My question is this- I plan on deschooling and letting them just explore. I'm scared they will I guess forget what they've learned since we won't start with any curriculum until August. I'm afraid that when we start in the fall, it will all be like foreign language to them (they are 7&4 now)
Is this a normal fear and is it something I should be really worried about?
Mothers have intuition when it comes to their own children....follow it. If they need some de-schooling, then do that. However if they don't need it, jump right in
When you home school, the whole world is your classroom...mostly free. The following free article gives various methods used by home educators (& more) How To Home School.
Here's a suggested "lesson plan" for the remainder of the school year.
http://www.livingjoyfully.ca/unschooling/getting_started/what_is_deschooling.htm
Hi, we are kind of in the same boat. I took my son out after Christmas break. I spent most of the time reviewing with him so that I know exactly where he is. He is in the 4th grade according to conventional schools. I have found some holes in his understanding of math and other things too. So we reviewed everything! Including addition, subtraction, etc. until where we are now which is a 3rd grade level math. This only took 2 months! I think it is priceless because in many school settings they rush through material so the child never truly masters it. I think spending a couple extra months now reviewing and cementing his skills will be priceless as he advances into the middle school years.
How about using a "Power Hour" with 20 minutes of math (maybe a worksheet in a workbook), 20 minutes of reading (any book), and 20 minutes of writing (journal or any story or event). We used a "Power Hour" daily during the summer to prevent learning regression. It is just enough academic activity to keep it in the kids' minds so the kids pick up right where they left off, but not so much as to seem like "school work." For the Math, we used a grade level Spectrum Math workbooks and the boys did one page per day. You can let the kids watch educational TV or DVDs, play educational computer games, go on field trips to nature centers, museums, etc. You can really have a lot of fun with this time and let your kids keep on learning while you're preparing for next year. ;-)
SandyKC
M.S. Instructional Design, Homeschooling Mom of "Light of My Life" Boys, Author, Individualized Instruction Design Consultant
Quoting DyslexiaParent:How about using a "Power Hour" with 20 minutes of math (maybe a worksheet in a workbook), 20 minutes of reading (any book), and 20 minutes of writing (journal or any story or event). We used a "Power Hour" daily during the summer to prevent learning regression. It is just enough academic activity to keep it in the kids' minds so the kids pick up right where they left off, but not so much as to seem like "school work." For the Math, we used a grade level Spectrum Math workbooks and the boys did one page per day. You can let the kids watch educational TV or DVDs, play educational computer games, go on field trips to nature centers, museums, etc. You can really have a lot of fun with this time and let your kids keep on learning while you're preparing for next year. ;-)
I have a 7 & 4 year old too and we just did the same thing...but with our homeschool currculum. My oldest was bored with it so we took a week break and during that break I enrolled them both in Time4Learning (7 year old in 2nd grade and 4 year old in Pre-K). It was the best thing I could have done because they both love it. I tweaked the other curriculum so they wouldn't be so bored and we do those lessons first. After, my second grader does his T4L lessons and it's like a reward because he has fun.
Take a breath and relax! If you read to your children and explore things that they show an interest in you will be fine! Plan some fun things with them and just hug them lots!
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- CowgirlMama0508
on Mar. 7, 2013 at 8:04 AM