Hi! New member from Michigan

[sandy]

Good morning :)
Just a little about myself. I'm 34, married, and have one son who's 9. My husband and I grew up in the suburbs, but moved to the country when our son was 1 1/2. I've homeschooled since the beginning. I'm really glad I found this group and hope to share in some of your experiences. Some topics of special interest to me--homeschooling only children and how kids make friends. (My son has a lot of acquaintences from scouts, sports, library, but none really pan out into full-blown friendships.) We're finishing up our school year in the next couple of weeks but it's getting so hard with the weather so nice. I love homeschooling, but i love summer vacation, too!

Nice to meet you all,
Sandy

[MelissainMi]

Hi Sandy, Im Melissa and I live in Michigan also. Im new here, actually your my 1st post. Where abouts are you in Michigan? I am in Mid-Michigan area.

[Jackie]

I know what you mean about the nice weather!!! I'm Jackie, from cental Ohio, but I'll speak to you both anyway, lol! I'm finishing up my 7th year, with DD (almost 12), DD 10, and DS 6. We're up at 6 AM during our school week, so I've been trying to get myself and the kids out weeding the garden for about 15 minutes beforoe 7:30 when it's still cool. It's been up to the 90's lately, and we've been going to the pool for a while in the evening. I've got two done with their math, my youngest needing to work on his this summer, and we're finally finished (except or the test) with our history that we've been doing for TWO YEARS!!! Science I can stop any time, or do a little over the summer. My only concern is for Rachael (oldest) to finish her literature study before camp starts, which is going to be pushing things!

[sandy]

Hi Melissa!
we're near Lake Michigan over by Manistee. It is a beautiful area with the lake so close, but funny how when you move to your favorite vacation spot you hardly ever take advantage of the stuff you did when you vacationed there. We were at the lake for a boy scout outing a couple weeks ago but sometimes we go months without even seeing it.

How long have you been homeschooling?

[Mom2ampm]

Welcome! Glad you've joined us! I hs my 9yo dd and 5yo ds. We've been homeschooling for 3 years, but I always loved the idea of homeschooling. I taught K for many years and had atleast one homeschooler in class before. I also had a professor in college that homeschooled. I guess that planted the seed in my head.
We left private school after prek and k for dd and started homeschooling (due to money reasons). Now we could afford to send our kids, but I don't want to let go. I love all of it!

[sandy]

Hi to you too, Jackie :)

One of these days I'll get the hang of posting in these things. I never know where to reply to stuff. What kind of camp is your daughter going to? My son is looking forward to the YMCA day camp that starts in a couple weeks and I'm trying to finish up all our stuff too. I have finally started to calm down and realize that the whole math book does not have to be finished in a school year and the world is not coming to an end because that spelling book had an unfinished chapter.

[AmyU]

Welcome, I also have one son. But run a home daycare. I would love to live in the country, this is one of our dreams. My son is 11 and we are in illinois. We have been hs for the last 2.5 years. My dh and I pulled our son out of ps because they were not meeting his needs. I really love hsing. My son does have some friends in the neighborhood, but as he is getting older he is starting to pick and choose who he hangs with, he doesn't like some of the things other kids are starting to do. I'm very proud of his choices, tells me I'm doing a good job. He has also found several mentors in the neighborhood and would rather hang with them and learn from them. ( all adults we approve of.) Thats one thing I like about hs, my son is learning to communicate with people of every age. And I think the elderly people love having someone around to teach things to. I'm sure we will be talking soon. Again Welcome.

[Ohio Mom]

Sandy, welcome - I am a grandma homeschooling my 11 year old adopted grandson. We are from NE Ohio and have been hs for 6 years now. Where did the time go. I just had someone tell me they could tell that my gs was homeschooled because he could carry on an adult conversation with him. He said that most kids his age (11) that talk with him are very rude and childish. Enjoy the site - these people are very helpful and encouraging. I love it here.

[AmyU]

Sa I just had someone tell me they could tell that my gs was homeschooled because he could carry on an adult conversation with him. He said that most kids his age (11) that talk with him are very rude and childish.

Hi Grandma, can I call you that? I hope?

My son is also 11 and I have heard this several times, I think alot of hs kids are more polite. Being hs gives us lots of time to enteract (SP wrong) with people of all ages. It also gives us the time to teach other important things, not just books. I'm so greatful my on is no longer in ps system, I compare some of his older friends to him and my son just seems so much more mature. I love it. And its great when other notice it too. Another good reason for hs!:D

[KrisRV]

Sandy, Welcome to the site, what a wonderful site you come to and there are alot of wonderful ladies here too.
Hi my name is Kris Tx (for now) I have been homeschooling my dd's for 5 years. They are 13 and 11 years. We love it they don't want to go back to ps. Any way jump in and glad you found us.

[sandy]

Welcome, I also have one son. But run a home daycare. I would love to live in the country, this is one of our dreams. My son is 11 and we are in illinois. We have been hs for the last 2.5 years. My dh and I pulled our son out of ps because they were not meeting his needs. I really love hsing. My son does have some friends in the neighborhood, but as he is getting older he is starting to pick and choose who he hangs with, he doesn't like some of the things other kids are starting to do. I'm very proud of his choices, tells me I'm doing a good job. He has also found several mentors in the neighborhood and would rather hang with them and learn from them. ( all adults we approve of.) Thats one thing I like about hs, my son is learning to communicate with people of every age. And I think the elderly people love having someone around to teach things to. I'm sure we will be talking soon. Again Welcome.



Hi Amy,

What part of Illinois are you from? We were from the northwest suburbs (Chicago--are there any other in Illinois anyway? j/k) Up here we're the "bad" city folks who buy up all the property and then everyone's taxes go up. What they don't understand is our family has been here longer than any of theirs and so actually they're the reason my taxes have gone up. Oh well...

Yes, when my husband and I first started dating I told him I was headed for the country and if he didn't want to go then we shouldn't waste our time. So, I went to nursing school because I knew as I nurse I could get a job up here and here I am 10 years later....homechooling. I get the feeling everyone thinks I'm insane for wanting to stay home instead of going out and making decent money. On those days where doing school is like pulling teeth I think, "maybe they're right. I must be insane to want to do this."

That was my roundabout way of saying that yes, we really enjoy the country.

Nice to meet you. Look foward to talking soon. :D

Sandy

[AmyU]

Hi Amy,

What part of Illinois are you from? We were from the northwest suburbs (Chicago--are there any other in Illinois anyway? j/k)

Sandy

We are in Dekalb Illinois

[MelissainMi]

Hi Melissa!
we're near Lake Michigan over by Manistee. It is a beautiful area with the lake so close, but funny how when you move to your favorite vacation spot you hardly ever take advantage of the stuff you did when you vacationed there. We were at the lake for a boy scout outing a couple weeks ago but sometimes we go months without even seeing it.

How long have you been homeschooling?

Hi Sandy,

I am just beginning HSing my 5yo(almost 6yo) DD, its quite an adventure and a wonderful experience. I cant imagine living that close to the beach and not going all the time..we visited my mom in Fla and went to the beach(about an hour from her house) and she said she never goes, same with Disney..if we lived there we would never be home. The only thing I really like about living up here is that when I drive downstate on a weekend I miss all the traffic cause they are all comming this way LOL works out great for me. Im originally from downstate but have lived in various states along the "ages". I keep saying one day I'll move away for good but MI is home, I always keep comming back :roll: