Homeschool World Forum

[Meghan]

Hello,

I'm new. Just registered tonight.

Have two children. Ds is 9, in 3rd grade, and rocks in PS.

Dd is 6, in 1st grade, and somehow never seems to measure up to their expectations. They are constantly pushing for Title 1. K managed to teach her exactly nothing, and much of our summer was spent teaching her letter and letter sounds (phonics!), and reviewing the numbers. After teaching her what was advised by her K teacher from last year, felt certain she was entering 1st grade where she should be. Her first spelling test was a 95 and I thought we were all set. 6 days later her teacher stated that she was setting up an RTI meeting for intervention in math and reading, and that my dh and I were encouraged to attend since that letter, dd's schoolwork has gone from perfect to pathetic. Not sure what happened. I spent all summer telling her how smart she was (K made her feel like a failure), and she was feeling pretty golden.. not anymore though. She is the one we will be pulling if school can't figure out how to accomodate her auditory learning style and help boost her confidence. I feel like they are pushing my round daughter into a square hole. More sight words aren't going to help a girl who learns best with sounds.

I'm not sure I've ever been overly happy with our school system, so have toyed with homeschooling since ds was in K. Just a happy imagining, though, since I really couldn't figure out how to balance everything. It wasn't until this past spring when dd's K teacher informed me that she'd basically failed to teach dd anything that I realized that there was something super important at stake. That is when my research began.

In addition to the two children, I have a wonderful dh who is a victim of the crappy economy right now. I am also a college student working on my Associates in Lib arts, to go on for a bach in Creative writing.

I have a hobby farm of chickens and goats, as well as a garden. I'm also the co-admin on a forum about chickens.

[hscoach]

It sounds like your daughter will definitely be able to benefit from homeschooling. You know her better than anyone else, because you are her mom! The one-on-one attention she will receive from you will be so superior to being in a classroom of 25-30 students. You can teach her (like you said) the way she learns best, according to her learning style. Teachers just can't do that in a traditional classroom. There are too many kids and not enough time.

I believe you will really enjoy homeschooling and you can learn a lot by reading posts in this forum. Welcome!
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Laura L. Barth
http://www.freehomeschooladvice.com

[Meghan]

Thank you hscoach!

I needed that warm welcome today. dd brought home another crappy spelling test (a 75 on this one). Tested her myself and she got 100, and I was being careful not to send her visual cues like body language if she 'guessed' the right letter. Seriously discouraging the guessing anyway, but didn't want to give her the answers inadvertantly.

Round and round the mulberry bush!

[Theodore]

The best way to learn spelling is really just to read a lot of books and write a few essays. Spelling lists can't cover even a fraction of the English language unless that's pretty much all you study.
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The Farming Game - Software Edition for PC, Mac, Linux
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.