Friday, August 31, 2007

Curriculum for homeschool -

Because my boys are enrolled in Gumpoint Christian School, we use Alpha Omega SOS program with the combination of the Lifepacs! We like them, most work is very challeging. We do have the option to change up our curriculum, which for next year I am considering Bob Jones for Algebra II and English II & III. For their Elective Subjects we have been very creative by combining other curriculums as well as Text Books to reach the goals we are reaching for. God has been very good to us in finding our curriculum at afforadable prices, between Christianbook.com as well learningthings.com I have found what we have needed at reasonable prices. Of course there is always Ebay! And I have found a few items there that were compatiable to our needs. I find my sons are thriving very well with our Homeschooling Routine. We always take Fridays off, as they were used to this routine from their school they attended. One public school in our area was a four day school week and then when I moved them to a private school, they also were a four day school week. So we have carried that on with homeschool. If gives me a day to be able to get shopping done and house cleaning or just taking off and spend the day together fishing or going to the skate park. I am not worried about my boys missing some vital educational skill that the public school system may require as mandatory, we complete all our school work and I bring in a lot of multi-sensory activities and educational programs that we have access to on our satelite programs, and besides, when I began college at 36 years old, there were many things that I learned for the first time in my life and I past with 3.8 to 4.0 GPA and graduated from college. I believe that edcuation is vital for success in life in general, in all areas of life, we need to be educated, I also believe that education doesn't end with a degree, that life is a ongoing educational process, and that the desire lies within the individual to learn and to grow. As I told my Kindergarten Students when I taught elementary, if you don't learn you don't GROW! We should all be desiring to educate ourselves each day that we live. Homeschooling does that and more, because it trains students to take ownership in the educating of themselves!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Forming a Co-op?

We are in the process of forming a Homeschool Co-op. If you have information on this please email me and let me know. I am searching the internet and not finding exactly the information I need! I'd like to know the advantages of forming a Co-op as well as the disadvantages.

Homeschooling!

My son Donavan singing at a friends Pool Party with his band! REV 201~

My Son Skee Skateboarding after completing his school work!





We love Homeschooling. My boys are actually registered in school at Gumpoint Christian School. We are connected to the school through internet! We have used Switch on Schoolhouse curriculum and Life Pacs through Gumpoint. My boys recieve report cards from GP and AWARD certificates at the end of the year. We are using other books for supplement material and finding alot of great stuff on the internet. The main thing is to write down your objectives and a course line plan to follow and keep it organized someway that works best for you. Seperate binders and folders work best for me, with a type of syllabus in front to follow. I like to write up daily assignment plans for each of my boys and attached it as a cover sheet to their work and they have a plan to follow and check off as it is completed. They love this, then they know exactly what they must do and time management is being learned and adapted here with out any stress on them or me! Well do you have any suggestions? Are Questions? Please email me or comment me? We supplement for our elective subjects with different curriculums. For socializing, we are very active at Church in different ministries. My sons play instruments with their peers, go iceskating with a group of homeschoolers from our church at a local Ice Skating Rink that hosts a designated time for Homeschoolers to count as PE time, and I make sure that they associate with other friends, there are several homeschooled students their age around here. I love spending time with my sons and being a part of their education process.