HELP! It's my First Year Homeschooling!!

>>>This is my first yr to hs. I think I get a handle on what needs to be done for a 4th grader and then I find something else out. On top of trying to weed through all the curriculum choices. I am about to give up. I am so frustrated and overwhelmed. I just want it spelled out for me.<<<

All the choices are so overwhelming! And many of the choices are wonderful, which makes it even harder to decide! I began homeschooling when my kids were in 3rd and 5th grades. We started with Sonlight Curriculum, just for those reasons you stated: I wanted everything spelled out for me! Sonlight was a great start, because it sort of "held my hand" while I was learning to homeschool. It taught me what subjects I might want to teach, reminded me not to forget things, and showed me how much to do each day. Plus it's a great curriculum But really, I only started to use it so that someone would "hold my hand" while I started my first year of homeschooling. It's a little pricey, but lots of things are pricey, and investing in your first year will help you get off to a great start. Their website is:

http://www.sonlight.com/

Hope that helps!

Blessings,

Lee

What about teaching homeschool grammar?

>>>>Dorette asked a questions about our Sample Comprehensive Record. "Did you ever do any "intensive" grammar course with your boys? I see that you did a Latin course that includes grammar. Was that enough?"<<<<

Dorette,
Before beginning Latin, we did a one-time through course called "Winston Grammar" that I just loved! It's a hands-on, no-writing grammar program that was perfect for my boys. It does not teach writing, it only covers parts of speech (noun, verb, articles, etc.) It was very helpful, though, because it gave us a common language that we could use to discuss their writing. I could say, "this sentence has two adverbs" and they would know what I meant. After doing Winston Grammar Basic, we moved straight into The Latin Road to English Grammar, and that was the only other grammar we used. It was enough grammar, yes. The boys had excellent scores on the SAT test. Of course, how well they WRITE is the real judge of a grammar program, though, and I had them doing some writing every single day.

Other people like to cover Grammar every year, instead of one time one year, and that's fine. Personally, I felt that we covered enough grammar in their writing each year. I do warn people about it duplicating courses, though. If you are doing Winston Grammar, don't do Easy Grammar and Editor in Chief as well, because the student can get frustrated.

This brings up an interesting point, though, about our Sample Comprehensive Record. You can't really tell by looking at it, unless you know our family quite well. My sons started Latin when Kevin was in 7th grade and Alex was in 5th grade. They continued it for 3 years, and completed the program entirely. I put Latin on the transcript for both children, because I knew that it was a high school level course and that they had succeeded in learning a high school amount of material. We put each high school credit under "early high school credits" instead of 9th, 10th, or 11th grade. It may help you to see how those "early high school credits" worked in our family. I am confident that I did the right thing. Alex has continued Latin in college, and he's getting straight A's, taking senior level Latin courses. Not only did I put that 5th grade class on his high school transcript, the colleges accepted it (possibly because he graduated early, though) AND he went on to successfully continue the course in college.

I hope that helps!
Blessings,
Lee

How do I "do" Current Events?

>>>>How do I incorporate current events into our homeschool?<<<<

Hi Michele,

In 7th grade we were doing Apologia Biology, Sonlight 100, French, Algebra, SAT prep, and piano. For current events, I bought World Magazine, but that's because my kids are very *into* current events. I think the easiest and most fun way is just to get the newspaper daily. The last two years, I have used a yellow highlighter to circle any articles that they are "required" to read, and I found that they would read other things in the paper as well. You can also ask them questions that they have to answer: What time is low tide today? (Of course, that only works along the coast!) We also listen to a responsible news commentary show during lunchtime. That really helps them to get interested in the topics of the day, and we can discuss the callers opinions. I haven't had them do any written summary, because we do a lot of writing in our homeschool anyway. I usually make current events "required" twice a week. I have found that by using the newspaper, they seem to enjoy reading it on their own more often than I assign. I confess that I sometimes HIDE the newspaper when the stories are especially gross. Hope that helps.

Blessings,
Lee

Feedback on Homeschool High School Plan

>>>>A mother wanted feedback on the classes she was choosing for high school. Here is what she had planned:<<<<

Bible- Sonlight
Core 200-Sonlight History
Literature-Sonlight
Science-Apologia Biology
Writeshop-English
Photography class at co-op once a week
Smart Money class at co-op once a week
Algebra 1- Teaching Textbooks
She worried that it would be too much - too little! She asked if she should add Spanish, and what to name her Bible class.


Shawn,
Every student is unique, of course, but your plan looks great to me. I think that as long as your student works reasonably well, it should all go OK. If you want to add Spanish, I would just make sure to stick with only 15 minutes a day, and not try to do any more per day than that. I
think it sounds like a great freshman year!

I counted Bible as...... Bible! In Christian schools, they will list credits for Bible. I gave my boys 1/2 credit for their Bible courses each year, because they did about 1/2 hour of work each day. Christian colleges like to see that the Bible is covered as a subject. Secular colleges like to see "electives" that provide a variety to the course work. You COULD have the Bible course be part of your literature, but Sonlight Literature is plenty for that. I did combine my Literature and my writing course to make ONE English credit, not two. It did make my English credit pretty beefy, but it seemed somehow unnatural to me to separate writing from reading - maybe because of the years of elementary school or something, I don't know. If you want to be sure it's two credits, you can estimate how many hours it will take to finish it. Generally 150-180 hours is one high school credit, so two credits would be a total of 300-380 hours of work to be two full credits. I did actually give two English credits one year. That year we did Sonlight history, literature AND their entire English program, and at the SAME time we did Learn to Write the Novel Way. That was nuts! It was crazy! What was I thinking! LOL! I made sure to never do two complete English programs in one year ever again! LOL!

It is overwhelming to look at the big classes like high school level courses. Remember, though, that "literature" is really just "reading good books", so it doesn't seem like much work. My kids felt the same way about Sonlight History, that it was FUN and not work. Remember, too, that high school is supposed to be harder than younger years. It's part of becoming an adult, this working harder business, kwim? I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, though. High school is fun! Try to make sure that your daughter knows "THIS IS HIGH SCHOOL" so that she's expecting it to be a bit more challenging.

Remember, each student is unique. For my kids, this schedule would have been perfect. I hope that helps to soothe your nerves.

Blessings,
Lee
ds Kevin 18yo
ds Alex 16yo

Why you SHOULDN'T Teach your Homeschoolers

As homeschool parents, our goal is NOT to teach something. Our goal is for the kids to LEARN. I could have taught my kids "at grade level" and they would have not learned a thing. Instead, I gave them curriculum at their ability level, and then they had to learn something that they didn't already know.

I believe that older teens MUST learn how to teach themselves. If they go to college, they will be expected to learn all the textbook material on their own. College lectures are most often supplemental to the textbook - not the same. If they don't go to college, they will still have to teach themselves some computer skills, or online banking, or how to buy a car - whatever.

My kids taught themselves Advanced Math (pre-Calculus) and Calculus. They taught themselves physics. I know they knew the material because I gave them the tests. I didn't know what the calculus symbols meant, but I knew that my kids answers matched the answers on the key! I could have taught them Biology and Chemistry (because I'm an RN and I know that stuff) but they actually taught themselves that as well. It just worked out better for us when they were teaching themselves, while I just checked up on them from time to time. Alex taught himself economics, and is now doing graduate level work in economic thought (we've been told by his professor.) He even taught himself psychology and business law, because he got fabulous grades on the college level CLEP exams in those subject.

Here's my point: kids will teach themselves something when they are interested in it. It's fine for kids to do that, and it works out great for kids that are working on an intensely academic, college-prep curriculum as well as for kids that are in a relaxed homeschool environment.

I have seen SO many notes about "getting it all done" that I just want to put in a plug for mom having prayer and quiet time. I found that when I was consistent with those things I could "get it all done" and when I wasn't consistent with those things I got frustrated. Either I was expecting too much, or was frustrated too easily. When I spent time with God, then things went much more smoothly in our homeschooling.

What do you think?

Blessings,
Lee

Is it possible to homeschool college?

>>>>One woman was expressing frustration with community college, and said that he son asked if it would be possible to "Homeschool college." <<<<


Hi Debra,
Ironically, one of my squidoo lenses is "How to Homeschool College"
http://www.squidoo.com/How_2_Homeschool_College/
I would encourage you to buy the book "Accelerated Distance Learning." Another good one is Bear's Guide to Earning College Degrees Non-traditionally" by John Bear. Both books are available on my Squidoo website for purchase. Check this you-tube to give you a jump start:

You Tube on Affording College
http://youtube.com/watch?v=evJeAAJedbY
The presenter, Gary North, suggests 7 alternatives that will help defray college costs. He has a website with additional information. www.lowcostcolleges.com

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions!
Blessings,

Lee

Public School Jumps in Front of Homeschooler's Parade!

>>>>The following was a letter I wrote to our local school district after discovering an email they sent out identifying my son as a National Merit Commended Scholar from a local public high school.<<<<

Dear Highline School District,

I was online looking for an article that my son had published in the newspaper, and I came across his name in Highline School District newsletter. In the March 30, 2007 edition of Highline eHighlights, http://www.hsd401.org/ourdistrict/publications/eHighlights/033007/ you said this about my son:

National Merit Scholar Finalists Named

Highline and Mount Rainier High School Students Recognized Three students from Mount Rainier High School and one from Highline High School have been named finalists in the National Merit Scholar program. They are: Anna Cunningham, Maxwell Ferguson, and Jacob Schual-Berke from Mount Rainier, and Kari Olson from Highline. In addition, Eva Ghirmai from Mount Rainier and Alexander Binz from Highline were named Commended Scholars.

My son Alex never attended Highline. Although he took the test at Highline High School, he was NOT a Highline student. At the time of the PSAT, he was 15 years old and doing Running Start.

Alex is now 17 years old and has senior status at Seattle Pacific University, on a full-tuition scholarship. He has interned for two years at a national think tank and won the Olive Garvey Fellowship from the Independent Institute. His writings have been published in the Seattle P-I and in Liberty magazine. This summer will be the third consecutive year he has presented his research at an international economics conference. This year he is a candidate for the Truman Fellowship.

Alex was homeschooled independently since the second grade.

Had he been in public school, he would still be in high school. He would have graduated high school this year - if he passed the WASL, of course.

Please check your National Merit Scholarship awards each year before listing them, and ensure that you don't claim homeschoolers as if they are your public school students. Homeschool families work hard, and they deserve the credit.

Sincerely,

Lee Binz

What grading scale should I use for my homeschool?

>>>>Melissa wanted to know what grading scale I used, because she had seen
a wide variety of scales used in books and other schools.<<<<


Melissa,
I used this grading scale:

90-100=A
80-89=B
70-79=C
60-69=D

I chose it because I wanted my kids to work for mastery, but not necessarily perfection. If they demonstrated mastery, with 90% or more, then I gave them an A and a 4.0.

I also chose that scale because it made the math on the transcript easier.

I don't think it matter WHICH grading scale, I think it just matters that you have one for the purposes of your transcript. Just choose a grading scale - ANY grading scale. If you simply can't decide, then throw a dart at it!

When my children started college, I saw the different teachers all choose different grading scales for each class. The college itself chooses another grading scale. There is a huge variety out there! Just do what's right for your child.

Blessings,
Lee