Taking the plunge.....

[izzyscout21]

So it looks like the wife and I have decided to homeschool the girls starting next year. Just seems like we can do a lot more with less with this route. I'm familiar with the workings, since I was homeschooled through my freshman year of high school.

The kids are in private school right now, and honestly, I'm not as overly impressed with the school as I was at the beginning of the year.

Right now, I'm trying to find a decent curriculum. While me and the family are Christian, I don't like mixing religion with the classroom.... We go to church for that, and I think it detracts from the subject material. ANyone have any recommendations?

[ElevenBravo]

This is where my daughter goes to school:
http://www.jmhs.com/

Its accredited by our state.

Same diploma as a brick and mortar high school.


Just presenting an option for you to explore.

The school is not a diploma mill, you actually have to DO school. Her GPA has actually gone WAY up and she really likes the school!!

They have a payment plan, we chose to pay monthly. IMHO, its worth EVERY CENT!!! Getting her OUT of publik skool is the BEST thing we ever did!

EB

[jamesneuen]

One of my bosses did homeschooling for all 4 of his kids. They were sharp as tacks and his wife did all their instruction but they bought an approved course from a school system that specializes in it. The kids loved it and they could focus on EXACTLY what they were interested in. He wasnt fond of the idea that creationism was not taught next to the theory of evolution. Personally it depends on the school system as to what I will be doing when my kids are old enough.

[Sniper-T]

I taught in public school for a number of years... and had a couple of homey's added in. I cannot comment on their curriculum, but I can say that those students were by far more advanced than the public school ones. They were a joy to have in my classroom.

[realist]

When my daughter was going into the 8th grade we had some friends who had a son, they were in the same 7th grade class together. Both kids were getting the same grades. We were not really happy with the up coming 8th grade class teacher. Our friends decide to home school their son and my daughter went on with the school. Well fast forward a year to their first year in High School, if I had to do it all over again I would home school in a heart beat. He was so much better prepared for high school. When we talked with others in the class they also notice the home schooled kids were better prepared.

So why no home school? We did not think we had the time and were intimidated by the system. Unfortunately both my wife and I work so we didn't think we had the time. Well looking back I think we could have worked something out with the other families and made it work. They could have taken her when we had to work and we could have taken theirs when we were home. You will find other families in the system you will learn you can depend upon each other. We also did not know there was actually structured classes which the kids attended with an actual teacher at least once a week. So good luck and the best to you, i hope it works out.

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

LadyHK told me to pass on to you "Alpha Omega" that's what she used with her son. Ahh, you know how he turned out.....:p

[helomech]

Texas has a free home school program. All you have to do is apply and it is all done online. My kids go to a great school, about 15 kids per teacher so I have no desire to home school. They have goggle laptops the school issues and they don't have any school books or notebooks. The school is very advanced, robotics programs, software classes, and so on. They even have classes for parents my wife is taking Spanish with rosetta stone for free. Love the school my kids go to.

[ladyhk13]

Yup, homeschooling is the way to go. You are on the right tract. Only difference is, when they take their testing for college the homeschoolers must make higher scores than the regular kids...stupid rule (here in tn anyway, don't know about other states). Not a problem for my son since when he took the tests at the college the President called us in and said "I've never seen scores this high before and I'm not sure what to do with him" so they just gave him credit for some of his Gen Ed stuff and he never had to take the classes. He said that most of the home schooled kids are much smarter than the other kids coming in so I don't know why they require them to make higher scores than the others. Discrimination.

[Willie51]

You are doing the right thing. We were afraid and procrastinated for a year or so. Then finally took the plunge after going to a home school convention in Orlando where we met hundreds of others just like us. Also, some of the seminar speakers that were there were ex-teachers and ex-college professors who had a lot to share. We mixed our curriculum up, but used A-Beka mostly, some Alpha Omega, and another for Math (forgot the name). That's the sweet part, you can design you own curriculum. A-Beka is Christian based, but didn't seem overly one sided to me. Their books taught about evolution and creationism, so our son knew and could debate both sides. That was important because once they get to college, they get only one side, and that will be the opposite of creationism.

The first year we did it on our own and then at the end of the year, we had a local teacher from the high school to certify him. After that, we did what EB shared above, but the school we used was in Florida. The reason we did that was to keep the public school officials out of our business. Long story.

If you can find a convention close to you, or even have to travel a bit, it will be worth the time to go. You will have seminars and then isles and isles of school and teaching vendors. We homeschooled our son from 7th grade on through 12th grade graduation. He went on to a state college and had a 4.0 when he transferred to a private college to finish his degree where he graduated in 2011.