Dear Sis,
Although our homeschool journey is in its very beginning phases (pre-k), it is a huge priority of my time as a stay-at-home mom and of our financial resources. We are currently setting aside funds each month to create an $800 annual curriculum budged, which I further round out with gifts for the kids from our family and holiday budgets.
I realize that not everyone dreamed about homeschooling long before the conception of their children. I realize that some make the decision to homeschool without allocation of funds, and although they can certainly do that next school year, what about this coming school year!?
One of our neighbors who has become one of my “mom” friends, shared with me her desire to homeschool this coming school year, but admitted she had no idea where to start! Knowing that time was ticking I offered to help provide as much information as I could.
In our first meeting we talked about state (OH) requirements and I shared some of my favorite programing. She too was drawn to many of my choices for the same reasons I was. And next year, she very well may use some of them, but this year I am scrambling to find low cost, relatively spontaneous homeschooling options. What I stumbled upon is amazingly cost effective and may alter the course of my future homeschooling choices as well. Here is what I learned:
Online Public & Charter Schools in Ohio
Hands-down the lowest cost home based schooling is online public school or community (charter) schools, which provide a laptop and hard copy curriculum materials for each student. These schools vary in the amount of time needed online and whether or not that time is “live” and scheduled or “recorded” and accessible on the learner’s timetable. A quick google search will give you a half dozen choices in your area, most of which will be online public schools. For a complete list of charter schools, called community schools in Ohio, visit Ohio Department of Education’s Directory of Community Schools.
How to Home School in Ohio
You know your student best! In the homeschool environment you can tailor your students curricula to their strengths, weaknesses, and areas of interest. But a good place to start is always by meeting your state’s requirements.
- Subjects
- Language, Reading, Spelling, Writing
- Geography, History of United States and Ohio, National, State, and Local Government
- Mathematics
- Science
- Health, Physical Education
- Fine Arts and Music
- First Aid, Safety, and Fire Prevention
Once you have located workbooks for each subject, it is possible to briefly outline your curriculum for the year and provide the list of teaching materials that make up that curriculum. Your superintendent will need this outline and list in your signed cover letter informing them that you will be homeschooling this year.
Next comes the business of documenting your school year. A school year is defined at 900 or more hours of instruction in the subjects listed above.
Next year your homeschool letter to the superintendent must also include your student work assessment from the previous school year. Information on how assessments are to be preformed can be discussed directly with your superintendent or can be as directed in State Law & Administrative Rules.
Academic Assessment Code: Rule 3301-34-04
Affordable Homeschool Curricula
Needless to say, online public, charter, or private schooling requires screen time. For younger kiddos especially, I understand hesitation to embark on this type of learning adventure, even though it is home based. This conflict is what lead me to discover affordable workbook curricula. Honestly, we use a few workbooks each school year, and will probably use them more heavily as we move on to more advanced learning. Especially now that I know more!
Workbooks
Workbooks are consumable and will be written in by your student, unless you make photo copies, to allow for multi student use. Workbooks blend information that traditionally might be conveyed via textbook, discussion or lecture, and practice worksheets all in one place. Actually, many public/charter/private schools use workbooks in place of textbooks during the elementary years especially.
Workbooks are also very user friendly. Many have instruction right on the worksheet itself and an answer key, alleviating a need for a teacher’s manual. Some workbooks rely more heavily on a teacher’s manual to provide additional reading and discussion material the teacher can share with the learner. These particular workbooks are not used in conjunction with textbooks to keep cost lower.
Workbooks can be found at Target, Walmart, even Dollar Tree. Not all workbooks are created equally. This list includes secular workbooks that keep up with state, and/or common core, standards. If you have additional suggestions for our list, please comment below!
Ace Academic Publishing PreK – Grade 8
Critical Thinking Co. PreK – Grade 12+
Evan-Moor PreK – Grade 8
Kumon PreK – Grade 8
Highlights PreK- Grade 2
Scholastic PreK- Grade 5
Shell Education PreK – Grade 12
Spectrum PreK – Grade 8
In the next few posts, I will be putting together a directory of sorts. I hope my research can save you some time and trouble as you chart the course for your family homeschool journey.
Love,
b