Homeschool Info (Updated and Completed)
I know there are lots of parents interested in homeschooling and it can be an overwhelming endeavor. I thought I would put together a list of resources and insights that might answer a lot of the most common questions. I'm a busy mom so I'll need to add to it in pieces as I have time.
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I just sent out two copies by email. If anyone else wants one, let me know ?
If anyone wants a copy of this, I can email one to you. It might be better than screenshots because then the links will still work. PM me if you're interested and we can work out the details.
Murdock, I think you'd really enjoy the Charlotte Mason philosophy. It's nature based with lots of outdoor studies.
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Just something to look into when you have some free time!
My dh is a hobbit, too! See! We'd all get along great!
All I see are trees and we go to the lake every summer. I'm determined to convince you to move back!
One of us! One of us!
Hides, thanks for the insight! I have no idea if there's an American version of the curriculum. I do know that reading eggs and math seeds are both very popular here.
Vee, what are the chances of you moving here so we can start our own co-op?!?! I have no doubt you'll be an awesome homeschool mom!
@yaya I can attest to reading eggs being good. It is an Australian based programme but they have a uk option as well as there are some differences in words, accents etc. I'm not sure whether there's anything us based for it. They also do a structured maths programme called maths seeds which is good. I like that they cover every aspect of reading and maths not iyst one like phonics or whole word. The extra worksheets make it worthwhile too. My 6 year old loves them.
MKP, I have no idea how homeschooling is regulated in Canada. I hope you can get your DH on board. It's so much easier when you approach it as a team. We haven't started history yet. But when we do, that's going to be all on my husband.
Vee, that honestly sounds like a dream! I would love to live in a state with no regulations or oversight. If you need the structure you can look at the Texas Essential Knowledge And Skills. Texas is not common core and it's got some excellent schools so I'm comfortable recommending their state standards although we do not follow them ourselves.
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Thank you @Yaya for doing this. It’s very much appreciated. I don’t live in the USA but in Canada. So even though links won’t entirely apply to me, it’s great to have the research and this extra info to start somewhere. I’m 70% on the homeschooling front now, it’s just a matter of everything falling into place and finances. Then I’ll be 100% there, and hopefully DH will get there too.
Thanks! I'm having a hard time knowing where to start since Michigan has literally zero requirements. I don't need licensing, there is no required curriculum, I literally just don't send him to school and they trust me to teach him what he should know. I'm having a hard time finding a path to follow.
Unfortunately, it does not teach reading. We used a state program called Upstart by Waterford Institute for reading. It's branching into neighboring states like Idaho and Colorado. It's an amazing online program that taught my two youngest to read fluently. I can take no credit for it. It was all purely from the program. I have heard good things about ссылка and ссылка I will add these to the OP.
Yaya, this is amazing. I don’t know if you remember but I decided to homeschool my children. My oldest is 6 and this year we did kindergarten. We use mathUsee and we love it. I’m glad to see you agree it’s awesome. Haha. I’ve ready so many of the Cathy Duffy reviews when looking into curriculums. Haha I just wanted to ask you something about the curriculum you use for the language arts, does it include reading? Or would I need a separate program for reading? We used all about reading this year...
Thank you yaya for your help and all this wonderful information! You’re the best.
You're welcome, Mama! Maybe get some screenshots, though. I try to stick within the Terms Of Use, but I can't guarantee that I won't become an ? someday.
It's finally finished! Part 4 is up and I am done!
Part 3! I updated the post with a list of online resources that we have used. All of them are free or they have a free option so you can easily check them out to see if they will work for your family.
It would be challenging, but I know single moms that make it work. Homeschool can happen any time of the day or evening or weekend. There's no set schedule. And it can happen anywhere. We do audiobooks in the car or we practice math facts and skip counting while we're running errands. The more creative you get, the easier it is to make your homeschool fit your unique situation.
I need to update this again with curriculum!
Rowdy, I'm sure it could work. It would probably be better if you split subjects along with the days so there's more consistency. Like M-W-F Language Arts and Math T-Th Social Studies, Science, and Computers. Although I prefer LA and Math to be everyday subjects. You need to be sure that you and the other mom share similar philosophies and can agree on the curriculum you want to use.
A lot of homeschool groups will do the bulk of their schooling at home and then meet once or twice a week in a classroom setting. Co-Ops are another option where parents volunteer their time in some way in oder to be part of the group. There are many different ways to successfully homeschool. There's really no right way to do it. What's "right" is whatever works best for your family.
I worked as a counselor at a school and we used to say we wanted to start our own co op school for our kids, but now we all live so far apart and the kids ages don’t match up exactly. I would love to do something like that in my community. I know home school students often meet for enrichment activities so maybe I can find a parent to partner with that way. I like the idea of students learning in a collaborative environment.
@yaya You should start a homeschool group, or blog. This is awesome info. I wish I'd had some direction when I started, I have so many hours of research in I could have gotten an associates degree!
The biggest mistake we made was not starting with kindergarten. Homeschooling curriculum is so ahead of our local public school, it actually put is behind. Otherwise, I wouldn't change our decision!
Yaya asked if I would add additional insight, so here goes.
Definitely look into learning styles. Tailoring instruction to learning styles can save everyone from a lot of frustration. It can also help point you towards a curriculum that works well for your family.
Don't be afraid to change curricula. My mom probably used at least 6 curricula for us depending on what worked at the time. If you are coming from a school setting I highly recommend using placement tests for the curriculum you choose (not all have them though). I have seen students test at grade level for some subjects and above or below for others. Think of the results as showing strengths and weaknesses.
You do not have to follow the school schedule. I have known several families that chose to have there school hours in the evening, partially on weekends, year-round, etc. Do what works for your family as long as it meets your state requirements.
Let your children learn at their pace. My mom required is to do a certain number of pages per subject per day. That said, mastery of material was more important so if they weren't finished because more time was needed to understand it the requirement was not enforced. Conversely, if the minimum was meet for all subjects, we could do as much additional work as we liked. This meant it could take over a year to finish a grade level or it could take a couple months.
High school is when a lot of families decide to stop homeschooling. For the most part the reasons seem to be related to apprehension about teaching higher grades and sports opportunities. If you reach this point and want to continue homeschooling look into co-ops and/or tutors. Co-ops typically meet a couple times a week and you pay a fee for someone else to teach a class. This can be particularly helpful for science courses that typically have lab components.
I know families that homeschool M-TH and take Friday off. They do more of a year round schedule. Most states have a minimum requirement for days in school, even for homeschoolers. If you have young children, it's a good idea to check your state laws because some states don't require kindergarten at all.
In all honesty, some days housework doesn't get done. Most days we're done by 2 at the latest so I do what I need to do after that. Some days I recruit the boys to help me get the house back in shape. They sweep, wash windows and mirrors, vacuum, dust, and clean tables and counters. We go grocery shopping once a week after school if I don't get it done on the weekend. And they go with me to all the random errands I may need to run, although that doesn't happen often. It can get busy, but that's how life is. They know what goes into keeping a house running because they see it happening every day.
PART 2 is posted in the OP. Sorry it took so long to get this part finished.
Some states are definitely more homeschool friendly than others.
I thought I would have more time to add to it today, but I don't. Sorry everyone! I will add to it when I have more time.
I just wanted to point out that homeschooling laws vary from state to state. You can find the requirements for your state at hslda.org. HSLDA is a national legal defense organization but there are also state organizations that serve a similar purpose. I'm most familiar with THSC since I'm in Texas. They have a sample withdrawal letter on their website.
If anyone is interested in the perspective of someone homeschooled until college feel free to ask me. I also worked at a homeschool resource center for a couple years where part of my job was to give new homeschooler orientations (covered laws, how to withdraw for school, overview of different curricula...).
I know there are lots of parents interested in homeschooling and it can be an overwhelming endeavor. I thought I would put together a list of resources and insights that might answer a lot of the most common questions. I'm a busy mom so I'll need to add to it in pieces as I have time.
First some background on how I became a homeschool mom. When I first pulled my son out of public school after 1st grade I was terrified. He was being labeled and targeted by the adults and children. He was angry and defiant. I thought I had completely failed him and the thought kept me up every night. My husband said we didn't have a choice but to homeschool him. So in a brand new state with no family, only a few new friends, and with 2 younger siblings to care for, one of which was severely speech delayed, I set out on my homeschool journey. I was completely lost so I went online and started researching what to do.
The first step was to check the state laws. They are different for every state. State law in Utah says that I needed to get a letter of intent to homeschool notarized and sent to our district office. I did it in less than an hour and that was all that's required to get us out of the system forever. I went to a homeschool conference that summer and it gave me the best starting point I could have asked for. I went to a session called Homeschool 101 by ToriAnn Perkey. Most of my advise for other homeschool moms comes from that session. Without ToriAnn's guidance I would have done it all wrong and burned out so fast. This is a link to her website. She truly gives the best advice and recommends really awesome products to enrich your learning environment.
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I'll add more later! Stay tuned...
PART 2
Once you know your state laws you will want to set up your end goal. Why are you homeschooling? What do you want your child to get from it? What are your priorities? Write it down and post it up, if possible. Make sure you keep your goal in mind as you go.
Next you'll want to figure out your child's learning style.
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Also, spend time observing their behavior. Take notes. Which time of day is he or she more alert? What subjects light them up and which ones are challenging? Are they homebodies or do they like to get out? Do they prefer one on one time with friends or big groups?
During this observation period, you can also begin learning about the different homeschool philosophies.
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There are several books that you can read from each philosophy that can help you on your way. Once you pick a philosophy, it's easier to pick the curricula that will work best for your family. Remember to keep your goal in mind, as well as your child's learning style and abilities.
Next time I post I'll talk about curriculum.
As always, I'm here if you have any questions!
Part 3
Choosing Curriculum
As tempting as it is to pick this first, this should be the last step when you're starting the homeschooling process. Without knowing your goals or how your children learn best, you can waste a lot of time and money on curriculums that don't fit your family.
That being said, I will talk about what works for my family and some resources that I use when I'm looking for a new curriculum.
Here are some online educational websites that we have used in our homeschool.
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Part 4
Curriculum options
There are so many different options for curriculum it can be confusing and overwhelming. That's why it helps to do this part last. I do not buy anything without a good Cathy Duffy review. She has reviewed practically everything and I trust her analysis. ссылка
I also check YouTube videos of the curriculum in action so I can see how it works and how my children might respond to it. Curriculum can be expensive so I don't want to waste money on something that won't work for our family.
If you are looking for a religious curriculum these are the popular ones that I have heard about:
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This is not the focus of my homeschool so I cannot vouch for them personally.
We did not need a reading or phonics curriculum because we went through a program offered in our state called Upstart. It is being offered in other states, so it's worth checking in regularly to see if it's offered in your area.
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Reading curriculums that I've heard good things about are:
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For non-religious curriculum there are many options, although science can be hard to find. Here I will talk about the curriculum we use and why.
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For math we use the MathUSee curriculum. It's a mastery based program that is open and go. It goes from pre-K through Calculus and it uses manipulatives to solidify the lessons.
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All About Spelling is our spelling curriculum. I love that it also uses manipulatives to teach lessons. It teaches the rules for spelling and is very thorough. It was designed with dyslexic students in mind so it works well for my oldest son. My 6 year old has no learning disabilities and he enjoys the program as well.
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This is our language arts curriculum. I love that it's mostly open and go and that we work through it together. It is designed for gifted learners, but so far it has been great for all my boys. It combines grammar, vocabulary, poetry, writing, and some history. We almost went with ссылка but in the end MCT worked better for us.
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Last but not least, this is our science curriculum. The first year (Life Science) is free so we thought we'd give it a try this year. We love it. It's a 3 day a week program with one day of vocabulary worksheets, one day of observation, and one day of experimentation. It's completely non-religious. And it has a comic book feel which is a big hit with my boys.
We do Code.org and Scratch for coding and we use Hoffman Academy for piano. I linked these above in the resources section. And that rounds out our school day. We supplement with board games, books, online resources, community activities, libraries, museums, etc.
I hope this has been beneficial. As always, I am here if you have any questions or need support.
Happy Homeschooling!!!
Bumping for CMJ