re: For those who homeschool...

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My GF homeschools her son. She is an Unschooler LINK

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I like the idea of the Unschooling. I plan on blending quite a few strategies and in our case, Unschooling is great because I often teach based upon what the kids are interested in, what is in our enviroment , nature and other aspects of life. We live on a large piece of land with cows, horse, sheep, ducks, and many other animals. We also have and woods and a small wading bayou to explore and investigate.

I have always taught form the perspective of making learning hands-on and fun so Unschooling appeals to that aspect of my teaching style.

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Is anyone using the Louisiana "Connections" online school? LINK
I'm a little skeptical of that. I helped my GF do some research about online schooling. She eventually decided not to go in that direction, but if she had, it wouldn't have been through the LA offerings. We weren't too impressed with the virtual charter schools associated with the LDOE for several reasons. There are some very good choices out there-Laurel School, Calvert School, and especially the ones associated with Stanford University and Texas Tech. She almost put him in the local Episcopal school this year but decided to do at least one more year at home.

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This is very helpful input. I was considering it just to ensure that there was a state approved curriculum in place. I want to make sure that my kids are achieving and exceeding whatever the state deems as appropriate. I was going to use that as a basis and then pretty much expand based upon my teaching style, the kids' interests and the land we live on.

When I taught public schools, their textbooks were worthless, outdated and having only 10 of them meant they were pretty useless. So I am used to making up my own curriculum based upon state standards of what they say should be taught. I made my own worksheets, workbooks and love doing all of that.

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What was your main reason for choosing to home-school?

She went to highly competitive high school and an Ivy League college, and came away burned out and disillusioned by the educational assembly line. She wanted another path for her son. They also wanted to diagnose him ADD/ADHD and she was adamantly opposed to medicating him for it. She's been successful in avoiding that.

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She sounds like a great mom and teacher. I want the kids to see learning as fun and as something that they love doing. I want them to see that learning never ends and there is always more to explore. I like the ability to accommodate each child's abilities, learning styles and interests. I also want to create kids who are self-motivated and can be independent learners who don't have to be constantly told what to do and when to do it.

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Do you participate in a group with other home-schooling parents so that your kid(s) have socialization with others?

She did, but he's too old for most of the activities now. They're designed for elementary age kids for the most part. They're big equestrians, so most of his socialization is around horse activities. She's looking into some kind of work-study or aprenticeship related to that for him.

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There are no home-school groups here other than one which is religion based (pentecostal). So it looks like i will be creating my own. Luckily, everyone in our small town knows each other so I have already enlisted my sis in law to come school her granddaughter with us and the BabyKittie's mom has a few friends who have kids of the right age to join us. We want to be able to go on field trips and bring the kids up as friends.

I think an apprenticeship would be a great idea! Developing a work ethic is such an overlooked skill in our society. That is why i hope to teach my kids skills like cooking, sewing, basic woodwork, caring for animals, gardening and things to help them discover what kind of career they may want to go for.

Horses are a big part of life here. It is entirely possible that our class pet could end up being a horse or a calf. That would be pretty awesome!