47 no standardized testing until they are older
When do they HAVE to get tested
in the USA it depends on what state your in
some states you never have to do standardized testing if you homeschool
we chose not to test while they are young
my plan is in third grade to start letting them play with standardized tests
so that they are very comfortable with them and it's not a scary thing
starting at eighth grade i will use them regularly as part of the high school transcript
48 less sickness
when you have 30 plus kids in the same room all day with very little ventilation germs get passed around
as do lice and other woes
keeping my kids at home i have more control of the environment they are in
when friends are sick we don't visit etc
partly because of this my girls have been ill very few times
18 Latin
we plan to start teaching Latin in second grade instead of grammar
Latin gives children a firm foundation for spelling, vocabulary and grammar
it also helps with learning the other Latin languages
in the USA children take grammar almost every year
but Latin is not required or if it is not until high school
instead of grammar every year i plan to use more of a Charlotte Mason approach
using lots of real literature, dictation, writing, and Latin in the early years
and teaching only two or three years of grammar rules starting at about fourth grade
i plan on learning Latin right long my daughter
there are a few good programs available now that we may use
or i may try to develop my own with my son-in-law who is a classical language professor in japan
25 foreign languages
my husband speaks French and we've been teaching it to her on and off for two years
i don't speak French so i learn with her using CDs and books
as we now live in mexico we are learning Spanish as well
28 early learning opportunities (she's three and starting first grade)
Do you test her to know what topics are covered in each school year? Do you use any internet page?
i look at what topics and skills are covered in schools, but i don't teach based on what schools are doing
we use a few ready made 1 grade programs everyday for math and language arts
for the other subjects i teach her whatever she has a interest in
things like chemistry she might not get till years later if we stuck to only first grade work
World Book Encyclopedia has a course of study which can also be used to see what kids learn in different grades
www.worldbook.com/typical_course_of_study.html 29 no homework, less then an hour of seat work
How can you teach her so many things with only an hour of seat work?
Doman's Encyclopedic Knowledge program: less then 3 minutes for 5 topics
(our personal EK program includes: music, physiology, art, biology, geography, and general science)
Math in Focus first grade (singapore math) : 15 minutes for 2 lessons
Miquon Math:10 minutes for 1 lesson
Sing, Spell, Read and Write 1 grade : 15 to 20 minutes for 1 lesson
BrainQuest 1 grade workbook : 10 minutes every other day
i sit with her for all seat work
other subjects we do informally
for science we use Janice VanCleave's Science for Every Kid books
(great books of experiments on different science topics, right now we are using her chemistry one)
for geography we study maps, read about different countries and color blank maps
etc
the rest of the day we play, do puzzles, cook, garden, read, listen to classic composers, dance, bird watch, paint, sing
read bible stories, take long naps and enjoy nature
at night she does brillkids and plays starfall
because her fine motor skills are still developing i try not to have her write too much
she only writes in her SSRW books and some in her math books
so only 20 minutes total writing time a day
everything else is hands on work
writing is a physical function not a sign of how much you can learn
so i try not to hold her back by her slow writing we work on it a little at a time but keeping it fun and stress free
if she stops enjoying it we stop doing it
32 no vaccine rules
i feel she is still to young to get vaccines
so we are choosing to wait a few more years
hopefully they will also be safer then
hope this answers some of your questions
feel free to ask me if you have anymore