Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: texasmom on March 12, 2008, 09:55:10 AM
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I've just been thrust into home schooling (beginning today), and am looking for any *warnings* of things I'll likely let slip through the cracks when I'm establishing a partnership with an educational company.
Here's what I gather as the general idea of home schooling:
1. Each state has approved cirriculum (administered by specific educational companies)
2. You choose a company's cirriculum, receive the education packets, which include course material & testing material.
3. Cirriculum evaluation is divided between two categories: teacher is the teacher/ parent is the teacher (which determines who does the "grading" of the school work and tests). Either way, all assignments and tests are returned to the company who are the overall "administrators."
I see that there are some side things (like home school "groups," or coalitions, through which home school kids meet for PE, field trips, and extras of that nature). I'm not as interested in hearing *warnings* about those. I see that as entirely secondary to cirriculum requirements/procedures.
Mostly I am hoping to hear what some of your families may have encountered as a snag here or there. Or if there was something especially helpful, that will be nice to hear as well. :)
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Ask your kids what sports they want to learn. Then grade them on their progress.
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Speaking as a current home schooling student, watch for any signs of discouragement.
If you ask your children, "What's your favorite subject?" and you get a response similar to, "I hate school!" or, "I don't have one." There's a problem on hand. For a while I was giving my parents the same response, a few days later they figured out I was cheating and not learning anything. The goal of home schooling is to learn, and if your children can't, they will be dissatisfied and uncomfortable with anyone asking them about their education.
So look for a tutor in advance that can help your children with Mathematics, Science, and Grammar.
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Txmom,
The folks you mentioned, the home school groups, already have the answers to your question and based on the area you are living in. I would highly recommend you get in touch with them and see what they have to say. You may also find they have books and other materials available from other homeschoolers that have finished that particular grade level at a discount.
My Son and Daughter in law home school. She came from a home school environment and loves it even more while teaching their kids. They also have a relationship with a home school group and resource center.
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Mom have a look here.
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/ (http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/)
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TxMom,
My wife and I homeschool our children in MN. From what I understand there are a number of laws / regulations that vary by state. So any experience I can provide would only be relevant to MN. We are free to choose our own curriculum and our own teaching methods. Since both my wife and I hold Bachelor's degrees we are not subject to oversight by an administrative organization. We are required to provide a curriculum plan / school calendar to our local school district by Oct of every year. We also must use a nationally normed test for every one of our children who is 7 to 16.
We do have friends in Texas who are homeschooling, but I'm not sure of what their regulations / requirements are.
As Maverick said, find the local support group(s) and any Texas statewide organizations. We also are members of HSLDA (http://www.hslda.org) which is a great organization to keep you updated as to changing state regulations.
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just recently, california legislature has just passed a law that states that any parent that is homeschooling their child MUST have approved teaching credentials, if any parent that is not credentialed that child is then considered truant
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Gowan -- that wasn't the legislature, that was a single activist judge in LA that published his ruling in a private matter that stated his interpretation was that any home school family in California must have teaching credentials. The ruling is way off base and is one judges thoughts. Even the California commissioner of Education has publicly spoken out against the ruling and its potential wide ranging impact to all home schoolers in California.
California has been one of the tougher states to homeschool in just because the home school must become a private school from a legal / technical perspective.
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if all else fails try this its very tough but its worth it http://www.ndisonline.org/ (http://www.ndisonline.org/) :aok
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TxMom would it be alright if I pm'd you? I have a question for you.
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My sister in-law is a teacher and plans on being a home school assistant teacher when she retires, she also knows licensed substitute teachers that work with home school kids during the day, even some retired teachers work part time as home school teachers. If you can afford it put out an add for a retired teacher to teach the courses your not that great with. I've always believed the reason schools do so poorly in education is it's all boring and sanitized now so as not to offend anyone. We teach english for how many years in school and half the kids can't speak it as it is, let alone write it now days, so when is enough, enough? And don't get me started on reading skills now days.
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Txmom,
The folks you mentioned, the home school groups, already have the answers to your question and based on the area you are living in. I would highly recommend you get in touch with them and see what they have to say. You may also find they have books and other materials available from other homeschoolers that have finished that particular grade level at a discount.
My Son and Daughter in law home school. She came from a home school environment and loves it even more while teaching their kids. They also have a relationship with a home school group and resource center.
While I did not home school my daughters I did have friends that did. The Groups you speak of are very important. You can get alot of info from the Group. Also because your child will no longer have interactive times with other children, the times yall get to spend with the other children will be it. My daughter was nominated for G.A.T.E. from the second week of kindgarden. So we never considered home school from that point on.
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we homeschooled three current ages 27, 25, and 17 the boy is the youngest and did the worst at home. the two girls did excellently and were out of highschool by age 16. they met local boys, attended football games senior proms all that stuff. our son isn't interested in team sports but competes nationally on a karate team with the best (read that as the most winning) local dojo. this is where he gets the majority of his social outlet. I think he'll still be in highschool at age fifty though.
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TxMom, What happened? It's an odd time of year to start homeschooling. :confused:
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We home schooled our son, he received his New Mexico state HS degree at 16 years old. (NM GED equivalent) From our experience, set a goal of around 4 hours a school day of instruction. We would get him text books and assigning work out of them, and cut him lose. And were on hand for help as needed. Also writing assignments are good, with only one student it is easy to grade the papers. Our son would generally finish a chapter a week in each text, and turn in one paper a week. We ran through the HS books in about a year, and started him on collage texts. Find out what the GED requirements are and make sure the get covered. ( I got my son through a years worth of calculus) For socialization there are Home School Sports Teams and Bands in most cities, use them. Also we ran a wood shop class with our son making projects he could use.
The biggest challenge is making sure that you commit the time needed. If you need help write us and we will do what we can.
Regards,
Kevin
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Thank you so much for your wonderful replies! Much to browse through today. :)
Gaiden, yes, it's absolutely fine if you PM me. Thanks for asking.
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First.
HSLDA www.hslda.org Very important.
There are many people out there who don't like the idea to the point of taking your children. The HSLDA is there to stop the wackos.
As for the rest, lots of good advice here. We have been home schooling for the last 19 years. One more year to go!
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TxMom, What happened? It's an odd time of year to start homeschooling. :confused:
One of our sons is a special needs kid. He's in the regular classrooms, but would be much more appropriately placed in the district special needs campus ~ which he won't ever be sent to. So, if he needs one on one... he'll get it at home.
During elementary school, he was able to wiggle through (thankfully small size classrooms and amazing teachers). And his after school care was a special needs daycare. Middle school is more than he's able to handle, and he's certainly more than the teachers can handle. There will be a time in the future when he's able to (if he wishes) to return to public school.
The intent was for the district to send him to an "alternative" school. With tourette's syndrome, every chirp & bark or head-jerking and arm-flailing of his will count as a "demerit." With x-y-or-z amount of demerits, they don't continue through the program ~ and are instead sent over to juvie (yes, in the jail). Once they are successful at the juvie stint, they go back to the alternative school. There's no way in hell he's going down that destructive path. If he ever gets into that system, he'll never emerge from it. He'll be bounced back & forth while they check the block on "required" amount of "successful" days.
If any of our other sons were to have been recommended for the alternative school, we would have probably answered with "yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. here's your bus pass & get your new uniforms ready kid." But this one kid... no way ever he's stepping foot into that place.
As soon as the school made their intent clear, I withdrew him from school (within several minutes); I'm cutting down to part-time (my boss is graciously allowing me to work at night, when the office is really "closed"), ordering the kids cirriculum tonight, and he's got a few days break before we start. I'm sure once we get rolling on it, I'll regret not ever having done it sooner with him.
the HSLDA site was extremely helpful. Thanks very much everyone :)
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mom, i feel sorry for you that you don't really have any other options, but im happy that at least the kid will have a (Hopefully) great education. besides, i think homeschooling is great as long as the parent isnt a pushover, which i dont think you are at all. Also, parents normally know which ways work best when it comes to teaching their kid. I myself have a disability (aspergers syndrome) and i myself was homeschooled for about 2 years. If your child is really motivated, you could literally teach him so much that he could get to a highschool senior level by the time he's a freshman! (im going by the assumption he's either in 6th or 7th grade)
i wish ye the best of luck with this!
~Gowan~
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FWIW, EVERY home schooled child I know (several over the years) has started college at roughly age 16 (Community college) and gone onto University college and graduated by roughly age 22. If you can do it, and have a child that is willing, then do it. There is alot in high school that is a waste of time.
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Gowan -- that wasn't the legislature, that was a single activist judge in LA that published his ruling in a private matter that stated his interpretation was that any home school family in California must have teaching credentials. The ruling is way off base and is one judges thoughts. Even the California commissioner of Education has publicly spoken out against the ruling and its potential wide ranging impact to all home schoolers in California.
California has been one of the tougher states to homeschool in just because the home school must become a private school from a legal / technical perspective.
oopsie, my friend told me that and i think both of us mixed up what we heard, so my end was really garbled
lol, my bad, carry on
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Schooling is important, but socialization with other people is doubly so. I've been a Civil Air Patrol cadet in texas wing since 2002; CAP is loaded with home schooled kids. they are usually a bit more book smart, but when it comes time for em to take charge they can be alil awkward. you actually may want to consider CAP as a way to do this. Theyd be around tons of homeschooled kids from the general area, good leadership experience. Im pretty sure my CAP career is what got me my Scholarships. Texas wing has some of the best squadrons in the nation.
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FWIW, EVERY home schooled child I know (several over the years) has started college at roughly age 16 (Community college) and gone onto University college and graduated by roughly age 22. If you can do it, and have a child that is willing, then do it. There is alot in high school that is a waste of time.
I concur, and might add that the kids I know who are home schooled have the ability to read and write in thier native language!
Yay!
RTR
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Txmom,
Given your situation I think you are doing the right thing. The only thing I'd add is to look into getting some additional socialization time whenever possible. You've got a tough situation with him and getting as much help as possible would be a good idea.
Best of luck to you both.
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Good on you, txmom! :salute
Regards,
Sun
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Thanks for all of your encouraging posts. :D Y'all are good eggs. ;)
Socialization is a tremendous already for him (Gowan ~ he's also an aspergers kid). His almost total lack of socialization skills is what was going to land him in the clink to begin with. I'm not inclined to put him in team sports, or the like. I'm probably going to look into Lego Robotics clubs... I think he'll flourish in there. :aok
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We've homeschooled two of our three kids with great success both in Texas and Mississippi (the first one attended public school). You can't go wrong as long as you actually educate them. It's a lot of work, but your kids are worth it. Keep good records as you will need a transcript when enrolling in college.
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The main aspect as I see is that the homeschooled kid will stay without relations to other children. The lack of this can affect kid's possibilities to establish relationship in future.
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Not an attempt at a hijack!
TxMom you might want to start talking with friends and neighbors about avoiding this in your state.
ALL of you may want to start doing the same.
A very big part of the reason I left the state of my birth is this kinda stuff....
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58796
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58712
I said to many before I left and think I may have said something similar here.
This is how it will be done........
a new law will be made, it will be UNCONSTITUTIONAL in the eyes of you and me, BUT that wont matter, the courts will uphold that law and law enforcement will back that law and you WILL comply. (Fairly sure that's what's been happening with some of this kinda stuff and is going to happen with some forthcoming kinda stuff)
Don't get me wrong here!
I'm not against alternate lifestyles.
You of age and want to do such be my guest none of my business.
Thats IMHO is a big part of what Freedom and Liberty is all about.
But telling children as young as kindergarten about such stuff AGAINST the parents wishes is WAY out of line!
IMHO it may not be that far off that we could very easily find ourselves NO longer dealing with a NANNY state but facing a POLICE state.
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Texasmom, I homeschooled my youngest son, in the school district of which I was an employee, and over the objections of my Superintendent and elementary principal. My wife was even threatened with legal action by the principal; a threat that was never carried through.
We didn't care what they thought. It was a small school district, and I knew every child and every parent in it. My son was about to enter a kindergarten class chock full of rowdies, and he, being easily distracted by the events around him, would not have fared well in his first year in a public school. In addition, I was po'd by the entire situation. A mother of "ethnic" persuasion had been allowed to kick their child forward one grade to avoid a similar situation, and we had asked for permission to do the same, since this would have placed him in a better class with his older brother.
Nothing doing....just wasn't going to happen we were told. When we pulled him out of school, the administration was livid, but we were within our rights according to state law. The district was even obliged to provide us with educational materials. We held him out for that critical first year and, when we felt he was ready, reenrolled him in school.
From my experience in teaching regular classes and special education, I would say your biggest challenge with you son will be his language classes. They are the easiest to screw up in. Garner all the advice you can from educational professionals sympathetic to your cause. Design his reading classes around material that he enjoys, even if it is comic books. The "classics" are fine, but vastly overrated. Also, the point someone else made about their child's classes only lasting four hours a day is a point well-taken. In my opinion, that is all the time that is needed for instruction when that instruction is one-on-one.
Good luck!
Regards, Shuckins
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You said he has tourettes? I'd be asking a lawyer for some advice also if it was me. Sounds like a clear case of discrimination. How do you deny a child an education because he has a disability? If you tried that while hiring someone for a job your butt would be fined and sued. Federal law is pretty clear on what classifies as a disability and also on what classifies as discrimination. I'd be really po'd and making some calls for legal advice if it happened to me.
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Kids born to idiots are generally destined to fill their parents' shoes sooner or later, home-schooled or not.
The benefit of home schooling is that if the parents are indeed idiots, the kids can assume the idiot role that much faster than they would with all that state, or private-school-supplied education to undermine the process. The same concept works, only in reverse, if the parents are smart.
Given these truths I'd say go ahead and home school. You'll only be saving your kids time before they can emerge as fruit-bearing idiots or smart people.
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Three of the ten finalists in last year's National Spelling Bee were home schooled. That's certainly food for thought...and debunks the NEA's arguments against home schooling. Definitely food for thought.
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Good luck. Too bad real school choice isn't an option.
Is this the Killeen ISD?
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Its very disturbing to see a child who has tourettes(sp) being treated like this. To my knowledge tourettes is not something that can be controlled effectively 100 percent of the time. In high school I was in some classes with kids much like your son. I saw them be frustrated with themselves as much as anyone around them could ever be. I made it a point to become friends or be friendly with most of them because I knew how kids were. My point I guess is that your son, and many others like him, are trying there best to cope with what the have been dealt in life. This is not something that is willingly done or that can be controlled all the time which makes your situation that much more upsetting. A solution were failure means jail? This is horse manure at its finest! I agree with your actions whole heartly and it angers me that they considered that a viable option! I was also a "special needs" kid in elementary school and was labeled EH because I was constantly wandering off or getting in to trouble. The reality was I was just bored (I.Q. 156 in 3rd grade) and always had to much time on my hands. Idle hands are the devils work eh? With all of the problems of the young you would think someone facing this type of issue would be treated with a little more respect. Your son is as good of person as any is age......(probly better than most considering the amount of trouble teenagers commit). BTW you are ABSOLUTELY correct when saying there is no making it "out" of the system. A few years in elementary stayed with me all the way to college. Good luck with home schooling and in a few short years I will probly join your ranks (son turned 1 Feb 16). With the way public schooling is I think that its better anyway.
<S> Strip(er)
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A little addition.
First time when I read your post, I didn't pay much attention to tourettes syndrome. So, what can I add... My son, he is 13, is learning in usual school. And two of his classmates have mental diagnosys. As you can understand, their learning is mainly in visiting school and talks to other classmates. Not more. But I think that this is enough for them. Here I think, we can use an Olympic princip. The main target is not to win, but to participate. Sure, there is a possibility when other classmates will treate a disabled classmate. Children are really angry persons. But here is a way to learn other what is a tolerance to disabled people.
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You said he has tourettes? I'd be asking a lawyer for some advice also if it was me. Sounds like a clear case of discrimination. How do you deny a child an education because he has a disability? If you tried that while hiring someone for a job your butt would be fined and sued. Federal law is pretty clear on what classifies as a disability and also on what classifies as discrimination. I'd be really po'd and making some calls for legal advice if it happened to me.
Folks crying suit all the time is also a major problem.
Mom I think this may be a blessing in disguise in the long run. Sounds like you have a very understanding Boss, or one who is concerned with losing a top notch employee. I commend you on taking on Home Schooling and wish you and your Son all the best. Looks like you also have a great bunch here at AH to help guide you in your endeavor.