Alternative schooling resources

[Niko]

I just came across a site that offers free study guides
http://www.sparknotes.com/

This site offers plenty of advice for those who may consider homeschooling their children.
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/How_To_Homeschool/

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

Thank you Niko!

The Old Schoolhouse magazine is a great resource.

 

[Texanna]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

I home educated my daughter who is now 30 years old. I started out buying the workbooks but abandoned them very quickly.

I used a set of "McGuffey Readers", a 1920 English and Grammar text book, encyclopedias, and a 1909 high school math book. I used many of the The Newbery & Caldecott Medal Books for reading. I also bought copies of the Classics in literature at used book stores at very good prices

6-10 years old: Aesop's fables, Baum, Carrol; 10-13 years old: Alcott, Cather, Crane, London; 14-16 years old: Poe, Dickens, Shelly, Tolstoy

She had no problem getting into a good college and now has a masters in accounting, a good job, and a family.

It does not take a large amount of materials to provide your child with a quality education.

 

[Amish Country]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

Hi All
Just some suggestions. If we are looking at multiple waves and months of interrupted schooling this is a layered approach to education I am looking into:

Plan "A" is to keep my children in school as long as it is safe. I want my children to get as much socialization as possible.

If this flu looks like it is going H2H this is my plan "B".

First asset is to talk to their teachers and see what they suggest. Hitting them up for lesson plans at least for the short term.

My state has an excellent program in place where children can go to classes online via the internet grades k thru 12 and graduate with a diploma from a state accredited high school. This is real diploma NOT a GED.

Plan "C" involves: Home schooling (my least favorite option!)

Next is actively finding out more about commercially supplied home schooling courses and supplies but am not looking forward to it as money is tight and food and medical supplies occupy higher priorities.

I have a good encyclopedia (bound books not on CD) found at a moving sale and am buying more children books off the library used book shelves and at out grow sales.

A big chain craft store had small slates in wooden frames. Little House on the Prairie type. Plan to get more chalk and white board markers.

Asking someone in an IT shop with a lot of waste paper where they only print on one side of it to bring home some to let the children "recycle" it. Paper is expensive.

If you can get Boy and Girl Scout manuals and Leaders books they have a lot of projects and ideas in them appropriate for children.

During a pandemic we may loose children to the fact that parents may be distracted, tired or be forced to deal with issues that directly threaten them or the entire family and not be able to give their children undivided supervision. Schooling and projects will help keep children occupied if they have been organized and assigned before parents are in crisis mode and the children are disciplined enough to work without or limited supervision for short periods.

I wonder if in earlier centuries children were given passages, pomes and scripture to memorize to keep them busy and give teachers or parents an easy method of testing to verify that the children had been doing the assigned work?

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

Another suggestion - buy used textbooks (often avavilable at 2nd hand stores) for the one or two grades ahead of your children's current level. It will give you a low cost outline of expectations.

Most important - remember you will probably do a very good job of teaching your children. Be creative and make it fun.

.

 

[Amish Country]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

Thanks Alaska
I have to admit the idea of home schooling my kids is intimidating. This is way too important to screw up or ignore.

 

[MHSC]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

Thanks Alaska
I have to admit the idea of home schooling my kids is intimidating. This is way too important to screw up or ignore.

When I first started homeschooling I was intimidated also, I've been doing it for 10 years now and I'm proud to say my kids have excelled wonderfully.

None of the options (public, private, charter or homeschooling) are perfect they all have their individual pros and cons. But I have to comment on the socialization issue, it is a red herring. I find that one of the hardest part of homeschooling is staying home, we seem to spend more time 'carschooling' because we spend alot of time volunteering, socializing with people of all ages, and just being out in the real world.

The problem with school settings are that the primarily socialization occurs in a staged setting, by that I mean the only socialization occurs with others that are within a few years of their own age. When is that setting ever again duplicated in the real world, with the exception of possibly a nursing home?

During a pandemic homeschooled or not they won't be out socializing at all but during that relatively short period of time their social skills won't suffer, after all they will have you to socialize with, and I can tell you are a great Mom.

I'm sure the schools will send home work, but if they don't a set of encyclopedia's (a bible if you choose) and a good math book would work nicely. Just pick several subjects from the encylopedia now and try to gather supplies for related hands on projects. Maps for geography, drawing, painting or sculpting instructional books and supplies, paper and pencil for written reports on history and working on grammer, science experiment supplies, a couple of books written in a foreign language with video cassettes for proper pronunciation. These supplies and a little creativity will cover history, science, math, grammer, geography, foreign language, art, reading, writing.

Everyday living will cover many important subjects with a little help from you. For example, cooking, cleaning, budgeting, meal planning, household maintenance, auto maintenance, pet care, interpersonal relationships, carpentry and gardening.

By the way the subjects you choose can work for kids of all ages, just make the hands on, writing, experiments, etc more or less complicated to make them grade appropriate.

 

[Niko]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

Just some ideas...

If you plan to homeschool out of necessity during a pandemic and to resume public/private schooling post-pandemic, check to see if your school or state has curriculum and standards by grade posted online (mine does). You may want to print them out as a guideline. That way you can keep your child on the right track to make the transition back to school easier. Of course, those that haven't prepared will be playing catch up or will have to repeat grades as a result of not continuing to educate their children. My focus has been on books - lots and lots (stopped counting at 500 - over 80% of which were used). Reading will keep all us busy during a pandemic if access to TV, PC and parks are unavailable. Now and if a pandemic never materializes, we have the benefit of a wonderful and growing library.

Advice I heard, when trying to find out the best way to encourage children to read:
1) Be a reader yourself - read newspapers, magazines, books and manuals in front of children;
2) Have a quiet time everyday with no TV or music;
3) Neatly stacked books on shelves may look pretty, but may not encourage reading - scatter them throughout the house - on bedside tables, in baskets, in the bathroom (of course), etc.
4) Talk to your children about the book(s) they have read. Share age appropriate tidbits from your reading materials.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

......... curriculum and standards by grade posted online (mine does). You may want to print them out as a guideline. That way you can keep your child on the right track to make the transition back to school easier. ...........

Here, homeschoolers are required to finish an entire cirriculum during a year, while the public schools are not. So if students make a reasonable amount of progress during a 6 to 12 quarantine, it will probably be fine.

If a pandemic goes on as expected, i.e., 18 month to 3 years - students will be doing "catch up" for quite some time. Another issue - given the unusual circumstances, I would expect significant lack of focus.

I had great success homeschooling my learning disabled son & I'm confident that most parents will do just fine.

.

 

[Niko]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

I'm confident that most parents will do just fine.

.

Hear! Hear! :applause:

 

[NurseNalts]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

We have already opted out of the public school arena and have enrolled our first grader in the K12 virtual academy. It's an accelerated public school curriculum. We are assigned a supervising teacher, have on-line (and hard copy) lessons plans and resources, and have been supplied with (free of charge, since this is considered public school) a computer system, programs, microphone, scanner and a printer if we need it.) The supplies were shipped to our front door, over 7 big boxes including resources for math, phonics, handwriting, literature, history, science, art, music and physical education.

We have bimonthly teacher conferences, outings and as much on-line and phone support as we need. Our assigned teacher even lives in town. There is a network for penpals, science fair competitions, spelling bees, etc. There is even a family support network. This isn't available in all states, but here is the site: http://www.k12.com/ for more information.

The curriculum is based on the Core Knowledge plan, and we are given the freedom to teach up or down based on the needs of our child. It is accelerated, but is adaptable to special learners as well. It is very literature and culturally rich. (And it can be modified based on religious preferences.)

Also, in researching, I did a Google search for Core knowledge curriculum and downloaded tons of free lessons. Good to plan ahead!

And about the socializing factor, I prefer to take the responsibility on for socializing my child, than put it in the hands of the school districts, who may wait until that 20-30% absent rate to report illnesses. It has taken a major restructure of priorities to "homecool", but is by far worth the work and effort! You reap what you sow!

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Alternative schooling resources

WOW what a great support system.

...we are given the freedom to teach up or down based on the needs of our child....

I think flexibility is important. When there was a subject my children really loved, it made sense to let them "go with it" and learn as much as their curiosity would take. Don't adults do the same thing? It's natural learning. My son hated the concept of studying all subjects every day, so we had our own "custom" schedule. I believe he learned far more by focusing on a subject until there was some natural closure to a topic subset.

For preshoolers - we could assume that television may be offline and there's nothing better for learning and distraction at troubling times than Sesame Street. If I had preschoolers now, I'd be recording a month or two of their favorite learning programs.

.

 

[Niko]

Educational Websites for Older Students

Educational Websites for Older Students

Some of these links may have been posted already.


Educational Websites for Older Students

By Cindy Prechtel


It was hard to narrow down the list of outstanding sites covering so many subject areas. For this article, I've chosen to focus on Test Prep, Language Arts, Math, and Computer Science. Although not exhaustive, these lists include some of my personal favorites. Enjoy!

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[SIZE=-1]TESTING--ACT, SAT, PSAT, CLEP, and more[/SIZE]

4tests.com -- This site offers 100% free practice tests (they also offer courses and materials for a fee). They offer many practice tests, but their most popular offerings are GED, SAT, and ACT. When you visit this site, be sure to check out the tutorial section, which has great information covering various things that students sometimes struggle with on these tests.

SparkNotes -- This site features free study guides for a variety of subject areas and literature. Be sure to check out the printable SparkCharts for quick access to key study points for many subjects and tests. You can also acquaint yourself with the new SAT and ACT with their helpful e-book and take practice tests as well.

Number2.com -- This site provides free test prep for the SAT, ACT and GRE. It also has a free vocabulary builder! If you have a college-bound student, you'll want to take advantage of this site!

Study Hall -- On this site you'll find a FREE SAT Improvement Course, vocabulary helps, memory improvement tips, speed reading tips, and helpful suggestions for your college-bound student. This site is provided by a SAT Test Prep center in Texas, but the information is valid for everyone preparing to take the PSAT and SAT exams.


[SIZE=-1]LANGUAGE ARTS: Grammar[/SIZE]

Big Dog's Grammar -- This is a great site for older students who need to "brush up on" or reinforce grammar concepts. The lessons cover topics ranging from subjects to active/passive constructions. Scattered throughout the lessons are short quizzes to make sure you understood what was studied. Clicking on "MLA Quick Guide" takes you to a page focusing on "Quotation Mechanics"--important information for high school and college students on giving credit properly when using outside quotations (plus lots of other info pertaining to plagiarism, citing Internet sources, and more).

Traditional Grammar: An Interactive Book -- This online textbook contains thousands of interactive exercises designed to help the student learn the ins-and-outs of grammar. Approximately every other page of the book is interactive. And each interactive page is "five pages deep," meaning that there are five alternative interactive exercises for each interactive page. Each chapter ends with five 20-question quizzes covering the material of that chapter. Users of this site will really benefit from the chapters covering common mistakes in writing and how to avoid them.

Grammar Bytes -- Interactive grammar review with lessons and handouts! Not as complete as the other sites listed, but there are still lots of help for the common "problem areas" of grammar.

Sentence Sense -- Visit this site to find an online textbook in basic writing! Includes lessons and over 200 computer-graded or self-graded exercises to encourage students to apply ideas, test their mastery, and have fun with language along the way. </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="260">
</td></tr></tbody></table>
[SIZE=-1]LANGUAGE ARTS: Vocabulary[/SIZE]

Free Vocabulary -- This site has an extensive list of 5000 words that tend to appear on the S.A.T. and other high school tests. The list includes the most common definition of each word and is available in PDF format for printing. You'd probably want to make flashcards to study the words most effectively. The site doesn't provide any practice exercises, just the word list.

Vocabulary.com -- Home of Vocabulary U.! This site is a great supplement to your vocabulary study. The creators have worked hard to provide interesting and sometimes humorous examples and activities for practicing/learning SAT and ACT words and definitions.


[SIZE=-1]LANGUAGE ARTS: Writing[/SIZE]

Basic Guide to Essay Writing -- According to this site's author, if you follow the simple steps outlined both in an online and printable format, an essay will practically write itself! This site walks the student through the writing process, from choosing a topic and outlining/diagramming ideas to writing a concluding paragraph and adding finishing touches. (Gr. 6 and up)


[SIZE=-1]LANGUAGE ARTS: Literature/Reading[/SIZE]

Critical Reading -- I'll let the author of this site provide an introduction: "To non-critical readers, many texts offer the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. To the critical reader, any single text provides but one portrayal of the facts, one individual's "take" on the subject. Criticalreading.com shows you how to recognize what a text says, what a text does, and what a text means by analyzing choices of content, language, and structure. It shows you what to look for, and how to think about what you find." All of us can benefit from spending some time reading about and learning some of the skills presented on this site. (Grades 9-12)

SparkNotes -- Yes, I know I've already listed this site above in the testing section, but I want to make sure you don't miss out on their great selection of free literature guides!

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</td><td valign="top">
[SIZE=-1]MATH[/SIZE]

Free Math Help -- Free lessons/helps in algebra, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, and more. There is also a fairly active message board where students can post questions and get advice from math experts.

Math Guide -- Lessons, quizzes and worksheet generators for learning or reviewing pre-algebra, algebra, geometry and advanced algebra concepts.

Interactive Mathematics -- This site has HUNDREDS of problems and puzzles involving algebra, geometry, and other math subjects--all with explanations! This is a highly interactive site and a real treasure for those wanting a better understanding of upper-level math concepts. (Grades 6-12)

Jim Loy's Mathematics -- Lots of step-by-step explanations of upper-level math concepts. Not designed to replace your math textbook, this site offers help for those who need to see concepts explained or reviewed from a different perspective than perhaps they have covered in their curriculum. He also covers some elementary/middle school topics, including Roman numerals and the calendar system. In fact, he has a very interesting presentation about Speed Arithmetic and the many number theories. Upper-level math includes algebra, geometry, and calculus. (Grades 5-12)

Ohio Math Works -- This site is an innovative resource to show 7th - 9th graders how math is used in various industries. As students take on projects, they learn math concepts and see how they are applied in the real world. The site uses videos to take students behind the scenes to see how mathematics is used in the following industries: snacks, fashion, theme parks, weather, and newspaper publishing.

Totally Free Math -- A complete Algebra I textbook, Elementary Algebra and Applications, along with answer keys and teacher support materials free for the downloading! This group of textbook authors has decided to give back to the educational community by providing their upper-level math textbooks for free online.

Algebra.com -- A dedicated math teacher authored and continues to add content to this site. Topics covered include: Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II, and SAT Prep. There are lots of problems, a solution worker, sample SAT tests, and tutorials. The site can be a bit challenging to navigate, but I believe the help your student will receive is worth the effort!

Calculus-Help.com -- This site promises to help you survive Calculus! Features a problem each week with answers in plain English. Lots of tutorial help, including online movies!

Dave's Short Trig Course -- Does your student want an introduction or basic knowledge of trigonometry without taking a year-long course? This site gives an overview of trig with exercises for you to work on. </td></tr></tbody></table>
[SIZE=-1]COMPUTER SKILLS[/SIZE]

Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101 -- If you're looking for a resource to teach computer skills, including the basics of Microsoft products such as Windows, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, look no further than this wonderful site. Older learners (middle school and up) could easily complete the lessons on their own, or you could sit and work through the lessons with a younger child. Additional lessons cover email and working with the Web, including the basics of HTML.

HP Learning Center -- These free courses, taught by qualified instructors, cover a variety of topics, including word processing, design, digital photography, and spreadsheets. Not all courses are offered all the time. Registration is required, but it's free! You'll want to pick and choose courses, as some are definitely for professionals or advanced users.

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As you consider the sites I've listed above, I also want to encourage you to use the Internet and the library to help your teen develop self-designed courses in areas of interest. These "electives" can be documented and counted toward high school credit, while allowing your student to explore possible career choices or simply develop a new hobby or skill.

Cindy Prechtel and her husband live, love, and learn with their two sons in Southwest Florida. They enjoy ministering to families through their business, Homeschooling from the Heart, which offers select curriculum resources, encouraging articles, and a free newsletter, Homeschool Reviews for You.

Cindy loves to meet new friends at homeschool conventions and through her blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/hsingfromtheheart.

http://www.tosmagazine.com/newsletters/homeschoolingforfree/10-06/10-06.php#educationalwebsites

 

[peggy]

Re: Educational Websites for Older Students

Re: Educational Websites for Older Students

Thanks Niko, great resources.
I homeschooled my two boys, and can't say enough about Saxon math. Some teachers say it is not creative enough, but young kids like repetition and a straight-forward approach. It makes them feel competent. Builds basic skills, and then real creativity is possible later, especially in the sciences like chemistry which require good math skills.
If my kids were still young, I wouldn't worry about them missing school for a pandemic. Just have lots of reading materials and include them in everything. They will learn more than they ever could in most schools just by having the company and example of loving adults who face life's hardships and share survival skills.

 

[Niko]

Re: Educational Websites for Older Students

Re: Educational Websites for Older Students

They will learn more than they ever could in most schools just by having the company and example of loving adults who face life's hardships and share survival skills.

Hear! Hear! :applause: