Harmon PFarms: HOMESCHOOL

I homeschooled my second daughter for 6th to 8th grades and then from the second half of 10th through 12th. She is now a student at Arkansas TECH University. I've homeschooled my youngest daughter, ClaireAnna from the beginning and we love it! She is such an easy and exciting child to work with and our school time together is usually interesting and fun. I'm not saying we don't have some off days, but on the whole, homeschooling for us has been a blast!

We especially love that our schedule is our own. Claire can take riding lessons during the middle of the day and we are able to take advantage of good weather when it presents itself and then do more school on bad weather days to make up the difference. We start our school year July 1st because here in Arkansas, there isn't much to do outside during the summer when it's 100 degrees and high humidity. We might as well get some school done. We like to take off our time during the fall and spring when the beautiful Ozark mountains are at their most gorgeous.

The biggest myth about homeschoolers is the " lack of socialization" issue. It's a gross generalization that just doesn't hold true to the facts. There simply is no "lack of socialization" issue. Homeschoolers have lots of interaction with others including their peers. ClaireAnna has church and Sunday school weekly, 4-H several times monthly, Awanas weekly, Basketball league, Co-op classes weekly and attends several summer camps yearly. She has more friends then she knows what to do with and spends plenty of time with them. The great thing is that homeschoolers often have more interaction time with older kids and adults then public school kids and therefore, are sometimes more mature and comfortable in mixed age groups of people. It's a wonderful benefit of homeschooling.

We are part of a wonderful homeschool co-op called REACH (Russellville Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers). With the help of REACH and A.C.M.E., (the Arkansas Center for Music Education) I believe I am able to provide ClaireAnna with every good experience that a public school could provide her while keeping her protected from all of the bad. She is able to attend field trips, school holiday parties, spelling bee, sports, PE class, science fair, culture fair, art class, music class and concerts, and so much more. I'm so grateful for the freedom we have in America to homeschool our children! It has defiantly been the best choice for our family.

Click HERE to go to blog posts that chronically our homeschool activities.

Oh, and yes, we do school in our pajamas! It's awesome!

Curriculum I Love
These are all books and series that we have actually used, had success with and would recommend to others. The links take you to Rainbow Recourse Center were I buy all my new curriculum.
I buy used curriculum mostly here.

Bible

What We Believe world view series by Apologia

Language Arts

Abeka Language (K-3)

Progeny Press Literature Study Guides
Total Language Plus Literature Study Guides

Easy Grammar and Daily Grams

Rod and Staff English

A Reason For Handwriting