I just got yet another mass produced, placating letter from the Oregon Department of Education. I know the battle is not over by a long shot, but I also need to be realistic. The state of Oregon will continue to rake taxpayers for education dollars, to sink into a system that is broken at best.
As a taxpayer, I am beyond exasperated. I am tired of being poo pooed away by people who think they're too good to talk with a constituent.
I am preparing myself for traditional homeschooling. I know! My traditional homeschooling friends just jumped for joy, you might be able to hear it echoing over the Willamette River Valley.
I am right back where I was 18 months ago, absolutely overwhelmed at the idea of choosing a curriculum and not excited about the cost.
Okay, girlfriends, help me out here! Can you give me/post under comments the curriculum you use for each topic. I know some of you use canned curriculum, some of you pick and choose, etc.
I can say this--I feel more prepared for homeschooling now that I did before doing CA. I have a good idea of what makes my kid tick, what kinds of things he likes and dislikes, where his strengths and weaknesses are. I also know what I like and dislike.
I also have this in our favor. I hope I am not giving away any secrets here, CA's curriculum is heavily based upon the homeschooling curriculum of Calvert. I have really liked the math with Calvert.
The Language Arts CA uses is a Houghton Mifflin reader, with a whole of extras for phonics, handwriting, spelling etc. Just in looking at Calvert's I like that in the fourth grade, where JM would start, it focuses on classic books. That coupled with all the spelling, phonics, etc.
I am also ever grateful that our schoolroom is set up. We have everything we need to start this. For JM, it will be fairly seamless.
Also, as the kids get older, if we pay more to Calvert, they can get an accredited transcript, which then would make getting a diploma and going to college easier. Who knows? By then the state of Oregon might actually approve of a virtual school. But here is what just chaps me--I need to pay about $1,000 a year to Calvert for their curriculum that I get now using my tax paying dollars. Because some representatives want blah blah blah......barf.
So, what am I saying? Because we are SO used to the Calvert style, I am leaning towards that. However, we have over a year to prepare, and save our pennies, to take this on.
I would love any specific input about a curriculum you have particularly enjoyed. Our family strives for academic rigors. I know other families who homeschool for other reasons. To escape public schools. To encourage a "different" learner in their home. Whatever the case, we homeschool because we believe that kids need to be prepared academically to enter a workforce that is rich in math, science, and technology.
Did I mention that a friend of mine chastised me a few weeks ago because of the kinds of editing we were required to do for JM's school? She's a good friend, and a very experienced public school teacher. Well, I told her, he can do it. He just needs to do it. This was during our difficult time awhile back when our personalities were clashing and JM dug his heels in badly. He could do the work, and chose for several days not to. She would not require her second graders to do this kind of work, not until fourth grade. I guess my point is, if he can do it, let's challenge him to do it, not just assume he shouldn't because he is younger.
Anyway, I would love to hear from Kathi. I know she is escaping the public schools, but I am unsure as to her focus on academics. Beth! She has a "different" learner that I promise you, he is the next Einstein, and wants to encourage his unconventional learning. I know Child of God is a lot like me. Academics. She lives and breathes in the world of academia and her homeschooling reflects that.
I love that all of you are so diverse. I also know others read my blog that I don't know your specifics. But I would love to know.
Why? I am almost back to square one with this whole school thing.
BUT! God is big. We have over a year and a half before CA would have to shut down. I am praying that this gets tied up for quite some time in the court system, and an injunction keeps CA going for a few more years. Hey, I can dream right?
We have next school year to utilize CA, and a lot of time to think about this. I am starting early thinking about this because it took me about a year to come to the decision to use CA. I want to make the almost inevitable decision with as much clarity as I can.
6 comments:
Yeah, it's probably good that you're mentally breaking the ice here. That way, if things go haywire, you'll be ok.
Here are some of the things we use:
History - "Story of the World" series (I liked the first two books best. The third was so-so. I totally hated the fourth book. We stopped after the first six weeks of school this year and switched to CA history. I'll probably start over next year with both girls in book 1, Ancient History.)
NT Greek - "Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek" series (Not the greatest, but there isn't much of a choice out there. Classical Academic Press is supposed to be coming out with something, but it's been slow. I plan to check it out though once it's actually released. BTW - both girls LOVE Greek. Seriously. And it's helped EE with English grammar. I totally wasn't expecting that side-benefit.)
Art - We started the "Meet the Masters" series this year. So far, we're digging it. We have also used some simple step-by-step drawing books. I can send you exact titles if you want. You can also enroll in a local city art class. Lots of rec departments have them.
P.E. - Again, we use the city rec dept and church league. Jujitsu, archery, baseball, soccer, etc.
Math - Math-U-See. But if you like your program and it's working, I suggest that you stick with that.
Language - We use the writing series from Great Source publishing, which is a division of Houghton-Mifflin. My mother (who taught in public school for 40 years) says it's the best writing program she's ever seen. The titles include Writing Spot, Write One, Write Away, etc. I know this might sound cheesy, but I also use the Scholastic Success and Comprehensive Curriculum series that they frequently sell at Costco. The language sections are actually quite well done (even my mom says so) and it's cheap.
A good place to get stuff for better than retail prices is the Rainbow Resource web site. They have all the stuff I've cited above.
One more thing - We have been using the Picture This! Bible curriculum. The girls enjoy it (although sometimes I have to reword things on the fly when it's not totally theologically accurate, but overall I think it's pretty good).
Hope that gets you started.
Wow! Seeing the Greek sounds kind of fun! That would be one plus, we could choose from more diverse sorts of things. We do have "foreign languages" available as an elective, but not Greek. Nice. I would be able to diverge from the canned curriculum more doing this the traditional way.
PS The local news station called me yesterday, they love this story and want to talk to me when they decide to run it. Obama's speech last week actually got the press behind charter schools.
I know....I am barfing too....I actually agree with Obama on something. The end times must be near.
Thank you! I am going to check all of these out!
AM, had another thought - Have you checked into other charter school situations in OR? I found a list here: http://www.ohen.org/oregon/charter. Will OR off-line charter schools have the same problems as the virtual ones?
Also, I forgot to mention science curriculum. We have used the series published by Dr. R. W. Keller. The science is very solid, but it's also age appropriate. The only downside - no geology or astronomy (yet). I keep hoping that it's coming.
I realize there are other regular classroom charter schools. Two things on that
1) They are part of this bill, and will get so regulated it will be interesting to see if they stay open. As it is, there are so few of them, the waiting lists are astronomical.
2) JM really struggles in a classroom setting. To get him to focus on something, and stay quiet is hard for me! If he is struggling at something, he shuts down, and figures out how to avoid doing the work.
He also struggles with peer junk. Remember our bullying situation last year? That was because a manipulative little boy figured out that JM wants to be everyone's friend and got JM to do some pretty horrifying things with the promise that he would be JM's friend. And that was in a Christian school. I want him to mature a few more years before he goes into a classroom.
Many of our reasons for doing school at home isn't necessarily because of schools so much as it's not a good fit for JM. We want him to learn and because of he combination of him in a classroom, he will fall behind. He was egregiously behind in math and writing after first grade.
I confess that I have been reading your posts about virtual schooling but haven't responded. I honestly didn't know what to say except that I'm sorry that families are having to go through this. Families who care about the education of their children should not have to have a difficult time in providing the education that they believe is best for their children.
Anyway, when I started homeschooling I had to have the grade in the box package. I felt that I was inadequate to teach, but starting at 1st grade was the best because how can you go wrong there?! Since last year, I've moved "outside the box" to pick different curriculum when one wasn't working for us. And, I already have in mind what we'll be doing differently next year. Here's what we're using...
Math - For my 6th grader, Saxon. For my 2nd grader, Modern Curriculum Press. I'll be using Saxon for both next year.
Spelling - Christian Liberty Press.
History - For the past 6 years we've used Christian Liberty Press. The was the first year that it hasn't worked for us and I'm doing unit studies on different countries through the end of the year. Next year I want to use Tapestry of Grace because I can teach both kids at the same time.
Science - 6th grade: ABeka, 2nd grade: Christian Liberty Press. I'm thinking next year I'll use Apologia.
Grammar - 6th grade: Easy Grammar, 2nd grade: Rod & Staff. Next year I'll use Easy Grammar for both. I do need to supplement writing, though. I've found some good writing books at Learning Palace (where I work) to use.
Handwriting - Christian Liberty Press.
Reading - Christian Liberty Press for this year. Next year we'll have lots of reading with Tapestry of Grace.
Bible - Bob Jones. I'm debating on this for next year. I'm thinking that I won't use it. The kids don't really enjoy it and I think that Tapestry of Grace weaves it into their lessons.
As far as Calvert is concerned, I've known one Mom who used it with her kids and absolutely loved it. Her kids did well with the program.
There is a good website that people can review curriculum. I scoured it when trying to find a new grammar curriculum for my 6th grader. www.homeschoolreviews.com.
Also, Cathy Duffy has two wonderful books, "Christian Home Educator's Curriculum Manual" for both elementary and jr. high/sr. high level. It is very comprehensive on all curriculums for all subjects. You should be able to find it at the library. I found this book very helpful.
If you have any questions at all please let me know. I've been in touch with OCEANetwork, the Oregon Christian homeschool association. They are monitoring what is going on with virtual schooling and their opinion, at this point, is that what is going through the legislature will not affect traditional homeschoolers. In fact, they (along with OHEN) will be submitting a request that traditional homeschooling be viewed the same as private schooling. They have done this in the past and it's never gone through. But they keep trying.
If you'd like to talk, send me an email through FB and I'll send you my phone number. I know that selecting a curriculum can be overwhelming because there's so much out there. My best to you in your endeavor!
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