Home School Convention

[Dr T]

Hello all,

Not sure if this should be in parenting or in general discussion but thought I'd put it here. My wife and I went to a home schooling convention this weekend. It was very overwhelming in many respects. There are a number of curricula, a million books, philosophies, etc. Picked up some great things but still do not have core curriculum materials yet. We're getting closer. Any homeschoolers have any suggestions for curricula?

[Gabelma]

Hello all,

Not sure if this should be in parenting or in general discussion but thought I'd put it here. My wife and I went to a home schooling convention this weekend. It was very overwhelming in many respects. There are a number of curricula, a million books, philosophies, etc. Picked up some great things but still do not have core curriculum materials yet. We're getting closer. Any homeschoolers have any suggestions for curricula?

This is just based on years of reading really and talking with other homeschoolers, including one wonderful LDS lady who has 10 children, her second son was on a mission here whilst I was thinking of homeschooling he was a massive answer to my prayer I was getting so much opposition to the way I raise my children to have someone raised that way arrive and be exactly what I imagined to be the result of my parenting was a boost.- I think you have had most of my recommendations:) I will say whatever anyone says to you or advice you get go with your gut.

I personally wouldn't buy a whole curriculum, but make your own up, its cheaper and doesn't need to be very hardwork. We do it by picking a topic for the month - Ellie is only nearly 4 so we do things like, chickens, pigs etc, I base mine round the Draw, Write, Now Books. We go and visit things that are related, do some writing and drawing based on it, watch films and read literature. I am not actively teaching reading. Maths and Science we also fit in with chickens and pigs the science is easy we can do the anatomy of a chicken or pig, then we do a bit of chemistry and physics by making a cake (with eggs), pork meal etc We try to bake a basic bread everyday for same reason, you can exaplain how and why it rises. Which can lead onto lots of other discussions. Do really recommend Rosetta Stone Computer Program for foreign language learning - my daughter has been using one to learn Arabic lol they are a bit expensive but fantastic.

Do you have a city website or tourist information place? They can tell you what is availible in your area some of it might be free and can be used for trips we try to do one educational trip a week.

Also doesn't hurt to go with interests - my daughter has decided she wants to be a Dr lol which is why we started looking at animal and human innards. She now knows how her owies heal etc

Best thing I think you can do is have a house with lots opportunties for learning. I personally believe that teaching a child how to learn is more important than what they learn, I am very greatful for being raised in a way that allows me to learn anything I want. As long as you can read, write and do basic arthimetic and algebra that can translate into any other learning.

Charley

[Dr T]

Thank you Charley. I did like the hands on approach to an extent. Getting the kids involved by dramatizing the history that they were learning looked fun and the children really seemed to remember it.

Thank again.

[Gabelma]

Thank you Charley. I did like the hands on approach to an extent. Getting the kids involved by dramatizing the history that they were learning looked fun and the children really seemed to remember it.

Thank again.

I like the Steiner and the Montessori philosophies - and Charlotte Mason is interesting but I have just done my own thing and so far its working very well Ellie loves it - I also host a home ed local group once a month last month we did trash art did I show you the video?

the kids had a great time doing it - next one will include vocals, and we got to do some work on the enviroment. Its hard for me to recommend lots of things because we have somthing called a countryside ranger that do lots of child orientated things and our libraries here are fantastic. Have you located other homeschoolers in your area?

We are moving to Kansas Ihave found a couple of groups already bit nervious about the Christian element

Charley

[rosie321]

Just stumbled onto this post.

I don't know or recall the age/s of your child/ren.

One I like for the elementary ages is Math U See.

Charlotte Mason is interesting

The fun part of homeschooling as others have said is that you can mix and match to your child's interest and skills they need to master.

Ask the school district for what they are teaching or try to find out what children will be taught in the ages you will be teaching. Take what they are doing and use that knowledge to design your own skills based educational curricuum system. Based on each topic you gather together possible reinforcements for the skills. This creates a lot more work for the parents but I think the children learn more in the long run.

I don't know what the homeschool regulations are in your area but its good to have a teacher or consultant of some kind to look over your program. Thats what HSLDA recommends.

Have you asked any homeschoolers in your area? What do they use? If you can find a good group that would be a great help. Some have curriculum libraries where you can borrow or share materials with others. HSLDA had started a curriculum site.

Some people use the library and Bible as their reading curriculum. They don't buy a set Language Arts curriculum. They create their own. They just make up questions, vocabulary and spelling out of the readings.

Just some initial thoughts