Internet Homeschooling
I am honored and excited to introduce to you:
Andrea who blogs about family, faith, and homeschooling over at Confessions of a Daydream Believer.
When we began our homeschool journey 3 ½ years ago we jumped in head first. I hadn’t done more than a few hours of research on the matter until Logan’s brief public school experience was turning in to an urgent matter. Knowing the detriment of the situation I contacted an umbrella school who walked me through the process and the very next day I handed the school office my Letter of Intent. The next question was now what curriculum do we use?
Knowing my son’s love of computers I started there. Which online curriculum was the most effective? I came across Time4Learning; Logan did some practice activities and immediately said “This one mom!” Not only was it engaging and educational but it tracked and graded all his worksheets, quizzes and tests which meant less work for me (two thumbs up).
Once we narrowed down Logan’s learning style, ah the joys of trial and error, we found that online curriculum’s work best for him. Visual Spatial children think in pictures, they need hands on learning, interactive education and videos. Time4Learning possessed all of these fantastic qualities. Another great supplemental online learning tool is Brain POP. Tim and Moby explain in a humorous way about everything under the sun i.e. fractions, atoms and blogs in a brief movie. When it’s done you can do the worksheets or take the quiz.
Math had always been a sore spot especially since Logan has the capability to work the problems in his head so the phrase “Show your work” made him cringe and have various meltdowns. After more trial and error a friend of mine suggested Thinkwell Homeschool. Their math program is interactive and Professor Burger uses awesome visual aids while instructing the lessons.
Not every online curriculum is created equal, we have used a few that just didn’t work for Logan and that’s alright, that is the joy of homeschooling you get to change whenever you want. The other plus for our family is when we travel we can load up the laptop and he can do his school work where ever we are.
In an age of technology I love that Logan is already proficient in computer knowledge and typing skills. Also he has become very independent with his studies, very rarely do I need to sit with him, unless he is working on a historical timeline or science experiment he completes his educational studies with little coaxing from me.
We are very blessed to have found each of the above mentioned programs along with some others that we use such as Spelling City, Khan Academy and History Classroom. I love how we have a choice and are able to match their learning styles with the best fit curriculum. How awesome to not be stuck in that works for every child mentality because each and every child is different and how can they grow if they are hindered with conforming education.
What are your favorite online programs?
Hello! I’m Andrea a sassy wife, a whimsical homeschool mama and a fanciful writer. I have homeschooled my awesomely quirky tween son since 2008 who is High Functioning on the Autism Spectrum. Please come visit me at www.daydreammama.com.
Dear Friends,
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