Working Together
I follow Hip Homeschool Moms, both in blog form and on Facebook. I love them. A group of homeschoolers helping out other homeschoolers. Let's face it, we all need that sometimes! If you don't follow them you should! I love how on their FB page they will throw out random questions that make you think, laugh, or whatever. I also love that people message them (I'm just guessing here) and ask questions which get put out there for all the other page fans to see and hopefully help the stressed out, stumped homeschooling parent.
I wish I had a chance to follow all the updates, but if I get on FB then lets face it - my schoolwork doesn't get done! My son's always gets done (um well, usually always). So when I saw an update the other day that said something to the effect of "play nice" it made me upset. I don't usually offer any tips if I have no experience. Sometimes I say 'we tried such and such, but it wasn't a good fit for our family' or whatever. If I actually have a helpful answer I'll say it. I guess I'm mostly a stalker =)!
Anyway - I missed the post that caused the later post, so I honestly don't know what was said or whatever. But I have read a lot of the posts on FB (stalker here, remember?) and I have noticed that when someone asks something like "in your opinion which curriculum is better A or B" or "I have it narrowed down to A and B, which way should I go?" There are tons of people who answer not to use either of those, they are terrible, go with a classical education, and on and on. This makes me mad and a little sad. To me it's showing some kind of homeschool snobbery.
The repliers don't know the family situation. Maybe they have kids like mine, who have to have a completely structured, need to know how many pages, likes the smell of workbooks kind of curriculum. We gave Sonlight an honest and fair shot and knew there was no way it would work for us. So yes, I'm the workbook mom. The 'finish your assignments for the week early and you can have Friday off' briber mom. I use a grading scale. I have rubrics. I do all those things because if my son doesn't have some measure that he did good or bad, he will lose his mind. Seriously. Maybe it's the years he spent in public and private school, I don't know, but I can't just say "you did awesome" because he will always ask "what was my grade?"We still take time to do other things, field trips, service projects, whatever. But we are mostly by the book because it keeps the peace.
New homeschooling moms are just drowning in different styles of curriculum. If they have it narrowed down, please don't throw another one out there at them. If you've used either of the choices say it was good or bad and why. If you haven't but just think a different way is better, please say nothing. The new mom is already stressed enough, making the decision to homeschool, wondering if she can do it. Help guide her in the way she believes she needs to go.
Here's what we use after much trial and error - Lifepac or Monarch for everything except LA. For Spelling we use Spectrum, and we use Evan-Moor Daily grammar and writing skills.
Work together and keep learning!
I wish I had a chance to follow all the updates, but if I get on FB then lets face it - my schoolwork doesn't get done! My son's always gets done (um well, usually always). So when I saw an update the other day that said something to the effect of "play nice" it made me upset. I don't usually offer any tips if I have no experience. Sometimes I say 'we tried such and such, but it wasn't a good fit for our family' or whatever. If I actually have a helpful answer I'll say it. I guess I'm mostly a stalker =)!
Anyway - I missed the post that caused the later post, so I honestly don't know what was said or whatever. But I have read a lot of the posts on FB (stalker here, remember?) and I have noticed that when someone asks something like "in your opinion which curriculum is better A or B" or "I have it narrowed down to A and B, which way should I go?" There are tons of people who answer not to use either of those, they are terrible, go with a classical education, and on and on. This makes me mad and a little sad. To me it's showing some kind of homeschool snobbery.
The repliers don't know the family situation. Maybe they have kids like mine, who have to have a completely structured, need to know how many pages, likes the smell of workbooks kind of curriculum. We gave Sonlight an honest and fair shot and knew there was no way it would work for us. So yes, I'm the workbook mom. The 'finish your assignments for the week early and you can have Friday off' briber mom. I use a grading scale. I have rubrics. I do all those things because if my son doesn't have some measure that he did good or bad, he will lose his mind. Seriously. Maybe it's the years he spent in public and private school, I don't know, but I can't just say "you did awesome" because he will always ask "what was my grade?"We still take time to do other things, field trips, service projects, whatever. But we are mostly by the book because it keeps the peace.
New homeschooling moms are just drowning in different styles of curriculum. If they have it narrowed down, please don't throw another one out there at them. If you've used either of the choices say it was good or bad and why. If you haven't but just think a different way is better, please say nothing. The new mom is already stressed enough, making the decision to homeschool, wondering if she can do it. Help guide her in the way she believes she needs to go.
Here's what we use after much trial and error - Lifepac or Monarch for everything except LA. For Spelling we use Spectrum, and we use Evan-Moor Daily grammar and writing skills.
Work together and keep learning!
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I love your comments and I read them all. I'm not very good at replying to them though. It's one of my many downfalls. I hope you'll leave some anyway!