Homeschool

I agree with you 100% - you do what you think is best for your son and don't worry about what others think or the advice that people give that are insistent on kids going to preschool before they go to kindergarten. I am debating the same thing right now with my 4 year old. I am swayed in the direction of keeping him out of Preschool right now because I have 3 neices and 3 nephews that never went to preschool and 4 of those kids are honor students. My only reason for sending mine would be for socialization - but I think I can find by getting him in soccer or t-ball or at church.

Hi. We love homeschooling our children.
Homeschool yahoo groups--INCHES and SWCAH
We highly recommend Time4learning.com as an online learning FUN program that teaches math and reading, some science and history, too. It starts at Preschool level on up and there are lesson plans you can print too. You can try 2 weeks free, and if you email them they will give you special deals if you pay in 3 months installments or by the year, other than that it is $19/month--My kids beg to do it, they love it, if you do try it, please use my name as reference "Megan Kerber" so I can get a free month for referring you, thanks.
We also LOVE ReadingA-Z.com for Reading, it has whole lesson plans oand books you print off.
We just discovered Saxon math, and we really like it.
You can also see homeschoolreviews.com for reviews of different programs.
Good Luck

Another good avenue to go is the Akron Digital Academy. My oldest hated going to school and was always sick and failing so I put him in the academy, it is a free charter school. They go to lab 2 times a week and the rest of the time you can help him do his work on the computer right from home. If you dont have a comp they provide one for you. The phone number for the woman in charge of the orientation is ###-###-#### her name is Mrs. Dixon and she can give you the information you need.

hello S.! i am part of an active homeschool group that has lots of information! it is neohsc.com, it is also a yahoo group! best of luck! M.

S.,

If you hurry (as the deadline for this school year is tomorrow), you can enroll your son in the Ohio Virtual Academy. Our 5-year-old is in Kindergarten and doing well. It is a public charter school, and free. They provide a loaner computer and printer, a well-thought-out curriculum, all teaching materials (with the exception of printer ink and other consumables that you probably already have around the house). They have online lessons and off-line lessons taught by you or any other adult. You have the support of an assigned teacher (who already has classroom experience), and your student participates in all state and nationwide standardized testing. The requirement is continuous progress and 2 1/2 hours per day for Kindergarteners. Students can proceed at their own pace. It is SO easy. They even have adult chat time, school outings, and parent-peer support.

Check out www.ohva.org for more details.
If you have any questions, just ask.

Best wishes,
K.

S.,
I understand how you must be feeling. There are a lot of overwhelming questions that you will have to ask yourself as you explore this possibility. I have homeschooled my 2 boys, but I didn't start until they were in upper elementary. I wish I would have had more information back when they were in the preschool days and I would have probably homeschooled them from the start.
Anyway, start out by doing a lot of Google searches on homeschooling and go to your library and research. There are many different ways to homeschool. There are "boxed curriculums", online charter schools, relaxed, structured... the options are limitless. It all depends on your family and your beliefs. Don't feel like you have to make a decision now and stick with it forever. Children's learning styles change over the years as well as your family schedule. You can start out using one type of curriculum and then over the years experiment with what works best for your family. There is an active homeschool group in Toledo that you should check out. I have been to their Yahoo group, but I have not had the chance to join them on any outings. Yahoo group: ToledoHELP · Homeschool Education League of Parents I would strongly suggest getting in touch with those members and learning about the group. There is also an active group in Bowling Green. (Yahoo group: BSHEA · Black Swamp Home Educators Association) I believe being involved in a homeschool group is very valuable. You can share your experiences with other homeschooling families and learn how others go about thier homeschooling.
I wish you the best of luck in your decision.
S.

I have a friend who homeschool's all of her children. She uses OHVA (Ohio home virtual academy) To my understanding, it is sponsored by the schoolboard, so there is little or no cost to you. She loves the program. They send you all of the materials you need, including a computer for each child! Also, a teacher calls in once a month to check in, and I belive if you're having a problem, you can call them as well. The website I believe is ohva.org if it's not try dot ed or google ohva.

I'm sorry that you have had to go through that. Is there no possibility of finding another preschool? If not, then I would make an appointment with one of the Kindergarten teachers at the Elementary he will go to and find out what he will be required to know. Unfortunately a large portion of Preschool is gaining social skills and learning to follow directions. I know that you can teach him to follow directions on a one-on-one basis but they need to be able to do it with the distractions of other children around. I hope you find a solution that works for you and your son. Good Luck.

To get a comprehensive index of Ohio homeschooling organizations, local support groups, mailing lists and people, check out:

http://www.h-i-o.org/

Good luck!

S.,
I am currently homeschooling my 3 children(ages 8,6 and 3). I have done the traditional homeschooling(parent finds and creates the curriculum) as well as a charter school. I also run a Yahoo message board for Morrow County homeschoolers. There are tons of great rescources at the library(most of them even offer a homeschooling starter package). There is usually a Curriculum Fair at Vet's Memorial in Columbus once a year. You can take samples of the work and then decide which to order. It can be very expensive to order whole curriculums-fyi. I would also check out the many charter schools we have in Ohio. Most of them give you a computer to use and all of them provide curriculum. Some of the schools will even pay for your internet connection. I was nervous to start homeschooling and having the "backing" of the charter school made it much easier. Check out the websites for BOSS, OHVA and OHDELA. There are several Yahoo message boards that are used as support groups and to plan field trips and extra curricular classes, I frequent INCHES. The board owner has homeschooled for years and is a wealth of info. I hope this helps, and feel free to hit me up for more info!!
D.

I also live in Maineville and decided on homeschooling for my 6 y/o daughter. We don't follow a curriculum, but I am willing to share what we do. I call it experiential learning. Contact me via email: ____@____.com and I'll give you my phone number.

You could just go to Dollar Tree or Marc's, or even Walmart, and pick up some of the preschooler workbooks they have available. I know that Dollar Tree currently has some that are Disney character-oriented. There's also The Wise Owl (though I'm not sure of it's current location, it has moved). With a preschooler, there's not a lot, really, educationally, that the child needs to know. The alphabet, counting 1-10, writing his or her name are the basics they need to know for Kindergarten. Surprisingly enough, they expect those to be already learned by the time they reach Kindergarten (sorry, I missed the memo where Kindergarten didn't teach the basics anymore). But as another mom stated, preschool is 90% for social skills. So I'd find a play group or something, for your child to be involved in, as well.
I've thought about home schooling my son, as well. He's in kindergarten now. I wanted him to get a good basis in school, first though. My brother and I were both home schooled, and there's 6 years between us. He's the younger of us, and I helped teach him sometimes. So I have a very good idea of what it involves.
Home schooling is NOT for everyone, however. It takes a lot of time, dedication, organization, and patience. If you plan to home school your child next year, as well, you will need to contact your district's board of education for the proper forms to fill out. You will have to have all of your curriculum for that school year already purchased, so that you can outline each subject. The board of education will give you a list of subjects that have to be covered for the school year your child is in, and will outline what expectations there are.
Hope this helps. I know it was a little more info than you had asked for. But I was on a roll, LOL.

Good for you for being proactive about your childs education.
Prior to having children we decided to homeschool both of them. Fortunately, by the time we were ready to home school we found a great school and the only one sponsored by the state of Ohio: Buckeye Online School for Success or B.O.S.S.
It is not just an online school. First, the state pays for absolutely everything! Via UPS we received a new computer, monitor, printer and a box of complete school supplies including Teacher Lesson Plans, Teacher Aids, Work Books and soooo much more; again, all paid for by the state. I have complete access to the school online and by phone. I have a teacher that reviews my childs work when I send it in as well as a complete technical support group. A return call is made within 24 hours if I need it, although it is usually the same day.
You must check this school out. There are free field trips for the kids, online games, bulletin boards for encouragement and support and many parents like you who need eachother. The number one key to successful homeschooling is KEEPING A SCHEDULE.
To find out all you need to know about this school go to: www.go2boss.com
~RachaelB

I will probably home school my kids as well. I went to the library and got a bunch of books on Montessori. They have books that tell you how you can adapt their program to the home-school environment. I have heard that home schooled kids excel in college and life so don't be afraid. Other than that I plan to just search the web. I know a lot of people on the www.mothering.com boards homeschool.

S.-
Here are two sites that may help you out. www.abchomepreschool.com and www.starfall.com

Good luck!

C.

Hi, S.!
I would suggest taking lots of field trips to the children's museum, zoo, etc. and incorporating learning skills into these experiences. A lot of these places even have education guides available to indicate what learning goals are being gained in the different areas.

Also, check out the Ohio Dept. of Ed's website for resources. Here are two really good ones (Early Learning Content Standards and Resources for Families):
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDeta...

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEPrim...

I hope this helps! Learning is everywhere...

K.

I don'tknow of any sites because I've never home schooled my kids. But I certainly don'tsee anything wrong w/not sending him to pre-school. Not all kids HAVE to go to preschool. I say really just work w/him on his abc's and 123's,play games that call for coordination, things like that.That's mostly what they will be looking at when you take him for kindergarten evaluations.

S.

Hi S.,
I am sorry that you have had that experience. I think that every family should do what is right for them, but don't jump the gun. There is nothing wrong with kids going school and just because you have had a negative experience doesn't mean that all school is like that. There are many options out there including catholic, private, public, and charter where your needs and your childs needs might be better met. I am a public school teacher and I am not negative to my kids. In fact, I spend a lot of time with my students. So think about giving the school thing another chance. Also if you do choose to home school you might be interested in checking out some Montessori at home books in your library. There are a lot of functional ways using things in your house that you can use to "teach" your kids without ever even opening a workbook. Good luck.

S.,
I also took my son out of preschool, when he was the age of 4, for almost the exact same reasons. I chose to homeschool for many different reasons and have now had my son home for 5 years. My youngest son is 4 and will also homeschool when he is of 'legal school age'. We have used many curriculums and tried a variety of things but this last year, we decided to try OHDELA. This is a Charter school in the state of Ohio. The site is www.OHDELA.com
When you enroll, you attend an information seminar and then chose one of two curriculum types. Then your child is sent a computer as well as all of the curriculum you will need. It is homeschooling with the comfort of knowing you do not have to stress about putting together a curriculum. Check out the site, it is just one option. Just be sure that you chose what you feel is best for you and your family.
If you would like to discuss more, I would be happy to talk with you. although I am by no means an expert of homeschooling, I do have several years of trial and error, failures and successes that I can share.
Good luck to you and your family.
R.

A little about me:
I am a single mother of 2 fabulous boys, ages 10 and 4. I work full time as an Assistant Manager for a large retail chain and homeschool my children with a happy heart. My life is very full but very rewarding.
Have a wonderful day