Free Home Schooling Curriculum

Do you want to home school but you're not sure if you'll be able to afford it? Have you checked out the prices of home schooling curriculum only to be discouraged? Do you think you're out of options?

Well I'm here to tell you you're not! Home schooling can be about as costly, or inexpensive as you want to make it. You just have to know where to look to find those free home schooling curriculum materials.

For starters you might want to re-think your definition of curriculum. Is it something you pay a lot of money for? Does it come together all boxed up? Is it textbook like? Are there a lot of workbooks included? Many are like that, but you do have other options.

Before you do anything else plan your course of action. Make a list of subjects you want to cover. Say maybe math, science, history, and language arts. Then decide what you want to cover in math, science, history, and language arts. Be sure to take into account the ages of your children. The younger they are the easier it will be to save money. But take heart, you can always find ways to conserve.

Now let's use history as an example. You have decided to study American history. Great. First stop should be your local library. Second stop the Internet. There you will find a wealth of Internet home schooling information. From your library will come books and from the Internet will come lesson plans and free printables.

Do the same for science for science and language arts.

Math is a little trickier. For younger children you should be able for find free worksheets. Once you get into pre-algebra and above you will probably want to invest in a math program. I would recommend "Teaching Textbooks". And I would recommend checking out E-bay and other used curriculum sites; you very well might find a used copy.

As a sidebar, if you do purchase new books or workbooks be sure to tread lightly with them. And copy workbook pages whenever possible. Do this and you will be able to re-sell them yourself on E-bay or other used curriculum sites.

Try to steer away from textbooks and boxed curriculums whenever possible. Not only will you save money, but also your necessity for creativity will pay off with a better learning experience for your children. The books you find at the library and the information on the Internet will be much more interesting to them than the dry material found in conventional history and science textbooks. It's a win, win situation!

Author Info:

Linda Tyler a home schooling mom in San Diego, CA. Please visit my home schooling how to web site where you'll find lots of links to many "freebies". http://www.home-education-works.com

Homeschooling Supplements Including Dolch Words For High Functioning Special Needs Kids

Special Needs Kids often need teaching supplements in order to learn/understand what we are teaching them. As homeschooling parents, these are often hard to find and what we do find is full of busy, babyish art work that only distracts our highly distractible kids!

Snap Away Cards© have been designed specifically for the Special Needs Child. The first batch of cards are the Dolch Words that many educators insist are very helpful for our kids to learn. Snap Away Cards© are downloadable eBooks that you print out on your own printer using Business Cards - the kind that come 10 up on an 8 ½ x 11 inch page. You can get a box of these (1000 cards) at Sam's Club for $5.42!

There are lots of different ways to use the Dolch Words Snap Away Cards©:

• Use as teaching cards: hold your thumb over all but the first letter and let your child pronounce each letter as you move your thumb to show the remaining letters of the word

• Let your child look through all the cards and pick out the ones they know. Start a pile of words they know (Success Words) and another pile of words they still need to work on (Learning Words)

• See web site for further sorting activities

• Use as flash cards for review

• Show your child how to use these words to create a sentence

• Let your child use these words to create a sentence

A very important part of teaching High Functioning Special Needs kids is having options. Options that include different ways of teaching the same thing. That's one great part of the Snap Away Cards©, the options are endless!

Author Info:

Maggie McCormick is married to her best friend Dave. Their son has Aspergers/ADHD/ODD and their daughter is mildly ADHD. They have been homeschooling for over six years and have a Support Site for Special Needs Families. Come visit them at http://www.home.maggiemccormick.com

Homeschooling For an ADHD Child - How To Effectively Home School an ADHD Child

Homeschooling children with ADHD shouldn't be that hard. A child with ADHD can be very trying, requiring an even greater investment in energy, patience, and love both on your part as well as the child's, and so the following is a list of tips and suggestions to make homeschooling for a child with ADHD a little easier:

1. Be Patient: Tough as it is, you have realize that homeschooling a child with ADHD will require a great deal more patience and commitment on your part, taking longer for them to settle and concentrate. If it feels like its getting too much for you, then remember two very important things 1) your efforts are for their benefit 2) a child with ADHD doesn't choose to be the way they are, or act the way they do. Accept the child unconditionally.

2. Fun time before teaching: Engage the child and make sure he is happy, content and satisfied, that he has had an opportunity to go to the bathroom, to have something to eat, and have some fun as well. This will pose less distractions and less demands on the attention of the child, meaning that they will focus more.

3. Hardest things first: start with the subject(s) the child dislikes the most, starting with the most difficult things at the start is a good idea because this is when the child attention and focus will be at a peak. It also means that if towards the end the child has a subject they enjoy, then they will see that as a "treat".

4. Place a priority on oral and verbal skills: most children who suffer from ADHD also suffer from other conditions and learning disorders, which impedes their learning making learning more difficult which in turn deters them from learning, and so it goes on a vicious circle. Therefore, concentrate on the oral skills first, once the child has mastered this then move onto the verbal. With the oral skills so developed, the sense of achievement should be enough for the child to be prepared to move onto more advanced things.

5. Make learning fun!: The usual implements and methods of learning wont work with a child with ADHD, you have to engage them and make learning an enjoyable and creative process. Thus ADHD child home schooling isn't that bad at all.

6. Positive encouragement and praise whether on its own, or reinforced with a reward of some sort is an excellent tool to help a child with ADHD. This will allow your child to feel more confident and also have a positive goal to work towards, creating routine and this will all help encourage your child study on their own. Let them feel loved and cared for, and always be truthful.

I hope these tips are of some use, and will help you with your child.

Author Info:

Discover the techniques to encounter ADHD in child when you visit http://www.adhdchildparenting.com and download free report on how to deal with ADHD child now.