Homeschoolers

I was going to homeschool this year and then decided /i wasn't really prepared to handle it with a newborn and 3yo. However, I had bought the A Beka Book homeschool program. It is a christian curriculum and I liked what I saw. It is also the curriculum that my local Christian school uses. Have a great year and God Bless! I admire your ability to homeschool I wish I was brave enough to really try! A.

little hearts of dakota is wonderful- i homeschool my 3 and 7 year old and they love it-its christian based-and lots of reading which my 7 year old loves-good luck

Hi S..
We have 3 boys also and I am home schooling the older two as well. Last year we used K12. It was expensive and you cannot re-use it with your younger children. I loved it though because it keeps you organized (which I am not). My son hated all but the history.

This year I am using a mixture. My just turned 5 y/o is using A.C.E.. It is good for him because he likes to & can write well. It is all workbook for all of the different subjects. He would pretty much be happy with about anything, though.

This year for my 8 y/o we are using Total Language Plus for Language Arts. It is cheap and I really like it because it incorporates different learning styles to teach. For Science we are using A.C.E., plus in the home school group we belong to he is taking Chemistry and doing a class where they do experiments w/ and learn about water. For math we are using Math U See and History we are doing Sonlight. Loving Math-U-See and Sonlight can be a LOT of work or very little depending on how much of it you order. These are expensive, but if you copy the workbooks, you can reuse them at no additional cost for your younger child.

We do a combination of things for Art & music. Teach your Child Art grades 1-6, plus a class in our H.S. group.
Hope this helps.
You didn't say what you are using.

Hi S.! Where do you live?? I am in Central NJ and am part of a GREAT homeschool network. It is so important to have a support system. I would love to introduce you to it if you're in the area...or not...I'm sure you could be part at least of the online community if you're not close by.

I am on my second year with my son. He is in 1st grade. Someone before me mentioned that book, how to teach a child to read in 100 lessons. We did that book last year and it was GREAT. My son learned how to read in a few months and over the summer we joined the book club at our library and from June 29th until August 30th he read 91 books!!!!! i couldn't believe it.

Anyway, We are using Abeka, but there is SO MUCH out there. I only started using Abeka because I got most of it for free from a friend. Let me know ifyou have any other questions or if you would like more info on our homeschool group. It is through Calvary Chapel Old Bridge, NJ (www.ccob.org)

I've been wanting to homeschool my son, he is five. I also have an 18mth old son. I'm just wondering if anyone here is from Staten Island. Someone mentioned a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, I haven't looked at it yet, but that is suppose to be a good book.

Just a point of clarification... it's up to each school district as to what they will allow you to access. Technically, by homeschooling your child you are parentally-placing them outside of the public school system.

You can make an appointment with your district's liaison if you have questions.

Your local school district should be able to help you out. They are also supposed to allow you to borrow textbooks.

Hi S.
God bless you with all the blessings of the Heavenlies.
Obviously the Lord has called you to homeschool.
I decided to homeschool our twin girls when we moved to NY, and found that private school in this area was not an option. The private school where we were used BJU, and since the answers were at the bottom of the page on most of my twins papers I was not impressed. could I have cut them off, I suppose so, but that never occured to me to years later. We never used one curriculum, never bought a package for the year from one co., and never wanted to do that.
I have probably used or heard of most of them in my 10 years of homeschooling. The girls graduated from homeschool and are now both in secular colleges succeeding well, making dean's list.
I am now helping a friend homeschool her 2 special needs children.
I will be happy to answer questions. Write me. Ask questions. Like "did I like Saxon math?" Everyone told me to use it, the girls were past manipulatives and I bought it. My girls liked success and driven by success, Saxon was set up by always having a section on chapter 4..., that had not been taught yet. My girls were not ones to say I can figure this out and do it kids, so they would cry and carry on. It was not the curriculum for us. Perhaps I should have said you don't need to do problems 10 & 11, but again that never occurred to me. As the girls got older "Did I like Dr. Wile's science?" Beyond measure. They learned alot which has held over for college. Do I like Rosetta stone? not at all. at the time absolutely but when they got to college they remembered none of it, and can not speak it so although they took Spanish all 4 years of High School they are struggled with Spanish 101.
Will be glad to talk to you.
My suggestions are to make sure you are connected with a homeschool group,(we took art as one of the group activities at the art museum and it is how older twin was accepted at college) and another outside group. We had a 4H group that was homeschoolers, and we met at noon on school days so only homeschoolers could join. Our community service project was missions of each child's choice, and we were involved in the public presentation program, great confidence builder. All shop/home ec plays double duty as you do records for 4H and homeschool. Of course we were also heavily involved in our church which has/had SS, and youth group for all ages, as well as a youth band.
God bless
I am wrapped up and tied up and tangled up in Jesus. He is my all and all.
K. --- SAHM married 39 years --- adult children 38, coach; 33, lawyer, married with son; they went to Christian school; twins 19, older, on campus, fine arts major with 3.8 GPA; younger, commuting to community college, transfer program 3.6 GPA and has been accepted to Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI.where she is planning to major in journalism--lay outs and design with a heart for missions.