See Pigs Fly. Fly, Pigs, fly!
On more than one occasion last week, I had cause to exclaim: “God made me his bitch.” That, of course, is the modern way of saying “the best laid plans of mice and men…”. Personally, I think the modern way cuts right to the point.
About the time I voiced my desire to home school, my son acquired the uber-virus that’s kept him home for six solid days. Then I came down with it, too. Ordinarily, that combination alone would’ve been enough to throw the entire Venomous Household into full-blown anarchy… but for the fact we’d been considering whether to home school the Big Eyed Boy. Suddenly, what I might’ve ordinarily viewed as an unexpected burden became, surprisingly, an unexpected joy.
As you may recall, the Venomous Hubby had been somewhat reticent about this whole home schooling thing. Actually, I believe his words were: “Fer Chrissakes, are you insane, woman?!”
In the past six days, however, we’ve noticed how much happier our little boy has been. His face is brighter, his smile unburdened, his whole being seems calmer and more certain of who he is and how much he is adored.
And, hey, it hasn’t been so bad in the marital department, either.
We’ve been a family again. A wonderfully united, calm, self-contained and utterly contented little family. And I have never in my life felt so assured of being right, nor so fulfilled.
My son returns to public school in the morning. I’d thought of nixing this, but he’s very much looking forward to the Valentine’s Day party they’ve planned at school. So we’re giving him this — these last few days — but Hubby announced tonight that he’s all in favor of home schooling our son. He’s seen the change, as I had hoped that he would, and we are on the same page at last.
So, to all of you out there who’ve been so supportive of this notion, let me ask you this: what curriculum do you recommend (or did your parents use with you)?
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This is our 5th year homeschooling our 15 year old daughter and 10 year old son. The main reason we changed to homeschooling was because the stress of going to school for 6 hours, ending up with 2-3 hours of homework (for various reasons), and still trying to fit in time for extra-curriculars (dance, scouts, etc.) was causing our daughter to hate school. Cutting the school day down from 7 hours to 3 made a huge difference in her attitude. Our son had just one year in public school, so really all he has known is homeschool.
We used 2 full curricula in the first 2 years and now use an assortment of books and resources to cover whatever we think needs to be covered. We decide on the curriculum based on what we can discover about the local school curriculum, mixed in with advice from other sources such as the E.D. Hirsh books, the Core Knowlege lesson plans, the lesson places an K12, what other homeschoolers that we know talk about covering, and what we remember from our school days.
If your state or local department of education is helpful, they will give you some guidance on the levels of each subject expected to be covered in their systems. If they are like Georgia, they will refuse to help in any way. The state and county here have few laws or regulations regarding homeschools, but have an unofficial and widely implemented policy of not doing anything that would assist homeschoolers (in the words of the county head of the school board, “You have divorced yourself from the school system and we cannot do anything for you.”)
The full curricula we used at first were from Bob Jones University and from the Calvert School. They both covered plenty of material and did it reasonably well. Bob Jones had a bit too much bible study mixed in for my tastes (to the point where it detracts from the material by forcing diversions to explain the references). Calvert was just too much extra stuff (paper, pencils, rulers, etc. nice to have if you are in the wilderness, but not needed for us) and a bit dated to keep the daughter interested. After those we looked into a couple of others like A Beka, Alpha Omega, and some others. We ended up deciding that we could put together a decent set better matched to what we think is important at lower cost than any of those.
Last year and this year we have used Saxon math, a mix of grammer and lit books, a couple of science books, Spelling Power by Adams-Gordon (excellent), What Every Nth Grader Needs to Know by Hirsh (where N is K-6 and also excellent), Uncle John Plunges Into History (the humorous history makes for easy reading and leads to online research), assorted other books, the Discovery Channel, and whatever else has come to hand at the time that fit the general plan.
This has turned out to be better for our daughter because she is pretty good about getting it done on her own now. Our son has needed more direction and pushing, but being able to switch around based on his daily mood while staying within the general plan has kept frustrations and boredom under control. Overall it has made life easier than trying force either into a rigid schedule.
Georgia requires standardized tests every three years (but the law forbids the state or local governments from even asking for the results - how odd is that for a state law). We feel that giving the tests every year is an important way for us to measure our effectiveness and to provide a paper trail for progress when it comes time to apply to colleges or return to public school (however unlikely that is).
Best of success whatever you decide to do. Let me know if there is any way I can help.
TO: Kate
RE: There Is a God, Virginia
So. Let me see if I got this straight…
…you were expressing concerns about (1) your son’s experiences at school and (2) whether you could cope with his being home a lot, as in darn near all day.
The next thing you know he IS home a lot and things are not quite as bad as you thought they would be.
How very interesting that you should be given such blatant answers to your concerns. And so quickly.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Coincidence: When God works a miracle and doesn't get the credit.]
I’d recommend dropping Kate over at Original Musings an e-mail. she’s been homeschooling her daughter for quite awhile, I believe, and it’s worked out very well, from what I’ve been told.
We’ve been homeschooling for 12 years now. We use a smorgasboard approach, with material from different soures for different subjects over time. The one part that has been constant is the use of Math-U-See for mathematics up through Geometry and Algebra. The good thing about MUS is its focus on teaching the principles behind math versus rote memorization.
We home school our child. We are with something called the California Virtual Academy. However, it’s known nationally as K-12. Its the Bill Bennet program. We’re happy with it. They provide a lot of wonderful materials and a very solid education in the basics.
Initially, our biggest concerns were regarding the socialization aspect of it - but she has enough activities to keep her busy.
When I was being home schooled my parents first used the Bob Jones University curriculum (bjup.com) then switched to the A Beka Books program (abeka.com).
The best math curriculum I’ve encountered is the Saxon Math series of books.
I think that no matter what curriculum that you choose, it’s important that both of you are comfortable with it. After all, the world’s best curriculum is ineffective if both student and teacher don’t embrace it.
Here’s another consideration. Depending on your jurisdiction, homeschooling children are often able to take advantage of the public school system’s extra-curricular activities (sports, dances, academic competitions, etc.) and I believe that in all districts homeschoolers may enroll whatever summer enrichment programs are offered.
We’re looking forward to hearing more.
In Kansas, it’s up to the school district whether to permit homeschoolers to participate in the public school’s extracurricular activities. I’m under the impression (though I haven’t yet researched it) that the Ft. LV school district is open to this, since our local fundamentalist home school co-op has a PE-related event scheduled at one of the schools on post.
Right now, we’re planning on unenrolling our boy at the end of the month. (I need the intervening time to get the house organized, prepare my lesson plans, and stock up on sleep before making this major life-shift.) Meanwhile, I’ve ordered the Bob Jones series to get us through the rest of the school year.
I also lucked out and found SchoolZone’s Big Kindergarten Workbook
for $6 on Wal-Mart’s bargain shelves today. (Yes, that was my big accomplishment of the day… and I was thrilled!)
I’ve also found a co-op about 30 minutes from here that has weekly bowling activities for the kids, bi-monthly gymnastics classes, monthly playdates at the park, regular “Mommy’s Nights” and various summer activities, including camping trips.
It’s coming together, I think.
Good luck with the homeschooling, Kate. There are quite a few families in the area that do homeschool - I met one family a few years back where the mom home schooled her 8 children.
They came to the barn one day so I could teach them about a little about horses and caring for them.
If there is anything I can do to help you out, please let me know - I still can’t believe we’ve not gotten around to meeting you!
Also, I have a new cell phone that work has provided me, so the number you do have is never answered!
The only thing that bothers me about home schooling is that Bob Jone’s University really hates Catholics, and I hope that doesn’t come through in their curriculum.
Around my blogroll…
Kate at Electric Venom is going to Home School her son. Go over and wish her good luck! I admire anyone with the planning skills and dedication to home school. I never could have done it, I’m too much of……
We started out pulling topics off the web that interested us and were season appropriate. I was schooling both ds- 1st grade and dd- pre-k and K. I stumbled on k12.com. EXCELLENT. I cannot say enough. Very well rounded and offers different ways to teach a concept. Plus, it was really fun. Hope
Depending on the age of your children, Calvert School ( http://www.calvertschool.org/ ) may do the trick for you. Basically, they send you all the books, all the papers, all the notebooks, even all the pencils, you will need for a year’s worth of schooling. You teach your child, and then send Calvert School the tests, which they grade and send back to you. Unfortunately, they only cover from K to 8th grade, but, speaking from experience, they work pretty well. Best of luck!
My siblings & I were all homeschooled. We used a combination of ABeka & Bob Jones with Saxon Math. (My brothers & I used to plot what we would do to John Saxon if we ever got hold of him.)
We were north of Topeka and never ran into any problems but if you ever do, you can contact the HSLDA - Home School Legal Defense Assoc.