Joyfullyblessed Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Hello, I have come here looking for a bit of helpful advice. I homeschooled my son for K, 1st & 2nd grades. Due to certain circumstances, my husband and I sent him to public charter school for 3rd grade. Well, I have been completely unimpressed with this school year. While my son is happy and overall enjoys school, he is still asking that we go back to homeschool next school year for 4th grade. Things have settled down a bit in our lives to where I may be able to actually do this. However, I am wondering if I have waited too late. Meaning, I don't really know what curriculum I would like to go with, have no lessons planned, no books, etc... I genuinely have had so many other things going on that I haven't given it too much thought. What drove me crazy this past year is not really knowing what and how my son was learning. He just has not seemed to retain much of anything which drives me batty. From what I gather, there are many distractions throughout the day and my eight year old son does not work well with that happening. My sister, a third grade teacher, says this is pretty typical, especially with the boys. There also is not a ton of creativity going on it seems. The teacher is nice enough, but does a lot of standing in front of the class writing on a white board. The kids then have to copy things down on a ditto. To me that sounds very boring! Again, the teacher is very nice, but my son has not seemed to learn well while in the class. My DH and I have literally had to re-teach our son things in the evenings just so that he would do well on tests. Homework would sometimes be two hours or more because of this fact. Now I know this is not the same with all the students in the class, but it is what we are dealing with daily. Our poor son would end up in tears so many nights. That bothers me. Also, I have noticed that handwriting does not seem to be important anymore. I worked with my son for three years on handwriting and his was wonderful! I even had a fifth grade teacher say that his handwriting was neater than most of her fifth graders. This was when he was only in 1st grade! Well, just over the past year his handwriting has gone downhill sooo much! Of course, I make him rewrite things, but my son will say, but the teacher says it was fine. What??? They also jumped ALL over the place with the subjects. Especially math. There would be a something new introduced and just a few days later they would move to something else. Again, this did not work for my son. ANYWAY... after all that, my question is do you think I still have time to get together everything for 4th grade in order to make the year a successful one??? Also, any suggestions on great curriculums for this grade? I need suggestions for all subjects please. My son is definitely a very visual and interactive learner, so I am looking for something that might lean towards that learning style. Thanks so much!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Yes, you have plenty of time. What did you use when you homeschooled for 2nd grade? Why not return to those materials? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyfullyblessed Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 I used a lot of Rod and Staff, but I have gotten rid of several of those books. Other stuffed is packed away and not easy to access right now. Not really sure I want to do Rod and Staff again. I guess I am looking for something a bit more exciting, interactive, etc... I am not sure if that sounds right though. See, I need help! Haha! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 What about KONOS? It covers everything except English and math skills, and it can be as exciting and interactive as you want it to be. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2OandE Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 We decided to homeschool in May / early June last year and started Aug 20th. I had just over 2 months to get ready to homeschool two kids and it was plenty of time. You can do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 We decided to homeschool in May / early June last year and started Aug 20th. I had just over 2 months to get ready to homeschool two kids and it was plenty of time. You can do it! Dd came home one day and cried over half a page of 2nd-grade arithmetic homework. We were homeschooling two weeks later. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Most kids need a little time to detox from school. Just getting back to not have such a strict structure, being able to potty...that sort of thing. That gives parents time to see what to do and talk a lot to the child about what they want to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 It sounds like you are completely starting over, like really over. I'd go into this like it was your first year and you were a complete newbie. Buy 3R materials first, unless you see something for content that you really like. I'm really obsessive about handwriting too, and plan all my curricula choices around limiting situations that force the student to resort to bad handwriting, to get the pile of assignments done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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