Parent..need help????

Question

i have three kids...my 4 year old has speech problems due to extreme ear infections.. i am looking into homeschooling and need advice as to when to start, how,and a good schedule you have had succuess with..maybe a good way to teach ABC's and so on...thanks

Answer 1

If I am not mistaken, your local school system will probably help you homeschool your child, and may allow the speech to be through an expert through the system.  Start by asking them some questions, then if they don't suit you, join a good association near you, and they will have all the answers you need to know.

Answer 2

Homeschooling is great! You should first contact your board of education to see if they can give you any information. The laws are different  from state to state. Check to see if there is a home school organization in your area. A google search for your area may help too. You will also need to research the companies that make home school curriculums. You have to buy these. Some areas have home school curriculum thrift stores.

In my case (my state), home schooled children must put in 180 days in a 12 month school year. (public school is 9 months). It does not matter when I put those days in just as long as it equal 180 days a year. By law a school day must be 4.5 hours. However that can include a trip to the zoo, library, etc,etc. The public school and BOE have nothing to do with me or my child. But I do have to send in an attendance record once a month to the BOE. My children must take standardized test every 3 years after 3rd grade. And I have to buy all their school material and books.

If I choose, I can let someone other than me or my husband homeschool them just as long as they at least have a GED.

We can school any hours of the day. We can do it on the weekends. We make our own schedule.

Hope this helped. Good luck !

P.S. Yes, home schooled kids can go to college!

Answer 3

I never did homeschool, but I've known people who have.  You might try these websites for some good information:

http://homeschooling.about.com

http://www.homeschool.com

http://www.home-school.com

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com

Good luck!

Answer 4

Is your 4yo in speech therapy? You may be able to get it if you are on the state Medicaid through your Dr's office. Just ask about it. We did and it helped immensely! Also if you have your child tested through the school system and they determine your child needs it then they can't deny you just because your child isn't  enrolled in public school!

How to teach ABC's and such is simple at that age one word can sum it up! PLAY!! Play with those fridge magnets and paper teach them to write their name any thing that will be mistaken for play goes over really well with that age group. My 5 yo has a work book for math, handwriting, and phonics. that is our main focus this year. For Math we bought him Math-U-See Primer and the blocks (he loves to play with them), handwriting is Handwriting with out tears, and Phonics is Get Ready for the code followed by Get Set and Go for the Code once he gets to the last book I'll order Explode the Code. WE also bought sentence blocks and sight word flash cards and we play with those. I never try to get him to read them I just dump them out on the floor and put together my own sentences while he puts together anything he wants. Every now and again he'll ask me what a block says and I tell him. I don't want him to dread learning by the time its really time to start learning.

Good reading material for you anything by John Holt and Ruth Beechick.

Good Luck!

He loves www.starfall.com he's learning phonics and doesn't even know it!

Also look into HSLDA www.hslda.org

Answer 5

You could start doing some fun and easy preschool activities now.  This link contains many ideas for all subjects, including ABC's.

I have 3 kids, but am currently homeschooling a 7 and a 3 (soon to be 4) year old.  Homeschooling is extremely efficient and takes considerably less time than traditional classroom lessons.  Here is some info on homeschool schedules:

Here's what our schedule looked like last year with a pre-k and k student:

wake up

breakfast

get dressed

morning chores

bible reading

seatwork (30 minutes max)

activity (art, game, etc.)

freetime

lunch

quiet time

snack

afternoon chores

freetime

dinner

family time

read aloud

bedtime

We also worked in field trips, trips to the park, library, etc.

We still don't do much more than that. Seatwork is now up to no more than an hour max for my 1st grader. He's reading on a 3rd grade level and is on grade level (if not slightly above) in math.

I think that is all you need for right now, but for the future you may want to research your state's laws:

http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

And think about different homeschooling methods (how you want to teach):

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

I think it would be great to find a homeschool group in your area, for social activities and support for you as a parent.  Here's some info on homeschooling support:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Good luck and have fun!

Answer 6

I had the good fortune to homeschool my three children in the 1990's (they are now young adults). It was a wonderful experience I wouldn't trade. That being said, it was also hard work and required lots of planning. There are two philosophies about homeschooling; one, that all it requires is love and a library card. This might be true in part, but my husband and I were both educators and took the structure and discipline route (along with love and a library card) If you are not a teacher, I highly recommend locating a satellite school which will provide you with curriculum and books. I believe your local school district is required to supply textbooks. We belonged to a homeschool association so my children could participate in extracurricular activities with other children (skating, chess, cooking, etc.) This gives you legal advice (probably  less neede today than 15 years ago when homeschooling was not as common) It is interesting that you mentioned your four year old. My youngest daughter had constant otitis and was a large reason for homeschooling; once she was home, the ear infections stopped and the speech problem corrected itself.

Reading to and with your children is extremely important. I began my children with linguistic readers to help learn word patterns (HOP on POP) for example.

This forum would not be sufficient to share all my experiences are anyone elses for that matter, so my suggestion would be to get hold of every book you can on the subject.

I hope this was helpful.