Homeschooling and Teaching Supplies?

Question

How does the supplies and curriculum portion of homeschooling work? Does the local public school district provide books for each subject that the student would use in class? What about tests? Does the school distict provide them for the parent as well? Can anybody give me and idea of how all of that type of stuff works? thanks!

Answer 1

It completely depends on where you live and what sort of homeschooling setup is available.

Typically, school districts do NOT provide books. Why should they? Your child is not enrolled in their school and is not getting the funding that pays for the textbooks. Homeschooling usually means the parent decides, to a certain degree at least, what the child will study. There is no  expectation that the students will be using the same textbooks. I'd be willing to venture that 99% of those who do homeschooling under homeschooling laws (as opposed to online schooling or some form of at-home study program) do not use the same texts as those used in school. It is up to the parents to select, and pay for, their resources.

There are some programs, as mentioned, that are a form of correspondence learning online or just at home. In this case, resources would be provided. An example would be K12 schools http://www.k12.com, where, if it's available as an online public school where you live, the student would be registered as a public school student and would receive the necessary materials. There are other schools which parents need to pay fees to enroll their child.

As for testing, not every place requires testing. Those that do sometimes have testing available through the school district and sometimes it's up to the parent to find a suitable place or means to do the required testing. Where testing is not required, it may or may not be available through the school district.

Answer 2

Depends on where you live. Where I live, the state has nothing to do with homeschooling, so you handle everything yourself.

You can enroll in an "umbrella" school, which basically means you are actually enrolled as a student in a school somewhere, and you pay enrollment fees, admin fees (sometimes) and course and book fees. All the supplies, like paper, pens so on and so forth are your responsibility. Most of these schools offer an ala carte system where you are not enrolled as a student, so you do not have to pay enrollment fees but you still have to purchase books and courses.

Another option is to pick courses based on the course and not the program. This means you may use math from one supplier, language arts from antoehr and you may even decide to create your own curriculum for history.

In this option, you, again, are responsible for your own materials.

That's how it works where I live, it may be different where you live.

check hslda.org for homeschooling laws and requirements for your area.

Answer 3

I found out just recently that our school district will supply text books for home school students.  They are issued just as they would be in school and the student would be responsible for returning it, in good condition, after the semester.

They do not supply teacher's manuals.

I had asked a teacher for discards when she gave me this information.

She is a veteran teacher but I have not pursued the issue since I purchased the text book that we needed with the teacher's manual and workbook at a yard sale for $5.00.

We have been blessed to find all that we need either free or very cheap. Our problem is deciding what to use because we have so much that we will need to school for 20 more years to actually read and study it all.

  I drive a bus for public school so notebooks, pencils, sharpeners, pens, composition books, glue, erasers, and markers are abundant.  I keep them for a few days in my 'lost and found' box and if not claimed, they become home school supplies.

Answer 4

The school distric does not provide anything. There are several different places to purchase your material. Here are a few web-sites you can use. abeka.com - alphaomega.com -

homeschoolsupercenter.com. There are several more. It is not real expensive to home school. Depending on the childs age there are several different web-site you can use for free to teach your children.As far as testing you never have to turn in any of your childrens work to anyone. Depending on the state you live in there are test you have to take once a year.

Answer 5

Depending on what state your in this answer differs.  Our school districts are required, upon written request to give you some type of curriculum of their choosing.  The CAT's are your responsibility to purchase in 3, 5, and 8th grade.  You can order them from many places online.  I would suggest going to HSLDA's website and reading the homeschool law for your state.  

On more thing about homeschooling is that you might want to take a more relaxed approach than "school at home".  There are so many more options.  I think the biggest thing is to not stress out and make it harder on you and your kids. When you first start, take a week or two to do nothing, enjoy each other and do some life learning.

Answer 6

Many homeschoolers do not get their curriculum and such from the local public school district and would not even if they could.  Many people choose to homeschool precisely, so they don't have to be like a public school.

There are many different methods of homeschooling besides school-at-home, and people buy their curriculum and supplies based on their own goals and budgets, as well as what they think will be a good fit for their kids learning styles and interests.  There are complete curriculum sets out there, or you can design your own curriculum by using a variety of resource.  Many homeschoolers rely heavily on local libraries, eschewing text books in favor of using real books.  And some homeschoolers don't believe in using any sort of set curriculum.  

And most homeschoolers, even those who do use a curriculum, don't usually give many tests.  They may give an occasional assessment, but when you're working with your child every day you tend to realize whether they've understood something or not.  The same goes for keeping track of grades.  Grades are used by schools to determine how students are doing in relation to each other and as a whole class; this is very unnecessary in a one-on-one setting.  Some will have their kids take the occasional standardized test just to practice how to take a standardized test, not because they really feel that those tests have much meaning.

With the advent of the internet a variety of curriculum have been easily made available for purchase by homeschoolers.

You can check out this website to see comparisons of various curriculum as well as where to purchase them:

http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/index.h...

A lot depends on the homeschooling laws in your state as to how much latitude you have, I live in Illinois which does not require record-keeping or standardized testing or state interference of any kind.  We just have to cover the same subjects as the public school in English, but there is no set way in which we have to do so.

Most years I expect to spend $100 or less per child on curriculum.  Of course there is extra money for dance lessons and such, but we probably would have been paying for those even if they were in school.  The same goes for the about $100 per year on field trips.  And as they get older they may take community college classes.  You get a lot of the money back, though, when you don't have to pay for school lunches everyday and back to school wardrobes and school supplies.

You've come so far just to consider home education for your child at all; you really might want to consider thinking outside the school box.  Designing your own curriculum and can be fun and rewarding for you and your child.  It make take some extra time and attention form you, but it can make learning more fun for everyone.  You can also read about different homeschooling methods at this website:

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/arti...

Good luck!!

Answer 7

HOME SCHOOLING.

http://www.homeschool.com/

http://www.hslda.org

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/curric...

http://www.homefires.com/

Homeschool.com also has the following information available free of charge:

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/inde...

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/

Homeschooling and Curriculum Resources Pg1

http://www.kidsolr.com/homeschool/index....

Homeschool & Education Resources

Teachers use these resources; see if they are useful to you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/

http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/pr...

http://www.literacylessons.co.uk/

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REV...

http://absoluteshakespeare.com/

Answer 8

Any supplies the public school offer you would be part of a public school education at home. This is something that a lot of people need to realize.  Public schools are constantly marketing their programs for home as "homeschooling."  This is simply not the case.  Although you are doing your work at home, you are still under their rules.  Most homeschooling organizations, including the Homeschool Legal Defense Association do not recognize these individuals as homeschoolers.

As a homeschooling mom, I purchase my homeschooling supplies from the store and books from various sources.  The only contact I have with the public school is giving them my intent to homeschool form in the beginning.

Answer 9

Most states have online "homeschooling" or independent study programs,such as K-12. If you do those programs than they do provide books and supplies.

The problem with these programs is that they are actually public charter schools.

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that parental rights are left at the schoolhouse (virtual or not) door. If your child is enrolled in any public school program than you have no right to control the curriculum content nor to exclude your child from participating in any aspect of the curriculum. You also can not incorporate your religious beliefs in to the curriculum.  

Some schools allow children to be excluded from certain activities, but that is at the school's (and not the parent's) discretion.  Some families get away with including religious instruction when teaching with these programs, but if they get caught than they are required to return all unused materials and to pay for used materials.

You need to seriously ask yourself if these restrictions on home schooling freedom are an acceptable price to pay for getting "free" books and materials.

Answer 10

In my case I'm home-schooled through correspondence. The school that I enrolled in sends me all of my supplies. I get my text books, exams, study guides, rulers, etc. from the school.