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Greetings folks! Our 15-year old son has been in a private Christian school for most of his academic life. When we moved to a smaller Colorado town, we thought we'd give him a shot at public school.
Well...we're into our second year. His grades haven't been great, and today he was suspended from school for several reasons that led to the straw that broke the principal's back.
There is no Christian High School in our area, so our only other option is to home school. Deep down, I think having a more parentally supervised environment will help him the most.
My reason for writing is to get some advice on home school curriculum. Anyone have some great recommendations with High School level curriculum? He grew up on ACE and PACE's, but I think we'd like to go another route - if we go this way at all. We're still seeking the Lord on what way to go. Thanks!
The only book you need right now is the "Teenage Liberation Handbood: How to quit school and get a real life" (http://www.amazon.com/Teenage-Liberation-Handbook-School-Education/dp/0962959170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198068339&sr=8-1)
Despite the radical title, this book is about how to be an autodidact, and it is written for the teen to read themselves and get excited about God's big wonderful world and how to get an education while experiencing it first hand. You might want to get 2 copies, so you can read through it quickly and together.
This book wasn't written when I started home schooling 20 years ago, and if it hadn't been written by now, it's the book I would want to write about home schooling.
Young men need "real work to do" and there are many ways to make that happen.
Whatever you do, don't try to create "school at home", just like we don't want "church at home". Institutions were created to imitate families, and when families then imitate the institutions it is a disaster. Instead, work toward having learning-rich home life, centered in learning productive skills.
There's a quote about home schooling, that "All you need is a Bible and a Library Card" and another "Don't buy your children TOYS buy them TOOLS." A stack of great books from the library (I like to have a theme going to make it more focussed) and a set of tools for one particular craft in the house is all that is needed.
And, I hate to mention it, but to successfully transition from institutional school to home education, TV and Nintendo have to go (I don't remember whether you've mentioned that you are already free of this or not). I discovered early on that I could not compete with electronic gadget's "Instant Gratification". My kids are grateful to me that they have learned so many other things, but they would never on any given day, if they had a choice, choose to use power tools or spin yarn to sell over being electronically entertained. Tell your son you are very, very sorry, but we all must take up our cross and carry it, and this might be his.
The boon is, then, that kids get bored enough to be productive pretty quickly. But we have to be really strict that being a couch potato is not one of their choices. I allow 2 half hour segments of wholesome computer games per week per child, IF they spend all their time otherwise engaged in household work, reading good books, learning a craft or using building toys.
PLEASE feel free to PM me about any questions at all. Home school coaching is something I am very devoted to doing, and I have many grateful friends who feel I was very helpful.
Thank you so much for your recommendations! I went online and ordered that book and another one. And I really appreciate your advice to not recreate "school at home" but aim for a learning-rich environment. That's a great way to look at learning. Again, thank you. We shall see what way the Lord leads us...
We've had some interesting events take place in the last 24-hours. Homechooling has just gone from a possibility to a certainty. And not next fall, but in about two weeks. Let the adventure begin!
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