Homeschooling Curriculum That Follows TEKS Standards

You could take a look a www.k12.com/txva. It is one of the online charter public schools that someone else mentioned.

I am a 6th grade math teacher and I use the activities on this website.
http://oxygen.dana.utexas.edu/dcsite/mathtoolkit/index.php

Have you looked into the Texas Tech Program?
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ode/

Also, there is K-12.
http://k12.com/who-we-help/homeschoolers/

Good luck!!!!!

Try a charter school. They are run by the state, they send you a pc with the curriculum on it. You must log on for 4 hours a day but it goes with the state's in school curriculum

There are many online courses/schools that are accredited. I home-schooled my daughter for 3 years (6th, 7th & 9th grades), then she went back into public school in Plano with no problems. Go to google and put in "elementary school online" and there are lots of choices. If you also put "texas" in the search box, it will give you accredited texas courses & programs. I wish you such good-luck. It worked wonders for our daughter who later graduated 8th in her high school class. (For some reason, grades 5-8 are the hardest grades for most kids, emotionally & academically.)

Hi S.,

Since TX Virtual Academy and IQ Academy are both considered public schools, I don't know if you can still enroll in them. The upside to them is that are free! You would just have to call them. I would try them first.

We used Texas Tech ISD for our first 2 years of homeschool. Although it is like a public school and uses the TEKS, it is not a public school. Meaning, it is not free. You can start any time of year with them. The only time restrictions they have is that you have to complete a semester's work within 6 months. Very easy to do. The elementary program is outstanding. My son really enjoyed it. The middle school program was "dry as a bone!" I'm told that they are reworking them to make them more engaging. Although you have to buy the textbooks, you can sell them back at the end of the year. I am happy to talk to you about it in more detail, if you like. Please feel free to email me privately.

Now, my kids really love doing their work on the computer, so we found a great program online that can be aligned with the TEKS. Last year, there was only 1 online non-public school that was using it, so we tried them out. Although we didn't like the school, we liked the curriculum. So, in order to contract with the software company, we had to open our own online private school. We are going to become accredited (in two years) because that is really important to us. A student will be able to enroll anytime of the year too.

I would try the virtual academies because they are free. Then I would look at Texas Tech. We really loved it for elementary. But, if you are in a jam, and think our program might fit your needs, please contact me privately. I really hadn't intended to enroll anyone until we got our feet wet. And I'm really not trying to sell anything here, just trying to help you out. I remember what it was like to be caught once school started and not know what curriculum to use.

Good luck!
W. in Carrollton

Texas A&M has a state approved home schooling program that is recognized by the State and is interchangeable with public school. You can go to their web site and find it. You can do the whole program or certain subjects. They have you mail back packets that you finish at your pace and they grade and record the information for you. It's a great alternative.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the different science and social studies. My children have done a combination of homeschooling & private school and neither used the same science & social study programs as the public school. Last year they went into public school because for various reasons and they had the TEKS test...they did great. As long as you are consistent in their teaching they will learn and grow & do well.

Good luck!

Texas Virtual Academy is an online charter school. They use the K12 curriculum. Since they are basically a public school, your child still takes all the mandated state tests.

S.,
You need to talk with my husband because he works with children in grades K-8th in our educatinal consultant business, EducationalRescueonline.com. My husband has worked as elementary assistant principal and a disrict adminstrator. He has said that many ISDs give parents a hard time when returning to public school after being home schooled. We are schooling a high school son and doing very well. What are your educational concern reading, math or just everything in general.
Please give my husband a call and he can provide with very useful information.

H. Thomas
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Dear S.:

I agree that you need to stay with the TEKS to keep your child on-track. I know however, that it is not easy. I am a teacher. We are expected to follow the TEKS even though our curriculum doesn't. Most of us take the curriculum that we have and adapt it to the TEKS and what our students need. It IS time consuming.

Be sure to evaluate and make sure your child is learning what he needs to know.

Good Luck!

Jen

ABEKA has DVD's and is a college prep. curriculum. I loved homeschooling my son because we developed a great relationship. Dr. Laura just put out a book In Praise of SAHM's - get it to remind you of why you are there.

We are on IQ Academy. THey are approved by our school district (Keller) and they follow all the same work. They are also free. They are a public online school that is 3rd thru 8th. They sent us a laptop for our daughter to work on. Her teacher is TEA accredited and they have monthly field trips for the social aspect. Feel free to email me if you have any more ???. We love it!

I was just at Mardel the other day looking for some workbooks & noticed quite a few books with TEKS on them. I didn't look closely, but it may be worth a trip for you to check it out.

Good luck & I hope y'all enjoy homeschooling as much as we do. :)

contact your local school district for home schooling support services. they may be able to hook you up with text books or other valuable resources/information.

S., I encourage you to have him practice word problems in math. You might want to find out from other moms what it is like to enroll a student in 6th grade after homeschooling in 5th. I have no idea, but I am wondering if you will run in to any difficulty due to 5th graders having to pass the math and reading TAKS. I hope you and your son have a wonderful year!

Good for you! RELAX...you are making this much harder than it needs to be. You need to cover the basic subjects: grammar,reading, math, history, and science. He needs a good grammar program - Shurley Grammar is excellent and used by many schools. Get the CD's and use them. Saxon Math is used by most schools and will be right on target. Look at Alpha Omega Switched On Schoolhouse for the Science and History. Pick the grade level that covers the material that he would be studying and buy those. You don't have to buy all 5 subjects together and you can get the workbooks (LifePacs) if you prefer that to CD Rom. Note: SOS will do your lesson planning and grading for you. This will help YOU and your son immensely. I highly recommend this for a new homeschool mom to preserve everyone's sanity. It will also allow you to print out report cards showing the lessons, quizzes and tests. This will give you peace of mind should anyone question your schooling. When you go to put him back in public school, they will test him for grade level proficiency. RARELY would they consider holding him back a grade and ONLY if he really can't do the work.

You will find that he will learn much more at home than at public school. Expect to be shocked when he tests well or higher than his PS peers. DO take advantage of the flexibility home school allows to go and do field trips and hands on learning. That is one of the beauties of home schooling and it really makes it enjoyable for everyone. Added bonus: they learn more and retain it better! Start with the exhibits at the State Fair. Go to the local museums and The Science Place. Get plugged into a homeschool group co-op. If there is a subject you are not confident in teaching him, there are classes available at Home Educators Resource in Lewisville. They also are a great source of used curriculum and books.

You are making this much harder than you need to. Use curriculum that is already available. There are tons of good products and you will achieve more than you can imagine. Don't let TEKs rule your life. Isn't that one of the reasons you are home schooling in the first place? Yes, you CAN do better at home. Enjoy it!

Wow S., you have had a lot of good information given on here. I taught fifth grade for five years and followed the TEK standards as closely as possible. The email below is right on. Find something you like and just try and blend it with the objective you are covering. Plano puts lesson plans online too...just google plano lesson plans and they have a ton of resources. I must say being a mother of three and teaching fifth grade, this is a good age for you to pull him out of public education. Seems to be when all the gossip, hormones, and just plain meanness set in! It is also the first time when they do not have a set class limit, so the teacher to student ratio is something like 1/28. Not good, especially if your child needs a little more time and attention. Good luck!