Posted on 05/21/2007 2:54:41 PM PDT by taxcontrol
Folks, I have 3 kids, and for the past two years, they have been enrolled in a private christian school. Prior to that they were struggling very hard in public school.
However, their school as asked that they not return due to being two years on academic probation. My kids have brought a 30 F up to a 70 F in two years in their weekest subject - Math. However, this does not meet the schools' requirement for continuing with the school.
So, my wife and I are giving serious thought to homeschooling but we dont know where to begin. There is so much information and some of it not very useful. Is there anyone who can point us in the right direction? We were hoping that there would be some kind of structured DVD / video and workbook type program that:
1) Provides STRONG support for students who need lots of repetitive exercises ... esp math (we have to go over some basic building blocks still)
2) Works with phonics and spelling - 2nd weakest area
3) Can work in an environment that has 3 kids - 2nd grade, 6th grade and 7th grade.
4) Has a strong christian theme
Thank you
Was going to post this link :)
Rainbow Resources has an incredible curriculum catalog that has anything and everything homeschooling...
I know someone who used Sonlight’s curriculum - if you’ve never home schooled or need strictness of a pre-set curriculum, Sonlight, Abeka and Horizons are good....
My sis and several friends have/are homeschooling... :)
Best of luck.
(I apologize for being a day late, but I was busily enjoying the holilday yesterday - don’t even think I checked my emails...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI
Interesting. I agree that the standard algorithms should be taught. I learned them, and since education is a cultural endeavor, I expect my grandchildren to learn them - at least to the extent that no new and unambiguously superior method is developed. Full Stop.But it certainly is true that calculators work. In fact, as an engineering student I gradually became so habituated to the use of a slide rule that if I decided to divide 4 by 2 I would begin to reach for it before realizing what I was doing.
And it is also true that the "standard algorithm" for division is in fact an iterative procedure. The example the video presented wasn't actually long division because the example divisor was singe digit. Actual long division tends to trial and error. The reality is that the word for not using a calculator (or computer spreadsheet) when you have a long division problem is, "stupid."
The reality is that people with the interest and ability to do mathematics (as for example, engineering) do not necessarily learn that they are good at it by drilling in long division. The reality is that digital chips are transcendently better suited to the purpose than the human brain (savants excepted) is. The reality is that the human brain is better than the computer at one particular thing - and that is defining the problem to be calculated, and making use of the result. And teaching how to decide what arithmetic to do is what I see the math books struggling toward. All I know is that my elementary teachers didn't emphasize that skill, and that I was unusual in my class because I cared about that issue. Others groaned if the Arithmetic assignment was "word problems"; I groaned if the Arithmetic assignment was not word problems.
Hey Dave, we just had the Illinois Christian Home Educators (ICHE) conference this past weekend. Dr. Voodie Bauchman was a keynote speaker. I, for the first time, have come to realize the main reason of why I should homeschool my children.
Have a listen, this speech from 2006 mirrors about 90% of what he covered this past weekend:
http://www.gracefamilybaptist.net/Podcast/4B50BCF2-09AF-4153-A8A1-57D434FD5558.html
LifePacks fit all your requirements, and they give you a discount if you buy all five subjects (Math, Language Arts, History & Geography, Science and Bible) as a package.
Switched On will run on some pretty old/inexpensive computers; I suspect they designed it with low minimum system requirements because they wanted homeschoolers to be able to use whatever they had sitting around. That said, if you buy a couple (or three) laptops from somebody like these guys you can run it on those at your kitchen table. Pretty much any laptop that has a CD drive in it is powerful enough to run the software.
Count me in as an edhelper booster...even if you buy a good curriculum, it’s well worth the $20 a year just to be able to go over stuff again if you need to.
I home educated 2 children - the oldest is in her second year of college, and our youngest leaving for college next Fall. Even with 2 normal children, who were intelligent, I found that waiting for the right time to teach math was a godsend! I only had to teach it once and they got it. When I brought them to this level, we then enrolled in Kumon math (was linked on the other page) and it was amazing! Kumon filled on ALL the holes or grounding that was needed, and the kids were beating the cash register in making change at the stores in no time! Excellent program that has 3 levels of Honor Roll for children who work ahead of grade level in math - Bronze which is equivalent to running 1 year ahead of grade level in math, Silver that is equivalent to 2 years ahead, and Gold that is 3 years ahead of grade level in math.
Saxon Math - good incremental program - but am looking to change because at middle school the child needs more focus on more specific math functions
Math U See - hands on manipulatives - have heard high praise of this program
Key To Series is also highly praised...I am looking to use this for my daughter now because she has had problems with fractions and decimals.
Sonlight Curriculum is well known and well liked. William J. Bennet came up with K12 curriculum
Also look at the Well Trained Mind website.
DO NOT TRY TO WORRY about what "grade" your child should be in. Homeschool is what YOU design/choose for the level that your child is at...and every child is different.
Hope these help...Ive been HS for over 2 yrs...have had good success, although I am still learning what works best for my child.
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