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I'm taking classes to be a licensed home daycare provider. I will have a webcam on for the parents to be able to see their children at all times. (through messenger and only listed contacts will have access) Besides the expected atmosphere for learning and safety, what other things would make my daycare appealing to parents and children? What do you wish you had as an option in the daycare your children attend?
All of these answers are wonderful, thankyou for your input everyone. Regulations are very concrete. I will adhere to them without fail! I will have a daily activity plan, weekly news letter and I'll jot down anything the kids do that I think a parent will want to know. They'll have a notebook that I plan on writing in daily so the parents will know what we did all day. I had originally planned on taking 3 infants only, but have found out I can't for legal reasons, so I will take one infant and 2 preschoolers within the same age.

What a cool idea with the webcam, that's sure to bring a lot of peace of mind.

I pulled my daughter out of a home daycare because they never did anything with her. I didn't see pictures she had tried to color, or crafts, or anything. The woman basically just "babysat".

I would say have activities for the kids to do, and send them home with things they have done or made. The most important thing for me is that I feel like the daycare providers my son has now (daughter is in school now) is that they really, really love him. They aren't afraid to play with him and roll around, so he loves them since they're fun.

The room they're in should be bright and cheerful. Put up some of the kids' artwork and some learning items (shapes, numbers, ABC's etc.)

Good luck- sounds like you're off to a great start.

I don't care if you're pro, anti or neutral…just form a grammatically correct list of 3 things you wish people would quit repeating on this board. If its a stand on an issue, provide proof of how that argument is fictional and hope it gets through to someone.

Here is my list:

1. If they want to come to America they should learn English.
Proof: America has no official language because it was seen as a threat to individual liberties.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/question.htm

2. Bilingual classes are wasting money.
Proof: Not all non-English speaking students are illegals, and they are definetly entitled to a good education. Studies indicate that having students learn in their first language facilitates their learning.
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/directions/04.htm

3. Any racist remarks and calling people racists for no reason.
Theres no reason to stoop to name-calling, just give your thoughs and opinions and try to leave the negativity at home
If someone doesn't want to hear my list, prove me wrong with sources.

Oh yeah…here's a few more you guys can work on.

-Illegal Immigrants are taking jobs from Americans.
-Illegal Immigrants hold wages down.
-Food prices will not soar if Americans do the work (they are allready rising)

http://www.apathy.net/stories/illegal_immigration_myths_and_facts

I agree with those.

1. Also, if they say, "if illegals want to stay, they should learn English" as if they want them to stay now. but they demand that they get deported. doesn't make sense.
2. Everyone should learn another language. And people always cry that's it's Spanish that people think they have to learn. they also claim that immigrants demand that they learn Spanish.
3. true, no one should bash or say something negative about Mexicans or Mexico just because the majority of illegals are Mexican, that's not an excuse.

But I wish people would stop crying about. . .
1. "Deport all illegals" (it's obvious that won't happen)
2. "let's use landmines"
3. "close the border"

Hello, everyone on Y!A !

I am thirteen years old and will be home-schooled when the school term begins this fall. There are several options that we are looking at, and have not decided on one yet, but there are questions I have that apply to all of the options available, and I was hoping to get some answers. I will be in year nine, and here are the courses I need to take and a few that I would like to take:

Geometry, English, History, Social Sciences, Geography, Latin, French, Art, Some sort of Science - I am not sure which I am supposed to be placed in just yet, and perhaps a few others.

No matter what, I will be basically teaching myself these subjects, and I have been left to arrange these matters.

First Question: What supplies will I need? I know the obvious ones like pencils, paper, pens, and things, but if you can list a few things that I probably don’t know about, like record-keeping, organising, and which course books are best, that would be fantastic.

Second Question: How will I organise my own schedule? I know that I have the ability to teach myself whatever I’d like to learn, I have done it plenty of times before, and I have the discipline to do the work, but I do not know how to do this. I have always been in public schools until recently (I withdrew in June), so this has always been arranged for me by the administrators and guidance counselors. How will I make sure I know all that I need to know, learn everything properly, learn complete information and not just partial information, and learn it at the proper pace? How much material makes up one lesson? Shouldn’t I be doing more than eight subjects a day? Please help me here - this is one of the biggest concerns I have. Also, please keep in mind that I have lessons after the ’school day’ will be over, so it is important that I finish on time but not too quickly!

Third Question: Homework, Course books, and Marks, oh my! How do I measure my progress in learning? How do I know what marks I’ve earned? How do I keep track of this? How do I record it? If I wish to return to public schooling in the future, how will I submit these marks? (Please do not say the government will provide this information - we have been everywhere asking about it, and every person that we have asked, all of whom should have known the answers to these questions, replied “Oh, I don’t know, you’ll have to talk to [Insert department/person/title here] about that!” or something of the sort. We finally talked to a woman who has home-schooled all eight of her children [one is a friend of mine and the same age/year] and learned that there is no information provided for parents wishing to home-school their children. Apparently the law is that a parent is responsible for his/her child’s education, and if the parents do not choose to be responsible, public education is provided. Otherwise, you’re on your own.) How do I set homework for myself? How do I evaluate my work? What sort of essays and things should I set for myself? How will I know how much is the right amount? Where can I find good, reliable course books that I know have correct information? How can I be certain what I’ve learned is from a reliable source?

If you have any advice regarding these matters or any information about home schooling in general, please respond! If you’ve got success stories or tales of horrible disappointment and failure (perhaps I can learn from your mistakes! I am sorry if you’ve had difficulties!), please share them! Websites and tips are also greatly appreciated! Thank you all so much for helping!

I may add a bit more to this later, but for now this tiny box seems to be affecting my ability to think!
Thanks - Those websites are great!

I am in the U.S. now, in Connecticut.

If possible I would like to have a mix of these things, but I am mainly a visual learner - I will retain information heard in videos, but I find my mind is much more open and thinks in different, more extended ways when I read the information or have a course book or printed hand out accompanying it. I think books and the computer will have to be my main learning tools, but I am definitely open to all other options! I just haven't heard many.

Well, my mother says I want to study from a secular view point - but why should she decide what /I/ want? I think, ideally, I would like a bit of both - I think the Christian side of things is more philosophical, isn't it, while the secular side is a bit more broad and scientific? I am more interested in the scientific side of things, generally, but I would also love to learn about different philosophies. I guess I would chose secular - but I am not disinterested in –
– the Christian curriculum.

Thank you. The public school model is all I know. That is why I am trying to learn about other's experiences! You are right - it seems very impractical to follow their examples when working from home on my own. "You now have the freedom to learn in the ways that make the most sense to you, at the pace you prefer, and according to your interests." I know - This is what frightens me! "You do need to set a course schedule and keep yourself accountable to it - which it sounds like you're more than capable of doing - but it's completely worth it."

Thank you for all of your help!
"If you are in the US try the Home School Legal Defense Organization. They have answers to the requirements of your state as well as info on curriculum and tips on getting started."

The state I live in, Connecticut, does not have any requirements - this surely would prevent much of the confusion we have experienced, but there are no such requirements to speak of. Thank you for the tip, though, I will certainly look into that!
"I use have used Seton, Kolbe, and Catholic Heritage Cirricula because we are Catholic - they have daily lesson plans available as well as reportcards and some have HS diplomas."

That sounds excellent - I think what we need is a sort of example of lesson plans to work with. I will deffinitely look those programmes up!

" Seton has experts available for you to call if you get stuck. They send you the books and a list of additional supplies that you might need."

Excellent - This might ease some of my mother's worries. She is afraid I may not be able to learn without a proper teacher.

"They are now excelent self-starters and are great at teaching themselves all types of things (knitting, guitar, etc)."

Really? I've taught myself knitting, piano, guitar, and Mandarin Chinese! What a coincidence. "Don't let anyone give you any crap about socialization, my kids have lots of friends and are quite active."

Ha ha, I should mention right now that although I appreciate your concerns, anyone who is planning on answering with "Home schooling is a poor option. Children miss out on many social opportunities and have more tendencies to develope social anxiety disorders… etcetera" and similar answers, please do not reply to this question. It has very little to do with the subject at hand - yes, it is about the general subject, but this is what we would call 'going off on a tangent' in my old lessons.

Also, I do have lessons from half-three to half-eight every day with my friends, so I will not be entirely removed from my peers. Any way, I've always found that I relate better to adults than the children in my old classes at public schools.

"Good luck with everything!!!"

Thank you.

Thank you all for your help!
A note about scheduling matters -

Has any one had experience with working lessons into tough schedules? This was one of the reasons that have lead to my decision to home-school - I have a very difficult schedule, and it is always apt to change during certain seasons.

I am a dancer, and so all of September to December is spent in Nutcracker rehearsals and the back-stage areas of theatres. I have lessons from half-three, and they continue until half-eight. This is when there is no production in progress, which there is more often than not. How can I make my schedule flexible but structured enough to be reliable and easy to stick to, but forgiving enough to slip in a three hour rehearsal at a moment's notice? Will this lack of reliable schedule be a problem? What do you think?

Thank you for your help!
Thank you for the advice - I would love to be able to pre-arrange my holidays, but my schedule is often changed and will need to be re-arranged to accommodate many late-night rehearsals and staging/tech runs! "Now for assigning yourself the course work it is actually already done for you by chapter but here is an easy way." What course books do you use? I will have to look through the course books we purchase and divide it up this way - thank you, that makes the task seem much simpler! "I have had no help from the local school where I live because 2 educated teachers could not handle 11 kids in grades K-2 so I have homeschooled since we moved here andwill continue until we moved. Also the kids in the class we more then a grade below grade level. I still can't figure that one out. Best of luck to you." Our public school district is similarly incompetent and very intolerant, and has a moronic staff - they turn a blind eye to abuse and harassment, too, which is unacceptable to us. Thanks!
Hsmomlovinit, thank you so much for all of your help and recommendations! They all sound absolutely wonderful and seem to be exactly what we've been looking for. We have also searched a wide variety of programmes over the years for gifted and talented courses, but our searching never yielded particularly useful results. (This past year I was sort of in-between years — I was already in several year nine lessons, but I could read in class all week [I didn't, but you know what I mean] and still pass the tests without a problem.) Challenging course work is definitely something we're looking for! You've been a great help. All of this is so fantastic!

Candygirl-lola, that sounds very interesting! I think I would prefer to be home-schooled to being un-schooled, but I will most likely read the book you mentioned - although I don't think it is the best option for me, I think I would enjoy learning about that type of option. Nikkigirl400, thank you for the advice! Unfortunately, we have already been to our district offices and they have no help or information to provide. They do not require or even ask that you turn in work to them or take standardised testing - although I /will/ be taking CAPT tests, PSATs, SATs, and other standardised tests, there is not information provided to home-schooled students or their parents about curriculum, activities, scheduling, or any other matters. Connecticut does not /have/ a home-schooling office - they seem to be the least informative area about home-schooling. If their were requirements to base our work off of, we would surely have fewer questions! It is unfortunate, but the only help home-schooled children and their parents can receive in Connecticut is from /other/ home-schooled children and their parents. I think if we searched for the requirements of other states and based our work off of those, it would help us a great deal, but Mum seems to think this is not –
– a good idea. Thank you for all of your help and advice, specifically with regards to supplies! On the note of standardised testing and extra-curricular activities, I do have several extra-curricular activities that I will continue to participate in, and I have a slight bit of experience with standardised testing. I have already taken the SSATs, so we have farmiliarised ourselves with the procedures. Unfortunately, we are still trying to figure out how this works in relation to home-schooling, as this seems to be different than how it works if the child is in the public or private school system.

Thank you for all of your help!

First, can you tell us if you're in the US or another English-speaking country? The curriculum choices that are available in some are difficult to find in others.

Also, what do you prefer as far as coursework? Do you learn best by reading the info in a textbook and completing an assignment (essay, research project, whatever)? Or do you find it easier to learn with a teacher on a DVD or CDRom explaining the information to you? Do you prefer a literature-based program, or would you rather have a project-based (hands-on) type of curriculum?

Lastly, what sort of worldview would you like to study from - secular or Christian? There are really great and user-friendly choices in both, but obviously they would be different choices.

Congratulations on taking charge of your education! It is a transition, but it's one that's completely worth it. The one thing I will say, up front, is to allow yourself not to feel like you have to follow the public school model. It works ok for what it is, but it doesn't mesh well with a student learning on their own. You now have the freedom to learn in the ways that make the most sense to you, at the pace you prefer, and according to your interests. You do need to set a course schedule and keep yourself accountable to it - which it sounds like you're more than capable of doing - but it's completely worth it.

If you can provide the information I asked for above, I (and others) would be happy to point you toward curricula that would work well for you.

Edit - for History, Geography, English, Social Sciences, Lit, Arts, Writing, Philosophy, and Humanities, I'd strongly recommend TRISMS. It's a lit-based research program that has you study various time periods in-depth - the civilizations, arts, sciences, literature, politics, religions, social movements, etc. Because it's lit and research based, you can study with your own choice of research tools and your own chosen viewpoint(s). You build your own coursebook, and everything is very clearly scheduled out for you. Each lesson gives you numerous suggestions for lit pieces and research/reference tools. It's also extremely flexible, so it would fit well into your schedule. (For 9th grade, I would suggest either Discovering the Ancient World or Expansion of Civilizations.) Here's the link: http://trisms.com/ It's also extremely affordable, as many of the books and other resources you'll use are either included in the text itself or available online or at the library.

For science, my favorite by far is Apologia. You would most likely start in either physical science or biology, though if you've already had biology, you could go to chem. It is written from a creationist viewpoint (as the author is a creationist Ph. D.) but includes very complete explanations of evolution and other points of view. It's very, very readable and comes with both CDRom and MP3 supplements. It's also written specifically for homeschool students, so all of the experiments are user-friendly. http://apologia.com/store/?PHPSESSID=3ab8ce01d5dec9ac4a8d270be05b914a

For math, I suggest one of the following three courses:
Teaching Textbooks http://teachingtextbooks.com/v/vspfiles/tt/Geometry.htm
VideoText Geometry (2-3 year program that includes geometry, trig, and pre-calc) http://videotext.com/geometry.htm
Math U See http://mathusee.com/geometry.html

For Latin, the one that I use for my high school classes is BJU Press Latin 1 and 2. It's easy to use and understand (use the teacher's manual to check your work) and comes with an audio CD. I believe you may also be able to find the class on DVD. Here's the link: http://www.bjupress.com/category/Latin+for+Homeschool+HS?path=2033

For French, I would suggest Auralog Tell Me More http://www.tellmemore.com/individuals__1/individuals/learn_french. You can get it either on CDRom or DVD with online classes. This is the best program I've found, and the one I'll be using for my son in the years to come (he's a bit younger than you).

(I majored in linguistics and teach Latin and other languages to middle and high school students.)

For art, ARTistic Pursuits is good; it's a self-paced course that goes through both art history and art theory. If you're able to take an outside class it would probably be better, but this curriculum would fit well with your schedule. http://www.millerpadsandpaper.com/SearchResults.aspx? will give you the best price - just choose the senior high options in the drop down box.

Hope that helps! These are the best that I've found (and having a gifted student along with teaching classes has caused me to look far and wide). They are flexible enough to fit with your schedule but open enough for you to really study things as indepth as you want to. Each is also very easy to schedule - they come with planners built right in. Everything there, except for the TRISMS and the science book, will also last you for more than a year.

Hope that helps - and good luck!

Edit again - candygirl, you're still a homeschooler, hon. Unschooling is one philosophy (method) of homeschooling. There are many different ways to do it. If you're schooled outside of a public or private classroom, you're homeschooled.

My husband and I are making a list of things that we want are new house to have,is the anything you wish your home might of had when you bought your house?

Is anybody actually reading your question? I think you’re asking just about what to put on your list of wants. When I bought a house, I had three lists: the “Must Have” “Would like to Have (but don’t have to)” and “Do not Want.”

I may have been extra detailed because my husband is a real estate agent and he wanted to be clear on my criteria as he did much of the searching without me. What helped me make my lists was to sit back and think of all of the issues that I’d had in my previous dwellings: not enough or poorly placed electrical outlets; doors that don’t open and close easily; noise from roads and neighbors; inadequate parking, etc.

Also, I considered my needs at this stage in my life: school district didn’t matter because we’ll move again before we have kids old enough to send to school; the house has a small yard, but we don’t have time to care for a big one; we often entertain, so having plenty of parking was important.

And try as hard as you like, there will be things you won’t think about or notice until you live in your house for awhile. If all else fails, you can probably Google your topic and find lists of things to think about.

The price of everything is going up. One of the ways to save money I think would be to plant some fruits and veggies in the back yard.
Are there any books you know of on back yard farming? What are some of the success stories you have about growing your own produce at home?

Some of the produce I wish to grow includes: pinto beans, tomatoes, potatoes, po-tah-toes, raspberries, and anything else that would be good year round. (are the fruits and veggies i listed good year round? )

Blueberries is great for your back yard they come back each year producing more berries. Tomatoes will also do good in your backyard. Raspberries will require more space but are higher maintenance. I would set out Plum tree they are heavy producers of fruit. I would not recommend Peach tree as to much spraying of pesticide, to get worm free peach.