really forget a lot during the summer. As long as your kids are reading close to grade level, doing math near grade level, and can write something of increasing length each year (assuming they're above first grade), they'll be fine going back to school. If the school does yet another year of American history every year, I might avoid American history until they went to school because there is so much more history that they can learn that would make those years of American history richer.

 

And I have had a child go back to ps, and I always consider our homeschooling one year at a time.

[snickelfritz]

Worry about skill areas (math, writing, reading) and not so much content areas (history, science.). So, I would do the history you want. The writing might well be an issue, though.

 

My dd entered 3rd grade this year, at a private school. It's reasonably rigorous. We had always focused on math and reading. Science and history were looser and more literature and interest based. She has done great. Her only issues were spelling (she's atrocious) and Shurley grammar. Even then, she got all A's her first quarter. We just did a little extra work on her problem areas.

[AimeeM]

That's great to know.

Writing is the death of us. Autumn is very, very behind in writing. It's painful to her. She will always be behind on some level. I'm trying to find something that fascinates her; but really, because she is so visual in learning style, I think that the tedious, but effective, way of doing it would be through excessive copy work. We've yet to find a writing curriculum that works (but we've only been homeschooling since April, lol).

I teach my kids the best that I can each year. I choose the methods and materials that I think are best. Schools do start each year with review, and most assume kids really forget a lot during the summer. As long as your kids are reading close to grade level, doing math near grade level, and can write something of increasing length each year (assuming they're above first grade), they'll be fine going back to school. If the school does yet another year of American history every year, I might avoid American history until they went to school because there is so much more history that they can learn that would make those years of American history richer.

 

And I have had a child go back to ps, and I always consider our homeschooling one year at a time.

[Laurie4b]

If she's already had American History then I would do whatever you want for history - don't think twice about it :).

 

I would make sure she's got some sort of equivalent writing and math instruction - those are the two areas that are hardest to enter from one schooling environment to another (even transferring between two different schools/districts can throw that off).

 

:iagree: Don't worry about the content subjects--your dd will get whatever they teach her the year she enters. All the kids forget lots of what they've already had, so it's not like she'll be terribly disadvantaged without another year of Am. history. Plus, hopefully your methods will help it "stick" better anyway!

 

I also agree that you should see what she will be expected to be doing in math & writing and aim to get her there by the time she leaves your homeschool. Go meet with the school and find out what their expectations would be at whatever grade you plan to send her. Then plot your course from there. I would continue with WWE if it is working for you. You may have to add some other stuff, too, depending on what their expectations are and what WWE covers.

[AimeeM]

We haven't started WWE yet. Lol. Not really - it's such a nightmare for her that it gets pushed to the side. I'm not sure what type of writing instruction she received in school previously, but her sentence structure and spelling are that of a new second grader. Yikes.

 

She is excited about world history and geography. Neither of us can stomach any more american.

:iagree: Don't worry about the content subjects--your dd will get whatever they teach her the year she enters. All the kids forget lots of what they've already had, so it's not like she'll be terribly disadvantaged without another year of Am. history. Plus, hopefully your methods will help it "stick" better anyway!

 

I also agree that you should see what she will be expected to be doing in math & writing and aim to get her there by the time she leaves your homeschool. Go meet with the school and find out what their expectations would be at whatever grade you plan to send her. Then plot your course from there. I would continue with WWE if it is working for you. You may have to add some other stuff, too, depending on what their expectations are and what WWE covers.

[laundrycrisis]

Our kids have never been in school, but it is always in the back of my mind that life circumstances can change and public school could at some point be what is necessary, so I want them to be working at grade level. This is especially concerning to me because DS1 has been behind in reading and writing due to visual processing issues and dysgraphia. I have been working hard to catch him up and putting the most emphasis on language arts. I use WWE, but it is not the only thing I use. I use a lot of workbooks by other publishers - EPS, Flash Kids/Flash Skills, Spectrum and Scholastic. These all have grade levels specified. For next year I am using Calvert's materials as a model, but choosing my own grade level math, English and science. I am following my own plan for history as far as what is being studied, but doing my best to use grade level materials to go with it. EPS has some nice workbooks for both Western Civ and US history.

 

Brainpop has some videos with good content for all subjects and vocabulary sheets and quizzes to go with them. Steck Vaughn has some science workbooks that work well as "written work" to go along with other materials for each topic. I am doing my best to include some sort of written work for all the science, history and social studies because that would be expected in school.

[foxbridgeacademy]

Aimee I found some books by Spectrum that are specific to grade level writing. They guide the student to make topic sentences and supporting sentences. I also found a book Test Prep by Spectrum that says "aligned to state and national standards". We're using those to show the kids what writing and tests will look like at a school.

Spectrum has a lot of good "skills" workbooks. We like their Grammar books. Also "Word Study" books are good too.

[laundrycrisis]

That's great to know.

Writing is the death of us. Autumn is very, very behind in writing. It's painful to her. She will always be behind on some level. I'm trying to find something that fascinates her; but really, because she is so visual in learning style, I think that the tedious, but effective, way of doing it would be through excessive copy work. We've yet to find a writing curriculum that works (but we've only been homeschooling since April, lol).

 

Search some of the threads on dysgraphia. For DS1, I had him learn how to type (Dancemat and then Type to Learn Agents). He is near the end of WWE1 (as a 3rd grader). Most of the copywork he types. Having to write it all by hand would shut him down completely. But there is a lot of narration and dictation, which have been very helpful for him. I use the sentence he dictated and then copies as his cursive practice. I also am using the Aesop workbooks from RFP, but I don't have him do the whole lesson - I just have him read the story, then look at the picture and write one sentence about it. This doesn't sound like much but he has really progressed. A few months ago, sentences were nearly impossible for him. Now they are easy.

[missmoe]

Two of my kids have entered school at the ninth-grade level. They have both done well. I did concentrated on writing the year before they went to school. I didn't use traditional textbooks with them at all throughout their elementary years. I did tend more towards standards based writing in the 7th and 8th grade years.

 

I feel that following SWB's suggestions for writing helped them tremendously when introducing standards based writing. Do you know when your children might go back to school? If it is not tell high school, I would use WWE now.

[AimeeM]

Next year (sixth) or the year after.

Two of my kids have entered school at the ninth-grade level. They have both done well. I did concentrated on writing the year before they went to school. I didn't use traditional textbooks with them at all throughout their elementary years. I did tend more towards standards based writing in the 7th and 8th grade years.

 

I feel that following SWB's suggestions for writing helped them tremendously when introducing standards based writing. Do you know when your children might go back to school? If it is not tell high school, I would use WWE now.

[UmMusa]

Does this take a lot of time, or can it be coupled with a program like WWE?

Well, WWE is four days a week, so my 4th grader will do two pages of the Spectrum writing book Friday. I will probably introduce the testing one as a Friday thing.

[mryann]

My oldest is likely to enter a Catholic high school next year. Here's what I have done to make sure he is ready:

 

1. 7th grade BCM review, 8th grade Lial's Alg 1 (which will be retaken 9th grade anyway so he'll have a an easy adjustment.)

 

2. 7th grade: Bravewriter online course for confidence; 8th grade he began a blog for family members and posts weekly. This has been an incredibly good decision for us. The kids post about their birthdays, sports seasons, favorite foods, hobbies, Halloween, vacation, etc.

 

3. we are finishing a 2 year tour of ancient history. If I didn't have any history planned, I spend the year studying various countries/cultures.

 

4. For science, he watches TGC The Joy of Science 4 days a week. I planned to have him take notes but he gets distracted and prefers to just watch.

 

5. Take a thorough standardized test 7th grade (CAT5) to go with the transcript.

 

6. SLANT (Smile, Sit up, Listen, Ask questions, Nod when spoken to, Track with your eyes.)

 

7. Finished AAS

 

8. used Sheppard Software free online games to learn all the countries and their capitals.

 

The only other thing that I wished I'd done was to have enrolled him in 1 or 2 classes so that he'd have a grade from someone else. I did use the Bravewriter Course and piano for external grades.

 

IMO, the hardest "prep" has been adjusting to the idea of not having my kid around all day. :crying: