Homeschooling Options...???

[*TheWigs*]

Hello!
Our family will be relocating to the Winter Garden area this summer and we are interested in homeschooling our two children (currently 4th and 7th grade). The girls currently attend a local Catholic School, but the tuition for Catholic Schools in Central Florida are nearly double what we currently pay!! We are not interested in public schooling (at all!) and are looking for information about homeschooling and online schooling for our girls. We are most interested in any homeschooling groups with a heavy Catholic influence on studies, but ANY information that is shared will be GREATLY appreciated!!!
Thanks in advance!!!
Geni

 

[Gracie09]

I would probably start by googling Catholic homeschool groups in florida. Or check out homeschooling message boards.

 

[MommaBerd]

On the Disney for Families forum, there is a thread for homeschoolers "Homeschool Chat Part III," and they may be able to give you some direction. I homeschool, but I don't live in FL (laws are different in each state) nor do I use Catholic curriculum. Sorry I can't be of more help - it can be overwhelming when you are trying to get started. I hope you are able to find some people who can guide you through it all!

 

[ilovefh]

I don't know much about homeschooling here but I have some friends who use Florida Virtual School to homeschool their son. They seem to be happy with it.

I also have friends with children in Winter Garden public schools and they are very happy. Their son is at the top of his class. I think he went to Keene's Crossing Elementary, Bridgewater Middle and now he's at West Orange High School.

 

[Sabeking]

I have homeschooled and used Classical Conversations. Students meet once a week with a teacher/tutor and then work on lessons at home the rest of the week to bring to class. I am Catholic and know lots of other Catholics who use it however, it is not a Catholic curriculum. It is heavy on literature, Latin, rhetoric, etc.... You may want to look up CC in you area. Hope this helps.

 

[*TheWigs*]

Thank you all for great ideas and direction!! Just want you to know that I'm in NO WAY knocking a public education, but we just aren't interested in sending or kids to a large school...our friends in Winter Garden say their grade school has 7 4th grade classes!!! I think we will be attending a homeschooling conference in May. Hopefully that will help us plan just how to go about educating our girls.

 

[SimbaLover]

We are relocating to close to that area in May and I've always homeschooled. I found a few groups on fb for the area. Look for mid or central Florida homeschoolers or pm me and I can give you the exact names. I've been looking into it for a few months now and apparently there's a lot of homeschoolers in the area. Also I know a popular Catholic curriculum is Seton. Don't know anything about it beyond my cousin uses it and loves it.

 

[MrsDuck]

Just so you know, Florida Virtual School will be an option for high school. Not sure if they do middle school.

 

[ilovefh]

Just so you know, Florida Virtual School will be an option for high school. Not sure if they do middle school.

FLVS has K-12 programming.

 

[teller80]

Why don't you give the public schools a chance? You say there are 7 4th grade classes, but are there 20 kids per class or 30? Even with 30 per class, that means the graduating class will have 210, which is not all that large. If it doesn't work out you can go from there.

I believe parental involvement is a key factor in education, and you CAN go to a mediocre (or even a bad) school and get a good education.

 

[MrsDuck]

FLVS has K-12 programming.

Oh that's wonderful!

OP, I highly suggest FLVS. It doesn't have the religious element you're looking for but will provide your girls with a well-rounded, free education that still looks great for university.

 

[momto2girls]

You might want to check out Kolbe Academy. It is a Catholic Homeschool and Online Academy.

www.kolbe.org

 

[scrhsa]

We used Seton, Our Lady of Victory and Mother of Divine Grace. Loved all three of them. Seton was the most comprehensive. We loved every minute of Homeschooling. Seton runs about a grade above public school and is more like a prep school. I REALLY liked it. Definitely keeps the kids busy. I wish I still had some of my books I would send them to you to see if you liked them. Good luck and have fun!!!