Hello... I am going to start HS my children (3rd and 6th grades) at the end of this school year. I am looking for an accredited umbrella school in the State of Florida. Does anybody have any suggestions? Also... I am looking for a fun, hands on but rigorous curriculum. What is your favorite curriculum and why? Thanks in advance for any input!
Very few people here use one curriculum. Most pick and choose. Here's a few hints. For math take a look at http://www.khanacademy.org. and I would suggest purchasing a Kindle for your 6th grader. Tons of great books are free once you have one. A good idea is to have both kids write something every day. Writing is so key. Even if they just describe their day, it is so important to practice writing every day. Get them a blog and have them write in it every day. Helps their typing too.
Welcome! I don't live in Florida so I can't help you out with umbrella schools, and as for curriculum I mix and match with what works for my kids. There is a lot of free stuff online you can look over and I know everyone on here could give tons of recommendations for curriculum. Usually the first year homeschooling can be a bit tricky with trying to find your children's learning styles and what type of curriculum works best for them. If you already know your children's learning styles, I am sure we could all point you at the curriculum that might work best for your kids. Don't be afraid to ask anything!
Also not in Fl so no help there...but we unschool. Not as scary as the media makes it sound. We have curriculum, but we have way more living books than curriculum. We go, we do, we see, we try. My son learned way more in a year of homeschooling than in 2 years of PS. It's not about letting them run free and do nothing like the news stories make you think, it's about following my sons' interest, If he's interested in something, he'll learn it faster, retain it longer and enjoy learning more. That being said, we're huge fans of Apologia here. Also huge fan of Master Books.
I'm in the same shoes as mostly everyone else here, I mix and match. We're very much for CLE in Math, Reading and Language. Their Social Studies is also great, but for this next year we're going to do Trail Guide to US geography. Also we love Apologia Science. For Health (required) we do Abeka, because we haven't found anything else. Now this is a personal option, but if you going to homeschool and are a christian I believe Bible should be in there. For the first 6 years ours use CLE, but this next year we're going with Lifeway Christian Bible Study.
