When we started homeschooling, there was one lady in church who homeschooled, but she was very private and distant. We didn't really interact. She gave me two recommendations when I asked her what curriculum she used. But that was it. I had no one to advise me, and wading through the differing opinions on the internet was overwhelming. Even the books I bought to help me learn to homeschool were overwhelming
Terri Johnson from Knowledge Quest is trying to reach out to new homeschoolers, to guide them through the process of beginning to homeschool. She has designed an internet class called Homeschooling ABC's for new homeschoolers. You receive one letter/lesson via email each week, which breaks it down into 26 easy steps. Each lesson is enough to get you through the next week of school, and builds upon previous lessons. This course can help you begin to homeschool with confidence, and with proper priorities.
The weekly lessons not only provide a step-by-step approach to homeschooling, but they also bring a weekly dose of encouragement. Terri writes with an encouraging tone, reassuring parents that they can homeschool their children. She writes not only to the homeschooler just starting out with a preschooler or kindergartner, but also to those parents who have had to pull their children from a school suddenly.
Homeschooling ABC's will help you organize your homeschool, establish your priorities, define your educational philosophy, find your curriculum, and understand the different learning styles in your family. The class will also teach you how to buy and sell curriculum, teach multiple ages, and deal with the socialization question. Each lesson recommends other resources: websites, helpful books, and curriculum sources. Each lesson also comes with free resources you can download, and there are free gifts sprinkled throughout the course. Over $200 of free gifts and curricula, to be exact.
Terri knows how overwhelming this task can be to beginners, and she has provided a logical, simple approach to homeschooling. She helps parents put their priorities in order, and focus on what is truly important. It's so easy to become sidetracked, or bogged down in lesson plans and grading keys, that homeschooling parents can lose their focus. Parents are left discouraged and disappointed in the homeschooling adventure. How many have reached that point, and then quit? I believe Homeschooling ABC's can prevent that.
The Homeschooling ABC's class costs $60, broken down into six monthly $10 payments. I was thinking back to our early days of homeschooling, as we tried to purchase our curriculum. I was afraid that $60 would have been too much for us to afford. I mentioned this concern to my husband, the Frugal King, and he assured me that almost everyone can scrape together $10/month ... especially when it can save you money in the long run. Not only because of the free resources and curricula that come with the class, but it will also save you from making costly mistakes in choosing the wrong curricula for your family.
I wish I'd had this class when I first began to homeschool. It would have saved me so much stress and frustration. It would have helped me remember why I was homeschooling, and not become focused on the wrong things (like finishing every single math problem in the lesson that day ... even if it made my daughter cry.) I definitely will be recommending Homeschooling ABC's to anyone who asks me about homeschooling.
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Trusting in Him,
April
