Anybody Ever Home School Their Child?

[Heather]

Also my mother has calmed down a little and recognizes that Nicole is going to continue learning. But mostly she understands that her granddaughter is in a good place, with caring people. And she's happy!!!!!

 

[Heather]

I am going to officially withdraw her from school on Wednesday. I am scared. Am I doing the right thing for her? Will she learn the things that she needs to learn to get ahead in life.

Where's the self-confidence when you need it?

 

[Heather]

Am going to withdraw her tomorrow. Anxiety is growing but I think this is the right thing to do.

She is so fragile. We started with the basics: math facts. The 4 tables.

She knew all but 5, pretty good. She didn't want me to do them out of order but I need to know that she's just not memorizing them right down the line.

So, I mixed them up. She burst into tears.

At 12 she should know ALL her math facts.

Frustrating that public school just moves her along regardless if she knows concept or not.

Now it's up to me and the learning center.

 

[Heather]

Heard from the director of the learning center my daughter wants to go to. Have been very afraid that I wouldn't be able to afford it. She talked with the other "teachers". My tuition fee: 30.00 dollars a month!!!!!:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Plus helping out with various things i.e. taking care of the animals there (bunnies, guinea pigs etc) and help with fundraising.

All that I am more than willing and eager to do.

Good, caring people exist in this world that want to help me and my daughter..... Life can't get much better than this!!!!!

 

[seedling]

I found one of the hardest things about homeschooling was the self-confidence. It's hard to do what most others aren't. It's hard to go with a system or learning that isn't what we were brought up with. So, hang in there! Suffer through those feelings and keep on going :)

At 12 she should know

This is what "schooling" is. The idea that certain things should be known at certain ages.

She burst into tears

This is the stress that schooling causes.

It's important that she understand what math is and what it is used for. At whatever age.
In John Holt's book How Children Fail he talks about how children memorize "recipes" for getting right answers even if they don't know the meaning behind those recipes. Children can get right answers to questions about their math facts but not recognize that 7 times 8 is more than 5 times 8. They have learned to perform in a classroom setting but not to understand the meaning behind the work.

Will she learn the things that she needs to learn to get ahead in life.

It's not so much that she needs to know certain things to get ahead in life. She can now have the time to go about learning what she wants to learn. If she knows how to do that, she can learn anything she needs to know when she needs to know it. She will also be motivated to learn what she is interested in and come to know herself and her strengths. This will bring her a confidence that doesn't come when children are told what to learn and when to learn it. (And, maybe more importantly, when to quit learning something because the teacher, and the schedule, says it's time to learn something else instead).

Being confident in herself, and her abilities, that will be evident to others. She will shine.

You are doing such a good job!

 

[Heather]

Trying to withdraw Nicole from school today was a tremendous PAIN IN THE ASS! The board of ed. insisted I sign the notice of intent and if I didn't in 10 days they would contact DCF.

Then went to her school to withdraw her and get her things but because notice of intent wasn't signed. She couldn't get her stuff and isn't officially withdrawn.

So called back board of ed. They said they'd fax over N.O.I. with signature and she could get her stuff tomorrow.

I'm driving all over the place.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I am sorry for the hassles with the school. I have a feeling you cannot wait to get her out of there forever. Hang in there.

 

[seedling]

You are so close now :)
All that bureaucratic stuff will be over soon, it never will be the main focus anyway whenever it might come up again. Your beautiful daughter will be well served by your courageous actions.
Hang tough!

 

[Neverthesame]

I was homeschooled for the last couple years of high-school.

The specific type of schooling was virtual school. Essentially works the same way a physical school does, teachers, assignments, exams.

Oddly, I met some of the best friends I ever made through that school. E-mail correspondence between students was encouraged by the school.

The hard part for me was keeping my ass focused on what I needed to do. Spent more time chatting with friends than doing homework. Lol.

I would definitely recommend it.

One of the things I really loved about that school, was since you aren't being lectured by a teacher during specific class times. If you happen upon something that interests you, you can stop what you're doing, learn more about it, then resume your lesson.

Since the type of school I did had actual teachers, when the inevitable math question came up that neither my parents or myself could figure out. They were available by e-mail or phone during normal school hours.

Might be a good idea for your daughter @Heather. Having to see her abuser everyday can't be good for her, or her grades.

 

[Heather]

@Neverthesame I couldn't have said it better myself. The other little girl that was abused (Brianna) too asked me if Selena (the abuser) was going to be in the same school with her next year. I said, "no". She replied, "thank god". They miss each other by one year.

Unfortunately my daughter doesn't have that luxury. Brianna asked me why I was pulling my daughter and I told her remember what you said to me about seeing Selena. She nodded. I told her it was the same for Nicole.

I know I am doing the right thing.

I'm glad you had a positive experience with homeschool and I'm hoping my daughter will come out with those same feelings.

@gizmo and @seedling Thank you both for your support. This is such a hard time right now and your support means the world.

 

[Heather]

Am really proud of my daughter: She did 20 minutes of reading.
Studied her vocab. words.
Did her math facts: knows all 4 tables and is working on mastering 5's
Got a map of the u.s. and labeled all states on eastern seaboard, plus the capitols and will find one fact about each. Then she will mark time zones.

She is doing more at home than she ever did at school.

And even though she throw a fit. It took her less than 30 minutes to do her geography.

 

[Neverthesame]

That's good to hear. :)

That was one of the first things I came to appreciate about Canada after moving here. Geography class was a little bit simpler here.

Only had to remember the names of 13 capitols, for 10 provinces and 3 territories. Actually now that I think about it, there were only 12 when I was her age.

Much easier than 50 states, 2 colonies? And 1 District of Colombia.