denisedthomas

My daughter keeps saying she wants to go back to school, she misses her
school girlfriends and is still unhappy with the lack of homeschool girlfriends
her age she had made. I cannot keep up with her social needs even though
we do have playgroup twice a week and playdates another 1-2 times a week!
I am considering giving into her and letting her try it again in the fall, although
it feels ridiculous for her to be in and out and in and out of school! (she went in
K and 2nd) I would still homeschool my son, so I'd have to deal with the early
mornings and the homework and the PTA and all the other stuff I hated about
school, but I'd also have one at home, so I wouldn't have the advantage of
time to persue my interests. It doesn't feel good to me, but I don't want to insist
that she stay at home!
I need two things, one is to ask if anyone has had the experience of your child
wanting to go to school and you telling them no, they can't? How did that work
for you? I am considering it but it doesn't follow my phiolosophy of "child-led
learning" at all!
The second is that I have told her that if she wants to go back to school she
needs to catch up in reading and writing (her math is fine!). Is there a web site
where I can get worksheets for 5th grade level writing and a list of 5th grade
level reading so she can get an idea of what she will be expected to do so
she can go into this either prepared from spending the next 6 months studying
hard or she can realize that school is not as understanding as I am about
letting her learn at her own pace (unschooling/child-led learning) I'm not
really trying to scare her into giving up the idea of school, but I don't want to
go to all the trouble of getting her back into school for her to then realize how
good she has it at home and ask to homeschool again! I'm tired of the back
and forth!!!
Also is there anything else like social scinces, sciences, etc... that you all think
she should definately know by now that she might still be scetchy on that I
need to insist she learns before she goes to school? Like do they have to
have memorized the names of the 50 states or names of presidents or
anything like that?
I love the idea of child-led learning, but the whole concept I believe is
contigent on long term homeschooling, not going back and forth in and out of
school! Am I wrong?
Thanks for any help!
Denise

Betsy Hill

**but I don't want to
go to all the trouble of getting her back into school for her to then
realize how
good she has it at home and ask to homeschool again!**

Really? If I had to do this with my kid, I would be rooting for him to
come home soon and find a different way to meet his social needs.

I support supporting her urge to go to school, but I don't support the
idea that if she chooses school she HAS to stay. Why? You want her to
be serious, goal-oriented and stoic at a young age? Is that it, or is
it something else?

I understand some of the inconveniences that school will impose on your
family. But I hope you will relax and let stuff happen without being
really attached to one outcome or the other. It'll be less stressful
that way.

** Also is there anything else like social scinces, sciences, etc...
that you all think
she should definately know by now that she might still be scetchy on that I
need to insist she learns before she goes to school?**

Not at all. Most of this stuff is learned about and tested about in
separate chunks. Very little of it builds up cumulative understanding.

Betsy

denisedthomas

--- In [email protected], Betsy Hill <ecsamhill@s...>
wrote:
> but I don't support the
> idea that if she chooses school she HAS to stay. Why?

That is NOT what I meant! I would pull her out of school again the instant she
said she wanted to homeschool again! It's just that it's a lot of work to prepare
her for school and traumatic emotionally, I know, we've been down that road
twice already! It's hard and I don't want to go through it again.
Denise

Sandra Dodd

On Jan 19, 2006, at 7:20 AM, denisedthomas wrote:

> It's just that it's a lot of work to prepare
> her for school and traumatic emotionally, I know, we've been down
> that road
> twice already! It's hard and I don't want to go through it again.


====================

http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice

You don't have to prepare her.

If it's happened twice and is happening again, change your unschooling!
Make your life at home way more interesting than school is.

Your first post was all about how much work it was for you and this
one is about you too. That's fine, but if you spent that much energy
on what your daughter would really enjoy, what would light up her
world, she probably wouldn't want to go to school.

Can you get out of town? Can you get in the car and drive as far as
you can drive, eat in an interesting little local restaurant
somewhere and get a motel room? Can you head for a town with a play
or museum or something exciting and memorable to see? Waterfalls,
ghost towns, skiing, or a circus? Something needs to change
dramatically and merrily.

Sandra

Nisha

Have you asked *HER* what possible ways she might meet more kids her
own age to do stuff with? There are usually lots of afterschool
programs in most areas. You don't actually have to be in school to
participate in those most of the time.
They typically go from 3-5 M-F and are fairly reasonably priced. That
would probably be where I'd look for that kind of thing first.
Classes, if she wants that type of thing, might be good too. Art
classes, music lessons, community sports programs, even girl scouts or
something similar. That way she gets to interact with the kids she is
wanting to, follow her interests, and take responsibility for at least
part of her own social life.
Nisha


-- In [email protected], "denisedthomas"
<denisedthomas@y...> wrote:
>
> My daughter keeps saying she wants to go back to school, she misses
her
> school girlfriends and is still unhappy with the lack of homeschool
girlfriends
> her age she had made. I cannot keep up with her social needs even
though
> we do have playgroup twice a week and playdates another 1-2 times a
week!

xcnfetr

--- In [email protected], "denisedthomas"
<denisedthomas@y...> wrote:
>
> My daughter keeps saying she wants to go back to school, she misses
her
> school girlfriends and is still unhappy with the lack of homeschool
girlfriends
> her age she had made. I cannot keep up with her social needs even
though
>

My daughter also mentions sometimes that she would like to go back to
public school. When we get down and really talk about it we realize
that it is the fun with her friends that she misses. We talk about
what it was like to sit in a class with 27 other students, bored out
of your mind and getting in trouble at every instance of boredom.
When she remembers those days, then we are back on track. I have
found a lot of resources at the YMCA. Their membership is reasonable
and they have a lot of youth oriented programs. I have found that if
we get to the Y at least 3 times a week with a good hour or so of
physical activity she feels much better. It is a lot of work to make
sure they have good social contact. To me that is the hardest part
of homeschooling. Take a close look at your community and your
homeschooling community and make the committement to find a group
that has children her age. It will come together.