affiliated homeschool program or on your own?

We are independent of the public school system.  It’s worth paying for everything ourselves!

About the tests – I actually had my oldest do a standardized test this year for the experience (she was just finished with 4th grade).  I did zero test prep.  We bought the test through Family Learning Online and chose the CAT Survey.  I administer it, they grade it and mail results to me.  I prefer our first testing experience to be like this, with no pressure because we’re doing it “just for fun”. 

We’re in Ohio, there are required subjects in the Ohio law but they don’t tell you what to teach each year in those.  (Example, mathematics is required, but we do it at my children’s levels, health is required, we do it however we wish).  We have 2 evaluation options – having a portfolio of work reviewed by an ohio licensed teacher of our choice (we know a homeschool mom who is licensed, she does ours) or submitting the score from a nationally normed, standardized test.  We have to do one or the other every single year.  For the test a child must get above the 25th percentile (which is still failing!) to be considered eligible to continue homeschooling.  Sad, but true.

We do not use “any kind of government mandated standards or objectives.”  We do have some requirements in CA  (we have to file with the state, turn in attendance and grades, etc.) but we do not have to do testing.  I have friends who school through a charter school and they like it because of the $, but I do not like the idea of doing paperwork that the state doesn’t even require (many times public school isp’s and even private school psp’s require more than the state does just because they are trying to cover themselves legally).  I also don’t like the idea of following the state standards plan because I think it is fairly arbitrary as to what they require.  I guess I just like the freedom of doing my own thing. 

Hear, hear to what Christie said about not taking government funds.  My husband is an Allied Attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund and part of his training with them is what completely convinced us that we would never enroll our kids in government schools or take government funds of any sort for their education (though it would be nice if we could write it off…)  Judicial precendent has been set in the 9th district (CA) that once your kids enter the schoolroom doors, you do not have say over what they are being taught – no opting out, no complaining, you give up your right to direct their education when they step foot through the door – now that’s scary. Because of overreaching decisions like that, we don’t want their money so they can’t ever come back and say, now you have to teach “XYZ” (not that they’re offering us money, but some states do).

Our state has very loose guidelines – we have to complete a certain number of hours 1032ish  (which are actually excessive, but since we can count whatever we want toward it and we don’t have to keep any record of it, not a big deal).  We also have to teach five subjects… let’s see if I can remember, math, language arts, social studies, science and health – but no requirements within those – so health here is home ec and hygiene (did they brush their teeth?  – 5 minutes toward health class) etc…  I am like you when it comes to accountability, I have a 7 and 5 yo with a 3 and 1 yo and thought I wouldn’t do enough, but with SCM I just follow their curriculum guide and find I’m able to complete all of our subjects well within three hours and that leaves time to add extras.

We may or may not do standardized testing – definitely not going to make it an annual thing, perhaps if we could do it at home or with a local Christian school, I might have my girls do it in 3rd and 6th grade so they have a little idea what the tests are like before the SAT, but I think if we did it every year, it’d definitely change the way I teach and even dh’s expectations.  I think my girls are well above grade level in what they are learning, but I’m not convinced that it would show up that way on the standardized tests.  kwim?

You CAN do it!  Don’t be afraid!  There’s lots of support on here – and one of the best things for accountability is to make a schedule and then print out your weekly CM Organizer report and give it to DH (or a friend) so they can see what you did during the week and what you missed.  I haven’t done that yet this year, but need to get back in the habit – it’s also a great record to have regardless of whether or not your state requires it – always better to give them MUCH more, so there’s never a question.

Blessings,

Rebekah

My state requires a letter of intent to homeschool and wants us to keep records of attendence and a list of subject taught.  I have tons of local  homeschooling friends, I dont know any that have ever been asked for the info. (Thou I do keep records)  I work very hard at keeping myself accountable (sometimes works better than others).  I use a planner that I follow thru, I record our activities, and I try to keep a scheduled day.   When I decided to homeschool, I realized this was a ‘do or die’ situation.  Im not a natually organized person and I lean to being lazy rather than dilegent.  But Im constantly praying for God to give me grace and the strength to make the changes my children need.  This is too important to let it slide (IMHO).