Do you remember your FIRST year?

[Jpoy85]

Do you remember your first year homeschooling? Have you changed since then? Was it harder or easier than you thought?

 

--------------

Ive been HSing since 2010, but weve come a long way since then i feel like. 2010-11 we used lessonpathways.com and I felt all over the place. I didnt feel organized. C did learn things, but there wasnt organized thought to it. 2011-12 we started with a more formal curriculum and i have to say that did make a HUGE difference. For awhile we un-schooled, but over all I felt good.

~ This coming year though, i feel GREAT. I feel like I have a much better understanding for myself and C, even L and what we need to do during school time and where i want them to be educationally. I feel like its easier since I started, but harder. When I started out, it was " lets see where this goes and do a craft or two" and now im trying to teach L to write her name and C to skip count.

 

So Do you remember?? :001_smile:

[KristenR]

I remember it fondly-- because I'm there now. hehhehe :D

[alisoncooks]

I remember it fondly-- because I'm there now. hehhehe :D

 

Haha, I was going to say that.

But I will say that I've made big changes this year and now feel like we are finally on a path (instead of randomly hopping from place to place with no real purpose or plan).

[Carrie12345]

I took such baby steps!

 

In 2007/08, I enrolled my daughter in a public cyber for K. Older ds was still in school, and I had a 4yo and baby at home.

 

2008/09, I enrolled ds in a public cyber for 5th, and went solo with the girls.

 

2009/10 and 10/11, I had 3 "regular" homeschoolers.

 

Ds went back to school 2 months into this school year, so I'm back to 2 homeschoolers, but will be up to 3 again in the fall.

 

I am SO much more confident and secure in my resources than I was in the beginning!

[sahm99]

Yes I do.:ack2::ack2::ack2:

 

...good news is, by the end of that year I had it all figured out!:smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:

[m0mmaBuck]

I pulled my then 2nd grader out of PS when Christmas Break started in Dec 2009. I had read TWTM and talked with some local HS'ing moms but was really afraid it wasn't going to work. I bought curriculum based on suggestions in the book and from here and tried to do everything "right." Since then, I have figured out (more or less) what works and what doesn't. I've also figured out that it's nearly impossible to do a classical education (as much as I want to) with a child that hates to read. I know he needs his LA portion (writing, grammar, spelling) to be much less rigorous than a true classical education would require. And I know he'll still be OK even if we don't stay on track with the calendar/plan I have set for us.

 

Honestly, we still make the decision to HS year-to-year and I don't recommend doing it that way. I constantly feel pressure to keep him on track with his PS comrades just in case we put him back into PS. We don't have nearly as much fun or follow as many rabbit trails as we would if we were 100% committed to the long haul.

[Mom22ns]

I remember. It was 4 years ago and it was terrific. I have changed a lot since then, some for the better even. However, I still look back with fondness on that first year.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My poor kids :001_huh: I used ALL Abeka because everybody locally told me it was "THE BEST!!" Ummm-- yeah. I think that was the worst possible curriculum for me and my kids. They still have night mares about Abeka. Then we did a mix of Abeka and Bob Jones for everything (and by a combination I mean we did both full curricula history, science and reading.) Then a friend introduced me to TWTM and introduced me to a whole world of curriculum past Abeka and Bob Jones. Then that same friend gave me her old RR catalog. I blame her for my curriculum addiction now :glare:

 

 

One thing I REALLY REALLY REALLY regret is I was SO strick with dd now 4th who was at the time a 1st grader. I made her do all of her school work (bible, math, english, reading, history, science--- plus whatever else we did back then-- school took about 8 hours a day back then :crying:) I really wish I had eased up on her and let her be a 1st grader and play more. I can't go back and change it but compared to what ds's do now and what she did--- <sigh> I guess we all learn, right?

 

I don't think I use any of the same curriculum. :D

[usetoschool]

I do. We were using Konos, LLATL, and Miquon and a few other random things I don't recall. I remember building the Konos ear canal in my kids room. It was pretty fun. My oldest strong willed child had gone to public school kindergarten and it took most of the first year to undo the intense sight word reading (guessing!) that they used and to convince her that I really did know something and could be the teacher as well as the mommy.

 

It was 1992 and I can even remember the colors of the books and the feels and smells like it was yesterday. The intervening years are all kind of a busy jumble but that first year has clear, wonderful memories.

 

We kept all the school work on a shelf in the kitchen. :lol:

Edited April 16, 2012 by jcooperetc

[Embassy]

Do you remember your first year homeschooling? Have you changed since then? Was it harder or easier than you thought?

 

 

Yes. It was the 2007-2008 school year. It was my most difficult year yet because I discovered my son didn't learn in the expected sequence or rate. I've changed and learned to adapt to my children's learning style.

 

Our first year was quite different from what we do now because I was working full-time and needed to use a packaged curriculum. I have much more time to invest now.

[Mandy in TN]

Yes, I remember it. Yes, I have changed. Homeschooling has never been a problem, so I wouldn't say that it is easier or more difficult. However, some years the kids were easier or more difficult. :)

 

2002-2003 was our first year officially homeschooling. It was also the year that the little man was born. We had been doing things with the homeschool group beginning in that winter 2002, because I knew we planned to homeschool my second son that fall. Bringing the oldest home was a surprise. The week before school started he asked to stay home, too. So, I scrambled to put together school for him. Then, the little guy was born that fall.

 

Yes, I have changed- mostly in that thinking through what I want to do and organizing materials doesn't take as long as it did. I have also changed simply because I am older.

 

Homeschooling fits our family. It works with our lifestyle. So, the difficulties that we have had are primarily those that we would have had even if the kids were in a traditional classroom- active toddler, prepubescent hormones arriving with its companions (anger, angst, & attitude), pubescent brain fog, growth spurts when suddenly a teen needed as much sleep as a toddler, etc. I never felt that adding another person or an entire public institution to the equation would have make it easier.

 

OTOH, I acknowledge that, particularly in high school, traditional classrooms offer things that are difficult to provide in a homeschool environment and I would not want to attempt to homeschool a teen who didn't want to be at home. When my older two hit junior high, we discussed putting them in school. We talked about how in TN it is difficult to mainstream high school after beginning it at home, so high school really needed to be a 4 year commitment.

 

In junior high I took both boys to visit the local public school. With my oldest it was planned and the school we were zoned for was awful. When we left, no while we were there, we (both ds and I) knew that we were not interested. We moved and second ds was taken to a different local school unplanned in the middle of some prepubescent drama where he was refusing to do school work. He left never wanting to see the inside of that building again and much more willing to work for me. I left pretty impressed and feeling like it wouldn't be the end of the world if he ended up there.

 

Both my big boys chose to stay at home. I plan to discuss the same options with the little man.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[foxbridgeacademy]

We've got almost 5 years of HSing under our belt. It is so much easier now. At first I tried the school-at-home approach. Never could do it properly. As the years have gone by I've relaxed a lot.

[happyhomemaker25]

May 1, 2006. We adopted our kids the Friday before and I went straight to the schoolboard to file our intent to homeschool. I had read TWTM twice and knew exactly what I was doing. Monday morning I pulled out our number 2 pencils and we took off with everything TWTM said we should. A week later we were all miserable. It was a very bad experience. I left classical education for a few years. That is a decision I will forever regret. My two oldest missed out on a lot of skills they should have now and I have had to back waaaaaay up for them. They are doing so much better now, though and my younger children will greatly benefit from the mistakes I made.

I should say character wise my kids are amazing. I like to think that's because of homeschooling. Academically, we could be much further along, but I am happy with who they are. :D

[keyjoh62080]

OH BOY!!! Do I remember that year!!!!

It was just 2 years ago and I remember it being the most frustrating and challenging year of my life.

I tried SO hard to bring the public school into my home as it was all that I knew. I was so uptight with homeschooling. Now finishing up our second year....WOOHOO!!!

I know my teaching style and my children's learning styles and things couldn't be better. Heart of Dakota had a lot to do with it as well and R&S Math and English :lol::lol:

 

I am so laid back now, sometimes too laid back I think :)

The best curriculum is the curriculum that actually gets done. We are all very happy.

 

I do remember that we didn't get very much done the first year which added to my frustration. All the fears of failing myself and my kids was very overwhelming. I tried to do too much at one time--with the public school-at-home approach. We then took time to de-school ourselves as we ALL needed it. After that just sticking to the 3R's the rest of the year. We did start out this second year behind but am pretty much caught up--homeschooling year round has helped tremendously in being able to do that. It has also helped to take off a lot of pressure.

Edited April 16, 2012 by keyjoh62080
Forgot to mention...

[erinjo]

I am just finishing off my second year, so my first wasn't very long ago.

 

It changed everything for me. Homeschooling has changed so much about my life and our family dynamic. I am SO grateful for the changes it has brought to our family. We have had frustrations and challenges but it's been really good. :)

[Hunter]

I started afterschooling about 1996(?) and started homeschooling my 10 year old 2E aspie in 1998(?) before anyone even knew what those terms meant including me and his pediatrician. I pulled my "normal" 8th grade child out in 2000(?) for what was only supposed to be a catch up year, to prep for high school, but...things turned out very differently, and 3 years later he was working almost full time and putting himself through the local junior college as a 16 year old. At barely 19 he was entirely self sufficient and living in Las Vegas. All by flouting EVERY default rule about how to do high school ever published :-0

 

I don't even know where to start, as things are so different now. I'm divorced and recovering from severe Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and a considerable amount of brain damage. So first and foremost I am here as a self-educator, working on some VERY basic skills sometimes.

 

I also tutor quite a bit, because even on my bad days, my tutoring students yell at me, "You know stuff that I don't. Stop holding out on me and TEACH me what you know! I got no time for humility and excuses g*d d***it." So...I teach, despite not always being sure that I should be, but it's easier than getting yelled at :-0

 

And I tutor by proxy. My home library has become a haven for aunties, flying over to scoop up materials, to run to their frazzled sister's house, to help the nieces and nephews with their homework. It's an odd scenario that has now become a very very common occurrence :-0 I enjoy the 4 o'clock rushes :-) I try to plan my errands accordingly.

 

And my oldest son has been married for about a year now and grandbabies will be arriving before I know it. I've had no contact with my 2E son since the divorce, but...I can be d***ed sure he'll be homeschooling any kids he has, and without so much as an "I'm sorry for ignoring you", I can expect him on my doorstep, fully expecting my undivided attention and assistance. That's just the way he is. He still thinks I was born the day he was born, entirely as his assistant through life, and for no other purpose. I've just been temporarily retired until I'm needed again. Sigh! Within reason I'll accommodate him...but as I said...I've changed a LOT and it will be on my terms this time, not his.

 

Could things be any more different? I don't think so! When I describe my old life to people who know me here in the city now, they howl with laughter, and accuse me of making stuff up. One of my neighbors tells me to keep the stories coming because he enjoys them so much, but to please not insult him by asking him to believe them. :lol: I don't think he believes me that I had kids, never mind homeschooled them :-0

Edited April 16, 2012 by Hunter

[Miss Marple]

I remember it quite well although it was 1996 (well, 1995 if you count kindergarten, which I didn't do "formally").

 

My poor oldest son was such a guinea pig. I had just had my last son and the pregnancy had been extremely difficult (hospital stays, medications, echos, you name it) so I wasn't in the best of shape to start schooling a 1st grader with 2 toddlers and a premie newborn.

 

So...on the advice of some older homeschoolers, I ordered the complete ABeka 1st grade. I made that poor boy sit through ALL the lessons on DVD! He was such a trooper - the most obedient and sweet boy. After about a semester, I was sitting with him and saw his frustration as he would raise his hand to answer a question only to remember that the teacher could not see him :tongue_smilie: I concluded that sitting through those lectures was a total waste of his time! By that time I was feeling so much better, baby was on a good schedule as were the todddlers. So we packed those dvds away and just used the written materials.

 

After that year, I figured out a lot more about what I wanted from homeschooling, and what my son's strengths and weaknesses were which allowed me to tailor a program for him...rather than worrying about what others called a "good" education :D

 

Today, I am a complete tweaker - we make things work for us.

[Meriwether]

Yes, I do. It was great. I would have changed a few things but Dd was a bright, eager student and the boys played together while we did school. You can't buy that setup.

[Ohmomjacquie]

This is our second year. Honestly our first year was rough. A daily battle over work etc.we changes things and it has been much better! Ii have recently discovered that I I like cm /classical approach and am very excited about mfw program next year!

[txhomemom]

Our first year was in 2004. I had just graduated with my bachelor's degree and was originally planning to go back to work full-time. After my dd's experience in kindergarten I knew we would be homeschooling. I remember when my dh and I went to our first homeschooling convention that year and were awed by things like K12 (it was pretty new on the scene at the time). I think the well-trained mind and SOTW were relatively new as well, don't think all the volumes were out then. Math U See was the hottest math program at that time, but Singapore math was quickly picking up speed! I think Konos might have been a lot more popular back then because there were not many options for unit studies. I also remember Shiller Math being at a lot of conventions back then, but have not seen it around much anymore.

 

There were tons of companies and programs that did not exist back then, Winter Promise, Pandia Press, All About Spelling, Elemental Science, Growing With Grammar, etc, tons of really great stuff that we just did not have available to choose from.

[TheApprentice]

I do.:eek: My middle ds was in third grade at the time and the only thing that worked was MCP math. My younger ds had a better first year because we used McRuffy math and language arts. I can't remember what science I used for him. Definitely a time with lots of:confused:. Now I know what I'm doing.:D No really, I do.;)

[WeeBeaks]

I remember it. It was my oldest's pre-K year (he is 4th grade now). We used Sonlight, but it was before it was P3/4 and P4/5. I stretched the pre-K core over a couple years, adding in different things the second year. Those are some great memories. :)

 

It seems to chaotic now with 4 kids. Not bad, just different and busier. It was so peaceful back then yet I recall feeling busy at the time. :lol:

[Walking-Iris]

We've always homeschooled. I knew I wanted to when I was pregnant. I had the advantage of having a lot of homeschooled friends and even dated a guy in college who had been, so I wasn't unfamiliar with the terrain. So I homeschooled preschool with my oldest. Mainly that was lots of reading, talking, playing, art and exploring. Learning to write and read.

 

I guess my first real year was Kinder and we mainly focused on reading...we read a lot and didn't do a whole lot else. I handmade some Montessori type math manipulatives and got a few workbooks at the dept store and we used some ETC and a McGraw-Hill Kinder reading book (I don't even remember).

 

I wanted to unschool and so that went into 1st as well, but I started Sequential Spelling and Miquon with him. He started HWT. And we started some unschooling type science and geography type lessons. We started to stick pretty closely to Ambleside in his 1st grade year as well.

 

The biggest change I've made was at the end of his 1st grade year and the beginning of his 2nd grade. Unschooling was not working and I plan and research and schedule things more than I did in our first early years. We became more CM with some extra thrown in and this year I started adding a lot of Classical/WTM elements. Now I find myself toning that down and adding more Waldorf inspired methods. I think because I have a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old and I know I won't completely unschool again, so I'm trying to find some gentle yet structured early learning stiff for them.

[JudoMom]

Do you remember your first year homeschooling? Have you changed since then? Was it harder or easier than you thought?

 

--------------

Ive been HSing since 2010, but weve come a long way since then i feel like. 2010-11 we used lessonpathways.com and I felt all over the place. I didnt feel organized. C did learn things, but there wasnt organized thought to it. 2011-12 we started with a more formal curriculum and i have to say that did make a HUGE difference. For awhile we un-schooled, but over all I felt good.

~ This coming year though, i feel GREAT. I feel like I have a much better understanding for myself and C, even L and what we need to do during school time and where i want them to be educationally. I feel like its easier since I started, but harder. When I started out, it was " lets see where this goes and do a craft or two" and now im trying to teach L to write her name and C to skip count.

 

So Do you remember?? :001_smile:

 

Yes, I remember. We've always homeschooled, and we'd been doing preschool, so his K year wasn't too much of a shock. I did make a nice schedule with breaks as recommended in WTM. Sometime during the first week he asked me if he could please not have any breaks because he just wanted to finish. That was the year my 3rd son started with his arthritis symptoms, so we spent lots of time at various doctors and he spent a lot of time on my lap crying in pain or sleeping. That derailed some plans.

 

I'm able to discern what is important more easily now, and I'm more confident (at least for grades K-6). I wish I had relaxed more (while keeping the same standards)--I spent too much time worrying about not getting things done or unimportant details. Of course, now I'm freaking out a bit inside about high school.

[MamaSheep]

Oh my yes! Ds had just finished a disastrous year of 3rd grade at our (really very decent) local public school. He just had "issues" that were so very NOT compatible with a classroom setting, and it was really pushing him past the breaking point. We had decided to do a trial run of homeschool over the summer to see if we could make it work. That way, if I really couldn't do it (and I had serious doubts--if a whole team of "professionals" at school couldn't do the job, who was I to think I could take it on single-handed?) then we could just put him back in school and he could pick up where he left off.

 

Even with him diving under the table and trying to stab me with his pencil every time I got out the math book, and shredding (at light speed!) any paper I wanted him to write more than one word on, and even with all the screaming and crying and pummeling and recalcitrance, it was more of a success than school had been, and we could see him beginning to uncoil inside a bit, so when fall arrived we kept going.

 

We're just finishing up our 9th grade year now. I still stress a bit about whether I'm remotely adequate to the task, but it helps to look back at where we were and compare that with where we are now, not just academically, but with mental and emotional stability, life skills, social skills, etc. You can't argue with results. Still, high school intimidates me. But I'm much better at evaluating materials now, and really I don't have to KNOW EVERYTHING to teach high school, I just need to know how to pick good books, and then teach ds what to do with them.

 

Our homeschool is very different now from when we began. In the early days I had to sit right with him and coach him through every. little. step. of. every. task. Extreme micromanagement. But left to himself he'd have a panic attack and the whole day would be down the tubes. It was extremely hard to plan because he was so unpredictable. Since then, though, I've gotten much better at creating plans that have both structure (to keep us on track and help us see our progress) and flexibility (so it can actually happen, in spite of the unpredictability of life around here). And I've gotten ds to become gradually more independent as well; nowadays I can generally give him a list of work to do, and he will just do it. I don't even need to be in the building. (Except there are a couple of subjects and/or tasks that he still likes me nearby for, just in case.)

 

Anyway, my answer is yes, I remember our first year. They're not really happy memories. It was a HARD, HARD year. But comparing life now to life then makes me VERY happy.

[Mommy22alyns]

Yes, I remember it. If I could go back, I wouldn't be so hard on Rebecca. :( We started when she was in K. Partway through, I gained a preschool student too, as Sylvia dropped out of her class. ;) There were definitely bumps in the road and I feel like I'm just now hitting the point where I can stick with some curricula. I hope.

[JessReplanted]

Yes, I was a freak. :ack2:

 

I used Abeka, and tried to teach my 5 1/2 year old son how to write in cursive. I also chose The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as our first read aloud (for a boy K-er). What was I thinking??! :lol:

 

I also had a one year old and a two year old. It was SO crazy. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm so glad I've lightened up since then!

[Samiam]

I do.

My oldest was in 1st. We bought a bunch of 1st grade stuff from a Teacher Store locally. Most of it did not work for us. Then I bought the entire 1st grade Calvert curriculum, except upped to 2nd grade math. It was one of the curriculums that seemed to pop up alot on my internet search.

 

Like someone else posted, we did everything single thing, by the book. At the desk by 9 a.m., get dressed, etc. I remember reading WTM and thinking it was unrealistic (been a huge WTM fan after reading it a 2nd time the second year, and have read it about 4-5 times at this point).

 

I'm sure 1st was not alot of fun for my child. Actually, I am sure I've learned a few things on our journey and my poor 1st born has taken the brunt of my stumbling on the learning path. Course, he's also had a great education for the most part. I also look back and see myself being very smug on how EASY this was. Rolling my eyes at myself now.

[Jilly]

Our first year was lovely and gave me the confidence to continue this journey. My twins were 5, and I order all their curriculum from TangleWood, and we read so many good books. One of the books was Story of the World, and both my kids fell in love with history that year. :001_smile:

[raceNzanesmom]

Oh yes, I remember it well. I'm sure my oldest does too. 7th grade, all A Beka, by the book. :001_huh: Thankfully, I found CM and we moved toward that for 8th (with some glitches because he was working on a local movie). 9-12 were a breeze after that, lol.

[amyrjoy]

Oh, yes. I was too hard on my DD then, who was a first grader. Especially with math, and I think I should've just changed the curriculum then but I pushed. I really should've listened to HER, nothing else, and made it easier on us all. Lots of tears then. Soooo glad homeschooling got better for us. We are finishing up our third year- it's been the best so far!