My name is Kevin. My wife and I homeschool our four children. I am also a homeschool graduate (2000). My wife and I have been homeschooling for over 6 years. We have a passion for bringing up well-educated, and advanced children. We have been through many forms of curricula from print, audio, and video to downloads, and online resources. We are always looking into options for bettering our young minds (currently in elementary). We have been discussing with our children about what they wish was different/better for their curriculum. I'm curious what others feel along these lines? Do you wish there was something better, something a little different? If so, how? What have you found to be the best resource, and how has it benefited your child? Times are changing, and so are our ways of teaching and instructing. I'm interested in hearing/learning from other parents, and what they see. Thank you! Kevin & Sarah
Welcome Kevin and Sarah Well....my hubby and I were unschoolers. We pretty much provided a loose framework for reading, writing and math from K-7 and let our daughter self-direct as much as possible. Whatever she was interested in...is what we pursued. In eighth grade she asked to join public school (we respected her choice), she had a pretty easy transition, graduated high school with honors, and is now attending a top university, going into a STEM field. Got hired by a different university for undergraduate research straight out of high school. Worked all summer at a lab, and has the same job waiting for her next summer. She will likely graduate college without debt. There is more than one way to educated Experiment a lot and see what works for your kids. I'm a huge proponent of the public library (if you've got a good one near you). Big part of our homeschool week was our weekly trip to pick out dozens of books and videos. Let their interests guide them and see where you end up. (our library also had a learning toy lending library...really cool!) I'm also an advocate of real life experiences and problem solving. I used to have my daughter do everything from measure rooms for new carpet, to creating a budget and plan meals, to learning to do a brake job on the car, learning to filet a fish, learning to cut dog nails, change diapers, shingle the roof, unclog a drain, create a solar oven, make a fire, use a word processor, design a web page, light a pilot light, brew beer, fix a washing machine, crochet socks, milk a cow, make cheese, keep bees, and get sap from trees. If there was a fun skill to be learned....we learned it. If there was something exciting that she wanted to study...we studied it. Worked out very well for us.
My wife teaches the kids nearly year round. We take off a day or a week here or there. In terms of curriculum, we focus on the basics before getting into further studies like history or science. We figure those are easier once they have better reading skills. Each child is different so we adjust accordingly to keep them challenged, but, not overwhelmed. Finally, to actually give you a specific detail: I was also homeschooled through part of my early education. In terms of math I had some exposure to Saxon and my brother used it fairly extensively. In retrospect, it's not an optimal curriculum. I mean, it serves it's purpose. But, we much prefer Singapore Math. My wife has enjoyed the insight of the curriculum. We use the non-USA version which has a harder endgame than the USA-version. It is likely we'll send the kids to university for calculus, physics etc. in highschool. Having worked in the university a few years I see the superiority of college credit clearly. AP classes often fail to prepare the students for what they need. All of this said, understand my wife and I both have graduate degrees in math so... our idea of what constitutes a good math preparation is not typical.
I guess I am a cynical person. I can't help but feel like I am being asked to partake in a focus group for a product promotion.:roll: But I'll bite. I have axes to grind so here goes. I hate that almost every computer based curriculum product I have seen is simply a on screen version of a printed textbook. Yes products like SOS toss in the occasional lame late 1980's quality micro video. They hijack some open source education frame work then fail to take advantage of the features it offers. The very ealiest versions of SOS and the latest versions are very little changed outside of moving to whiteboard or moodle type of platform. I am insulted that publishers want to charge the same thing for cd-rom or digital based printed materials as others charge for well edited printed materials. Video and Sound as not hard to come by. why are there not photo albums to go with lessons. Why not sound and video materials other than the occasional little clip. Why does everyone think that homeschoolers should pay premium prices for materials that are still formatted in 8.5 by 11 and have default fonts from Commodore Geos Writer. (okay an exaggeration) There is something called instructional design. The major publishers should get a clue.
" I can't help but feel like I am being asked to partake in a focus group for a product promotion." Yep.
