Homeschooling. Thinking about curriculum. Any thoughts on this subject?

[Peak_Oil]

To me the most important things to teach my children are, in no particular order...

Reading, writing, arithmetic through Algebra II and Geometry
History of the US before 1865, and post 1865 through a study of biographies
Games - Checkers, dominoes, Go, chess, poker, jacks, Gin, Rummy, depending on their abilities and inclinations
Sports - Whatever team sports are available at local grade schools and high schools, plus any individual sports the child might be interested in. Swimming, running, long distance bicycling, marksmanship and knife throwing (of course), etc
Historically important works of literature. The Art of War, The Kama Sutra, Leaves of Grass, Caro's Book of Poker Tells, The Bhagavad Gita, The Bible, Verbal Judo, Dow 26,000 (to learn how to spot BS)
Diet and exercise
Basic biology, anatomy, physiology, medical training through EMT or CNA, their choice.
A musical instrument of their choice
Navigation with a map and compass
Gardening, canning, hunting, fishing, and astronomy
I wasn't raised to participate in the trades, so I would suggest my children work a trade from the earliest legal working age to enable them to continue their education in any way they cared to by working part time as a skilled craftsman.
Study of propaganda
Study of personal finance and how to work with/through the banking system

In my wildest imagination, I would have my children start some kind of business and make it profitable on their own by the age of 18, and decide what to do with their lives from that point.

I figure if I got 80% of the way through that list by the time my kids are 18, I did a pretty good job preparing them to make their way in the world.

I have a couple years to work on a curriculum, so this is just brainstorming. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[A.W.U.K.]

A foreign language, (maybe latin too), ancient history, a selection of world history, economic and social history, geography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, applied science, English Grammar, English Literature, art, history of art, comparitive religion, woodwork, politics, plus what you already mentioned.

 

[pbonanza]

languages from a very young age. i can't stress this enough, it will open so many doors.
Philosophy but mainly political philosophy
world history
sociology
international development

 

[powernoodle]

There are many home school curricula available and many resources. The Latin school that my sons attend offers one day per week classes in Latin, Greek and the classics for home schoolers, and there are many support organizations.

Consider reading David McCullough's John Adams, and cogitate on the education he gave John Quincy Adams. That was a real education.

 

[knarfeng]

As Powernoodle said, there are many curricula available.

I see you live in the L A area. There's a walloping big home schooler's conference held every year in Anaheim. Lots of courses on display so you can actually look at what it covers. My wife and I found it most helpful. Lots of presentations that might help answer your questions.
http://homeschoolerhelp.com/national-homeschool-conference/

Aside from that, one option is to join a home schooling group, or school. They help you pick the curriculum, or in some cases pick it for you. They make sure that the kids get credit for the classes they take. You still do the teaching yourself at home.

 

[Mark J]

We started homeschooling both kids (11 and 15) last year, after taking them out of private school. It was the best decision we ever made with regard to their education. Our fears about a potential lack of social interaction (which I find plagues lots of first-time homeschooling parents) ended up being totally unfounded, and the kids actually have more friends (and closer ones) than before. OK, I'm stepping off my soapbox now.

...Aside from that, one option is to join a home schooling group, or school. They help you pick the curriculum, or in some cases pick it for you. They make sure that the kids get credit for the classes they take. You still do the teaching yourself at home.

With regard to curriculum, I agree with knarfeng - I'd start by asking the homeschool group and other parents what they use. There are lots of catalogs, homeschool conferences/fairs, and other opportunities to get hands-on time with the potential books. We liked most of our picks, however, some were lousy. In particular, it was my job to teach the kids Econ this year. We had another mom recommend a book to us, but after reading it, I tossed that one out pronto. What a piece of crap. Instead, I used the textbook I had used in grad school to teach Freshman Econ. - "Economics," by McConnell and Brue. I was afraid at first that it would be too hard for them, but we agreed to take it at their pace. Now as we are closing out the year, both kids have straight A's in the subject. The other day we were watching TV and my daughter pointed to an advertisement and said, "Hey Dad, that's an example of diminishing marginal utility!" I think I may have overdone it.

Anyway, the point of my long-winded story is to not be afraid to try out new and different approaches. The important thing is that they learn they subject matter and learn how to "think" on their own. You know how your kids are wired and what they can handle, so trust your gut and then find something that both of you think will do the job. Good luck with the new adventure!

- Mark

 

[smithkzn]

Look at the Sonlight curriculum. My sister-in-law did home schooling for about 3 years with her already public schooled 11, 9, 5 year old kids. What a turnaround! Their development and learning was ASTOUNDING! It was the making of them. Maturity, character-wise, academically and family relationship. The older two are back in public and private schools respectively - they are bored out of their minds and top in every subject, they are way ahead and global thinkers. Too easy!
The affect on their family is so remarkable that my wife and I are very seriously looking at home schooling for our youngsters. We have two other close friend families who home school their kids. The kids are different - in a very good way. Very well rounded. Polite. Engaged. Not morbid. Not troubled. All have great family relationships. They get to structure the kids education around their inclinations. Music, dance, maths, science - whatever!

Mass public education is a new thing in man's history. All the early great thinkers were tutored. You can either let the government indoctrinate your kids or you can nurture them the way you want.

I lecture at a university. The average public schooled kid leaves very much to be desired. The system is definitely dumbing down as we 'progress'. There's a small percent of stars though. You're doing a good thing - not being selfish and sacrificing for your children. Great thing.

Look at:
Singapore Maths.
Creativity. Art practice / history.
Foreign language
World history.
The Holocaust and WWII.

And you definitely want to watch this by Sir Jen Robinson (it's had 2,437,080 views)

[video=youtube;iG9CE55wbtY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY[/video]

 

[Danbo]

Just my opinion, but home schooling doesn't teach children how to interact with other children. The kids need to be around lots of other kids.

 

[thegeek574]

I found that the course by sonlight has been excellent. it comes from a christian perspective, so depending on your religious views, you may not like it, but it is very solid and gives you all the books needed for about every course imaginable.

as far as math goes, I love teaching textbooks. It is very well done, and, while not the most challenging program ever created, it certainly does a decent job. i was able to muddle my way through the SAT after doing about a third of it.

Finding a good co-op will open many opportunities that you would be unable to do at home.

now, on to my more unbacked ideas. I really think that you should branch out on language. learning arabic will probably be quite a bit more practical than learning, say, spanish, though harder.

One more thing. If your kids love to read, then that will be a huge blessing. if not, it will maker their lives a lot harder.

 

[j3jymann]

Just my opinion, but home schooling doesn't teach children how to interact with other children. The kids need to be around lots of other kids.

Homeschooled children are very often portrayed as being social outcasts or not receiving the necessary interaction with their peers that is required for proper social development but this is hardly ever the case. You will notice that in the OP's post he stated that he plans on enrolling his children in sports at the local schools and other extracurricular activities, children will play and become friends with others in their neighborhood, and homeschooling groups are quite common and give opportunities for socialization and field trips.
There are extreme freako cases of children being completely separated from society AND being homeschooled but they're hardly exclusive to each other. You also need to realize that public schools are cutting out children's ability to socialize in school, there is no recess anymore, time between classes is short, and many public school lunch rooms have assigned seating or will separate lunchtimes by age group.

Disclaimer: I was homeschooled until I got into high school, my older brother and sister until they got into college so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I've probably been indoctrinated with the crazy and lack the social perception to realize just how much of an outcast and social weirdo I am.

 

[smithkzn]

Just my opinion, but home schooling doesn't teach children how to interact with other children. The kids need to be around lots of other kids.

Yip. That's a legitimate concern, along with "Moms and dads aren't qualified teachers".
However, have you thought about what you mean exactly by your statement? Define socialization. "a continual process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior and social skills according to his social position". So they can be successful adults that can function in society. 'Modern' homeschooling came about in the 70's. You think that the millions of kids that have been home-schooled are roaming the world as adults and can't interact with society, living abnormal lives? You just don't meet them.

Some stats. (from a study by Dr. Brian Ray 2002)
- Currently there's around 1 million FAMILIES (that's at least 3 million kids) a year who homeschool just in USA. And growing at 15% a year.
- The mean number of is 5.2 community activities per student.
- 48% involved in group sports.
- 98% involved in 2 or more activities outside the home.

University of Toronto researcher J. Gary Knowles found (Fox News 5 April 2005):
- "Homeschoolers are able to move into adulthood with a much better sense of self, and have a very good sense as to what they want to do"
- "Where did we ever get the idea that 13 year-olds were the ideal people with which to socialize other 13 year-olds?"

In 2001 (USC Bureaux 2001)
- 74% home-educated 18-24 year-olds took college-level courses compared to 46% of USA general population of same age
- 71% home-schooled kids participated in community service activities

My experience of the 3 home-schooled family's kids I personally know are that they are secure, confident, engaged, really enjoy learning, are very well-rounded, they are around lots of kids, and adults, lots of diversity (more natural as this reflects how life is actually lived - around multi-age levels, not just one peer group)

 

[kozak6]

That sounds fairly ambitious. As long as you feel you are qualified and able to effectively teach it, you might as well. I know my public education was mostly a waste of time.

Make sure you include a lot of "fun" books in the reading. It's important to teach your children to enjoy reading, and it's all too easy to teach them to hate it by focusing on unnecessarily difficult material even if it is historically significant.

If you can effectively teach more math than Algebra II, you really should. Although math (particularly higher level) is often scoffed at since it isn't necessarily useful in everyday life, I think it's useful for teaching structured thinking and problem solving.

Be careful in your textbook selection. It might be worthwhile to see what is actually in use at the university level and if they are actually any good. Maybe email some professors and see what they think. It's often possible to purchase an older edition of a textbook for pennies on the dollar, or possibly just pennies. Without derailing your thread, I don't know what your feelings are, but a lot of homeschooling science textbooks are written from a religious perspective.

Schaum's Outlines are wonderful. They are supplementary material that focus on how to actually do math/science problems, and have numerous examples and problem sets. They are also inexpensive.

You might also want to look at the possibility of having them attend classes at a community college. I don't know how it is in California, but in my state they are actually fairly good and almost everything transfers to a real university.