Not Another Homeschool Blog

All that my child has to finish to be done with her homeschool academics forever is health.  She finished her economics course last night while I was doing her hair.  She used a basic text book via Glencoe   and online tests to learn the basics of Economics, then we finished up with "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy" , a book that I recently came upon.  It is "an Uncle Eric Book", from a series that has a matter-of-fact way to describing political and financial subjects, and I seems like homeschoolers are taking to the book series. Anyway, after she finished the basic curriculum, I had her read the book and requested a discussion of it... she chose verbal and I was fine with that as I am anxious to finish the year.  She described the book chapter by chapter, told my how it compared and contrasted with the textbook and what insight it gave her. She basically feels that I should have had her do this Economics course before Personal Finance because she may have...

It is so hard to focus on the final academics that need to be done before graduation.  There are almost 2 months before graduation, so there is plenty of time, but a lot of that time is accounted for with the SR. Project for her arts program.  She has had to write, design, and will need to rehearse and perform a show on graduation day.  So I want the academics done. Left to do: 2 Lifepac paces for Physical science 1 term paper for economics. 1 full .5 credit study on health. The college she is going to also wants her to take a math test, a writing test, and a spanish test online right away. Meanwhile, I am having problems pulling her attention from her SR. Project, as that is most exciting. Sigh. I'm just glad to know that I won't have to micro-manage her work anymore.  She responds much better to teachers (like the one who is mentoring her Sr. Project).  I'm not worried about college... just anxious to get 12th grade finished. FREE HOME EDUCATI...

I am spending this morning getting my son's laundry done  so we can take him back to college. ( I know he should do it himself, but these kids will let a wet load sit in the machine for hours).  It has been an interesting break.  He is clearly more mature (and bossy) than he was when he left home.  His opinions are strong.  His patience is also short. ... and I can't tell when he's serious or joking anymore. I look back at the period of my life when I left home and remember how necessary the distance was.  I was getting to the point when I was becoming my mother, and I was still a teenager. Every glance, every opinion, every argument I had, and someone would comment how much like my mother I was.  Now, my mother was a perfectly lovely person and I wish I had half her sense of humor, but I was not her, and in order to become uniquely me, I needed time and space- off by myself to deal with the world.  This is my son's time.  I may not like...

This is part 3 of my curriculum recap series.  Please scroll to the bottom for other subjects.  This installment specifically covers history in the high school years.  Before the high school years, I feel that history should be taught chronologically.  Personally, I prefer that it also be taught chronologically in the high school years as well, but for the college bound student, that is not always possible. To keep things interesting, and for continuity's sake, I always pair my literature choices with the history/social studies unit.  You can find my k-12 language arts plan here. American History: Each of my kids actually did two year of American History.  There is just so much information to cover.  We used Hippocampus.org , and studied Discovery to Civil War the first year and

The plan was originally, to do a full unit in Government for my daughter's senior year.  When we found out that is was required for accreditation to do 1/2 unit plus 1/2 unit of economics, our plans were changed.  We went from using the textbook, Politics in America , and the Hippocampus Government program to just using Hippocampus and leaving out the written assignments.   That, I hoped would take a good 60-70 hours creating a half credit.    To my surprise, my daughter sped through the information, scoring in the 90th percentile on all tests, within maybe 30 hours tops.  I was concerned that her lack of interest in the subject had translated to

This has been a low-key week with me staying as close to my bed as possible.  Hence, the lack of blogging. I was up to my eyeballs in work and business for the last 6 weeks with my daughters competitions, elections, and finally, the fall play, which I was costuming.  With the exception of the pile of dirty dress shirts in the trunk of my car, and answering surveys about my precinct managers, all of that work is behind me.  I am spending the week napping. On the homeschool front, my daughter is currently finishing up her unit on Government, and then we will start her second trimester for the year.  As of Friday, she will have completed Spanish, Government, and Business & Personal Math, and part 1 of Physical Science.  This next Trimester will be the remainder of Physical Science, Economics, and Analyzing Literature (in the form of a CLEP exam).  After that, sometime in late winter, she will only have to do a health unit, and work on finishing her S...

I am off to a college visit with my daughter. Thought this was a good time to leave you with a pretty informative guest post I've been holding onto. Enjoy. Notes From a Homeschooled Mom has before written about what it takes to prepare homeschooled students for college , and for getting the jobs they ultimately want. Estelle Shumann builds upon this conversation with the following blog post , which talks about how the technological advances in education (especially online education) help homeschooled students with college preparedness in a way never before thought possible. Estelle writes at http://www.onlineschools.org , a website dedicated to online education. From Homeschool to Online School to College: Technological Advances Prepare Students for the University As technology has encroached into seemingly every facet of modern life in recent years, the nature of homeschooling has changed as well. In the past five years, online education programs have gone from a...

If we know that "knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave" ( Frederick Douglas ),then we understand why  a little girl with a book is a threat to the Taliban. The way I see it, those terrorists know that if girls became more educated that they could not control

We just got home from this years "school" meeting. We went over rules, regulations, dress codes, cell phone rules during class, and all that good stuff. We found out about all the new things that the homeschool program is rolling out. (Don't you hate it how things always get cooler and better just as you are done?... It reminds me of how mad I still get when I see the super-cool strollers that weren't available when my kids were babies.)  But they all grow up and things change. The most exciting news was Drama Club.. of course!  The fall play is undecided (almost decided) but it won't be held at our usual venue.  Instead, the kids will bring the play to the community.  They may do a nursing home, a school, a community theater, a major theater, or all of the above... who knows.  The second play will be a full school play... I won't say what it is just yet, but it will have kids of every age from

We really thought this year's curriculum  plan for my SR. daughter  was going to be easy peasy, then we decided to go for Accreditation. So, i nstead, we found ourselves adding classes in some areas which meant scaling back in others.  Here is a brief accounting of our new and improved plans: Math:  Business Math with Personal Finance:  ALEKS.COM Language Arts: Analyzing and Interpreting Lit (study for CLEP exam) History: Government 1/2 credit Hippocampus.org Social Studies: Economics:  Uncle Erics Books Whatever Happened to Penny Candy Uncle Eric Talks About Personal, Career, and Financial Security (An Uncle Eric Book) by Richard J. Maybury, Jane A. Williams and Kathryn Ann Daniels (Apr 1, 2004) Whatever Happened to Justice? (An Uncle Eric Book) Science: General Physical Science Hippocampus.org Spanish: Mango Languages (library subscription) HEALTH: Glencoe Online The plan is to still try to be finished with ...

I am such a hypocrite. As much as I complain against and say that accreditation is not necessary, I have decided to go ahead and accredit my daughters homeschool portfolio. Sure, she could get into any private college with her portfolio as-is.  Her tests scores are good, especially, her verbal score. She is loaded down with theater and music extra-curriculars, demonstrating the depth of her talent. So why have I decided to turn her homeschool portfolio into an accredited diploma? Competitiveness. One of the colleges she is applying to will take homeschool portfolios with tons of digging and probing, and may still require a GED.  We are not really worried about that, because it is clear she is well educated, but they won't take my word for her grades....and her GPA is vital to scholarship offers. Sigh.  Yes, I did it for money.  In my defense, this is a tough economy and this will be my second child in college.   So have I changed my mind?  D...

I am glad to offer you this guest post from another homeschool mom and freelance writer: It doesn’t seem to matter whether your children go to public school, private school or are homeschooled – financial lessons and money management are lessons our children need to learn before they need to make financial decisions.  Money management strategies cannot be taught during a one time lesson; instead, children need age-appropriate information throughout their childhood so they have time to form sound financial habits that carry over into their adult years, and are armed and ready with the information they need to make good financial decisions. Elementary Age Kids and Finances My own children are ages 6 and 9.  My 6-year old seems to think if we need money for something, we need only visit the bank or ATM and ask for it; while my 9-year old understands you have to have the money in the bank to withdraw it, but doesn’t quite understand why we

Remember that whole speech I made yesterday about doing personal finance math instead of Calculus or the like?  Well, the Board of Regents of the University System of GA has released guidelines that must be made to be considered entry into a GA state college, so if that is your goal,  any Personal Finance Class will have to be an elective, or perhaps you can use Economics/Business classes to satisfy the social science requirement. So, if a GA state college is your goal, (and this probably applies to many state colleges across the country, here is what your child will need to complete beginning the school year 2012-1013.  (As my kids are not applying to state colleges, this is not a problem for us. College Prep English:  4 units American Lit (integrated with grammar, usage and composition) English Lit (integrated with grammar, usage and composition)

Welcome to the March 1, 2011 edition of carnival of homeschooling. I am happy to be hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling once again.  As a homeschooler of 8+ years, I find the Carnival as my best source of inspiration and education when it comes to homeschooling.  From new Ideas to encouragement, you fellow homeschoolers truly inspire me.  I am entitling this Carnival, Thanks for the Inspiration for that reason.  I am truly appreciative. Here is this week's Carnival:  Teaching and Learning: Katherine presents storytime hits posted at No Fighting, No Biting! , saying, "Big kids enjoy (and learn from) storytime as much as preschoolers." Elena LaVictoire presents The necessities of kindergarten posted at My Domestic Church . nak presents Economics for Nine-Year-Olds : The Mississipi Bubble posted at Sage Parnassus . Carol J. Alexander presents Homesteading Homeschoolers--Meet the Beachy's posted at Everything Home...with Carol . N...

The Lost Files Prologue What a Difference A Year Makes Part 1 Chapter 1: What a Difference A Year Makes Part 2 Chapter 2: Background Influences Chapter 3: What Am I doing? Part 1 Chapter 3: What Am I doing? Part 2 Chapter 4: Best Laid Plans.... Part 1 Chapter 4: Best Laid Plans.... Part 2 Chapter 5: Socialization? Part 1 Chapter 5: Socialization? Part 2 Chapter 6 : I thought I already knew my children! Part 1 Chapter 6 : I thought I already knew my children! Part 2 Chapter 7 : Leaving the School System Part 1 Chapter 7 : Leaving the School System Part 2 Chapter 8: Choosing Curriculum Part 1 Chapter 8: Choosing Curriculum Part 2 Chapter 9: A Typical Homeschooling Day? Part 1 Chapter 9 : A Typical Homeschooling Day? Part 2 Chapter 10 : Homeschool Burn-out Chapter 11 : At Their Own Pace Chapter 12 : A tailored Education In giving your child a customized, individualized education, one must realize that allowing the child to progress at his or her own pace is only half of the process. Equal...

Most homeschoolers don't worry about home economics courses. After all, the children learn how to cook, and shop and take care of the home in the course of everyday living, especially when they are in the home more than public school kids. I even have an apron that says "home Ec classes in session". My daughter however has wanted to learn how to knit and I have had trouble finding someone to teach her. A math, or science teacher is easy enough to find, but a knitting teacher... that can be difficult. Until now. With American Knitter Learn to Knit DVD Lessons you can learn how to knit, and teach your homeschooled child how to knit too. How cool is that? Though this is not knitting in the traditional sense because it uses a loom and hook, it still meakes a mean hat and scarf set!