Homeschooling

It is hard to imagine that in about 2 1/2 years, we will begin to officially homeschool our little ones. Abigail will be old enough to start Kindergarten level and Micah will be doing Preschool. In preparation, we have been looking at homeschool curriculums for the children. We have certain criteria that we are looking for that we feel are important considerations to make.

1. The curriculum must be Christian-based. No exceptions. The curriculum must come from a reputable Christian resource that will not only teach the courses needed, but also include the Bible's teachings along with the material.

2. We want their curriculum coming from a single source. We realize that many homeschooling families use the "buffet" method in choosing curriculums. Math form one source, science from another, language arts from yet a third source, and so on. For the sake of simplicity and also a continuity of the scope & sequence of the curriculum material we want to use one resource for all the curriculum.

3. We want the curriculum to come from a source that offers accreditation. We wish for our children to be able to receive a diploma from an accredited school once their homeschooling years have been completed.

4. We do not want to use a correspondance school system. We do however want a curriculum that will allow us to homeschool & grade the children's work with us sending in reports so that the school can keep the records.

Part of the reason for the accreditation requirement is that we want our children to have the advantage of having a recognizable diploma after they finish their homeschooling. We are also looking ahead. Oklahoma has very few requirements made of the homeschooling families at this time. We want to be prepared in case this should change at some point in the future. By already being established with an accredited school program, we would be able to continue as we always have with very little changes needing to be made to accommidate any new regulations or laws that should come up in the future years.

We have been looking at Bob Jones University's homeschool program and are very impressed with it. We are still researching though to make certain that the Bob Jones University program is what we really want to use before making the final decision. The Bob Jones University's homeschool program offers the Christian-based curriculum that we are seeking. The children would actually be able to graduate and receive a diploma from Bob Jones University upon completion of the homeschool program. One additional advantage of the Bob Jones University program is that once the children have completed their homeschooling years, the money spent on their homeschool materials will be credited towards their college education at Bob Jones University.

We have 2 years yet to make our choice. There are so many options available that it is taking time to find the one that will be best for our family. I would love to hear from other homeschooling families who use accredited school programs. What program do you use? What made that curriculum stand out and become the one you chose for your children? Are there any out there that we should use caution with?