I Am Seeking the Best Info on Home Schooling in FL

Hi, I don't know where you live in Florida but if you go to meeetup.com and look under education there are a couple of home schooling groups in the area...maybe they could help you find the answer that you are looking for?

Hi Maria

I know what you mean that it gets confusing, but that really is great because that means you have lots of options. I was, just like so many moms that are considering their children's education, and it does get easier, once you get some of the basics.

I will be happy to answer a few questions for you; I do happen to give an hour seminar for parents concerning homeschooling. We give all the information aboutthe difference between homeschool groups, homeschool co-op, homeschool schools, what's available to you and what your options are, your rights and some of the perks for the kids, especially when they're younger.

Let me know if I can help.
Thanks
D.

Florida Virtual School offers online courses grades 6-12 for FREE. Go to www.flvs.net for more information. They offer 64 courses and your child will have a certified teacher for each course who will contact ayou and your child monthly and grade all work. The course are very engaging and challenging.

P.

Coming up October 19th the homeschool co-op Im involved in will be having an open house for anyone who is interested. It's called Highday. They also are doing regular meetings called Homeschool How To's.. were they discuss topics pertaining to all aspects of Homeshcooling. You can check out www.highday.net
You can see a printable flyer for the open house at
www.highday.net/openhouse.pdf
Good luck to you.

J.

Good Morning Maria,

I was in your shoes a few months ago and a friend of mine lead me to some of her resources. When homeschooling a good place to purchase materials is www.rocksolidinc.com ~ this company gives a certain discount off of different materials. Someone through my church stated that she has purchased her materials off of ebay.
This is the first year that my older daughter who is in fourth grade is being homeschooled. She is using the SOS (Switched On Schoolhouse) program which is wonderful, user friendly and grades the work as they do it. You can choose the whole package of 5 lessons (Bible, Language, Math, Science & History) or you can purchase individually. They have several learning games throughout each lesson and the lesson guide is very user-friendly. For each quiz & test, we usually sit down and I review her before she does them, this is been the best method so far.
My youngest daughter who is in Kindergarten is working with the Horizons books which are nice, it uses a learning system that keeps building on itself for a couple lessons before it moves to something new.
Had I not chosen the top two, my third choice would have been Lifepac. But two friends stated they receive the best results from SOS and Horizons. But they have lots of materials from numerous companies.
Other than this, my girls are involved with Willow Creek Home Educators which is located in Winter Springs. They have a co-op program that meets once week in the afternoon for 8 weeks, this allows your child to meet with other homeschooled kids in a classroom setting, other parents teach different type of subjects like yearbook, pilgrams, cake decorating along with several foreign language (mandarin chinese) and science classes. They also have a wide ranch of fieldtrips and outdoor outings that are planned for anyone to attend. Their website is www.WCHE.org, I believe they have a waiting list for the spring classes. I have also heard good things about Circle homeschool group. Also if you are looking for a PE course, I know that Blanchard Park meets every Tuesday & Thursday with other homeschooled children. Friends of ours attended and said they have about 30 children. I choose to homeschool so that my girls would be able to experience more than just the public school system. I hope this helps you.

Good Luck,

J. W.

Not sure what grades you are looking for. I started homeschooling my oldest when he was in the 10th grade.
I did it on my own finding my own materials and pulling a lot from an online site called edhelper and I enrolled him in some college course offered at the community college as they were free for high school students.
Then I found an easier route. I went through Citizens High School out of Jacksonville. You send them a transcript or report card showing them what classes and grades you child has received and then they tell you what your child will need to take in order to graduate.
They send you the books/workbooks/test etc. They grade everything and keep records and as your child completes a class they send you a certificate showing what the final grade was and that they passed.
When the program is done your child receives a diploma from the accredited school that can be taken to college.
My son is now enrolled at Full Sail College in Orlando.
Hope this helps.