Any of you people homeschool?

Question

whats the program you use?

Answer 1

I was home schooled and we used A Beka, which had classes on video. This way I had more than just a text book to learn.

http://www.abeka.com/

Answer 2

I homeschool and we use the K-12 program.

Answer 3

We used abeka, Saxon, other homeschooling parents, and classes at the community college.  Plus many fine arts classes from various teachers/schools.

Answer 4

Many odds and ends, apologia, switched on schoolhouse, lifepac, discount store workbooks, Barnes @ Noble workbookes oh and yes we home school!

Answer 5

I find that "boxed curriculum" or programs that are all preset are too restricting.. we use different stuff for each subject and  for each grade level too. Its based on what is working at that particular time.

Right now I have a 6 year old beginning 3rd grade. So it was a bit of a challenge to fit curriculum to her maturity level.

We use Charlotte Mason  for literature, history and science. My daughter loves to curl up in my lap and listen to the reading and then tell me back all she can remember (Which is often word for word the whole story, why cant I have a memory like that??). For books on those subjects we use www.amblesideonline.org book lists, Apologia science and whatever else suits our fancy.  These seem to strongly impact her vocabulary and lately she likes to wow adults with the large words she knows. LOL

We tried a few math programs and there was nothing that made any sense to her at all until we hit "Professor B's Mathematics Power Learning for Children" CDs.  Now she whizzes though all the math concepts like they are nothing.

She learned to read and write her letters with "Teach your Child to read in 100 easy Lessons" We used all it's recommendations for writing, dictation, etc too. She finished that right at her 5th Birthday. Now she Copies a paragraph from anything she likes each day (So long as it is grammatically correct), this improves her handwriting, grammar, and spelling.  We never got a handwriting program, she does very well with copy work and dictation.

For composition she types a blog online each morning. It has to be a set length and she must figure out the correct spelling for all the words she gets wrong and correct them. Some days a topic is chosen for her, others I make her think of her own.

She is in the Book It program from Pizza Hut, I set it so she gets the free pizza for each chapter book she reads.  That is a big hit and has her asking permission to stay up past her bedtime every night to read.

We also use websites like time4learning.com, brainpopjr.com, and aaaknow.com.  We used Time4learning for part of 1st grade and all of 2nd, partly cause I was having to work and homeschool and be a single mom too and lesson planning was getting tough!

For other subjects she goes to a Homeschool coop... they have Jump Rope for PE, Art, Music and Drama.

Answer 6

i am!! i use Brigham Young University Independant Study, its great.

Answer 7

We don't use a "program".  We are independent homeschoolers.  Based on your follow up question, it sounds like you are looking for online schooling.  This is different that homeschooling.  It's public (sometimes private) schooling at home.

As homeschoolers, we mostly use the K12 curriculum.  We don't use one of their virtual schools - we purchase the curriculum ourselves.

http://www.k12.com

We also use Teaching Textbooks:

http://www.teachingtextbooks.com

and Power-Glide:

http://www.power-glide.com

We also use other supplemental materials and online subscription-based support, including:

http://www.cybered.com

http://www.cosmeo.com

http://www.explorelearning.com

http://www.brainpop.com

Answer 8

Homeschool sucks

I was homeschooled and hated it

Answer 9

i use ecotoh =]

Answer 10

I use to be homeschooled for freshmen and senior year of highschool ... here is what i used..

http://www.griggs.edu/

Answer 11

I was homeschooled from 7th grade all the way though 12th grade. We use a variety of programs. We use A Beka, Saxon, Bob Jones University, Switched on Schoolhouse, School Of Tomorrow. Some of these programs are better than others depending on the subject. They are textbook, computer and DVDs.

Answer 12

We use Charlotte Mason Curriculum for most subjects and MEP (Mathematics Enhancements Program) for math. Both are great programs.  

Charlotte Mason was a British educator who believed that education was about more than training for a job, passing an exam, or getting into the right college. She said education was an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life; it was about finding out who we were and how we fit into the world of human beings and into the universe God created. But this kind of thinking was pretty much eclipsed during the 20th century by demands for more exams and more workers. In 1987, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay wrote a book called For the Children's Sake, which reintroduced parents to Charlotte Mason's methods and philosophy, and it started to gain a foothold with a new generation of homeschoolers.

Charlotte Mason believed that children are able to deal with ideas and knowledge, that they are not blank slates or empty sacks to be filled with information. She thought children should do the work of dealing with ideas and knowledge rather the teacher acting as a middle man, dispensing filtered knowledge. A Charlotte Mason education includes first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through books in each school subject, and through art, music and poetry.

The knowledge of God, as found in the Bible, is the primary knowledge and the most important. History is taught chronologically, using well-written history books, source documents and biographies. Literature is taught along with history, using books from or about the same time period. Language arts skills are learned through narration, which consists of the child telling back a story, first orally and later in written form; copywork, or the transcribing of a well-written piece of literature; and dictation of passages from their books. Memorization was used by Charlotte Mason not so much to assimilate facts, but to give children material to meditate or "chew" on, so her students memorized scripture and poetry.

Science in the early years emphasizes nature study with an emphasis on close, focused observation of creation as a means to knowledge of God. Charlotte Mason was very excited about science. She felt that all the new things people were discovering in her lifetime were part of God's revelation, including the theory of evolution which was accepted by many Christians at the time. Christians using her methods now can still identify with her emphasis on nurturing curiosity and a sense of wonder, although most will teach that from a creationist viewpoint rather than an evolutionary one.

There is some overlap in Charlotte Mason and classical schooling, especially in the upper years; but there are also differences in methods and viewpoint. CM is not unschooling, although it uses some informal teaching methods and does encourage a fair amount of free time, especially outdoors. It's not a back-to-basics approach, although the basics are not neglected, just taught in different ways. And it's not a unit study method, although history and literature studies are combined.

A CM schedule would feature short lessons (10 to 20 minutes per subject for the younger children, but longer for older ones) with an emphasis on excellent execution and focused attention, whether that is in thinking through a challenging math problem, looking carefully at a painting and then describing it, copying just a few words neatly, or listening to a short Bible episode and telling it back. Habit training is emphasized from a young age; children are taught the meaning of the CM school motto "I Am, I Can, I Ought, I Will." There are no gold stars or prizes, and competition with others is discouraged; each child is simply encouraged to do his best in everything.(http://amblesideonline.org/WhatIsCM.shtm...

The great thing about these programs is that they are free. Books are available either online or in the public library.

The Charlotte Mason Curriculum is meant to be a lifestyle, not just a bunch of worksheets to be completed and tests to be passed. Read her books online (available at amblesideonline.org).

Good luck!

Answer 13

We are unschoolers!  Learning what we want, when we want.  It's a wonderful lifestyle.

Read "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewelyn.  Lots of great ideas :D

Answer 14

We use Sonlight and we love it.  It's especially good if your family loves literature.  Here's a link to their site:

http://www.sonlight.com/

Answer 15

I Do! I use the sunlight curriculum. It is a totally awesome program.

Answer 16

Yes. I do not. We create our curriculum as we go.

Answer 17

I was home school for 1 year.....I went to the City of Angels home school!!

Answer 18

Yeah, I'm home schooled and through my high school years have used American School correspondence classes - www.americanschoolofcorr.com - They're really good, have excellent staff, online help, and lots of elective classes to choose from. You have the general 4 years to complete the required classes, but if you can go faster if you wish (I'm almost done after just two years). Hope this helps!