Help! Homeschooling Woes & Regrets…

[alishaleann1987]

Hello, I’m hoping someone out there can help me. I have a daughter who is almost 16. She is wanting to go to college, but is afraid she will not be prepared or able to handle the work. We actually started her out using HOD for 1st grade, but I would consider most years after that “unschooling” because while I used different curriculum here and there, my health was not well and she ended up doing a lot on her own. We stayed faithful reading aloud together, doing poetry, and Bible, but other things fell away. We tried to stay consistent with Math, but this is my weakest subject and I stopped being able to help her with that after she got past elementary math so she’s muddled along since then and now I wish I had gotten a tutor to help her. Now here we are trying to pull things together for high school and I have so many regrets. I don’t regret homeschooling, but I regret not being rigorous enough, and not taking the work more seriously. This year she is doing HOD World Geography. She is not doing great. She’s reading the books, but has slacked on narrations. She’s doing Apologia Biology self paced course online and failing it. She’s doing Teaching Textbooks Geometry and almost failing it as well. She did Algebra 1 with teaching textbooks last year and ended the year with a D and feeling like she didn’t understand the material. I just feel like I don’t know where to go from here. How do I get her caught up and prepared for the SAT and for college?

[Mgs]

Nm

[Mgs]

I’m sorry, that is really tough. For college, what about community college at first? Second, why not back track and use something like mathusee for Algebra. I would start now. Their algebra is simple and straightforward. A lot more thorough than teaching textbooks. She could even start with prealgebra to really fill in any gaps. Writing is super important. Writing, grammar and Math would be my top priorities, regardless of curriculum. She needs the next two years to firm up those areas. Rod and staff English is excellent, have her do every exercise (start with book 5 if she hasn’t had a thorough foundation). Aim to get through book 5&6, which should be enough along with a writing curriculum.

[my3sons]

Hello, I’m hoping someone out there can help me. I have a daughter who is almost 16. She is wanting to go to college, but is afraid she will not be prepared or able to handle the work. We actually started her out using HOD for 1st grade, but I would consider most years after that “unschooling” because while I used different curriculum here and there, my health was not well and she ended up doing a lot on her own. We stayed faithful reading aloud together, doing poetry, and Bible, but other things fell away. We tried to stay consistent with Math, but this is my weakest subject and I stopped being able to help her with that after she got past elementary math so she’s muddled along since then and now I wish I had gotten a tutor to help her. Now here we are trying to pull things together for high school and I have so many regrets. I don’t regret homeschooling, but I regret not being rigorous enough, and not taking the work more seriously. This year she is doing HOD World Geography. She is not doing great. She’s reading the books, but has slacked on narrations. She’s doing Apologia Biology self paced course online and failing it. She’s doing Teaching Textbooks Geometry and almost failing it as well. She did Algebra 1 with teaching textbooks last year and ended the year with a D and feeling like she didn’t understand the material. I just feel like I don’t know where to go from here. How do I get her caught up and prepared for the SAT and for college?

Thanks for reaching out and for sharing about your daughter! I am sorry to hear you struggled with health issues, and I hope you are feeling better now. I know how that can impact homeschooling - health issues are tough! My nephew (and Carrie's son) has had ongoing health issues we are in constant prayer about. He graduated a year later because of all the time he spent (and spends) at Mayo Clinic. So, first off, I'll say you might find it a relief to graduate your 16 yo daughter a year or maybe even two years later. This would give her the time she needs to catch up and earn the credits needed for college.

I am glad to hear she is doing the reading for World Geography - that is a step in the right direction! However, if she plans to go to college, there is no room for slacking off - on narrations or anything. It sounds like she needs help making the connection that what she does now will greatly impact her being prepared (or not prepared) for college. I would have a chat with her about this and then pray about it together. She can turn this around, but she has to put forth the effort and do the work to make that happen.

I would stop the Apologia Biology and move on from the TT Algebra I. Those would not be able to be put on a transcript anyway. I would do World Geography's IPC science, with or without lab. I would do all the WG credits she can, as following the guide as closely as possible will make it clear what she needs to do each day to earn the credits she needs. Do you think she needs PreAlgebra? If so, I'd recommend doing Richard Fisher's PreAlgebra, which has clear free online video instructions, is very short, and is inexpensive. She can move through the PreAlgebra quite quickly and then move into Rick Fisher's No-Nonsense Algebra I. This is high school credit worthy, but does not take long to do. So, if she begins now, she should be able to complete both PreAlgebra and Algebra I within a year. (PreAlgebra is not worth a high school credit, so if she can move into Algebra I without it, she should do that instead.)

Finally, she needs a schedule with meeting times with you. That will give her a plan for her day, and it will set aside a time for you to meet with her to interact with her, correct her work, do your teaching/discussions, hear her oral narrations, correct her written narrations, etc. If she does 6 1/2 credits, she can expect about 6 1/2 hours each day of work time, four days a week to earn those credits, without the Living Library. If she struggles with transitions, you may want to plan more time for her. I find it helpful to use the suggested time allotments for each credit to make my high school students' schedules. Here is a link to that information:
https://heartofdakota.com/2023/01/12/sc ... -author-2/

I find it helpful to meet with my high school student, who is also 16 yo, three times a day. One in the early AM, a second after a few hours of independent work to correct that work and do math, and a third time to finish out my teaching parts and correct/discuss/go through/have him show me/share his completed work. By meeting with him three times, I am able to keep him focused and on track! He is my highly distractible son, though he is a diligent, good worker! I have our meeting times noted on his schedule, so he can plan to be done with 'x' amount of work by the time we meet and so I have time planned in my day for all of my teaching/correcting/interacting time with him.

I hope this helps! Carrie's son, Grey, took a year longer to graduate due to losing his colon about 4 years ago. He's had over 170 days of time spent at Mayo Clinic. Carrie herself has struggled with so many health issues as well. I just want to encourage you that Grey is now 20 yo and doing amazingly well with college! He is passing CLEP tests, receiving A's, and working hard on his degree. I am confident your daughter can do the same!!! So, please don't let yourself feel defeated by earlier health concerns that slowed things down. Your daughter is only 16, and she can make a fresh start and thrive going forward!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[Bijou]

Boy can I relate, right down to the being in ill health for a couple years and having things fall through the cracks and the kids having to be pretty independent. Hugs to you! I understand. My oldest will be graduating in May and I have so many regrets. One of those being that I didn't stay consistent enough with curriculum. We jumped around a lot. Some of it was good, some bad. He has a full time job lined out starting in June. He worked there the last two summers and really liked it and the owner likes him. The owner is a good Christian man. I am looking at coming back to HOD with my youngest. He definitely needs work on some certain skills. As the "teacher" though I don't do well with schedules at all. So, I don't know exactly where we will land yet. Anyway, I read your post and wanted to chime in because I really do get where you are coming from.

[JPauls]

I think this has already been said, but I would highly recommend Mr. Demme of Math-U-See. When we switched to Math-U-See I chose to pull my kids back a couple levels to make sure they really understood what they were doing. Now they have a solid foundation which will enable them to actually master the high school levels. It can hurt a child's pride a little when they repeat grades, but if they don't have a foundation all future math is basically a waste of time.

I know when I was in school I got lost somewhere around long division and basically failed all of algebra because of it.
Now that I have learned long division (with my kids) all of the higher level math that I didn't really understand is so much easier for me! I have been ridiculously pleased to know that I actually can be good at math... 20 years later