what would you do???

[pjssully]

I am looking for advice, comments and feedbacks about a problem for the coming school year.  I will be homeschooling two 12 year olds, 15 year old and 17 year old.  The catch is that we will be moving at some point before Feb., we just don't know when.  We have to sell our house, and then we can move so the timing is really in God's hands.  We are moving almost across the country, Wisconsin to New Mexico.

Here is the question.  None of the kids really want to move, and are pretty upset about it.  They have never moved more than 15 miles from one house to another, so this is a HUGE deal in their lives.  I had thought about taking a year off of history and working on just geography, and incorporating our  move and investigating the new state.  However, I don't know if that would only make the kids more resentful of school, since they don't really want to move anyway.  I would also be doing geography of the eastern world, so it wouldn't be JUST the new state.

 

On the other hand, I wonder would they feel more stable doing school as we usually do it-history and lit. tied together and geography tied to our history studies.  Would the familiarity of our school studies bring more comfort to them as they face the move at some point during the school year.

 

While I know you don't know my children,  I guess I was just looking for "advice" in some way.  God knows what is best, but I am struggling to listen --I am busy with house and also pain. 

!

Thanks

pam

[almondbutterandjelly]

In times of stress, sometimes it really helps to just do the basics.  I see you have a couple in high school, but I would suggest cutting back as much as you can.  Decide which subjects are absolutely positively necessary, and do only those.  Use the rest of the time to deal with relationships and the move and whatnot.  Maybe make a few wonderful memories.  

[Harriet Vane]

We just moved a year ago to a new state. We hadn't planned to move so far from our home state, but dh's job took him here. For my kids, it was culture shock on many levels.

 

They left a warm extended family network and their grandparents (on dh's side).

They left a busy homeschooling network with lots of friends and activities.

They grew up in a dense, urban environment in a large city to move to one that is a mix of suburban and rural.

They grew up as white kids in a high-crime, poverty-stricken, African-American community. They left behind a totally different culture.

Speaking of culture, the state we have moved to is what we have been calling "southernish." It's not truly a southern state, yet many here have an accent, drive big trucks, and listen to country music. We came from a northern state where country music was openly mocked.

 

So, in other words, I get it.

 

When we moved, I made a point of buying a book of silly stories and fun facts about our new state. Both kids loved it. I also have tried hard to do some nifty field trips in our new town and new state so that we can appreciate the nice things that are here.

 

As far as history, I think you should do your usual history-geography-literature mix, because that's what's best for them academically, especially your olders. Add in a book like the one I gave my kids and a little history about the new state as a sub-unit rather than focusing the whole year around the move.

 

Also, get people to tell your kids their moving stories. It helps to talk about it with folks who have BTDT.

[Bootsie]

Especially with the 15 and 17 year old, I would be concentrating on what some of their longer term goals are.  Are they college bound?  If so, will this move impact college choices?  If you think the move will result in going to college in New Mexico, make sure that your plans match up with college entry requirements there.  If they are likely to go back to Wisconsin make sure that things are falling into place for that to happen.