After homeschooling my daughter first through fourth grades I put her back in public school for two years. To say things went down hill is putting it mildly and we are going back to homeschooling for seventh. My question is which curriculums do most of you use and what subjects do you teach beyond the basics.I love Science but am not good with experiments. How about music and art? She doesn't seem to want to stay with playing an instrument. Also would any of your children be interested in corresponding with her on a pen pal basis or e-mail. She is an only child, loves animals, and reading.Thanks, Eve Lyn

-- Eve Lyn (evelynv@valuelinx.net), June 07, 2001

Answers

First, can you find a homeschool support group in your area? They're great for social activities, some of ours share teaching different classes on different subjects. A friend of mine is teaching my 2 oldest, 2 boys from another family, and 2 or 3 boys from another family and her 3 kids Consumer Math next year. We're actually part of 2 homeschool support groups combined around here. (We've all grown to be quite a large homeschool support group.)

Curriculums are really personal about what you and your daughter like to do. It could be the best curriculum for someone else and if you 2 hate it, it will be the worst. Why don't you send away for Rainbow Resource catalog, and the Elijah Company, which isn't just a catalog, but their catalog is FULL of educational suggesstions and resources that are invaluable. You can call either of these places and get wonderful advice, too. I don't have the numbers or web addresses, and have NO idea where my older catalogs are...sorry. We're in the middle of getting ready to have a LOT of work done for a house to be brought in, and I honestly don't know if I'm coming or going....

Also I don't know what your state's requirements for homeschooling is.

-- Louise Whitley (whitley@terraworld.net), June 07, 2001.

Hey! I would love to be a pen-pal with your daughter! :-) What's her name? Oh,I think you should do art! Art is a universal language. (kind of) When you can make art,you can reach the skies. Recently I've gotten into painting. And when I paint,wow,it's so relaxing and enjoyable. Most of my life I've been planning to go to art school. There's lots of different types of art. I think if someone can find one type of art they like,they'll be hooked to it forever. My first art love was drawing,and I actually had my own comic (although it was never in the paper) Well,choose what you want. But I vote....ART! :-)

-- Cosmic Country Girl (CosmicCountry@Yahoo.com), June 07, 2001.

Eve Lyn - Although I don't homeschool I have several friends that do. They work with their support group for the sciences. One of the dads is a chemist so he does those classes with a lot of the kids. I think after he gets home from work. They also use a few other parents who know music and art. I know that several times they have made arrangements with the local arts council to attend programs (theater, symphony and art). But, as others said check your states requirements.

My one friend who has 2 high school age kids, uses the local junior college for higher level classes and that seems to work well. Mostly sciences, advanced math, economic, etc. Classes she didn't feel qualified to teach. And, the junior colleges don't seem to have the problems of public grammer - high schools.

-- jennifer (schwabauer@aol.com), June 07, 2001.

We wound up using all kinds of curriculum. ABeka was good in some things but I just felt they went to fast in math. You just have to look several things over and go what seems best for you.

DUring our last few years we basically didn't use a "set" set of books. We utilized the library A LOT and then the last two years, when we got on the internet, we found it a valuable resource. We did hands on projects.

Homeschooling works because it ISN'T regular school and we shouldn't fall into the trap of trying to have set hours and "going by the book." Do what works out best for your child and for you. Nathan did well with Algebra work books while the Abeka tapes and books didn't teach him anything in that subject. But ths history and a couple of other Abeka subjects was great. IT depends on the child and you!

Nathan, our last homeschooler, graduated from homsechooling two years ago. If I had it to do over, none of my kids would have ever set foot in a public school!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), June 07, 2001.

Part of the answer for you depends on what your plans are for her future. If you are going to put her into a formal high school or college environment she should have courses that mirror what they will want her to be able to do. Junior high should be completing her skills so she can handle reports, research, critical thinking, advanced writing, higher math, etc. She should also be learning to work independently and complete assignments without lots of reminders. Even if you are going to home school high school those things are a good idea. Nothing needs to be too formal however. If you start on one thing and find you need to change, go ahead. Being good at it isn't important either, and you can explore together. Plan mini-courses, and don't waste your time on things she knows. Plus she should be given chances to explore lots of interests in art, music, languages, sports, etc. If she doesn't want to play an instrument or draw, maybe art or music history or appreciation would be a good choice. Animal care, ecology, gardening, cooking, sewing, geography, ancient cultures, famous people, advertising, sign language...the options are limitless, and the internet offers so much for free! I personalize everything using anything I can, including video, computers, field trips, projects, books, games, etc. Don't let institutional thinking force you into a corner. E-mail me if YOU need a pen pal! I have 5 kids, one daughter may be a good e-friend (she is 10 and loves animals and reading too). I'm in CA.

-- Margaret (TMBroberg@hotmail.com), June 07, 2001.

My all-time favorite catalog is Christian Book Distributors' homeschool resource catalog. Go to www.christianbook.com, click on their homeschool category. I like their print catalogs because they're such a wealth of info with reviews written by folks who have used the stuff in their own homes. I should mention to any non Christians reading this, don't be turned off by the name. They have LOTS of homeschool resources that will appeal to ANYONE, no matter their creed.

We use Saxon for math and Apologia for science. Both are set up for the student to work independently. Apologia teaches creation vs. evolution; their web site is www.highschoolscience.com Our fifth and seventh graders worked the science together this year, using the seventh grade level.

Get with a support group in your area, go to conventions, see what others are using, and try to look stuff over as much as you can before you buy. If possible, see if someone will loan you stuff for a few weeks so you can try it out to see if it will work for you.

As for music, art, and other so-called extra-curricular activities, they are very beneficial, IF your daughter is interested. Try to encourage her in her interests, yet help her maintain a balance in her life. For instance, my 13-year-old son in very much into computers. He has built his own from spare parts and is working on a website for our church. If allowed to do so, he will spend whole hours in front of the monitor and totally forget that anything else exists. So I have to limit his time on it and get him involved in other activities, especially on nice sunny days.

Hope this helps.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), June 07, 2001.

Thanks for all the responses. My daughter is also into computers. Thank goodness she hasn't torn ours down yet. I will have her get with some of you who offered pen pals or e-mail pals. Thanks again.

-- Eve Lyn (evelyn@valuelinx.net), June 07, 2001.

The whole idea of homeschooling is teaching them at least the same amount of basic stuff that the public school kids are learning. You can get the curriculum that the local schools teach from, you can even get the names of the text books and order them directly from the publishers or some used book web sites sell them (I had to do that when my daughter lost her math workbook from school). You may not agree with the way some of the teachers teach, but the base curriculum that the state puts out(and add to as you want) is a good place to start. You may disagree with the science text books they use, but math and english ones are pretty standard. History texts are pretty standard, but there's enough internet info around that you can slant or unslant the text as needed. Here in Virginia, the Standards of Learning is the new state standards, and the book with the standards are published and sent home with the students every year, a copy would be easy to get. Then you would have to schedule them through the year, teaching a couple of kids it would go faster than the year they give a teacher to teach it to 25 kids.

-- Joan Murray (alandjoan@juno.com), June 08, 2001.

Hi, I asked my daughter if she would like an e pal. She's 15 but can identify with being in ps before we started homeschool. Ps wasn't good for her either! She likes to read and spend time on the computer too. Email us and we can give you my daughter's email addy.

-- Denise (jhammock@cinci.rr.com), June 08, 2001.

We have homeschooled for years, and have found the Elijah company catalog an invaluable resource. Go to their web site at www.elijah.com as they have many helpful articles and suggestions on which curriculum might me best suited to your daughter and you. Good Luck!

-- Homesteadma (idlewild@multipro.com), June 09, 2001.

I highly recommend rod and staff if you are looking for regular books to teach out of. If you would like to go with a computer curriculum Alpha Omega's switched on schoolhouse is good. My only problem with the computer program is that my children are not self starters. They require me to stand over them and focus their attention. When thinking about subjects other than the 3R's don't forget bible. I teach bible separately and also incorporate it into all of their other subjects. God bless you in starting to homeschool again!

-- Amanda in Tx (mrsgunsmyth@hotmail.com), June 10, 2001.

We have a number of home schoolers in our church. Several weeks ago they displayed some of the work the students had done throughout the school year. The kids range in age from about 5 to 14. I was so impressed with their pojects. Sewing, maple sugaring, scientific experiments, figure skating, art, dioramas, growing crystals, shell collections, gardening, animal husbandry, writing, and on and on! These kids are bright, lively, intelligent, well-adjusted, articulate, and just plain fun to be around. The interact well with their peers and adults. They get along with their brothers and sisters and most of them actually have good manners. Can you tell I just love these kids? I have such respect for the parents for taking on the task of homeschooling. No disrespect meant, (I have a dear young friend who is a schoolteacher) but the public school system is a failure, and humungous amounts of dollars already spent, or projected expenditures will not fix what is wrong with them. Please, all you parents who still have children at home (mine are grown), if you have the desire, go for it. Our families are a wonderful support system to one another, and you will find, (here for starters) all kinds of resources to draw on.

-- stef (sbrogers@csonline.net), June 10, 2001.