HELP - Need home-schooling info !! - Vanity

self

[dfwddr]

Help !!!! My wife and I are taking my 15 year old daughter out of the public school system, and home school her. Our school system $ucks, and I'm sick of fearing for her safety every day. I know there are a lot of home schoolers here on FR, and I would love any info, advice, insight, or comments from those in the know. We are in Tennessee (Nashville).

[I'm ALL Right!]

You may find this online course helpful. How to Start Homeschooling

[ChocChipCookie]

We have HSd from day one with our daughter, but I know that many homeschoolers who pull their children from public schools find that they need several weeks or even a few months to just do nothing except for maybe some family travel, field trips to sights that interest their child, and time to regain a love of learning. It seems kids need a period of time to become deprogrammed. When you consider how much classroom time is wasted in public schools, it won't take long before she "catches up", although once you begin homeschooling, that term is relative.

Actually, I kind of saw a bit of deprogramming with our 5 yo daughter. She had gone to preschool two days a week for three years and knew that her little friends were moving on to kindergarten and riding a SCHOOL BUS. (That's a big thing when you're 5.) Anyway, I think it took about 3 or 4 months before she began understanding this wonderful opportunity our family had in homeschooling. Now she asks me, "Why does Emma have to go to public school?"

[Oberon]

There are more good homeschooling resources on the net than you can shake a stick at...even if you're really quick at shaking a stick.

Here are some for starters:

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/

http://www.memoriapress.com/

And lastly (perhaps most importantly), the Sonlight Curriculum link:

http://www.sonlight.com/index.html?

While all the links I've listed are for organizations that stress Christian homeschooling, they provide classical education materials that can be used by anyone. I especially recommend the Sonlight catalog, as they feature just about every good homeschooling book that ever was.

[Mask316]

Abeka has a very good program and they even have options for them to do the grading and so on...

But it is Christian based so that may not be your thing.

Take Care

[Señor Zorro]

While it is Christian based, my parents have a newsletter/magazine relating to this. You can see some of their homeschooling articles on http://www.saltmagazine.com/

Good luck!

[dfwddr]

Thank you all !!! I have been really amazed at the support and help I have received from FR and a local online HS group. While this will be quite a challenge, I think it's going to be a great thing for my daughter !!!!

[dfwddr]

Dave, please add me to the ping list.

I had already planned on making FReeping a part of her curriculum !! LOL

Thanks for your help !!!

[kpp_kpp]

...and beware of people who tell you to beware of "public school taught at home"

everyone has different reasons for homeschooling and those reasons will affect what type of homeschooling you do. "public school at home" is a fine option for some who need structure, are new at it, don't mind the testing, want to get your property tax investment back, etc.

[cdrw]

Get to know the local laws / regulations and abide by them. Do NOT give the local school board any excuse to come down on you. If the local laws are adversarial to home school then move. We have found it very easy to avoid legal entanglements.

[Mrs. P]

We are just starting home schooling. My advice to you would be to read. Read everything you can find on home schooling. Two books in particular that I have found very helpful are _The Well Trained Mind_ and another one that I'm currently finishing up called _Discover Your Child's Learning Style_ by Willis and Hodson. Also Chris Klicka of HSLDA wrote a good one (can't remember the title) but there was a lot of good advice on what to do if you have someone knock on your door. Go to the library and see what you can find on home schooling.

It seems like I've read that Tennessee is a state that is a little more difficult as far as regulations on home schoolers. HSLDA is a good resource, if you are a member they have things on their website, forms to print out for your state, etc. I highly recommend joining and reading all the material you can find on their site that applies to your state and your situation.

If you can, attend a home schooling convention where there is a book fair or something like that, once you know what you want as far as books and/or curriculum. Don't buy stuff just because it's cute or pretty or you like how it looks. Don't buy on impulse.

Some good places I've found for buying stuff is Rainbow Resources and Sonlight. Sonlight had the placement tests for the math we were looking at. In general, the internet is a wealth of information. So is FR!

Take any advice you get with a grain of salt. We avoid any contact with the public school system as if it were the Black Death. Others use special services if they need them. You are opening the door for trouble if you let the government have any control over your children, but that's just my opinion. What works for one family is bad for another. You know your kid, trust your instincts. Parents are in the best position to know what their child needs.

[kassie]

Great reading.

[cinives]

I'd start by doing two things: take some time (a few months would be good!) and just read up on what homeschooling is or can be. I'd have your child read Grace Llewellyn's book "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" and you read books by Cafi Cohen, Raymond and Dorothy Moore, and David Gunderson and others you'll find. Join email lists on yahoo groups such as homeschool2college and the like.

While you are all doing this, start talking about the future - is she interested in college, what field of study, what are her strengths and weaknesses in the academic arena, and most importantly, what gets her charged up about learning ? What excites her mind that motivates her to get out of bed in the morning ?

All of this will point you in the direction you should head, at least to start. The best thing about homeschooling, besides the fun, is that you can drop what doesn't work and do something else.

I don't know anything about where you live but you need to get her something to do that entails responsibility. Get a part-time job, volunteer at a local museum, animal shelter, library, whatever is handy that she'd be interested in. It's an excellent tool to use to make her accountable to some entity outside the house that has nothing to do with schooling. My daughter volunteers at the local Museum of Natural Sciences once a month and at the local library two hours a week. These are places where they can shine without you being around - it helps a lot with self-confidence.

There's been a lot said about specific curriculums. I for one am an eclectic type - we use a textbook for math and somewhat for science, but not for anything else. Textbooks have no relationship to real life in any job, and IMO hinder understanding of how things fit together. Books are great, labs and hands-on are great, but textbooks - IMO a waste of time. We read real, classical books, use a bunch of different resources for math and science, read mathematicians and scientists in their own words, find ways to use math and science, and write research papers and other papers when a book is particularly interesting and we feel we have something to say on the topic or theme. History and literature just come naturally if you read a lot.

You will have so much fun. We're 4 years into the homeschooling adventure (wish I'd done it from the start!) and I'll be sorry when it's over.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

You have freepmail. :o)

[FreedomHasACost]

I have been in public school, Christian school and homeschool. Home school is my top choice so: Congratulations on taking this step!
A couple of things to add to what has been said:
Don't feel you have to do it the way everyone else does...that is why you are taking your daughter out of school.
Also, know how your daughter feels about this. When I was pulled out of the Christian school I was very upset about it, all my friends were there...My parents were very kind but firm about the new way of doing things and I came to appreciate it greatly. Just know it can be tough for a teenager.
I hope things go well in this grand new adventure!!!

[bearsgirl90]

God bless your decision. Link up with a local home schooling organization.

[dfwddr]

Thank you for your reply !!! My original plan was not to do it the way everyone else does, but I have found over the last two weeks, not many people are doing it the same way, at least all the ones that have responded to my plea for help, hare and at yahoo. This has made me more determined to "do it my way" !!LOL

My daughter is very excited about this, she realized that by going back to her school, her life was in danger, (her school is now run by gangs)and she really wasn't getting anything out of it. She also learned the hard way, *true* friends are hard to come by.

Thanks again to you, and everybody else that has replied !!!

[P8riot]

Here is a good source of information on the plethora of curricula out there:

http://homeschoolreviews.com/

There is more information on homeschooling on the 'net than you can shake a stick at. The choices are endless. My wife and I are homeschooling our 3 year old son using the "classical" method. He is already at a kindergarten grade level.