[email protected]

Hi all, I'm relatively new to the list and I am only in the information
gathering stages about homeschooling. I've been getting books from the
library to better educate myself on the subject of homeschooling. If anyone
has a MUST READ book, I would love to hear what it is.

Also, I took the book I was currently reading with me to the dentist and you
can't (well, you probably can) believe the criticism I got and the comments.
"Oh, you don't have a teaching degree?" "I could never take on the
challenge", etc., etc. Anyway, I congratulate all of you for doing the work
you are doing and sticking with it -- I sense it is going to be yet another
battle of wills within my family and around my circle of friends (many of
whom are teachers -- great!).

One question I have does not relate directly to homeschooling but will
probably make or break my decision -- how do you deal with behavior issues?
I'm talking about your day to day tantrums and non responsive behavior? My
dd is 3yo and my ds is only 7mo but I feel like I'm on a roller coaster with
my daughter's behavior and not sure how to deal with all the conflicts. I
have read many books but nothing seems to click for her (or me). I do NOT
believe in any type of physical correction (hitting, smacking, flicking,
etc.). If anyone has suggestions on books to read or websites, or lists,
please let me know.

Lastly (I think!) I was very interested in the posts about the reading,
spelling, etc. My dd always wants to know what letters start which words and
will constantly aske me "what does ________ start with?" She too wants to
learn how to write the letters and I'm not sure if there is a specific format
or method that I should look into about making sure I teach her how to
correctly write the letters (or is this even necessary). I find myself
writing the letters and then wondering if I'm doing it right!! Also, she is
the ONLY person in my whole family that is left handed but she has no problem
following my hand when she watches me write the letters -- I thought that was
sooo neat!

BTW, thanks for allowing me to be a part of this list -- I THOROUGHLY enjoy
the insight and information regarding homeshcooling in general and
unschooling specifically.

Michelle in DE

Corallyn

--- In [email protected], mommiesapp@c... wrote:
> Also, I took the book I was currently reading with me to the
dentist and you
> can't (well, you probably can) believe the criticism I got and the
comments.
> "Oh, you don't have a teaching degree?" "I could never take on the
> challenge", etc., etc.

I always take this opportunity to inform the person that HSing is not
as difficult as they think it is. You can do in 15 min at home what
it takes the ps to do in an hour. Besides, 5, 6, 7, etc...year olds
need to be outside exploring and playing and learning in Mother
Natures class room more than the class room of the govn't. I don't
always word it quite that way but that is the basic jist of it.


Anyway, I congratulate all of you for doing the work
> you are doing and sticking with it -- I sense it is going to be yet
another
> battle of wills within my family and around my circle of friends
(many of
> whom are teachers -- great!).


I feel very lucky that my mil, who is ps educator, is extremely
supportive of homeschooling especially on letting the child learn at
his/her own time and pace.

>
> One question I have does not relate directly to homeschooling but
will
> probably make or break my decision -- how do you deal with behavior
issues?
> I'm talking about your day to day tantrums and non responsive
behavior? My
> dd is 3yo and my ds is only 7mo but I feel like I'm on a roller
coaster with
> my daughter's behavior and not sure how to deal with all the
conflicts. I
> have read many books but nothing seems to click for her (or me). I
do NOT
> believe in any type of physical correction (hitting, smacking,
flicking,
> etc.). If anyone has suggestions on books to read or websites, or
lists,
> please let me know.

I have a 5.5yob and 3.5yog. Neither of them really spoke until they
were right around 3. What I mean is that they didn't speak anything
anyone other than me understood. At 3 and even at 4 and after they
have their language skills they don't understand how to verbalize
their feelings. Tantrums are the only way they know how to express
their feelings. What I did was to let them have their tantrums when
and where they were untill they began to gain strong verbal skills.
(what I mean by strong verbal skills is that they can be easily
understood by those who are not around them on a daily basis.) Then
when they can be more easily understood I still permit them to have
their tantrums but not in public and at home they have to go to their
bedrooms till they are finished. I always make sure that when I send
them to their rooms for a tantrum that I use a calm voice so they
don't feel that they are in trouble. I also explain to them that they
are more than welcome to express their feelings in this way in the
privacy of their room. I also talk to them about their feelings and
give names to them and tell them that it is okay to tell me how they
feel. I also begin putting rules on their tantrums like you're not
allowed to kick, hit or throw anything other than your own
posessions, this does not include furniture or toys shared by other
siblings, and the floor. This has seemed to work out well. My 3.5yog
will be 4 in Dec. Her tantrums are far and few between. My 5.5yob
still has one once in a while. He did today which surprised me and I
told him he had to stop or go to his room and that he was too old to
act that way. If there was a problem we could discuss it, but he was
not allowed to have a fit about it. It wasn't even a tantrum in the
traditional sense but more of him whining and yelling and carying on
because he didn't get what he wanted.


>
> Lastly (I think!) I was very interested in the posts about the
reading, spelling, etc. My dd always wants to know what lettersstart
which words and will constantly aske me "what does ________ start
with?" She too wants to learn how to write the letters and I'm not
sure if there is a specific format or method that I should look into
about making sure I teach her how to correctly write the letters (or
is this even necessary). I find myself writing the letters and then
wondering if I'm doing it right!!
>
My ds is into words that rhyme (did I spell that right) He will pipe
up out of the blue and say two words then state that they rhyme.
Sometimes he is correct sometime close and sometimes completely off.
He loves to do this. Ya know I just thought of a rhyming game to play
with him. I will have to try it next week. (They are going out of
town for the weekend.) I wouldn't worry about your technique of
showing her how to write her letters. If she is learning to write the
letters and is content with her own progress you are doing a great
job. I used to feel this also but I would think that because ds
wasn't doing it yet that I wasn't doing a good job. I have been
excited for him to start writing and learn his numbers so we can move
on to more advanced games. I get bored with such simple games over
and over and over.

>Also, she is the ONLY person in my whole family that is left
handed but she has no problem following my hand when she watches me
write the letters -- I thought that was sooo neat!
>
I just have to say as a lefthanded person that it is very important
to cater to her left hand. I will be 32 this year and still have a
problem telling the difference when I am looking at other people. To
me I see them as a mirror image, their rightside to me is the left.
It has been the past few months that I have finally been able to see
their right side as their right side without thinking so hard about
it. It was interesting the other night I was talking to my mil, the
ps educator who supports hsing, and she was talking to me about the
midline and how important it is. I told her this about myself and she
said that someone at some point must have tried to force me to use my
right hand. I relayed a story to her that I still remember as if it
were yesterday about when I was a child learning to cut. We lived in
Connecticut at the time and I was no more than 4yo. It took me
forever to learn how to work the scissors because they were right
handed. My mom couldn't find any lefthanded scissors till we moved to
Texas when I was nearly 5. I have never forgotten the frustration I
felt when she came home with these lefthanded scissors and I couldn't
make them work because I had learned to cut with my right hand. The
only other time someone tried to force me to do something in a
righthanded manner was in 3rd grade when my teacher tried to make me
write with my paper straight up and down. This does not work with a
lefty because you can't see what you are writing. Also whenever I do
something for the first time I have to figure out which hand to use.
In high school I took Cosmetology. It took me about a week to figure
out which hand to hold the scissors with and which hand to hold the
comb with. It was confusing because I wanted to hold them both with
the same hand wether it was the left or the right. I even made the
decission to cut with my left hand but gave it up bacause the
instructor showed me everything righthanded. Anyway, can you tell
that I still have some frustration over the whole thing. I don't
usually make a big deal about it but sometimes I wish that I had been
cattered to more as a lefty. Now about all I do lefthanded is use the
mouse and write. Fortunately, dh doesn't have time to use the comp
but when he did he would have a fit when I would switch the buttons
on the mouse so they worked for my left hand. I got tired of
switching them and started using my right hand for the mouse or I
would use my lefthand and had to remember not to use my index finger
to click with.

Corallyn