Abeka can be done independently (you do the marking and keep your scholastic records) or you can do it accredited (send in the exams to their Florida campus) where your child gets an official transcript and High School diploma recognized by all US colleges as well as many places internationally (ie/ Canada, etc). Top notch program where EVERY class is taught and recorded in an actual classroom and your child watches teaching segment via DVD and you help with homework and assignments. They teach the constitution, the Bible, free market economics, and critical thinking, to name a few.
A niece of mine just graduated and she was homeschooled using Abeka. She plans on starting her own business as a seemstress. Her older sister that graduated with the same program is an accountant and will partner with her. Very proud of them!
Happy to say our daughter (27) wants me to teach her to sew. My mother and her sisters had to sew their clothes for school and special occasions. After my grandfather died, my grandmother supported herself and her 7 children with a small grocery store and by "sewing for out" - meaning clothing and alterations.
My mom passed a few years ago and my daughter will learn in her sewing machine. Mine is computerized and I figure it's easier to teach on an old fashioned machine.
Thankfully my mom was brought up to learn how to sew, and she's an absolute master at it, and she taught me too. From the age of 4 I learned, and while I don't have a sewing machine, I sew by hand a lot now. I prefer hand sewing because it has more control, but obviously it is only for little projects, not sewing full outfits.
They took out moat home ecc and shop classes from the schools. China bought most of the equipment so now kids don't learn how to even boil water or sew on a button. I am noticing that as they die off or retire it is getting really hard to find contractors. Or licensed specialists. An example I needed to get my property value appraised, and had a hard time finding someone to do it. My Tax accountant had a friend that could and he did a wonderful job, but what got me was he was retired and in his 80's. We have got to get these things in and the garbage out of education.
We will be doing a Charlotte Mason based program similar to above. You will have to add a math program to the above. The one I listed is free.
The most important thing to do is relax. Your son learned despite the schools shortcomings, he will learn despite yours. The second most important thing is to make sure you are following the rules of your state. Dont need the communist knocking on your door.
I would also suggest you get some good (non educational) board games and play. Can learn a lot from games. Boardgamegeek.com
I would like to know more about Ambleside. I actually haven't used it yet, the literature they suggest have been fantastic so far and it looks like a solid program. Our eldest is in Kindergarten and it doesn't really go down that far.
Did you use it for your kids or were you the kid that used it?
What grade levels did you use?
Any useful information on how a day/week was organized?
I followed it as a basic outline....this was about 14 years ago. We just read lots of literature, Ruth Beechick and Well Trained Mind for history, Math U See, writing skills, poetry and Bible memory, guitar, swimming, tae kwon do, baseball,....
I kept my eldest home for kindergarten and he used Saxon Math and Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, listened to Classical Kids music series 100s of times, memorized verses, sang songs and hymns and lots of nature outings.
My wife studied at Bob Jones and had talked about ABEKA many times. She also used the classical conversation method. She homeschooled her kids with great success. He oldest is pre med and her youngest is in computer engineering. Homeschooling is a great option if possible.
Youtube has infinite programming tutorials. Have him learn Flutter, it's going to be in high demand over the next 8 years, allows you to write one piece of code that runs natively on iOS, Android, Web, PC, and Mac.
I currently run a software company that does 7 figures a year and I originally taught myself to code via youtube. (Edit: I started learning programming when I was 9, so age isn't an issue—learning to program your own video games is a great way to engage kids early on)
Flutter really is a great framework, and Dart is a great language.
Just one additional tip for anyone going the “teach someone to code” route, find what interests your kid and work from there.
If they’re into mobile apps, then Flutter is perfect!
If they like games, you may get more motivation out of learning game programming with something like Python and Pygame, or Unity.
If they like social media, learning the web side of things or learning how to use the APIs of social media might be better. (and then promptly get them off of social media once they acquire those skills)
Abeka has been around a long time, I remember my mom used it for all our language/spelling when my sister and I were in grade school. The Christian pre-k my oldest attended for a couple of years also used Abeka, and I really liked it; the pre-k 4 class was starting to learn phonics when her dad pulled her out mid-year.
You are a great parent I pray you hang in there bc your future self will be glad you did and your child will thank you for it, even if its later.
BC there are so many curriculum options, Id say do this-
1)Are you a Christian, do you want to use curriculum from a Christian view
-There are MANY
-there are also online options
2)figure out what method you want to use
*ONLINE?
-parent led?
-teacher support?
-online 'academy' total teacher led?
-a benefit of online is record keeping whether you opt for parent, teacher or what
*WORKBOOK /TEXTBOOK
-work that you can send in to be graded and recorded, eg Abeka, provides records
-grade yourself, keep records (not as hard as it seems)
-What I personally find less overwhelming for the workbook option--and recommend looking at bc I know when I was told about it I was glad--one that has courses broken down into 10 or so thin workbooks, eg Lifepac by Alpha Omega or Ace
Also ideas for keeping it all somewhat organized, this will help you a lot--theyre things I learned later in the game by trial and error;
-3 inch binder bc you can pack most of their homeschool up in it
-a rolling type case, like a craft organizer/suitcase, or an actual suitcase
-just make it something you can put the daily stuff in thats easy to load back up and move around
Also know many homeschoolers work at kitchen table, wherever works is whats best. We have a 'school room' now and I was so happy to get a house with a room I could convert to just 'school'. Except we rarely use it for doing the work. They work where they feel most comfortable and can focus. Thats why I say if you have a rolling suitcase/organizer or big case it 3in binder--anything that can move around easily and not take over a room, trust me.
I just want to say have fun and enjoy every moment with your child/children. They grow fast and you will be making great memories in this. Also when you feel like you suck and are a huge fail, most of us have those days. YOure obviously a great parent, I hope any of what I said can be helpful. God bless you!
You might want to get in touch wish HSN (Homeschool Network) in CA. They have a ton of resources and do an annual conference which has been very good for connecting with other home schoolers and learning more about what resources are available.
I believe that when Trump is reinstated (SOON) he will revolutionise and revitalise the education system. Remember we are in a movie and the grand ending is soon. After it most aspects of society will get greatly better including schooling
Very much agree with designing what is best for the child God put under your care. Each of us is wired to do something unique, let your time together learning discover and strengthen that talent.
Rush Revere books are FANTASTIC. Rush Limbaugh and his wife wrote these, with his wife planning to write more. I read all five to my 7 year old and we both enjoyed them. I highly recommend reading those!
There’s a website I really like that has best picks for curriculum. https://cathyduffyreviews.com/# It helps to evaluate your child’s learning style and choose the curriculum that fits. You can literally tailor the curriculum to how they learn. Remember that homeschool does not have to look like public school at home either. There’s a lot more flexibility. If the student has an off day you can take breaks and pick it up later.
I homeschooled my kids last year for Kinder and 4th and used Moving Beyond the Page which is a literature based program and we loved it. We used Right Start Math and Lexia for families as a supplement.
My only advice is to find a homeschool support group online. Have a friend in New York who homeschooled all 9 of her kids and literally just posted about a month ago about workbooks, school books etc. What was great for her kids is the pace- each child can move at their own pace and all actually tested higher than local peers and are on to college
Happy to hear you are ditching the public school system. I didn't have much time to research, but when covid hit I put my son in k12 online and it was pretty good curriculum and easy once you get the hang of it. I would research though. I just didn't have a lot of time to commit to finding a better fit.
We graduated our twin daughters from high school through a charter school called Sage Oak. They operate all over California, and they're accredited so your kids will have a real high school diploma at the end.
What's more, there's state funds available for purchasing curriculum, computers, tools, science equipment, etc. The only thing you can't buy with state funds is religious curriculum, so we just supplemented our curriculum with bible study courses out of our own pocket.
Should you decide that's not for you, we've used the Sonlight curriculum (very biblical and bible-based) for about a decade now. If you do decide to go with a charter school for state funds, you can get "Bookshark", which is Sonlight with the bible curriculum removed.
Same here, we have two that have graduated through Sage Oak and two more an 8th grader and one in the 10th grade. The charter program helped tremendously. Don’t waste any time if you try to go the charter route, enrollment in the program may have already closed for new Fall students. Depending on what County you are in I’d start researching and signing up online and/or calling first thing Monday morning.
The charter funds are actually one of the first things I can ever recall where my tax dollars actually benefited our family directly. Up until our oldest was in the 5th grade we always payed for private school homeschool programs. A friend tipped us off on the charter program in LA County and I couldn’t recommend it more.
Just make sure you file the appropriate paperwork, or there will be school 'inspectors' knocking on your door, demanding to know why your child is not at school.
I highly recommend calling Rainbow Resources 800 number to talk to their education specialists. You can discuss learning styles and interests and they make recommendations. Their specialists are all homeschooling educators. They’ve helped me many times. I have 3 kids who all learn differently.
At 4th grade also I highly recommend the Explode the Code series for phonics, language and vocab. The series is so good my kids had tears when they completed the last ones and realizes there were no more left.
God Bless and thank you for taking the step to learn alongside your child.
Basic reading and writing at 4th grade is fine. Science and History at this point are false teachings. Look into Resonance Science Foundation and instruct in Quantum mechanics, biology, chemistry as well as anthropology and archelogy. He will have less to unlearn when our Truth is revealed.
Math U See and Kahn Academy on YouTube.
Classic Trivium homeschool curriculum, three phases comprised of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
I would also recommend starting with two languages (it’s never too early), possibly Latin and Spanish, depending on your culture.
Children are like sponges if intrinsically motivated, and the best way to find out what they enjoy and/or good at is to expose/introduce them to a variety of subjects, sports, arts, etc.
Also, there are homeschool co-ops where one parent instructs the group in his/her chosen field of expertise one day and another parent does the same for another subject and so on. Kind of like tag teaming; this way, one parent won’t feel overwhelmed with having to teach every subject.
Additionally, it’s a great way for the kids to socialize and play together and be with like-minded people (parent and child!)
Best to you!
Edit: There is also a movement known as Unschooling, which nurtures creative/ free spirit / self-directed learning
We use bookshark. It’s an all in one curriculum we use for our K and 2nd grader. We paired it with some other literature options this year because my oldest prefers math and science. It’s very customizable. Also, check and see but our curriculum is tax deductible in our state
I really loved the good and the beautiful. Its a very open and shut curriculum. We used it for language arts and it incorporates geography and art history in the lessons as well. Heading into my fifth year homeschooling and have used a variety of curriculums and this was my favorite by far. Most of it can also be downloaded for free instead of ordering the books. It is Christian based. If that's not what you're looking for, maybe start with the "easy peasy" All in One curriculum. It claims to also be Christian based but not a single lesson incorporates God apart from the history curriculum for much older children. Its online and totally free with the option to buy insanely inexpensive workbooks.
Abeka
^^^THIS
Abeka can be done independently (you do the marking and keep your scholastic records) or you can do it accredited (send in the exams to their Florida campus) where your child gets an official transcript and High School diploma recognized by all US colleges as well as many places internationally (ie/ Canada, etc). Top notch program where EVERY class is taught and recorded in an actual classroom and your child watches teaching segment via DVD and you help with homework and assignments. They teach the constitution, the Bible, free market economics, and critical thinking, to name a few.
I personally prefer this.
A niece of mine just graduated and she was homeschooled using Abeka. She plans on starting her own business as a seemstress. Her older sister that graduated with the same program is an accountant and will partner with her. Very proud of them!
lol
Happy to say our daughter (27) wants me to teach her to sew. My mother and her sisters had to sew their clothes for school and special occasions. After my grandfather died, my grandmother supported herself and her 7 children with a small grocery store and by "sewing for out" - meaning clothing and alterations. My mom passed a few years ago and my daughter will learn in her sewing machine. Mine is computerized and I figure it's easier to teach on an old fashioned machine.
Thankfully my mom was brought up to learn how to sew, and she's an absolute master at it, and she taught me too. From the age of 4 I learned, and while I don't have a sewing machine, I sew by hand a lot now. I prefer hand sewing because it has more control, but obviously it is only for little projects, not sewing full outfits.
They took out moat home ecc and shop classes from the schools. China bought most of the equipment so now kids don't learn how to even boil water or sew on a button. I am noticing that as they die off or retire it is getting really hard to find contractors. Or licensed specialists. An example I needed to get my property value appraised, and had a hard time finding someone to do it. My Tax accountant had a friend that could and he did a wonderful job, but what got me was he was retired and in his 80's. We have got to get these things in and the garbage out of education.
Wow! So much positivity in here, Frens! This makes me excited for the future to learn of home schooling programs like this.
This is all great info. Thank you all!
Ron Paul has a homeschooling curriculum available as well
https://www.ronpaulhomeschool.com/
I have read very good reviews on Ron Paul's school.
Ron Paul's curriculum gets my vote.
https://www.amblesideonline.org/
We will be doing a Charlotte Mason based program similar to above. You will have to add a math program to the above. The one I listed is free.
The most important thing to do is relax. Your son learned despite the schools shortcomings, he will learn despite yours. The second most important thing is to make sure you are following the rules of your state. Dont need the communist knocking on your door.
I would also suggest you get some good (non educational) board games and play. Can learn a lot from games. Boardgamegeek.com
What an encouraging statement. Thank you for that.
That is a great encouraging thing to say. Thank you
great free curriculum....I used Ambleside about twelve years ago...love Charlotte Mason and classical education using great literature....
I would like to know more about Ambleside. I actually haven't used it yet, the literature they suggest have been fantastic so far and it looks like a solid program. Our eldest is in Kindergarten and it doesn't really go down that far.
Did you use it for your kids or were you the kid that used it?
What grade levels did you use?
Any useful information on how a day/week was organized?
I followed it as a basic outline....this was about 14 years ago. We just read lots of literature, Ruth Beechick and Well Trained Mind for history, Math U See, writing skills, poetry and Bible memory, guitar, swimming, tae kwon do, baseball,.... I kept my eldest home for kindergarten and he used Saxon Math and Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, listened to Classical Kids music series 100s of times, memorized verses, sang songs and hymns and lots of nature outings.
Abeka
Yoou might also check with your church for other home schooling parents. You could share resources, time, abilities and activities.
My daughter did K-12 in SoCal it's a good it's a good program.
You would be the best judge of what your child needs to succeed in this world. Design your own program.
Specific Subjects (excellent):
https://history.notgrass.com/
https://www.apologia.com/
https://www.mathusee.com/
Comprehensive: Bob Jones https://www.bjupresshomeschool.com/content/home
Abeka https://www.abeka.com/Homeschool/
JOIN: https://hslda.org/ California laws: https://hslda.org/legal/california
State organizations: https://hslda.org/content/orgs/?State=CA
My wife studied at Bob Jones and had talked about ABEKA many times. She also used the classical conversation method. She homeschooled her kids with great success. He oldest is pre med and her youngest is in computer engineering. Homeschooling is a great option if possible.
Youtube has infinite programming tutorials. Have him learn Flutter, it's going to be in high demand over the next 8 years, allows you to write one piece of code that runs natively on iOS, Android, Web, PC, and Mac.
I currently run a software company that does 7 figures a year and I originally taught myself to code via youtube. (Edit: I started learning programming when I was 9, so age isn't an issue—learning to program your own video games is a great way to engage kids early on)
Learn to code meme intensifies
Nice!
I’m a software developer for a company run by a bunch of libtards, but I’ve been thinking strongly of starting my own business lately.
Trading the steady income of employment for running a business and trying to find my own clients seems daunting. Any words of advice?
I've never been employed so I couldn't say! I was fortunate enough to succeed quickly and early
Flutter really is a great framework, and Dart is a great language.
Just one additional tip for anyone going the “teach someone to code” route, find what interests your kid and work from there.
If they’re into mobile apps, then Flutter is perfect!
If they like games, you may get more motivation out of learning game programming with something like Python and Pygame, or Unity.
If they like social media, learning the web side of things or learning how to use the APIs of social media might be better. (and then promptly get them off of social media once they acquire those skills)
Christian book distributors has quite a few curriculum options.
https://www.christianbook.com/page/homeschool?event=FEATCAT-M
Abeka has been around a long time, I remember my mom used it for all our language/spelling when my sister and I were in grade school. The Christian pre-k my oldest attended for a couple of years also used Abeka, and I really liked it; the pre-k 4 class was starting to learn phonics when her dad pulled her out mid-year.
You are a great parent I pray you hang in there bc your future self will be glad you did and your child will thank you for it, even if its later.
BC there are so many curriculum options, Id say do this-
1)Are you a Christian, do you want to use curriculum from a Christian view -There are MANY -there are also online options
2)figure out what method you want to use
*ONLINE? -parent led? -teacher support? -online 'academy' total teacher led? -a benefit of online is record keeping whether you opt for parent, teacher or what
*WORKBOOK /TEXTBOOK -work that you can send in to be graded and recorded, eg Abeka, provides records -grade yourself, keep records (not as hard as it seems)
-What I personally find less overwhelming for the workbook option--and recommend looking at bc I know when I was told about it I was glad--one that has courses broken down into 10 or so thin workbooks, eg Lifepac by Alpha Omega or Ace
Also ideas for keeping it all somewhat organized, this will help you a lot--theyre things I learned later in the game by trial and error;
-3 inch binder bc you can pack most of their homeschool up in it -a rolling type case, like a craft organizer/suitcase, or an actual suitcase -just make it something you can put the daily stuff in thats easy to load back up and move around
Also know many homeschoolers work at kitchen table, wherever works is whats best. We have a 'school room' now and I was so happy to get a house with a room I could convert to just 'school'. Except we rarely use it for doing the work. They work where they feel most comfortable and can focus. Thats why I say if you have a rolling suitcase/organizer or big case it 3in binder--anything that can move around easily and not take over a room, trust me.
I just want to say have fun and enjoy every moment with your child/children. They grow fast and you will be making great memories in this. Also when you feel like you suck and are a huge fail, most of us have those days. YOure obviously a great parent, I hope any of what I said can be helpful. God bless you!
You might want to get in touch wish HSN (Homeschool Network) in CA. They have a ton of resources and do an annual conference which has been very good for connecting with other home schoolers and learning more about what resources are available.
You should look up the Khan Academy. Also, find educational resources in skills he's interested in. Kids can be geniuses if their passions are fueled.
We currently use Khan and CK12.
Best decision ever!! God Bless!
I believe that when Trump is reinstated (SOON) he will revolutionise and revitalise the education system. Remember we are in a movie and the grand ending is soon. After it most aspects of society will get greatly better including schooling
This is my belief as well. But until then...
Hillsdale College, look around on their site a bit.
https://k12athome.hillsdale.edu/
Very much agree with designing what is best for the child God put under your care. Each of us is wired to do something unique, let your time together learning discover and strengthen that talent.
Rush Revere books are FANTASTIC. Rush Limbaugh and his wife wrote these, with his wife planning to write more. I read all five to my 7 year old and we both enjoyed them. I highly recommend reading those!
There’s a website I really like that has best picks for curriculum. https://cathyduffyreviews.com/# It helps to evaluate your child’s learning style and choose the curriculum that fits. You can literally tailor the curriculum to how they learn. Remember that homeschool does not have to look like public school at home either. There’s a lot more flexibility. If the student has an off day you can take breaks and pick it up later.
I homeschooled my kids last year for Kinder and 4th and used Moving Beyond the Page which is a literature based program and we loved it. We used Right Start Math and Lexia for families as a supplement.
My only advice is to find a homeschool support group online. Have a friend in New York who homeschooled all 9 of her kids and literally just posted about a month ago about workbooks, school books etc. What was great for her kids is the pace- each child can move at their own pace and all actually tested higher than local peers and are on to college
For history, I'd start with Trump's 1776 Commission Report that Biden tried to erase. Save a copy before it disappears forever:
https://f.hubspotusercontent10.net/hubfs/397762/The%20President%E2%80%99s%20Advisory%201776%20Commission%20-%20Final%20Report.pdf
We read it as a family. Have a printed copy. :)
Any good info on this for Nevada folks?
And Ohio?
State and local listed here: https://hslda.org/content/orgs/?State=OH
http://www.nevadahomeschoolnetwork.com/
County level listed here: https://hslda.org/content/orgs/?State=NV
well done!
Happy to hear you are ditching the public school system. I didn't have much time to research, but when covid hit I put my son in k12 online and it was pretty good curriculum and easy once you get the hang of it. I would research though. I just didn't have a lot of time to commit to finding a better fit.
We graduated our twin daughters from high school through a charter school called Sage Oak. They operate all over California, and they're accredited so your kids will have a real high school diploma at the end.
What's more, there's state funds available for purchasing curriculum, computers, tools, science equipment, etc. The only thing you can't buy with state funds is religious curriculum, so we just supplemented our curriculum with bible study courses out of our own pocket.
Should you decide that's not for you, we've used the Sonlight curriculum (very biblical and bible-based) for about a decade now. If you do decide to go with a charter school for state funds, you can get "Bookshark", which is Sonlight with the bible curriculum removed.
Same here, we have two that have graduated through Sage Oak and two more an 8th grader and one in the 10th grade. The charter program helped tremendously. Don’t waste any time if you try to go the charter route, enrollment in the program may have already closed for new Fall students. Depending on what County you are in I’d start researching and signing up online and/or calling first thing Monday morning.
The charter funds are actually one of the first things I can ever recall where my tax dollars actually benefited our family directly. Up until our oldest was in the 5th grade we always payed for private school homeschool programs. A friend tipped us off on the charter program in LA County and I couldn’t recommend it more.
Just make sure you file the appropriate paperwork, or there will be school 'inspectors' knocking on your door, demanding to know why your child is not at school.
The McGuffey Readers are free in PDF format, and will take one from beginning reading to what's considered advanced college levels these days.
I highly recommend calling Rainbow Resources 800 number to talk to their education specialists. You can discuss learning styles and interests and they make recommendations. Their specialists are all homeschooling educators. They’ve helped me many times. I have 3 kids who all learn differently.
We are big readers and love Sonlight - https://www.sonlight.com/ That is our base.
We add Apologia for science and Bible (teaching worldviews).
We use some of the Charlotte Mason materials - the books on the US are great
https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/stories-of-america/
and the pict art series is excellent -
https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/picture-study-portfolios/
At 4th grade also I highly recommend the Explode the Code series for phonics, language and vocab. The series is so good my kids had tears when they completed the last ones and realizes there were no more left.
God Bless and thank you for taking the step to learn alongside your child.
Basic reading and writing at 4th grade is fine. Science and History at this point are false teachings. Look into Resonance Science Foundation and instruct in Quantum mechanics, biology, chemistry as well as anthropology and archelogy. He will have less to unlearn when our Truth is revealed.
Math U See and Kahn Academy on YouTube. Classic Trivium homeschool curriculum, three phases comprised of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. I would also recommend starting with two languages (it’s never too early), possibly Latin and Spanish, depending on your culture.
Children are like sponges if intrinsically motivated, and the best way to find out what they enjoy and/or good at is to expose/introduce them to a variety of subjects, sports, arts, etc.
Also, there are homeschool co-ops where one parent instructs the group in his/her chosen field of expertise one day and another parent does the same for another subject and so on. Kind of like tag teaming; this way, one parent won’t feel overwhelmed with having to teach every subject. Additionally, it’s a great way for the kids to socialize and play together and be with like-minded people (parent and child!)
Best to you!
Edit: There is also a movement known as Unschooling, which nurtures creative/ free spirit / self-directed learning
We use bookshark. It’s an all in one curriculum we use for our K and 2nd grader. We paired it with some other literature options this year because my oldest prefers math and science. It’s very customizable. Also, check and see but our curriculum is tax deductible in our state
I really loved the good and the beautiful. Its a very open and shut curriculum. We used it for language arts and it incorporates geography and art history in the lessons as well. Heading into my fifth year homeschooling and have used a variety of curriculums and this was my favorite by far. Most of it can also be downloaded for free instead of ordering the books. It is Christian based. If that's not what you're looking for, maybe start with the "easy peasy" All in One curriculum. It claims to also be Christian based but not a single lesson incorporates God apart from the history curriculum for much older children. Its online and totally free with the option to buy insanely inexpensive workbooks.
My child also loves Khan Academy! I supplement with their lessons so I'm not sure about a full on curriculum using them.
Check out Maria Montessori and her work.
Also check out Ron Paul's homeschooling plans. It is comprehensive.