I'm new to this. I pulled my son out of the public school...

[Maddy McCall]

and had very little time to prepare a curriculum. My son is ten--I am a divorced parent. My career gives me time at home in the mornings, so the decision to homeschool came pretty naturally for me.

I wish there were a progressive, secular HS association here, so that my son would have a chance to socialize with other like-minded families. I have no one here to turn to for advice on curriculum or for social contact for my son...everyone here is homeschooling because they don't want their children to be around black children :eyes: or because they don't want those liberal (fundie) teachers corrupting little Jane with evolutionary theory. :wow:

I don't want to use A Beka. I can't afford Calvert. Oak Tree (I think that's the name of it) looks pretty good, but I don't know whose opinion to trust.

Please, everyone, tell me about your curriculum. Tell me how your day usually goes. Are you structured? Do you adhere to any kind of schedule? Tell me what unschooling is. What is the purpose of it, and for which kids is it best. Tell me which textbooks, workbooks, and other items you use--break it down by subject, if you don't mind. Give me some ideas on multi-subject units--perhaps ones that are available on the internet. Tell me everything. I am a sponge eager to absorb.

Please see my post in the original thread in this forum--I described the work we did today. Am I doing ok?

I want to succeed so badly. I want my son to succeed. Tonight, he was so sweet and affectionate before he went to bed--he actually acted like his old self, before the school destroyed his self-esteem. I had not realized it had been that bad for him.

I know that if I had left him in the public school, there was a 50% chance he wouldn't have made it through fifth grade. I know that our chances, with homeschooling, are better than that.

:loveya: all for the advice you have given me through the past few weeks. I know this sounds silly, but our house is peaceful, and we are a family again.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Why don't you ask around from kids who are in regular school?

Just take a look at their books and write down what the subjects are.

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. No particular curriculum. We raid the library regularly.

I use the Hirsch series of books <What Your X Grader Needs to Know> as guidelines and ideas for subject matter, but by and large our source material is from library books and the internet.

Don't worry about not being prepared with a curriculum. Your son is going to need a decompression period to adjust and one rule of thumb says one month of unschooling for every year of schooling. You probably don't need to concern yourself with anything remotely structured until after the holidays. Both of you just relax and have fun for awhile.

Check out this site http://www.uuhomeschool.org/

Yahoo Groups is also a good place to look for homeschooling groups in your area. You might be surprised what you find.

Good luck!

[kostya]

3. Yahoo Groups isn't much help for Oregon.

Nearly all were religion-oriented and the few that weren't were very lightly travelled or out of the Portland area. - K

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. Try this email address

[e-mail]

They are associated with Unitarian Universalism, but if they have anyone in the Portland area you can bet they'll know about secular homeschooling groups. My group meets at a UU church but we are definitely NOT religious homeschoolers. Can't hurt to ask.

Otherwise, consider making a poster to put up on a community bulletin board in your local library. You may find others like you will come out of the woodwork extremely grateful to find another secular homeschooler. One group here started like that and had 30 families within 12 months.

Start a Yahoo Group for Secular / Liberal Homeschooling in Portland and see if you get anyone else searching for the same thing. I promise you, they are out there.

[qanda]

5. Which state are you in?

eom

[LeftyMom]

6. have you looked into unit studies?

It sounds like you definitely want some sort of a structure (as opposed to unschooling, which is what I do.) There are prepackaged unit studies out there but it seems like it would be fairly easy to go get some books on say ancient egypt and combine them with a movie or two, a trip to a museum etc for a multi-disciplinary unit.

If you're looking for a boxed curriculum I've heard that it's comparatively easy to secularize Sonlight.

[Shrek]

7. Sorry for the delay

I couldn't post a response yesterday because I needed to double-check some of this info with my wife.

A typical day (we have a 7th grader) goes something like this: awaken around 6:30, followed by breakfast, morning chores, and a little family time. School work starts around 8:00. The schedule varies by day:

Monday -- Latin, Logic

Tuesday -- Latin, Logic, Composition

Wednesday -- Science

Thursday -- Science

Friday -- Latin, Logic, Music Appreciation

That's all stuff taught my someone other than my wife. I handle the science, and the others are classes offered by a local school as a homeschool outreach.

Then there are the subjects they cover every day: math, history, grammar, handwriting, and reading. Math is pre-algebra using Math-U-See. The rest of the curricula were custom-designed by my wife; she relies heavily on the public library.

They usually finish up by mid-afternoon. After that they sometimes take field trips (musueums, science center, etc.), or they go to the YMCA which has an afternoon PE class for homeschoolers a couple of times a week.

I hope that's helpful; if you want more detail on anything just ask!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. You don't sound silly at all...

Homeschooling is not for everybody; but it sure sounds like it's right for you!

Like you, I pulled my older boy out of elementary school after they'd managed to whittle his self-esteem down to nothing. We had some rocky times after he became a teenager; and he decided ultimately yo go back to public school. That turned out to be a huge mistake; but since mistakes are for learning from, we've dealt with it. He's now 17, and working on The Learning Community program with advisors at a part-time school, and working in a real-estate office 3 days a week.
He's just about finished re-inventing the wheel; and I suspect the going will be pretty smooth from here on out.

I find with my 6 year old that a loosely structured format gives him a little security in knowing how his day is going to go. However, there have been times when a spontaneous decision to visit a local museum or walk down to the creek has led to his wanting to explore these things more on his own. I think it really just depends on the child, you, and the moment.

Good luck to both of you!

[Native]

9. Two books I found invaluable

Creative Home Schooling: A Resource Guide for Smart Families by Lisa Rivero ISBN# 0910707480 and
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, Revised and Updated Edition by Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise ISBN# 0393059278
You should find answers to all of your questions in these two books. Even though I chose to purchase a canned curriculum, there was enough information in these books to assist me in putting together a no cost curriculum that quite possibly would have been even better than what I purchased, had I chosen to do so.

[LWolf]

10. With qualifications:

I'm a public school teacher, and I've never home schooled. I don't know anything about home school curriculum.

If I were to decide to homeschool family members, I would start with the list below; just start, and modify, adjust, and evolve as I went along.

For elementary math: I'd use TERC's Investigations curriculum; inquiry-based math that does a great job on "number sense," concepts, and problem solving. Needs some supplementation/extra time on basic "facts." They also have some science stuff I've never tried. After 5th or 6th grade, I'm not sure. I know some that have been recommended to me, but I've never used them.

http://www.terc.edu/

And the megamath site has some awesome math projects:

http://www.c3.lanl.gov/mega-math/

For science: I like AIMS stuff, and there is a link to a good "for pay" site, too.

http://www.aimsedu.org/

http://www.kapili.com/

For Reading and writing, I'd start with Jr. Great Books. No spelling, grammar, etc. included, but great for higher level reading, comprehending, and writing. Once you understand the process of shared inquiry, you can apply it to other books of your choice. The Jr. Great Books stories are great, but since it's founded on "classics," they tend to be old and white.

http://www.greatbooks.org/programs/junior/index.shtml

For spelling, I'd look at some of these; they all may not extend all the way to 10 years old, but the methods would work with other words:

The Science of Spelling : The Explicit Specifics That Make Great Readers and Writers (and Spellers!)
by J. Richard Gentry

Spelling Through Phonics
by Marlene McCracken, Robert McCracken

Words Their Way, Third Edition
by Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane R. Templeton, Francine Johnston

Teaching Kids to Spell
by Jean Wallace Gillet, J. Richard Gentry

For more writing:

Four Square Writing Method: A Unique Approach to Teaching Basic Writing Skills for Grades 4-6
by Judith Gould, Evan J. Gould, Judy Mitchell (Editor), Judith S. Gould, Evan Jay Gould

For Social Studies, I'd find the website for your state dept of ed, and download the grade level frameworks and standards (you can do this for the other subjects as well). Then I'd look for whatever your state does for that year. In my state, 10 yrs/5th grade is US history; pre-history through the revolutionary war and the constitution.

Then I'd collect as many resources as I could; go to your local teacher's store, browse online, etc.; add current events & field trips to the list of sources. It's not a curriculum; you can use your state frameworks as a curriculum, and pick and choose your own materials and activities on those topics.

Here are a few, of many:

http://www.besthistorysites.net/USHistory.shtml

http://www.tolerance.org/parents/index.jsp

http://www.beyondbooks.com/bb/about_whatis.asp

And another sites of interest:

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/

For Art:

http://www.homeschoolart.com/

[msgadget]

11. Wow, what a generous list,

thank you!

[LWolf]

12. Any time!

:hi:

[Maddy McCall]

13. Thanks, everyone!

I am looking through links now. I am sorry to have been so long replying--homeschooling is eating up LOTS of my time, but I am not complaining. :-)

[seabeyond]

14. i pulled two out friday, adn looking to public in a week

and this morning going over school available, went to homeschooling for the rest of the year. looking to see what it is about.

wow what a story you tell lol. i was in a religious fundie private. not so bad when i started. with the movie passion last spring, whipped em into a frenzy. tried getting them out, but i couldnt get into school of choice, and the public available is the poorest of poor. more angry children

hm

[mzmolly]

15. Just started homeschooling my 6yo. She and I are doing well.

We get GREAT ideas here:

www.edhelper.com $20 annual fee for the use of all materials.

And here- this site is awesome! Unit Studies, Curriculim ideas and more.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/index.htm

Not to mention the local library and many other great free websites that are available.

I don't think you need a formal curriculum from what I hear. Some people start out with one only to go more "electic" later.

I have a book on Un-Schooling but haven't read it. To my understanding "Unschooling" is more about facilitating an education and interests then following a schedule. The philosophy is that a child will learn more if he/she is ready and interested in a subject.

I tend to be more "electic" myself and have a mixed style.

More about unschooling here:

http://www.unschooling.com/

This week were doing a unit study on Thanksgiving. Scholastic has a great deal of information to get started.

Here is more information on various homeschooling styles.

http://www.homeschool.com/Approaches/default.asp

My niece studies via internet (boring if you ask me) but she is doing rather well with it. The school is acredited in our State and it's working out for them.

Peace

[Schema Thing]

16. We did Calvert

And even when I wanted to look around to save money, my ex insisted. It's kind of a "saftey net" feeling, as they provide everything for the year in one 650.00 box :D

But what I've just recently realized, is that people then sell their past years cirriculum on Ebay. So, maybe you could find a Calvert or something similar on Ebay.

In any case, don't worry. We've bought Calvert, but in many way, we've "unschooled". Your son is going to thrive.

My 13 year old is now dying to get into the Arts Magnet high school (the same place Norah Jones went), and I'm pretty sure she will... but honestly, if I sent her off to college tomorrow, she'd be more mature, well adjusted, and comfortable than most of the freshmen there I do believe.

[genius]

17. Oak Meadow is pretty good for curriculum. I can't stick to a curriculum.

Oak Meadow is aimed at making the kid mores fanciful and at allowing the kid to have more fun. My problem is that it is not accelerated enough.

[k8conant]

18. I just started homeschooling my 12-year-old daughter...

Here in WV we checked out the same books she was using in the 6th grade honors courses.

I've found that she already knows all of the math. We're going to math.com now for algebra worksheets.

We're doing the social studies with supplements I already have.

We're following the science text--have done genetics and classification and will proceed to ecology and oceanography next.

A friend of mine is teaching her literature and writing: 1 1/2 hours meeting per week. She's reading The Good Earth and memorizing The Little Girl by Carl Sandburg. She's writing her opinion of The Creation by James Weldon Johnson.

WV required portfolio and evaluation OR standardized testing in May. We'll go for the standardized testing (free at her former middle school), but we're keeping a portfolio as well for when she applies to boarding school next year (that's what she wants to do).



H