JaniceO Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 A friend wants to pull her daughters out of school after report cards at the end of the month. She never in a million years imagined homeschooling and is totally lost. I pulled my kids out of public school, but we started at the beginning of the school year. She will probably only homeschool while she is here (about another 2 years). My question is, what advice do I give her to finish out the school year? I have plenty of suggestions and help for next year, but I'm clueless about how to finish out a year already started. Her daughters are, I think, in 5th grade and 8th grade. Most curriculum is designed for a year, so how would you start it this late? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keptwoman Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I would forget the fact it's part way through the year. Do placement tests in chosen programs (if applicable) and start them at the beginning of whatever is chosen. They may already know some stuff and be able to skip it but it's a good opportunity to cement knowledge anyway. For things like history and science she could do some unit studies along the lines of what interests the children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Do you know if they are working at grade level or are they significantly behind in certain academic areas? Are there behavior issues? If there are behavior issues those need to be addressed first before academics are considered. I would consider having both kids take the CLE diagnostic test for math and language arts and start them there. CLE is very easy to just pick up and go. She could get started as soon as she was able to place them in a level. She would not have to continue with it next year. Also, it is very inexpensive for starting in the middle of the year. In my state of NY, you have to have a plan of instruction submitted to the school district four weeks after they receive the letter of intent. We are in a pretty tightly regulated state. Yours is probably much easier. She will probably have up to 4 weeks after pulling them out to figure out what she is doing. I would caution about doing too much to soon. I would encourage her to start with the basics (math, reading, writing) as inexpensively as possible. Have the kids go to the library once a week to fill in their science and history for now. Best wishes to your friend. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaniceO Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 I imagine her daughters are either at or above grade level, as they seem like bright girls. There are no behavior issues. We do not have a good school here and I imagine that has a lot to do with why she is pulling them out (it's why I pulled mine out). I will be talking to her tonight to find out more. We also have no regulations here for homeschooling. We are military stationed overseas in Italy. I do want to make sure she's careful with the older one since she will be in high school next year and will probably want to transfer her back to PS. CLE would actually be great because of how they break up their programs, but I'm pretty sure she wants more secular material. I will definitely recommend she take it slow and lean more towards a unit study for science and history. She's thinking about a boxed curriculum (Calvert), but I'm not sure how that will work for the rest of this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in CA Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Well, I may just take the rest of this year and dive into History, Geography and Italian heavily. Meanwhile, I would research and plan for the next year. Susie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanie Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I would ignore the calendar and start at the beginning of whatever programs I chose. If she really wants to finish up the books by next September (to stay on the traditional schedule) she can always have the kids work through the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyBee Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I pulled my kids out of public school after the winter break. We just started like it was a brand new school year. I had the kids do placement tests for math and we're just skipping over anything that gives too much review (a little review is good, a lot is exasperating). I couldn't figure out how to make anything else work. We are doing Apologia astronomy (my kids are younger--4th and 2nd grade), and this and Singapore are the only things that look like we'll finish by summer. HTH, Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristineinKS Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I pulled my kids out of public school right before winter break & we started our school year from the beginning. I've already learned that while they may have already "covered" something in public school, I'm able to do a much more thorough job at home, so that hopefully things will be better retained. I'm also finding the homeschool curriculum to be a bit ahead of their old p.s. curriculum, so not too much of what we're doing has been review so far. We plan to continue school through the summer in order to get "caught up." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ummtafari Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 I would consider having both kids take the CLE diagnostic test for math and language arts and start them there. CLE is very easy to just pick up and go. She could get started as soon as she was able to place them in a level. She would not have to continue with it next year. Also, it is very inexpensive for starting in the middle of the year. I have a friend in a similiar situation. Where can I find the CLE? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 I homeschooled my son til 7th, then he was in a public virtual academy for 7th and the first half of 8th. I decided to focus on the 3R's and get an enjoyable program for the rest. One consideration for your friend though. A lot of schools will not give credit for high school not done through a program. So if your friend keeps her 8th grader out of school for 2 years, she either needs to decide to finish up high school or to use a program where the credits would transfer. I hate that this is usually the case, but....Your friend really needs to consider this before next school year. Anyway, there are tons of materials, many without specific lessons so she could go her own pace. It is partially because I pulled my son in December and partially because we needed to focus on the 3Rs that I got the Beyond FIAR. We can do the volume in a semester (works out perfectly to one chapter per day). It's a little beneath him but he's enjoying it. There are other such things also. Can you get a Rainbow Resource catalog there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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