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Saturday, March 31, 2007

Homeschool Set Up


It's been a while since my last post. My life is still crazy but I have added a new variable to add to the craziness. Homeschooling!

My daughter is not getting the education she deserves at the local elementary school. She is extremely academic and loves to learn. She has been bored all year and really has not learned anything new. Mornings were getting unbearable with crying, screaming and she started throwing up a lot. We discussed our limited options (Catholic school, Extremely conservative Christian school 17 miles away or Homeschooling).

Homeschooling won and I'm happy about it. I had Monica take a math placement test yesterday. Math is not her strongest subject but she still tested at a sixth grade level. No wonder she's bored. I'm going to do a language arts placement test and I have no doubt that the results will be more advanced. She tested at 6th grade level in reading/reading comprehension in the 1st grade. We have not had a problem with the Christian and public schools she attended until now. She really needs to be able to advance at her own pace.

Monica's last day at public school is April 10th. It is the day of her spring concert and she did not want to miss it so that is the day we chose. We are excited and happy about the decision. Monica is happier and more loving.

I know this is not going to be easy with the little ones under foot and demanding attention. Monica likes the structure of textbooks compared to the unit studies (although I do intend on doing more field trips and throwing in unit studies here and there.)

For the rest of this year I have put together a curriculum with various textbooks at her 4th grade level. I really need to get more of a college prep curriculum, one that is more academic and intense. I'm looking into Calvert. Unfortunately, none of the Christian based curriculum seem to be intense enough for her. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't really want to skip a grade because I'm afraid she will miss out on too much in social studies and science. I also thought that I might excel her in the reading/writing, English/grammar and math and work more in social studies and science until those two subjects are close to or at the same grade level as the rest.

I'm open to any suggestions.

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