# Wanting to get started in Home Schooling



## hoovershounds (Nov 19, 2006)

My middle son continues to do poorly in school so we have decided to take him out next school year and home school him to get him caught back up. I want to try & do third & fourth grade curriculum and then have him re-enter public school his fith grade year. I don't know anything about home schooling and am on a limited budget. Where can I find a complete curriculum (math, science, reading, spelling, vocabulary, math, social studies) and am I being realistic about my expectations?


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## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

I don't know if Christian materials are a problem or not for you. Sonlight does a wonderful packaged curriculum (as packaged curriculum goes) for the earlier grades. If packaged is the way you wish to go (and certainly, for a new home educator, it could well be a very wise choice), I think it's a good one.

As to your question of whether or not you're being realistic in your expectations, well, that depends on a lot of things, such as why is your son struggling, what has been his experience in the classroom (and therefore his ingrained attitude towards learning), how much time and effort you're willing to put into this (don't fool yourself, home educating is a LOT of work!), what supports you have available to you (your DH is your biggest support and, IMHO, it's near impossible to do it when you're having to justify yourself constantly to your spouse, but having issues with extended family can be just as problematic).

You'll also need to figure out exactly where your child is at, academically. There is no sense in ordering a complete third year curriculum if he's not even mastered first grade work yet. There are online tests which you can take (you take them for your child) that tell you approximate grade placement. Do a google. Saxon publishers has a fantastic one for mathematics on their website. 

Tell us a little about yourself, your family, and your child's situation -- if you feel comfortable doing so -- and we might be able to help more. Certainly, it's DOABLE. If I can do this, anyone can  . Whether you SHOULD (or WILL) or not, well, that's entirely up to you and your family.


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## hoovershounds (Nov 19, 2006)

Okay, a little about us. I have 3 boys, Daniel (13),Buriel (9) & Dale (7). I have been a stay at home mom since Buriel was born. We are in a very small school that is grades k-8. There is one teacher per grade except for 3rd & 
4th so he has been with the same class mates since kindergarten. The average class size is around 12 and there is 28 in the combined class. All three children have speech issues and have received therapy since they were little. Buriel has made the best progress with the speech therapist and is now no longer receiving service for that. He was in the head start early child hood program for two years prior to kindergarten. He did kindergarten two years, fine in first grade and then in 2nd grade he was having a lot of problems. We had him tested to see if could receive special ed and his scores were to high. We talked to him about applying himself and he did better the rest of the year. Now this year has been nothing but problems. I just don't think he tries. He is good at math as long as there is no reading involved. If there is anything to read, unless it is read out loud, I don't think he does it. Let me explain a little better, like with his homework, I have him read the directions and each question out loud and he probably averages about 80% right but if he does it on his own at school or home without reading it out loud he would be doing good to get 10% right. He is a very active boy and loves sports & the outdoors. He is not very organized and has a tendancy to lie about homework and not turn it in. We have tried the postive reinforcement stuff by having a chart were he can earn different things when he turns in all his work and we also take away tv/wii time when he does not. None of this seems to work. He teacher has told us that he acts like he dosen't care about school and I feel that I can't motivate him or help him if I am not there. So that is why I thought we would try home school.


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## hoovershounds (Nov 19, 2006)

I don't have a problem with Christian materials but would prefer to keep it as close to the public school program as possiable.


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## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

Sounds like he's capable, just not applying. If he can read it and comprehend it while supervised, then he doesn't seem to have a visual or tracking issue. I could be wrong, of course, but if he's comprehending when he has someone standing over him to read the instructions, he's getting it -- he's just avoiding it when he can.

Which sounds like a typical boy 

However, if it's being ALLOWED in the classroom, (i.e., the teacher is not standing over him because that is what is required to get him to apply himself), then he may well do better at home for a bit. 

Your State education website should have the requirements for each grade. They may be called "learning outcomes" or something -- but they'll be arranged for each grade, probably in a pdf file. Alternatively, contact your state's chapter of the HSLDA, and they should be able to help you.

A canned curriculum probably won't reflect EXACTLY what he's getting in the classroom -- it might even be a bit more challenging to him. You should be able to use the curriculum objectives materials for your state to fill in where necessary, though. 

Is it possible that your son is feeling the change of no longer having speech therapy? Is it possible he's interpreted "you'll do fine now" or something similar that the therapist might have said in reference to his activities there as "I don't have to try any more, he said I'm good?" Nine year old boys sometimes interpret what they're told in interesting ways 

You can do this. If he's not getting what he needs in the classroom, and you know he's capable of applying himself when supervised (i.e., there is no learning dysfunction that needs to be addressed before he can succeed), home is probably a very good choice for him. Good luck.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

hoovershounds said:


> I don't have a problem with Christian materials but would prefer to keep it as close to the public school program as possiable.


Have you talked to your local district?

Ours has a policy by which homeschooling parents can get/use the regular texts, workbooks, etc. that the district uses, free of charge. 
Because I like our school's Language Arts series, I took them up on that one, but I found others I liked better for the other subjects...


BTW, you just described _my_ third grade son....  And while he's still rather lazy and unmotivated, he _has_ made phenomenal progress since we started HSing in Jan. From a reading level of about 1.7 to a 3.5, for starters... I would definately say "go for it!" (Also, check Amazon for used text books. I could get a complete set of books/support materials for about $70)


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## hoovershounds (Nov 19, 2006)

Hey ErinP, you described my son in a nut shell. I will get a hold of the district & see what they offer. I also have recently learned of another local family that has switched to homeschool so I will see what advice they have to offer. Thank you so much for the advice 
Amy


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## homedad (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi!
I just read a book called "what really matters in response to intervention." It's about catching kids up who are falling behind, primarily in reading but it could be applied to anything. Most kids discussed in the book were around 3rd-4th grade. The book gave some good ideas on what can be done to catch kids up. I am a special ed teacher who will be homeschooling my two very soon. With my students, I believe the parents are the best resource, they are experts on their kids - so I have no doubt you're making the right decision! 

Chase


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