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Post by blessedmom on May 5, 2007 20:07:43 GMT -5
I currently do not homeschool but would really love to. I have a 6 year old boy, 5 year old girl, and 2 year old girl. My dh would like to see that I can homeschool our kids, so I told him I would do a trial run over the summer. He thought that was a great idea, but was concerned with the money involved. I found www.oldfashionededucation.com from the hillbilly housewife site and loved it, but wanted to know if any of you had used it and your thoughts, or if there is another free or extremely inexpensive site you use to homeschool your children? Thanks so much! Be blessed!
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Post by martymay32 on May 5, 2007 23:07:49 GMT -5
I home school my kindergarten and preschooler daughters. I have looked at this site provided by the hillbilly housewife. It has a lot of great materials. However, I think you should follow Maggie's own advice and tailor it to meet your children's specific needs. I looked over her 40 week plan for my 5 1/2 year old kindergarten daughter and found it to be way out of her league. However, the Bright Beginnings site for my preschool girl was fine. The problem with mine is they both want to learn the same things so I have to find something that will work for both of them, including the 4 year old while stimulating the 51/2 year old. I finally just went through all the materials in the K-2 range and selected things I thought would work for my own girls. By the way, she has a user group on there for support if you do decide it is for you . Also, there are plenty of other free homeschooling sites on the web besides this one . Try www.first-school.ws/ for your 2 and 5 year olds. I wish you all the best in whatever you decide! Martha
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Post by bettyjo on May 9, 2007 16:30:21 GMT -5
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Post by bettyjo on May 9, 2007 16:32:55 GMT -5
Opps,forgot have fun at that age to encourage the love of learning. Also check to see if your local library has summer reading program. I know that our also have something for pre-reads.
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Post by countmyblessings on May 10, 2007 2:59:15 GMT -5
I use Old Fashioned Education for my 3rd grader with many modifications. It's a solid program, but many times too dry for us. For the preschooler, I use Brightly Beaming and Preschool Time Online.
Please keep in mind that education need not cost a second mortgage! I estimate our expenses to be $250 a year or so for 3rd gade and preschool. I have literally hundeds of links to various free education things, inlcuding e-books, worksheets, projects, and more. If you are ever hunting for something and need a little help, please don't hesitate to ask me. I probably have whjat you're looking for. My family operates on a small budget and the girls get a first-rate education on next to nothing. I pay for only a few things: 1. Singapore Math. $50 a year per child (that includes two text books and two workbooks. I skip on the teacher's books for such young ones). 2. EdHelper. A plethora of pritables. I think I paid $20 for the entire year, and will gladly pay it again next year. 3. Disney's Preschool Time Online. This is new, I think. I paid $50 for a whole year. It is fun, safe, educational material for my three year-old and I to do together. Teaches preschool / kindergarten concepts, character skills, and confidence-building. 4. A subscription to The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Invaluable! I cherish eery issue!
If funds permit I want to buy a membership to Enchanted Learning, too. We'll see how things go.
Homeschooling is wonderful, fulfilling, life-enriching, realitionship-strenghtening, parent-child-bonding..... I just can't say enough about it!
I wish you the very best! And please let me know if I can help in any way!
Blessings,
Michelle
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Post by firefly on May 15, 2007 11:48:48 GMT -5
While the "Old-Fashioned Education" site has a great many online resources listed and is doable, I highly recommend that you check out Ambleside Online ( www.amblesideonline.org ). I have been using it with both of my daughters for the past six or seven years now and we love the program. They list as many free online sources as possible, but you should be able to find most books recommended at your local library as well. You can join their e-mail group at groups.yahoo.com/group/AmblesideOnline/ . There you will find an entire community using this curriculum and there is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement among the members. Hope this helps. God bless you and yours. -Firefly
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Post by annab on May 15, 2007 13:16:19 GMT -5
Hi, I am new to this site, but I have a question about the free online curriculmns how much on average does it cost to print things out?? Also how do you actually work these curriculumns into your schedule, I have five dc four of whom I want to use some of the materials I have seen with. But I am used to just using workbooks and the library so far. Anway, I just want to know how I can make an online curriculum work, and how expensive it is to print out, is it really cheaper than buying the books. AnnaB
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Post by sparkys9 on May 15, 2007 16:14:22 GMT -5
I had that same ? AnnaB. sure hope someone answers it soon:)!
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Post by firefly on May 15, 2007 19:20:03 GMT -5
To be honest, I don't often print out entire books from Ambleside Online's curriculum. I have found many of the books at used book stores, yard sales, curriculum swap boards and on eBay. Nowadays, everyone I know is using BookMooch ( bookmooch.com/ ). It's a site where you can list the books you are willing to part with and browse for books you need. You only pay for the cost of shipping your books out to others. I've been signed up for it for a while, but I haven't had the time to look into it because of more pressing family matters. I do want to sit down and go through my bookshelves, though, and list the books I need to send on their way. We have a lot of books that we have collected over the past ten years of using "literature-based" curriculum. Some of them have become a threat to our ability to continue living in this house comfortably. P.S. I do print out things like the poetry selections, short stories and, occasionally, books that are out of print and too pricey on some of the book search sites like Alibris ( www.alibris.com/ ). Another thought I had is that a lot of people just copy the online books to a CD and take it to someplace like Kinko's to have them printed out cheaply. God bless!
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Post by annab on May 18, 2007 16:07:33 GMT -5
To be honest, I don't often print out entire books from Ambleside Online's curriculum. I have found many of the books at used book stores, yard sales, curriculum swap boards and on eBay. Nowadays, everyone I know is using BookMooch ( bookmooch.com/ ). It's a site where you can list the books you are willing to part with and browse for books you need. You only pay for the cost of shipping your books out to others. I've been signed up for it for a while, but I haven't had the time to look into it because of more pressing family matters. I do want to sit down and go through my bookshelves, though, and list the books I need to send on their way. We have a lot of books that we have collected over the past ten years of using "literature-based" curriculum. Some of them have become a threat to our ability to continue living in this house comfortably. P.S. I do print out things like the poetry selections, short stories and, occasionally, books that are out of print and too pricey on some of the book search sites like Alibris ( www.alibris.com/ ). Another thought I had is that a lot of people just copy the online books to a CD and take it to someplace like Kinko's to have them printed out cheaply. God bless! I did not know I could have copies made from a cd. That is very good to know because I have a lot of things I need to have printed out, both for my kids and for my dh and myself. But I have never heard of the place you mentioned "Kinko's" so I will have to see if there is one near me. Thanks a lot for this information.
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Post by sparkys9 on May 18, 2007 20:12:49 GMT -5
Kinkos is a printing shop in bigger cities. There isn't one near me, either.Having said that, there is a mail store here that will do copies for .07 for single and .11 for double sided copies. Also, there is regular printing shop (business cards, invitations,etc) that could probably do it cheaply. I hadn't though of the CD idea either. I am not computer savvy. Thanks for the hints!
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Post by firefly on May 22, 2007 0:16:15 GMT -5
Anna, Here's the site online: www.fedex.com/us/officeprint/main/According to it, you can upload your file directly to their site and have it printed, bound and delivered. That would probably cost more than actually taking it to a store yourself, but I thought you might like to know. I think there are similar stores called PIP and OfficeMax might offer some of the same services. God bless.
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