Today is my first day of homeschooling my kids and...?

Question

The lesson plans provided by Abeka didn't take as long as I needed them to. In SC you're suppose to spend 4 1/2 hrs a day teaching. I went by abeka curriculum and it only took about 3 hours. Any ideas on how to make them last longer?

Also can PE and art be counted as part of the 4 1/2 hours of school?

Answer 1

I'm currently home schooled. This is my first year of doing it and I absolutely LOVE it! My parents were very skeptical about letting me do it at first. I'm 15 and live down in Florida. I'm doing this online homeschooling program called FLVS. Which stands for Florida Virtual School. It is really a wonderful program and it gives you time to actually sit down and understand something if you don't quite understand it the first time around. If you are looking to actually be the teacher then I think that's harder but you can still be able to make sure your kids are actually fully understanding the concept. With the program I am using I have been able to actually get straight A's. My parents are very proud of me and are glad they chose to let me do it. So, pros of it would be that you can actually learn way better than I think you can in private schools. I went to a private school from 3rd to 8th grade and it did help me a lot but I like home schooling so much better. Cons from home schooling would be physical activity. My dad was very concerned about that at first but I've set up a routine that I've been able to follow that keeps me in shape. Socialization is probably a big thing too. But ways you can make socialization happen is through volunteering. That way you can really get to know people in your community. Also, have them hang out with friends more. So, to sum it all up there is a lot of pros but also some cons. I would totally recommend home schooling because it is becoming more popular in our society today and it gives the children time to sit down and understand what they are learning instead of rushing onto another subject. (:

Answer 2

You can add to the A Beka curriculum - things like free reading, Phys Ed (a walk in the park, a game of tennis, time on the jungle gym), listening to classical music, watching movies/shows about a topic you are studying, taking a field trip, study a foreign language, do Bible study, volunteer (citizenship course), ...

BTW - who's going to know that you didn't spend 4.5 hours every day? If you're kids finish the work early, great for them. Why bore them to tears trying to do more? If you can get the whole weeks' lessons done in 4 days, you can call Friday field trip day and go to a museum, play, other performance, volunteer, your state capitol (we live in the state capital), a historic site, ...

It's your school and how you spend the hours is up to you.

Answer 3

Get a list of excellent books and read privately in the same room for a minimum of 2 hours.

We use the Robinson Curriculum. My students do math for as long as needed to complete one lesson. They write a full page essay on the topic of their choice. And then they read for a minimum of 2 hours. All together (with a little vocabulary study thrown in) they easily fill up 5 to 6 hours every day. It's great.

Barb

Answer 4

My son is home school well through a on line school and some weeks his work is not that long and i can call his teacher and she will send him more work to keep him busy you can try that..but its also the beginning of the school year and its kinda slow right now it will pick up once the teachers learn what the students can do.They are trying to get a good routine down..Buy more books. More art material. go to web sites that give out work for free..there are all kinds of extra work you can get for them to keep them busy..my son has a book report to do once a month so he has to read alot. How old are they? if they are older and know how to read and right make them do book reports on presidents, history, culture. it doenst have to be a big report just something to keep them busy for the last hour and thats a good way for them to learn the history of the usa..i make my son pick one president a day and look him up and write down everything he learned about him..

Answer 5

Put in breaks. Have PE. Do an Art project representing the lesson learned. Have a walk outside to collect leaves. Teach them how to prepare their meals or snacks, that is a home ec class or health and nutrition class. Have them learn a new song or do a small play.
And : Don't look at the clock so much!!!

Answer 6

UGH! That's rough that you have a time to keep. I have a friend from Las Vegas that actually had to schedule in homework and had to take all her books in for approval. Takes awesome dedication to adhere to all those rules, that's for sure!
Ok, please ignore the answers that encourage you to cheat the time or whatever, you can't possibly feel good about yourself doing that.
I did learn a bit from my friend from LV. She gave me a ton of little homework books to supplement my then first grader's curriculum. Some of them were all inclusive activity books with tons of things to do: language arts, science, social studies, math, so on and so forth. Others were just for one subject, like extra spelling words or something. Nothing so in depth that it was overwhelming, just review more than anything. My son did well with them, and it did increase his retention. I used those books when he was finished with his studies, but I needed him busy so I could work with his sister.
These types of books are plentiful in stores that sell home education books, like Mardel or something.
You could alternate your time between these type books and activities, library days, arts and crafts, PE, music, lots of options to make homeschooling interesting and still abide by the laws of your state.
Also, have you considered a foreign language? Even Wal-Mart carries nice little CD's and workbooks for Spanish and things like that.
Good luck, dear.

Answer 7

Is that the only time your children are learning though? Do they help cook? Clean? Do chores? Watch educational programming? Read books outside of daily lessons? Have discussions with you and your husband? Play outside, etc.?

Those happen in real life and technically you are in teacher mode all day long. You're doing fine. Count in all the learning that goes on after lessons that are learned all day and you have WAY more than the required 4 1/2 hours. :-)

Answer 8

Well, can you help it if your kids are smart and got it sooner? It's hard not knowing what grade level(s) you are talking, but try to have a discussion session on what they learned. If possible, give them real-life examples of how what they are learning can help them, or ask them to come up with situations when they can use what they learned. Have a review session and let them quiz each other.

Answer 9

If you feel like you have to spend more time, try following your kids' lead. Do some art projects together. Google information on their favorite animal. If they want to know how something works, look that up on the internet. Take them to the library. Let the children's librarian show them how to look up things in the reference section. It is a journey - let them choose a path for awhile.

Answer 10

Seriously...real life experiences are valid for school. Extra reading (if your kids like to, anyway), going to the park to observe nature (science) watching a documentary on TV or video (history, science, social studies, etc.), or playing music (music appreciation) are only a few of the ways you can get in more hours of school time. Good luck! :-)