Question by Party Pooper: Can I start getting home schooled in the middle of the school year?
I have to attend a school which is very far away from my house and I’ve already missed a lot of days of school to make up for the work I’ve missed so it all seems a bit tedious. Can I just drop out of that school and start getting home schooled or online homeschooling?
Best answer:
Answer by Lorelei C Your parents would need to discuss this with your school district.
Question by gerlawgoody1: Where can my 16 year old home school student take her GED?
In Illinois, a home school is considered a private school, so I may home school anyone. My student is a 16 year old, soon to be an emancipated minor. Illinois does not recognize emancipated minor status educationallly. My student would not be allowed to test for GED here until 2009! Even though she is legally an adult!
Please advise. Are there any states that will test her early?
Also, does anyone know how to get a pell grant with a home school diploma?
Best answer:
Answer by Steven S Talk to your local school board or department of education of your state or any surrounding state.
Question by donnyandmelissa@att.net: How many hours do you home school your 1st or 2nd grader?
He is 7 and currently in a public school he is reading on a 3rd grade level and he loves math addition subtraction and multiplication!
I want to home school but need more info on other parents day. Is it scheduled?
Best answer:
Answer by North My six year old is reading at about a grade 2 level. He schools four days a week from about 9:00-10:30. Sometimes we go a little later but we are rarely as late as 11:00. That’s more than enough time to cover all of the subjects. My kids do the same science and social but their L.A. and Math are geared to their age. If you’re worried about scheduling, look at this link:
http://www.sonlight.com/
My kids love this program. It’s especially great if your family loves literature.
After the “schooling” is done, we usually spend the afternoon outside or on outings. This week, we’ve gone on a hike, visited a senior’s home (we do that monthly, with a group of homeschoolers), and gone swimming at a hotel with a water slide. Tomorrow or Friday, we’re going to go to the woods to find things for the kids to put in their nature journals. They get to do so much more, and they are leaning so much more as well. I found out yesterday that my four year old can name almost twenty five different local birds! That alone makes it worth it for me.
EDIT: I just wanted to add…the only real negative I’ve experienced is that my housework sometimes suffers. Many people get their housework done while their kids are away at school. My kids are here with all of their glue and paint and glitter and leaves and pencil shavings and what not. We resolved that by having daily twenty minute tidy ups and mass cleaning on Saturday mornings. Everyone helps.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Question by Mandy: What is the best high school home school program if I live out of the country?
I live out of the country (Mexico) and I want to home school. Im in 10th grade. What is the best homeschooling program?
Best answer:
Answer by glurpy You live out of the country? Do you mean you live in the country? There are people in this forum from all over the world, so I’m not sure if you mean you don’t live in the US or if you mean you live in the country.
By program, do you mean a distance learning school or just a prepackaged set of books? I don’t know about anything for distance learning, but for books or computer-based programs, you could try A Beka, Alpha Omega, Sonlight and unfortunately I’ve forgotten some others. But those would be starting places.
There are a lot of reasons to choose to home school your kids. Maybe you don’t like the way your local schools are run. Perhaps you don’t like the curriculum used in the schools. Sometimes it’s the family bonds. Perhaps you don’t like public school and private school isn’t financially possible for you. Maybe you have your own educational ideas. Whatever the reason you might be thinking of homeschooling, it is important that you not overlook your curriculum choices. How do you choose your homeschooling curriculum? Read the remainder of this article for some popular options.
How about Charlotte Mason’s method? Charlotte mason was an important educator at the turn of the twentieth century. Her focus was on life, discipline and atmosphere. There are two main focuses, living books, and the homes atmosphere overall. Her methods were very strict (“discipline”) and centered on forming good study and academic habits while also making sure that the schooling subjects were easily approached through “living” examples instead of just dry facts. There are lots of places to buy Charlotte Mason’s curriculum (or new materials that embrace her curriculum approaches).
Your kids are still required to take the standardized tests sent out by the government and state even if you’re home schooling them. Brick and mortar schools set aside days every year for the students to take these tests. Your kids may need to take these tests in a “traditional classroom” so you will need to contact your local school board if you want to proctor them yourself at home. Some school systems even set aside certain days for home schooled kids to take the test together.
Your local school board will be your best resource in determining how to approach these yearly standardized tests.
There are several factors to consider when planning your home school approach and curriculum. Your child’s personal learning style is the first thing you need to consider. Your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher also need to be considered. The nice thing about home schooling is that you have more freedom to play up your strengths as you put together your curriculum. You will be able to play to everyone’s strengths, really, as you won’t be stuck with strict curriculum practices or units. it is a proven fact that home schooling is valuable to your kids. Most home schooled kids do better on tests as well as in college. Family bonds are stronger with home schooled kids. This is good news for those who’ve thought about home schooling but worried about it’s efficacy. Before you consider home schooling you need to research curricula so you know which one you will uses. Do some research and talk to other parents. A path for you to follow will be the result of your hard work!
Thinkbox’s new ad launched on broadcast TV on Friday 10 September 2010 The ad features a couple visiting a dogs’ home to choose a dog to adopt. They see two conventionally lovable dogs using all their considerable charms to sell themselves before they encounter a less obviously cute dog called Harvey, who has a different, smarter approach: he’s made a TV ad. Harvey then turns on a TV behind him which plays out an ad showcasing his amazing skills. The couple watch with increasing amazement as Harvey demonstrates why he’s the best choice; he plays chess, does the school run, cooks, irons, cleans windows, and tucks children in for the night. Harvey’s ad ends with the line ‘Every home needs a Harvey’. The soundtrack to the ad is Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s 1974 classic ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’. Perfect for a bit of air guitar. Video Rating: 4 / 5
Here are a few tips to help those new to home schooling or those who may be struggling with or just interested in home schooling.
1. You must have a plan: Figure out which direction you are going in with your home school education plan before you start. Do your research to see what is available and make a choice. Day 1 of home schooling is not the time to scramble around looking for school work for your child.
2. Have a scheduled time for school work: Yes homeschooling should be flexible when you need it to be for Doctor appointments, shopping or special occasions but try to keep to some type of schedule and stick to it. Pick a schedule that works best for you and your child and stick to it. It will be so much easier for you and your child if they know they have a set time to get their work done.
It will be much harder if every day you are trying to find the time to fit school in when it really should be a top priority.
When we decide to home school our children we make a commitment that we need to take seriously. It only hurts our child if we do not teach them as we set out to do. You only get out what you put into it. It is so easy to just put it off until tomorrow. Children can easily fall behind too, so scheduling is important.
3. Have a set bedtime: This is important in our house because children can easily get off track and if they are going to bed at a different time every night it is kind of hard to stay on a set schedule for school. Also children need to be well rested so they can have a easier time understanding and retaining the information that is taught to them.
4. Establish consequences: Home school is not the equivalent of no school at all and children must be made to understand that from the beginning. No child is perfect and at times they may not feel like doing their work. They have to made to understand that home schooling is real school and if they attended a brick and mortar school they would have to do the work presented to them by the teacher.
At times in the beginning of our home school journey a couple of my children have had what I refer to as a home school is no school, type day.
I swiftly let them know that home schooling is just as important as if they were sitting in a traditional classroom and that they would face consequences if they did not complete their work as I knew they could.
Once they realized that they would lose privileges such as viewing their favorite television programs, playing video games on the weekends or even playing with their favorite toys just the same as if they neglected to do their work in a traditional school the problem cleared right up.
My children knew I meant business and they eventually adapted to our home school schedule. It can be a little hard on them at first especially if they are used to attending a brick and mortar school. What you view as school time they may view as complete freedom and a long vacation until they get used to and fall in line with the schedule.
5. Have fun: Home schooling can be a fun and wondrous adventure if you choose to make it that way. Enjoy the time with your child.
Make the lessons fun with activities that go hand in hand with what you are teaching them. Do science experiments. Teach your child to prepare easy recipes. You could have themed parties or fun times with arts and crafts like painting, working with clay, making homemade cards or jewelry etc.
You can also take them on fun educational trips. Young children love these type of activities and you can enjoy them together.Make the most of your home schooling education plan. It can be a wonderful experience for you and your child.
Alice Coaxum is owner and creator of Wahms Online Network and a traffic exchange. She is a happily married mother of four beautiful girls a dog and one frisky cat. Alice homeschools her daughters and taking care of her family is a top priority. She believes in God first, Family second and Business third.
Alice is a partner with Vitamark and a Jafra consultant. She loves learning, reading, listening to music, movies, hair styling, healthy cooking and health and fitness.
Alice enjoys helping people and loves to network!
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Questions and Answers
Ask our experts your Homeschooling related questions here…
Question by Phaidrus: Can you transfer home school credits to public school?
I am from Farmington NM and was wondering what the laws regarding credit transfer are. I am part of an accredited home school program called Kolbe Academy, and I’m in 11th grade. I plan on going to public school for my senior year, but I don’t want to have to start high school over again (obviously). So will the credits that I’ve earned in home schooling count toward a public school diploma?
Best answer:
Answer by Tara Yes they count. You will not have to repeat your classes.
Question by Bob j: How do home school kids get graded and how do they take tests and do they get report cards and if yes how?
I’m curious.Can par rents grade their kids that they are teaching,or is there a home school teacher that grades them.Are all their tests open book?I’m really curious. I’m talking about grade school and high school.
Best answer:
Answer by Shiori_hime If your parents are teaching you, then generally they are also the ones grading you (unless you’re using an online course, correspondence course, or you’re talking about the standardized tests that have to be returned to a specific place for grading). How families structure testing is almost entirely up to them, and in places where no testing is required by the state many homeschooling families choose not to test at all because they see it as an artificial and fairly useless way of measuring knowledge. For families who do test (either because they want to or because the law says they must) whether or not a test is open-book is usually up to them. I have never heard of homeschoolers getting report cards, though I suppose some families might do it and it might be on option with online or correspondence programs. But I think most homeschooling families look at report cards as pretty useless measures of learning and prefer to base their assessments of their children’s learning off of more concrete things, like whether or not Jimmy can read a book and whether or not Sarah can figure out how much carpet she would need to buy if she wanted wall-to-wall carpeting in her room.
Online home schooling is the best way to save a great deal of money on unnecessary educational expenses. Children can get the best curriculum packages at an affordable price. Several people have different reasons for opting to provide home schooling for their children. The retreat from public schooling has caused home education to become a big business opportunity. Some businesses are taking advantage of the online home school parents but others are offering lower costs supplies and services. Because of the diversity of home school options, children can experience greater real life experiences than the public school will provide.
online degrees also allow you to utter courses much faster than what an offline course would allow. There are some folks who want to get the degree faster because they can spend more time per day at home completing the credit requirements and online engineering degree give them the ability to do so. There are some folks who want to get the degree faster because they can spend more time per day at home completing the credit requirements and online engineering degree give them the ability to do so. You can weave your hours of study and pace of education around your daily work schedule, which means it gives rise to a level of inimitable flexibility that a regular collage degree will never afford.
Home schooling is an attractive option to consider for many parents. The program offers several advantages over learning in conventional schools. online home school also provides more one on one teaching time where the teacher can focus on the student as opposed to handling several students at the same time. This will allow children to obtain quality instruction. Students of home schooling also benefit from having a very comfortable and familiar environment for a classroom. Home-schooled students no longer have to adapt to new surroundings, which can also sometimes affect a child’s ability to learn. This system can also provide a way for parents to be closer with their children and can also help parents have a more active role in educating their children in the manner that they want.
Online Home schools can also follow a student-paced learning approach which depends on a student’s learning speed. This approach helps students understand fully or master a concept before proceeding to the next subject or topic. Another approach is the “unschooling” method that encourages students to depend not on direct instruction but learning through an exploration of interests. This enables a child to learn by doing. This approach aims to provide learning opportunities through games and real life circumstances and problems which will enable a child to learn without coercion.
cheap online schools are a great way to help your child learn from home, and still get a qualification from one of many regionally accredited online schools. Online middle schools are popular destination in India to take online degree courses and online degrees where your all ambitions and dreams are very popular in modern times. A lot of students are very eager to learn from about online degrees courses and online education. Online home school is perfect for working adults who want to take up extra classes, specialize in certain fields or just freshen up their knowledge of their own field of work. Students can tailor fit online programs to their needs to gain an edge on competition and career advancement.