Homeschooling in Sheridan, resources?? (Cheyenne, Gillette: to buy, YMCA, school district)

[Kristynwy]

Originally Posted by jakeandkristalhoof

How is the homeschooling going? My husband and I have also decided on homeschooling. He is now looking at a job in WY and I have not looked at the laws on homeschooling there. What do they require? I use to know the site that told you every states laws but have forgotten it. Did they allow your child to play sports with the public schooled children?

Well my daughter is 3... But I had friends in high school that played sports all the time and were home schooled. However that was in Oregon... Here I imagine they would have similar opportunities. But I still need to research that...

The Home School Legal Defense Association

the site that Navyvet listed, is also the site I use... It sums up each states regulations... Here all you have to do is notify the state of the curriculum you have decided to use and outline what you are doing... not testing is required...

As I told Navyvet we do Pre-k stuff with Maddy right now, and try to read as much as we can and flash cards are great too... When she first turned three she had a very small vocabulary, and struggled...but with flash cards she has been really improving her vocabulary, and has been using small sentences for a while now... She's still slightly behind on the amount of words, but pretty close to caught up for her age...
When she is 5 I will have more of a structured curriculum probably... but keep it simple and creative at the same time...

If you do move to Wyoming there is a big Homeschool Convention in Douglas,Wy every year.. This year or next I want to try to go.... But it would be a great resource to you...

Best of luck on your move

[Clay Lady]

I would like to recommend that you play Mozart music for your children every day for at least 15 minutes. There are numerous studies that show the children that listened to Mozart music for a short time every day had increased test scores. There is a book called "The Mozart Effect". My oldest Grandchild is ten. She had Mozart played daily for several years. For various reasons her parents didn't continue to play the music everyday. The child has now added some Mozart to her IPod. She is a calm intelligent person. Her math scores are high and she is interested in science.

I have recommended that Mozart be played during lunch at several public schools. They want the kids to eat quietly and the music has a calming effect. I have heard some interesting discussions about also using other musicians - nonverbal music. Perhaps- it won't hurt but Mozart was a genious. I like to work to jazz.

[jakeandkristalhoof]

Thanks alot!! Our daughter is also 3. And we are moving from Oregon also. I have also been "homeschooling" her as well. I am glad to hear that WY is not as strick as some states.

And on the music we also do the music. We love the baby enstien. DVD's which does a lot of different stuff with classical music. Our daughter loves it! I started using the classical music to calm her, when she was just a monty old, as a "test" someone mentioned it to me (she was a very cranky baby). So I went out and bought a baby enstien CD and it was what I called the "magic" CD. No matter how upset she was she would stop and listen and I could finish what ever it was I was doing and meet her needs more quickly! Oh yes I am a firm believer in the classical music!!!!

[ruggedindividual]

Back when I took the SAT test the first time, on the way to the testing center I listened to the rock music I was into back then. Didn't do so hot on that test. The second time I too the SAT I listened to Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in the car on the way there. Made the parents much happier when they saw those test results!

I was also in the band in school. Drum major for a couple years. I think that music really helped me during those times. I loved it so much that Music Education was my major for the first year in college. That's another concern I have about homeschooling. We'd really have to make a point to get our kids to take piano, guitar, voice...whatever private lessons. Music theory is pretty hard to grasp so I don't know how I could teach something I don't completely understand myself. Same goes for all the subjects.

We've been teaching the alphabet to our daughter and she's really been catching on quick. She'll walk around the house and say to herself, "A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for cat." Pretty neat to see your kids learning new things.

I don't know of any active groups in Buffalo. I know there is a statewide group that occasionally meets, but they seem like more of a support group than an active organization. We'll have to look into the Sheridan group that meets. Field trips, organized sports, music, 4-H...that's almost as important as the academics in my mind. Thanks for the info!

[CountryMama]

Glad to hear there are homeschoolers in Wyoming. If we do wind up moving I'll definitly be homeschooling. I've heard excellant things about the public school system in Wyoming though.

[Clay Lady]

navyvet, your life experience with the use of music is a good guide for your homeschooling.

For several years I did a lot of work for a university in Arkansas. Homeschooling parents could request information about curriculum being taught via the arts from the Curriculum Center. I have no idea if that service is available in Wyoming but it was a much sought after resource. You could ask.

A fun way to use music and counting with 3 year olds is to give them an empty one pound coffee can to use as a drum. Show them the count of one, two, three, to begin with and gradually add counts to ten. The concept of rhythm is important. Then you can have them doing the Fibonacci sequence! Early music education has shown to increase an understanding of math concepts.

I have been very pleased by the high standards I see for Wyoming public schools. The fact that the student/teacher ratio is so low compared to other states is one reason the grade scores are high.

[emeraldsky]

Wow, I love educational talk...

I homeschooled my son for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade (We lived in Colorado at the time.) He attended kindergarten, and now 4th grade here in WY, in the public school. Our time together homeschooling will be some of the best memories of our lives. It was so much fun...

Here are some of the things we did (along with resources I found helpful):

1. Reading... a) he had a time to read silently, anything of his choosing (mom read too), b) he read to me (so I could monitor fluency, comprehension, etc - followed up with comprehension activities) (he chose literature from a targeted reading level), c) I read to him (I still do this when I tuck him in... currently: The Diary of Anne Frank)

2. Grammar a) daily editing (one sentence that he corrected for grammar, spelling, standard writing conventions, plus he rewrote it so that was a daily handwriting practice) b) we used the Shurley Method which I appreciated for teaching the parts of speech so well - he was even able to memorize all the prepositions in a fun way, learn object of prepositions, pronoun jobs, etc... but if we had continued homeschooling for 4th grade I would have switched to a diagramming sentences program (just recently purchased Grammar by Diagram by Cindy Vitto from Amazon for myself as I heard such great reviews about it from Amazon) c) you also target grammar during the editing phase of the writing process

My son also attended classes twice a week at the Cottage School Program through District 20s Classical Academy there in Colorado Springs. It was a nice balance for us. 3 and 1/2 hours 2 days a week. He had music, art, p.e., Spanish, and a writing/grammar/spelling course. So, he worked on his spelling words assigned there....

3. Spelling... We did a lot with spelling words... from the holistic approach they can create a funny story using the words, or a sentence with each word. Just targeting the words themselves... he used magnetic letters, the white board, the chalk board, wrote each word in a shallow dish of sugar (loved licking his finger after each word of course). You can cut up each word into letters, stick them in an Easter egg this time of year, hide the eggs around the house. Then they unscramble them. You can also match words to definitions, or some people like these simple steps:
1. Look at the word and say it.
2. Read each letter in the word.
3. Close your eyes and spell the word to yourself.
4. Look at the word. Did you spell it correctly?
5. Copy the word from your list.
6. Cover the word and write it again.
7. Look at the word. Did you write it correctly?
8. If you made any mistakes, repeat the steps.

[emeraldsky]

Part II...

4. The Writing Process - We had each step up on the fridge colorfully written. Then we'd place a magnet (mom wrote too) next to the step we were working on. I'm hoping to teach in an elementary school here next school year (completed my elementary education degree 10 years ago, now working towards getting a teaching license here in WY), but what I would like to do in the classroom is have a mock clothesline up on the wall, or strung across it, with each step of the writing process represented by a solid colored shirt and the step written on it of course, one color for each step (made from paper, laminated). And each child will have a clothespin with their name on it which they attach to the process they are working on. The steps:
1. Prewriting or Brainstorming
2. The First Draft
3. Revising (they may be here awhile, as ideas, and getting those ideas across, are what's most important)
4. Editing or Proofreading
5. Publishing
Even with homeschool children can conference on their writing and certainly share it in an author's chair setting to family members. By far the best resource I have ever come across for the writing process is this: Writers Express: A Handbook for Young Writers, Thinkers, and Learners. I can't recommend it enough. It is a tool children can use long after elementary school is over. And it's written just for them. I love it.

5. Math - I highly recommend Singapore Math. You can go to their website, click on "Singapore Math Story" to learn more. You can get your hands on the same curriculum the children used in Singapore when they scored #1 three times in the TIMSS. My son loved this program. We even tried the standard Saxon Math which bored us both. When he started here in the public school one of the teachers put her fingers to her temples (I was going on a class field trip at the time) and told me how amazed she was at how quickly he thought in math. This is what that program can do for children. It is huge in the mental math category. I have to say that they are 1 or 2 grades ahead though, so you may want to start early if you like this program. For example, their 2nd grade text/workbooks covered what is taught here at the 3rd and 4th grade levels.

6. Science - we used the Singapore science curriculum as well, in addition to units we wanted to study on our own. Lots of hands on.

7. American History - I recommend learning about each of the presidents in sequence. This is a terrific way to cover American History as they dealt with all that was going on at the time. We used the local library, found a standard series. When he was younger I would read the book myself and teach him the overall general concepts and entertaining stories. As he got older (3rd grade) he had assigned reading. It is fascinating to learn about the presidents in my opinion. I also recommend the Mike Venezia president series as follow-up/review if they are available at your library. They are not as meaty as the standard series, but they are really fun and comical for the children to read. He has also done some on artists/musicians. Just very funny, had my son rolling. And they remember those key points about the presidents' lives.

Other general history, geography stuff... put those maps up for one. And have a globe out. We learned about several countries of interest to my son. Cooked some food from the region. He had a daily country to find on the map/globe. Identify the capital. We talked about the language spoken there, checked out what the flag looked like. We also learned about each state over those 3 years. It was fun.

We also did a daily Today in History (used factmonster.com) and a Quote of the Day (I love quotes, get a little crazy about quotes, as well as education....sorry I wrote so much everyone....) I think that about covers what we did...

[emeraldsky]

Okay, I hope I am not putting anyone to sleep, but just wanted to add a few "teach your child to read" ideas for those toddlers... and a few basic math ideas. Just in case one person at least might find this helpful. My son was reading words at age 2, simple sentences by the time he turned 3. When he went to kindergarten (1/2 day), they asked if I could please bring him to a 1st grade reading group in the afternoon. And here (last week) they marked him at an 8.1 reading level. (He is at the tail end of his 4th grade year, turning 10 soon.) So the reading thing was successful... Some things that I feel especially worked:

1. Read to them pretty much every day

2. Get them their own library card, and let them choose their own books (you choose some too of course). My son had his own at 18 months in Colorado Springs. Couldn't reach the counter yet, but he handed it over when I held him up. If you feel uneasy about how grimy the library books can be you can Windex them a bit (I admit it, I did this.) And then prop them up at eye level, put them on display. I used to lean them against the wall on the carpet so the covers showed, tossed a few pillows and stuffed animals around to make it look inviting. (I have to admit, my son's bedroom looked like a kindergarten room with centers much of his life... and then later our kitchen looked like a schoolroom plastered floor to ceiling with colorful maps, charts, definitions, etc.)

3. Teaching them their ABCs like many of you have already done is great. Then go ahead and teach them the corresponding letter sound. I took one of those ABC borders you can buy, with a corresponding picture that helps them remember the letter (Aa Alligator), cut it up, laminated it. They are big and easy to hold. Just teach the main/common letter sound for each letter. Don't go too heavy into phonics though.

4. Then teach them 3-letter words. Short vowel sounds might be best to start with. Put the word on a 3X5 card. Make a sentence, a funny story out of it. Whatever you'd like to do. Put it up on the wall. Add a new word the next day. Review the old one(s). You will be amazed at how well they will take to this. We had so many words up on the all that we had to make letter pockets to hold the words starting with each letter. You also might add words (beyond 3-letter) that are significant to them; family member names, all the characters of their favorite book/tv show, etc.

5. This is probably the biggest thing we did that helped him transition to reading: I can still picture him standing there in his diaper (about 2 years old), holding his Kessie (stuffed bear) by the easel in his bedroom. He would make up a story and verbally dictate it to me. It was usually about Kessie. I would write his words, slowly, on the easel. I would ask him to repeat himself sometimes, or slow down please (strategy) so that he would be watching what I was writing. Then he would read it back. Of course, especially in the beginning, they are mainly drawing from memory. This is their story. But gradually they do connect their words to the graphic representation on the white board. Let them know they are "reading." The next day I would have him read it to me again. Make it exciting. These are their words. They love telling stories. And then I would write down his story in a separate notebook. I chose an art notebook (no lines, could write in large colorful marker for him to browse through later). But, I wouldn't just look at the easel and copy it down. No, I needed his help. Asked him to please read his story (to help mom concentrating on writing over here in the notebook), and to please read it slowly, so mom could get it just right. Sure, there is coaching and helping along the way, but if you keep doing this regularly, you will see them start to read on their own. I just learned (studying for the Praxis) that this is called the LEA approach. Didn't know that then, just thought it would work. Lots of fun.

6. Last thing, and then I can do math another time (unless you all tell me to please stop posting ) as I need to do dinner... The last thing that helped him transition to reading on his own were the Bob books. You can check them out through Amazon. I like them because they are small (easy for them to hold), simple, and they can color the pictures even. We found this a great way to transition. This is how he started reading those simple sentences on his own right when he turned 3. It is so cool for them to finally be reading a book all by themselves. And give lots of praise and encouragement along the way!

[jakeandkristalhoof]

That is a wonderful idea about letting them make up the story and you write it!!!!!!! Thank you for all the info on what you did that worked!!!