I was reading on the HSLDA website about state requirements, being in Texas there's not alot of requirements. It says "Home schools need only have a written curriculum, conduct it in a bona fide manner and teach math, reading, spelling, grammar, and good citizenship." So, I actually have a few questions here. Should I worry about teaching science? health? history? Or should I just stick to the ones listed? My boys are 7th/10th grade. History bores my two boys to tears. Although I love it, and I think it's necessary to know what and who got us where we are today. Now, science I can do without LOL. Not my favorite subject. Well, let me rephrase that....some parts of science aren't my favorite, such as molecules and atoms and stuff of that nature. But now, biology, geology and astronomy, those are interesting to me and the boys don't seem to mind it so much. Another question.....what does grammar exactly consist of? Is it the same as language arts or English? I can't remember any of the older kids I know taking "grammar" class in high school. Good citizenship? What does that consist of? To me, it would mean teaching my kids how to be....well.......good citizens. Do they have a curriculum for that? I mean, I teach my boys to be honest and trustworthy, and how to be productive members of society. Is that what they consider good citizenship?
Do YOU think these subjects are important? Honestly I believe history and economics essential for anyone who wants to consider themselves in informed voter which is part of being a good citizen. Another question to ask yourself is where your boys will go after homeschooling. Your most important goal is to prepare them for life. That could be college, tech school, or an apprenticeship but they are going to have to do something and you will do them a disservice to not think about what they need to succeed in their next stage of life. Honestly that will look different for every person. So look ahead to decide what's important for your sons. Once you know what is important you can think about making things as palatable as possible but your boys will have to many things in life they don't like. I hate paperwork. Insurance forms and taxes will never be pleasant to me but I'd better know or be able to figure out how to do them.
Frogger asked the important questions. If they're heading to college, they will need the history and science. If your boys are bored to tears with history, I would guess it's the curriculum. Science, I'm like you! I have SO MUCH trouble finding a curriculum that works for me! But my oldest one does Apologia on her own. Language Arts involves grammar, literature, reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, etc. Grammar is more or less the way the English language is put together...sentence structure, punctuation, verbs/adverbs/nouns, etc.
I do think it's important, I live in Texas and taught my girls those subject all the time. Good Citizensip, what you are doing is fine. If they can help a neighbor or something, anything like that, we have done alot of volunteer work which is great. But, yes if you want your boys to go to any kind of school after homeschooling, those subject are important.
My kids aren't as old as yours, but I just wanted to say that I hated history when I was your kids' ages, too...bored to tears is a good way to describe it! I liked science a little bit, but only biology-related topics...the other stuff never held my interest. I've found that as an adult, I'm fascinated by so many history and science topics, though. I realized that is because I follow my own interests in learning about them. (I truly feel like I absorbed nothing from the history and science classes I took in PS!) So, if I see a documentary about ancient Rome on the Discovery channel, it prompts me to go online and look up the answers to questions I had while watching it. Or a news story will nudge me to find out more about why things are the way that they are. It's a very natural approach to learning that I wish I'd learned to appreciate earlier on. After muddling through more formal history and science programs last year (and not getting very far with them) I've decided that this year, I'm letting my boys decide what they want to learn about in those two subjects. I'm going to use the science and history resources I have and let them browse through and choose topics they're interested in. Then we'll use the Internet, library, etc. to come up with fun activities, field trips, etc. related to those topics; tie them in with our writing and art, etc. So, if I were you, I'd maybe try that kind of approach to history and science and see how it goes. Because I do agree with the others that it's important for them to have at least some foundational knowledge in those subjects beyond high school graduation.
To interpret the law in Texas, as I do live here, you can do whatever you please. You can unschool here. Not only are there no legal definitions of what qualifies as teaching these things, but there is no legal entity to check on you. The department of education and public schools are not allowed to touch your homeschool or ask you questions.
Whether you purchase any formal curricula or not, your child will still learn a lot. Everytime anyone speaks, your child hears (hopefully) good grammar. Everytime your child reads something, your child sees how words are spelled, increases their vocabulary, and so on..even when the reading is just whatever of their choice. Everytime your child breathes, goes to the bathroom, helps with yard work, cooks, etc, your child learns science. But I am quite certain your child will learn way more science than that. It is all over TV and books and so on. Same with history. Most of what my children retain is from movies they liked or books they read. I have given up on formal curricula for the areas of history and science and they are scoring in the mid to upper 90's percentile in those areas on the ITBS. You can pull out a book and pictures and everything to show them how water expands when frozen and turns to a solid and then when it melts, becomes a liquid and then a gas when heated. But chances are, they won't ever know that because they saw it in a boring textbook. It will be when they freeze something in the freezer or see you boil water. Because of my children's college goals, we are doing formal for a lot at the high school level. But leading up to that, I just do the basic skills, which really does not take much. They take off from there. I cannot stand chaos though, or for the children to play video games all the time and such, so, they are only allowed to watch learning TV, learning computer games, and read books during the day, or play. No video games and no twaddle TV during the day. When they can no longer do twaddle type stuff, they turn to things like the science books and the learning tv shows.
I struggle with history and science as well. My 10 year old DD learns through reading American Girl books, and going to museums etc. We tood a trip to Williamsburg this Spring. I had her read all the Felicity books before the trip, and picked up a few other fun books on colonial times. But I don't like dry factual curriculum. I figure as long as she is exposed to the subject, she will get something out of it. I think I may rent "Colonial House" for us to watch. Its a reality tv show where people try to live as they did in colonial times. Science is harder. I have a big thick science book from American Publishing (The Spectrum people) we are going to try this year. We'll see if we like it. I tend to do either history or science for a period of time. Then if we get bored, we switch.
I just had to chime in on this. When I received my 11 y.o.'s standardized test scores yesterday, I chuckled when I saw that the received the highest language arts score in grammar. I thought that would be, by far, his lowest L.A. score because of the flaws I hear in his speech and often see in his writing. But then I realized, well, I guess he's learned enough about it to recognize good grammar when he sees it in writing! LOL So they do absorb a lot just through living. Still, wish I could figure out how to bridge that gap between what he seems to know on paper and the grammar he actually USES! :lol:
I think both science and history are important. I would think part of being a good citizen would be an understanding of what you're a citizen of. As to science, there are so many careers out there that involve the scientific field; I personally think it's such a shame that people want to ditch it just because they found it boring in school. A lot of what I hated in school I loved in college--- when I got better teachers in those areas.
I say yes because they are required for most colleges and Universities and I am assuming you want your kids to make something of themselves; although I have not checked trade schools , i think Science and History are nessacary for your highschooler especially. He/she is old enough to know that somethings you just have to learn because you have to learn it whether you like it or not.
We do science and history as well. I think they are important in order to be considered an educated person. I loved history in School. Hated science. I still think that it's important. As far as a course of good citizenship goes we consider our bible/history studies as filling that requirement. Some people use boyscouts or community service. I'm sure for your childrens age a bit of Gov't would serve.
