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You want to cover current events, but you don’t have the money for yet another curriculum purchase.  Have you considered talk radio?

When my kids were in Junior High, we started to listen to talk radio when we were having lunch, and discussing the events they brought up.  It may depend on your local radio station, of course.  When I was considering the radio host, I was much more concerned with them being POLITE rather than having them agree with me.  I figured I was right there, having lunch with my children, so I could easily explain how my views were different.  That way they could learn to defend their beliefs in a calm and reasonable manner.  But if the radio host was rude, I was concerned that my children would pick up on that rude behavior, and think it was OK, or normal to talk that way.

Listening to the radio during lunch allowed us to talk about the big events in the world around us, and sometimes even the smaller issues of our local scene.  Sometimes there were horrible things happening to children that age, and I wanted to talk about it but didn’t know where to start.  Often the radio show would help me start the conversation.  If you are thinking about a current events program, consider talk radio.  Radio is free, too, which is my favorite price.

PS. So, who did we chose to listen to in the Seattle area?  Dave Ross.  You can listen to his podcasts here.

Learning about current events is just one way to prepare your homeschool student for college.  Read about other ways on my Dig Deeper site.  And if you enjoy what you read, please send me some love with a rating or a comment!  Thanks!

At this time of the year, friends are discussing their curriculum choices for next year. I have been asked by several people what we used during the high school years. Every child is unique, of course, but here is a snapshot of our freshman year:

These are the things I made them do:

• American Literature & Composition (Sonlight 100)
• American History (Sonlight 100)
• Biology with Lab (Apologia)
• Algebra 1 (Jacob’s Algebra)
• Fine Arts 1: American Art (art books and Draw Today)
• Bible: Christian Manhood

These are the things they WANTED to do (by the way, I thought they were crazy to do two foreign languages, but I let them):

• Latin 3 (Latin Road to English Grammar)
• French 2 (Power Glide)
• Music: Piano
• PE 1

And these are the things I couldn’t stop my youngest son from doing.  (He asked for the American Government curriculum for Christmas, and we simply couldn’t keep him away from economics, no matter how much it annoyed us):

• American Government 1
• Economics 1

What are you and your family thinking about for next year?

Looking for some good homeschooling resources for next year. Check out they new page on my website on homeschooling resources. Click on the selections to take you directly to Amazon to purchase!

Social studies is a term used to describe the broad study of the various fields which involve past and current human behavior and interactions. Usually colleges will specify what type of Social Studies they want high schools to cover. Most often colleges will say they want American History, American Government, World History and Economics. Sometimes they will specify other courses as well, but this is the most common list. There are many other subjects that are considered Social Studies, though. They include Psychology, Sociology, Geography, and a wide variety of other history courses. One of my sons was very interested in Russian History, so he studied that “for fun.” My other son loves Economics, so he spent one year studying microeconomics, and one year studying macroeconomics. Like other subject areas, it’s most effective when you follow the interests of your child.

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