Thursday, December 15, 2011

Homeschool Dinosaur Science Link Paleobiology

Hi:

Just got word of this quick and to the point post of a walk through behind the scenes of the Paleobiology Department at the Smithsonian Institute.

Dinosaur lovers will really enjoy this:
http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2011/11/14/behind-the-scenes/

Visit Homeschool Resources Online for more great science links.

Enjoy,
Takara

Monday, December 5, 2011

How to find an Accredited Homeschool Curriculum

I recently received an email from a woman seeking help. She was planning to take her child out of school and begin homeschooling. The problem is that she was only planning to do that for a little while and the child would then be re-entering the public education system. The school administration insisted that she find an accredited program to use to home educate her child.

She was not in a financial situation to afford many of the accredited programs online. There are many wonderful accredited homeschool programs available, but they do cost a fair bit of money.

You can find a great list of such resources at http://www.homeschoolsantafe.com/Homeschool-Curriculum.htm
This was my response to this woman seeking advice:

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor to homeschool your child. Unfortunately, when I lived in New Mexico I was unschooling with no intention of having my child attend school. So I had no need to care about accreditation. I now live in Virginia.

Unless you plan to continue to homeschool through high school, you probably do need to get an accredited program. Many of the homeschool families I know in Santa Fe have either started having their child attend a private school, or they enroll their child at the Community College as soon as that is possible. In Santa Fe it is age 12. They will get their high school diploma by taking the GED exam.  

This list of organizations is from my website. I'm not sure if the one for New Mexico is still in operation. I know the ones for Santa Fe are though, so you might start there. Just ask to join the list and then post to each the information you sent to me. Homeschool parents are typically very helpful with requests like that. Or you could simply put all that in your request to join. The moderator might actually answer your questions.

Homeschool Organizations in New Mexico



New Mexico Homeschool Community
http://www.newmexicohomeschoolcommunity.com/


Both Santa Fe groups have approximately 150 members. The New Mexico site used to be a yahoo email list but is now a website with forums for discussion. Some families choose to be on more than one list so they don't miss anything.

Southwest Home Education - http://www.southwest-home-education.com. This organization hosts the homeschool trip to disneyland and other regional events.

 
There is an online program that is very good - particularly for your child's age. I don't think it is accredited though. Here is the link: http://www.time4learning.com.

Best of luck,
Takara