Frequently Asked Questions

Hey everybody! I have came across a lot of good questions about homeschooling. Today, I am going to answer as many of them as I can find. If you have additional questions just comment them and I will go over them as soon as possible. With no further delay, here are...

            Frequently Asked Questions:                                  Homeschooling

How do I get started? What requirements or qualifications must I have to home school my child? What subjects do I need to teach? What tests do I need to give them?

Check with your state regulations to see if they have rules or requirements. Check out this Link. Scroll down, look for your state and click. If you do not want to create account This website is for you. I wouldn't trust their information as much as HSLDA but it is the basic information.



Where do I get textbooks, curricula, tests and other materials to home school my child?

Online is the cheapest easiest way. Check out Used curriculum sites. If you want new curriculum I would go for...


Switched On School House
Computer based. It is what I will be using net year. I have heard amazing things about it. 
$382 for 5 class curriculum new

Verticy Learning
Secular computer based program
$1,594-$1,679
Christian Liberty Press
Great christian based program. I used it as a kid and it was great.
Curriculum kits are $195.30- $265.07 



What are the costs of home school materials?

It depends on what you are getting. My mom was a coupon lady so we know how to shop frugal. If you go on one of the sites above and find a kit you like, you can go on the  Used curriculum sites to find the books/cd's cheaper. What ever you can't find, buy individually off the website. 



How can I find support groups or information on the Internet? 
Yes there are many!! 
hslda
Groups by State
Secular Homeschooling Groups by country/state



Can my child take a course in the district if he or she wants?
Depends on the state. Check out the Tebow law



If you want more information on starting homeschool go to This Post

FREE GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOK AND WORKBOOK

Hey everybody! Here is a free geography textbook and workbook. It is a download and doesn't work after FRIDAY!! Download now!


Download this

Catchy Songs for Learning Grammar! Scratch Garden

Hey everybody! I found these YouTube videos that I  just love! They are for elementary school but are good reminders for us older students. Check them out!

What Is Scratch Garden?

Five W's
This song is about the core of a story

Punctuation
Funny!! Not a song but funny

Parts of a Sentence
This is my favorite one. :)

Shapes
More for Pre-K than older kids. Song

Unicorn Teaching Colors
Exactly. Song

Manners

What If You DON'T Know the Muffin Man?
Funny but not educational

Muffin Man
Singing the Muffin Man song

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Vowels
This is a good song:)

Inside and Outside
Song:)

The Sun Song
About the sun!

Months of The Year
Song about Potatoes. Just kidding. These are the months of the year

Women, Vertebra, and Freebies, Oh My!

Hey everybody! I got some more freebies! I just love the internet! You can find the answer to any question! I have some pretty weird questions but I can always find the answer! The other day I wanted to know Why don't pregnant ladies tip over? Well I got my answer. 

"...compact the vertebrae in their lumbar area more easily. That means the bones in their lower backs are shaped more like wedges than those of males. So as women become increasingly pregnant, they can rock back on their spines to support and balance the additional weight..." 
Anyway, here are more FREEBIES

NSTA Freebies
This has more answers to science questions. It also has teacher resources for science! The H2O lesson was really cool. 

Science Inquirer
Free Science Podcasts, posters, foldables, kits, videos, demos, lessons, labs, magazines, field trips and more!! Some of them require you to sign up for a newsletter but the super free ones are really cool. 

Kids Know It
Links to databases, websites, Educational Activities, Products, Movies, Music, Games, Articles, Text Books, Learning Programs, Lesson Plans, Worksheets, and more!

Inner Body
This is a virtual anatomy website. It is really cool and kind of addicting...

Fusioned

Curricular MateriaL (PDF’S)

• Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Radiation and Radioactivity
• Plasma Science
• Fusion Workbook

Posters (PDF’S)

• Radiation
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Fusion

Inc Well

Free Kids worksheets. Most of them are just fun. More for Kindergarten activity sheets.

Created By Teachers

Free Materials

Minerals Education

All about Minerals!!

Reeko Science

Fun/funny science labs. It shows the result of all of these cool labs. 

Easy Test Maker

Make your own tests online! Great resource!

NBC Learn

Free historical resources!

Read Write Think

Help your kid write age appropriate literature!

I Civics

Learn all about politcs and how the system works. Fun games! This is my favorite on this post...

Free Christian Curriculum K-5

GWS

Free links to all the educational websites you can think of!!

Help Me Reach My Blogger Goal!

Hey everybody! If you like what you see on my blog, please share! I am trying to reach 2,000 views by June 6th! I am almost at 1,000! Thank you all for your support! I appreciate it!

I don't believe in dreams. Dreams have a tendency to stay just a dream. I believe in goals; with hard work, goals become reality.

“I don't believe in dreams. Dreams have a tendency to stay just a dream. I believe in goals; with hard work, goals become reality.”

~ Kayla Brown~

Homeschooling is what you make of it.  Homeschooling shouldn't just be an alternate education it should be a way of life. I want people to see us, homeschoolers, and be inspired to test the limits of their knowledge.  I want people to be proud of homeschooling. It has become more to me than just simply learning. I crave knowledge. I like to listen to college lectures online for hours a day just for fun. I test my IQ score for fun. I need to learn. In public school I believe they teach you how to take a test and get the right answers. I want to know how to actually solve the problems. Not make a calculator do all the work. Homeschooling allows me to learn what I want and it lets me test the limits of the world. So I can go into the world and test those same text books.  I can go to little shops and interview the owner to learn how to start my own business. I can go to a museum and learn their take on dinosaurs. I am not stuck in a room with thirty-five other students reading a book about how Columbus discovered America. I can go look at the old artifacts telling the history outside a classroom.  When we are learning hands on we are enhancing our education.

I make friends fairly easy. After moving every few years and going from public school to homeschool twice now. I have gotten very good at getting along with most people. I used to tell myself that it's because I am normal; when most who know me know I am not.  Some kids strive to be “normal,” when they are around others at school.

      Normal is what holds us back.

Be different.

Difference is the mother of creativity.

I live on a farm where we have six chickens, eight goats of which three are kids, two horses, and one colt. When you live 20 minutes out of town, you learn to get creative with your social life. Blogging me experience on Blogger has become a means of socialization. When I can’t go into town I train my goats. My favorite is Blossom (in the picture, the one on the right about to jump off), but you get the point. My blog started out as my sanity. That is why it is called “Homeschooled and Sane”.  I had questions and needed answers. My mom put together some websites she asked me to use based on suggestions from other homeschooling parents. Her friend offered to give us some of her old curriculum.  I ended up using the grammar book and a Geometry CD. I didn't like a lot of the websites that my mother had provided so I started looking up other websites I could use. Then I started reading blog after blog after blog on homeschooling until it hurt my head. I gathered all that information and put it in one place.  My Blog so I could refer back to it. It was helpful having all the information in one place. After a few months, my blog started getting a few followers, which struck me as weird. People started to contact me with questions of what they wanted to know. Recently I even got invited to go to Peru for a homeschooling retreat. I've only been back homeschooling for about Tobias months! (Sorry that was a book reference, I mean four months.)  My blog is helping people.

If you can't tell, public school isn't for me. It all started in first grade. I remember at lunch time I was sitting down eating when a boy sat so close to me he was practically on my lap. We were not allowed to move without being dismissed. I had asked him to move over many times, but he didn't listen. I raised my hand and told a staff member.  This is what my parents told me to do when I needed help. I could not believe the words that came out of her mouth. She said, “Its fine. Deal with it.”  At an early age, kids need to learn who they can trust and who they can't.  Staff members at school are supposed to be trusted adults, or so I was taught... School is supposed to be a place where you can learn and feel safe. Not be told to deal with someone invading your personal space.

Matt Walsh once said "Maybe we should stop turning our kids into charts and bar graphs, and instead work on connecting with them as human beings." In public school you are a number, or maybe a few numbers. I was 3.94. Most of all I was 601667. In the high school I went to, I was the bar code ID I was FORCED to wear around my neck. I felt like a dog on a leash. "Please identify yourself.”  The hall monitor would ask. "Kayla Brown", I would state back. "What is your ID number", he would ask in a monotone voice. "601667" I stated, as he pulled out a notebook to write it down. This number is how I bought lunch, joined clubs, played sports, was allowed in the doors, walk the halls, go to the nurse and go to any classroom. I am sure they have a good reason but I bet there is a better way of accomplishing it.

I don't believe in dreams. Dreams have a tendency to stay just a dream. Once you turn a dream into a goal that is when you achieve great things. I want to be the first woman president. When I told teachers at school, they chuckled. They thought it was just a dream. It isn't, it is a goal. That reminds me in 2036, vote Kayla Brown for President!! I will strive and try my hardest until I reach my goal. I believe homeschooling allows us to find goals and gives us the time and resources to achieve them. That is why I think homeschooling is the best form of education.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Hey everybody! Happy Mother's Day! Say a special thanks to mom. No one works harder than a homeschool mom. She takes on two full time jobs. Teacher and Caregiver. Never gets a break. Thank you moms!!