14 year old

[irwinsailor]

We plan to leave on our live aboard adventure before school starts in the fall. Is there a business that provides lesson plans for home schooling your kids?

[rob d]

Here is somthing that you may want to check into. It is an internet based school.
I do know that the validictorian was from Tenn. a couple of years ago and the school has a good reputation around here. The name is Christa Mcauliffe Academy. Web sight is as follows
WWW.cmacademy.org.
Check it out, Rob

[irwinsailor]

Thank you I will.

[davejean]

Hi, I have been homeschooling my children. I use the Calvert Homeschool program. I very highly recommend it.The program is very user friendly for the teacher as well as the students.
We are still using the Calvert school even though we are presently living on land. We were living aboard our 45' ketch down south untill about a year ago. We plan to be liveaboards again... Dave

[rakuqueen]

When we leave next spring our daughter will be in 10th grade. I have looked into Laural Springs in CA. It seems like a good fit w/ her high school in Texas. She wants to take Italian as her language. Laural Springs doen't offer that so we are still looking.
I hope to start home schooling her in Italian for the fall, this will give us an idea how it will go. We plan to sail for 11/2 years and return for her senior year. She will need to apply to colleges, go to the senior prom, etc. Of course if she wants to sail we will do that. Laural Springs offers a diploma and a graduation.

[stellamaris]

My daughter was enrolled in an virtual school for 6 years while living on Carib Island and it was a wonderful experience for her. I now face moving onto a boat and internet connection, bandwidth are issues I have to factor in. Since first looking 8 years ago the choices have increased 100's fold it appears. The issue I am trying to sort out is highest quality with a balance between physical lesson plans/materials and limited support. The price varies immensely as well from $200 -5,000 a year and certification of the school is important to me. I will post narrowed down list when I am done if it helps you.

[rakuqueen]

That info sounds like it will be very helpful. We plan to be cruising the east coast in the spring and fall, then the caribbean for the spring. So we won't be on line that much. I know there are other options.

[stellamaris]

rakuqueen I will post the options when I narrow them down BUT since you will be two seasons off the east coast have you looked into Verizons Express net with connection kit to laptop? I think there is deal right now with add-on to US cell plan that nets at 79.99 a month unlimited internet, evenings and weekends and against your min other times. In those two seasons you could get a full year of school in and have full teacher support to lesson the work load on you. Then you all can have more fun in the Caribbean on "summer" holidays.

[rakuqueen]

I took your advice and am getting verison internet ne.xt week.
Talked to the counselor at my daughter high school. We live in Te.xas and for her to return to her high school we need to attend an I.S.D. for her education. Te.xas Tech University has a high school program that will be perfect. The classes will be a continuation of the classes that she is taking now. It might not be the most creative approach, but she can return from sailing and go to her high school for her senior year.
We move on board nex.t week, so things are crazy around here now.

Jane

[stellamaris]

Good luck, and let me know if I can offer any insights from our exp of transitioning to internet based education. I recall the madness of storing the house contents, crates for Tropical Shipping and getting ourselves to the Caribbean....actually I don't, mercifully most a blank to me, thank goodness for convenient memory. Well other than US Air trying to kill our cats and LIAT (late in all times) telling us "no cats on Sundays" in tone that told us EVERYONE knows that. We shift to the boat this coming month but trust much smoother with most everything in storage already and have 5 weeks to get everything done as not going anywhere while hurricanes loom. We have no luck with them. When you get ready for the Caribbean leg of your journey maybe look at a Sat Phone but wait as long as you can. Best deal 2 years ago I found was $1 min while deal I signed for now is .25 min mostly for e-mail access three times a day. Maybe cheaper six months the way prices are going. Cheaper than C&W or Batelco even now.
Cheers
Brian

[bradbarrett]

No offense meant, but how do you folks think people were educated before the computer and internet 20 years ago? You needn't all kinds of fancy things. We have home schooled our children aboard a 34 footboat, and ALL have tested in the 90 percential when they have taken standardized testing. Both of the older ones have graduated college, one with an MBA (the only one to attend public and or private school until the 5th grade), and the other one won a national spelling bee years ago, has graduated college and is working in intelligence now for the US Government. Our Youngest, 11 now, is three grade classes ahead of peers in public school his age, and is always finished with school work by 11 am. We use a computer for nothing except reference, and we no longer use Calvert or Sun Light, or any other perpared courses. We have designed our own course of study based on the child, and that childs strengths,desires, needs and weaknesses. Of course the basics are taught along with the classics, and we have all learned foreign launguages with a work book and CD's; We live in our Geology & Biology labs, "shop" is as close as our engine room. Socially? Our kids are conversant with adults, are not stuck up, are not mean to people who are different than them, and can relate one on one or in groups. They have spent time with peoples of the world, and do not have a warped "high-school-I-am -Cool-you-are-not-in-my-click-so I'll-pick-on or-be-picked-on" exclusionary view of other people.

People taught thier own children, especially primary education, for thousands of years before property taxes and public schools. A good Parent is the best educator of thier children. No one cares more than the parent, no one understands the child better, and no one cares more about the future of that child than the good parent. We have been home schooling for along time compared to most, and we do not believe our children 'missed' anything, nor do they. Well, they did miss drugs, pregnency,bullies,overworked undercaring teachers, being taught values we don't, as thier parents, agree with, etc...,


I don't think you can go wrong as long as you care and love your child...We have used the Calvert and it is fine, We have used SonLight and it is fine...I've never use an online service but if you have access I bet that is dandy too...My point is to Go For It! You AND your child will have rough times with it along the way...I promise you that... but I also promise that when the time comes to look back at it all, as it has for us with 2 or our children, you and your children will smile about the whole experience. We are a very close, caring, and loving family, and I thank home (actually boat) schooling for that.

[Troubledour]

My younger daughter is a little older than yours (and a parent herself now). She's doing Indiana University's Online H.S. The curriculum is first rate & in my opinion she actually is getting a good education without my having to be right on it at all times.

With the others, monitoring their work (or more to the point, the material presented to them) & filling in the holes was simply a constant in life. Pleasurable enough in the time spent with the kids, but intensely annoying when considering their future voter classmates that weren't getting similar attention/education.

The following URL will help you bone up on options. Good luck, & rest assured that your daughter will be far better off with you & your influence on her life than she will be in any conventional H.S.

Troubledour

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/course...ol-courses.htm

p.s. having read other posts a little more carefully (actually scanning as I gallop back & forth between kitchen & office) home schooled kids routinely rank at the top of the heap over conventionally "educated" children. If your child has the ability, home schooling will close no doors, including the ivy league, etc.

[GordMay]

Words do not suffice to describe how impressed I've been with the many Cruising Kids I've met over the years.
They are invariably (way beyond their years):
Intelligent, knowledgable, and wordly
Polite, well-spoken, and mature
Friendly, open-minded, adventuresome,
the list could go on ...

Reread BradBarrett
then Check out the links:

http://www.thecruisinglife.com/zine/...uisingkid.html
The Cruising Kids

http://mainsheet.zzn.com/email/engli...t_viewhtml.asp
/t_viewhtml.asp[/url]

Maggie & I made the mistake of "fearing to keep our daughter out of conventional school" when we were young (Oh, so long ago) - andconsequently missed out on 20 years of adventure!

reread BradBarrett!!!

Gord

[tenknots]

I agree completely with Bradbarrett. My kids have never seen the inside of a school and we've never bought any canned curriculum. My 17 year old is a freshman at a top-ranked college and scored very high on her SAT. My 14-year old son ranks in the top 95th percentile on tests. They're not geniuses, they are motivated and not encumbered by peer pressure and don't (ever) watch TV.

If you are enthusiastic about learning, your kids will be too. Leave the correspondence courses, internet, and gadgets behind. As my wife says, you are a better teacher than you think, and a hell of a lot better for your kid than most teachers in public schools.

Do the best you can, and you will be amazed at how well it works.