Help me help ddil homeschool next year

[Lady Florida.]

Hello, many (most?) of you probably don't know me because I spend all my WTM forum time on the Chat Board or social groups these days, but I've been here under a few different names for nearly 20 years. I'm just letting you know fwiw. 

I'm cross posting this to the Chat Board and the K-8 board. 

 

Florida has mandated in person school for the 20-21 school year and dss/ddil aren't comfortable with that. Our 2yo granddaughter with Down Syndrome, while not immune compromised, is immune deficient and sending her six and eight year old brothers to school terrifies us all. 

Although they schooled at home for the rest of the 2019-20 year they know that's not what real homeschooling looks like. And ddil asked me for advice. With my homeschooled kid turning 23 in six weeks I'm so far removed from homeschooling young ones that I don't know what to recommend to her. I'm not even sure if some of the stuff we used back then is still available. 

They plan to homeschool for the full 2020-21 school year but unless they find that homeschooling is amazing, they'll go to school the following year assuming there's a vaccine. They learned during crisis schooling (her term) that sitting at a computer watching videos all day is not what they want to do. But they need to mostly keep up with the state and their county's grade standards so they can easily go back to school whenever that happens. Probably (they hope) 2021-22. They're open to part virtual school but don't want everything to be online.

Any suggestions? What are the good homeschool sites these days (besides these forums). Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. 

If you're in Florida, they live in Osceola County so if you know of a facebook group she can join I'd appreciate that info too. 

[Lady Florida.]

4 minutes ago, OKBud said:

 

I have advised everyone whose kids are going back to school in one year to do Oak Meadow but with a different math if they are under grade 6. 

Age 6, just math, phonics, read-alouds and going outside. 

Is Oak Meadow still super expensive? Is it worth it for one year? Both are under grade 6. Youngest just finished K so he'll be first grade, I think the 8.5 yo will be in 3rd grade 

We did read alouds and simple stuff when ds was 6 but we knew we were going to homeschool for the long haul. I hope ddil is open to that kind of homeschooling but I know she's also worried and wants to make sure he'll be ready for 2nd grade when he goes back in 21-22. 

[prairiewindmomma]

So, my background is that my older children were homeschooled, but I put my daughters into public school when I had a health crisis. I was able to volunteer in the classroom quite a bit with them.  The biggest difference between homeschool and public school (aside from classroom dynamics) is that public school children (at least in the two states my kids were in) are required to write much more at a very early age.  Kindergartners are expected to write in 1-3 sentences.  First graders were expected to write 4-7 sentences by the end of the year.  This was very different than what I expected of my children a decade ago. 

Math expectations are all over the board.  Some of that makes no sense developmentally, but one thing I would make sure of is that the third grader fully masters his multiplication facts this year and that the first grader really has addition and subtraction down.  Homeschoolers are sometimes a bit lax on that particular point.

If I were to make recommendations with regards to materials, I would focus on things that are simple, thorough, and self-sustaining.  Scrambling to find readers, art & science supplies, and other things is just flat out unrealistic at this point in time. I think would point her towards "get 'er done" style of materials rather than the ideal stuff with lots of components and planning.  CLE math is inexpensive and pretty thorough on fact drilling and easy to administer.  SOTW (text only) would work for both 1st and 3rd history.  Handwriting Without Tears workbooks are also pretty straightforward.  I'm using Voyages in English for 2nd grade grammar this next year, and I like it. Spectrum Writing is inexpensive and easy.....  If they have a bit of budget to work with, I'd look at sharing a Sonlight or BookShark core and then ordering a bunch of Let's Read and Find Out Science books. (If budget is tight, a lot of the LRFO science is all on youtube, with people reading the books.)

She might also request a Rainbow Resource catalog.  They have pre-made kits for grades (RR created) and I actually kinda like what they chose.