Dropout boy?

Question

What is a good course or program for a boy who dropped out of 8th grade. Either online or homeschooling.

Answer 1

First of all no child drops out of any schooling, they may give up when it does not meet their needs, but then it is up to the parent to provide a viable alternative; which home schooling can be one of those alternative educational choices.

Home schooling is much more than doing school @ home, and requires the parent to be willing to be the primary instructor, guide, and encourager to their child, and take responsibility for the direction of his/her education.

Leaving the public school system at that age, and making the switch to independent, self directed learning in the form of home schooling requires a 360 degree turn in how you view what education is.

For Montana go to http://www.mtche.org/

If you are just starting out, it may be a good idea to consider attending the home school convention in Billings this year; the workshops offered, and vendors may be able to give you a better understanding of what it takes to home school, and if it is the right choice for your family.

Indeed, one thing I will agree  on is that the experience will not be the same; home schooling and conventional schooling are very different from one another.

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

For more information go to

http://montanahomeschoolconvention.com/

A good general home school information web site is;

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

Addition:

Free Thinker, I would but do not have an e-mail address.

It will not allow me to get through without changing all my settings.

I'll check back here today and see if you choose to provide an e-mail or not.

Answer 2

Here are some programs you may want to consider:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The learning experience will not be the same.

Answer 4

get in touch with connexions if you are in UK they will point you in the right direction

Answer 5

Well first off I'd like to point out to you that homeschoolers are not the same as drop-outs. A drop-out is someone who has discontinued their schooling entirely, and legally you can't even do that until a certain age (usually 16) anyway.

If you are the parent homeschooling this child and you're going into it with that attitude... that your boy is a drop-out or that there's no way the learning experience could be the same (or better, which is usually is) then it is in my personal opinion that you should not homeschool your child.

To answer your question, you should start by looking at your stat'es department of education website, or for a faster and clearer reference, HSLDA.org. There you'll find your stat's homeschooling laws and requirements. This will give you a bit of guidance when choosing a program, curriculum, or homeschooling method (yes, it's true. You don't actually NEED a boxed curriculum or accredited program to provide a quality education for your child!)

Start by determining your child's needs and learning styles. Is he very independent and likes to go off on his own a lot and explore new ideas? Is he an avid reader who absorbs a lot from written text? Or would he be better off with videos or interactive software? Does he need rigid structure, or something very flexible, or does he need a good mix of both? Does he benefit from hands on experiences, experiments, and demonstrations? Let him help you determine these things. Shop for curricula together and listen to his input.

If you want a boxed curriculum there are countless varieties to choose from. You'd have to do a google search. Some are geared towards a religion, some are not, some are geared towards gifted youth, some are geared towards the more average, and some let you choose your pace and placement. Math-U-See is an excellent program for any level of mathmatics and I highly reccomend it. You can also create your own curriculum that meets your needs. Choose books or videos or software from any publisher you like be it Saxon, Glencoe-McGraw Hill, Prentice Hall, or publishers more homeschool oriented. This might seem costly, especially in the sciences when you also need to buy lab supplies, but it's easy to find discount websites for homeschoolers, people selling their used books at curriculum fairs, and never rule out Amazon or eBay. There's also the local library. Ordinary books can do wonders, especially in subjects like History, World Culture, and Science.

The internet has an abundance of resources as well. There are websites you can use for record keeping (which may or may not be required. Check your state laws), generating or finding pre-made worksheets and quizzes, activities, field trip ideas, and just learning supplements. CoolMath.com is wonderful for making higher level math interesting and easy to understand. They can also help with worksheets, math related research and projects, and quick explanations of how a formula or unfamiliar concept works. Highly reccomended for parent and child alike. I've also heard good things about a website called brainpop(?). I'm not sure of the address, so google brainpop and see what you find. The learning company doesn't provide online resources, but you can surf their website for tons of software you can use to supplement schooling.

If you want a strictly online program, well... to each his own. I personally don't consider this homeschooling. More like public school at home, but it works very well for some students and can't be discredited. Connections Academy is one that I've heard is very good. K12 is another that provides materials and laptop for free, and supposedly lets students work at their own pace. You may want to research that. If you want to go the public school at home rout, your school district may offer a virtual school that the student may participate in. American School of Corespondance is a commonly used program, as is Penn Foster (though I think it might be too easy to cheat with that one. Everyone here probably knows what I mean. I also don't really care for the whole open-book/open-note concept either. Seems to defeat the purpose, but that's just me.) If the student is very bright, there may be programs for the Gifted that he can participate in. Stanford University for example offers a program called EPGY for gifted youth. All classes are very advanced, and graduating from such a program would look very good when applying to college. (Yep, even homeschoolers go to college, and they don't have to participate in an online program or get a GED to do so.)

There's also the unschooling option, but that's another kettle of fish entirely.

Do your homework, so to speak, and explore the options. They can seem overwhelming at first, but they're worth looking at if you want to provide the best education possible for this student. When in doubt, there are always homeschool organizations you can join for support. These are groups of just about any size that meet regularly to go on outings, feild trips, sometimes have events like dances, prom, some have sports teams and clubs, and some called co-ops even offer group classes on certain days taught by homeschooling parents or volunteer pros. Also see about getting the boy involved in his community... maybe take up a sport or a class or join a club or two at a community center or local library or something to keep his social life going so he doesn't suffer an academic burnout.

Good luck to you!

Answer 6

Don't be homeschooled....

It's horrible...

=)

All my best!

-Max

Answer 7

i was homeschooloed and i loved it check this one out www.americanschoolofcorr.com

Answer 8

This Note is for BUSY MOM--I can't email you but would you email me? Please!

Free Thinker