new to home schooling, need course information?!

[stevepgill]

Hello,
Your kindly help would be much appreciated. We have just learned of this site this morning. My daughter is 12 and heading into 7th grade. She and her mom have begged me to allow her to home school. Well I gave in yesterday! Is it to late to get set up with a course for this year? And most importantly who has the most progressive home schooling courses. Toni my daughter tested out by their (public school) standards to be first year college level in reading, etc. Please help, I gave in to my wife and daughter's wishes and now need to quickly move ahead on a course of action!

She is leaning toward being a large and small animal vet, like her grandfather.

Best Regards,
Steve Gill

[Pat]

You will get access to a lot of first hand experience here. While waiting for that to get started I suggest you Google on home schooling and take a look at some of the promising sites. While a lot of schooling can be done on the computer as a partial substitute for the classroom, a mentor (parent?) is a handy thing to have to provice guidance beyond assignments.

Challenging a bright child is especially important so they don't "coast" along. One of many strong points of home schooling is that any day can be a field trip day even if it is something like the biology, chemistry, and physics of baking bread.

If you have a friendly cooperative local vet you would have an excellent opportunity for field trips there. These could serve the dual purpose of letting the reality of vet work be recognized (kids tend to idealize and sometimes need to deal with the other end of the animal, not the end you pet, and motivating the student for the long series of biology related studies.

We have a new vet that just started up a practice here a few months ago with her husband. I haven't seen her husband at work but she is as good as I have seen, really terrific with horses and super compassionate when she put down a neighbors old sick cat.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Hakim]

Hi Steve,

Welcome to CountryByNet!

Our sons Ibrahim & Muhammad (who founded TractorByNet as well as CountryByNet and other sites) -- were both home schooled from about third grade till high school. They both attended SUNY Binghamton, part of the NY State University system.

CowboyDoc over at TBN started homeschooling his daughters a couple of years ago.

I cannot praise the option of home schooling highly enough. You'll find a high level of interest among parents, and the students themselves, most of them are thrilled with it.

We used the Oak Meadow School for all of the years. They have options from just getting an inexpensive basic curriculum, to assigning teachers for all classes. They are one of the oldest home schools and located in Vermont. They do have a high school graduation ceremony, which both of my sons attended when they completed their studies. It was a terrific experience.

Take a look at Oak Meadow. Oak Meadow School. Dr. Lawrence Williams, the Director, will remember us well -- The Chishtis.

Also, you can start at any time. One of the great things about home schooling is, you don't have to follow the public school schedule at all. A relief, believe me.

All the Best. Keep us posted...

[seaphish]

Hi,

I am thinking about homeschooling myself; although, my daughter is only 2 1/2 years old. I am an ex-public school teacher. I am quite disillusioned with the public school system.

One thing I really recommend for a girl your daughters age is to start looking into college requirements. Most colleges have minimum requirements for entering students. If your daughter has those out of the way, she will be a much better candidate. For example, in CA, where we live 2 years of a foreign language are required for certain colleges. Find out what is required for the schools she is interested in. If you send emails to schools they will reply with more information than you could possibly want. Especially for a young woman who is heading towards highly prestigious vet school.

You might also start looking into financial aid. I know it sounds crazy to start thinking about these things when she is only 12, but it really helps to be prepared.

Good wishes to your family.

Seaphish

[starchicken]

This place helped me alot: http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/default.aspx

Good luck!

[Pat]

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. ~Mark Twain

But only a newby replies to posts over 3 years old since last active.

Oh, hi, welcome aboard. Don't waste time on old junk, start a new thread of interest to you.

Oh and don't be bashful, give us a little bio info like at least what part of the planet your on.

Pat

[starchicken]

Gotcha Pat! And thank you for the welcome! I didn't know where to put an intro. I fixed my bio so it has more info! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

I went from the second half of the first grade through the eighth grade at Lima, Ohio. Third through eighth we lived on the second north south street east of the city limits. Soybeans, and dairy cattle on one side and the city on the other just 2-3 blocks away. Ice skating, sledding, and such are not in the current list of activities here in south central Oklahoma where today there is a heat warning for temps and humidity.

The sysadmin/owner of this site and the sister site, Tractorbynet, very successfully home schooled his children and could be a good source of info.

Pat

[starchicken]

I lived in Oklahoma for a few years - just outside of Blanchard. It was a nice little town. Last time I talked to my mom said she it had grown so much I wouldn't know it anymore!

I'm new to homeschooling. Our kids both read non-picture books and one can write her alphabet - they are 4 and 5 years old. Our son is pretty stubborn and seems to think the alphabet is evil! I'm enjoying teaching them though! Now to just teach them how to do housework too! LOL