Homeschoolers Here?

[HippoMommy]

Wondering if any of you homeschoolers would like to "visit" on the board?

I know there are a handful of us on here. . . .

[merryann38]

Hi!
I homeschool-sort of! LOL

My older son (16), homeschooled for the past 6 yrs, decided he wanted to play football. So he must maintain 4 credit hours at the local high school, and they cannot be core classes. So we homeschool all the heavy duty stuff (we use Sonlight) and he takes swimming, drafting, machine shop, etc. at school. It's a difficult schedule, but it's either this or send him full-time.

My younger son (5) is autistic. Since he isn't old enough for normal school, we don't really think of his work as 'homeschool', but it is.

How old are your children? Tell me about your homeschool experience.

[HippoMommy]

Hi, MerryAnn, Wow, I admire your commitment to homeschooling. It sounds like your older son has found a great way to pursue his interest while maintaining his academic autonomy! Very cool.

My DD is 3 1/2, so we're just starting out. We're using Five in A Row, reading a lot, playing lots of games, doing puzzles and going to park days and field trips to zoos and museums. We also take swimming classes at our Y, and DD is asking for gymnastics, too.

I have a 7 yo DSS, who is being homeschooled by his mommy, and we have very similar attitudes about it, so we work well together.

We (both households) belong to large homeschool support network here in the Los Angeles area, and we have park days, clubs, field trips and various activities together. It's great for the kids socially, and gives the parents a lot of support.

One thing I wonder about is whether DD will ever start asking to go to school, and if so, how that will play out. I know I'm thinking ahead of where we are. . . .

[cece1964]

Hi! We are in our 9th year of homeschooling!! We are Catholic and mostly use the lesson plans from Mother of Divine Grace. I have substituted a couple of subjects for other books that I like better.

A couple of items we are using are Math-U-See (instead of Saxon or Abeka) and Apologia Science.

DH and I have 3 children: ds20, ds13 & dd11. We started homeschooling when my oldest started 7th grade.

We also belong to a large, Catholic homeschool group which has 70+ families. The group offers band, weekly PE, reading clubs (2 age groups), 4H club, girls group, boys group, computer club, chess club, monthly field trips - may be more - can't remember right now.

Many of us in the group are scattered about right now b/c of Hurricane Katrina. Some are not coming back.

DS13 has no interest in going to school; likes it right where he is.

DD11 is happy at home but would like to try school for a year just to see what it's like. However, she has the same disabilities with learning that my oldest son had and he was better off at home. We've discussed it with my daughter and she is fine with it, just curious about the experience.

Both kids get involved with kids at our local playground for sports activities and also at homeschool activities. They also have a lot of playdates with neighborhood and homeschool group friends.

My oldest is now on his own, working full-time, about to move to Dallas. We had evacuated to Texas and he liked the area so much he is going to try living there for 6 months to see if he wants to stay.

Well, I guess that is enough rambling - just love homeschooling and how their faces light up when they catch onto something new. So rewarding!

[trying2core]

We homeschool. I have 2 dds ages 4 and 7. I really enjoy the time we have together. We use Rod and Staff for my oldest and I am just teaching my youngest to read. We read everyday and I like using the 5 in a row list of books because they are really nice stories. It is so neat how that I can sit down with a book and they both come and sit beside me, my DH even likes to sit and listen

[Jennzalew1]

We homeschool as well. We too are Catholic, and this is our first year, so we're using Seton. My dd is 5 yo and we're doing the K program. I have a 3 yo whom I am sending to Catholic preschool right now. I figure I'll let the school do the hard work of teaching her how to listen, sit still (yeah right!), use scissors and how to hold a pencil, and I'll take over when it's K time. We started my 3 yo at the beginning of the school year with the Little Saints preschool program, but she just wasn't ready, and wouldn't pay attention for mama. For various reasons we decided to put her into preschool a few weeks ago, and so far so good.

I'm surprised and happy to see so many homeschoolers here! Maybe we can all be cyber-homeschooling-CORE buddies! Our local Catholic homeschool group is really not active at all, at least not for the younger children. Sometimes I feel a bit on the outside of things in our area b/c there are so many large Catholic families, but ours is tiny, and not by choice. We only have the two here on earth, but 4 in heaven, and we're due to test again in a couple of weeks to see if we have another on the way (prayers and babydust PLEASE!) My girlfriend and I (whose husband is recovering from cancer and the treatments associated with that) are going to try to reenergize and reinvigorate the Cath. h/s group, and add programs for younger children, not just the older ones. I hope and pray that that will have a positive impact and that the group can become a good support network for us as we continue on this h/s journey.

BTW, do you guys (ladies) manage to fit in exercise everyday while you tend to the kids, schoolwork, meals, cleaning, church, etc. etc.? I try, but in general I fail miserably, and am looking for some advice on this topic. I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), which is causing my repeat miscarriages, and in order to get it in check, my doctor strongly recommends 6 days of vigorous sweat-inducing exercise a week, which I come nowhere close to. My doctor's wife also h/s's (he's an NFP-only Catholic doctor), so he knows it's a challenge, but still insists that I try to get a high amount of exercise in consistently. I can barely keep away from every sweet in my house, which is also a major no-no for PCOSers (ppl. w/ pcos tend to be insulin-resistant too), let alone tackle that much exercise. Any advice or tips would be appreciated!

[cece1964]

Jennzalew1, have you read Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierot? It was written by a Catholic homeschooling mom who was at her wit's end and needed to find some balance in her life. You can check out her website at mothersruleoflife.com. Highly recommend it!

My day's schedule has to be somewhat general - if I try to follow it in too much detail, it doesn't work. I try to use the following:

6:30 to 7:00am - get dressed for exercise, breakfast for me
7:00 - 30 to 45 min of morning prayer
7:45/8:00 - 30 min to 1 hr of exercise
8:30 - stop briefly to wake up kids - they're old enough to dress & get themselves breakfast
9:00 - shower & get ready for the day
9:30 - noon - school - I can fit in chores/exercise if running late/computer during their independent work

noon to 1pm - lunch break

1pm to 4pm - school
4pm - start dinner - sometimes exercise during this time if not done earlier
6:30 - dinner & clean up
8pm - bath time & relaxation time for me
8:30 - 9:15 - bathtime for kids
9:45 - evening prayer w/ kids
10:00 - bedtime

I try to schedule appts for kids (dentist, orthodontist, etc) between 8 & 9 so it doesn't break up our day later on. On those days, exercise is more likely to fall into the late afternoon or sometimes at 10pm when everyone else is in bed.

Also check out flylady.net. You get a lot of emails but delete what you don't have time to read. Her basic philosophy is you can do anything for 15 min - helps you get into routines - a lot of people combine flylady with mother's rule of life. Hope this helps!!

Lesa

[jennzalew1]

Lesa,

Yes, I have read the book, before I started homeschooling even! That book and "Holiness for Housewives" both did a LOT for me, but I think it's time I revisited them. I never did make my own Rule from the Pierlot book. Dh and I talked about it quite a bit (dh read the book too, lol), but I'm a procrastinator and never got around to it.

Thanks for the reminder. And wow, your schedule looks great! I'll take a few pointers and write out my own Rule!

Jen Z.