Homeschooling?

[ChickyLove]

I'm going to be homeschooling my daughter! I did it last year for pre-school and we loved it. Any other home schooling parents out there?
When did/do you start your school year?
What curriculum do you use and why?
Do you do snow days?

What an adventure!!

 

[PotterWatch]

There are lots of homeschoolers on this board. We have been homeschooling since we pulled my oldest out of 1st grade almost 6years ago. We are more unschoolers than anything else so we have no set starting date, curriculum, or off days. We consider every day to be a day of learning!

 

[HeatherLynn]

We homeschool. I try to stick close to the public school calendar simply because many of my childrens activities also revolve around that. We don't stick strictly to it and are generally ahead of them by a couple weeks at any given time. I toss in a snow day every now and then but we don't do many of them. One or two is more than enough. We still stick to the old 180+ day school schedule instead of the 170 required but I do that so I can throw in more field trip days. There are great homeschool specific activities at many museums, libraries and zoos.

I have yet to find a curriculum I like and this is my 4th year doing this so I am no help there. Everything seems so very incomplete and scattered to me. I hate things that don't make sense and I have yet to find a curriculum that does. I do love some piece meal type curriculum though, like explode the code for phonics. Love love love explode the code.

 

[Kaelinstorm]

There is a very good homeschooling thread here --> https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=413877

 

[ChickyLove]

Today we did a bit of unofficial schooling. Bonnie does best when she learns hands on, so we decided to combine smack time, reading, math and cooking all into one. We made pretzel dough and she formed it into numbers and letter, then we baked them, played with them a few minutes and ate them. She loved it!! I think tomorrow we'll do handmade word magnets and word on combination sounds like : sh, sk, ch, th, and wh. It's going to be fun!

 

[Blonde]

i am homeschooled and LOVE it!

 

[AngelzFyre]

I homeschooled both of mine from 3rd/4th grade through 12th. One is sophomore in college and my other just started freshman year @ college this past Thursday.

We used a church based homeschool cover school with an administrator and also I attended many of the state's yearly CHEF conventions where all sorts of curriculum and products/aids are advertised and representatives will talk to you about specific needs.

Everyone is different and most of the people I know used mixed curriculum based on their children's learning styles and just personal preference on the child being engaged more in one or another curriculum for different subjects.

Here is a link that should help you in your area:

http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/Massachusetts.html

 

[Cetawin]

Yes, I was unhappy with her progress in third grade so I re-did that grade and 4th....she went back to public school for 5th - 8th. One semester into 8th I pulled her and finished up, we are waiting for her books for her first year of high school to arrive.

I am using Keystone Online but going the correspondence route....just under 1700.00 for the year. Includes her books, materials and teachers to grade and etc. So I can help her and check her work before she mails it in. I like the curriculum choices and she can get an accredited HS diploma for college

I have her starting with:

Grammar and Composition
Consumer Math
Earth Science
Civics
Health
Art & Music Appreciation (she plays saxophone)

They also have languages that she wants to pick up (we both love languages) they offer languages such as Latin, German, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese

http://keystoneschoolonline.com/curriculum/high-school-diploma

 

[sumi]

I'm going to start homeschooling my son next year. I'd love to put him in Steiner Education school, but the nearest one to us is about 250miles away. My DH found a site the other day saying they offer a homeschool option, which we're going to have a look at. The local schools around here are in such a mess, the teachers are not allowed to fail a child, so they pass them regardless of how much they learned. Scary!
I'm just going to start my son on homeschooling, when we move I'll enroll him in a Steiner school. I hear they are fantastic. I've heard some criticism regarding homeschooling, but it really seems our best option. What's your experiences been?

 

[DarkMelody]

This will be our 3rd year of 'home schooling'. After a terrible year at public school Kindergarten, we turned to Agora Cyber Charter School. In PA, cyber charter schools are part of the FREE public education system. They send us all books and materials, but I supplement with things I want her to learn also. You do have to log hours and progress according to the school calendar. We love it! A home school education with a real curriculum that our school district and truant officer can't argue with!!!! Because it is a real education. Agora uses the K12 curriculum, which is an advanced curriculum. At the end of our first year (first grade), my daughter scored at an end of 3rd grade level in reading and grade level in math. Not bad for a kid that our public school called "mild to moderately mentally retarded" and "unable to learn!" There is periodic testing by the school at local testing sites to verify grades for the state.

http://www.k12.com/agora/