if you had $5700 to spend on a homeschooling program (per student) what would you do?

[mesa]

Help me design a program.

Allowable expenses:

1. Traditional curriculum textbooks and other supplemental materials as may be appropriate for math, science, language arts, social studies, and other subjects on a grade/age appropriate basis.

2. Instructional CDs/software, curriculum guides, and manipulative materials for math, etc.

3. Fees charged for access to libraries and group participation in athletic, extracurricular, or music activities that are normally free of charge in U.S. public schools. Group participation is defined as a lesson or activity with enrollment open to the public, not a lesson provided exclusively for a family group. (See Non-Allowable Expenses, item h., below.)

4. Fees for curriculum-related on-line Internet services such as study programs, library services, and distance learning.

5. Rental of curriculum-related equipment such as microscopes or very large band instruments (such as a Sousaphone) that would normally be provided by U.S. public schools.

6. Required testing materials by either the formal home-study course or other authorized program.

7. Advisory teaching service affiliated with the selected formally recognized home-study course.

8. Tuition charges, shipping costs, lesson postage, on-line Internet and facsimile charges associated with formal recognized home-study course or other authorized program.

Non allowable expenses:

1. Equipment such as: computers, keyboards, printers, televisions, facsimile and scanning machines, calculators, microscopes, and furniture.

2. Non-course specific CDs, videos, DVDs.

3. General reading materials and reference materials (dictionaries, encyclopedias, globes), etc.

4. Purchase or rental of items that have broader use than the course being studied (i.e. computer hardware, calculators, band instruments except noted above).

5. Expendable supplies (paper, pencils, markers) that are normally purchased by parents in the U.S.

6. Parental training in home-study private instruction.

7. Any form of compensation to the parent such as childcare or supervisory costs.

8. Travel and transportation costs at post or away from post.

9. Personal telephone, Internet, satellite, cable or other available communication subscription fees.

10. Fees for museums, cultural events, or performances that would normally be paid by parents in the U.S.

11. Private lessons.

12. Membership in gymnasiums, cultural clubs, spas, and other private clubs.

13. Textbooks, Bibles, workbooks, daily devotionals, or any material primarily for religious instruction.

14. Insurance associated with shipping charges. (Do not elect the optional insurance.)

15. Fees to an independant agency for posting credits and issuing transcripts.

Reasonable materials may only be ordered for the current grade in which the dependant will be enrolled (grade/age appropriate basis). Materials may not be ordered for two academic years in one school year. Curriculum materials may be ordered for one grade level above or below the grade of enrollment in one curricular area only.

[moominmamma]

Wow, there are a lot of things on your "not allowed" list that aren't on mine -- and we have only $1000 per year to spend. Does it have to be used during the year it's purchased? It would help to know whether you're designing a program for a 6-year-old or a 16-year-old. My kids are mostly older.

I guess I would stock up on bigger ticket items that I thought might possibly be useful now or any time in the future. Things like Teaching Company courses (which average about $200 each on sale). I buy at least a half dozen of those. And I'd buy all three levels of Rosetta Stone in a number of different languages.

I'd buy AP level textbooks in Chemistry, Biology and Physics.

(Not clear whether this is allowed ... ) I'd buy a library of great literature and contemporary novels at a middle-school/high school level.

I'd buy almost everything published by Art of Problem Solving. All four middle school / high school intro texts, for starters.

I'd cover sports fees and orchestra and choir fees, of course, but they're minimal in our area.

Edited to add that I just saw your last paragraph. I honestly couldn't work with that restriction. I don't want my 6-year-old enrolled in 4th grade even though all her curriculum is at that level. Why should she be streamed to graduate three years early in order to receive appropriate curriculum as a little tyke?

Miranda

[Ruthiegirl]

Wow, that is quite a list. Is this something required to homeschool in South Korea?

[bdavis337]

I'm guessing the OP is homeschool her children while she lives on base with her spouse in Korea, and this is reimbursement for tuition/school expenses that the US Gov is providing?

That seems like a huge amount of money per child, at least to me. Will the very last restricted item be an issue for you? How do they more specifically define "traditional curriculum" and does that mean they would reimburse for a full Bob Jones or Abeka course but not something you put together yourself from various resources?

[mesa]

I have a 1st grader and a 4th grader, we have no experience homeschooling.

The restrictions are required if I want the Army to pay for the curriculum. If I want to pay for it myself, I can do whatever I want. We were originally going to enroll the boys in a private American school here, but they are full and no longer accepting new students...our only other options are another American school that doesn't impress me (above shops, no playground, it's just kind of cobbled together) or sending them to Seoul to the Army school there...(1.5 hour bus ride each day, they would leave at 6:10 am and not return home until after 4 pm, and if they have afterschool activities, they wouldn't be home until 8 pm).

So, I'm exploring our options. I am a little worried about it, I have no experience homeschooling, like I said, so I'm tempted to go with an "academy" or a packaged complete curriculum, just to get our feet wet and decide if this is something we would like to continue. They are opening a post school in August, so the Army will no longer pay for American schools/homeschooling after this school year, so affordability is an issue, if we decide that we want to continue the program next school year.

Thank you for any ideas.

[mesa]

Originally Posted by bdavis337

I'm guessing the OP is homeschool her children while she lives on base with her spouse in Korea, and this is reimbursement for tuition/school expenses that the US Gov is providing?

That seems like a huge amount of money per child, at least to me. Will the very last restricted item be an issue for you? How do they more specifically define "traditional curriculum" and does that mean they would reimburse for a full Bob Jones or Abeka course but not something you put together yourself from various resources?

that is a REALLY good question. I have no idea! hmm.

[ChristaN]

Originally Posted by moominmamma

Things like Teaching Company courses (which average about $200 each on sale).

I was going to suggest them as well. They tend to have coupon codes out there that you can use in addition to their sale prices, so search online for those as well before buying (and don't pay full price for anything; they have sales a lot). They do also have high school level courses on CD and DVD, so those might meet the "not more than one grade level above current level" requirement if your older one has an area where he really is ahead. That's a cruddy requirement, IMHO. Is that the child's grade per age or per tested achievement level? If it is based on his/her age, the Teaching Company may be out since their materials are considered high school and up.

In terms of online education, we have some experience with that. Dd#2 is using EPGY for math this year. If you can find 8 kids total to sign up together, you get a significant discount ($135/child/year for both math and language arts/reading). That group rate requires someone to volunteer as a school support associate for the group. The kids do not need to test into the program, though, as they do when signing up individually.

I know some people who have also done Aleks for math and been happy with it. I believe that you can do a free trial with that program to see if it works for your kids.

[Bird Girl]

Given that list, I would go to the Sonlight website, or crack open my Sonlight catalog and start throwing things in my cart. Sonlight is a literature-based program, and so when you buy a Sonlight "core," you are really buying a stack of books that will last longer than one year. (Core curriculum covers literature, history, and geography.) Your signature says that you have three children, so I would buy three cores and I would try to buy them a bit "too big"--the cores, because they are lit-based, I think, can work for a wider age range of children--for example, Core One is recommended for ages 6 through 8, so if I had a six-year-old, I would buy that core, and perhaps the core below, in this case, core K. That's enough books for at least two years, and perhaps enough for four years' school work. Sonlight comes with a schedule for everything you buy, and it can be literally "open and go" with discussion questions, map exercises, and background information with every book. Now, you may wind up combining your kids in one core to work together on literature and save the other core for next year, but that's not something you have to decide right now.

Despite the name, Sonlight can be done in a secular fashion, particularly by not ordering the "bible" curriculum and tossing out a couple of the books in each core. The other books are historical fiction, children's classics, and other great literature.

I would also buy as many electives as I could manage--Rosetta Stone software--Korean is offered--and art guides, science kits, music courses and so on. I would buy stuff for as wide an age as I could manage--buy levels 1, 2, and 3, even if all your kids would be starting on level 1 for the time being.

How old are your kids?

[mesa]

wow, thank you! That's exactly the kind of info I'm looking for

Nicolas just turned 10, and today is Noah's birthday (7). Shelby is 19 months.

[skueppers]

I'm in total agreement with BirdGirl's advice. I would buy Sonlight cores for both school-age kids, but investigate using only one of them this year and one the next. It would be much easier if you could teach your two kids together for the core subjects, rather than splitting them up. For example, it might be possible to adapt Core 1+2 to work for both of your kids this year, and Core 3+4 to work for them both next year. You can get advice from the Sonlight company about which cores would be best for your kids, and also from the Sonlight forums (check the Sonlight web site for details).

In addition to electives BirdGirl mentioned, I would also look into whether online subscription-based sites like Brainpop and Time4Learning would be covered.

[Smithie]

I don't know if you might run into trouble with Sonlight and the religious restriction. If I were you, OP, I'd try to find some Army mamas who have been through this before and have been successfully reimbursed for Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, Abeka, BoJo or any other explicitly religious curriculum. You do NOT want to get stuck with a bill that the Army won't pay!

For a 1st-and-4th grader and on that lavish budget, I'd be getting Rosetta Stone courses and science materials/specimens that will last a long time, as well as two levels of Story of the World and every accompanying book suggested. I'd also buy Astronomy texts and materials. I'd also sign them both up for at least two group lessons apiece - music for sure, tae kwan do if I could get away with it (tae kwan do is Korea is just like PE class in US public schools, right? ). Could you maybe plan to spend one day/week in Seoul, if there is not a good assortment of kids' extracurriculars near the post?

Given your budget, you can certainly afford a full-scope online or in-the-box program if you want to do it that way. But given your locale, I think you can probably give your sons a much more interesting semester than that!

In your shoes, I'd have each kid working through a math text (I like Singapore), a grammar/writing text, and a Rosetta Stone language. I'd do SOTW with them simultaneously with different journaling and secondary reading assignments for the different grade levels, I'd do Biology using all the fabulous specimens the Army bought us - and that's it. The rest of the time this year would be for group lessons and other kinds of acculturation.

In this way, you'd have a lot of flexibility to continue next school year if you wish (basically, you'd need new math books and possibly new grammar/writing books if you decide to keep using them). Or if the post school turns out to be a good option, you'll still have a lot of cool and useful books and materials at home!

[Jenelle]

Originally Posted by Smithie

I don't know if you might run into trouble with Sonlight and the religious restriction.

The "Bible" section of Sonlight's cores is optional, and it's as simple as not ordering the Bible materials. Without that, Sonlight cores are nowhere near "primarily for religious instruction".

[Bird Girl]

For a seven-year-old and a ten-year-old, I would try to buy both cores 1 and 2 (NOT the 1+2 combination) and cores 3 and 4 (not the 3+4 combination.) However, if that's against the regulations, that you may be quite happy buying the 1+2 combination and the 3+4 combination, especially if the army will pay for extra books. For example, and this may be confusing, but you could buy the 1+2 core, and then add in (ala carte) all of the books that are not included in 1+2 but are included in 1 AND 2. You could do the same for core 3+4, adding ala carte the extra books from cores 3 AND 4. See what your base person says.

If you can only buy one core for each boy, then go ahead and get the 1+2 combined with the 3+4 combined, and add in Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World, which is a four-volume world history series. You can combine both boys in 1+2 this year (or in 18 months--you can take more time with it if you want) and do 3+4 next year, but your older boy will probably like SOTW more than the history book that comes with the 1+2 core, which is called A Child's History of the World, and is pitched at kids younger than 10. Sonlight does sell SOTW--it's part of the Core 6 and Core 7 series, but can be purchased ala carte.

You would want to buy the 5-day-a-week program for both (it comes with more books) and probably buy the advanced readers for the 3+4 or 3 AND 4 cores, again because you will get more books. You can add the Language Arts Instructor's Guide to either core--it works with the readers that are included, but the guide itself is not included in the Core. Many Sonlight users do not use the Language Arts program--it is very writing intensive, even at the youngest ages--but if you want to try it, you may find that it easily lasts you two years.

Spend a lot of time in the electives section--buy whatever you can haul away.

We use Singapore math, and we like it. There is an assessment at the website to tell you what level to buy. There are optional extra problem books (intensive practice) which I would add, as well as manipulative kits. There are also DVDs available to supplement the math curricula, but you would have to find out whether you could play them at your house--if you brought your DVD player from the states, it should be no problem.

I would also recommend the Sonlight Forums, if you get permission to go ahead with this curriculum choice. There are lots of experienced parents there, and folks who can give you more detailed advice.