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Experienced HS who have sent their kids successfully to college


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Many HSers have gone on to college, using a wide variety of curricula...and many who don't use much curricula at all. My oldest is only 9yo, so I am not the voice of experience, but I will say that there is NO curriculum that will guarantee college success.

 

That, and any curriculum used consistently is better than the snazziest curric that gathers dust on the shelf. Find something that you enjoy using.

 

 

A 2nd grader should be focusing on the skills of reading, writing and math. Everything else depends upon those 3 skills. Spend your energy on making sure those 3 skills are consistently moving forward. No need to push, slow and steady will get you there.

 

A 2nd grader should still have the excitement of learning about everything in the world for the first time. Don't squish enthusiasm by making every science and history lesson a drill. In fact, science and history (in the 2nd grade!!!) can be 100% FUN!

 

 

IOW - 3R's are not always fun, but do them anyway. Everything else can be delight-driven...maybe should be for a bright, young dc.

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Sometimes I go to pinterest and look under education. The pages and pages of time wasting "techniques" and fluffy bulletin boards pinned by ps teachers give me a boost of confidence. You are at the wtm forum. You are probably doing ok!

 

:iagree:

 

And I even see silly time wasting activities from homeschoolers. Just because something is different from a worksheet, doesn't mean it's a good use of time.

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Well, my friend sent 4. Two earned free rides.

 

She started teaching them well before TWTM came out, but it looked a whole lot like what SWB suggests. When the first edition of TWTM came out my friend bought a copy and said "hey, I am a classical homeschooler and I didn't know it!" Then she gave me her book (she didn't need it anymore) and told me to go for it. :D

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Many HSers have gone on to college, using a wide variety of curricula...and many who don't use much curricula at all. My oldest is only 9yo, so I am not the voice of experience, but I will say that there is NO curriculum that will guarantee college success.

 

That, and any curriculum used consistently is better than the snazziest curric that gathers dust on the shelf. Find something that you enjoy using.

 

 

A 2nd grader should be focusing on the skills of reading, writing and math. Everything else depends upon those 3 skills. Spend your energy on making sure those 3 skills are consistently moving forward. No need to push, slow and steady will get you there.

 

A 2nd grader should still have the excitement of learning about everything in the world for the first time. Don't squish enthusiasm by making every science and history lesson a drill. In fact, science and history (in the 2nd grade!!!) can be 100% FUN!

 

 

IOW - 3R's are not always fun, but do them anyway. Everything else can be delight-driven...maybe should be for a bright, young dc.

:iagree:I absolutely agree with all of the above. My ds is now a junior at a highly selective university and doing extremely well, and my dd is a high school senior with two college acceptances so far. I remember I worried a lot in the early grades, but I can say now it wasn't necessary to worry. Looking back, I truly believe what's important at 2nd grade is moving gently but consistently forward in reading, writing and math. It really does build the foundation for the middle and high school years. Everything else can and should be fun.

 

There are many good curricula out there, and this board is an excellent place to get ideas. I've also learned over the years that the best curriculum is the one that gets done--i.e. the one you (especially in the early years) and your child (especially in the later years when they're doing more independent work) find most interesting and easiest to implement.

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I have 2 in college and all I can do is repeat what was said previously. The curriculum that gets used is better than the one that sits on the shelf. I also agree that the 3Rs, mastery subjects, are important and that the early elementary years are a great time to have fun with the survey subjects of science and history.

 

Honestly, I am much more inclined to suggest that you tailor your homeschool to meet your family situation and your child's needs than I am to suggest that you try to reproduce anything that my family did. Actually, I did not do the same thing with my second that I did with my first. Now, with my third I am homeschooling differently than I did with my first two.

 

HTH-

Mandy

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I am a homeschool mom (first year, with my oldest being in first grade) who was a homeschool graduate that went to college, got my BS and was heading towards grad school until I got married my senior year and moved across the country.

 

My mom started homeschooling back in the 80's, way before it was cool and definitely before there were the myriad of curriculum choices that we now have. She used what was available (A Beka and Saxon being the main ones I remember), taught us consistently with lots of reading, and of the 6 of us, all have gone to college (a couple still in college), 3 have finished bachelor's degrees, and my brother finished his masters.

 

That to say, even with limited curriculum choices, the main point was that she took what she had and made it work. Now, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the choices, but curriculum choice is NOT going to make or break your child's education.

 

If you make sure that you cover the basics, I am sure that whatever you choose and USE will work out just fine!

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My oldest is only 9, but my husband and I were both homeschooled and graduated college, and I have a number of friends who were homeschooled through high school and finished college. A higher percentage did college without a problem than not, and we were all homeschooled before there were all the curriculum choices that there are now.

 

My mom, mil, and the moms of my friends give similar advice:

 

* Be readers

* Don't stress & don't compare

* The curriculum doesn't matter as much as working consistently, steadily, and keeping a happy home atmosphere & good relationships.

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* Be readers

* Don't stress & don't compare

* The curriculum doesn't matter as much as working consistently, steadily, and keeping a happy home atmosphere & good relationships.

 

 

 

I wholeheartedly agree. My oldest is 8 but my husband and I both were homeschool graduates. With the explosion of internet resources and the vast amount of curriculum available, it is easier than ever to homeschool. I never went to college (my choice) and my husband didn't finish to get his BS. College just wasn't for him. Just because your child achieves a college degree, it doesn't guarantee him a satisfying career, happiness or wealth. It just says you are an "educated" person. Teaching our kids character issues like honesty, integrity, good work ethic, etc is more important than making sure they get into a good college. Love them and show them no matter what they do in life you love them and God loves them.

I hope you find the right balance of fun and academics in your homeschool. That's so important in homeschooling the elementary years.

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* Be readers

* Don't stress & don't compare

* The curriculum doesn't matter as much as working consistently, steadily, and keeping a happy home atmosphere & good relationships.

 

The more I homeschool, the more I'm seeing the above is true. Great advice, thanks! I copied it :D

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My daughter is through college. She went into a residential early entrance program (with scholarships) when she was 12 and graduated at 16.

 

We used whatever mish-mash of curriculum worked that year. When she was little, it was workbooks right off the bookstore shelf or even cheapie stuff from the dollar store. I made up a lot of my own curriculum, using whatever I had on hand or could find inexpensively.

 

My words of wisdom on this front are that I believe how you treat school is much more important than the details of which curricula you use. Even when all we had was dollar store workbooks, lima beans to use for manipulatives, library books to read and notebook paper, we maintained a regular schedule, and my standards for behaviour and output were consistently high. We treated schoolwork like it was important, and things worked out just fine.

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Like the above posters have said - practically any curriculum will get a student to college. I have one who is graduated college - with top honors, and one who is a sophomore at Stanford. And I have friends with children At University of Chicago, West Point, our local State college and everywhere in between. And we all used different curricula.

 

I do think you need to look for something that is

 

a) challenging

b) enjoyable

 

For us that equaled Sonlight plus a ton of electives (we used Teaching Company, Thinkwell, CDC courses etc) and tons of contests (Science Olympiad, National History Day, Stock Market Game and many more).

 

And I tailor the the high school years to fit each of my kids - none of my children does the exact same credits, or even use the exact same resources. That's the beauty of homeschooling - you can make it work for each child.

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I type this so darn proud and relieved.

We started HSing late in the game 4, 5 and 7th grade and we were so woefully behind. We went backwards before we could get any momentum.

My son (16) starts college in January. He is going for Electronic Technology. He gets so many scholarships/grants, that he comes out ahead enough to get a little car. He lives at home, works a part time job and will have his degree and be 20.

This is such a relief to me, because I was sure many, many days, weeks and months I was ruining my children's hopes and dreams. I didn't ruin them, I helped them get their a bit faster without even knowing it, and I still know them.

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I type this so darn proud and relieved.

We started HSing late in the game 4, 5 and 7th grade and we were so woefully behind. We went backwards before we could get any momentum.

My son (16) starts college in January. He is going for Electronic Technology. He gets so many scholarships/grants, that he comes out ahead enough to get a little car. He lives at home, works a part time job and will have his degree and be 20.

This is such a relief to me, because I was sure many, many days, weeks and months I was ruining my children's hopes and dreams. I didn't ruin them, I helped them get their a bit faster without even knowing it, and I still know them.

 

Thanks so much for sharing. It means a lot :)

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I don't have time to type out all the details, but .....

 

I did EVERYTHING wrong with my now 22 yo dd. We did some Sonlight in the beginning and switched to Bridgeway Academy homeschool in her highschool years. Math made her cry, we skipped a lot of it. She did pretty poorly on most of her IOWA testing at the end of the year. I didn't even put her transcript together until she was 18!

 

She did well on her ACT's, got into a decent university. Math was a struggle but she was determined to be a teacher so she found a tutor and has passed all her math classes with a B+ average. She has been accepted into the early education program and is in her third year of college. Her professors LOVE her and she's on her way to becoming a preschool teacher. Her professor told her that she will do her best to get her a position at the Child Development Center at the University after she graduates. I think our "accidental unschooling" has actually helped her become a very unique teacher.

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Another pair of graduates here. I've seen unschoolers go on to college!

 

You know what I think the most important factor is? The desire to learn, the motivation to learn, and the skills to learn. If you teach your children nothing else, teach them how to learn, and let them discover the joy of it. Any other gaps or issues or problems can be overcome if your child WANTS it.

 

My mum was, by most accounts, a 'bad' homeschool mum. By the time I hit high school she didn't even care anymore, most of my highschool learning was completely independent and self directed because she wanted nothing to do with it. Now, the way she did things was bad, I don't agree with it at all, but the independence I had meant that I had to learn how to learn and I was free to persue what interested me.

 

I have gaps and holes and issues. There's a lot of basics I never learned. But despite all that, I have no doubt that, if I chose to, I could go to college and do well, because I know how to learn anything that I missed during high school, and because I would enjoy it, it would not be a chore and a requirement of me. Getting in could be a touch trickier, but there's 101 ways to work around a poor high school transcript, don't worry about that just now.

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Another pair of graduates here. I've seen unschoolers go on to college!

 

You know what I think the most important factor is? The desire to learn, the motivation to learn, and the skills to learn. If you teach your children nothing else, teach them how to learn, and let them discover the joy of it. Any other gaps or issues or problems can be overcome if your child WANTS it.

 

My mum was, by most accounts, a 'bad' homeschool mum. By the time I hit high school she didn't even care anymore, most of my highschool learning was completely independent and self directed because she wanted nothing to do with it. Now, the way she did things was bad, I don't agree with it at all, but the independence I had meant that I had to learn how to learn and I was free to persue what interested me.

 

I have gaps and holes and issues. There's a lot of basics I never learned. But despite all that, I have no doubt that, if I chose to, I could go to college and do well, because I know how to learn anything that I missed during high school, and because I would enjoy it, it would not be a chore and a requirement of me. Getting in could be a touch trickier, but there's 101 ways to work around a poor high school transcript, don't worry about that just now.

 

What a great attitude you have! FWIW, I went to school, high school, college, and graduate school, and I have gaps and holes and issues, and basics i never learned, too. :001_huh:

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