FJ Homeschooling

[OkToBeTakei]

I can bring glitter and glue to make crafts. That is pretty much it.

Considering what a shit job you did wrapping the troll. They are doomed. :P

[formergothardite]

Considering what a shit job you did wrapping the troll. They are doomed. :P

:cry:

I tried. I really, really tried.

[Anne Tudor]

I can bring glitter and glue to make crafts. That is pretty much it.

And the best Dr. Who avatars

[I live off the state]

And the best Dr. Who avatars

Wheeping Angels scare the bjeezus out of me.

[salex]

When mr salex and I thought we would have kids, we contemplated homeschooling, mostly as a convenience (we travel a lot) or, alternatively, a home school cooperative with other people we know (this plot was developed in grad school, so we new a lot of very educated people who thought they would be having kids in the next few years)

As it turned out, we don't have kids, so no need to homeschool, but I can be assured, had we done so, not one course by A Beka or BJU would have been allowed in the house. What I see is that people who are most concerned about education find a way other than homeschooling, most of the time. People who are most concerned about religious dogma reject the public schools no matter how well or poorly their children respond to homeschooling.

[Arete]

I'd offer Algebra I and II or Biology, but no use casting pearls before swine. :snooty:

Now I actually could teach halfway decent cooking skills without a Campbell's soup can and even throw in some knowledge of nutrition, but first someone else would have to teach the future headships to get jobs to afford groceries.

[nokoanna]

Well I'm a teacher, so I could do languages and basic Middle-Eastern history, but not maths or physics. Still my children would be able to speak in English about the Ottoman empire, even if they were shit at adding up...

[Talitha Cumi]

If I had kids, I'd want to do a homeschool co-op, so they were exposed to various teachers and had SOCIALIZATION TIME with kids their own age.

I can teach grammar, spelling, literature, creative writing, research skills, and violin. Also knitting, crocheting, and spinning. :) And drums, although ebil because rock and roll.

[Dev83]

I could do poli sci/ civics! My degree is in sociology though, which isn't exactly a normal K-12 subject, but I think many of the theories combined with a different way of looking at the social world could still be beneficial in many subjects. Critical thinking FTW!

[JesusFightClub]

But homeschooled children suffer no discernible academic handicap.

Oh fuck, I forgot about this piece of stupidity.

People like Clibbyjo's kids don't suffer a handicap. SOTDRT kids manifestly do. They can't spell, they can't reason and they can't think outside of the box.

I am hardly the Brains Trust, as you all know. What I was taught in state high school about history was to look at secondary and primary sources and think about what is bias and what is actual truth. That didn't involve the Bible, it was more like checking (to use an example I know) that "hundreds of workers came to our meeting" didn't mean "ten blokes and a dog showed up, got a bit bored and left".

Look at what actually happened, not what you wish had happened or what fits into your theory about what SHOULD have happened. SOTDRT kids are not ever going to get that lesson. They're reciting facts and then saying eagerly "But the Bible! It says this is the right way to understand this event!"

If you get into university with that, you will be shot down in flames.

[chaotic life]

My degrees are in Sociology and Nursing. I'm well versed in Social Sciences and Life Sciences as well as a personal interest and pursuit of literature, history and a solid grasp of mathematics to the Algebra/Geometry level. I've taken (and aced Calculus) but I cannot remember it to save my life, and I've successfully avoided formally learning Physics to this point in life (if you don't count Planetary Astronomy I was forced to take a year ago). I would rather keep it that way.

I can teach elementary education excellently, and have successfully done so with five of my own children and half a dozen I nannied for prior to becoming a mother.

I am capable of teaching middle school education, though I have to research, learn, and find resource people from certain areas of knowledge.

I am probably capable of providing an adequate high school curriculum if I wanted to do so. There are certain areas I absolutely, unequvicably would have to outsource if I were to homeschool through high school. I always assumed if I DID homeshool for high school, I would use experts on subject matters, and I would focus on dual learning opportunities of getting them into collegiate coursework by midway through high school. I have made a choice to NOT homeschool high school for all but one of my children.

The only one I am choosing to homeschool past middle school and into high school has some very unique educational challenges. He's insanely gifted, high IQ with severe Dyslexia. He is middle school and I am already outsourcing some of his subject matter. DH is far more advanced in hard sciences except for Biology/health sciences. Therefore, Dad is fully in charge of Science and Math now (he clepped out of Calc II in college and can do advanced Calc equations in his head). He has attempted to deliberately steer this child away from his puruit of Physics to round out his other science subjects only because this child is outpacing his knowledge in certain scientific matters. More than once, I have hooked this child in with PhD college professors to grill them on questions. Most recently, my brother has begun to guide and work with him on Drafting and Engineering, since my brother has a Masters in Engineering and I know very little of that subject matter.

I continue to be able to teach his ELA because he works on a formulaic Ortho-Gillingham dyslexia program and reads high school and collegiate books via his Kindle with text to speech. His math is online and his father can assist and guide if he struggles (so far he continues to pick up math like it's a game). I teach his History and Geography myself. I'm using Collegiate textbooks and my own strong knowledge in these subjects to teach him. I have had to refer to a Phd History professor a few times on areas of History I am weak in.

His Music studies are a BBC program on Music appreciation. His art is with a Master's prepared art therapist. I use Boy Scouts for social and life skills work for him (he's aware of the conflict regarding Gay scouts and Athesist scouts but is still choosing to try to be change from within versus boycotting). His grandfather provides more Sociological support and Theological instruction when he wants to ask. His physician aunt can reference medical knowledge I lack if I need back up.

So yeah.....I totally seek outside support for teaching advanced subject matters. I am actually counting down until I can turn this child over to college professors because he hurts my brain on a daily basis.

While I sought lots of research and advice when I began teaching even elementary education, I am confident in my teaching skills for that level of education that I simply use the tried and true methods that work for us now. I've launched four children into middle and high school from my homeschooling and ALL are Honor Roll students who love learning but find their public education a bit boring after the years they were homeschooled. I am doing elementary homeschooling for the final two but will launch them in middle or high school just as I did their siblings.

I do think I could teach High School. I could not do it without solid, secular curriculum (because most Christian curriculum is embarrassing inaccurate even before you come across the science component where they flat out LIE) and outside resources for where I am weak. However, I happen to think that high school offers more than just academic. I think the social aspect, the extra curriculars that are HARD to compensate for in a homeschooling environment and the graduated autonomy that High School provides is a vital step in helping prepare my children for independent, responsible adulthood. However, my goal is to help my children prepare to enter the world as independent adults and NOT to force them to be sheltered in my home until suddenly they are married and supposd to magically be adults with no experience nor preparation for that role. I'm REALLY good at elementary education though. I seem to have a gift for it, and I enjoy it.

[Roycroft]

I could probably do a decent job teaching the following (I have no children, so this is all pure fantasy):

US and European history

US and European literature

2.5 languages (English, Deutsch, Kiswahili)

General art history

Spinning, weaving, knitting, and dyeing

Calligraphy and illumination, including gold leaf and vellum making

Horsemanship

Fencing, emphasis on epee

Archery

Long-distance hiking/backpacking/camping

Basic psychology (undergraduate major)

American jurisprudence, legal research, and legal writing (I used to be a lawyer, but I got better :))

Gardening

For team sports and tedious things like accounting, business, or mathematics, hiring an instructor would be in order. :)

Looking over this list, I realize that 1) I am competent at many more things than I would have thought, and 2) that I am quite an anachronism. :dance:

[Meeka]

I could teach geology and chemistry. I could also teach math and physics if needed as long I don't have to teach anything artistic.

[Scribber]

I like to think I can do it all (at the elementary level, and possibly middle school) with a fairly decent proficiency. But I'd excel in the Language Arts (Reading/Writing/Comprehension) aspect of it.

To be fair? I do homeschool. I have one child, and we live in a crappy district (58% graduation rate, highest teen pregnancy in the state, etc.) and due to the age cut off? She would have been 6 when starting kindergarten because our district is stupid and her birthday is in July, but you have to be "5" by June 1 to start Kindergarten. So we do it through a charter school - where she gets tested annually (to make sure she's on track with the rest of the kids her age) and is involved in plenty of secular sports and activities where she hangs out with non-homeschooled kids. (And our goal is to get her into public school when we move in a few years.)

[ndmomma]

We tried public ed for 2 years where we live now, but in WV the academics are terrible (imagine that!). The social situation was also problematic, so we took our boys out of school this year. My husband has a PhD and can work in a dozen languages, and I have an English Ed degree and am working on a SPED license. We do the co-op thing, and we have my husband's university, with helpful colleagues to invite over for a beer and a lesson on the weekend and students right across the street when we get out of our depth. This is a temporary thing, but it's working. No tantrums, no frustrated kids, no hours of homework (one kid worked at a snail's pace!) and lots of playtime while maintaining a more academically rigorous curriculum than their school ever did. I live in fear of the weaknesses of a HS education, but it's making more sense for us just now since I'm home with my two girls anyway.

[Loveday]

I could teach English history, from 1066 through the Stuarts (after that, it's all Hanoverians and whatnot, and they weren't very exciting to me). REAL English history, not history according to Philippa Gregory. :lol: As well, I could teach English grammar and OMG spelling. Poor spelling is a huge pet peeve of mine. I don't mind an occasional misspelled word, or an obvious typo, it happens to everyone, but what passes for spelling in the SOTDRT world makes me stabby. :evil: I could also teach English and American literature, although I'd probably leave out Beowulf, because I hated Beowulf. 8-)

[NjoyingNsanity]

I could teach history, literature, and mythology. I wouldn't trust me with anything beyond basic math, and I totally suck using correct punctuation.

[fakepigtails73]

I'm very good with the 2nd World War, with an emphasis on the European front.

Very good on the topic of Québec nationalist movements since the Patriotes of the 1830s.

[bettertomarry]

I could teach religion....oh wait, nevermind.

[dairyfreelife]

We tried public ed for 2 years where we live now, but in WV the academics are terrible (imagine that!). The social situation was also problematic, so we took our boys out of school this year. My husband has a PhD and can work in a dozen languages, and I have an English Ed degree and am working on a SPED license. We do the co-op thing, and we have my husband's university, with helpful colleagues to invite over for a beer and a lesson on the weekend and students right across the street when we get out of our depth. This is a temporary thing, but it's working. No tantrums, no frustrated kids, no hours of homework (one kid worked at a snail's pace!) and lots of playtime while maintaining a more academically rigorous curriculum than their school ever did. I live in fear of the weaknesses of a HS education, but it's making more sense for us just now since I'm home with my two girls anyway.

I grew up in WV and I disagree the academics are terrible. I went to WV public schools K-12 and thought my education was actually quite decent. It wasn't perfect, but WV actually scores quite well on the standardized tests. My primary school had art, gym, music and library classes. My middle school and high school had lots of activities and clubs and lots of classmates have gone on to some great schools, including Princeton and Stanford.

[divadivine]

I could teach Kindergarten-6th grade; grades 7 and 8 non-departmentalized. That's why my teaching license says. Yeah, that teaching license I haven't used in four years because teaching was not for me. Sadly, it only took 11 years for me to realize I shouldn't teach. Love the students.... hated the rest of it.

[Mice]

I want my kids educated by you all. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a decent fencing teacher in these parts? Or someone who can explain what fascism *really is*?

This is what I could offer:

Programming\coding - most OO languages but with an emphasis on database design and solutions.

Biology

Human A & P

Adaptive techniques - for any activity, one of my degrees in is Occupational Therapy

Psychology - with an emphasis on human development and organizational psych

Home food preservation

Organic gardening

Mr. Mice jumps in to say that he'd be up for teaching English Lit and writing courses as well as cooking (he was really offended by my description of gloodles).

[Izzybee]

Sociology and anthropology. Oh, and as a social worker, I'd like to introduce some public service that really gets kids involved with people from different walks of life, not just handing out sandwiches at the soup kitchen. There are plenty of good opportunities for kids to see the real world and think critically about making a change for the better.

[Aisling]

Was he the one with all the shagging, Aisling? That would be super funny.

Oh yes. Lots and lots and lots of shagging women with noble thighs in saucy little togas :D

[Soldier of the One]

I can do a reasonable grounding on Marxist theory from a Trotskyist perspective, though I can also explain Stalinist, Maoist, and non-Leninist perspectives. Anarchist theory, I can do in a simple form. I'm strongest on platformism and can explain about Makhno. Irish dissident republicanism, I'm getting to be not half bad on. I can explain the difference between the various IRAs and why that happened too.

If it's really needed, I can talk about the RAF (Baader-Meinhof Gang) and their particular political perspective. Japanese political violence, I also know a bit about.

:lol:

JFC, can you come homeschool my (future) kids, please? Thanks, awesome!

Also, just perusing the thread makes me realize what an awesome curriculum the posters at FJ could cobble together :)