Choosing the right umbrella school for your high school students

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      An umbrella school is an accredited school that keeps your homeschooling records.  The school guides you what subjects to take so you won’t miss any credit necessary for high school graduation.  Registering under an umbrella school is a must.  This will be handy when you apply for college, making all your activities at home legit in the eyes of the university system.

     What to look for in choosing an umbrella school?

     1. Efficiency in record keeping

       How do you know if they are efficient?  They send you a reminder for any late submission of your grades.  You can also check their efficiency by asking a transcript even if your child is not yet a senior.

     2.   Cost

       The cost should be affordable, especially if you have multiple kids.  An annual fee of $80-$100/child is reasonable for me.

    3.   Sufficient support

      I just switched to another umbrella school because I felt I need more structure.  I wanted some guidance in what subjects to take and the credits my kids need in high school. I also wanted an umbrella school that is accessible to me so I can visit them if ever I need some counseling services.  My current umbrella school provides me a better guide by giving me a one-page summary of subjects my kids need to take throughout high school and the credits necessary for college.

   4.  Simplified grading system

      I prefer to submit grades per semester than a quarterly one.  A clear grading scale also helps me.

     To all homeschooling moms who are transitioning to high school, do not fret.  Start with a good umbrella school and you don’t have to worry about accreditation or missed credits. Choosing the right one is a good way to start.  Homeschooling rocks!

Surviving Homeschooling in High School

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Homeschooling in high school can be so intimidating even for a seasoned homeschooler. If probably you haven’t heard any comments from educators that 9th through 12th grades are the ones that count in qualifying to get into college, then homeschoolers’ jitters might be less.

One intimidating factor is how to guide your kid the way an ordinary institution provides. In a public or private institution, a counselor is available to help the kids know what career path they are taking. The school usually guides the kids to determine what course they will take in college or what they are interested to pursue. They usually do a career fair giving kids information on every field. This kind of guidance falls in the hands of the parent or the homeschooler who doesn’t usually have the resources. For this reason, homeschoolers need to do a lot of research to provide the same guidance to their kids.

Thanks to other homeschoolers who have done the work that you can solve this dilemma. One resource that you can avail is the Holland codes test, a set of test developed by a psychologist named John L. Holland. In the website, you can match your kids’ personality and interest to a possible career.

Another intimidating factor for a homeschooler is to make sure that all the necessary subjects/credits are taken to satisfy college requirements. The fear of missing a subject and the necessary credits is legitimate. The good news is umbrella schools provide an outline of what subjects to take and how many credits to earn from 9th through 12th grade. For example, Aaron Academy provides a great outline what a homeschooler need to teach their kids every year. You can find the outline on their website here.

Applying for college scholarships can also be tedious. Schools can easily provide sources and guide parents how to apply. A homeschooler will be left on his/her own to figure out where and when to start. Thanks to homeschoolers who have successfully taught their kids all the way to high school and managed to put them in college, the newer homeschoolers will learn from their experience. Go ahead and ask these veterans of their valuable input.

Attending a senior prom can be an issue. Homeschooled kids might feel that they are missing out an important teenage experience since they do not belong to a bigger group. MTHEA (Middle Tennessee Home Education Association) holds a teen banquet for homeschooled kids. The key to avoid awkwardness at these events is for kids to be in a tutorial or co-op where the whole class can attend.

Graduation ceremonies can also dampen the sense of normality to homeschooled kids, but once again MTHEA has provided such events for all homeschoolers to attend so their kids can feel accomplished as they transition to college.

These are several ways to survive homeschooling in high school. As veteran homeschoolers will say, take one year at a time. Stay connected with other homeschoolers and you will be fine.

Homeschooling in High School

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I started to browse my curriculum options for my rising 9th graders when it suddenly hit me that this is the real thing.

I heard from a lot of educators that it is okay to let the kids fail from Grades 1-8 but when you reach Grade 9 that is where their performance counts.  At this stage, their overall grade will count towards their acceptance into college.  Strict record keeping should be done.  A portfolio should be made. I need to really think ahead.

My first move is to change umbrella school.  I wanted something local if we need career counseling.  I also need an umbrella school that gives us options for electives. Most importantly, an umbrella school who is organized enough to guide us to what subjects to take each year.  This will be my biggest fear that we missed taking a subject and the kids will cram to take classes in their senior year just to earn the credits to graduate. The good thing about our future umbrella school is that they have a worksheet that lists all the subjects we need to take and how many credits we need in high school.

With a budget in mind, I sat down and mapped out the curriculum we need to purchase in a worksheet. Since I have multiple kids, I labeled each sheet per student.  In the worksheet, I included the grade level of the child, the subjects he/she needs to take, the teacher, the publisher of the curriculum, the price, and the total amount we need to purchase everything.  I send my kids to a tutorial twice a week that’s why I need to specify the teacher for the subject.  Coming up with this worksheet will give me an idea what to buy and how much should I allot for the curriculum.

Yes, this year we will do some dissecting in the house.  I am so glad that publishers have thought about packing all the supplies you need in one box, including preserved specimens, making homeschooling easier for families.

Example:

Name of Student:

Subject          Grade           Teacher          Publisher            Price             Total

The best thing about our situation is that we are surrounded by people who have done it.  I have friends who homeschooled their kids all the way to high school.  One bonus for me, the ex-president of Home Education Association in Middle Tennessee is my close friend and my boss.  I see her twice a week and practically I can ask her anytime.  She personally managed to homeschool her kids all the way to high school.  I can also ask her about parenting teenagers. I am so grateful for such a gem in my life!

As early as February, I already enrolled my kids to a tutorial for 2015-2016 school year.  The only thing left on my list is to switch umbrella school.  I am waiting for them to open their registration this coming fall.

When that is done, I can proceed with planning the kids’ extra curricular activities.  This will be a journey for us and that means you will see more posts about this topic. 🙂

The Joys of Homeschooling

School has started but my kids were still in their pajamas while I was trying to decide if I should start our lessons this week or next week.  Later that day, we decided to go for a swim to enjoy the last days of summer. Technically, summer has ended for most kids in public and private schools but for us it’s so much fun to visit places where its less crowded and we took advantage of it.

We have been homeschooling since the kids were in Kindergarten and I think I will have a hard time giving up this lifestyle because of its advantages.  Let me count them.

1.  Homeschooling gives you flexibility.

As a parent, I have the responsibility to give my kids a good education but as a teacher I set the pace.  When friends and relatives visit us, we can easily adjust the kids’ academic schedule so we can spend time with our visitors. Travel plans will not be a problem since we will accordingly adjust the lessons before or after the trip.  When my in-laws visited us for a week, I simply doubled up the lessons weeks before their arrival so we don’t have to worry about not completing the curriculum for the year.  Who says my kids are lazy? They are actually used to doing double lessons a day and meeting deadlines.  You work hard, you play hard. When I had a baby, I home schooled according to my due date.  The kids were done with their school before I gave birth- that was March.  I made sure I won’t get stressed after my delivery just because I need to homeschool.  

2.  Homeschooling is a great way to mold your child’s character.

Since you see your child the whole time she/he is in class, you can easily correct any attitude. For us, I can easily correct them on how they treat their siblings and not go into an argument over a pencil!  They need to be kind first to their sibling before their friends.  I am with them almost 24/7.  Every child has a different personality and I always emphasize the importance of being the same person inside and outside the home.  

3.  Homeschooling assures comprehension and learning.

Learning at home is a one-to-one scenario, this means I can tell if my kids understood the lesson.  I don’t have any worries on how to explain the lessons because I have my teacher’s manual. I also have the option to use a DVD version of the lessons.  Kids can ask me all the questions they have and really understand the subject.  

4.  Homeschooling does not restrict socialization.

I send my kids to a tutorial once a week. This year they will go twice a week.  A tutorial is a homeschool supplement where the whole-day program functions like a school.  The kids get to do science experiments, art, creative writing, p.e., and more in a classroom setting of 10-20 kids.  When they are not in tutorials, they have extra curricular activities that involves a group.  At church, my kids are involve in our youth group where they connect with friends.  Yes, they do have a social life.

5.  Homeschooling is economical.

Definitely, homeschooling is way cheaper than sending your kid to a private school.

6.  Homeschooling saves us from the daily morning rush.

We do experience the morning rush when kids go to their tutorials but only once or twice a week.  That is such a big relief for all of us.

My husband and I were not home schooled.  It was a leap of faith for us when we started to homeschool the kids and I thank God for our set up now. Homeschooling indeed is a privilege.  

 

A Homeschooling Week

 

 

I thought I would write on how a typical homeschooling week looks for us. How does it work when you teach multi-grade level kids?   I have a 3^rd grader, a 6^th grader and a 7^th grader.

Some homeschoolers keep their kids at home the whole week, we happen to have an excellent supplement program at our community so we decided to send them once a week. These tutorial programs run once or twice a week. The discovery of using a tutorial to supplement homeschooling is a gem. The kids spend an entire day learning a sport in PE class, doing art and crafts, learning facts in history, and trying out a science experiment. They also experience practicing for school plays during Christmas and spring. In other words, the tutorial does the messy and hard stuff that parents dislike at home.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog, for the first 4 years, I chose a curriculum where the need for teacher instruction was high. On the 5^th year, I shifted to a material that had more independent work.

I teach them Math, Science, History, and English. We usually start lessons at 9:00 a.m. and end up the latest at 3:00 p.m. I start by giving instructions to my older kids then leave them as I teach my 3^rd child. After a lesson with my younger one, I give him a break and go back to my older two to check their work and answer any questions they might have. Our schedule varies slightly depending on the scope of the subject and their level of concentration for that day. Yes, their mood plays a big part of accomplishing the lessons. Since I only have 3 students, I can see every form of inattentiveness.   My challenge is to make them stay focused and how they should respond to me as their teacher and not their mother every time I call them out. I give them a lot of breaks but they usually grab a snack while working. We do our work at the dining table, except for my second who needs a quieter space to concentrate; he usually goes up to his room. This is our set up.

Last year, we were still able to implement this schedule when I had my 4^th baby since she mostly sleeps the whole morning. I might be changing venue with my rising 4^th grader this coming fall and do homeschooling in the bonus room while my now 1-year-old moves around. I also need to change his curriculum. More tweaking is needed to accommodate a curious toddler in our schedule. That’s a different level of needed grace, right there.

Friday is house cleaning day for us, which counts as part of homeschooling. The kids change their bed sheets, vacuum their room, and dust their tables. The older ones clean their own bathrooms.

Any extra curricular activities like Karate, Piano, Basketball, and Ballet are scheduled after 3 p.m. during the week. So after home school, I become a driver dropping them to their class and picking them up. Sometimes, I just wait in the car for them to get done if the class is only an hour or less. We all come home just in time for me to make dinner. That’s pretty much it. The schedule is an adjustment if you are new to homeschooling but the rewards of flexibility is incomparable. To see your kids learn and to actively mold their character are priceless.

Now that summer break is here, I still need to think how to keep them busy and come up with fun activities. But I think that’s another blog…

Homeschooling by Accident- Curriculum Shopping

When I started homeschooling, my ignorance to the vast options of choosing a curriculum spared me from getting confused.  Back in Manila, our church was running an excellent academy especially for members’ kids. I simply asked what curriculum they were using and bought it without hesitation.

I used the Noah Plan curriculum published by The Foundation for American Christian Education.  It was a principle approach curriculum emphasizing biblical worldview.  I liked it since it’s an all-in-one program.  This means I don’t have to buy a separate curriculum for every subject.  My lesson plan was one big book- containing all the subjects I needed to teach the kids.  Although the lesson plan was arranged per week and not the usual daily schedule, I was able to wing it after a few months. Looking back, I think I chose the hardest program because I had a lot of preparation before I can teach for the week. I read a lot of books -each was as thick as an encyclopedia.  Aside from the need to prepare for each lesson, the kids were very dependent upon my instructions.  At that time, it worked for us although I have to admit I skipped a lot of activities. And since my two kids were just 11 months apart, I went ahead and taught the same grade level to both kids.

While I was using Noah Plan, I decided to skip their phonics and bought the Sing, Spell, Read and Write curriculum as a supplement.  This phonics program had a lot of manipulatives and activities.  My daughter loved it but my son didn’t really care much.  Noah Plan has a structured lesson from kindergarten to fourth grade.  Beyond that, they will only give you a summary of topics you need to teach for the whole year.  This was my cue to switch to another curriculum.

I decided to visit MTHEA’s curriculum fair and check out my options- I ended up buying more than I need. I bought a lot of supplementary books that were not used because there were just too much material to cover.  This is so common for a newbie in homeschooling. You also tend to change curriculum often especially when you hear other homeschoolers’ great experience on their material.

After doing a lot of research and getting a bit frustrated, I stumbled upon Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks Homeschool Curriculum.  This was a turning point for me. The book helped me trim down my choices and made my life easier. It talked about the different learning styles of children. Based from those styles, the author gave a list of reviewed curriculum that fits in each category. This makes learning for the child enjoyable thus accomplishing one of the goals in homeschooling.

On my next blog, take a peek on what our day and week looks like during homeschool .  See you then!

 

Homeschooling by Accident

I started homeschooling when the kids were still small.  My babies were 4 and 3 years old at that time. Twelve years ago, we migrated to the US when my husband got a job offer from our church organization to open a cafe in downtown Nashville.  The cafe was supposed to be utilized as a student center at night and a deli during the day.  I had a dependent visa.  My visa status restricted me to be employed anywhere.

So I am stuck at home- without work, and with 2 toddlers.  I have cleaned every corner of the house, finished all our photo albums and scrapbook projects,  read all the books on the shelf, folded all the clothes, but at the end of the day I found myself whistling in boredom. Probably because we did not have a decent TV at that time and there was no cable at all.

When my children turned a year older, I started asking our friends where they send their kids to school.  Most of them were homeschooling.  I was referred to different women in church who were doing it.  I remember the first time I asked one lady on which curriculum she used-she answered, “hodge podge”.  I was thinking, “That was really helpful, thank you for making me more confused”.

I found out that there were a huge selection of curricula you can use.  Aside from choosing the curriculum per subject, you need to register under an umbrella school.  An umbrella school basically keeps a record of all the grades of your kids- which you provide. When you register under them, you become a legitimate homeschooler recognized by the state.  Depending on the umbrella school, they might require you to submit your grades per semester or more frequent than that. They will need you to submit the number of days you homeschooled. In this case, we are talking about 180 days.  An umbrella school also offers certain services.  They can offer field trips, athletics, college prep testing/counseling, transcript/diploma issuance.  All umbrella schools require an annual fee per family.

In addition, there is an association that represents homeschoolers in our government legislation.  In Middle Tennessee, the group is called MTHEA (Middle Tennessee Home Education Association).  MTHEA basically protects the rights of  homeschoolers to continue what they are doing without any government intervention.  The association is a network of support if you are looking for tutorials, camps, field trips, extra curricular activities and even support groups for beginners.  For older kids, they have an organized prom and graduation.  Moreover, they have a curriculum fair every year, which is held usually around the month of May.   MTHEA also requires an annual fee membership.

After you register under an umbrella school and become a member of MTHEA, the curriculum shopping begins.  Stay tune for my next blog on how to choose the right curriculum for your kids.