Free Republic Homeschoolers' Forum 2006-2007

6-28-06 | Tired of Taxes

[Tired of Taxes]

Free Republic Homeschoolers’ Forum 2006-2007
A spot for homeschoolers on Free Republic to share information

First, a big, hearty CONGRATULATIONS to all those students who graduated this year! May you enjoy happiness and success in all of your endeavors.

For those of us still working toward that goal, this forum has been a wealth of information. News articles and legislative alerts keep us up-to-date here. Many thanks to Jim Robinson and Free Republic!

Last summer, we shared homeschooling advice with each other on this thread.

All of the books, curricula, and resources mentioned on that thread – as well as a few mentioned elsewhere on Free Republic - have been carried over to this one. (See the list in post #2).

Please feel free to post more information to help other homeschoolers and share more advice with each other right here on this new thread.

Best wishes for all of you and your families this year!

[TightyRighty]

That's strange because I JUST purchased a Saxon Math Teacher's Edition on Ebay.

[voiceinthewind]

I had some auctions bookmarked and they were pulled. Strange, huh? Like hit or miss. Some are still listed.Here is one comment:
"Legitimate homeschooling teachers can still receive their materials through the institutions that have provided them with their program."

[ican'tbelieveit]

I just got this in my mail this morning, and briefly looked it over.

www.tobinslab.com

It looks like any regular experiment store, so I didn't like it as much as hometrainingtools.com. But this might be an option for someone looking for lab supplies.

[Aggie Mama]

Can you add me to your hs ping list? We are seriously considering homeschooling, but are still in the "thinking about it" stage.

[Tired of Taxes]

***** SCIENCE *****

Free Republic thread chockful of resources on "String Theory":

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1686282/posts?page=1

[Tired of Taxes]

PLEASE READ

New Status for FR Homeschool Ping Lists!

As most of you know, DaveLoneRanger and I both have been running Homeschool Ping Lists.

Dave's list is the original and much larger list, whereas ours started on a thread last year.

Now Dave and I have worked it out so that we each will send pings to different kinds of stories, no one will be double-pinged, and all homeschoolers will be on one main list.

Dave has added your names to his list, so now you are on two different lists:

HOMESCHOOL PING LIST - handled by DaveLoneRanger. This is the main list. Dave will handle all pings to homeschool-specific articles only such as homeschool stories, legislative alerts, and vanity requests for homeschool advice.

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL PING LIST - handled by Tired of Taxes. I will ping only to the "other" articles of interest to homeschoolers such as the public school agenda, the NEA, and so on.

Please note: If you want on/off the "Another Reason to Homeschool" list, freepmail me.

We think this will work well for everyone. Best wishes to all of you in homeschooling this year!

[cyclotic]

Guys,

A link on tiredoftaxes list is to Boy Scouts. I cannot stress enough how great this organization is for homeschoolers. Boy Scouts is a heavily pro-American, pro-family organization. I help run a homeschool Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop in SE Michigan. Find a unit near you and get your son(s) involved.

As opposed to temporary skills that certain sports or some types of classes involve, Scouting teaches valuable life skills and timeless values.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

Thanks to the both of you for handling the homeschool pings. :o)

[StarCMC]

Ok -- I'm pinging you to this thread because I went back and saw that you were an SOS Mom. I loved the curriculum!! We are in SOS 5 and SOS 6 this year. If you remember, the only thing I DIDN'T like was the lack of outside reading required of the kids -- I'm coming from SOnlight which required a TON of reading.

This year, I set up my own Reading Curriculum, with reading assignments and at the end or each book, they have to answer 5 or 6 questions for me. I set it up in a hurry and with books I had on hand. For next year though, I am trying to do some better planning. I have a list of 15 - 19 books that I have chosen and want each kid to read, and I want to make up a list of questions for them to answer as they read each book. I have found online resources for the questions for about 7 of the books, but I was wondering if you have a good resource for finding others? Otherwise I will be reading them myself and making the questions up.

If I do all this, I would be willing to share my book lists and the guides if anyone is interested.

[TightyRighty]

I just started doing this as well. I've taken books like the Laura Ingall's series and Anne of Green Gables and I'm rereading them to gather vocabulary lists and questions. Then as we read the books I'd like to add in history, geography and other lessons to go along with whatever book we're doing at that time.

I've looked at unit studies for books like Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia - they cost an arm and a leg. So I just decided to do it myself - besides it gives me a chance to reread some of my favorites.

That's a great idea you have and I'd be willing to do the same.

[netmilsmom]

Could you please PM your reading lists to me?
I have a third, almost fourth grader and a fifth grader.

Isn't SOS da bomb? I just love the CD-Roms. My six year old actually does most of the computer work herself. I do print out all math, however.

[StarCMC]

These might help with the Laura Ingalls Wilder stuff:

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/little/littletg.html

http://falcon.jmu.edu/%7Eramseyil/wilder


I found both of those links here:

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edchildrenslit.htm

[Tired of Taxes]

There's a course online for "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" at the following link:

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/lordoftheringstrilogy/lessons/

I printed it out last year, and one of my sons just finished reading LOTR, but we haven't gotten to the unit study yet. Some good ideas there, though.

[StarCMC]

This is what I am doing for all the books on my reading list. I have 2 complete and am working on the third now. If you'd like to see it, you can go to this link and download it for yourself. There are 2 files there -- one is the study guide and one is the answer key.

I am offering these to anyone who is interested in them for yourself. If there's interest, let me know and I'll keep a ping list to let you know when there's a new one done. My goal with these is to make sure my kids are reading the books I assign for comprehension, not just to say they finished it.

[Tired of Taxes]

PING!

Just a reminder to check this thread for recently-added posts with more homeschool information.

[2Jedismom]

Thanks to the both of you for handling the homeschool pings. :o)

Ditto! You are both doing a great job!

[Antoninus]

Well, we've just started homeschooling our oldest ones--4 and 3 years old. It's going great so far.

Also, my company hosts a website that features a whole bunch of great books for older homeschooled kids (and their parents, too). It's almost all supplemental reading--historical fiction, high fantasy, etc. Great for kids who can't get enough to read, but their parents are worried about what they might bring home from Barnes & Nazi:

[Antoninus]

Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)
www.thomasaquinas.edu

Christemdom College (Front Royal, VA)
www.christendom.edu

Franciscan University of Steubenville (Stubenville, OH)
www.franciscan.edu

All of these Colleges are extremely home schooler friendly.

Bears repeating. And they turn out superior quality scholars and individuals. I hope one or more of my kids will be able to go to one of these schools.

[Antoninus]

Please add me to the ping list if you haven't already!

[FreedomProtector]

Grove City College Ping!!!