Can you give me ideas for teaching home school classes?

Question

I am teaching my 1st, 3rd, and 8th grade children and it is not as easy as I thought it would be. I need to know where I can get glass products for science class. And any other ideas to make teaching easier are welcome.

Answer 1

Do you have a good curriculum?

Do you have a daily planner or schedule?

I would think that the 8th grader (& 3rd grader to a degree) could do a good bit of independent work. Mabe take a few breaks through the day.

!!!!!!!!!!!!! Find other home schooled children in your area. Mabe the is a home school group or association.

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(non religious but GREAT)   Saxon H.S. Curriculum

Abeka

Alpha Omega

Sunlight

Bob Jones

There are some online high schools or "virual schools"

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Don't give up. I know people who home school 4-5-6-7 children.  You will get the hang of it. Just takes a while to find your rhythm

Answer 2

I would suggest Rainbow Resource - they have just about anything you could need, from preschool through high school.  http://rainbowresource.com/index.php

Also, Delta Education has a lot of science resources that can easily be used in a homeschool setting.  http://www.delta-education.com/

Lastly, Apologia has some great kits available (and their curriculum is the best I've seen): https://apologia.securesites.net/store/i...  The lab setups are meant to go with their books, but can easily be used with other curriculums as well.

It does take some time to get used to, and it gets easier.  I promise!

Answer 3

One idea I got from our homeschool group was this concept: Make one activity work for all 3 kids.

    Examples: For PE, have everyone take a bike ride together.  

    For Home Ec, bake a cake, and assign everyone different but age appropriate tasks.  The 8th grader learns a skill, like using the mixer, setting up the oven, or frosting the cake.  The 3rd grader learns about fractions, by using the measuring cups appropriately, combining ingredients to make whole numbers, doubling the recipe by doubling the fractions, etc.  The 1st grader gets practice in following directions: Finding the right ingredients in the pantry, getting the spoons and pans out, reading the box, etc.

  For Reading, everyone reads the same story, but the tasks are age appropriate.  The 1st grader is asked questions about specific details, perhaps: What color is the man's hat?  What state does he live in?  The 3rd grader is asked to relate the story:  What is the man doing?  What happened as a result.  The 8th grader is asked harder questions, drawing inferences, or predicting outcomes:  Why might the man have so many pets?  What will happen if he doesn't change his behavior?

    For History, talk about specific people or different events, but on various levels of complexity for each age group.

  This approach won't work for everything (Math probably won't work), but can be a real timesaver.

Have you tried having your 8th grader work with one of your younger kids?   This can be part of the school day, or for "homework", if you do that.   Remember, education does not only happen while book reading about the core subjects.  Your older child can learn while trying to teach the younger child.

Ponder why you feel the need to buy glassware for your child's science education.  Do you really WANT to do that, or do you feel COMPELLED to do things exactly the way they do it in public school?  I gave up on doing "traditional" labs because a) I didn't feel I had the skills to do them right, so b) they took an inordinate amount of planning time, and c) my child didn't seem to get much out of them.  But that's just us; your child may LOVE it.  Only you should decide for your family.  Now, I do things more like watching certain TV shows on the Science channel; examining plants and animals in the yard and a nearby lake; growing our own flowers--and I feel she gets much more out of the time, and it requires little planning, which I can then spend on other things.

Spend a little time finding out where your big time drains are.  Is it writing tests?  Is it brushing up on your 8th grader's math assignments?  Knowing where the bulk of your time is spent can help you to focus your timesaving efforts on the big time-killers.  Then you can a) spend a little more money on prepared items, or b) enlist your husband's help if he is an expert on a certain topic, or c) rethink the way you do things, or d) get creative, or e) whatever works.

Keep in mind that in many states, you don't have to account for the same number of minutes in the classroom as you do in the home.  There are lots of non-educational activities that go on in the schools that you don't have at home.  You don't have to waste time a) putting coats in lockers, b) listening to announcements about last night's basketball game and bus schedule changes, c) lining up to go to the bathroom, d) having a class party the last day of school, e) having fire drills, f) changing classes, g) passing back papers, h) taking attendance, etc. etc. etc.  Almost every minute of home school is spent with individual attention.  Half of a "smart" kid's day in public school is going over review work he doesn't need but the other students do.  If your child gets it, you move on immediately.