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You mentioned that you homeschool your kids. I also homeschool my 10-year-old daughter but am having a really hard time figuring out how to do daycare and homeschool at the same time since the kids I do daycare for are under school age and are here 8-9 hours a day. If you have any suggestions I would be very grateful!! Thanks.
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Proverbs 12:1
A reminder to myself when I resist learning something new. -
sorry, I missed a t in your name.Proverbs 12:1
A reminder to myself when I resist learning something new. -
My kids use a computer program for their curriculum. It's an online program that a lot of homeschoolers use. It's called Time 4 Learning.
So, in essence I don't really have to be there, hovering over my kids while they work. The program in interactive and really fun to use. And there is a behind the scenes part that parents can go to to "check up" on the kids and how they did in each lesson so you can go back and review if necessary etc.
To be honest I am a homeschooler/unschooler. Therefore I don't have my own kids do a ton of seat work. It is important to me that they know how to read and do math but the rest of the stuff I am happy if they learn in the yard finding bugs, taking the dog for a walk etc.
We are also a very active family that spends A LOT of time with our kids providing them with experiences in many different areas on our NON working time. I only work 4 days a week as does my hubby so we have 3 day weekends each and every week plus I only work a 9 hour day.
So, between my shorter weeks, naptimes, the computer curriculum there is plenty of time for myself and my kids to get all we need.Comment
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Just chiming in: Judy, that's awesome that you can do that. I can't imagine doing that for my kids but can definitely see the positive's to doing that. Granted, I don't have my own children yet but it's something I might aspire to do one day.Comment
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I LOVE that we are together each day. Love it. I love that we are a VERY close family because of it. I love that my kids are able to entertain themselves and are not the typical "I'm bored" school agers we encounter everywhere. I love the my kids get to lounge around if they are feeling off one day or just not feeling like going 100% that day.
I love that we don't have to sit around the table every night doing pointless and often mundane homework. I love that my mornings are easy and light and I am not racing to get someone out the door for the school bell. I love that my kids eat a healthy, nutritious, homecooked, hot lunch every day. I love that we can up and leave and go on Vacation in the middle of January if we so choose.
My kids love being at home too.
And at the end of the day they run outside and play with the school kids on the street when they come home from school.Comment
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I have also found that homeschooling has been a great expereince for our family. My 10 year-old daughter is from my previous marriage, so allowing her to stay home has allowed her and my husband get used to each other a lot faster than some mixed families. I have a one-year-old daughter as well. I was worried that the age difference in my kids would hurt their ability to feel like sisters, but I think that my oldest being home all day has helped tremendously with that, too. She loves playing with her younger sister and trying to teach her things. This is our first year homeschooling and we have a teacher from the school district that comes to our house every other monday to see if we have any questions. I was really nervous about any involvement with the district. I was afraid they would try to tell us how to do it. The teacher we were assigned is great, though. She just helps us find resources and encourages us. We've had a great experience with her.
Thanks for the website. I'll have to do some exploring on it. My daughter does great with the computer, so I'm sure she'll learn a lot from it.
Thanks again.Proverbs 12:1
A reminder to myself when I resist learning something new.Comment
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Hey Judy...
Question...do you think this program would be worthwhile as a supplement to regular school?
My middle one really struggles with education and I've been looking for something that might trigger his learning. We've considered home schooling him; but he really wants to go to school...he just doesn't really want to do the work! He's 10; 4th grade.Comment
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Sure it could! It's very inexpensive. Both my kids costs me about $35 a month so one child will be less.
I like it because in this day and age so many kids are visual learners and anything with a screen will captivate their interests.
I think the key to helping kids learn is to find HOW they learn. Every kid is different. So, if your child is not an auditory learning then it won't matter how many hours he spends listening to the teacher drone on and on and on little of it will be retained. BUT, give that same kid a video presentation of the same subject matter and they will recall each and every segment of it.
You just have to find their niche learning style.Comment
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I also homeschool my kids. Well, my oldest is 5 so we did Pre-K this year and we will oficially start Kindergarten in the Fall. I am so excited and have been researching homeschooling since she was born. I think home daycare compliments homeschooling well. I agree will all of the benefits that Judy mentioned as well.
I am planning to use Christian Light Education (CLE) for First grade for Math and Language Arts. It is geared more toward independednt learning(grades 1-12) and the lessons "speak" directly to the child. It is somewhat religious so that may or may not work for you. But is a thorough and rigorous program and students who have used it tend to do well on standardized tests. I just wanted to throw that out there.
We do our schoolwork at naptime mostly. My husband is home several weekdays as well so he will help out with the homeschooling at times as well.Comment
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How do those of you doing homeschool and daycare handle the social / friends aspect? I know in the early years it's no biggie and actually a perk to have so many little friends, but I'm worried that down the road my children would get burned out and/or downright resentful of all the little ones and my not being able to take them out to do all the things that the other homeschoolers do like co-ops, hs support/playgroups, and group field trips and such. I'm working almost all of my kids' waking hours during the week and I know that's what most of us do, so how do you do it?Comment
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Well, mine are still little. But I have been thinking a lot about this for the future. In my area, we have a home daycare sub agency with the Child Care Resource and referral office. So I was thinking of taking my kids to the coop classes on Mondays and having a regularly scheduled sub come in for that time each week (a few hours). You might want to see if there is anything like that in your area.Comment
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Mine are little too. My oldest is 5 and her official K year begins this fall as well. I really wish we had something like that sub program here. All I've come up with so far is figure a way to have dh take off and cover for me here and there so I can make it to some co-ops with dd, but I don't know if we could really do that very often since I'm not sure how his bosses would feel about him missing work so regularly. Still brainstorming on this for the future then I guess.Comment
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We don't have a lot of coops etc here. But both of my kids are naturally just homebodies anyway so they actually like being at home most of the time. But we have them both involved in Boy Scouts, Brownies, gymnastics and Baseball. So they get lots of involvement with other kids. And, like I said, they play with the school kids after school too.
Socialization is always a big concern from people who don't really homeschool. If you are a homeschooler with school-aged kids you start to realize very early on that it is a NON concern, really. Besides, kids are not in school to socialize - they are in school to work. And truth be told, from some of the stuff I hear and read about happening in school I am quite happy to not have my kids 'socializing' as such.
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I agree.We don't have a lot of coops etc here. But both of my kids are naturally just homebodies anyway so they actually like being at home most of the time. But we have them both involved in Boy Scouts, Brownies, gymnastics and Baseball. So they get lots of involvement with other kids. And, like I said, they play with the school kids after school too.
Socialization is always a big concern from people who don't really homeschool. If you are a homeschooler with school-aged kids you start to realize very early on that it is a NON concern, really. Besides, kids are not in school to socialize - they are in school to work. And truth be told, from some of the stuff I hear and read about happening in school I am quite happy to not have my kids 'socializing' as such.
We dont have a lot of kids in our neighborhood so that isnt really an option. But even if you dont, the kids could be involved in things "after school" as well. We are looking at an art class and possibly gymnastics.Comment
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I've been homeschooling from the beginning with my son now in 3rd, daughter in 1st and a preschooler (and 2 month old!) I started out very rigid and to the book, but with time comes wisdom. I'm much more relaxed now. I'm still green though on the daycare, starting soon with licensure. Hopefully they will mix well! Mine are getting to the point though that they can start and do much of their work alone. We have done all kinds of co-ops, groups,etc and they can be a lot of work and comittment on your part. I think the kids will benefit greatly from the experience of the daycare when they look back.
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