Anyone homeschool their children.

**alotofgooddeals** · 02-08-2010, 04:39 PM

Due to medical issues with our 8 year old daughter we have started to homeschool her. She was constantly sick.. bronchitis, strep throat, a cold and due to her medical conditions anything to do with the lungs is not good for her... so we made the decision to homeschool after she had missed so many days...i felt like she wasn't getting what she needed and needless to say that since November when she was pulled she has not been sick once...
Well anywhoo....what curriculum are u using and math is her bad subject... she absolutely detest it. She will sit down everyday and do all other four subjects... science, social studies, spelling and english...but math we puts off and puts off...i know that it is hard for her and it makes her brain work... the other stuff comes easy for her...so I am wondering if maybe i should change her curriculum in math and see if maybe a different teaching style might help.....she wants to go back to school next year and she would be in the fourth grade and i have told her that if she wants to than we would allow her to go and try again and hopefully her immune system would be a little higher or maybe the kids would be a little better with hygeiene issues... such as washing hands after sneezing etc...and if we decide to not send her as her dad states she needs to get the education she needs so she can go to college when she gets older... he is the one responsible for making sure her work gets done as i work during the day.. He feels like maybe he isn't doing a good job and doesn't want her to fall behind...i told him he is doing a good job and she will be fine we just need to figure out a way to make math more fun for her... I know that she may never like it but it needs to be bearable and it might come to a point that she just has to do it whether she likes it or not...

Thanks for all your help....

**monkeywrangler71** · 02-08-2010, 04:46 PM

What are you using for math now? My son is doing Miquon, but he's only at the Grade 1 level. It's all hands on.

**alotofgooddeals** · 02-08-2010, 04:53 PM

It's a christian based curriculum.... that is not why i chose it... i chose it because it is a curriculum i used growing up and i feel comfortable with it however i could learn to be comfortable with something else if it worked...

She is in third grade and knows alot of the multiplication tables and some division facts... she is able to add and subtract three digit numbers without errors. it just takes her a while... easily distracted and gets frustrated easy with math.... My husband and myself just need to explain to her that she can take her time and it doesn't matter how long it takes.

**xtena** · 02-09-2010, 01:02 AM

We use Math Mammoth which is written by a math teacher who is also a homeschooling mother. It is an inexpensive curriculum available as PDF download. It isn't fun, however. We have a book 'Games For Math' which you might try to find at a library, or research on Amazon. Also there are plenty of websites with games, like multiplication.com which DD has used for drilling the times tables. Traditional games like Monopoly are good for math practice (get the old version with paper money, not the new versions with pretend ATM machines). Also try to incorporate living math, like when you are shopping, adding in your head or on paper, with estimation (hmmm, apples are 1.30/lb and we want three pounds, about how many dollars will that be? ) and things like that. Maybe use the grocery fliers with DD, tell her your budget and let her help pick things out, make the shopping list with estimated total.

**2ndGenGranola** · 02-09-2010, 01:37 AM

We have just switched to Singapore Math and the boys love it. I got a hug just today with a thanks for changing. I was told that "it was fun". I was shocked because it is harder than what they were doing but it is presented in a nicer way.

My guys also like the books we pick up at Sam's Club for extra practice. They will sit for hours with those.

**bears3** · 02-09-2010, 06:39 AM

We use a Christian Base curriculum. I have 1 in 2nd grade level and 2 in kindergarten. For math we use the books but I am also one that bleeives in hands on. When I go to the grocery store for example. I give my son a tablet and a pencil. He writes down the price of everything. Figures out when I buy 4 or 5 items of the same thing does the multiplication, etc. At the end we see how close he got to the total at the register. We don't do the tax. In PA not everything is tax so that is a to hard to figure out. He even take off for the coupons. He keeps track of them as I go thru the store. It give him and I alone time. Plus it is a teaching tool and he thinks it is fun.

The key to learning and teaching is making it fun. We do alot of fieldtrips. They don't have to cost money. We have gone to the local grodery store, post office, gas station, bank, etc. All these places are happy to give the kids a tour and show them what they do. The grocery stores usually do a small learning thing about nutrition. Just depends on the store. The big chains have a guide for the store to follow for the tours. We have gone to a local orchard and see how they make apple cider. Local pretzel factory is one we are doing next.

I try and do my field trips for the seasons. We will be going to a chocolate factory in March(around Easter time). We went to a turkey far before Thanksgiving. Then I put the trips in our every day teaching.

It takes a little planning but well worth it.

**tigo** · 02-09-2010, 10:02 AM

I buy most of our stuff on line- check the different book selling sites. A large portion of them are books the schools are no longer using. For math and English/Lit it isn't a problem. We also have had great luck finding books that the library sells off from time to time. I went all out and bought the sets when I first started but it became too pricey.

**monkeywrangler71** · 02-09-2010, 10:18 AM

Most of the curriculum sites post sample pages. I know there are a ton of samples for mammoth. Why don't you let your daughter do some test pages from various books and see if there is a layout that suits her better.

I looked at the sample for the one you're using and honestly found it very distracting. If the problem is just attention not comprehension, maybe she just needs something a little less cluttered.

**2ndGenGranola** · 02-09-2010, 10:38 AM

I just saw that you are using School of Tomorrow. It is a good curriculum. Do keep in mind that they use a different scope and sequence than most public school curriculum. The lower grades start out with mastery of basic concepts and do not introduce new concepts on the same schedule as public schools. Through grade 3 they will be "behind" public schools in Math concepts (although ahead in mastery of basics). If you plan to reintroduce her to public school in grade 4, it would be best if she will have completed grade 4 of SoT or supplement. If she only finishes grade 3 of SoT, she will not yet have some of the skills she needs.

Get a copy of your districts Scope and Sequence (the grades in which they teach the skills) and supplement and follow so she will have a successful reintroduction. You can usually find your districts info online.

**Elizabeth CM** · 02-09-2010, 11:42 AM

Since no one else has mentioned it - there's a great (free) website that reviews the math skills each grade level should have here: www (dot) ixl (dot) com

That said, we use Singapore Math for curriculum, it's solid & well-respected with both home-schoolers and with state licensing folks. (click the "homeschool" link on the Singaporemath (dot) com website) Wish I'd found this in 1st grade, because there were a few "holes" in my son's knowledge that we ended up having to go back and cover. But I feel confident now. We finished 3A at Christmas, on to 3B.

Note: Don't bother with teacher's guide, the textbook is very self-explanatory and has color and lots of white space so it's not intimidating at all.

There's a "placement test" on their website, but 3A and 3B focus mostly on multiplication & division (more and more challenging problems - using remainders, learning to estimate the answer, etc.) I also got the workbook for the extra problems. A chapter a week is an easy pace - we do Math for about 30 minutes a day and easily go 2 chapters many weeks.

I augment the lessons with free games from the library & the internet. (www (dot) internet4classrooms (dot) com then "skillbuilders" then on to math, etc.)

The best advice someone gave me is to hit the stuff they don't like first thing in the morning and get it behind you

Good luck! I 'll be pulling for you. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

**joyofsix** · 02-09-2010, 12:01 PM

My ds is 8 and in the 3rd grade. I am using a combo of things for him. We did mathmammoth in 2nd grade. Though I liked it he did not. I switched to Rightstart which he likes soooo much better. Lots of manipulatives and games to learn but it requires parental attention for 20-30 minutes. You can't just hand them a workbook. We're also using Singapore story problems because I want him to be able to apply all he's learned.

**Lindsey** · 02-09-2010, 12:36 PM

Math u see!!! I cannot speak highly enough about it. I was homeschooled all my life (until college) and was mainly taught with Saxon, but when I was a junior in HS my mom switched me to math u see. It did wonders for me! I was always bad at math and just didn't really get it. Math u see really helped me.

I now use it for my DD. I think the website is; mathusee.com

Good luck!

**alotofgooddeals** · 02-09-2010, 05:02 PM

Okay.. i have read all replies and have found them most helpful...Today she sat down and did all her schoolwork and actually did extra pages so she could take all her test tomorrow...

She will make it through all of the third grade math....and actually uses some concepts she learned at school to do her math.. I was kind of amazed and asked her what she was doing and she told me that if she made her math facts into math sentences it helped her alot.... I was really impressed....
As for her going back to school next year i am not sure....we may just continue to homeschool her and have her take part in extra activities so that she can get her socialization skills...she has one particular cousin that is the same age as her and she tends to spend the night there with her occasionally and there is usually another child or two there...we then in return have that cousin over.. they take turns.. she also does 4-h and takes part in girl scouts. She is planning on going to drama camp this summer so if i feel that her socialization skills are appropriate and she wants to homeschool next year we may just do it....

**zakity** · 02-09-2010, 09:26 PM

We use Singapore Math also.

I would suggest hitting a curriculum store and look around and see options there are that you think might work.

**justpeachy92** · 02-10-2010, 12:00 AM

When I had elementary school aged kids I would play the game S'Math with them, not sure if toys r us still carries it, got ours from there 12 years ago. The game is similar to scrabble but you are putting down math equations (ex. 12x4=48). I also had the kids not only double/triple various recipes, I would have them reduce recipes too.