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Meet your A Beka Rep!
On Aug. 18th they'll be in London and you can go in and look and pick out your books and then they will send them free shipping if you purchase them this way. I love going then I can get my hands physically on the books and look through them.
Good luck in your decision. My husband wasn't fully on board but as time went on and it came closer to our oldest going to school he also felt it was the right decision for her and our family.
The books the link above for above are all super reasonably priced. Ex. grade 2 math book is $15
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Originally Posted by Jodie
Awesome I will check it out :) :) :)
Oh wow that is an awesome price! Gonna check it out for sure!Quote:
Originally Posted by my2babies
You ladies rock :p
I agree that it's really common to have confidence, “Can I do this?“ concerns, esp. at first. It may help to keep in mind that it doesn't have to be a permanent decision, that if it doesn't seem to be working out for your family you can re-evaluate at any time. Not that I have any doubt that you and your husband are fully capable of providing for your children's developing intellectual needs: I am sure that certainly are!; but simply because first thinking in terms of “Can we do this successfully (help them learn well) right now?“ can sometimes feel less overwhelming than “Can we do this for the entirety of their childhood and adolescent educations?“ Make the decision for the immediate future for now, and later once you get the feel of homeschooling and find your “groove“, the rest of it won't seem so overwhelming or intimidating, yk?
Also, rather than thinking of it in terms of “teaching them everything they need to know“ (an intimidating thought, and something that no one, neither school nor individuals, can reasonably be expected to predict or do), ask yourself questions like, “Can we help them continue to grow intellectually and build their understanding of the world?“; “Can we help them learn how to find out information when they need it, consider new ideas, and feel empowered to gain new knowledge, wisdom, and insights as needed throughout their lives?“; “Can we help them in their journeys of discovering who they, as unique individuals, are?“ These are all things that you are fully able to do, things that are particularly well-suited to the individualized, real-world-learning based nature of homeschooling, and are, really, what education is all about.
Thanks so much Kathy.
Im praying very hard for a decision to be made. My husband today said again he's reallly not sure about it all, and is again leaning towards no. But inside I am sooooo gung ho on homeschool and I had to clean my eyes today with him and poured my heart out. I know he understands where Im coming from. I really dont want to do it though if he's going to be angry with me all school year either. Im sure we will come to unison on it eventually.. either way. LOL
Maybe take him out to meet some other homeschooling families? (Including some other homeschooling dads, if possible.) A lot of reluctant/unsure-about-homeschooling dads find this helpful, I think.
Also, agreeing to “try it“ doesn't even have to be committing for the whole year, necessarily. If you guys decide to go for it (or give it a go), if you both later decide it's not working out for you, you have the option to put her (or them) in mid-year even, if that's what you feel the need to do.
Also note that even if you don't decide to homeschool (or not right now, or whatever), that still doesn't mean that you have to put your son in school this year. Not sending a kid to JK doesn't have to be “homeschooling“; for many, it's simply “not sending him to JK“. Four year olds don't need (legally nor developmentally) school of any sort, public, home-based, or otherwise, and not opting in to the optional public-school year of JK doesn't have to be anything out of the ordinary, anything “homeschooling“, or anything beyond just letting him be a little 4 year old at home with you. Remember, most provinces in Canada don't even have a JK year. So it's perfectly fine to leave your DS out of the homeschooling equation and just look at him as a wee kid at home with his mom.
So really, this is a decision that you're primarily making about your daughter. Ask yourselves, are her needs (not just academic, but all of her needs, including emotional, etc.) being well-met by what you're doing now (school)? Do you think they'll be well-met by doing the same thing next year? Or might you better be able to provide for some of those needs/happiness/etc. yourselves? There isn't really any harm in giving it a try and seeing how it goes: it's second grade, after all; providing for the learning needs of a single second-grade child isn't that difficult or high-intensity, and if it really doesn't end up being a good fit for your family, you can always try something else, including trying school again at any point if you end up deciding together that it would be a better fit for her needs.
I also think that, if one parent disagrees with the other, school shouldn't be the necessary default just because it's more common. The decision to homeschool or public school (or other) should be decided by both parents. Disagreement doesn't mean that school should automatically win out just because it's the societal “default“: he shouldn't get to make you public-school against your will any more than you should force him to homeschool against his will. Discussion is needed, and this needs to be, ideally, a choice that you make together. If you feel heart-achingly strongly about not sending your kids to school next year/nurturing and educating them yourselves, that is just as valid as equally-strong feelings in the opposite direction. And if he feels less strongly about public-schooling/not-homeschooling than you feel about homeschooling/not-public-schooling, then that really ought to be weighed into consideration, rather than public school getting extra “points“ on the scale just because it's seen as “normal“ or default.
Thanks so much Kathy again :D I totally agree with you on these points. I think its going to be something we are going to have to have a big sit down and discuss one day without interuptions and such, to really discuss or debate gently without anyone getting flustered with the other. and getting together with other homeschooling familes is something I am looking into and discussing with him. :) I think academically my daughters needs are being met there, but emotionally, she is a wreck. I dont want to go into massive details but she learned a lot of unbenneficial stuff this year in the school yard that was NOT on the cirriculum and definatly not something a 6 year old should know.. and I know I cant protect her from this big scary world forever but shes our child and I know that we can still make choices about what she is exposed to so she can handle things in a way that we believe are right ykwim?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kathy
Shes just such usually a spirited happy girl, always showing love and kindness to people (with the occasional bossyness LOL) this year she became an emotional wreck, I'd say borderline depressed/anxiety :( Its just not right, kids can be downright nasty. :( I just hate that I send her on a bus each day to be exposed to it all
These are all valid concerns; emotional health, social development (that is, the learning of positive and healthy social skills and behaviours), and providing our children with a strong foundation in the family's personal values and ethics (and traditions, cultures, etc.) are all common, and valid, reasons that various families often have for home-educating their children.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs.Crunchy
And, even if her academic needs are being met well at school to date, that isn't to say that they couldn't or wouldn't be equally well-met at home with you. The academic side isn't as problematic and intimidating as it might seem, especially at these early ages. Honestly, helping a child learn to read or do two-digit-number subtraction (or whatever) really isn't that difficult, especially when you're tutoring the child one-on-one instead of trying to teach a class of 25 kids (a huge benefit, really), and when you're helping the child learn these things at his/her own pace and when he or she is personally ready to learn them, in accordance with her own growing understanding, as opposed to when standardized one-size-fits-all guidelines say that children-in-general should do so.
So at home she could very well have her academic needs well-met (as is generally true for homeschooling families as a group) as well as having the rest of those very important needs more adequately fulfilled than has been the case for her in school so far.
This is what we do. It isn't exactly free for us, though: I seem to have a tendency to miss return dates. :p But late fees aside... it has the potential to be free, anyway. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaDSB
Some other low-cost resources I can think of, off the top of my head:
If you might be interested in a Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling (or simply want to use the book lists for ideas), there's a free online curriculum called Ambleside Online. I can't attest to it personally, as we don't use a set curriculum and aren't Charlotte Mason homeschoolers, but from what I've heard online, many families like it, so it could be worth checking out. You could probably get most of the books from the public library (as, from what I know of CM, it heavily uses real books such as classic literature for materials). According to the website, there is a significant religious component (ie, it's a core part of the CM philosophy).
As an alternate resource for your young one, there's a early years curriculum called Letter of the Week that people seem to like. Again, I don't use a curriculum, particularly with wee children/JKers, and really don't think one is needed with kids that young, but if you wanted one, I've heard the site recommended by others.
Kahn Academy is a good supplemental resource for math lessons, from basic addition up to university level (eg, calculus and linear algebra).
BestHomeschooling.org has inspiring articles and links to lots of great resources. (There are tons of other helpful homeschooling websites online too; a google search will return lots.)
Overall, I wouldn't stress too much about making decisions re: curriculums or homeschooling styles too much yet; making the decision whether to homeschool is enough at first, and there's no rush to pick a style or curricula right away. But since you've been gathering some resources and ideas here, I figured I may as well include them for when you're ready to start looking into those aspects.
thanks again Kathy!!
Has anyone used www.learningpathways.com??