Question by LunaAkitylasaraleen: Home schooling ? All advice desperately needed and appreciated!
Hello, everyone on Y!A !
I am thirteen years old and will be home-schooled when the school term begins this fall. There are several options that we are looking at, and have not decided on one yet, but there are questions I have that apply to all of the options available, and I was hoping to get some answers. I will be in year nine, and here are the courses I need to take and a few that I would like to take:
Geometry, English, History, Social Sciences, Geography, Latin, French, Art, Some sort of Science ? I am not sure which I am supposed to be placed in just yet, and perhaps a few others.
No matter what, I will be basically teaching myself these subjects, and I have been left to arrange these matters.
First Question: What supplies will I need? I know the obvious ones like pencils, paper, pens, and things, but if you can list a few things that I probably don?t know about, like record-keeping, organising, and which course books are best, that would be fantastic.
Second Question: How will I organise my own schedule? I know that I have the ability to teach myself whatever I?d like to learn, I have done it plenty of times before, and I have the discipline to do the work, but I do not know how to do this. I have always been in public schools until recently (I withdrew in June), so this has always been arranged for me by the administrators and guidance counselors. How will I make sure I know all that I need to know, learn everything properly, learn complete information and not just partial information, and learn it at the proper pace? How much material makes up one lesson? Shouldn?t I be doing more than eight subjects a day? Please help me here ? this is one of the biggest concerns I have. Also, please keep in mind that I have lessons after the ?school day? will be over, so it is important that I finish on time but not too quickly!
Third Question: Homework, Course books, and Marks, oh my! How do I measure my progress in learning? How do I know what marks I?ve earned? How do I keep track of this? How do I record it? If I wish to return to public schooling in the future, how will I submit these marks? (Please do not say the government will provide this information ? we have been everywhere asking about it, and every person that we have asked, all of whom should have known the answers to these questions, replied ?Oh, I don?t know, you?ll have to talk to [Insert department/person/title here] about that!? or something of the sort. We finally talked to a woman who has home-schooled all eight of her children [one is a friend of mine and the same age/year] and learned that there is no information provided for parents wishing to home-school their children. Apparently the law is that a parent is responsible for his/her child?s education, and if the parents do not choose to be responsible, public education is provided. Otherwise, you?re on your own.) How do I set homework for myself? How do I evaluate my work? What sort of essays and things should I set for myself? How will I know how much is the right amount? Where can I find good, reliable course books that I know have correct information? How can I be certain what I?ve learned is from a reliable source?
If you have any advice regarding these matters or any information about home schooling in general, please respond! If you?ve got success stories or tales of horrible disappointment and failure (perhaps I can learn from your mistakes! I am sorry if you?ve had difficulties!), please share them! Websites and tips are also greatly appreciated! Thank you all so much for helping!
I may add a bit more to this later, but for now this tiny box seems to be affecting my ability to think!
Thanks ? Those websites are great!
I am in the U.S. now, in Connecticut.
If possible I would like to have a mix of these things, but I am mainly a visual learner ? I will retain information heard in videos, but I find my mind is much more open and thinks in different, more extended ways when I read the information or have a course book or printed hand out accompanying it. I think books and the computer will have to be my main learning tools, but I am definitely open to all other options! I just haven?t heard many. 
Well, my mother says I want to study from a secular view point ? but why should she decide what /I/ want? I think, ideally, I would like a bit of both ? I think the Christian side of things is more philosophical, isn?t it, while the secular side is a bit more broad and scientific? I am more interested in the scientific side of things, generally, but I would also love to learn about different philosophies. I guess I would chose secular ? but I am not disinterested in ?
? the Christian curriculum.
Thank you. The public school model is all I know. That is why I am trying to learn about other?s experiences! You are right ? it seems very impractical to follow their examples when working from home on my own. ?You now have the freedom to learn in the ways that make the most sense to you, at the pace you prefer, and according to your interests.? I know ? This is what frightens me! ?You do need to set a course schedule and keep yourself accountable to it ? which it sounds like you?re more than capable of doing ? but it?s completely worth it.?
Thank you for all of your help!
?If you are in the US try the Home School Legal Defense Organization. They have answers to the requirements of your state as well as info on curriculum and tips on getting started.?
The state I live in, Connecticut, does not have any requirements ? this surely would prevent much of the confusion we have experienced, but there are no such requirements to speak of. Thank you for the tip, though, I will certainly look into that!
?I use have used Seton, Kolbe, and Catholic Heritage Cirricula because we are Catholic ? they have daily lesson plans available as well as reportcards and some have HS diplomas.?
That sounds excellent ? I think what we need is a sort of example of lesson plans to work with. I will deffinitely look those programmes up!
? Seton has experts available for you to call if you get stuck. They send you the books and a list of additional supplies that you might need.?
Excellent ? This might ease some of my mother?s worries. She is afraid I may not be able to learn without a proper teacher.
?They are now excelent self-starters and are great at teaching themselves all types of things (knitting, guitar, etc).?
Really? I?ve taught myself knitting, piano, guitar, and Mandarin Chinese! What a coincidence. 
?Don?t let anyone give you any crap about socialization, my kids have lots of friends and are quite active.?
Ha ha, I should mention right now that although I appreciate your concerns, anyone who is planning on answering with ?Home schooling is a poor option. Children miss out on many social opportunities and have more tendencies to develope social anxiety disorders? etcetera? and similar answers, please do not reply to this question. It has very little to do with the subject at hand ? yes, it is about the general subject, but this is what we would call ?going off on a tangent? in my old lessons.
Also, I do have lessons from half-three to half-eight every day with my friends, so I will not be entirely removed from my peers. Any way, I?ve always found that I relate better to adults than the children in my old classes at public schools.
?Good luck with everything!!!?
Thank you.
Thank you all for your help!
A note about scheduling matters ?
Has any one had experience with working lessons into tough schedules? This was one of the reasons that have lead to my decision to home-school ? I have a very difficult schedule, and it is always apt to change during certain seasons.
I am a dancer, and so all of September to December is spent in Nutcracker rehearsals and the back-stage areas of theatres. I have lessons from half-three, and they continue until half-eight. This is when there is no production in progress, which there is more often than not. How can I make my schedule flexible but structured enough to be reliable and easy to stick to, but forgiving enough to slip in a three hour rehearsal at a moment?s notice? Will this lack of reliable schedule be a problem? What do you think?
Thank you for your help!
Thank you for the advice ? I would love to be able to pre-arrange my holidays, but my schedule is often changed and will need to be re-arranged to accommodate many late-night rehearsals and staging/tech runs! ?Now for assigning yourself the course work it is actually already done for you by chapter but here is an easy way.? What course books do you use? I will have to look through the course books we purchase and divide it up this way ? thank you, that makes the task seem much simpler! ?I have had no help from the local school where I live because 2 educated teachers could not handle 11 kids in grades K-2 so I have homeschooled since we moved here andwill continue until we moved. Also the kids in the class we more then a grade below grade level. I still can?t figure that one out. Best of luck to you.? Our public school district is similarly incompetent and very intolerant, and has a moronic staff ? they turn a blind eye to abuse and harassment, too, which is unacceptable to us. Thanks!
Hsmomlovinit, thank you so much for all of your help and recommendations! They all sound absolutely wonderful and seem to be exactly what we?ve been looking for. We have also searched a wide variety of programmes over the years for gifted and talented courses, but our searching never yielded particularly useful results. (This past year I was sort of in-between years ? I was already in several year nine lessons, but I could read in class all week [I didn't, but you know what I mean] and still pass the tests without a problem.) Challenging course work is definitely something we?re looking for! You?ve been a great help. All of this is so fantastic!
Candygirl-lola, that sounds very interesting! I think I would prefer to be home-schooled to being un-schooled, but I will most likely read the book you mentioned ? although I don?t think it is the best option for me, I think I would enjoy learning about that type of option.
Nikkigirl400, thank you for the advice! Unfortunately, we have already been to our district offices and they have no help or information to provide. They do not require or even ask that you turn in work to them or take standardised testing ? although I /will/ be taking CAPT tests, PSATs, SATs, and other standardised tests, there is not information provided to home-schooled students or their parents about curriculum, activities, scheduling, or any other matters. Connecticut does not /have/ a home-schooling office ? they seem to be the least informative area about home-schooling. If their were requirements to base our work off of, we would surely have fewer questions! It is unfortunate, but the only help home-schooled children and their parents can receive in Connecticut is from /other/ home-schooled children and their parents. I think if we searched for the requirements of other states and based our work off of those, it would help us a great deal, but Mum seems to think this is not ?
? a good idea. Thank you for all of your help and advice, specifically with regards to supplies! On the note of standardised testing and extra-curricular activities, I do have several extra-curricular activities that I will continue to participate in, and I have a slight bit of experience with standardised testing. I have already taken the SSATs, so we have farmiliarised ourselves with the procedures. Unfortunately, we are still trying to figure out how this works in relation to home-schooling, as this seems to be different than how it works if the child is in the public or private school system.
Thank you for all of your help!
Best answer:
Answer by Rob E
Here are a couple of sites that may be of help to you. One of them offers homeschooling textbooks and the other is basically a how to for homeschooling. I wish you the best of luck!
Add your own answer in the comments!
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