homeschooling questions

[paper1225]

I am very new to this subject, so I thought I could start here for a little advice. We have 3 children(dd12, dd11, ds5) 2 years until HS starts and youngest starts kindergarden this year. Homeschooling has been on my mind a lot over the last few years.......and now even more with HS coming. Currently we attend a local catholic gradeschool. The public highschool does not excite me at all, even with it VERY close. Another issue for me is this-even though I am a SAHM(babysit at home), I have been going to school since 2001 and will graduate with my nursing degree in 2008. I will have to go to work at that time, even if to just pay back my school loans. Does anyone work(I would work 3 nights/week or weekend) while they homeschool. Also, can I start at the highschool level? The more I think about it, the more interested I am-any advice-good or bad would be appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

[paigevz]

Noticed you fell to page two, and wanted to bump you for anybody who can help. I school school (teacher) so I don't know!

There was a thread on here about homeschooling though. Try the search and see if you can find it..........I believe there were many families on it.

 

[CraftyMouse]

We homeschool our two kids, ages 14 and 11. DD14 has been homeschooled since 2nd grade. DS11 went to preschool but never went to public school. We love homeschooling.

You can definitely start at the high school level. There are a lot of programs out there or you can develop your own curriculum. I picked and chose from what was out there until each of the kids got to 7th grade, then we began purchasing programs for them. We go through Laurel Springs School. It was important to me that the kids had a transcript of their work because they both intend to go to college. Others feel that the transcript is not necessary so you'll have to decide how you feel about that first. If you decide to develop your own curiculum you might be able to find a homeshooling fair in your area. They will have lots of materials available. Make sure you look through as much as you can before you decide on materials. There really is a lot out there. You will need to decide if you want a religious-based program or if you want to keep religion separate. There are lots of different texts and courses out there to choose from, no matter which way you go.

Do you have a local homeschooling group or association? They would be a great place to start. Our local homeschooling group does lots of activities for the kids, including a teen group complete with semi-formal dance in the spring. They can also give you information on where to look for materials in your area. Most states have homeschooling associations so if you don't know of a local group do a search for your state group. They can then point you to the nearest resource.

I have no experience with working while homeschooling so I"ll leave that part of your post to someone else.

Good luck! Homeschooling has been a great experience for our family.

 

[Barb D]

I homeschooled while working 30 hours a week. It was tough. I stopped when DS was going in to 8th grade and DD was going into 6th. (They're now going into 10th and 8th grades, and DD6 is going in to 1st.) I knew I couldn't effectively hs DS for high school while working at the same time, and I didn't want his first year of school to be high school, so we started him in 8th. It just seemed easier to start DD at the same time.

I loved homeschooling, and if I could have quit my job and really dedicated myself to it full time I would still be doing it. But I would have had to get DS either to co-op classes or community college classes for math and science, and he wouldn't have been able to play some sports while being hsed. (He plays football on the ps team now.) It would have been a logistical nightmare for me trying to juggle high school level schooling, working, raising other kids, and maintaining a home.

In our area we do have good public schools with lots of resources, so that's made a difference for us. I might have made a different decision if our schools hadn't been so good. There's no way we could afford private school.

If I were to homeschool for high school, I would probably do some combination of co-op classes, community college classes, and correspondence classes. One option you might be interested in is American School, which provides an accredited correpsondence high school diploma.