Please encourage me

[Lantern Light Mama]

We are a few weeks into home schooling now and I can't seem to make a lesson plan to save my life. Our house is disorganized and I'm frustrated at DS's refusal to read. This will get better, won't it? There are some great things I love so far about homeschooling but I don't have motivation lately for much of anything. Life has been stressful and we have had bothersome things to pop up. I know for him, homeschooling is a better option, but what if he falls behind? What if we aren't doing enough? I'm a little worried today, can you tell?

[SweetMelissa]

I haven't officially started yet, and I get scared already. I wish I could help. :hugheart

[illinoismommy]

We are a few weeks into home schooling now and I can't seem to make a lesson plan to save my life. Our house is disorganized and I'm frustrated at DS's refusal to read.


Did he just come out of school? Put away the books, and don't ask him to read yet.

Form a framework with beneficial habits from which learning can naturally take place.
Set overall goals.
Throw away lesson plans.

:)

[Senta]

:hugheart :hugheart :hugheart :heart

[Lantern Light Mama]

Yes, he came out of school in March. He was having issues with his reading then. I was told to have him evaluated for dyslexia. The only reason I am concerned is that he will have to be tested in this state. I hate that. Kids shouldn't be forced into testing. Not everyone test well and they really don't show how much a child has learned. We have one more year until we are forced to test (I think).

[illinoismommy]

Yes, he came out of school in March. He was having issues with his reading then. I was told to have him evaluated for dyslexia. The only reason I am concerned is that he will have to be tested in this state. I hate that. Kids shouldn't be forced into testing. Not everyone test well and they really don't show how much a child has learned. We have one more year until we are forced to test (I think).


Do you think he is dyslexic or no? :hugheart

[Lantern Light Mama]

maybe but hes young

[ShangriLewis]

You test at home and no one is allowed to ask for your tests. The only time they could be needed is if you put him into a public school and they weren't sure where to place him. When I put my kids in ps they just placed them at the grade level of their age.

Your thoughts are normal. Heck I still have them some days. You have had a lot of changes in your life :hug2

[Lantern Light Mama]

Can I just order his test and be the one to give them? If so I will try that.

[ShangriLewis]

http://www.familylearning.org/ They can do an assessment instead of a test. The CAT is a good test. You need a teacher to score it. So, read the directions. You send it back to them for scoring.

I can't remember his age. But, the school age starts at 8. So, you don't test until the school year they are 8.

[Lantern Light Mama]

He will be 8 in November. I won't have to test him until about May of '10 , correct? That does give us some time to try to work on his weaknesses.

[illinoismommy]

You can do this :heart :hug2

[cindergretta]

Yes yes yes to Shangrilewis. :) :heart

You also need to remeber that the test results are for *your* eyes only and *you* need to view the results as an evaluation. You use the results for *you* to determine strengths and weaknesses and areas that you may have overlooked.

School at his age shouldn't be any more than 2 hours a day, if that.

It will be OK. No one is looking over your shoulder except you. :hugheart Homeschooling is about learning, not being perfect or ahead or advanced or whatever. It is about teaching your child how to learn, to love to learn, and working at his pace. Otherwise, you can put him in a classroom and stress both of you out. :giggle No more stressing. Your family is adjusting to a major move. School needs to be backburnered right now and just adjust to your new surroundings. He will be learning without you anyway. ;)

[NovelMama]

Just chiming in to give a supportive nod to all that has been posted already. :) Let him continue to detox from the traditional school setting and adjust to the changes that you guys have gone through lately. Don't push (or even worry about!) the reading. FWIW--my brother was a late bloomer when it came to reading, and he HATED to read at all--had to be bribed with $ by my parents to read when he was a kid--and he is now working on his PhD, in a foreign country, and has already earned 2.5 master's degrees. :) And my DH is dyslexic, though he was never officially tested and never received any special services or anything when he was in school, and he just finished his masters, and is a tremendous writer and teacher, despite struggling so much to read. So even if he is dyslexic, it's not a death sentence for his schooling. :)

And you soooooooooo can do it! :)

[IslandMama]

:hug Take a deep breath...spend some time reading him some great stories that may get him interested. I wouldn't push it. A couple hours a day of learning should be fine. :yes Great advice on testing too! :tu :heart

[veggiegirl]

:hug2 Hang in there! It will get better. It might take a while for you to get into a routine, and even then, you will have to change and adapt it. I am now a home school mom, but I was public school educator, and believe me, they worry about everything too. Sometimes I didn't feel creative with my lesson plans, my desk/classroom needed cleaned or organized, and I worried about the progress of my students. So everything you are feeling is normal. Hang in there! You also got some great advice from the other posters. I agree, take it slow if he is just coming out of public school.

[Grover]

When I took my son out of school,there was a big time or adjustment for us both.Infact over a year later Im still adjusting.Some days are tougher than other .
I would allow a long stretch of se schooling .If school was a negative experience -and it was in our case,t.Im not an unschooler[although I think its a great way :rockon] but we introduced school one subject[well actually we use a curriculum-so it was one box at a time].We started with the most fun,least resisted parts .We had no resistance to him having books read to him,so we started with that.We then added in art/science/drama box,after we had those running smoothly we added in some other parts of the curriculum and finally reading and handwriting[the parts he was the most anti].
So take some time just to adjust :hug2 read to /with him and have some fun.