Homeschoolers united!

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Bluepaint
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Bluepaint » Thu Aug 10, 2017 3:31 am

Cart before horse yes but I'm always curious about different schooling methods :P as a kid I always liked reading about education in bygone times (I seriously could have got on-board with Elizabeth I's education even if the methods were a tad dry!). As an adult this has changed to how do other people & other countries do it. It's usually some of my first questions once I'm fairly friendly with a new foreign friend. Yes, I'm dull :? :shock:
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby rdearman » Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:56 am

Rhian wrote:(I seriously could have got on-board with Elizabeth I's education even if the methods were a tad dry!).


OK, now you have to elaborate on the methods used by Queen Elizabeth I.
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Thu Aug 10, 2017 2:11 pm

Rhian wrote:Here's a question from a prospective HSer. Although prospective in the sense of many many years away if I ever go down the line of spawning.

How do you deal with the practical side of STEM subjects? Physics, biology and chemistry all very rightly require hands-on approaches pretty regularly and sometimes they involve controlled substances. Even some tech subjects or graphic design for example, are less book based and I certainly wouldn't be capable of teaching those especially well.

Also, I'm aware some home-schoolers are part of a wider HS community that meet up every so often. Are any of you part of such a thing & how important do you think that is? I mean specifically close-knit groups or groups where you meet rather than a looser community where you just go online to look at ideas etc.


While it may be cart before horse, I am a person who thought about and read about homeschooling his kids before he was even married! So, bottom line, I understand. ;)

STEM-wise, even nowadays in the US, some school districts have smartened up and are allowing homeschooled kids to enroll in certain subjects, which makes sense since their parents pay property taxes. (Off soapbox now.)

Further, everywhere in the US allows "dual enrollment" in community colleges. What that means is the kids signs up for a course (say, Chem 101) and attends in the community college. At the end, the kid gets both high school and college credit. That's one way of "doing" STEM. Also, you'd be amazed what you can do with self-purchased curriculum. For fun, ask Rainbow Resource to send you their catalog. It's like the old (dating myself here) Sears Christmas catalog for HSing parents!

As you don't have kids yet, we can only guess what wonderful options there will be for your future children by the time they hit high school.

As for HS communities, we only ever belonged to one, as we moved every 18 months or so. The one we belonged to was wonderful. Every "semester" parents would get together and come up with subjects they could teach based on their careers or hobbies, then the group would pick several and offer them to the kids, usually at two different age levels (as I recall, K-5, 6+). Kids did art, music, PE that way, and maybe some other subjects I'm not remembering right now. The group was great, if small.

For my daughter's junior year here in Moscow, my wife and she took a watercolor class from a renowned Russian artist every Friday. As her studio was so far away, that was basically their whole day. They'd spend the rest of the day getting lunch and then visiting a museum (as they are ubiquitous here). They also belonged to an international women's book club, and would read a different book every month and then once monthly meet up and discuss the book. My daughter (at 16 years old) even took charge of one of the monthly meetings. That goes on her transcript as well.

This coming year, her senior year, she and my wife have agreed that every Friday would be here catch-up and elective day. My daughter's very interested in linguistics, ancient Egyptian, guitar, chess and trying to bring back her piano skills. As I'm typing this and asking my daughter about Fridays, mom just told her "I don't want you flitting about over too many different subjects. Pick a couple and really work on them!" ;)

Finally, don't count yourself out as someone who "wouldn't be capable of teaching" any of these subjects. My wife, as the kids got older, kept ahead of them by studying, really studying, math. She's gotten so good at math now she'd contemplating going back to college to get a BS in math. Homeschooling really is a learning journey for both the parent(s) and the child!
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Systematiker » Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:06 am

We don't really know, as we're early on, but there's definite interest in forming a homeschool support coop group thing here, and as my wife and I both have a fair bit to offer and I can guarantee space for it (go church!), it's probably going to be a thing. I also fully intend on taking advantage of the robust, if nascent, STEM aerospace program the local Civil Air Patrol offers for teenagers.

Also, apparently one can start with 2yo preschool? This was news to me, and birthday-wise, we are early, but in just a few more days (starting September) we move from those intending to homeschool to those who actually do it (God help us).
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Mon Aug 21, 2017 4:44 pm

Systematiker wrote:Also, apparently one can start with 2yo preschool? This was news to me, and birthday-wise, we are early, but in just a few more days (starting September) we move from those intending to homeschool to those who actually do it (God help us).

Just a warning, from someone with 20+ years of doing this: Don't freak out if homeschooling doesn't jive with your 2yo just yet. Hundreds of newly-homeschooling parents get discouraged from attempts at early homeschooling. We particularly had an issue with child #1 and learning to read at age 5. Did. Not. Work. One year passed and all of a sudden, mom and son were like two peas in a pod, and the homeschooling blossomed.

Good luck!
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Elsa Maria » Fri Dec 01, 2017 5:54 pm

Hello, fellow homeschoolers. How is everyone's year going? My 11th grader is doing super well with his Russian tutor. I had been planning for him to switch to taking Russian at the college next year, but now I am not so sure if we will do that. His tutor is so awesome that he might be better served by staying with her for one more year. We are starting to look at colleges. As a starting point, we are filtering schools by language offerings :lol:
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Ani » Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:43 am

Have you seen the classes at By the Onion Sea? I hope one of my kids loves Russian or Russian literature enough to the her classes some day (assuming she still offers them)

We are doing great. DS9 is doing ear worms Greek right now. Dd7 is doing Duolingo French and Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. Took the kids to the Met on Tuesday and DS could identify nearly every scene in the pottery and all the statues because of his Greek studies... And Percy Jackson. I was pretty impressed and proud.

We move into the interior of Alaska in Sunday for a couple months. We've already done 6 weeks of school on the road, now we'll be changing things up a little because internet is wildly expensive. We bought enough data to do the kids online classes that they are already taking but that's all. It's going to be interesting :) (and flippin' freezing) Supposedly there is a French conversation group up there though! (Which only meets if the forecast projects the temp to be warmer then -30 F at noon... Let's hope it's warmer..I'm not going anywhere anyway at -30 except under a blanket.)
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:22 pm

All is going well here in Moscow. The daughter has read a ton of books so far this year, to include Beowulf, Dante's Inferno, Pride & Prejudice, Iliad, Canterbury Tales, tons of poetry, Picture of Dorian Grey, The Snow Child, and currently reading A Tale of Two Cities and King Lear. Not to mention two books a month for two different book clubs (Int'l Womens Club (IWC) and American Womens Organization of Moscow). Her history "course" is Norman Davies' Europe. Her art this year is a digital photography course with a professional photographer through the IWC. Her science is a magnetics kit we bought earlier. Plus she's writing poetry and short stories. My wife is having a blast!
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Bluepaint » Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:37 pm

It is probably difficult to quantify but how much time do you spend on *lessons* as homeschoolers? I mean delivering & working through the activity? I realise that there can be prep and study outside of lessons, not to mention learning is a constant process.

Also, are there any forums or websites you use for discussing homeschooling. I seem to be on one of my little kicks and I'd like to read more.
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Bluepaint » Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:41 pm

Alternatively are any of you willing to answer some of my Qs by PM :D
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