This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.
The keyword for the FREE REPUBLIC HOMESCHOOLERS’ FORUM is frhf.
What state do you live in?
That’s a great place to start because each state has different homeschool regulations.
Also, JOIN HSLDA ASAP!!!!!!
Homeschool Legal Defense Association.
Use Saxon Math for math, especially if you can find the older hardcover curriculum.
Don’t be scared. Most decent sized towns have a Homeschool Association and will have yearly events. Go to Home School Legal Defense Assoc., HSLDA, and sign up for their legal plan. Look for Abeka curriculum (through Pensacola Christian School in Pensacola, FL) for most subjects and Saxon Math for math. If your town has no assoc., look in the nearest large town. Attend the seminars every year. Go to your local Christian bookstore. They often have home school resources.
I would recommend Alpha Omega cirriculum for your first year. Do two grades per year. You will find public school is mostly wasted time. You could complete three grades per year if you are so inclined.
Here are a few observations:
1. Homeschooling is NOT “school” at home. It is a tutorial model of learning. Consequently, homeschool parents expect their children to be to some degree self teaching. For example, our 13 year-old is doing Saxon Advanced Math (precal). He reads the lesson and does the problems. I correct them (and the tests) and discuss any comprehension issues he may have. When the boys were younger (two are studying engineering now), I would have them read the math lesson to me, and then go through the same process. Similarly, I assign books to read to the 13 year-old, write some chapter questions, and have my son write answers. We then discuss his answers, which sometimes results in having him redo questions. At no time do successful homeschooling parents stand in front of their children lecturing for hours on end.
2. Find a local support group with “veteran” homeschoolers and join it.
3. Join HSLDA and your state organization. There are many, many benefits to this.
4. DO NOT do virtual school. It is the least effective approach to education (there is data). Using some video resources is fine, but thinking you’ll dump junior in front of a screen and go on with whatever you normally do is NOT a good idea.
There are many free resources. If you have an ebook reader, you can download thousands of classics for free. YouTube has many valuable resources that are free. We use, for example, Paul Barton’s piano tutorials, videos of Shakespeare productions, and videos of science experiments. There is, of course, much more. Khan Academy is a great source for some things (not as entire courses).
5. Here is an academically excellent, inexpensive, turnkey curriculum that will, if you want, keep records and provide testing. http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/about-class-homeschools/
6. Even mediocre to below average homeschooling is better than government school. Homeschoolers have plenty of testing data to support that. So, RELAX.
7. There is no “Try”. Just do it. You’ll get used to it and love the freedom and flexibility. You will also get to know your son far better than if he were institutionalized in a government school child abuse facility.
8. Be discerning using dual credit courses at the local CC. At one time CC courses were respectable. Compared to schools 30-40 years ago, however, CC courses in humanities and social sciences would not even be mediocre high school courses. CC teaching jobs in most fields are sinecures for semiliterate leftists.
9. You will have great days, good days, and bad days. Don’t worry about the bad days.
Good for you. Homeschooled(unschooled) my 2 until 9th and wish they would have been home schooled until college. FL has dual enrollment for college so daughter had her AA along with HS graduation. Son did some online HS and now in college. Just take them out and treat them as a young adult who has a mind of their own. They will gravitate towards their strong suit. Just get them out of the bad situation and have fun! Learning should be self directed and kids will always want to learn when not pressured. BTW one of my daughter’s profs for a high level class at her major University went on and on about his best student who was only 19 and homeschooled. She went up to him after class and told him she was only 18 and had been homeschooled. She ended with an A LOL! Just enjoy having your child at home.
My children have always been homeschooled, but friends who’ve removed their children from public school talk about the necessity of a “de-schooling” time. This is something you may want to research and keep in mind when you begin homeschooling.
Where do you live?
Are you a believer?
Are you willing to join HSLDA? [ http://www.hslda.org/ ]
Are you willing to make homeschooling the top priority in your life?
Are you (or your spouse) a stay-at-home parent?
Your answers are more important than your curriculum preparations . . .
http://academy.hillsdale.edu/academics/faq
The Hillsdale Academy Reference Guide is a comprehensive educational resource designed by Hillsdale College professors and implemented by Hillsdale Academy. It can enhance an established educational program, provide the foundation for a charter or independent school, and guide parents who teach their children at home.
2.What does the Reference Guide include?
Each Guide contains the following sections:
•Introduction
•School Culture
•Curriculum (K-8 or 9-12)
•Additional Titles for Classroom and Home Teachers
•Reading Lists
•Bibliography
•List of Publishers
•Parent Handbook
•Faculty Handbook
•Introductory Videotape
•Weekly Curriculum Outlines (K-8)
•Course Syllabi (9-12)
Hi Rush...
Well I have family members who made the change from public school to doing all their classes at home. I see others have mentioned some home schooling courses if your going to do the teachings but this I speak of is a system that meets all that’s necessary for their state...and is all done on line including teacher accessibility at all times.
I have to say they chose this route because even though they were in one of the best school systems the “heat” among students and all the issues schools face now were still prevelant so they pulled them out in their teens.
They both did outstanding in their work and loved learning at home. Both parents said there was finally “peace” in their home rather than having to deal with the school all the time.....their home and their family drew closer as well.
They said it was the best decision they ever made regarding raising their daughters.
Thanks sooooo much for replying to me. I knew FReepers would pull through and I will comb over every recommendation received. Some of them were mentioned by a home schooler acquaintance of mine, but I wanted more feedback as this is a big decision. As I said....it’s overwhelming.
You meet once a week for tutoring (which is structured like a regular classroom), but the rest of the time you're at home. Yes, there is a cost, but the resulting education is stunningly good.
I agree with so much of what has been advised. Join HSLDA. Saxon math is the best I have found (I taught high school math and Latin in our local home school co-op..). If possible find other home school moms to swap classes with. And I didn’t sign up for a preordained curriculum. If your son is very bright, it won’t serve him well. Cathy Duffy told me, when I first started, that you could either homeschool or you can school at home. Homeschooling offers you and your son the opportunity to explore his talents and interests. There is plenty of support here should you need advice, encouragement congratulations or commiseration. And at various times you will need each. I think it is easier than sending them to school, but it is also a lot of work.
Cyber Schools seem to plow the middle ground between home schooling and the standard brick and mortar variety.
I discovered Masterbooks by New Leaf Publishing last year-the first time I saw one of their lesson plan books I wanted to cry tears of joy. After six years of homeschooling, I finally found a very user friendly system-especially with high schoolers. Keeping a record of grades, credits earned etc. is so easy with this! I also like that their language arts and history curriculums are written by an man who grades SAT essays.
The year prior to homeschooling I attended our state’s homeschool conference. A tremendous help to hear presenters and look at curriculum options before diving in.
PS-I’m horribly disorganized, Masterbooks doesn’t cure it but it’s the most helpful yet!
If you do it, you and your kids will look back on the greatest decision of all of your lives.
We too the plung when my oldest was in 7th (same thing - bullying) and his younger brother started in 3rd.
Make it fun, and don’t stress like we did at first.
Mine both got full ride scholarships to major universities. They love the fact that many homeschoolers are autodidacts.
I have four children, an in their public school days, I taught them to get along with schoolmates, put a stop to bullies, become leaders, and report non-compliant instructors to me. Then I took care of any bullying teachers in a way that they never tried it with me or mine again. In the end, the high school principal called me in to help solve some problems with his staff.
My childrens' schooling did not start and stop at the doors of the public school. I did my home-schooling of them in topics my public school could not or would not do, assisted them in finding ways to effectively execute their homework without doing it for them, and sent them back with encouragement. I taught them how to fish, make radios, sing competitively, analyse the sermons they heard, do photography, camp out, cook meals, bake, sew, fix engines, and a dozen other skills as an addition and embellishment to their public education.
In athletics, my sons were aggressive ball-players and good wrestlers. My daughter was a tough basket-ball player, shot-putter in track, and won a field hockey scholarship to help fund her college. One son became an engineer at Perkin-Elmer Instruments, without a college education, before his death.
His younger brother is now the MIS Director of the US division of a large Japanese technological corporation, also without a college degree.
His youngest brother graduated as the highest-ranking in his engineering class at IIT, was invited to take his Master's at the college expense, and eventually formed his own engineering company.
Their younger sister earned her way through college, and now after 30 years, is a core vice-president of a very large national banking corporation.
You need to face and conquer the underlying problems, not avoid them by invoking home-schooling. That requires a willingness to continue through until your son graduates and is able to be accepted by better-equipped mentors than yourself. By all means, don't even think of undertaking this unless you know you can and will carry it through to the end, with flying colors. To take him out , then fail and put him back in will o more damage to him than he already experiences.
You say that you're "disorganized." That approach to life has no place in the home-schooling paradigm. Perhaps part of your son's problem is that he has no example of how to get and stay organized himself. That will draw all kinds of unwanted attention from both schoolmates and teachers.
If you're not prepared to at least make up a "to-do" list for the next day, and prioritize it, you can't home school. I've seen what happens when this happens, and it is not pretty.
Is your son able to find a job to buy his own clothes" does he like or avoid contact sports? Does he like to be in the thick of debates and at least express his own opinion, if not convince others? Is he getting actually bullied by just one or two of his acquaintances, or are several of his schoolmates rejecting his style of relating to others, caling it "bullying" when it is only showing dislike? If so, he needs to learn something about relationships, and so do you.
Buck up. Make some decisions, and get ready to change, whether or not you home-school. Hate to tell you this, but clearly, if you have to come to FR for this kind of home-schooling advice, you're not ready for it.
My FR "friends" are going to excoriate me for scolding you, but they also will be dodging the underlying issues that cause your son to act like a sheep instead of a fighter to reckon with. Your son doesn't need to be aggressive, but he needs to be assertive, and so do you.
OK, hit me if you can.
It's really saying something when an amateur teacher working from home, possibly on a shoestring budget, can do a better job than the very costly system run by professionals.