Do you supplement PS or do your own thing?

[ktmo]

I am another newbie and was wondering what you do.

Do you supplement what DC is learning in school or do you just do your own thing? For instance, if they are learning about butterflies in school, do you do additional activities at home that go along with that theme? Or do you just stick with your focus?

For math, do you try to align what you are doing at home with what they are doing at school? Do you find any issues if you are working on one concept at home and another at school?

[MBM]

I am another newbie and was wondering what you do.

Do you supplement what DC is learning in school or do you just do your own thing? For instance, if they are learning about butterflies in school, do you do additional activities at home that go along with that theme? Or do you just stick with your focus?

For math, do you try to align what you are doing at home with what they are doing at school? Do you find any issues if you are working on one concept at home and another at school?

A little of both.

For example, we read and listen to Shakespeare together and see plays, which our schools haven't done in the younger grades. However, I do use Rod and Staff to supplement what the school is teaching in grammar. R&S does a better job, IMO. We only do short oral lessons.

For math, we've done Saxon and Singapore during the younger grades as well as the school's curriculum (not necessarily aligning the two), and then fleshed it out with other resources -- Art of Problem Solving, math contest material (you don't have to compete to benefit) and reading what others are doing, like math circles. We haven't had any issues working on different concepts. If anything, I think it's helped.

[lgm]

I supplement where needed. Sometimes it's a poorly taught lesson, sometimes it's whole chunks of curriculum omitted. Sometimes its a topic that the dc want to explore further.

>>For math, do you try to align what you are doing at home with what they are doing at school?

No, it's too difficult to second guess what the teacher is going to do.

>>Do you find any issues if you are working on one concept at home and another at school?

No. After 1st grade, it was rare that a concept was taught at school. The press of time meant that mostly algorithm memorization was done. Many units were omitted at school; found out that many parents had engaged a tutor to make up for this problem.

[Sara R]

We try to be the first one to teach the math concept, however. It's better for them to learn it right the first time, rather than doing "reactive teaching" later on.

With other things, we can align what I'm doing with what the school is asking. If the school wants a book read on a certain genre, I choose one that fits with what we are studying. Instead of reading the predictable text readers that get sent home with dd, we read Phonics Pathways.

[Momto5]

Do you supplement what DC is learning in school or do you just do your own thing? For instance, if they are learning about butterflies in school, do you do additional activities at home that go along with that theme? Or do you just stick with your focus?

For math, do you try to align what you are doing at home with what they are doing at school? Do you find any issues if you are working on one concept at home and another at school?

For general curriculum, I do not supplement on general concepts being taught in school (like butterflies) unless (1) my child is not understanding the concept as it is taught in school or (2) my child is really interested in the topic in which case we delve deeper.

As for general curriculum not taught in school, we do a lot of supplementing. Like the previous poster, we will cover topics like Shakespeare or opera or art appreciation. I decide what topics to add in after I review the scope and sequence for my dc's grade. I then prioritize the additional topics I want to cover and develop a plan for implementation. This has worked well for us.

For math, I think the choice to align your supplemental activity with the curriculum at school may depend on how much you like the school's curriculum. I do align my math supplements with the math being taught at school. My dc's school uses Singapore math (which works for us) so we do extra practice at home in the area they are learning at school.

I hope this helps.

[Momling]

I am new to needing to supplement... but no, what I'm doing in the evenings with my girls is totally not what they are doing in school. School is pretty much a pleasant daycare kind of experience, but completely lacking in substance. I'm providing the science, math and history that she's missing.

[Katrina J]

A bit of both here. I started out thinking I would just be supporting the work done at school but it was near impossible to find out what they teach each year, let alone when, so I basically go it alone.

For reading and spelling I ignore the school's advice (discretely) and do my own thing.

I help with spelling and reading homework of course and supplement when DD7 says she's having trouble with something. Mostly I'm ahead of the teacher for reading and spelling (because I taught phonics when the teacher was drilling sight words at the start of the year) but I'm a bit more reactive with maths unfortunately.

[Cadam]

I am doing my own thing. I am focusing on the skill building subjects and not worrying about enrichment or matching what the school is doing.

At the moment we are simply finishing OPG because I quit doing it once she was reading well and recently realized that she needed more practice to gain confidence with more complex words.

In December we will be systematically going through the Singapore and MUS books that she was using while homeschooling last year. The math at her school is TERC Investigations :ack2: . She is adding and subtracting at school while doing long division with Singapore at home. To say that the ps math is a waste of her time would be an understatement.

[mich311e]

We're doing our own thing. I find out what my child is learning at school(Kindergarten) in the Friday newsletter, which I appreciate, and through the papers he brings home each week.

I mostly work with my son to make sure he stays at the level I think he needs to be at. We do phonics and supplement with Singapore math.

I suppose if we were in higher grade levels and covering certain units I'd do some additional reading on the subjects with him but we're not there yet. :-)

[ktmo]

Thanks for all the advice. It has given me a lot to think about. It is great to hear what others are doing.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

We do our own thing, too. If there is ever something that will need to be supplemented, I would try to do that as well. So far, that hasn't happened.

[Elisa]

Mostly do my own thing. Teaching Latin at home, ancient history, science, and moving ahead in math and reading.

[nova mama]

We've been doing science and history on the WTM schedule. In math and LA, I alternate between reinforcing school stuff and giving DC a boost.

[BabyBre]

Do you supplement what DC is learning in school or do you just do your own thing?

For math, do you try to align what you are doing at home with what they are doing at school? Do you find any issues if you are working on one concept at home and another at school?


We unwillingly moved from full-time homeschooling to full-time ps, so I hold on for dear life to what were doing before. In many areas, especially math, our ps is inadequate.

The only negative issues between teaching nearly a full curriculum at home and another being taught at school have been that dc are often bored with the pace and content at school. We do sometimes come across content at home that they've already picked up on as well, but then we're able to move on. A classroom of 25 can't do that.

For most subjects, ps is supplementary to what we do at home, but I am happy for them to have science, music, art, all the extracurriculars, and easy access to friendships that ps provides.