Hi

A lot of good options here i didnt know about out! I def will be checking out the IEW streaming lessons : ) I've been using a lot of PBS kids games https://pbskids.org/games/ and also Twinkl resources (the ones that are free) https://www.twinkl.com.mt/resources/parents/wellbeing-parents/school-closures-category-free-resources-parents

Anonymous wrote:13:04 again. Thank you so much. Do you (or anyone else reading) have any experience going from public school to homeschool back to public school in a short time? (We are in MCPS.)

Normal public school works okay for my kid, and *much* better on the whole for our family/relationships. So I'm really only looking at homeschooling alternatives to the MCPS-provided distance learning, which were disastrous for us. I can probably swing a full year of homeschool if necessary, but I'd be planning to go back when schools are back to "normal".

So I'm wondering how to make sure my kids cover the same material (roughly) that they would in regular school, so when they go back, they are not completely out of sync. Even better if there's a way to do that if school returns mid-year. Would MCPS give me enough curriculum info to make sure we cover all the main things? (I'm mostly concerned with math and ELA, and history to a lesser extent.)

And if the county does a part time system where kids are in class some of the days and on DL other days, is there any chance I could send my kids on the in-person days for social reasons, but do my own curriculum on the DL days? That seems like a stretch, but maybe? Is part-time homeschooling an accepted thing?

Thanks again!

The only subject you will really need to worry about tracking with the public schools is in math and that's only if you are planning to go back halfway through the year. My suggestion for you would be to find a friend that will let you know which part of math they are covering in the part of the year that you pull your child. You don't want to be teaching geometry when they are teaching fractions and then return when they start teaching geometry for example. In general, the expectations are someone grade level consistent, but the sequencing and sometimes the algorithms are different depending on if you use a math book published overseas or not.

For ELA, it will be more a question of if they continue to build skills. If they are young, get some phonics materials to make sure that is settled. Maybe get an appropriate spelling book. Have them write. If they are doing American history, do the same, but the specific books won't matter as much. If you are only homeschooling for a couple of months, it really won't make much difference. I do not recommend, putting a child in and out of school though so I'd say commit to one for a couple of months before switching. There are lots of parents deciding to temporarily homeschool because it's easier to manage on your own when you are available rather than a preprogrammed time during the work day.

Kids move from state to state during normal school years and content wise there are always differences.

Anonymous wrote:I want to thank the contributors to this thread. You'll are great!

ditto! so much helpful info

I want to thank the contributors to this thread. You'll are great!

13:04 again. Thank you so much. Do you (or anyone else reading) have any experience going from public school to homeschool back to public school in a short time? (We are in MCPS.)

Normal public school works okay for my kid, and *much* better on the whole for our family/relationships. So I'm really only looking at homeschooling alternatives to the MCPS-provided distance learning, which were disastrous for us. I can probably swing a full year of homeschool if necessary, but I'd be planning to go back when schools are back to "normal".

So I'm wondering how to make sure my kids cover the same material (roughly) that they would in regular school, so when they go back, they are not completely out of sync. Even better if there's a way to do that if school returns mid-year. Would MCPS give me enough curriculum info to make sure we cover all the main things? (I'm mostly concerned with math and ELA, and history to a lesser extent.)

And if the county does a part time system where kids are in class some of the days and on DL other days, is there any chance I could send my kids on the in-person days for social reasons, but do my own curriculum on the DL days? That seems like a stretch, but maybe? Is part-time homeschooling an accepted thing?

Thanks again!

Anonymous wrote:New PP also with a rising 5th grader with ADHD/anxiety but otherwise above grade level for reading and math. Distance learning was a disaster for our family - many days ended with tears in both me and my son, and if the school year hadn't just ended, I was on the verge of a major depressive episode for feeling like I had failed him.

I think it was a combination of the DL materials MCPS sent home being SO BORING combined with confusion between mom-as-teacher and mom-as-safe-space. Writing was a particular nightmare, and just getting him to sit down and do the assignments (although I don't believe he has dysgraphia or any other writing-specific disabilities, as he writes for fun often). I had to take a leave of absence from my already part-time wfh job to work with him; he literally could not/would not do anything if left to his own devices (and working with me was still mostly arguing).

I think he would do really well with a homeschool-style curriculum - perhaps even better than in class - but I think he needs at least a part-time tutor/guide *who is not me* to get him through it. I could see a better math curriculum working for us, but I have no idea how anything could make basic writing skills fun/interesting enough to get through without external, live/video support.

Thank you all for your fabulous advice - I am bookmarking this for future reference if we end up going DL in the fall, as I don't think I can do it with the county-supplied materials again.

(I also have a rising 2nd grader who is NT or possibly only mild ADHD but would prefer to keep them on similar tracks as much as possible, if anyone has advice for that age range?)

Longwinded PP here,

I'm going to start with the caveat that I've never homeschooled 2nd grade. I've taught second grade at school. But I started homeschooling with just one kid who was just turning 9 and then added the others when they were 9 and 12.

However, I really love homeschooling my kids, and I am fascinated by homeschool curriculum, so I've looked at a lot of stuff that is for younger kids. So, I have opinions.

My youngest and oldest are the same age difference as yours. My oldest also has anxiety and maybe inattentive ADHD, and my youngest is probably NT, but also full of energy and wiggles. So, this is what I'm sort of imagining if I had the two of them as 2nd and 5th graders.

Math would obviously have to be separate. I like Math Mammoth. If I didn't like what we had been using, I'd probably switch to that for both kids. I'd also think about supplementing the 5th grader with Beast Academy, which is specifically for advanced math students. My rising 5th grader finds the online version fun, and I like that it's going more in depth as opposed to moving ahead. Having said that, it would depend on what "ahead" looks like for him. My 5th grader is what I'd consider a strong NT student. So, he generally gets what the teacher is explaining in the first few minutes, and he gets A's on his math tests, but he doesn't usually know something until it's taught. For him 5th grade Beast Academy is perfect. I could see skipping him to sixth grade Math Mammoth, which would put him in a good position for Algebra in 7th. On the other hand, his slightly older brother as a rising 5th grader was spending his free time on Khan Academy doing Geometry and Algebra. He needed to go deeper and also move faster, so he was doing high school level curriculum, using Art of Problem Solving materials designed specifically for gifted kids.

Math Mammoth has placement tests to help you figure that out.

Writing

I'd go one of three directions, possibly in combination.

1) I'd do things that were fun and just really focus on the volume of writing. So, figure out what they want to write about, and just do that. My rising fifth grader loves to bake, and he loves to celebrate with family. I'm thinking he'd like to make a cookbook with recipes for the desserts he'd cook for various family members, and a little write up about each person. For his next older brother, writing fiction and fantasy has been a good outlet. My oldest at that age would probably have liked to write sports writer write ups of his various sports games. If I thought my kids wrote well for their age, but just didn't like it, I might make this the entirety of their writing curriculum, and really focus on building joy, or if I might mix it up, alternating fun and "get it done".

2) If I thought that that "fun" writing sounded like a good fit, but they still needed someone else to guide them through, I'd look at Bravewriter classes. They look fun to me, and they are short 3 - 6 weeks, so if you find out they aren't fun you can just not sign up again.

3) If I thought my older kid needed direct instruction, I'd find some kind of "get it done" curriculum, and have the younger one come along for the ride. By get it done I mean something that has really clear directions and expectations and was chosen to be efficient rather than fun. So, my kid opens the workbook and knows exactly what has to be done to go play. In my experience, my non-school-loving but NT kid does best if I tell him "Writing starts at 9:00, we're going to do pages 15 and 16. When you're done your time is your own until Math which starts at 10:00. Suddenly he went from whining about every step, going to the bathroom 3 times in 45 minutes, and turning in messy things I made him redo, to just sitting down and getting it done, and having 40 minutes to play legos.

I'd also seriously think about picking a curriculum and having someone else do it with him. This summer, my sister in law and I are actually trading kids for one subject. She is taking my rising 5th grader and doing writing, because he doesn't whine for people who aren't me. I'm taking her first grade because I love teaching early math and she doesn't. We live in different cities, so this will be online. So, you could find another homeschooling parent and trade subjects, or you could hire someone.

There are a lot of homeschool curricula that group 3rd - 5th and if I had a 2nd grader who was kind of advanced, I might just combine the kids, and be forgiving about the younger kid's level of work. Treasured Conversations or IEW might both work for that. Or I'd put the second grader in something like Writing With Ease 1 or 2. Or I'd just do fun stuff with the younger kid, and a mix of fun and get it done with the older kid. Some of that depends on the dynamic.

I might also add materials for phonics, handwriting, spelling, or grammar, if I thought a particular kid needed it. Or I might not. It really depends on skills. I wouldn't do all of those things with a kid, although many homeschool families do. I'd get phonics and handwriting down first, if a kid wasn't solid, and wait to start grammar and spelling until I finished those.

Then, I'd do History, Literature and Science together, with a little extra thrown in for the older kid.

History I really liked what we did last year with Ancient and Medieval History and the Story of the World. It's just such an exciting engaging time period to study. I thought the book was interesting and well done. We listened to the audiobook in the car a lot, but you could also do it at home. I'd also probably look at the activity book. We didn't use it because I started with my kid with physical disabilities who can't color or do crafty things, but otherwise I probably would have.

For my 2nd grader, that would probably be it for History. For my 5th grader, I'd have them do some related reading. We really liked the Horrible Histories series, so I'd probably get the ones that matched the time period.

Literature I'd do mythology, and match the stories to the cultures we were doing in history. So, if we were reading about Ancient Egypt, we'd read some Ancient Egyptian myths. If we were doing Ancient Greece, we'd read some of their myths. We'd work on retelling the stories (verbally) and talking about them, and making connections between them. I'd do all of this as read aloud and discussion with both kids together.

For my 2nd grader, that would be it for literature. For my 5th grader, I might also pick a few novels that went with the same time period to read together at bedtime when the younger kid was asleep. For my 5th grader, alternating a title that I picked and one he picked works really well. So, for example, we might have read the Red Pyramid when we talked about Ancient Egypt, and then Diary of a Wimpy Kid which had nothing to do with history but he liked it.

Science I'd ask them what they wanted to do, and then pick something that matched that had a lot of hands on stuff. I'd choose things aimed at my 5th grader, and kind of bring my younger kid along for the ride. So, the 2nd grader would do the experiments with us, and watch the videos with us, and listen to some read alouds, and if he/she didn't get everything I wouldn't sweat it. From my point of view 2nd grade science is basically about two big ideas. 1) Science is fun, it's something I like to do! and 2) Scientists ask questions and make plans for figuring out the answers.

And then I'd have them read a lot, whatever they wanted to read. If they were kids who naturally read, then I wouldn't assign reading. If they were kids who were reluctant readers I'd do lots of taking turn with chapters or pages, and maybe have a time when they had to read, and I had lots of fun stuff they could choose from.

New PP also with a rising 5th grader with ADHD/anxiety but otherwise above grade level for reading and math. Distance learning was a disaster for our family - many days ended with tears in both me and my son, and if the school year hadn't just ended, I was on the verge of a major depressive episode for feeling like I had failed him.

I think it was a combination of the DL materials MCPS sent home being SO BORING combined with confusion between mom-as-teacher and mom-as-safe-space. Writing was a particular nightmare, and just getting him to sit down and do the assignments (although I don't believe he has dysgraphia or any other writing-specific disabilities, as he writes for fun often). I had to take a leave of absence from my already part-time wfh job to work with him; he literally could not/would not do anything if left to his own devices (and working with me was still mostly arguing).

I think he would do really well with a homeschool-style curriculum - perhaps even better than in class - but I think he needs at least a part-time tutor/guide *who is not me* to get him through it. I could see a better math curriculum working for us, but I have no idea how anything could make basic writing skills fun/interesting enough to get through without external, live/video support.

Thank you all for your fabulous advice - I am bookmarking this for future reference if we end up going DL in the fall, as I don't think I can do it with the county-supplied materials again.

(I also have a rising 2nd grader who is NT or possibly only mild ADHD but would prefer to keep them on similar tracks as much as possible, if anyone has advice for that age range?)

Anonymous wrote:Are any of these programs for writing ok for a riding 3rd grader? My adhd son needs serious help in writing and I’m afraid another year of homeschool will set him back even further. I couldn’t even on focus on it too much because he was crying constantly and our relationship was getting damaged. G

Long winded poster here again.

Treasured Conversations (which is what I use) and IEW (which is very highly recommended) both have a 3rd to 5th grade strand. I think that they could work for some 3rd graders, but might be too much for a struggling third grader. It really depends on how much the kid is struggling. They're similar in that they're both classically based, so they do a lot of analyzing other people's writing, and use strategies like copywork and narration. They're different in that TC is written for a kid and a parent to do together, almost like a conversation, whereas IEW has videos and a little more structure. I haven't taught IEW.

If I was picking a program for a struggling writer, I'd want more information on what you see as the biggest problems. Is it spelling or handwriting, or organization, or general reluctance to write?

I'd then pick one of two approaches

One would be to focus most of my effort on getting things on paper, and getting over that teary reluctant phase. If I did that, I'd do whatever felt most like fun for my kid, whether that's drawing cartoons, or writing food reviews, or writing in the context of games. I'd be really hands off, and do lots of praise and little constructive criticism. Then I'd pick one skill area, like handwriting, or spelling, or organizing thoughts while working with a scribe, and work on it completely separately for short periods of time every day.

The other would be to use a very skills focused curriculum, and assume that the tears will end when the skills are better. Treasured Conversations might be good for that. I think it's easier than IEW. But if you wanted something designed for younger kids, I might use is Writing With Ease, which you can find here:

https://welltrainedmind.com/c/language-arts/writing/expository/elementary-writing/?v=7516fd43adaa

One thing I like about the classical approach for a reluctant writer (which would be either WWE or Treasured Conversations or IEW) is that the focus is on writing less but writing it well, and the materials tend to very structured, so your kid can see exactly what they need to do and can tell when they're done. Which makes it, frankly, easier to bribe them, or to help them see the logic of just powering through.

If you tell me what things you think your kid needs to work on (e.g. spelling? handwriting? grammar? organizing thoughts?) or what he likes to do (knowing that he might hate all writing, but it might really be figuring out what he hates less) and examples, I can give you specific suggestions.

Anonymous wrote:

I really appreciate the time you’ve take to respond. I also have a rising 8th grader who is dyslexic and remediated above grade level so I am studying all of your suggestions.

Longwinded poster here. I also have a rising 8th grader, if you wanted me to write up what I'm doing for him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow- this might be my favorite post ever! I feel like it should be cross-posted in the homeschool section too. I am still on the fence about whether we middle through with DL or switch to homeschool completely.

Have any of you experienced folks used the Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding content? https://outskirtspress.com/BFSU1/

My adhd/ dysgraphic/ gifted child has desperately missed science education. We have done all of the Mel science kits as a stop gap, but I need to be prepared to do more.

I was looking at some of the Great Courses, but I think they are too much plus they are expensive.

Thanks for any additional advice you can share!

I'm the PP with the ridiculously long posts (sorry). I looked at BFSU and decided against it but can not, for the life of me, remember why.

What grade is your kid in? Does he have a particular type of science he wants to learn about? My 7th grader is my science lover, and is also a gifted kid with multiple disabilities (3E is that a thing?). I can make suggestions for things he loved. I didn't put all the things he did because I thought they would be too much for a 5th grader.

You can get some of the Great Courses on Audible. They are way cheaper that way.

PP here- my sone is a rising 5th grader who reads at college level and writes at 2nd grade level (4th grade with a scribe). He loves any science areas, but right now is most interested in chemistry, physics, aerobatics, botany, and geology. He is not into audiobooks and prefers some visuals along with his content so we have been watching documentaries together. Given how diverse his science interest are, I was thinking BFSU would be a solid foundation across areas.

I am also planning to try to address the writing anxiety by doing something fun (night zookeeper) for a while and then go back into something more structured like IEW to learn both note taking and writing.

I really appreciate the time you’ve take to respond. I also have a rising 8th grader who is dyslexic and remediated above grade level so I am studying all of your suggestions.

I'm the PP who did the single subject posts.

Your rising 5th grader sounds more like my middle son, who is 10 with very high math, science and reading skills, and a physical disability that makes writing and talking very hard.

I looked at BFSU again to remember why I didn't like it. The issue wasn't the science. Everyone seems to think it's excellent. It was that it seems like a lot of work for the adult managing it. You need to find the materials, and organize them, and choose the sequence of lessons. My science kid loves science. He can spend hours on it in a single day, and he moves through material fast. I worried that I wouldn't be able to stay ahead of him. So, I chose things that were more open and go, where he could go ahead and do the next piece without waiting for me.

If you want other ideas, here are some things that have worked for us.

Uzinggo -- This is a website that has an entire physics, biology, and chemistry curriculum taught through activities where you are manipulating things and solving puzzles. It's very visual. There are two levels, middle school and high school. The content is solid, but the interface is good for younger, which can make it a great choice for a 2E kid. I think that the high school level might be a really good choice. I didn't do it with my 2E kid, just because it requires a lot of motor skills (e.g. hitting tiny buttons, dragging and dropping) that are really hard for him, but he's also a kid who can't hold a pencil or eat with a regular spoon.

Story of Science[b] These are just books, not curriculum, but they go through how science developed, and they have lots of beautiful pictures. My kid found them fascinating. We read them as part of our history, but they could also be science.

Lego robotics. This has been really fun. We have the Mindstorms EV3 set which I linked above, and the kids are learning a lot.

I have also been drooling over the [b]Supercharged Science Mastery Kits for a while. I was torn between that and the Lego robotics at Christmas. My understanding is that the kits are very hands on, but also written so that the kids can do the experiments pretty independently.

https://www.superchargedscience.com/shop/science-mastery/

Supercharged Science also has other materials that are supposed to be good, I just liked the really hands on stuff.

Life of Fred. This is something you either love or you don't. My middle kid loves it, but he's a math kid. He'd rather do math than anything else. My kids who aren't mathy don't love it. Life of Fred is mostly math, but it's got 2 books that apply preAlgebra skills to physics and biology, and a high school level chemistry book. Unlike every other science material I'll suggest LOF isn't 100% secular, and he's got some weird points. I wouldn't do the preAlgebra with econ books because he goes off on some weird libertarian tangents, or the college level math book because he introduces some things that aren't age appropriate for a young gifted kid, but I didn't find anything objectionable in the science books. The physics and bio are just about the math of those two subjects. The chem is a complete course.

Real Science Odysssey This is what I picked for us for next year, because the kids wanted astronomy and it has astronomy. But they have other subjects too. It says that Level 1 is for elementary, but the samples looked too young, even for my youngest who is entering fifth and pretty much on grade level rather than advanced. So I ordered Level 2 which is middle school/high school. I haven't actually used it, just ordered it.

https://www.pandiapress.com/real-science-odyssey/

Anonymous wrote:Another option would be just to ask the school to give you the materials for your tutor to work with as an accommodation.

I've wondered about this as well. Being able to share the curriculum with a tutor or even print the assignments would be helpful.

Anonymous wrote:I'll be the lone dissenter. Homeschooling went great for one of my kids but not my kid with ADHD. It was daily melt downs and frustration for both of us and caused a big strain on our relationship. My kid does better in a school environment with small class sizes. The schedule and him doing what everyone else was doing helped him more than following my directions.

OP here - my question is really for a distance learning scenario, which is a strong possibility, even if the school year begins in person or as a hybrid model.