Homeschooling Resources

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it much on my blog or not, but as of this fall we will be homeschooling our daughter. For the past two years (Kindergarten and 1st grade) she has attended a local Christian private school (this was my hubby's idea originally!).

We can no longer afford to have her attend this, especially considering in just another couple years the boys will be attending school as well.

Neither of us are thrilled about having our daughter attend public school, so it was in my opinion God's divine timing that a group of homeschooling parents in the area have decided to start a co-op. We are enrolling our daughter in a local public charter school which helps people homeschool their children. And as it is a public school, the curriculum is covered by public funding so our costs will be minimal compared to what we were dishing out for private school. Even better is they assign you a teaching assistant to help you put your homeschooling plan and assignments together. One of these teaching assistants is actually someone I do church with AND is taking the lead for this co-op that is starting. This truly is a blessing b/c other than this couple and my aunt and uncle who homeschool, I know NOTHING about homeschooling. But the more I learn the more excited I am. My hubby was a bit doubtful at first but has agreed to give this a try for at least a semester. I mean how bad can we mess her up in just one semester! :) However, I think he is coming around more and more to the idea every day.

So three days a week our daughter will be part of this co-op and they have asked me to be the "Treasurer" since they need one and that fits into my schedule better than actually teaching a class does (and I'm scared to death to try to teach these kids!). Two of the days are normal classes such as science, reading, math, etc and will be taught all by the parents. The curriculum for those days will be paid with the public funds from the charter school. Fridays are PE and bible study classes as well as some time spent in the weekly house of prayer. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she will be at home (we are still trying to work out the logistic of this, she may be going into the shop with my hubby) doing the homework she was assigned the other days of the week. We are also looking into other things we can set up for her those days through the charter school. For example, I think I'm going to try to purchase the Rosetta Stone Spanish program. They were teaching her Spanish in the private school and we would like her to continue with that.

So - this whole long post is to say that you may notice a new section in my sidebar. As I come across sites/resources regarding homeschooling that I find helpful I will be adding them to my blog. If you homeschool and have sites you recommend please let me know. So far I have come across one awesome site that is dedicated to homeschooling co-ops that I am already finding useful.

Homeschool CPA

I look over all these things and am so excited for my daughter (she is excited too!). I wish I had this opportunity growing up myself.