I feel like we should create a post to compile tips for Pedes that have had to deal with their kids be freed from indoctrination camps/schools.
So I'll start. Please fellow homeschool parents, jump in.
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Do NOT try and recreate public school. PS is designed to teach en mass, typically a one size fits all approach. Why do that when you can customize each child's learning to their personal strengths, deficits, and desires. A kid who excels at reading should be pushed to read more challenging stuff. A kid struggling at math should have more time and resources dedicated to that.
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Get a guide. Seriously, unless you are a teacher, we often dont know what to teach and when. Guides are helpful in setting benchmarks and giving ideas on how to approach it. You are not beholden to them, so you can and should alter it to fit your kid. We started with a book called "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Bauer.
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Teach more than just academics. Everything is educational. Teach them about your faith, running a household, maintenance of vehicles, rhetoric, home repair, anything that we hear others complain that schools don't do.
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Seize the little moments. Use everyday things to teach an academic lesson. Cooking uses math and also teaches task management. Dinner time discussions become etiquette and rhetoric lessons.
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The internet has loads of resources for homeschool. Sift through them to find worthwhile ones. Some are trash or leftist influenced so be mindful of it.
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Get them involved in a sport outside of the home. Its easy to focus on the mental and neglect the physical, dont.
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Keep them connected to peers outside the home somehow. Kill the excuse that homeschool kids arent socialized (read: corrupted or groomed) unless they are in PS. By keeping them in positive peer settings, you get all of the benefits and none of the downsides. Ex: Church youth groups, Trail Life or American Heritage Girls, sports leagues, hobby groups, homeschool groups.
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Do not feel like you need to spend 8 hours a day on lessons. A couple of quality hours of lessons at home beatsa full day of PS. The rest of the day can be filled with little natural learning moments.
That's what I have to start with. What else does everyone else got?
I’m a Bauer fan too and we followed the trivium for many years. I always tell parents to write down goals and what you want to accomplish then find a philosophy of homeschooling which fits: classical, Charlotte Mason, “public”, unschooling and so on.
Then as to curriculum you can spend thousands to almost nothing.
Here’s something I shared a week ago with friends and family.
When we began homeschooling over 10 years ago (can't believe it's been more than a decade and one of our children is in college!) I began collecting many online resources to use. Currently, during these uncertain times, many parents find themselves at home with their children and I thought it may be beneficial to share all the free resources I saved in our homeschool journey.
My view is Reading, Writing and Math are all which is needed, and if one can do all three they will be prepared for higher education and ultimately a career. Therefore, the first few links are of complete curriculums which focus on the three R's. (It is quite inexpensive to give a child a quality education at home as most books used are free to download except math and upper level science texts.) The rest of the links are to supplement.
And so, I have listed resources for those of you who may want to go all in and completely start homeschooling (all free of course) and I have also provided many more links for the rest of you who just want to add some music, art or a bit of science and history and so on,
We live in an incredible age of knowledge and our children are blessed to be able to continue on with their studies no matter where they are located.
God bless you all.
Complete Homeschool Resources Welcome to An Old-Fashioned Education. http://oldfashionededucation.com/index.html
Classical Education Resources https://biblicalhomeschooling.org/classical/contents.html
Charlotte Mason http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/
More Charlotte Mason https://www.amblesideonline.org/New.shtml
All in one homeschooling https://allinonehomeschool.com/
Not Complete but has some curriculum written by a homeschool mom https://homeschoolfreestuff.wordpress.com/free-curriculum-using-only-the-links-on-this-blog/
Can't forget Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/
For Older Kids and Even Parents Access 2000 free online courses from 140 leading institutions worldwide. https://www.edx.org/
Courses from top universities like Yale, Michigan, Stanford, and leading companies like Google and IBM. https://www.coursera.org/
Art History Resources http://arthistoryresources.net/ARTHLinks.html
Bible Memory work cards to print https://www.on-my-heart.com/index.php
Crafts http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
Bible Craft and Activities https://www.daniellesplace.com/
Preschool Activities and Crafts http://www.first-school.ws/
Geography Print Large Maps: World http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps.htm
Facts about the US https://www.ipl.org/div/stateknow/
US Outline Maps http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/usa.html
Quizzes and Games https://online.seterra.com/en
Handwriting Worksheet Creator https://www.handwritingworksheets.com/
History
US History The Pilgrims https://pilgrimhall.org/
Constitutional Studies https://nccs.net/
American History http://tah.eastconn.org/
250 Things and AP History Student should know https://quizlet.com/5350491/250-things-every-ap-student-should-know-about-us-history-flash-cards/
World History Sources – from ancient to now https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/asbook.asp
Math A great resource for K-Calculus (seriously my oldest loves this site) https://www.mathsisfun.com/
Complete Math Curriculum which we have used for the lower grades https://raysarithmetic.wordpress.com/rays-free-arithmetic/
Music Finding free classical music is easy. Choose a composer. Choose a work and Click. You are them transported to the web page where the mp3(s) can be found! https://www.classiccat.net/index.php
Music Appreciation Lesson Plan http://www.howtohomeschooltoday.com/curriculum/music_appreciation_lesson_plan/
Classical https://www.classicsforkids.com/
Notebooking https://productivehomeschooling.com/
Phonics Phonics on the Web http://phonics.kevinowens.org/
Phonics all in one reading problem http://www.progressivephonics.com/
https://www.starfall.com/h/
Preschool resources: http://ourpreschoolhomeschool.blogspot.com/
Science Open Source Planetarium http://stellarium.org/
Middle School Chemistry https://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/
Biology https://www.biologyjunction.com/
Bugs https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740
Build a Solar System https://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/
Timeline Nothing better than creating timelines for history and science and wrapping them around the family room walls: Clipart to decorate the timeline with events, people and places https://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History https://etc.usf.edu/clipart/ https://www.abookintime.com/timelines.html#timelinefigures http://donnayoung.org/history/timeline-cw.htm
Typing Free Online Typing Course http://www.typing-lessons.org/ https://www.freetypinggame.net/Default.asp https://www.typing.com/
List of Books: arranged by levels Robinson Curriculum Book List https://homeschoolfreestuff.wordpress.com/books-for-reading/robinson-booklist/
1000's of books http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html
Book Finder is the most amazing site to find the best price for any book or textbook you may want https://www.bookfinder.com/
Holy resources list!! Great share!
You’re welcome. I am no expert and we have had many failures with some of our homeschooling adventure (currently a child is finding out what happens when you don’t complete the math assignments. Summer will be not as fun as it usually is!) but I do believe our children are getting a quality education.
Thank you for this. Saving for later.
You’re welcome.
Just found your list, thank you so much!
You’re very welcome. We still homeschool two of our four children. Our oldest graduated and the next one is a sr and was attending public but I assume she’ll be homeschooled again. I’m thankful we still have the option.