Help with homeschooling

[Udacha]

I am currently remodeling my home and expect to be selling it in the spring 2016 and then go boat shopping to go cruising.

I am thinking of getting my 2 daughters ( 6 and 10 ) started on homeschooling now. I'm in my mid 50s and retired and have plenty of time to help them. They are both very smart and get straight A's at the charter school they go to now.

My research is leading me to Calvert, but I'm not liking the 5k per year. Khan looks great, but seems to be for math.

Any help or advise is welcome.

Thanks

Mike

[Travelnik]

We home schooled our 2 kids with a Christian curriculum through CLASS.
Tailored Homeschool Curriculum - CLASS Homeschools

It is a good home school system if you are a Christian. If not, don't bother as it is based on a Christian world view.

The tuition is very reasonable (well under $1000 per year) for an accredited home school curriculum.
CLASS - Enrolling - Tuition

There was no problem with them being accepted into college with their CLASS transcripts.

[newhaul]

Where are you located? There may be several options that are free/low cost. Most require internet access now days.

[Udacha]

Thanks Travelnik, I will look into that.

and

I am in the Phx, AZ area now, but hope to be sailing somewhere next summer

[newhaul]

OK here's a free one to check out and try just to see if homeschooling is something you really want. Our boys did it here in Washington worked well for us.
Arizona Virtual Academy | We Are AZVA | Arizona Virtual Academy

[Tellie]

Mid 50's with a 6 & 10 year old??? I started in my mid 30's and look at my Avatar!!

A subject I know a bit about.

One of the first mistakes people make that are new to home schooling is the need for an absolute structure. The beauty of homeschooling is tossing out the structure and teaching your children to learn as they individually learn best. Remember, structured teaching to the masses is unavoidable because of shear the volume of students. Home schooling parents don't have that to contend with. Every child learns differently from the next. It is difficult, if not impossible, for the first 12 years a child is in a structured school system for the 30+ teachers they will have to find out each year and semester how best your child learns. Most teachers while well meaning, won't. Each new year, each new teacher your child will encounter has to start from a beginning to get to know your child and how they best learn, all the while doing the same for 30 other kids as well at the same time within the allotted 6-7 hours. How much individual attention do you really think they get each day in that environment? While you on the other hand can have the luxury no structured school teacher can offer, your undivided attention to your two students. Calvert is the first go to curriculum first timer home school parents usually gravitate to. A good system to be sure, but there are hundreds of curriculum's out there to draw from. There is also a lot of help out there for homeschooling parents from home schooling groups to the public school systems themselves. This is a subject close to my heart. I grew up in a family who, except for me, were all school teachers. Teaching and teacher friends dominated our dining table every night while I lived at home. When I announced to my family that my wife and I were going to home school our daughter you could have heard a pin drop, right before my mother dropped. Pops was too stunned to catch her. But as my daughter nears the end of her degrees at the University of Vienna, speaking three languages, learning a fourth, and still struggling with statistics, the proof is in the pudding. The closeness, the deep bonds my wife and I have with our daughter were strengthened to a deeper depth I don't believe can be achieved sending your kids off to a "Structured" school. They will have exposure to your belief system, the values you want them to have, and your ethics as well. Do not believe those who have never done this that you are somehow stunting their educational growth. There is far more to a life long education than how much future money they may or may not make. The world is run by C students who hire honor roll students. They will make you proud.
There's a great documentary that can be found, at least on Netflix" called "The race to nowhere" If you can watch it try, it's not about homeschooling, but it may help you feel more at ease with homeschooling. Good Luck, I'm totally in your corner.

[MBWhite]

Both my wife and I are certified school teachers with a few decades between us. We have also homeschooled our kids.

What worked best for us as a foundation is the "Core Knowledge Series":

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...edge+Series%29

Each grade-specific book goes into detail about what is expected of a person in that grade level, and then it is up to the parent to decide how to best let the child learn it, whether it be by book, videos, experiences, etc. Obviously a lot of it involves choosing textbooks but doesn't necessarily need to be all the time.

Me, well I had decided even before kids we might homeschool so when I was teaching each year when teachers would upgrade textbooks I'd get a copy of what they were getting rid of and got a fair collection that way in addition to more recent books when appropriate.

Anyway, my suggestion is to look at a copy of that series at your local library and see if you might be interested in going that route as opposed to purchasing a complete curriculum.

Oh, in regards to purchasing a curriculum with out first one when he was going into 1st grade we purchased the entire 1st grade curriculum that one of our schools used which was OK but later on when we learned a little more about homeschooling the book series allowed better adaptation for us but just be aware you can talk to a local teacher and she should tell you where they buy their curriculum from.

Good luck! It is a lot of work but rewarding.

[Travelnik]

One thing that you will need to keep in mind is that not every state is home school friendly.

Some states are very strict, and require periodic testing with the school system, progress updates, and possibly annual visits by a licensed psychologist. (I suppose that they want to make sure that you're not a right-wing whacko teaching AR-15 and AK-47 instead of Algebra!)

When we left Arizona, they were pretty good about it, only requiring yearly home school status reports to the local school district. Texas doesn't even require that much.

Other (nanny) states may be so strict that you might get a visit from CPS for abuse!

Just be sure to check into the laws before you choose a state to move to (if you're planning on living aboard).

[Udacha]

Thanks everyone for all of the information, it is exactly what I'm looking for, real world experience.

I will definitely check those sites Newhaul!!

Hey Tellie, I was wondering who would notice the math. Yes, my wife is quite younger than me, actually my mother-in-law is the same age. I met her while travelling in Russia and after a couple more trips we had the full traditional Russian Wedding.
My wife, Natasha is very strict with with the children and when it comes to schooling she will only accept A's, B's are bad and I don't know what would would happen God Forbid if one of them got a C. My wife is having a hard time with the homeschooling thing, I will try to have "family movie night".... "The race to nowhere" on netflix

Thank You Everyone for the advice and links and Travelnik, don't worry, it will be countries not states, I would like to make at least one loop around the planet!