How did you know: Homeschooling

[Wally]

Forgive me (no guys allowed) but as a homeschooler I would like to offer the following:

ACE, Abeka (Pensacola Christian College) Bob Jones, and there are others are excellent cirriculim. We have found that each of our 3 children learns differently so we blend by subject so that they can make the most of the text books. Many Homeschool groups exist and are more than willing to share insight, technique, and information. Homeschool Legal Defense has much information on your rights and responsibilities. Pennsylvania Homeschool law is the best there is, it requires accountability and fairness on both sides.

Our oldest was homeschooled K, 1, 4,5,9,10,11,12 the other years were christian schools.(expensive) She did one day in public school -Senior year- and that is all it took for us to know we had been in God's will. She has since received an accredited diploma and is in college. The younger kids did one year each 4/6th grades and fell behind. No more public school.

I ferverantly encourage anyone to try homeschooling. It is not that hard and there is much material out there. Try to aviod computer-only-school. Interaction with parents really helps. Have older teach younger. Tutors are usually available if your child needs extra help. There may be some cases where the needs exceed you capacity but see what you can do.

The filth that is becoming ciriculim, as well as drugs, sex, and violence, should be enough to convince any Christian to homeschool. If it means a parent must reduce work hours or quit, I say it would be worth it. It does require discipline on the parents part. Keep a daily log, grade test, do experiments, and do our favorite, "Counters": day trips to zoos, museums, events, that count as education.

Colleges and business are looking more to homeschoolers as a source for quality cantidates.

And as for socialization? THAT IS THE POINT!

Get them out of the destructive environment, the negative anti family, anti god, amoral institution that cares more about a body count and PC than education. Get them into wholesome church groups, get part-time jobs, join clubs like Boy-Scouts, and 4H, and get involved yourselves. There is no guarentee but if you invest in a child you typically reap a wonderful person.

[HSmomto4]

What does SOTW stand for?
What do use for history and science?

Thanks!

Hope

SOTW is our History curriculum for Elementary and Middle School ages. It stands for Story of The World. But above that, we read and we recreate. We read biographies and books that were written by the people of that time, we study the actual History and forget about taking quizzes from text books. When we studied mummies, we made a mummy. When we studied Viking houses, we made a Viking house. We are going into American History now and we are recreating a map of the USA in the 1700's and will mark territories on it and then show the military movements with army men. We will also make food, clothes, writing materials (pens, ink and paper) and household items all from that time period. They learn more from History that way than by getting the skeleton information that a text book offers.

For science we have areas that we study. Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth/Space Science. We have many different books we use with each and they are full of experiments that let the kids touch and learn from what they are doing. Here is a recent example, we were talking about clouds the other day and going over the types of clouds and how they were formed. That was nice, good pictures and all, but then we went to the kitchen and MADE a cloud! Now they can tell you EXACTLY how a cloud is formed because they watched it in the kitchen. Science is another area that I don't by textbooks in because it is better to read real books and have hands on experience with it.

[Leialoha]

HOpe,
for your first year, don't stress too much about picking the right curriculum. Abeka is good for ease of planning and not worrying about "holes" in the curriculum.

I love Sonlight Curriculum. This year I'm using Tapestry of Grace. My artistic kid also loves using manipulatives and what I would recommend would not work for you because your kids have for so many years been doing math the "school way" and it would confuse the heck out of them.

Saxon is tried and true.

History really comes alive when most of the learning is done with what is called "Living Books". If you want to use Abeka, you could supplement with great novels at your child's level. If you know what history era you will be studying, and you give me a couple days, I'd be happy to e-mail you a list of good books that your kids could read in conjunction with the Abeka history or you could read outloud.

I have a book that I really liked that I read when I was trying to figure out what "style" of homeschool we should be.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Year-Homeschooling-Your-Child/dp/0761527885/ref=sr_1_7/002-6350573-6018452?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186182208&sr=8-7

It is an easy read and not too technical.

:)

[Hope]

Yes, I think I better keep it simple for the first year, otherwise I'll get "lost". My kids both learn visually best. For instance, they can watch Animal Planet and remember facts and toss them out left and right. Also, I viewed Rosetta Stone's "language" software sample on-line. WOW, it's really cool. They could sit for hours learning Spanish. Rosetta Stone also offers a program for homeschoolers. But in viewing the way they present their material, I thought this format would work GREAT for any subject.

Thanks all, great info!

Hope

[mikalikat]

Saxon math is awesome.

[Leialoha]

Yes, I think I better keep it simple for the first year, otherwise I'll get "lost". My kids both learn visually best. For instance, they can watch Animal Planet and remember facts and toss them out left and right. Also, I viewed Rosetta Stone's "language" software sample on-line. WOW, it's really cool. They could sit for hours learning Spanish. Rosetta Stone also offers a program for homeschoolers. But in viewing the way they present their material, I thought this format would work GREAT for any subject.

Thanks all, great info!

Hope

I like Rosetta Stone.

Our library system has it and I can log in from home and use it for free :yay Sometimes for fun we compare languages and see how many of the words we guess right based on the similarities, or learn basic words of a country we are learning about. You should check it out and see if your library offers this

[Architectlink]

I had prayed for years about what to do with my two children, my son specifically, and AT THE SAME MOMENT in time about 3 years ago, TWO DIFFERENT women I knew (who did not know each other ) both emailed me the same identical message asking me if I had ever listened to the mission statement about our homeschool program in town (which incidentally has 450 kids and hired teachers--our kids go to school 3 days a week and are homeschooled 2 days a week...which is awesome.)

Our God is so good to meet us halfway. It has been difficult to homeschool kids who are 5 years apart, but it has really been worth it. I remember when I first saw the emails, I thought to myself, "I can do it!" And I think I heard God say back, "You can do it!"

He has blessed us ever since.

[Just A Clay Pot]

Hi all!

Hope you don't mind another gent dropping in for a drive-by opinion... :)

Our family just finished homeschooling our three kids. They each graduated a year faster than their peers in public school. Their testing is upper 1% or so compared to public schools. And, most importantly, they are good, upstanding men and women for Christ.

The thing about homeschooling is that it doesn't teach just facts by rote. It allows the kids to learn how to learn. When you have the whold world as a library of possible study, nothing is out of bounds.

So, in my opinion, there is no greater educational gift you can give to your kids than to get them out of public schooling and into homeschooling. Even the worst homeschooler is light years beyond the best classroom experience.

[Leialoha]

Hi all!

Hope you don't mind another gent dropping in for a drive-by opinion... :)

Our family just finished homeschooling our three kids. They each graduated a year faster than their peers in public school. Their testing is upper 1% or so compared to public schools. And, most importantly, they are good, upstanding men and women for Christ.

The thing about homeschooling is that it doesn't teach just facts by rote. It allows the kids to learn how to learn. When you have the whold world as a library of possible study, nothing is out of bounds.

So, in my opinion, there is no greater educational gift you can give to your kids than to get them out of public schooling and into homeschooling. Even the worst homeschooler is light years beyond the best classroom experience.

Thanks for jumping in! It is super encouraging to hear how it all paid off from homeschoolers who went the entire distance. THANKS!

[frodo82801]

A quote from a home school blog:

"Interestingly, home-schoolers are now the favored applicants of some big-name universities. According to Jon Reider, admissions official at Stanford University in California, they are desirable applicants because "home-schoolers bring certain skills - motivation, curiosity, the capacity to be responsible for their education - that high schools don't induce very well." In other words, preschooled kids may have to best head start, but home-schooled kids have the best finish, because in our educational system we have neglected the crucial role of attachment."