Calling all homeschooling parents I NEED your help!!

getnfitn2011

Hi there everybody!!! I am Christian homeschooling mom of four. I am a newbie at this though. I have done half a school year (took my daughter our in Dec one year) and did a full year with her and my middle son completed kindergarten as well last year. So I have fourth grader and first grader coming up this year and I am at loss as far as curriculum. I have been doing a missmatch of classical and internet based methods but I am thinking there has to be a better way. I am reading some books that are very helpful but I would love to hear what ya'll have used and what your thoughts are on these things. I am looking for a faith based prgram but other than that I have no clue. if you could share your thoughts I would so appriciate it!!! Also if you know of any support groups or the like, on line I would also love to hear about that. I have been going at this solo as my husband works all the time (thankful for that though!) and I really think finding a support group would help so much!!! Thank you in advance!!
Blessings,
Misty

jesienia

I'm not a parent, but I was homeschooled through highschool. My Mom used a mixture of Bob Jones and Abeka curriculum. She personally taught me, but I imagine having 4 it would be hard to do it that way. Both curriculums have dvds and it's set up like a classroom. You could probably see previews on their websites. Also if you go to christiansupply.com they have homeschool materials as well that are similar. A friend of mine used it and she liked it.

As far as support groups, I was part of a homeschool association. Normally local churches will have something. And sometimes library's have groups during the week.

bvalosek

my 2 cents..

Unless you have absolutely abysmal public schooling in the area, get them to public school. Home schooling "can" work, but part of growing up is being part of the crazy and challenging social atmosphere that is being a kid in a normal school.

Also I respect people's right to have religious views about the world, but to get the best education possible, try keeping the "traditional" education separate from the faith education. Turn to normal, secular educational institutions and methods for general education and turn to your church for faith. I have seen some absolutely terrible faith-based curriculum that try (and fail) to have a hybrid of secular and faith-based teachings and do a disservice to both.

Mommawarrior

I homeschooled, our daughter graduated this spring. I used a mixture of curriculum.
For sciences the only way to go in my opinion is Apologia. http://www.apologia.com/
For math, I LOVED teaching textbooks. http://teachingtextbooks.com/
For Grammar and Literature, Writing, Social Studies and everything else I used Bob Jones. http://www.bjupress.com/page/Home

Some people like Sonlight. http://www.sonlight.com/ I did not care for this at all. I prefer the above. However lots of people do like this so you could look into it. It is all based on reading. There are like 30 books a year or something and they use it for the Grammar and English and Social Studies, etc. Just not what I cared for at all.

I hope you find what you like the best. You can add me as a friend if you want to and feel free to ask me whatever.
So glad you are homeschooling! Keep it up. You will find A LOT of resistance from all around you, but in the end you will be glad you raised your children in the admonition of the Lord and they learned the values you wanted them to learn and not the worlds ways. You are great!

I would just like to say that there is no better place for your child to learn social skills than from a homeschooling community. Find a homeschooling group and get involved. There are sports groups, academic teams, clubs, choirs, theatre groups, etc. Don't buy into the bull of "your child won't be normal socially" that is a bunch of junk. My child is nothing but a social butterfly, who has a full time job in a doctors office, she has had it for a year now, she will only be 18 in August. And the best socially ready for the grown up world kids I have ever met have all been homeschooled.

KayJayKing

Hi! I have been homeschooling for 10 years (I have kids in 10th, 5th, and 2nd grades). When I first started out, I used Alpha Omega's LifePac complete set, which includes 10 workbooks for each subject. Over the years, I have learned more about my children's learning styles and have found curriculum suited to each one. (I still use LifePacs for the younger one.)

I found the book "100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum" by Cathy Duffy very helpful. Through filling out the included forms, I found what is my teaching style and what is my child's learning style. Then there are curriculum recommendations to match the styles. (more curriculum reviews by subject on CathyDuffyReviews.com)

I also have found other homeschooling families an invaluable resource. There are many who have done this before me and I so appreciate their experience.

Finally, we belong to a homeschooling support group that schedules playdates, holiday parties, field trips, yearly testing, 4H groups, Lego League, co-op classes for core subjects, elective classes for fun and so much more.

Good luck!

CWRose

I use Alpha and Omega Lifepac curriculum....I have also been looking into Sonlight. Sonlight has advisors that help to personalize your childs curriculum and if it doesn't work well for your child they also have a good return policy. I haven't personally tried it yet but it looks great, all of which is faith based. This was my first year as well and I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to teach my children. I don't believe anyone can teach our children better than we can!!!!! God bless and let me know what you find for on line support groups. Hugs!

Mommawarrior

Homeschool families..........UNITE!

CWRose

Homeschool families..........UNITE!

AMEN!!!!!!

getnfitn2011

Thank you SO much guys! lol mamawarrior yes HS'ers UNITE indeed I was actually homeschooled when I was young and it was by Alpha and Omega so I am pretty familar with that. I have two kids that learn way diffrently. One is very hands on the other wants to go solo with instructions and follow ups only! I am still just trying to figure out how to handle both. I live way out in the country and we only have one car which my husband uses for work so getting to play groups and such are a challenge, though I would LOVE to do this. That is why I was seeking on line groups. I so appriciate each of you that took time to write.
For the one that left their "two cents" I appriciate your opinion as well. I am well aware that many believe as you do and that is ok. The only thing I can do is honor my Lord, following his instruction, and thats why I am homeschooling (its a personal choice). He created the universe and so I fully rely on Him to help me instruct my children as He is very well qualified and His reputation is above reproach! And that is my two cents such as they are, thank you again for sharing your time and thoughts though!!

JennsRAQ

We homeschool as well! Have you looked at the Well Trained Mind forums? Great resource there.

We do a mish mash of things here, too - not much of a boxed education kind of mom myself because it drives *me* crazy, but I'll probably change my mind as the kids get older (my oldest is going into 1st).

mjhuff1121

Hi! I am not yet a parent, but I was homeschooled throughout my school years - started in K and graduated having never attended a public school class. in fact, the only time I ever even sat in a high school classroom was to take my ACT test (which, I scored a 25 on first try, thank you, thank you).

ANYWAYS... my parents used C.L.A.S.S. Christian Liberty Academy Satellite School In IL. CLASS put together the curriculum, (with your preferences) included the tests and answer keys, and sent them. It was a real school sending out the curriculum, so it was balanced on all subjects. You can grade the work and/or send it to the school to be graded unbiasedly. (? is that a word?) and a quarterly report card sent. Annual Acheivement Tests were required. Bible was an actual subject we had, starting in K throughout all grades. All sciences were Christian based. It was pretty cool. I only had 1 school year I wished I had been public schooled, around 7th grade, but I grew out of that. I did like CLASS because no one could say my Mom and Dad were "going easy" on me, and that I wasn't getting a real education. There was a standard beyond just my parents, but it also gave them some say in what I learned.

We lived 30miles outta town, too, so we had to plan extra curricular activities, but there was a high school support group that planned "field trips", and Mom made sure we were in sports (I was in Gymnastic until I had a tailbone injury, my brother baseball, my sister soccer) and 4-H and music classes.

Anyways, I know that Alpha Omega, A Beka, Saxon were some of the books we used, but they were mix/matched.

Hope that helps!

mrscouchpotato

I homeschooled my daughter until 9th grade. I used strictly Bob Jones curriculum. It was tough on her at first because Bob Jones is a little tough but she got the hang of it and did really well. Once she started Spanish and Algebra I used the dvd's from Bob Jones. It was rather expensive but well worth it.. I was a little bummed when I found out she wanted to go to public schools for High School but the High School here has so many opportunities and classes for her field which is forestry and vet tech. I was a little worried at first about the transition but she did very well and kept her grades in the A's and B's. I was so proud of her. I really liked the Bob Jones teacher editions. It made it fairly easy to teach. Good Luck!!

angryguy77

http://www.clonlara.org/

I was homeschooled from the 3rd grade-graduation. This was the curriculum that my mom switched too after trying Abeka and another I can't remember.

Unless it has changed, it offered a lot of flexibility where you can cherry pick the best textbooks from different curricula.

And to the poster who thinks public is all that: I went to more school dances and had just as many friends as my siblings who attended public school. My education prepared me for college, business ownership, and my current job in the state capitol.
Homeschoolers can be just a social, they just have to work a little harder for it.

Take a look at what happened to our society when they took God out of schools. There is a correlation.

knittnponder

We've got four kids as well and have been homeschooling for about 13 years or so? Hard to say exactly when we started because they've never been in public school and learn from the moment they're born.

Like others we use an assortment of products. I agree that hands down Apologia is the best for science. We use Abeka for math and grammar as we've found those offer a consistency and constant review that is helpful for our kids. We do also use manipulatives for math such as an abacus, fraction pieces and counting blocks. Kids start out needing concrete objects before they can transition to the abstract. It's very helpful for those who are tactile because they need to interact with the problems they're working. Saxon has a very good reputation for math texts but we didn't care much for the style and sold it on craigslist. I have several friends who swear by Math-U-See but I personally haven't tried it.

I have one dyslexic child and have found that AVKO Sequential Spelling works beautifully for her as well as the other kids. It focuses on word families with immediate correction and reinforcement when words are found to be incorrect. We did Spelling Power for awhile and it worked great for my natural spellers but when I got to the dyslexic one it just didn't. Even my seven year old can do this program and there are different levels.

History we tend to be all about "living books" and don't rely on history books unless we're looking up facts for something that piqued our interest.

My kids all do Taekwondo which includes the regular classes as well as testing in front of large groups of people. We're extremely active in our church and they serve just as much as the adults (especially since my husband and I run the Children's Ministry! My kids are indispensable!) During the school year we are also active in our county's 4-H program. My kids do Olympic Style Rifle Shooting. They are at the gun range every Saturday morning with other kids from the county. The program requires them to create posters to enter into the state fair, give presentations to their peers or adult judging panels, they shoot matches against other kids in their skill classification (not age based!) and they have to read books on gun safety and handling and test on them weekly. My oldest (17) is actually in the process of reading the new books and creating the tests from them. All the other kids in the program will take the test questions she writes.

As you can see my kids are very socially active and involved in programs that require them to get outside themselves and their peer groups to interact with people of all ages. It's one of my favorite things about homeschooling!

For all the other stuff we are pretty interest driven. We mill our own flour and bake all of our own baked goods. Cook mostly from scratch and raise our own chickens. My 14 year old actually bakes all of our bread these days and my 11 year old son just baked some fantastic brownies! We build rockets, we go on hikes, we love museums and basically just exploring the world around us. My three oldest (boy and girls) all knit, crochet or both.

Pretty much whatever we're interested in we pursue. My husband teases me that I'm always obsessed about something! lol Wy do I always write a book when responding to these kind of posts?! Learn your kids styles, don't be afraid to try something and then ditch it if it's not working and be willing to adapt the things you do have to the style your child needs. They are all individuals! My first kid learned to read super easy and just going through her lessons. My second kid is dyslexic and kinesthetic and we had to take breaks during our reading lessons so she could do jumping jacks or run laps just because she's very physical! Even with the struggles we had she's an avid reader and waiting on me to take her to the library.

Okay, I'll shut up now. Finally.

marzymay

I was homeschooled my whole life. And I LOVED it. I think more people should do it. My moms reasons for homeschooling were also religious based. Were catholic. And she also didn't believe we should know how to have sex in first grade.
Good luck to you! You won't regret it

Collinsky

I'm also a homeschool grad, and as a college graduate (and now as a mother, employee, and volunteer) I can say with 100% certainty that homeschooling does not mean lacking any educational, social, or emotional tools to cope with the world. That's an outdated and resoundingly disproven assumption based in either lack of information or lack of experience. I'm shocked when I see people holding on to those ideas. (Unless they're elderly. I cut the over 75 set some slack when it comes to staying up-to-date.) I've chosen to homeschool my children, as have my siblings, and as have many of my friends. We do not homeschool for religious reasons, nor to protect our children from the public schools.

I can't really add to what others have suggested. It does sound like you may enjoy a Well Trained Mind. That's not something that suits our style (we're secular unschoolers, and find that it works really well for us!) but many structured and relaxed homeschoolers enjoy WTM. They also have some great forums, from my understanding.

I do suggest, no matter what your particular homeschooling style is, that you read John Holt's Learning All the Time or Teach Your Own (or both!) -- they are fabulous books, and I can't recommend them highly enough.

punk_mama

Checkout babycenter.com and search homeschool. They have tons of board on that site and the people are real helpful there are both secular and non secular parents on there.
We are on a homeschool "tryout" for kindy. This is the year of convincing my husband that it is a good idea. We are secular, we are going to use, teach your child to read in 100 lessons (already started it and Ellis likes it) handwriting without tears ( used this in preschool and liked it), experimental science (look really cool, I cant wait to do the experiments!! Lol), and math I don't know I am going to buy Modern Curriculum Press Mathematics, Level K and see if we like it. But I don't want kindy to be too formal, So I am still researching ideas.

godblessourhome

www.sonlight.com - hands down the best out there (for us anyway).

TheMaidOfAstolat

I'm not a parent, but I was homeschooled through highschool. My Mom used a mixture of Bob Jones and Abeka curriculum. She personally taught me, but I imagine having 4 it would be hard to do it that way. Both curriculums have dvds and it's set up like a classroom. You could probably see previews on their websites. Also if you go to christiansupply.com they have homeschool materials as well that are similar. A friend of mine used it and she liked it.

As far as support groups, I was part of a homeschool association. Normally local churches will have something. And sometimes library's have groups during the week.

I totally agree. My daughters private school uses these programs and if I could home school her I would use the same. My old pastors wife uses sonlight and her and her daughter love it. Also...to have it well rounded check out local things going on the the community. There are specific things going on just for home schoolers where I live (sometimes with free admission).

punk_mama

Oh yeah I wanted add that I am not worried about public school socilaztion. My son is in tee-ball every year we are going to put him in a winter sport (he wants hockey, I like his teeth so idk), he has friends, we go outside and see the world, he invites kids who he doesn't know at the park to play with him. I think people are crazy to think that a parent can't raise there child to not be the best they can be. I like the idea of not having someone teach my children who prefers one student over the other. I had teachers in high school because I wasn't in sports/cheerleading they would NOT call on me when I raised my hand to answer a question (very true story) it let me down all the time and I became very frustrated. I remember feeling like it wasn't fair and I hated going to high school. My mom Homeschooled my 12th grade. That Being said if my kids ever really wanted to go to public school I will let them try it, I don't want to force them to do something they really dont want to do.

HSmamato4

WOW! I didn't realize there were so many homeschoolers on here-feel free to friend me yall!

I too am a Christian homeschool mom of 4. My kids are almost 9, 6, almost 3 and 15 months-so this year I will have a 4th grader, a 1st grader a pre-schooler and a toddler.

I don't have good curriculum advice because we are pretty eclectic in our approach. I lean towards classical education so I use a lot of stuff recommended in Well-Trained Mind-History of the World, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, Easy Language Lessons etc... I just pick and choose what I like and what works for our family as opposed to going with a packaged curriculum.

It also depends on what your goals are, teaching styles/learning styles, philosophy of education etc...I would start there and let those things inform your curriculum choices.

Feel free to add me and we can PM and I can give you some more details/resources.

Packaged curriculum is a great way to go if you are just starting out and feeling a bit overwhelmed. It takes the guess work out of it. Unfortunately, if you don't end up liking it you are out a bunch of $. So there are pros and cons for sure.

Anyway, not sure that helps much. I also recommend finding some local moms or a local hsing group where you can connect and get some advice and maybe look at someone else's curriculum before you buy.

And to the commenter who was discouraging you against homeschool with the OLD "socialization" argument. nothing could be further from the truth and they really need to do their research. What other life setting is like a public school, 30 kids, all the same age stuck in a desk all day long? It doesn't take into account individual talents, needs, learning styles or abilities. If I want my kids to learn social skills like bullying, peer pressure, being made fun of for not having the right brand of clothes I'll send them to PS. But at home (and we are rarely AT home) my children are exposed to people of all ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds. My kids can carry on intelligent conversations with adults, they get along with their siblings, and they don't look down on those younger. They are involved in more activities and have more peer interaction that their PS counterparts because they are not stuck in a classroom all day and then sent home with hours of homework at night.

I realize it's not for every parent or every child BUT that does not make it a poor choice for the education of your children. Don't listen to that negativity because it's just not true. All the research pouring in on home educated children shows that not only are they leaps and bounds above the PS peers in all aspects of education, but that success also carries over to social skills as well.

Not trying to be argumentative, but just had to put that out there.

doriekaye

We home school our girls ages 8 and 11. We use a mish mash of curriculum because I haven't found a package that I like everything about. Math- we use Saxon, Science- Apologia, English and Spelling- Rod and Staff, History- The Story of the World and All American History, Plus whatever I find that's interesting along the way. We have never had cause to regret our choice to home school. Our children are well socialized, well behaved, have friends, and are involved in activities through the local HS group. They will have a graduation ceremony when they finish. I wish you much success in your journey!!

Trulyfree

There are an overwhelming amount of choices for curriculum out there, that's for sure! We are approaching our second year. I think I'll do Sonlight's history again as it covers several grade levels so you don't have to buy a separate curriculum for each child. I also love the literature that they cover and how that re-enforces what they are learning in history.

We'll continue with Saxon math. It's very thorough and I'm very happy with what my children have learned. I've found that although there are some that may be more appealing and "fun", they are not necessarily as thorough and well written. Math is too important to me to compromise on. Saxon is great and like anything you can make it as fun or as boring as you choose. It's all about how you teach your children and your approach and attitude to a subject. They will follow your lead!

My priorities are reading, writing, spelling and math. Not every subject has to be Christian based. We have our bible/devotional time each day and that's a life long education anyway! We try to keep God in the center of everything we do.

I'll be teaching 4th, 3rd, 1st and Pre-K this year! It's a big challenge and a huge responsibility. It's also a calling, so I know God will direct my steps, even to the smallest detail!

Wishing all you home-schooling mothers the best for this upcoming school year and on your journey with MFP. You are amazing!!!!! :flowerforyou:

Mkleder

Hey there, as for support groups, there are a number on the local level. Also, a great resource to help you sort through curricula, support issues and legal issues is the Home School Legal Defense Association. www.hslda.org

karenjoy

Just out of interest as I am fascinated by the home school culture in the US, are you doing this because of your faith and do you teach them science, as in evolution etc and geography, specifically how the world was formed and changed over time etc also do you teach world religions and tolerance for the views of other beliefs etc? I am genuinely interested as home schooling seems to be such a big thing in the states and I am not familiar with it in the same way here.

knittnponder

OP, I forgot to mention in my earlier post, do you have access to any used curriculum stores anywhere near you? I know you said you live far from a lot of resources but a good consignment store could be worth a drive. My favorite one is almost an hour from me so I spend time on the internet researching different options. Then I plan a day and go to the consignment store to drop off our items and look at what I'm interested in in person. If you have any homeschool conventions come reasonably close to you try to make one of those as well. If you do find a homeschool group see if you can arrange a "curriculum day" where people bring in a sample of the curriculum they use and tell you what they like/don't like. You could also have a swap that same day since we always seem to have items we just never got around to using or found we didn't like once we started them. Good luck!

TheMaidOfAstolat

Just out of interest as I am fascinated by the home school culture in the US, are you doing this because of your faith and do you teach them science, as in evolution etc and geography, specifically how the world was formed and changed over time etc also do you teach world religions and tolerance for the views of other beliefs etc? I am genuinely interested as home schooling seems to be such a big thing in the states and I am not familiar with it in the same way here.

While I don't home school (I would if I was able) my daughter attends a private Christian school. They teach creationism and then evolve into teaching evolution in high school so they are well rounded and know both sides. In high school they learn about all the different religions of the world. My daughter has already been exposed to several just because I have friends of different faiths than my own. While her school may teach her the basics of Christianity and more secular aspects I want her to be well rounded. I have friends that at Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish (including the man I'm dating), Wiccan, Pagan, Athiest, and Buddist. She knows my view points and why I believe what I do...she agrees with me right now. I will not force her into a box even though she does attend a Christian school.
Also, I prefer private school over public for a whole lot of reasons...the teaching for one (my daughter is already on a 3rd grade level of reading and math...she'll start second grade this year), the size of the classes is much smaller, the attention is based on the child not 'the system', the food is much better, arts and recess time are still there (most music, arts, recess, and 'fun' have been taken out of the American school system so they can focus more on standardized testing). While it is costly, knowing that my daughter will be much more rounded and better off is much better than her being under educated and full of entitlement later in life.

karenjoy

OK, thank you so much for taking the time to post that.

I still can't get my head around 'creationism' and people still believing it in this modern world. My children and myself all went to Church schools, but they don't teach or espouse it as a theory what so ever.

Sherri0706

Just out of interest as I am fascinated by the home school culture in the US, are you doing this because of your faith and do you teach them science, as in evolution etc and geography, specifically how the world was formed and changed over time etc also do you teach world religions and tolerance for the views of other beliefs etc? I am genuinely interested as home schooling seems to be such a big thing in the states and I am not familiar with it in the same way here.

I am not the person who started this post, but I am going to answer you also. I started homeschooling my oldest daughter after 2 years of private and 2 years of public school because she asked me to. Are we Christian? Yes. Was that my reason? No. She has a learning disability that public school was not addressing properly. She actually excelled with a more one-on-one approach and graduated a year early - a huge credit to her hard work and perseverence! I went on to homeschool my next daughter until just last year when she entered public school in the 10th grade(where she has fit right in and finished her year with all straight A's), and I am still homeschooling my twins, who are in 6th grade. I teach them everything, including evolution and Darwin, other religions, tolerance of all God's people, and sex! I in no way want my children to be sheltered just because I am their main teacher. We are grounded in our faith but we are totally aware of the world around us. I also tell my children that we can never learn too much, so we do above and beyond what our public school district requires. I have had many people compliment my children on how well-rounded and mature they are - especially my daughters new public school teachers!

Collinsky

Just out of interest as I am fascinated by the home school culture in the US, are you doing this because of your faith and do you teach them science, as in evolution etc and geography, specifically how the world was formed and changed over time etc also do you teach world religions and tolerance for the views of other beliefs etc? I am genuinely interested as home schooling seems to be such a big thing in the states and I am not familiar with it in the same way here.

Our faith has nothing to do with our decision to homeschool. We aren't Christian (my husband is a nontheist, I'm a pantheist). I absolutely teach my children about evolution and the formation of the world, along with the ideas about how the Universe was formed. My girls are both very interested in geology and astronomy, and I enjoy exploring that with them. We attend a UU church, where they learn about different ideas about religion, theology, etc, and we learn about all the different religions and spiritual ideas without saying, "This is the right idea of god; this is the wrong idea of god." Even if my children decide that atheism is their belief, I hope that they will always be able to pull wisdom from spiritual teachings, even if they don't ascribe the source to a Divine Being.

I am lucky to have found a large, active homeschooling group in my area that is inclusive in nature, meaning, among other things, that shared religious views aren't important. There are a large number of humanist, Pagan, atheist, agnostic, UUs and others in the group, as well as Christians. Almost none of the families in this group have chosen homeschooling for religious reasons. It is also not about avoiding "liberalism" in the schools. It's about having a different philosophy about how children learn best, how they develop best, and how to achieve our ultimate goals for our children's future (which is that they are able to identify and achieve their own goals.) For some, it's purely academic; either being able to cater to the needs of a child with learning disabilities, or being able to challenge a child to higher standards than the school would - the ability to individually design the schoolwork to be precisely what a child needs for optimal learning at any given point is a huge selling point for many. For others, it's more about being able to foster that inherent love of learning that children have, to facilitate that - many parents see that in schools, it is often snuffed out, and that people think that's normal and unavoidable, when it is not.

I homeschool because I feel I can provide more opportunities for learning, for exploring, for socializing, and for experiencing the world, than they would be able to have in a classroom. I'm not opposed to classrooms; but I feel that it would hinder my children academically and socially to be in one 180 days a year. Other people obviously have a different experience, and they should do what works for their family -- mileage may vary!

karenjoy

thank you for such detailed explanation and insight. Our education system is different here in the UK, we have a national curriculum, so all children in schools all over the entire country are taught the same things, so there should be no difference in the quality of the education they receive, that said, this is not always possible, and there are good and bad schools all over, good and bad teachers and some children thrive in some schools that others dislike.

I have a son with ADHD and ASD and my Daughter is a diagnosed dyslexic, she is now at University and doing very well, my son is also just started to train as a chef and has finished college although we were told at one point that he would not be able to attend mainstream school and he went to a special school until he was almost 5 and then he went to the same school as his sisters, which is a Church of England School. So the education system here has worked well for them as well as my other Daughter.