Well, my husband and I are considering homeschooling my littlest guy this coming year. He's entering 5th grade. Anyone have the experience of starting in these middle years? He's an excellent reader and very creative as an artist. He's losing his love of learning and we don't want that to continue.

All comments welcome!!!

By Northcountrymom on Saturday, July 4, 2009 - 11:02 am:

Well its been a while since I posted this because now its summer and I'm hoping some of you homeschoolers can find a nanosecond to weigh in on this. I have this internal debate daily. T send to school or homeschool this is the question. I'm so afraid he's going to become isolated or less productive if I homeschool but this year was very hard on the little guys psyche.

By Enchens on Saturday, July 4, 2009 - 01:10 pm:

Hi, Linda. Not a homeschooler but I do know of someone from my mommy group in town who decided to homeschool all of her boys this coming school year. They will range in age from 1st to 5th or 6th, I believe. She mentioned that with the program she chose, she will homeschool and then once a week or once every two weeks, I forget which, the children have to go onsite to test on the material. So they will get to see other children.

I'm wondering if friendships and similar interest activities can stem from that.

Just a thought.

By Northcountrymom on Saturday, July 4, 2009 - 03:11 pm:

Thanks,
Love to hear more about what she's doing.
Linda

By Northcountrymom on Monday, July 27, 2009 - 11:24 am:

Hi Enchens,
Would love to know what the mom you know uses for 5th and 6th grade.
Linda

By Jujubee on Friday, August 21, 2009 - 02:41 pm:

Wow I'm late on this. I pulled my three children out of public school when they were in 6th, 5th, and 4th grades. I never regretted it.

I designed my own curriculum instead of going totally pre-packaged simply because it made more sense. We used http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/,Rod & Staff for Math & English. http://www.themysteryofhistory.com/, The Mystery of History for Social Studies/History (whatever you call it), and http://www.highschoolscience.com/prodas.php, Apologia Science.

Now these are all Christ centered, because we are christians, but there are many homeschooling options out there. The thing is to keep your child in mind when selecting your curriculum. You said he's an excellent reader and creative, gear his education toward enhancing those things. This way he stays interested in it. We've been homeschooling for 4 years this year, and have never regretted it. My daughter has decided to go back to public school this year (9th grade) to try it, but my two oldest have decided to finish high school years at home. Good luck and sorry for the late response.

By Northcountrymom on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - 10:50 am:

We did it! We're homeschooling. We're happy.
My husband has really joined in - teaching astronomy, music, lanaguages - even Math. The other day they invented a new math game. Balancing the time has been challenging(what else is new). Love the homeschool groups - my little guy is taking a homeschool swim class and gym class. We've been taking a lot of field trips because everything closes for the season at the end of October.

Thanks for the suggestions. Thinking about the Rod and Staff Math. Really like the Mystery of History - would have to integrate American History, social studies and geography.

Would love to hear more suggestions.

Thanks,
Linda

By Northcountrymom on Saturday, February 27, 2010 - 09:34 am:

6 months - an anniversary- we have home schooled six months. I am so glad we took this path. Its been amazing for many reasons. First and foremost the flexibility. To try new things, to travel. We have been on over 20 field trips. Museums, historical sites but in addition all sorts of "out of the box" places. When my son expresses an interest we actually do or try it now, not put it on a "never to get to because of lack of time list". Jujubee, we actually are using many of the resources you named but we had to try many, many others. We have also done many unit studies, some we created- just for fun. We spend a lot of time in libraries ( we regularly visit at least 3).

May not do this forever but really glad for the education and family adventure.

By Feona on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - 07:01 am:

Sounds exciting!