Looking in to homeschooling - advice needed please!

Having problems figuring out where to start? Let other homeschoolers offer you some advice!

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cebrick
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Looking in to homeschooling - advice needed please!

Postby cebrick » Tue Jun 14, 2016 10:11 am

Hello,
I hope I am not wrong to post here, as we are not officially homeschooling our daughter as of now, but we are having very serious discussions about it and neither of us know where to turn for further advice or resources. First off, I should mention that our little peanut is only 2 as of right now, so I know that she needs to focus on play and is too young for school in the traditional sense. Our biggest concern is that she is so, so smart. She is currently in an early learning center, and they already moved her up into the 3-4 year old room where she is doing slightly better, but she will not be able to move up again until kindergarten. Her birthday is in October, meaning that she will be 1 month shy of 4 before she can go to an official preschool, 5 before we can enroll her in 4K and almost 6 before beginning kindergarten. According to the center she is at now (which is part of our local Catholic school system and has grades K-2 on the other side of the building), as well as the other local preschools and kindergarten centers, the state has a cutoff date of September 1st for birthdays. No one can do anything for her.

The reasons that we were looking toward homeschooling (probably beginning with preschool) are:
- saving money (minus the cost of materials we may need), as I am a SAHM with our other kids so my husband is the only source of income
- she tells us that she is lonely at school because her only friends are her teachers.
- she understands concepts that I did not think a 2 year old would be able to (I could be wrong here, as she is our first child).
- her teachers are consistently telling us that she already knows things that they are working on (letters, numbers, shapes, colors, days of the week, weather, etc.)
- she is beginning to read and is very upset that she only knows a few words (literally cries because she's "just not very good at reading," as she put it). Her school doesn't begin working on it until kindergarten/first grade.

Our concerns are:
- we have NO idea where to start or if this will be a good fit for her
- neither of us completed college, and neither of us had any courses or have any background in education
- we have 6 month old twins, and if we do this for her, I need to be able to do it right - I don't know how I will manage teaching her and caring for the twins at the same time
- we want her to be around kids her own age to learn how to socialize, play, share, have empathy, etc.
- I worry that she will be distracted at home, and not "want to do school." We don't have the room right now to have a separate school room/area.
- she is very well behaved, but like any other kid, listens better to other adults than she does to me
- we worry how she will do if we end up needing to send her to a public/private school later on. I did well in school, but she's going to pass me up before she's done with all 12 years
- we want her to be able to enjoy being a kid and don't want to push her too hard

If anyone has any advice or suggestions for us, I would be really grateful. We want to do what's right for her, obviously, whether that's at home with me or in a school setting. I've never posted online like this before, but neither of us have any experience in this area and we just don't know where to turn. Thanks in advance. :)

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elliemaejune
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Re: Looking in to homeschooling - advice needed please!

Postby elliemaejune » Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:17 pm

I moved your post to this forum, "Getting Started," instead of the "Suggest Topic" forum. :D
Married to Mr. Ellie for over 40 years
Mother to 2 dds and 2 dsil
Grandmother to 1 sweet boy
Servant of 1 kitteh


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