If I start home schooling this late in the year, can it be completed?

Question

If I remove my 7th grader from regular school where he is not doing so well and start the abecka program; is is possible to complete the program this year?

Answer 1

Probably not, but who says you have to finish it?  

The neat thing about home school is that we set our own standards since we are the teachers and chief administrators.

That's the way the law is in our state.

Answer 2

You won't be able to finish a yearlong program by the end of the public school year, but you have some other options if you want to pull your student out now.

One option is to start a program and let it take as long as it takes. I wouldn't recommend this option, though, unless 7th grade has been a complete and total waste so far. It essentially forces the student to repeat the first half of 7th grade, and seems punitive.

Another option is (depending on your state requirements, of course) to work without a packaged curriculum for the rest of the year. You can put together a program yourself, or work more casually. I would suggest reading a few books from different homeschooling perspectives (packaged curriculum, unschooling, classical homeschooling, eclectic, etc) and see what fits. If you really don't feel ready to put together a complete half year curriculum yourself, you can get a math program and maybe one other subject to study intensively, and fill in the rest with extensive reading. Then you'll be fresh (and detoxed from school!) to start 8th grade, and you'll have a better idea of what works and what doesn't, before trying to put together a more complex curriculum  or trying to choose a full packaged curriculum.

Answer 3

The simple answer to your question is no, it isn't really possible to complete any "program" this year.

But that doesn't mean that this year has to be a loss. First of all, you could use the time to assess where your child is educationally. Are they really ready for Abecka's 7th grade program? Secondly, you could use the time to strengthen your 7th grader's basic skills.

We have home-schooled our children all the way through so we haven't had to deal with the challenges of transitioning from public to homeschooling but you should allow some grace for your student as they settle into the changes you are planning.

Answer 4

I just answered your other question in the general education category.  It would be very hard to complete a one-year program in just a few months.  However, if there is a lot of overlap in the scope & sequence from what he had in PS, then you could skip a lot, gloss over the review stuff, and then get to a point where it's new information.

This might be hard to do, though, as Abeka, and a few other HS'ing curricula are at least one year ahead of the public school curriculum.

If you plan on HS'ing him for longer than the rest of this year, don't even worry about the grade level or if you finish by May.  That's one of the benefits of HS'ing.  You don't have to conform to the gov'ts idea of boxed in grade levels.  You do courses at the child's pace (more quickly or slowly), and even different pacing in each course/grade.

I guess I gave you more than you asked.  But I think it'd be hard (and a bit of a waste of $$) to just try and push him through one grade in just a few months.

Answer 5

I believe that they have a placement test. If so, you just begin where ever he places and move forward from there. If you are home schooling, you will find that he can put in fewer hours towards school and, often, move forward quicker, if he is able to retain it over a short period of time, and better. Also, it's often better not to completely stop in the summer as you then will find yourself doing what public school teachers end up doing for a good part of the first term of every school year, reteaching what they learned last year. Kids retain the information better if they are doing their lessons continuously, rather than stopping and starting. This means that he doesn't have to miss out on summer time fun with his friends, and he will still be moving forward in his studies! :) It also means that he'll have more free time during the entire school year, not just summer, spring, and winter vacations.

Answer 6

i was taken out of school in 5th grade. I wasn't doing well in school.  I am now a graduate from the Hewitt Homeschooling out of Washington state.  my mom started me off with abecka and i didn't do well with it at all.  I found Bob Jones curriculmn to work much better.  the best thing about homeschooling is that you can work at your own pace.  if the child needs more help in one subject you can take your time and work extra on that one subject.  don't be so worried about when the child finishes just concentrate on him understanding the methods.  hope this helps.