When we homeschool, our children often have the opportunity to start working on high school level material much younger than traditionally schooled children. And that can be a bit of mental adjustment for those of us used to thinking of high school in terms of 9th grade or age 14 or 15. 

I know that last year when my daughter (now 12) earned her first high school credit ( a half credit for Latin), I wasn’t prepared for it. I had heard about homeschoolers starting high school work at 11 or 12, but didn’t really expect to find myself there. (Don’t get me wrong my daughter is bright, but I just wasn’t focused on having her start high school that early.)

I did a bunch of research and discovered that high school transcripts really aren’t that difficult to pull together. The bottomline is that as soon as high school credit is earned it should be recorded on a transcript. That way you always have a running transcript ready in case you need it for outside activities and other opportunities.

 …Shannon

P.S. For more information on Transcripts check out my Homeschooling High School Resource page.

 Also, you might find The HomeSchooler’s Easy Truth About High School Transcripts ebook useful.

Q: You mentioned that you are using the McGuffey Readers. Can you tell me more about how you are using them?

A: Before I can really answer this well, let me start with how I came to using them and why. 

We started with the McGuffey Readers – the second reader actually – at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year and are now about 3/4 the way through the second reader.  I had heard of them before but at that time wasn’t interested in using any type of reader, much less one that was over a 100 years old.

But each child is different and my investigation into using public domain materials, stemming from my research into the Robinson Curriculum and then subsequently into the Accelerated Achievement (aka A-squared) and Old Fashioned Education curriculums, was enough for me to give it a try with my 9 year old.

Right now I’m only using the McGuffey Readers with my 9 year old, though my 11 year old has asked to do readings from the 2nd reader and I’m considering having her do some reading from the 3rd  reader next year or over the summer.  

I started teaching my son to read later than most, having learned a hard lesson with my oldest.  We waited until he was asking to learn to read, until he showed that he was ready.  When he was 7 ½, we started with the “at” family and the first couple Bob Books. When he proved that he was indeed ready developmentally to learn to read, we progressed with Reading Reflex.

He went from nothing to a strong 2nd grade reading level in less than a year. And now at 9 ½, two years after he started learning to read, he is reading 4th and 5th grade reading level books with no problem at all.

BUT…since most of his personal reading and assigned reading is to his self, I wanted to know for certain that he was understanding what he was reading and not just skipping over words he didn’t know or filling in his own versions.  So, this past year, part of his reading has been to read aloud to me from the McGuffey Reader.

So, to answer the real question, how am I using the McGuffey Readers…
 
As with anything I use, I decided to just start with it and see how it works out, knowing that I could always scrap it if it wasn’t going to work. But it really surprised me.  My son likes the stories – they appeal to him and his sense of justice and right and wrong. 

Each story is only a page or two long, with new vocabulary listed at the beginning of the story. We don’t use the vocabulary section. Instead, as we run across words that he doesn’t know (like “foe”) or have changed over time (like “gay”), I ask him what he thinks they mean or clarify the meaning for him.  This actually has been a bonus, as we’ve been able to talk about different words and how they might fall in or out of fashion over the years and how language may change.

We keep the reading light. Sometimes he’ll want to re-read a story he has read before, and that’s okay as long as he reads a new story as well. Sometimes, he’ll struggle with the pacing of a story or poem, so we’ll read it once and then maybe I’ll read it to give him an idea of how the pacing should sound, but then we’ll put it away and read it again on another day.

Primarily, when he’s reading, I’m listening for:

Is he really reading the words on the page?
I try to catch when he guesses at a word, or fills a word  in based on what he thinks it is going to say. I’m also listening for when he changes words with another word with a like meaning (he has the tendency to do this when he is reading ahead silently.) (

Is he reading quickly just to get through it, or reading for the benefit of others?
I’m not tolerating reading just to read it fast and get it done.  He needs to read for the benefit of sharing the story with others, so they can enjoy while they are listening to him read it.  So we work on pacing and inflection.

We talk about using punctuation as clues for “taking a breath”, reading with inflection, enunciating, and projecting his voice. 

Are there articulation issues we need to deal with?
My son (actually both of them) needed speech therapy. And so I’m also listening for articulation errors, where he might be getting lazy and that affects the ability for the listener (me) to understand the words he is saying.  Recently, it became evident that he needed to work on the “th” sound again; and we identified it through these reading aloud sessions.

Does he understand/comprehend what he is reading?
There’s no use in reading if he doesn’t understand what he is reading. And so, periodically, especially on the poetry or sentences he struggles with, I’ll ask him what it means. And then I’ll share what I think it means. Again, this is really low key, not coming across as a test, but as a discussion of the literature and the use of words.

Could I use other readers? Probably. But the McGuffey Readers are free for download from Project Gutenberg. Or in my case, the version I’m using (1879 edition) came with my copy of the Robinson Curriculum.  We just print it out and 3 hole punch it and keep it in a binder. No big deal.  

I really like the values projected in the edition of the McGuffey readers we’re using. The stories in the 2nd reader relate to interactions between children and their parents, their friends, birds, and the natural world.  And do so in a way that promotes courage, bravery, honesty, and caring for others. There’s two stories that are my 9 year old’s favorites that I think talk to this point well:

Henry, the Bootblack
This is a  brief story about an impoverished boy, who wanted to help his mother and little sister. One day he was rewarded with his honesty with $1, which he used to buy the equipment he needed to shine boots. The story tells how he captured customer with his politeness, and how he helped his family by working during the day shining boots and went to school at night.

In course of the story we have been able to talk about how much $1 would have been at the time, what a bootblack boy was, and how even though he was helping his family, he still went to school.  The story talks about the choice the boy made, to be honest and how he was rewarded for that honesty. Values I want enforced.

The Kingbird
This is a quick little story about the Kingbird and why it is named the Kingbird. It tells of how it uses cunning and quickness to protect the nest from much larger birds.  Not only is this a science lesson, and talks about birds, which my son loves, but it also appeals to his desire to protect those he cares about and talks to the warrior within him.

At this point I’m planning to continue with the McGuffey Readers, for my 9 year old and for the others when they are ready – at least as long as I find value in using them.

If you are considering them, know that, like with all books, there are differences between editions. And I suggest reading a little about those differences to see if matters to you.  Again I’m using the 1879 version that comes with the Robinson Curriculum, but others are available.  Free versions are available online through Project Gutenberg and other public domain repositories.

If you don’t want to print out your own versions, you can also buy them used or new, they often come as a boxed set but can be purchased individually as well. Again, watch for what version it might be (if that matters to you).  Amazon.com carries a couple different sets.  HSTreasures carries the 1879 version as does Mcguffeyreaders.com and a few other sources online.

Also use the McGuffey Readers? Please share your experiences!

Q: Where is the best place to buy used curriculum?

A: The BEST place really depends on what curriculum you are looking for.  And it is not always best to buy used curriculum. Now, having said that, being on a budget, I often buy homeschool books, curriculum, and resources used. Here are a few of the places I have found good deals:

• Other homeschoolers I know – homeschoolers tend to clean off their shelves as their children move on to other phases or as they realized that the curriculum they have isn’t going to work for their situation. If I hear of someone saying they are going to sell something, my ears perk up.

• Garage sales – Sales held by homeschoolers and former teachers or teachers who are switching from one grade to another can be gold mines for books, manipulatives, and curriculum. Homeschoolers will often post on their email support groups if they are selling curriculum at their garage sale.  Some will offer a “pre-sale” time for fellow homeschoolers.

• Email Support Groups – Other homeschoolers are great resources for finding used curriculum. Rules vary depending on the email support group. One of ours locally allows for curriculum sales to be posted once a month, another is open to whenever someone has a list of things they are selling. Generally, I’ve found that people clean out their curriculum in the spring and late fall, when they are preparing for the next term.

• eBay – July and early-August are the absolute best times to find curriculum on eBay, but you can find things year around. I’ve purchased used Sonlight curriculum, books, and my copy of the Robinson Curriculum through eBay. Also used eBay to shop around for Teaching Textbooks before I decided to go ahead and buy it new.  On eBay, It’s best to know what you are looking for – and to be both specific and general in your search criteria, otherwise you’ll miss opportunities.  (NOTE: A couple years ago, eBay banned the sale of teachers manuals on eBay to prevent students from getting the answer books – and other reasons. So you won’t find teacher’s editions there, but you will find other homeschool curricula and books)

• VegSource - The homeschool swap boards on Vegsource is a great place to find used and new curriculum, but you need to shop a bit to find what you are looking for. (Look on the left hand column for the ”Items for Sale” categories.) One thing that is nice about Vegsource is that most of the sales are “ppd” which means the price includes postage. But not all, so watch and be sure you understand the terms. The transactions are conducted via email and person to person. I’ve picked up books, Apologia Astronomy, and a few other items there.

• Used shelves at the local homeschool store – If you have a local homeschool store, they will often either have a used curriculum section or will have used curriculum events. Be sure to ask and see what might be available in your area.

• Homeschool conventions – When I go to homeschool conventions, I’ll usually check out the used homeschool curriculum event. Not sure if all conventions do this, but the ones I’ve been to have had some sort of used curriculum event. I’ve picked up some great deals here too, especially books and my son’s electricty experiment kit.

Other sources exist, but I’ve not had any direct experience with them:

HSLDA’s Curriculum Market – came about after eBay banned the sale of teacher’s manuals. I have not used this site, but it might be worth looking into.

Sonlight Forums Used Curriculum  – You have to be a member of the Sonlight Forums to find and view the Used Curriculum for Sale area. But If you are using or interested in Sonlight, this may be a good choice, I’ve not used it though, as I tend to get my used Sonlight books from other homeschoolers and from eBay.

If you have experience buying homeschool curriculum from one of these or another site, please share in the comments, or write about it on your blog and post a link here. Thanks!

Do you feel that home schooling is better than public schools in an educational sense? Why or why not?

This question came up in an interview last year and while this is a much more complex question, here is my initial response as a homeschooling mom of 4, having homeschooled preschool through 6th grade (so far):

It depends on the family and the child. Homeschooling is not for everyone.

However, if the parents are willing to engage in the educational process and facilitate their child’s interests and educational journey, then yes, home schooling can be a better choice than public schools.

But is also important to look at “better” in areas outside of pure academics. While the nature of homeschooling, customized, personal, one-on-one education, allows for homeschool students to receive a more solid educational basis, it also allows students to excel in areas that are not facilitated within traditional public school systems – for example, music, art, sports, etc.

Homeschooling allows students to spend the time developing their natural talents and develop mastery in basic education topics, where public schooling is unable by its very nature to spend the time and energy developing each individual child at that child’s natural pace.

For families who move or travel, homeschooling also allows them continuity with their child’s education. Schools do not teach the same subjects on the same schedules and requirements from one school district and/or state to another are not the same. In a homeschool environment, students are able to continue along with no disruption to their academics and little potential for creating “holes” due to jumping from one school to another.

Also, when life event (like illness or death) happen causing stress for children and families, homeschool families can take breaks or do “light” school and then resume school on the schedule that best meets their needs. They do not have worry about getting behind or grades suffering because life is too overwhelming to facilitate the academic learning process.

Contemplating homeschooling or just curious? Here’s a short list of advantages and disadvantages to consider.

Advantages of Homeschooling

• Customizable, adaptable one-on-one education
• Mastery-based education based on child’s own development
• Shorten academic learning time and more time to pursue own interests
• More play time to facilitate imagination and natural development
• Ability to learn academic skills in a practical hands-on manner (e.g., fractions for cooking, measuring and building projects, etc.)
• Ability for children to receive social skill coaching from adults instead of peers
• Flexibility to travel and adapt to life circumstances without interrupting the flow of school.

Disadvantages of Homeschooling

• Requires a commitment from the parents to be a facilitator of their children’s education
• Requires a time and energy commitment that some parents are not able to provide
• Requires more effort by the parents to provide social contact (lots of social contact is available – sometimes too much – but it’s not built in to the school system like with a public or private school. Parents have to get to know others in order for their kids to connect.)

Also, I consider this one a huge advantage, but have learned that some parents feel differently. If you consider this a disadvantage, then homeschooling probably isn’t a good option for you.

• Requires parent(s) to spend time with their child(ren), getting to know them as unique individuals.

The advantages are only a beginning point. There are so many more. Feel free to add to these lists with your comments.