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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
Has anyone ever homeschooled ?
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avigayil




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 08 2005, 11:27 pm
I have seen different issues facing many parents today.
Has anyone out there ever considered or actually homeschooled any of their kids?
If so, how did it go? Was your community supportive of it? Did your child benefit from it?
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supermom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 09 2005, 3:34 am
some one in our community home schooled her kids and is still home schooling one of them and she likes it. her son is doing well. the only down point of it is that they don't make friends that easily because they are never socializing with kids their age.
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elisecohen




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 09 2005, 4:55 pm
We homeschooled for 3 years til this year, and probably will again in coming years. It was a success for us and we were happy with it. We got the usual questions, but nothing really negative, and our kids continue to be the ones in school and outside groups who are most interested in different things, comfortable interacting with a variety of people, and able to look at things in many different ways. This year they're all in school because a) we knew we were having a baby this winter and I've had bad pregnancies before though this one turned out to be easy; and b) they needed extra instruction in Ivrit (the one area I wasn't feeling comfortable teaching fully) and so I figured that rather than spend a lot on a lot of hours of private tutoring we'd just go ahead and put them in day school for the year. Feel free to ask any questions as you consider more seriously.
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supermom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 10 2005, 4:10 am
which do they like better? home schooling or regular schooling?
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elisecohen




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 10 2005, 7:17 am
When the girls (ages 9 and 11) are asked, usually they say they preferred homeschooling. They had a lot more free time, a lot more attention, a lot more freedom to study what they wanted (with guidance and direction of course) and in the way they wanted, no busywork, etc. The little one (6, in first grade this year) only hs'd one year, so he doesn't really care; he has been happy with both, but a lot of that is his personality--he will generally be happy anywhere!
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juggler




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 11 2005, 3:01 pm
I homeschool (my oldest is 4 1/2, next 3, and then 1) by necessity- there is no appropriate school for my children where I live. Anybody here do that? I would love to hear about some good resources, websites etc... I use e-chinuch.org but I could use ideas for games and general projects and ANYTHING really.
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Motek




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 15 2005, 8:55 am
here's an article about Jewish homeschooling:

http://ou.org/publications/ja/.....g.pdf
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Motek




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 15 2005, 11:03 am
chanam wrote:
I homeschool (my oldest is 4 1/2, next 3, and then 1)


does your oldest read siddur yet?

there are two general areas to focus on: 1) general knowledge 2) skills

General Knowledge - you can teach the names of the months (nissan, iyar), with a tune that you like so you won't mind singing it over and over

that we refer to the days as yom rishon, yom sheini etc.

the names of the parshiyos in Bereishis, Shemos, etc.

so every day, with your 2 oldest, you'll say - what is it today? Today is Yom Rishon, Vav Iyar, the 6th day of Iyar, and this week's parsha is ...? Behar

if you're creative (or maybe the creative posters here can advise) you can make a calendar and fill it in as you go

Skills - alef beis of course, and reading, reading .. See the Keria thread

if they're not reading yet, your two oldest can be working on that

there are SO MANY nice Jewish books from many different publishers

can you order them online?

and tapes, tapes, and more tapes

Mitzva Tree, and for your oldest - Rabbi Levi Goldstein's parsha tapes and Uncle Yossi story tapes

when he's a little older, then all of Rabbi Burston's story tapes

back to general knowledge - you can teach that each letter of the alef beis corresponds to a number, in other words, gematriyos
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juggler




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 16 2005, 4:08 am
Motek, thanks for the tape suggestions. I have some Rabbi Burston's but they are not all age appropriate, glad to have names of some more age appropriate things. I do work on kriah daily (the 4 1/2 yr old almost reads and the three is still reviewing letters), some basics such as numbers colors, of course parsha, yom tov etc... some songs etc... I do projects from time to time so they get the motor skills, and have many many many puzzles and books in all the languages we speak. I think my main issue now is making it into a 'curriculum' and having a set schedule. Any suggestions? Is this extremely necessary at this age, or is it still ok to do what I can with them when I can?
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Motek




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 16 2005, 3:04 pm
it might be a good idea to have a set time to work on keria in the morning hours, but otherwise, the things children this age learn can be incorporated in other things you do. Negel vasser or breakfast time can be the time to say what day it is, for example.

another idea - Artscroll's Pirkei Avos for children - it's colorful and you can use it each Shabbos until Rosh Hashana and discuss ideas with your oldest

also Boruch Chait's 39 Melachos - fantastic book for young and old, to familarize your oldest with hilchos Shabbos, think up a tune that fits the names of the 39 melachos and make that song part of your repertoire too
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stem




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 16 2005, 3:20 pm
I didn't read the entire thread so someone might have mentioned this already:
An excellent website is www.e-chinuch.org
They provide materials from hundreds (if not thousands) of teachers for the use of other teachers in their classes. Homeschoolers can also register on the site and have the materials available to download.


Last edited by stem on Mon, May 16 2005, 7:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
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elisecohen




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 16 2005, 4:27 pm
What worked for us was to do any bookwork first thing in the morning after davenning, but every family is different. Here are some websites for materials (some free, some for sale):
Limudei kodesh/Ivrit
http://www.templeinstitute.org/index.html
http://www.jccaudiobooks.com/
http://www.zigzagworld.com/hebrewforme/
http://www.myjewishbooks.com/
http://www.chadishmedia.com/
http://www.booksinternational.com/
http://www.seferisrael.com/hebrew.htm
http://www.babaganewz.com/
http://netwaysglobal.com/hebrew/
http://www.davka.com/cgi-bin/p.....t=183
http://www.e-chinuch.com/
http://www.behrmanhouse.com/cat/
http://www.bjup.com/
http://www.lookstein.org/home.htm
http://www.613.org/
http://www.thecraftshoponline.com/
http://www.tefillin.co.il/inde.....om=d7
http://www.mibereshit.org/spec.....f.htm
http://www.hareshima.com/
http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/
http://www.shamash.org/
http://www.mercazharmony.org/
http://www.kehotonline.com/keh.....t.asp
http://www.artscroll.com/
http://www.judaicapress.com/Sha%27ah.asp
http://ivrit.org/markeplace/marketplace.htm
http://www.hist-ivrit.org/sulam/sulam.html
http://www.judaicacity.com/
http://www.headofthejewishclass.com/


Limudei chol:
http://householdnotebook.com/f.....basic
http://chartjungle.com/
http://www.kidsdomain.com/grow......html
http://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html
http://www.preschoolcoloringbook.com/
http://www.preschoolprintables.com/
http://www.usu.edu/teachall/te.....s.htm
http://www.preschooleducation.com/
http://www.janbrett.com/games/games_main.htm
http://www.graphicmaps.com/web.....s.htm
http://www.dltk-kids.com/
http://www.kidsdomain.com/
http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/Lessons/
http://www.mooreexpressions.com/
http://homeschool.crecon.com/c.....s.cgi
http://www.geocities.com/Athen.....3.htm
http://addwarehouse.com/shopsi......html
http://www.midnightbeach.com/h.....ml%22
http://www.geocities.com/Heart.....q.htm
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/jewish.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.c......html
http://www.infrench.com/Mercha.....ode=C
http://www.thebackpack.com/
http://www.emcd.net/insights/
http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=357335
http://www.utm.edu/departments.....shtml
http://www.froguts.com/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Rhymes.html
http://www.vsg.edu.au/
http://store.doverpublications.com/
http://www.mathusee.com/
http://www.mheducation.com/
http://www.brainpop.com/
http://www.jason.org/
http://www.broderbund.com/Prod.....D=685
http://www.bookadventure.org/

PECS and organizational sheets especially good for kids with learning disabilities (PECS are great for labelling things around the house for pre-readers, etc):
http://www.dotolearn.com/

Good luck!
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gryp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 16 2005, 6:09 pm
wow, what a list!!!
im impressed.

dont forget www.torahtots.com
they have a great Parsha section.
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chavamom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 25 2005, 1:52 am
Elise, what a great resource! We are homeschooling my 7th grade son this year (we took him out of school due to a very non-productive situation). He will proabably be back in school next year at a different school. Torah u'mesorah has something called the 'creative learning pavilion' that has lots of resources. I don't have their contact info as the coordinator actually lives in my neighborhood, but they have a website.
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Yonit




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Sep 04 2005, 9:14 pm
I have homeschooled for the past 6 years. My son is 15 and I removed him from school in 4th grade, because it was just a bad situation all around. He has thrived as a homeschooler and I really feel that it was the best thing we have ever done for him. Just a few months ago he told me that he feels that removing him from school "may have saved his life". For the past few years, he has studied Limudei Kodesh with a Rabbi, and also with my husband, as I am just not qualified to teach him that anymore.

With my daughters, ages 5.5 and 4, we do a bit of a mixture. There is a Chabad day school in my community and while it is an excellent school, I decided not to send my children full time. I decided that I would homeschool their secular subjects, and I would send them 1/2 day for Judaica. This has worked out very well for us. My older daughter will !'H be starting 1st grade this week -this will be her 3rd year there (starting in Pre-K). She is an extremely social child and originally we started this as a social outlet. She is the type of girl that will be at a playgroup in the morning, school in the afternoon and still ask for a playdate for the evening! School has been good for her. The school moved her ahead a grade level (which is why she is entering 1st grade) but she finished the year with top marks in all social and academic subjects.

My younger daughter will be starting Pre-K this week I'H, also just for Limudei Kodesh. This will be her first time in school so I am nervous as to how she will do. She has always been more shy and withdrawn than her sister, so this is a big step for her! B'H, she is very excited about going.

In this way they have been able to get an excellent Chassidishe education, but also a more well rounded secular education that I felt was lacking in this school (despite excellent teachers). One unintended benefit has been though, that because my girls "go" to school for LK, they see that as more important LOL! So it places a greater emphasis on their Judaic education, which I think is just great!

If anyone is still reading, I do have a question: Since my girls will not be in school in the morning this year, I will daven with them at home. They each have a siddur, and while I daven every day I am really unclear on what expectations I should have for them and how to teach them how to daven, if that makes sense. If anyone has any resources on that I would be grateful!

Yonit
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deedee




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Sep 04 2005, 9:50 pm
I am intrested in home schooling my daughter.
my question is when should I start with a structured education. she is 19mts now and I know p/p send their kids to day care at this age. are they learing things my daughter should start learning or do I still have some time? I am (almost Wink ) always in teaching mode; singing abc's and alef beis, teaching names of objects and body parts, saying brachas..etc.

http://www.aish.com/family/men.....g.asp
this was a short intesting article
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elisecohen




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Sep 05 2005, 8:05 am
You're doing everything just perfectly--enriching her world. Children this age certainly learn much more from their overall environment than from any planned enrichment schemes. Don't worry too much or work too hard, just enjoy your daughter and learn along with her.
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deedee




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Sep 05 2005, 11:12 am
thanks so much elisecohen! I was starting to get all nervous as I wrote my post but u totally put me at ease:)
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elisecohen




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Sep 05 2005, 12:32 pm
Deedee, you might like to take a look at a book entitled, "Kindergarden at home." It's generally available at public libraries if you do use secular libraries. It's not really specific to kindergarden--what it really is is an explanation of how daily activities like grocery shopping and helping around the house are full educational experiences, plus some ideas of simple activities for young children in the home to add to their experience.

We've homeschooled kids ages infant up to 10 (this year we just have a baby and a developmentally delayed 8 year old learning at home--we switch around depending on what's best for each kid), and definitely find that life experience goes a lot farther than structured book learning.
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deedee




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Sep 05 2005, 8:33 pm
thanks again for your helpful tips!
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