Kim-Still in VA Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 My dh and I homeschooled our oldest two children, ending about ten years ago when they entered high school. We used The Well Trained Mind and related classical materials and it was a very successful and fulfilling journey....loved homeschooling and used these boards frequently. We now have a 13yod (7th grade) and her journey has been different. We enrolled her in public school in K-5 as dh entered seminary and I started working full-time. She is an Aspergers Syndrome child (high-functioning) with Sensory Disorder issues. She always had been able to manage those things at school and we just discussed with her teachers each year what minor accomodations might be necessary. Last Spring she experienced several traumas and losses on top of normal adolescent physical changes that sent her into a depressed spiral. This school year, she has only been able to attend school a third of the days and we finally had to withdraw her this week and gave our notice of intent to homeschool. Her sensory and Aspie issues are so elevated right now due to the other issues, that she cannot function in the chaos and pressure at school. Our immediate need is to just get through the rest of the 7th grade, while allowing her time to complete her emotional healing and continue working on mental health issues. We are not only out of touch with current homeschool resources, but do not have the financial resources to invest in a lot of purchases. Nor would we want to since we're only concerned about the last few months of this year. We don't have time to do a lengthy research on the options. Homeschooling is "foreign" to her and she is grieving the loss of her school (even though she is in agreement with this decision). We don't necessarily want to mimic the school structure she knows, but do want to provide enough structure and materials so that she knows what she is doing each day and doesn't feel like it's "piece meal" that we are making up as we go along. We are focusing on just the core subjects for now (English, History, Math & Science). Anything else will be as she is able and ready. Are there are any truly "free" online courses or schools? (we are in Virginia) Some say they are and then there is some caveat and they're not. She is a computer whiz and is very mature and independent. If she had stayed in public school, she said she could have done it if she could have sat in a quiet room alone and did her work. She certainly can do that at home! I know this is long and probably rambling, but would appreciate any info or tips for us at this time. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 For history and science, pick research topics and hit the library. Let her just read and take notes and write summaries. She could do a project to show what she's learning--a flip book or something on a trifold board or something??? For math, you might consider Singapore because it's cheap. For English, get a grammar book (Rod and Staff is top-notch as far as content and structure) and a reading list. I can help with a reading list if you like--let me know what she likes and what you have in mind for her. You can also check the reading lists at Hewitt (Lightning Literature) or Sonlight or My Father's World. The Hewitt lists are especially good. I don't know your religious affiliation--these companies are religious, so the reading lists reflect that to some extent, but there are tons of good, classic books on their lists that are delightful for anyone to read no matter what your philosophical base. I am also happy to provide suggestions. Since it's not for the long term, you should feel free to let her enjoy a special season of reading and researching. It's a great opportunity to do something unschooly. With the grammar book and math in place she will be fine to re-enter school later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Definitely check your library for what free resources you can find. Do you have reliable internet access that your child could use regularly? Does she do well with computers? If so, there is also Khan Academy for free math lessons. You might look at Math Mammoth as well since it can usually be found pretty cheaply and there are free video explanations on line. You could look at the Education Portal website, as well. Would the school be willing to lend you materials to help her get through the rest of the school year? There are a lot of good books available for free that are in the public domain. There are many bloggers that offer free unit studies and Donna Young has some great and completely free organizational and documenting materials, among other things. http://donnayoung.org/index.htm I would also suggest finding a used book store and checking with any homeschooling co-ops in your area. I picked up two excellent used reference books for under a dollar each and a World History text for a buck at a used book store through a co-op. Libraries sometimes have a lot of used books on sale for next to nothing. And with regards to the homeschool co-ops, they might have a curriculum swap or people who are trying to get rid of old stuff. You might get lucky at a garage sale, too.... If she has friends from school that she wants to stay in contact with, I urge you to be proactive about that. Once she is not in the classroom anymore, they may not actively seek her company, not because they don't care but because kids tend to be "out of sight, out of mind" in their approach to life and kids are usually very busy. Schedule get togethers, even if it is inconvenient. If you don't have an easy way to contact parents, talk to the teachers and see what could be done to reach them through the school. I am certain there will be lots of great suggestions from other posters on here that can help you, even if none of the above do. Big hugs and best wishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I think having a routine to your day in general--getting up at the same time, having meals at the same time, doing normal household chores and whatnot--would be a good thing, but I have to tell you that your daughter will need *several* months of not doing school before she recovers herself. I know that VA law requires more accountability than some other states, testing and whatnot, but honestly, you will want to do whatever you can to lighten the academics while providing the structure. Make use of your library. You can easily do history and English literature with only the library. Oh, and check out Ambleside Online. It's Charlotte Mason, and uses many trade books (books you could buy or find at the library) instead of textbooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Have you looked at CK-12, http://www.ck12.org ? It is totally free and you have access to free online textbooks in math and science. You can tweek the textbooks any way you want by adding videos, audio, and additional text. dI just signed up and built a text based upon our plans for interest-led science next year. It was a learning curve using their site, but I did it. For literature there are plenty of free classics available as Kindle books or through Gutenburg, booksshouldbefree.com, Google books, and Amazon. If you don't have a Kindle, you can read them on an ipad or your computer. Amazon offers a free app (Kindle PC app) to allow you to read Kindle books on your PC. Google books has the William Henry Maxwell grammar books available for free download: Introductory and Advanced Lessons in English Grammar. History would be easy as you can just google a topic and go. If you're looking for a thorough survey of American History free online, you might want to try http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ Finally, if you want a free total curriculum, you can look at the following sites: http://www.amblesideonline.org/ http://allinonehomeschool.com/ http://oldfashionededucation.com/fullcurriculum.htm (Christian and may have some costs at some point) I hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scimath3456 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 It might be worth a call to your state department of education to see if there are any online charter schools in your state. I live in NH and there is a completely free online charter school for both middle school and high school. Non-residents are charged tuition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim-Still in VA Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Wow! Thank you to those who responded and each response contains helpful information and encouragement. DH and I will look all of the resources over. Our daughter has told us that things are moving too quickly and she needs time to adjust to this change and decompress. As parents, we waffle between hearing that, and feeling the pressure of her having to take a year-end test to satisfy state requirements. We are concerned with how much work she has missed and what she really has retained through her emotional fog. I appreciate all of the information! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Do you still have your 1st edition copy of the Well Trained Mind? I like the instructions in the grades 7 and 8 for using the Eyewitness books for science. It could be applied to other subjects too, and the eyewitness books are widely available at libraries.I would use a lot of journaling for output. Get some books from the library on zentangling, doodling, patterns, borders, and color theory. Take a look at "Waldorf main lesson books". Have her spend time doodling and drawing borders around her journal entries. Have her make her own giant cheat sheet book of basic content, rules, timelines, etc.The Everything You Need to Know about Homework series will be helpful for cheat sheet lists in history, science and geography. You can do better for math and English. The series is cheap and usually available at libraries. http://store.scholastic.com/Books/Boxed-Sets-and-Collections/Everything-You-Need-To-Know-Pack-of-6Math Essentials is cheap, has free online videos, and doesn't take too much time each day. http://rfisher.powweb.com/melinda/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Whispersync sets are a cheap way to acquire ebooks and matching audio book sets. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000827761 This college prep reading list by James Stobaugh might work for you this year. https://www.forsuchatimeasthis.com/Downloads/College_Prep_Reading_List.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Here's a thread that might help (or overwhelm!) you - Free Curriculum List. If you check out the tags on that thread, there are even more threads. Best wishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 It looks like VA may allow a religious exemption, which exempts you from all reporting: http://vahomeschoolers.org/pdf/avenues_for_legal_compliance.pdf (I have friends who are unschoolers in VA, and I've heard them talking about adding each child to the exemption as the child hits school age, which is why I thought of it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Connections Academy and K12, at least as they are called here are charter virtual public schools done from home--I think it exists in VA too. That could be free and probably pretty much what she is used to from PS without the chaos. Khan Academy has math and other subjects (some science and history areas, esp. art history) online for free. Art of Problem Solving has its videos and problems for free. Ruth Beechick has a very inexpensive book about writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 English Made Simple is available at most libraries, or very cheap. http://www.amazon.com/English-Simple-Revised-Edition-Step/dp/0385174837 There is a 14 page section on spelling that covers the rules and provides some really good commonly misspelled lists. For some basic material to journal for English these lists are great. http://www.sanchezclass.com/writing.htm I especially like the capitalization and punctuation list. http://www.sanchezclass.com/capitalization-punctuation.htm For learning to PROPERLY address an envelope, and to learn to write a basic 5 paragraph research essay, I like Writer's Express. It's very cheap and available at most libraries. I know Write Source 2000 is supposed to be for middle school and this one for 4-6, but this one is better in many ways for mastering the basics. I would use Write Source 2000 NEXT year, is she is still home and has mastered all of Writer's Express. http://www.amazon.com/Great-Source-Writers-Express-hardcover/dp/0669471631 For the research grid, fold up a large piece of art paper. Combine with these free lessons from the Sample of Write On! http://www.kid-friendly-homeschool-curriculum.com/support-files/writeoninstructorsguide.pdf and http://web.archive.org/web/20100209045138/http://www.kid-friendly-homeschool-curriculum.com/Homeschool-writing-contest.html Journaling, Letter writing, 5 paragraph research essays, mastering the capitalization/punctuation rules and spelling rules/lists, and reading from the reading list is a complete Language Arts program for the rest of the year. If all of that is not enough, there are ideas in Writer's Express to keep her busy and provide some variety. There just isn't that much of the school year left, though to plan too much. I've tried to be very specific about what I have suggested based on what you have told me, and how little of the school year is left. Good luck! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Barnes and Nobles has this thing called "Presentation Books". Inside are 24 2-sided sheet protectors with a pretty definite middle separation. Two of these books would provide room for 24 journal pages in each of the 4 core subjects. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-quatrefoil-black-white-presentation-book-pvc/22464429?ean=9780594009917 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-jonathan-adler-love-dove-presentation-book/19528178?ean=9781615570591 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-jonathan-adler-pink-elephant-presentation-book/25054749?ean=9780594512004 I don't know if your daughter is a perfectionist, but many people on the spectrum struggle with OCD and perfectionism, and this would be the safest, but still pretty way to start journaling. I just saw your post about your daughter's request to rest. I have severe PTSD and understand. I would give her room to rest. You cannot recover mental health without rest. Pushing backfires. Deadlines and expectations just don't get met. PERIOD! Pushing people on the spectrum who are overwhelmed often leads to self-harm and anorexia; be careful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 It might be worth a call to your state department of education to see if there are any online charter schools in your state. I live in NH and there is a completely free online charter school for both middle school and high school. Non-residents are charged tuition. The accountability issues with on-line charter schools may likely be problematic for this child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I just remembered another curriculum which you might be interested in. In fact, I plan to purchase it when I can for the wealth of ebooks and documents alone. I does cost $99, but this is a very small price for the hundreds of ebooks that you receive: A2 Curriculum http://www.accelerated-achievement.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 If the school will lend you textbooks, I'd borrow them. If not, you can usually find a previous edition at very reasonable prices on Amazon (like less than $10 shipped). I'd use those for the rest of this year for the continuity. If you decide to homeschool next year you'll have time to look at easier to use resources, but for now I'd stick with what your dd knows. Good luck to both of you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Do you know what the tests look like? She undoubtedly needs downtime, so I'd minimize anything not absolutely necessary or sought out/desired by her. If you know what's covered, I'd try to figure out her gaps and cover just that with her. Anything else would be interest led. Can you get her current school texts online or otherwise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueTaelon Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Connections Academy( aka K12) at least as it is called here is charter virtual public school done from home--I think it exists in VA too. That would be free and probably pretty much what she is used to from PS without the chaos. Khan Academy has math and other subjects (some science and history areas, esp. art history) online for free. Art of Problem Solving has its videos and problems for free. Ruth Beechick has a very inexpensive book about writing. Connections and K12 are totally different programs and its an insult to K12 to say they are the same as Connections which is about 2-3 years below K12's same grade level classes. For the OP, after some decompression time maybe a virtual school option would work for you? Nationally there is k12.com and connectionsacademy.com both of which are free and provide everything you need but most schools have closed enrollment for the year. You also have the option to pay for K12 online access, we buy the materials used cheap used on ebay and amazon when I need to pay for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemom Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I don't have much to offer as free available resources but we went through something similar with our dd last year. Due to health issues which included anxiety, we pulled her out midway thru 5th grade to homeschool. I knew a couple of homeschool families so I immediately contacted them and purchased curriculum based on their recommendations. Good curriculum-IEW, Saxon, SOTW, etc... My then 10 yr old dd had only known the ps way of doing things. She struggled and shed a lot of tears over the new curriculum and how different everything was compared to the way she had been learning for the last six years. Add all of that on top of the health issues and no longer seeing her friends every day (plus Mom was now the "teacher"). It all just added more stress on top of the stress she was already dealing with. We had lots of days of "that's not the way they do things at..." Tears every day. :crying: I ended up trying three math programs within a few weeks and finally settled on the same book she had been using in ps. Finally, no more tears. It was long a year for both of us. I understand the need to not have homeschool look like the ps model but that may be exactly what your dd needs right now to help her get back on track. With only three months left in this school year, I would definitely talk with her old school and see if you can borrow some of the books-maybe math and science or history. If that is not a possibility, you can usually find the ps books used at Amazon for less than $10. As far as English-have her do some journaling and a lot of reading for the rest of this year. If she doesn't like journaling, check out the Brave Writer's website and her Friday Free Write blog. Netflix has great documentaries for history and lots of science shows. My advice-let your dd focus on healing for the next six months. She will come back next fall that much stronger and ready for 8th grade. My dd now loves homeschooling and all the fun we are allowed to have! We have ditched the ps books too. Best of luck to you and your daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 :grouphug: One new "resource" is a computer adaptive test. It is especially good for a student like yours that is likely to be ahead in some areas and at grade level or a bit behind in others. The ADAM k-7 math portion is linked to a bit of free remediation from Kahn Academy. If you need spelling or reading remediation after, there are ideas on my website, and you can post here for ideas. I think the $20 per test is well worth it, it was much more informative for us than a test that just spanned one grade level. http://www.letsgolearn.com/lglsite/ADAM_math/parents/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/lglsite/DORA_K_12/parents/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Connections and K12 are totally different programs and its an insult to K12 to say they are the same as Connections which is about 2-3 years below K12's same grade level classes. For the OP, after some decompression time maybe a virtual school option would work for you? Nationally there is k12.com and connectionsacademy.com both of which are free and provide everything you need but most schools have closed enrollment for the year. You also have the option to pay for K12 online access, we buy the materials used cheap used on ebay and amazon when I need to pay for it. I did not mean to insult your program. All I knew of this is I thought a neighbor was doing what they have referred to with both sets of terms as one program. I corrected my prior post to indicate that it is two programs. In looking this up, I checked K12 for my own state and here at least it still has enrollment open. However, from what you say, maybe if they were taking this approach Connections being so much easier would make more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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