Educational Links for My Sister, Please? She's Homeschooling Now!

[Bertha Venation]

Earlier today LynneSin posted an African geography quiz.

http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/afrquiz.html

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for -- at that level and older.

The kids are 16 and 13. They just started their home school two weeks ago. They're both VERY sharp cookies.

All subjects, please: English (advanced grammar, composition, American Lit, classic lit, etc.), Spanish, History (world and American), Civics, Politics (strictly stuff intended high-school level education, please), all Sciences, etc. I'd especially like the mathematicians among us to give really good advice about math-type sites, since both my sister and I totally suck at math.

Anything anyone can offer would be welcome. We'll weed stuff out.

Thanks!

[Bertha Venation]

1. kick -- don't make me go to the GOP guy at work w/ 11 homeschooled kids...

please

[BostonTeaParty04]

2. Damn... find out what the guy is doing...

and then make sure you do the opposite.

Shoot, if I had a couple of teens to homeschool.... I would teach them the classics!

I mean REALLY educate them....

Here is a college I heard about ...teaches the classics. I would grab some of their material. And, yes, I believe 13 and 16 year olds CAN understand and grasp these things.

http://www.sjca.edu/asp/home.aspx

That's what I would do.....

Can you imagine learning geometry within the context with which it was derived?

[Bertha Venation]

4. I can't imagine anything about geometry beyond parallelograms.

Thanks for the link.

[Bertha Venation]

18. well, THAT was just a matter of time....

too bad.

[Shrek]

3. My son is home-schooled.

Here's some of the stuff we're using (he's 12 -- 6th grade).

Math-U-See

Saxon Homeschool

Timberdoodle

Rainbow Resource Center

I'll check with my wife for more details and see if I can some up with some more links.

[Bertha Venation]

5. thanks a bunch, DDIQ --

btw, I don't believe your name, not for a minute. :)

[LynzM]

6. check out geoparent

They have an entire chat board devoted to homeschooling, with loads of smart people and tons of information and resources. I bet she'd find a ton of stuff there!!

Need a math tutor? ;) I could help 'ya out there!

[Bertha Venation]

20. Thanks, LynzM...

Do you live within shouting distance of Fountain Valley, CA?

[LynzM]

26. No, but I do live within

Email/AIM/phone distance! I probably couldn't help much in real teaching, but am always willing to answer questions, as best I can! PM/IM me if you want info!

[truthspeaker]

7. out of curiosity, can I ask why she chose to homeschool?

Sucky public schools where she lives?

[Bertha Venation]

8. no problem

The public schools are excellent, at least where they live in Orange County, CA. Both kids are brilliant but they're lousy conformists. They stifled in school. Plus, the younger, the boy, is extremely tender and sensitive, and was getting unmanageably angry and depressed because of bullying and taunting.

My sister has the patience to teach them at home and so she's doing it. She absolutely rocks.

[Bertha Venation]

9. dupe

.

[cheezus]

10. Is she a trained, experienced, qualified teacher?

if not, will she also be home-doctoring her children?

[Bertha Venation]

12. I don't understand your question.

Edit: Actually, I rather understand why you've asked the question, but let me be clear:

Do you think that the only individuals qualified to provide a good education to children are professional teachers? If so, why?

Thanks.

[cheezus]

21. No, but I'd sure want the best!

I could probably prescribe antibiotics for sore thoats, do physical checkups on healthy people, perform simple medical prodecures if I studied it in a book first.

However, as the health of my family is very important, I'll send them to a highly qualified doctor instead of treating them myself. Sure, I'll give the kids the chewable tylenol when they need it, and I'll be able to tell when they're doing fine on their own. But for the bulk of their healthcare I'll go to a professional. It's that important.

Similarily, the education of my family is very important. I'm going to read to my kids, play the educational computer games with them, maybe do math flashcards, counting, birdwatching, etc, etc. But for the bulk of their education, I'll go to a professional. It's that important.

I find it demeaning to our nations teachers (I'm the child of two) that the public has this idea that it's a layperson's job.

[sir_captain]

22. it's a good thing you're not

since the vast majority of sore throats are caused by a virus! ;-)

but seriously, prescribing of antibiotics for sore throats is actually s big problem

threadjack over

[cheezus]

25. oops. but i guess you made my point

It seems simple, but it takes a lot of education and experience to do it well.

[Bertha Venation]

28. practicing medicine? yes.

Educating one's own children? Not necessarily.

[Bertha Venation]

27. I am not this "public" you refer to.

And I don't know anyone who has a general belief that any sod lucky enough to get laid can give the resulting children a decent education.

I know my sister, and I know their children, and I know their situation. They will get a very good education and will excel in life.

I haven't taken your post as an insult toward my sister because I'm a gentle woman. It could easily be taken as such, though.

You should not take my sister's decision to complete her children's education through the next few years (or anyone's decision to teach their children at home) as a personal affront toward you or your parents.

[Shrek]

29. It's not a reflection on the teachers

It's a reflection on the schools.

I agree with you -- the education of children is best handled by those with the knowledge and experience to do it well. And if there were a way to take my son to those people without enrolling him in the school in which they teach, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

But the schools are a mess, and we didn't care to deal with the drugs, violence, bullies, and so on.

Fortunately for us, my wife is a former public school teacher with two undergrad degrees and a Master's, and she's state-certified in both elementary education and secondary English education. For us, home-schooling seemed a sensible choice.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. i am neither and home schooled my children for the first 7 years of their

education .......they are both now in public school (2 years now) and both are on the superintendents honor roll (95%-100% GPA) for 8 marking quaters running

[cheezus]

23. hey, you've got smart kids

or you make them work hard. Probably both. That doesn't mean you're a great teacher. It's not like I was saying homeschooling ruins a kid's education. I'm just noting that something as important as education should be left to a professional.

If your kids are healthy and top athletes in their school that doesn't mean you were a good doctor, does it?

[truthspeaker]

15. my roommate in college was home-schooled and sharp as a tack

Neither parent was a trained teacher, but his father was a philosophy professor. They gave him a better education than he would have received at the public school in their area.

[cheezus]

24. there's a lot of smart people out there

and it's not like homeschooling makes them stupid.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. here are a few i used

a few handy tools:
http://www.refdesk.com
http://www.onlineconversion.com
www.discoveryschool.com
www.Aplusmath.com

[Bertha Venation]

14. dudette...

you rock! You sure you want to keep this posted? I've copied it, so if you wanna delete . . .

[ElsewheresDaughter]

16. deleted ....the C.E.R.F. one has tens of thousands carefully selected ....

information-rich safe K-12 URL's in major subject areas.

i have more that i will PM to you :7

[Bertha Venation]

17. thank you so much

that was quite generous. :)

I sent her a lesson plan that I dreamed up all by my lonesome: send the kids to geocode.com to find out the longitude & latitude of their house, plot it, my house, Disneyland, the White House, and the state houses of several states. :shrug:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

19. thanks that's a great site..50states.com is also good site for school kids