Seeker of Schole Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 If you knew right now that in five years you would no longer be able to homeschool, and that your children would have to attend the public school your home is zoned for, what would that mean for you? What would your priorities for the next five years be? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Oh, crud, he'd have to go to the middle school. I'd probably send him after four years so he'd come in with everybody else. Priorities... Social: Let things roll off your back. Academic: Think coherently; speak coherently; write coherently. Para-Academic: Work within a time limit. Keep track of multiple subjects' materials and due dates. The good news is that three years of middle school would probably get him "schoolified" enough for high school. The bad news is that the high school is only great if you're a top flyer, and I am not sure yet if he will be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlene Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 My son is likely going to be going to public school for high school so he has one year of home school left. This decision was pretty sudden, but I have known for a while that it was a possibility. So, for his last year of home school I am going to have him doing correspondance using the alberta program of studies for the 4 core subjects so that he will have studied the same topics the public schooled kids did the year before high school, and so that he can get used to working according to someone else's schedule and being accountable to the correspondance school teachers instead of just to me. I think that if he were going to be going into a public school at a younger age, I probably wouldn't have changed much about our home school. I would have just tried to make sure he stayed up to grade level in math, reading, and writing. (I try to keep all my kids up to grade level in math and reading anyway, but I have used WWE for writing, which is totally different than what they use in public school.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bree Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 My priorities would be to move so they wouldn't have to go to the school we are zoned for!!! ;) I would probably do school as normal and work on things that dealt with peer pressure and making right choices. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 For me, it would mean that being ahead academically would become a high priority. We are zoned for "good" suburban schools, which means the honors/AP track has a very good reputation, but the "academic" track is a joke. It would be very important for me to ensure that they were in the top track at the high school. I would want them to be prepared for that academically, and I know it would be helpful to have the test scores (on SAT & ACT, not just regular standardized tests) to back up that placement. The high school will bend over backwards for kids with the right scores. My second priority would be helping my kids learn within time limits. They don't have a lot of experience with the kind of timed tests and essays they would encounter in public school. I would want to practice that ahead of time. Other than that, I would enjoy my time with them. Five years is still five years spent together learning, and I would want that to be a joyful time. Then I would do my best to support them during the transition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Interesting question... In 5 years: dd14 -- will be in college dd12 -- will also be in college dd10 - will be a senior -- My priority with her would be to get done a year early. dd8 -- will be in 9th grade -- I would do everything I can to prepare her academically and socially for high school. I would get her ready for algebra I and I would make sure that her writing skills were top-notch. (Good writing can often make a huge difference in other classes, especially if you don't really understand the material. ;) ) I would also find out what literature the p.s. English classes offer and try to prepare her for those works, maybe even covering some of them early. I have a feeling that there are several works being taught that I think she would not be ready for emotionally. dd7 -- will probably also be in 9th grade by then -- Same as dd8 dd4 -- will be in 5th grade -- I think that I would probably make sure that she was on grade level with math and English skills. I would also prepare her for turning in work neatly and on time. This is something that I don't usually work on so early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abba12 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 First priority - MOVE After that.... my kids are younger, so reading would be my absolute top priority. I would want to send them to school with reading ability well beyond their grade. I would also put heavy focus on logic and thinking skills, both critical and creative. I'd want them to be able to think independently and analyse things at school, even at young ages. I do not want children who follow the pack. Writing, I'd want to teach them to put thought to paper fairly well. Math, I would aim to have math facts solid or as close to. Since they'd all be going into primary school (Australia) that's about all I could do to prepare them academically BUT, for me, I would after-school them. I could not just leave the schools to teach them, too many issues with the way they teach and what they teach (and don't teach). So throughout their school year and over summer I would be supplementing, primarily in the areas of reading/literature, writing, math and logic as above. Science, social studies, art, etc, these things are covered fairly well by Aussie primary schools, perhaps at the expense of core subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 A few things: I would teach cursive, since local schools are obsessed with it. lol. Content- broad content knowledge across all domains. Lots and lots of reading, documentaries, etc. Independence- teach student to record assignments in a notebook and budget time for long term assignments. I'd probably focus more on accelerating our language arts rather than math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tress Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Timely question. Chances are that homeschooling will become illegal in the Netherlands in the next few years, worst case scenario this coming school year might be our last. So I have been thinking about this a lot. I don't want to go completely school-at-home NOW, out of fear for school-at-school THEN. That would be silly :lol:. I'm going to try (!) to get math and Dutch LA on the same grade level, because being a 2th grader working on a 4th grade level in LA and a 5th grade level for Math is a problem in school. Not sure this will work, though. I'm going to use curriculum with tests, so that I can prove on which level they work. I might throw in some specific test prep stuff. My oldest will need to learn to finish a schoolyear's worth of work in a schoolyear. It's great that she is working several grade levels ahead, but unless she can keep the pace, I will not be able to convince anyone to grade skip her. Grade skipping is always problematic here. You are not supposed to be better than your peers. It often feels that the more I do at home, the more difficult situation I'm creating. Sigh. ETA, Monica, luckily I have done cursive from the beginning, so no need to worry about that ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Timely question. Chances are that homeschooling will become illegal in the Netherlands in the next few years, worst case scenario this coming school year might be our last. So I have been thinking about this a lot. :grouphug: I hadn't heard about this. I'm sorry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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