Is it legal? Yes, each state is legal though each state rules are different. In the state of Texas we have one of the most lenient of rules where we are considered our own private school. I recommend buying the THSC Student handbook on current laws in Texas including information on what to do in certain situations if you are harassed by school officials or Child Protective services. ."Click Here" for THSC downloads & order page. If you join THSC you get this for free.
Curriculum: We have used in the past Calvert, which I love but find to expensive for our budget. I recommend this for anyone first starting out not sure on how and what to teach. Get a "box set" like theirs or similar to tell you what to do. Through the years I have used Abeka and Mc Graw Hill, which I find, fits our budget. This year we are considering Alpha Omega We also use a lot of the Internet for printables. Donna's Young site is one of the best out there for homeschool organizing. Buy her CD's too!
Other Home School Favorites:
SonLight is one of the favorites with other Homeschool Familys.
UsBorne Has some nice selections
Home School Book Fair Conventions:Every May the official Homeschooling FEAST Store in San Antonio has a huge Book Fair. If your thinking of Homeschooling this is a great place & time to go to check out all the new curriculum and gadgets they have out for homeschooling that year. Most of the homeschool vendors attend and have their books displayed. If you missed it for the year try asking someone in your homeschool group what they use and if you can take a look at it or check on line at their websites and ask for a catalog most vendors have them.
If you would like a "Card Pack" from "The Home School Connection" they will send you it via snail mail to your home address for free. In it you will find tons of homeschool related products. "Click Here" to fill out the form. To look at vedors on line go to their website at
http://www.nrm-inc.com/homeschool/homeschool.htm
Helpful Hints for going to a Homeschool Book Fair I printed out some ideas for going to these Conventions "Click Here"
Also Donna's site has a printable battle plan sheet for subjects
If your looking for used books check out my website "Frugal Homeschooling" for a list of used books online or join one of the local San Antonio Yahoo groups below for updates on local Book fairs & Swaps.
Can you teach it all?: I guess you could but I dont as you can tell by my website my English grammar is not that great so I rely on other sources like the daddy, tutors and Co-op to help me out. Check our Home School Central for a list of available tutors here in San Antonio.
How about Testing do I need to test them yearly like the schools? That is entirely up to you, we are not required to test our kids like the public schools at this time. There are tests out there on the web, at the stores, and even FEAST has yearly set up dates if you really want to know how well your child is doing take one of these. When the child gets up to High school level and you want them to go to college I would prepare them for the SAT test, check your local college for other requirements and age.
Do I need to keep records & grades? That again is entirely up to you. Some moms find this helpful to keep track of what their kids do, some curriculum will include a record book or offer to keep it for you. Some familys will submit these with their application to colleges. You can buy one from the web or at FEAST or any School supply store. You can also make your own check out my Frugal Home School Section on the links to do your own.
Different ways to Homeschool: Yes besides the traditional teaching method that public school's use there are different methods of teaching your children. What you use is up to you and your family. There is Unit studys, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, Unschooling etc. If you would like to learn more about the different ways I would suggest going to Homeschooling on a shoe string method website.
HomeSchool Groups: We are part of two
Home School Groups, one in San Antonio "Haven" because we used
to live there and know all the people in that current area. These groups get together for
homeschool meetings, field trips and activities, like science
fairs, activities, party’s and field trips. The Other in Medina County which is a Christian
Group.
A Co-op means a group of Home Schoolers get together for one or two days a week for a few weeks, in our coop 2 semesters of 8 weeks for classes. The moms will either volunteer to be a teacher or assistant. Everyone works here, even if it’s helping out in the Cafeteria for the lunch meals, or to clean up afterwards. My Co-op is NOT a drop off place for you to leave your children. There are places that you can drop them off check the listing are below. To me these are not really Co-op's because Co-ops mean "a jointly project or enterprise". If not done as a group working together, and you have to pay for classes then its not a co-op, but that is my opinion. Nothing wrong with them its just not a Coop to me.
A Co-op will help supplement not replace our kids learning by help teaching with classes such as Science labs, geography, English grammar, bible drills, Spanish, sign language to fun classes like PE, sewing, Year book, arts and crafts. Sometimes we might hire someone to teach a class for a fee like guitar lesson or piano lessons but we always have a volunteer mom there with them we always make sure to have other free classes offered at the same time.
You might ask what is the difference between this and real public school classes? In our coop we are all Christian family’s. Our teachers even the hired ones have to be Christian too, we approve everything that is taught, our kids are not forced to take classes they don’t want. It’s only one day a week compared to five days a week to public school. Our kids love going to Co-op, there are no bullys in school or drugs to worry about. We are with our children the whole time; we don’t just drop them off. Other non Christian coops work differently however they are still not forced to take classes they don't want too unlike public school.
Check out "San Antonio Home Educators Coop & Groups" page "Click Here" for some near you. If not interested in joining a Homeschool group but would like info on the San Antonio area and get a ID card contact HERO they have a yearly fee for joining them with access to their library amoung other benifits.
Other Homeschool Moms:
I don’t have much time
between family, farm life and homeschooling I see other moms at the
activities or partys or even park day and I have some great friends from
them and they come to visit me at the farm. I live out in the boonies so it’s
a bit harder to get to my friends house so when I want to talk to a group
of like minded moms I am lucky enough to have found a wonderful Chat group
on line called Homeschool Spot. This is a great place to talk and leave
messages that fits into my schedule. If you want more mom friends to
have face to face I would suggest getting involved in your kids
activities, volunteer to coordinate things in your Home School group,
go to a park day is the best place to meet other moms while the kids play
that is where I met all mine including my daughters best
friend.
http://www.homeschoolspot.com/
What about socialism?
That’s actually a funny question to homeschoolers now. Between neighbor kids, church, Field trips, Co-op, activities such as girls scouts, boyscouts, 4-H, sports activities with local town we are over social. After awhile you will notice that Home Schoolers tend to get along with all age levels "old School house" While in public school they would just be around their own age peers.
What about sports?
If you look in your local area phonebook you will find all kinds of activities to do with your kids, gymnastics, karate, swimming & tennis instructions, true some of these are either at night or after public school hours, but some will offer earlier classes if you ask or get a group of kids together to form a class. Some of your local home associations will offer things like soccer and baseball. There is the San Antonio Sports Association to join, Check out the Fitness clubs around your area for activities for the kids too try one of the biggest ones out there for familys is "Home Court" . FEAST Sports also offers basketball and other sports games for kids
My kids in High School how can I get them prepared for college?
Through the recent years legal battles have been fought with THSC & HSLDA making it easier and easier for Homeschoolers to join Colleges & even the Armed forces as a homeschooler. Laws are constantly changing and we need to keep watch. Its important to join THSC or HSLDA and keep watch for bills being brought up so you can contact your local representatives with your concerns. There is nothing more grand then to see thousands of homeschoolers at the door of our Captial here in Texas when a bill comes up that needs our attention. Not only are we helping ourselfs and others being Involved but we are teaching our kids about history and the government.
Our own local colleges have recently opened their doors to us offering Dual Credits for highschool/College courses to high school students. I honestly don't know much about how to apply & the requirements etc.
SAC "Click
Here" has a site about their
requirements for a list of the others
Northwest Vista Dual
Credit Info
http://www.accd.edu/nvc/areas/dualcredit/nontrad.htm
Palo Alto-Dual
Credit
http://www.accd.edu/pac/htm/Current/academics/depts/distedu/dualcredit/contacts.htm
"Click Here" to go to a directory
for the local colleges and ask them about it.
Online Classes : A lot of the colleges are offering online classes,
you might want
to check into those
too for another option.
Online video courses
through most of the colleges- http://www.vct.org/
PBS-Offers Internet
classes-http://www.pbs.org/campus/
Electronic Campus
http://www.electroniccampus.org/
Non Credit
courses-
Universal House-Very
cheap classes-http://home.universalclass.com/
Suite 101 has a lot of
free and inexpensive classes http://www.suite101.com/suiteu/
Northside Independent
School http://www.nisd.net/ace/
What about
graduation and the prom and parties?
We get all this with
our homeschool groups. They have end of the year graduation or show and
tell night, prom nights for the older teens, Easter, Christmas, Harvest,
Valentines parties etc. My own Haven group offers clubs to join for
different ages. Some will even offer Educational things like Science
Fairs, Culture fairs, PE day.
Here are Important links I think you should consider joining/checking out
HSLDA: Home School Legal Defense is sort of like the Texas Home School Coalition below except they sponsor homeschoolers from all around the States. Which one to join is up to you.
Texas Home School Coalition This is a great place to start if you want to look into homeschooling. Laws and legal aid on how to start in Texas. They also have lawyers to help protect your rights incase you get harrassed by school officials.
FEAST: This is not only a book store for homeschoolings but they offer yearly book fairs in MAY and they have a video on how to get started on homeschooling that is great. They also offer if you live near by a gym for the kids, coop classes and fairs on science, geography, testing ect...they offer a monthly email in it tons of homeschooling info including classifieds "Go Here to apply"
HERO: is dedicated to fostering a supportive atmosphere for home educators by raising the awareness of alternative education choices and increasing positive interactions within the San Antonio metro area community.
Haven Homeschool Group: Local Homeschool group located on the northwest side of San Antonio. I have been a part of for many years now. Jamie the group leader is great and also offer 4-H and monthly field trips.
San Antonio Home Educators: is a great online newsletter that will tell you whats going on in the local San Antonio area. It will also give you a list of homeschool groups and Coops in your area if any. A must to subscribe too if your in this area or near it.
Home Central San Antonio: another great online newsletter that you need to subscribe too it will tell you local events, with calendar, Homeschool groups listing, and so much more.
San Antonio Public Library: This is a second home to Home Schoolers. If you havent gotten a library card you should. Most librarys are home school friendly and will go out of their way to help order books if they dont have them there. They have a great online newsletter to let you know of free classes and book sales. I have gotten some great stuff from here.
San Antonio Theatre Coalition: If your into the arts this is a must subscribe too each month they will send you an online letter with all the events in San Antonio area for the performing arts. Email them at SATCO Email
Yahoo Groups to join concerning Homeschooling
Amys Adventure: I know this site
is out there she made it into a forum group but you now have to pay I will
try to find it later.
CarSchooling: Taking a trip out of town,
or you the type that does a lot of your schooling in the car because of
work or travel. Here is a great site for you.
No charge printables Yahoo group is a group of moms that give out links to printable free sites. With over 500 members that is a whole lot of moms looking for you.
Notebooking: Everything you want to know about notebooking, sort of like scrapbooking but you do it with your childrens work to show off.
Virtual Field trips: Want to take your kids to new places via websites? Here is the yahoo group for you. Alot of these have virtual tours on the website it self.
Free Cycle I find that a lot of homeschoolers from San Antonio go to this site and give away some of their materials for free.
San Antonio Treasures
Its free to List! Sell your treasures here, or find treasures of your
own. List your auctions, crafts, land, small business or anything else you
have for sale here. Home School books How bout bartering? Yep, that's not
a problem here either! Raffles are a no-no, as they are illegal! Feel free
to add a picture or two, as well!
San Antonio Educational book swap. Great place to swap out homeschool books among the locals.
I hope all of this info helped you. If you have any questions or would like to know more pleae feel free to email me. I love to help new Homeschoolers. The only thing I wont answer are home school law questions those are best left to HSLDA and THSC.
Remember not to get overwhelmed. You dont have to do all this at once. Start with the school books first, get your schedule going, dont forget to be flexible, yes you do have weekend you can do work on, and yes you can homeschool during the summer if you want. The kids would get bored and forget a lot of stuff anyways. Add more activities to yours and your kids schedule as you get adjusted. Just remember not to become a hermit in your own home, your kids need to socialize just as much as you do.
Start off with maybe a field trip once a month or every few months and go to park days or set up a play date with another kid. If your kids are coming from a public school setting they will miss somethings like the school party's join a Homeschool group so they wont miss these.
