For those who think signing up with a school like IDEA (in Alaska) is not really homeschooling, well, you're wrong.
We get to make up our curriculum if we want. We don't have to buy boxed anything. We can study whatever we want, as long as our school monies don't go for religious education. (You can still use programs that are religious, and even use them for grades, but the schools themselves can't pay for the religious parts of any curriculum).
We use a HUGE mishmash of stuff to homeschool, just the same as any "freestyle" homeschooler. I don't teach to the tests any more than you do, I promise. Since my kids enjoy testing time, I honestly don't see the issues with yearly testing. Maybe I'll feel different if one of my kids honestly ever hates tests.
We ALREADY pay an exhorbitant amount of money in taxes for schools. THere is absolutely no reason why that money shouldn't come back to us for use in educating our children *as we see fit.*
Edited to say: Work samples for us are: One page of whatever subject they're studying. (Ex., one page of Right STart Math, one of history, etc.). We can mix our work samples...our history sample can be a story about the Romans, and the writing part counts as Language Arts. Our art is a picture I take of all their artwork, then print from the computer (so I don't have to lose any of their paintings
).
It's not like I spend one day every week collecting work samples or something. I pick one page every quarter, and turn it in. Twice a year I write a one-sentence progress report on each subject. My teens do their own grades, and their own record-keeping. Really. It's as easy or as complicated as we, as a family, want it to be.
love, penelope
We get to make up our curriculum if we want. We don't have to buy boxed anything. We can study whatever we want, as long as our school monies don't go for religious education. (You can still use programs that are religious, and even use them for grades, but the schools themselves can't pay for the religious parts of any curriculum).
We use a HUGE mishmash of stuff to homeschool, just the same as any "freestyle" homeschooler. I don't teach to the tests any more than you do, I promise. Since my kids enjoy testing time, I honestly don't see the issues with yearly testing. Maybe I'll feel different if one of my kids honestly ever hates tests.
We ALREADY pay an exhorbitant amount of money in taxes for schools. THere is absolutely no reason why that money shouldn't come back to us for use in educating our children *as we see fit.*
Edited to say: Work samples for us are: One page of whatever subject they're studying. (Ex., one page of Right STart Math, one of history, etc.). We can mix our work samples...our history sample can be a story about the Romans, and the writing part counts as Language Arts. Our art is a picture I take of all their artwork, then print from the computer (so I don't have to lose any of their paintings
).It's not like I spend one day every week collecting work samples or something. I pick one page every quarter, and turn it in. Twice a year I write a one-sentence progress report on each subject. My teens do their own grades, and their own record-keeping. Really. It's as easy or as complicated as we, as a family, want it to be.
love, penelope
Like I said in earlier, I gave up the parent partnered program near me because of pride. I really don't want the state in my education and I resent having to write a monthly report about what we're doing. When they wanted me to start listing hours and then hours at home vs. hours there...that was it and I left. What we're telling you is that you can't tell someone that they're not "real" homeschoolers just because they use one of these programs. It's not that black and white. It's offensive to parents who give up a lot, just like you, who teach their kids at home, often using curriculum that they put together themselves (just like you) who have made the best decision they can for their child (just like you).
