Welcome to Chadnles, Julia and Mrs. C!

Chadnles - don't let yourself get too isolated! Even if you live far away from much, stay in touch. We'll be looking for you!

Julia - you have your hands full! Are you still working outside the home? How are you managing the ADD?

Mrs. C - welcome! Do you have a conference coming up that you can attend to look at all the options available to you?

Warm welcome to all of you! Check back often!

Christine

My friend Lori D in FL told me about this new site.

I have an almost 13 yr dd and a 15 yr ds doing 7th and 9th grade. We have been homeschooling for 6 years now. We started when my ds was in 3rd grade and we were spending as much time at home afterschool reschooling as he was doing in the classroom.
I had heard about homeschooling even before my kids were born and thought those parents must be nuts and real extremists. How would they be qualified to teach every subject. I was working in my field of engineering at the time. After I had my children we had one homeschool family in my church and I saw it in a much more positive light with the great flexibility of time and teaching styles and especially the family time it allowed for them. I still never expected to do it myself, of course I had never expected to be a stay at home mom until my second child was born. After going back to work I found that we had no family life at home, just getting ready for the next day. God gave us the timing and the abiblity to do it. It was not easy to give up an engineers salary but God as always provides a way.
My ds has CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder) which was diagnosed in first grade. THis is a problem with receiving audiotory messages and processing them correctly and also getting what is inside your head out in words. This does cause problems with reading and so now in 3rd grade he was starting to have problems. My dd was in 1st grade and bored because she had learned to read in preschool. It was God's perfect timing. I have loved homeschooling especially for the time I get to learn alongside my children. It gets easier and harder at the same time as they get older and more independent but it offers so many possiblities in their learning paths and also time together. I would not know my 15 yr old if he were not home with me.
Both have expressed an interest in going back to public school from time to time for different reasons and we explore that option but neither has done it so far. I don't want them to look back and think they missed out on something that I kept them from. I like keeping them part of that decision making process. God leads our path if we will just be patient and follow.
By the way our church is very supportive of homeschooling as are many in our area.

Hi Jodi,

Welcome! Glad you found the board.

I too left a career to stay home. I practiced law for 8 years - then homeschooled! So, I can relate to your difficulty making that adjustment. Yikes! It was huge!

I have a daughter with LD as well. I'd be curious to know what you're doing with your daughter's CAPD. Any advice you can share with others here?

Great to hear from you!

Blessings,
Christine

Hi Everyone! My name is Nancy and I currently homeschool in Missouri. I say currently because we are a military family. My husband is a drill sergeant right now. We have lived in Arkansas; New York; Virginia; Germany; and Kansas previously. I am homeschooling my youngest, who is a 9 year old 4th grader. I have two older children that went through public schools - the oldest is 20 and married while the other is 18 and a froshmore in college.
I originally began homeschooling the youngest because she was reading extremely early and I knew she would be bored in public school. Now we homeschool not only because of academics, but to provide a stable Christian education environment. When she's older, I hope to send her to a Christian highschool so that she will have more opportunities.

Hi Nancy,
Welcome! Gosh, it must be hard with all that moving around. How do you manage it?
Christine

Hello, My name is Allison Pinkston and I am the mom of three small children (4, 3, and 1). My oldest is in a pre-K program at our church, but we are going to homeschool him in the fall. We certainly feel the Lord's prompting and are excited to start. I have no friends who homeschool and would like to meet some folks who are experienced and who don't mind some questions as I begin my journey. I am excited to hopefully get to know some of you and learn a great deal.

Hi Allison,
Sorry for the delay in answering. (I was away at a conference. Exciting!) I want to welcome you. I know you will enjoy getting to know the other ladies here. Ask away! I'm sure someone around here will have ideas.
Welcome!
Christine

Hi. My pastor's wife just sent me this link and i'm so thrilled that I feel like i've finally found what I need! God is good.

My name is Patte and I homeschool a 12 1/2 yr old daughter, 7th grade and an 11 yr old son, 4th grade. My son also has CAPD, is LD and was currently diagnosed as mildly mentally handicapped. Chandler has been in school until this year and i've been going around in circles trying to find the best way to teach him. It's been tough becuz the public school has shunned us and I'm not willing to fight with them so i'm going through the private sector to get speech therapy and occupational therapy for him. Has anyone else had the privilege of dealing with medicaid to help pay for any educational supplies, therapies, etc? We were told to contact them, I just haven't done it yet. My story is very long. I just wanted to say hello and to tell you Christine that your responses that i've seen so far are so warm and welcoming. I'm very excited about staying in contact through this forum.

Patte David
Londonderry, NH

Dear Patte,
Welcome! So glad you found us! (Sorry it took me a few days to greet you.)
I would love to hear more about your story with your children. We have not used the private sector for services, but have instead forged a wonderful relationship with our local public school. There are opinions around that would not approve of such an arrangement, but it has been a huge blessing for us.
So, I don't know the answer to your medicaid question specifically. I would imagine that they will require documentation of your issues, so I guess you'd still have to seek an evaluation.
I'd like to hear more. Maybe some of our other ladies have some info for you about Medicaid.
Tell us more!
Blessings,
Christine

Hi! My name is Michele Wyatt. We homeschool are three youngest daughters (2nd grade, 1st grade & k) and our oldest daughter is a junior in our local public school system. Our main reason for homeschooling the girls was to make sure that we fill their little hearts with as much of God's Word as we can. We're given such a small amount of time to raise them and we have to spend a lot of that time "unteaching" them the things that they learn from other sources. And, I hate the thought of wasting so many hours a day sending them away where they will be taught what man thinks about things, when the time could be so much better spent teaching them what God says about things! We were blessed to be able to send our oldest daughter to a Christian school when she was younger. And, we aren't able financially to do that with the three younger ones. But, we use a Christian curriculum that is awesome in applying Scripture to their learning.

I have been blessed by your testimonies and am excited to learn from all of you on this site!

Hi Michele,
Welcome! We hope you come by to visit often.
Four girls! What a blessing. We have three young ladies and one boy. My hubby says the wedding expenses are going to delay retirement for us!
Tell us more about your school days.
Blessings,
Christine

Hi, Christine! I can understand your husbands concerns about the wedding costs. Right now, we're dealing with our 17 year old's insurance costs, and I think that having our three younger ones all driving at the same time will use up all of the "wedding reserve" money! heehee!

Our school days are very eventful! I don't think we'd survive without humor. We use Alpha Omega Lifepacs for our 2nd and 1st grader (I'm extremely disorganized and the lifepac system helps me keep on track better). We usually get started each morning between 8:30 and 9:00. On good days, we get through most of our work just in time for lunch. On other days we finish up around 1:30 or 2:00. I like homeschooling because we can use other activities for learning. For example, we have a dinner at church tonight and I needed to do some baking. So, we didn't do science today and instead, they helped me "experiment" in the kitchen. They helped with the measuring and mixing. And, we had a blast! I want to be the kind of mom that never misses an opportunity to teach. I always go to bed at night and think, "Oh, man! I should have said this... or done that..." Hopefully that will come as I continue along this road!

I have four children, ages 14, 11, 6 and 4. Before my first child was born, I started praying about his education. I regularly prayed that there would be a good Christian school in my county and that dh and I would be able to afford it. A new group was created at my dh's place of employment. It was a temporary group for a special project, and there were only about a dozen people put in the group. Two of the people were homeschool dads. This was in 1992, and I had never even heard of homeschooling. Dh came home one day (dc#1 was 3 months old) and told me about homeschooling. My first question was, "Is it legal?" When he assured me that it was, I knew then that God had answered my prayers. Neither of us has ever doubted that we should be homeschooling, even though we have had our share of problems.

Howdy Alegnab and wyatt,
Welcome to the board! Stop by often.
That's so funny - I never heard of homeschooling either until my oldest was almost Kdg age. Then I sent her to school for 4 months while I worked up the courage to homeschool. Gosh, I sometimes long for those simple days!
What are your plans, curriculum wise, for next year?
Blessings,
Christine

My plans for next year:

Ninth grade: Latin I, World History I and Western Literature to Dante through Scholars Online , Apologia Biology on our own, unless a slot opens with a certain teacher at Potter's School , Traditional Logic I , health (probably Total Health , which we may spread over several years instead of one), Math-U-See , IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course B , Rod and Staff English 8 (this will be the last grammar course we do; we do most of it orally, so it doesn't take long each day), Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101 which are free online lessons and then books that dh has (dh's career is in computer security)

Fifth grade: Truthquest Age of Revolution I (and I'll probably have him listen in on the AHYS), writing (either U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons, Vol 1 or Classical Writing - Poetry or both), Math-U-See, Teaching the Classics for literature, Apologia Botany or Zoology and/or a Thames & Kosmos science kit , Wise Guide for Spelling , Rod & Staff English 6

Second Grade: TruthQuest American History for Young Students I with Story of the World, Spell to Write and Read (see Wise Guide link), Math-U-See, Apologia science, Building Thinking Skills and Dandy Lion logic if I find time

Kindergarten: TruthQuest (he'll be mostly just listening to books here and there), Math-U-See, probably listening in on some science, some phonics if he's ready, kindergarten workbooks (he enjoys kiddie workbooks), math manipulatives with activity books, maybe some Building Thinking Skills, probably not much else

This message has been edited. Last edited by: alegnab,

Hello, Everyone! My name is Erica. My family and I are not officially "homeschoolers"... yet! Our story amazes me completely! I say that because although my husband has desired for us to homeschool our oldest (6 yr. old boy in first grade) since he was a baby, I have been completely against it. I've always had my set of excuses... when we married 7 1/2 years ago, I had just finished 6 years of teaching at a demanding Christian school and was burnt out. Then, as Anthony got older, my excuse was that our personalities were too similar and we wouldn't make it through the first day! I felt inadequate to teach him and his little sister (4 yrs old) and still do in some ways. However, in the past year and a half God has done tremendous things in our family and He has made incredible changes in me! Little by little over the past couple weeks, He has been placing thoughts into my mind about Hannah, Brian (my dh who works from home), and I being able to do things together throughout the day but Anthony missing out. Also, Brian and I are being called into ministry and are on the verge of moving our family from NJ (where we've lived all our lives) to Tennessee this summer. We also believe that whatever (we're still in the process of discovery) ministry God has for us, it will eventually require moving often. So, homeschooling has been in the back of my mind lately in light of these developments. Last week, a friend of mine made a comment to me about homeschooling which we completely joked about. But, once I got home, the Lord used that comment to speak to my heart and for the first time ever, I yielded to Him on the issue and told Him that if He wanted me to homeschool Anthony, I would trust Him and i would be willing to do it! Do you know what happened? The very next day, my heart and mind changed completely... all of a sudden, I found myself excited. I went to the library and pulled several books off the shelves. I've been asking friends (we have many) who homeschool for advice. I even read through one complete book in one evening, which is not characteristic of me! I've been searching websites, which is how I found you! I stand amazed at the way God is leading! And, although I know it will be difficult, I also understand that it will change our family in ways that will benefit us greatly! One of my hardest struggles, particularly in the past several months, has been placing my dh and my children first. That will (and already has) definitely changed! I look forward to seeing how God will bless as we continue to be obedient and faithful to what He has called us to do! One of the things I find most amazing is that God did all this at a time when we were completely content with our public school and Anthony's teacher! For us, it had little to do with those outside influences. It mostly had to do with what He is doing in our family and in our hearts and that this is best for us at this time! It causes me to believe even more deeply that He really does love and care for us! Thanks for listening! I'm looking forward to learning from those of you who are established homeschoolers! I've already found encouragement in some of the information! Blessings to you all!

Hi Erica,
Welcome, welcome! I hope you visit soon and that we can all give you lots of words of encouragement.
I loved what you said about obedience. I really relate to that. Sometimes when I want to quit I am always drawn back to the idea that I am stepping out in obedience. When the Lord called us to homeschool, we obeyed. We'll continue to do it until He tells us to quit.
The funny thing, Erica, is that as you step out in obedience, he makes you capable to do it and your inadequacies vanish. If He brings you to it, He will equip you.
Please visit again. God bless you!
Christine

Thanks, Christine! That is good advice and I have heard it often lately... isn't it wonderful how the Lord continually reminds us that we are not alone when He calls us to new endeavors! Not only is He here to lead and guide and direct, but He also gives us one another to help us along! What a great design, huh?

Erica, how else can we help you in this journey?
Blessings,
Christine

Hello, I am Cindy Gray and my DH (Tim) and I decided to homeschool well before we had a child. We have a beautiful son who is now 3 (and pray to be blessed with more). Tim and I have both been classroom teachers. I am now a SAHM and he a business owner/pastor. Having first hand experience in the public school world as well as our spiritual convictions led us to the decision to homeschool. Not only that, but we feel the benefits of homeschooling far outweigh the drawbacks. I however, have some personal reservation as to how well a job I will do myself. I am humbled that God has entrusted something so precious to our care and I am thankful for the joy of teaching him and I want to do my best. This is why I want to read and learn as much about it as possible now! Any advice is welcome and appreciated. Thank you, Christine, for this forum! I look forward to learning all I can.