Hi Everyone - great community here I'm a new homeschooler. I have a 11 year old daughter who recently passed the gifted test. However, the gifted program resides at a school thats quite far from my house...and in a pretty nasty neighborhood. My wife and I are unimpressed with the public schools, so we've decided that homeschooling is great option. Right now we're considering the Sonlight curriculum. I've read good reviews about it. Is there anything better? Also, what "official" things do we need to do. We currently live in Illinois.
Welcome! I personally don't have experience with the curriculum you reference in your post but I am sure some of the ladies on this board will have some good advise. Here is a link from hslda for hs regs and info in your state. http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Illinois.pdf
Hi and welcome! I am new here myself, but thus far everyone has been kind and helpful! I Rebecca and I am schooling my 2 sons this year. My oldest ds is also considered "gifted" (though I hate that word!) - as well as "ADHD" (hate that acronym just as much) which is lots of fun and challenge all rolled into one. As for curriculum, Sonlight is great! I have several friends who use and like it a lot. If you are looking for the whole "curriculum in a box," there are a plethora of them out there. Choosing a curriculum is the most difficult part of homeschooling, IMO. A few other complete sets include Abeka (which I have one friend who LOVES it and one who detests it), K12, and the one we are using is Calvert School. While we are really enjoying it here (what we have done of it), it is NOT for everyone. I implore you to read all you can before actually choosing a curriculum - there are about 10 billion out there and none of them are a "perfect fit" for everyone. Best of luck to you and hope you have a great year!
Welcome! I have an 11 yo daughter and a 9 yo one as well. We use a mix of curriculum, including Sonlight's core. We love all the books. There are so many choices for curriculum out there, it is a tough decision to make. I would say most veteran homeschoolers would say you just have to make the best decision you can, start with something, and then make adjustments as you go. Best wishes.
Illinois is one of the easiest states to homeschool in! If I recall, all you need to do is tell the school (in writing) that you intend to teach her yourself. That's it! We were going to move there but changed our minds (better climate in NM). But please look at the link that was posted, to get all the answers.
Hi and welcome. We are new to homeschooling as well. This site is a blessing!! You won't be disappointed. Have you considered Abeka or Alpha Omega? There are some great curriculums out there. MamaBear has experience with Abeka and is the kindest person to talk to. She might be able to give you advice regarding Abeka. Do you need a list of curriculum to research? If you start a new topic and ask for curriculum suggestions, you will be amazed at how many responses you'll get. My dh and I have chosen an ecclectic approach as we like something different about many of the curriculums. This is more mind boggeling as there are SO many choices available BUT we can tailor the education for each of our children. Best of luck!
Hi Troytime! A few things to consider: -Sonlight, Abeka are Christian curriculums. Generally this means they're creationist (no evolution) and teach the bible from a literalist perspective. If you're not Christian or Christian but not creationist that would be a problem. Not to say those programs aren't excellent though. I've heard many people rave about them! - There's some excellent stuff out there that's not a complete program and might be more suited to your daughter's learning style. Have a hands-on learner? Winston Grammar and Rightstart Geometry might be fun. Loves math? Singapore might offer a great challenge. Our first instinct tends to be to look at a package but there's a lot of fun in putting together your own program suited just for your child. Godo luck!
Welcome! I also live in Illinois, and as someone else mentioned it's a very easy state. You have to inform the district that she won't be returning. Other than that, there are specific subjects you need to teach, and they have to be taught in English. That's it. No reporting attendance, no getting approval of your curriculum, no required testing. I personally do keep records just in case someone decides to report us to the athorities, so I have proof that my kids really are doing schoolwork. I don't have any experience with Sonlight, so I can't offer any opinions on it. I have a very eclectic approach & stay away from full packaged curriculum. My kids are both (10 & 4) gifted, both have ADHD, and my oldest also has ODD. In my experience, I've found that an eclectic approach (picking & choosing from different homeschooling methods as well as curriculum choices for each subject) works wonderfully. It allows them to work at the level they are really at, not the level that they would be working in at ps. I mention this because children (especially 'gifted' children) are rarely at the same level for all subjects. So, you may want to find ouut what level she's actually capapble of in each subject and find a curriculum that will allow you to use different levels for each subject (if needed). Also, you may want to find out her learning style. Choosing a curriculum that fits her learning style will help make her education more fun as well as help her learn better & faster. I'm not saying anything against Sonlight. As I said, I have no experience with it. It might be a perfect fit for your dd, but it might not. My advice would be to find out the levels she's really able to work at & what her learning style is. Then use that info to help choose a curriculum.
Hi and welcome, and congrats on your decision to homeschool!! As for formal things you'll need to do, the HSLDA website is a great place to find that info. Brandi posted a lot of info! The other place to get info like that is to find a local homeschooling group. A lot of local groups utilize yahoogroups or MSN groups for a contact venue, so search "homeschool" and your local city for those respective places, or whichever of them you prefer. My thoughts on Sonlight - Like Dawn said, it is unabashadly Christian (and creationist), and you should be aware of that. It's a literature based approach. It's VERY heavy on the literature, and there have been opinions expressed that some of the books used present concepts that a lot of kids aren't ready for at the ages in which they are presented. (Social issues like a drunken parent, or the horridness of war, etc.) For a mature child who enjoys reading, it's fantastic! If the social issues part concerns you, I'd encourage simply reading the book before it's assigned to the child. It would not hurt the SL curriculum to simply skip a book here or there. It's chock FULL of literature. I think Sonlight is an excellent choice for a gifted child, whose family is just starting to homeschool. My advice would be to use it this year, and evaluate what you like and do not like about it. We ALL change curricula periodically, and very few of us still use whatever it was we used the first year we homeschooled. Sonlight is an excellent place to start for a Christian first time homeschooling family with a gifted child. And welcome to the board!!
thanks everyone!! The response here is simply amazing! I'm not sure of what my daughters best learning methods are yet, but i'm excited to figure it out. She loves to read, and she's seen plenty of pg-13 movies. She's aware of plenty of the social situations The christian part of sonlight is a little intimidating. We're catholic, dd knows about god and some of the basic bible stories - but we haven't been to church in months I think we're going to go with curriculum core 5 withOUT the bible stuff. She tested into algebra 1/2 (grade 7) My wife knows more about this than I - maybe she'll chime in
I just wanted to say welcome and good luck. I tried SL with my two oldest. It is an incredible curriculum. It just didn't work with our lifestyle. I didn't have the time it required. I have become more eclectic over the years as I learn how the girls learn and what works for me as a teacher. I have three dds by the way 8, 6 almost 7 and 3. There is a lot of advice here feel free to ask anything.
welcome, yes we all have gifted children one way or another isn't that great. Anyway there is so much out there on the web to help too. good luck and welcome aboard.
There is a yahoogroup for Catholic SOnlight users: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SL-Catholic/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1 If the link does not work, just do a search at yahoo groups and it will come up. I do not belong as we are not Catholic, but thought it may help you. We have used Sonlight for years. Core 5 is the least "Sonlightish" of the group in that a great deal of reading on the computer and filling in the blanks in the EHE is needed. That said, there is a wealth of information there and lots of discussion opportunities. The readers and read-alouds help to tie all those facts together and give the student a real feel for the topics. Welcome to homeschooling!
Welcome! Sonlight has a few yahoo groups out there that people use is it secularly and such. We trying out Sonlight this year and we are VERY excited! You can use the program without all the Christian aspect, it just takes a little tweaking here and there.
We are Christian and I am still leery of using a totally Christian program. I totally understand the reasons for feeling a bit intimidated by it. My husband said that he finds it to just be "too much" when they try to bring God into every single subject in order to teach it. Having kids count with the animals on noah's ark rather than colorful plastic counters might just be a bit of overkill! I am not saying sonlight does that...it is just an example of what my dh was saying.
