# An interesting thing happened when the power went out...



## Denna (Mar 30, 2011)

It's not as if I haven't been paying attention to my children's education. Both are A/B students and have been throughout most of their school career. My daughter had a bit of a rough patch with math that started in third grade when she was put into gifted classes. These classes coincided with her math class and the teacher refused to catch her up on missed work. We hired a tutor for her and helped her through that year and again back to A/B honor roll. She had another rough patch (also in math) that was related to a student teacher who was using a clock teaching method for decimals that was extremely confusing to her. This teacher actually told the students that they didn't need to worry about decimals over 0.60! Again I was able to bring her through this in short time (one weekend actually) and back to A's and B's. My son has never had any issues aside from being 'lazy' and not turning in work. 

I always have the teachers' cell numbers and email addresses and try to stay on top of things with their school work. I have been led to believe there are no issues to worry about.

Until recently, my husband and I both worked outside of the home and time has been limited. We have always staggered our shifts so that one of us is with the children at all times and have never used a babysitter. Due to his back injury late last year we are both currently at home.

During the recent power outage that north Alabama suffered, the four of us got to spend five full days together. I don't think that has happened since they entered school due to school and work schedules. 

Through a simple game of hangman, I had an eye opening experience. I found out my 10 year old doesn't even know the proper way to write his letters and my 13 year old can't spell simple words like biscuit or while, among many others!

I have noticed over the last year or so that my son's handwriting was extremely bad but he is left handed and I thought that perhaps that played a role in it. The teachers didn't seem to be concerned about it and were not pushing him to practice it or anything so I also thought that perhaps he was still a bit young and it would improve over time. But as we played I was watching him actually write the letters and found out that it is not a handwriting issue so much as he doesn't know the proper way to form the letters. 

It has been several years since my daughter's teachers actually sent home work to be signed, etc that I had no idea her spelling was so bad. Her grades were good so I was unaware! When I was in school they counted off for misspelled words and with as many as she can't spell her grades (in all subjects) would be failing if they were counting off for them.

Now the question becomes what to do about it. 

When we were playing I stopped the game to show him how to actually form the letters and help her with some of the words she was misspelling. They got extremely excited and wanted to "play school" which is what we did when they were little before they started school, teaching the alphabet and colors etc. My husband suggested homeschooling and both of the children actually seemed excited at the prospect so I am considering homeschooling them next year but am unsure how to go about it. Not the actual mechanics of the teaching methods or getting set up under an umbrella school but whether or not they would actually fall into the grade level the public school system is claiming they are. 

I'm not worried so much about it with my 10 year old as I am with my 13 year old since I would have a few years before the high school years, he will be in 6th grade next year, to catch him up on any gaps that I come across but my daughter is supposed to be in 9th grade next year. The required credits needed for graduation will be coming into play and how can I find the time to catch her up any gaps and still be able to move forward enough so that she graduates on time?

I'm so frustrated at myself for not catching this sooner and actually believing the teachers when I was told there was nothing to worry about. I feel like I've let them down because didn't catch it sooner. 

Any and all ideas, suggestions and comments welcomed.


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## cwgrl23 (Feb 19, 2004)

First thing to do is go to... http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/AL/default.asp and check out the rules in your state. That will explain alot of what is actually required by state law for graduation. Plus there is always the GED. If you are worried about it taking her an extra year to get caught up, that might be the route to go. I know with my son, that we will be schooling through out the year. We have a pretty relaxed style so it works better for us. If I am not feeling good or he is not, than maybe just some reading and piano practice gets done. Than we continue on in what we are studying. DS came out of public school thinking that he was stupid and not able to do anything. We have been slowly but surely working on his self esteem. Oh yeah, and his teachers told us the same thing, that there was nothing to worry about.

There is also no reason that you can't pull your kids out right now, unless there is an AL law. The sooner you intervene the better!!! There are many free resources on the net to help you get going. If you search thru the forum, a couple of times we have made lists of our favorite "go to" places. 

HTHs!!!
Congrats on your start of a wonderful adventure!
Carrie in SD


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

Depending on the curriculum you choose, many have online placement tests to help you determine grade level. Remember that some of it may be relative, for example, in my area the public school system teaches history from a local to regional to national to international perspective, while I have taught it from a chronological standpoint, earliest to most recent. My student is not "delayed" because she doesn't know the same things by 5th grade, it's just that she has covered the material in a different order.

Don't beat yourself up because you didn't see this earlier. You know it now and have the luxury of being able to respond to correct the problems. Nobody's perfect. Just do the best you can from now on. Don't stress about having so little time left with your daughter. Keep in mind how much time in public school has to be spent on review from the previous year and on answering the same question multiple times for different students.

IMO, the one on one arrangement of homeschooling is one of its most powerful parts. You will have no down time, waiting for other students to finish assignments. Therefore you will be able to accomplish a lot more in much less time. I think the other main advantage of homeschooling is the ability to tailor the program for the student's exact needs and interests. 

So while most public high schools do not include spelling, you can make it a component of your program if you see a need. (We had to "reboot" our spelling at the 4th grade level and found the Spelling Power curriculum to be most helpful). Not all people turn out to be great spellers, but I'm sure you can improve your daughter's spelling ability greatly in the time you have left with her.

Good luck with this. It is never too late. You will be amazed how much a truly motivated student can cover. Also, you might want to consider seeking and joining a local homeschooling support group, even if only for a short while, to help you through the inevitable rough spots that we all stumble on when getting started. You can do this!


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## Saffron (May 24, 2006)

Unfortunately, many public school teachers no longer consider proper spelling and grammar to be of impotance because of spell-check programs. Some even allow students to turn in "essays" in text speak.

The PP have given good information - don't beat yourself up, do some research and have fun with your kids!


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Are you thinking of takoing them out of the school system or just helping them fill in the gaps? I found big issues with my kids when I pulled them and I found a very old book called "Graded Lessons in English" to be very good it is meant as a 4 eyar course but can be done in 2 It is free on gutenburg.org. It is multiple books used in conjuction and have commonly misspelled words and teaches grammar in an easily understood way.


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## Denna (Mar 30, 2011)

I'm going to be pulling them out completely. I had considered pulling them out immediately even though there are only 3 weeks until the end of the year but they asked to be able to finish this year. They are getting very excited about being homeschooled. Already in the last three days my daughter has been asking more learning questions than I can remember her asking since she was about 4 years old.


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## Becka (Mar 15, 2008)

Good for you! Good luck.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

There should be homeschooling fairs near you coming up soon. I suggest going to one so that you can get some idea of all the curriculums around you, and other helpful ideas. 

I love homeschooling as do my children, and having my 16 yr old in Community college and at 17 leaving with a full 4 year scholarship for college, helps to know we are doing it right. 

Any questions, just ask on here, there are so many of us that can help you.


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## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

Over the years, I have noticed it has become common for schools not to focus on the importance of grammer, spelling, and a lot of other subjects. Here in Indiana the schools have been cutting out teachers like crazy because of the budget deficit. Indianapolis public schools fired 300 teachers last month. I'm sure with the school system being so big this many teachers is hardly noticable to the administrators. To the students being cramped in a class of 40+, it is a bad decision. Their education suffers so much. So it is not completly the teachers fault. They are overwelmed and, like so many parents, don't notice the paticulars. 

It is wonderful that you have realized you can help your children learn and are able to homeschool them. It is a very rewarding journey. 

I am homeschooling my 5yo with the A Beka Book K5 curriculum. I have seen a few problems with it, based on my sons learning style. I will tell you he just turned 5 in January and is already doing problems like ? +5=6 and reading words like Dead End on street signs while driving to the store. As I have been told A Beka Book is a more advanced program, 2 years ahead of public schools. We however do not use the program to its written lesson plans. We have skipped and shortend them. It was nessacary to teach my son. As a result he enjoyed learning so much better. I did not know what to do, but the homeschooling parents on this website are a great help. Take advantage of them. I have read homeschooling books but it never really hit me until someone on here said try this, it will work. 

Enjoy your journey! Best of luck!


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

We started homeschooling last fall, because we saw the problems in our school and decided we could do a better job. All of the math books, and phonics books at our level had placement tests. Find a handwriting style that you like and if he doesn't want to do books since they are geared at younger kids, have him copy literary/quotes about things he does like. My son finished his book early and has a confidence issue sometimes, the rest of the year he is copying quotes i picked out for him, he got a real giggle from the quote by Zig Ziglar. Find a good homeschooling group, either one that fits your style, or one that is open to many styles, and lean on them for support. For your daughter, i would recommend spelling power, it is kind of expensive and labor intensive to learn how to teach but after you get through the intial reading and , the actual teaching part is fun. they start at the level they need to be at.


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## Tawnya (Jan 27, 2011)

We had great luck with Sequential Spelling. My youngest daughter had some very "creative" spelling when we started and it improved drastically. 

In the beginning we did spelling on a daily basis, lesson by lesson. Two years ago we just concentrated on the weaker areas that they needed help with. For my oldest daughter, who is more of a "natural" speller, that meant skipping almost 2 grades. My youngest daughter though was actually able to skip most of a grade - that was when she realized that she really could spell. Last year we didn't really do much - it wasn't really needed.


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