I began homeschooling in 1998. My children were 8 &6 (2nd grade & kindergarten) when I began and now are 18 and 16 (soon to be 19 & 17).

I just graduated my oldest with a memorable, family oriented graduation ceremony at our church. My graduate has been accepted at a Christian College in a world renowned Media Communications Program. She received academic and athletic scholarships. Through dual-enrollment she has one year of college completed.

I am an eclectic home educator. One of my spiritual gifts is teaching and I love to do that but of my gifts, administration, organization, and detailed, frequent planning are not included!

While I do set goals and plan which subjects will be presented when, curriculums that have lessons planned out are best for me to ensure the schoolwork gets done according to a flexible routine and schedule. I also use creativity at times to tailor subjects or more often, lessons within a subject, to my children's life experiences and interests.

My children thrive on relevant, flexible, life applicable, interesting types of curriculum instead of text-book, fill -in- the- blank workbook style. One child of mine is auditory and the other is the opposite: visual and tactile, hence, the eclectic style of schooling. We've tried all types of curriculums. The best for us has been video/dvd and cd format, unit study, and living- book style.

The main goal of my home educating is training godly character into my children and instilling in them a love of learning and the confidence to learn.

Teaching Textbooks

I highly recommend Teaching Textbooks for a math curriculum. It is set up to create independence for the student to work through the course. This independence instills responsibility and confidence in the student which is terrific in a crucial subject like math. Teaching Textbooks begins at a 4th grade level. Every level is purchased separately and goes up to Calculus. There is a level for college exam study as well: SAT/ACT study. Each level is very concise and thorough and will fully prepare your student to thrive in all levels and areas of math. The way every single problem is worked out whether it is in the lecture part, practice part, problems part or test, by working completely and systematically every single problem- if the student needs it- teaches the student how to think mathematically! This program is excellent for all students, the ones who have a natural aptitude for math as well as the ones who are less math driven. It is a Cd based program, where the student installs a cd and sees & hears on the computer screen a lecture explaining the concept. A few practice problems are worked step by step. The student can try to work them before looking at the screen to work them, or they can work along with the screen. A different cd is then put in the computer that has problem sets - these are also in a non- consumable book. The student works the problems on paper and can check any problem, any place in the problem on the computer screen. They can go straight to the answer and if correct, move on, if not, they can, with ease, using the scroll bar, go to any part of any problem to see it worked out step by step and hear the voice give instruction as to the hows and whys. The brothers who created this program worked for years tutoring home schoolers in math and know how home education operates as opposed to classroom instruction, which is entirely different. They are both Harvard graduates. The program also has cds for tests or a booklet to make copies of the tests. The answers can be worked out by plugging in the answer cd and seeing every problem worked out step by step and hearing the reasons why it is done the way it's done, or by checking the answers in the test booklet. The students therefore learn the concepts behind working the problems and learn to think mathematically.

The levels are very affordable- the upper ones beginning with Pre-Algebra are $184.50, with free shipping and the elementary and middle school levels are $99-$120. These programs could also be sold as used when completed.

Teaching Textbooks revolutionized my home education program. It has been incredible for my students to be able to 'own' their math instruction and really get it done... and get it done well, concisely and thoroughly with excellence.
They wanted to be independent learners but I always had to have somewhat of a role in the instruction. Teaching Textbooks does it better than I ever could and has built strong confidence in math in my students. This program will make obsolete the common, "I'm not good in math" slogan students develop and the concern of homeschool Parents have of, 'how will I teach the math'? ! The students who are naturally gifted with an aptitude in math will also thrive since they can work at their own pace, checking just answers and only looking at the step by step instruction of the problems they miss, although Sonlight curriculum evaluators state that their opinion is that every student should listen to the lecture to continue building a complete understanding of conceptual mathematics. I love the affordability, too!