I’ve made this thread (which I will check as often as possible) for questions and comments regarding my Old Fashioned Education site. I will answer as best I can. Hope I’m able to help.
🙂 Maggie
Frugal AbundanceRecent Comments
Erin on OFE Questions & Comme… renee@totalhomemakeo… on OFE Questions & Comme… renee@totalhomemakeo… on OFE Questions & Comme… renee@totalhomemakeo… on OFE Questions & Comme… Erin on OFE Questions & Comme…
Frugal Abundance 
Hi Maggie. I’m just wondering if you’ve had experience or known anyone who successfully combined this curriculum with different ages? I’ve got 3 that I’m homeschooling this year and it overwhelms me to think of doing 3 different ones. Also, do you tend to read aloud everything or just to the younger kids? If just to the younger kids, what age do you tend to let them read on their own?
Hi, My name is Fran and I am new to this site. I am having trouble getting signed in, so am trying a different tack to try and get a hold of Maggie. I am thrilled to have found your website “OFE” , but have noticed that in order to access the testing materials, I need a password. Can you provide me with the password? My email is: ff.delareza@comcast.net. I look forward to hearing from you. Also I am finding the posts here very helpful, with great ideas on how to teach different ages. Thank you for all the great info.
I have a son who should be in sixth grade and I was looking at the material and thought that 5th grade seemed a little too difficult and 4th seemed like the perfect fit. It seemed challenging enough without frustrating him. Is this okay?
How can i go about homeschooling my 3 kids 1st 2nd and 8th grader for free
The subjects I read aloud depend on the kids. Since mine are so old now, I only read science aloud and then only with the 12 year old. He and I are doing science together, every step of the way, except for tests and questions.
My plan has been to combine all ages as much as possible with every subject possible. For instance, writing–history–biography–literature–like I said, as much as possible. Each kid gets their own math level, but pretty much everything else, we’re doing together. Granted I have different expectations for the 15 year old than I do for the 12 year old, but otherwise, it’s all the same. Hope this helped some.
I forgot to add, the older the child gets more work during the week than the younger one. I add more supplemental reading and worksheets or activities.
Hello-
I am really enjoying this blog and I’ve read several others of yours, maggie.
I just wanted to comment to sarah, I homeschool 8 children on the OFE. It can be tough, especially since I work (outside the home) 3 days an week and help at the office for the family business that my husband and I run. My kids range from 15-3 years old and my oldest 3 kids, (15-13-11), I leave them their school lessons outlined on the table in the morning and they just read their stuff and do their math to the best of their ability and then, this is the key, make yourself available for a couple hours at the end of the day to answer questions that they have or to help them with the problems they can’t solve themselves. I am a big believer in teaching kids to be problem solvers at a young age.
With the younger kids, I do their math and their phonics with them when I get home as well, but I keep the lessons short, like 15-20min. tops and the stuff that needs to be read to them is broken up for the older kids to read to them and I keep them short as well.
The “middle kids” that are just starting to read get the word lists from the word mastery and I have them read them on their own and then I teach them the phonics rules that go with them when I get home, as well as having them read the lists out loud to me. I also keep a lot of easy readers and picture books around and they “read” to the 3 and 4 year olds. If they can’t really read the book they make up their own story to go with the pictures. Both the middle and the littlest kids love this program. The big kids can help if they get stuck on a word while I am not there as well.
Another thing I do with the middle children is I group them, my 3 and 4 year old are both doing the same preschool program, basic letter and number recognition with shape and color recognition as well.
My 6 and 8 year old get the same in everything but math and reading.
My 10 and 11 year old are doing the same on everything.
My oldest two are also at the same level on everything but reading, which they pretty much do on their own anyway. I have to adjust some of the literature to be smaller chunks for my son because he is considerably behind in reading compared to his big sister. We just work through the book lists at whatever pace is best for them to comprehend the information.
I have a math software (Quarter mile math) where the computer saves your best time and you compete against yourself to better the time. Each of my kids do about 20-30 minutes on that each day to reinforce their math skills. I love this program because the kids enjoy it and since they are racing against themselves, it makes it just right (challenging but not hopless) for whatever level they are at and they can see marked improvement every time.
My kids also do clogging once a week and LOTS of house chores. Once a month, we take 3 days of the week when I’ll be at home and do an extra good clean in the house to keep up with the household stuff and don’t do school. They know that if they aren’t making progress at their school-work and aren’t getting it done, we don’t get the break and we don’t get to do extras on the weekends like going to the fair this weekend!
Anyway- that is how it works for our family. You have to do what works for yours but it is possible to do this cirriculum with multiple children at multiple levels.
Hope this was a help to you and your family!
God bless-
Kelly
Wow! You are so inspiring!!!!
I have a question. 🙂
I am scared that if i let go of the paid for curriculum that they will some how loose out on some knowledge. Is that true in a way or totally wrong?
Nikole
THanks for sharing Kelly, I always like to know how other people are doing it.
Yes, thanks both of you! I plan to combine most of the history/lit/geography reading for my almost 9 yo and 11 year old and then do a separate grade for my 6 year old. Hopefully it will work for us. I’d like to start out reading a lot of it to them so I can get a grasp on what they’re retaining. Not to mention that a lot of the reading would be too hard for my 9 year old to read….she’s a bit behind for her grade level.
We do it differently too. We have a 19 mo boy an about to be 7 1st grade and a just turned 11 5th grade girls. My oldest reads aloud to the younger daughter. She also watches the baby for a 15-30 minute phonics, reading and dolch word lesson. She reads the directions for math to her younger sister while doing her own math (she’s over a grade level behind from being in PS last year while living with my parents). She does her own reading and then must retell the reading in 3-5 paragraphs (where we discovered she forgot how to write a complete sentence) and must rewrite it until it meets my minimum standards (which I have been told are quite strict). We do Math 4 days a week M-TH, the first quarter is history (we troll all the grade levels for books to go along with a yearly topic from 4th grade up, this year is Civil War and an Introduction to WWII since we found alot of books at Goodwill), second is science (we don’t use the OFE science because I want more up to date materials), third is literature (mostly classics I pick up at the Goodwill that I think they will like in the current year), fourth is Spanish and 2 days a week is home economics F-Sa (which they do together mostly). We use OFE more loosely than some but sticking rigidly to it wouldn’t fit our personality. also picking up as many reading selections at Goodwill as possible ($1 for paperback, $2 for hardback except a few specially priced which means more expensive) and on paperbackswap (free but I pay to ship out the ones someone requests from me) as the amount of reading on OFE is very light for my oldest who is the quiet type that prefers to curl up with a book. The younger one is less bookish so I have a feeling the selections will be more suitable for her in quantity.
Miss Maggie,
I found your site – one of those click and find things from another site on Homeschooling. I am a working single mom who is just getting started schooling her 2 pre-K girls. I loved your site but with the economy I was afraid you might take it down! Do we need to worry about the OFE site going away?
I love your blog too – what an encouragement to all of us who praise the Lord for his abundance and strive to stretch our resources.
A big thank you!
Candace in Shreveport, Louisiana
I know its been YEARS since you posted this but maybe by chance you will see this Candace…. Im a new homeschooling mom in the Shreveport area and I would love to talk with you and see if you are still using this program with your kids.
I am very glad that I found the “Old Fashioned Education” web site. I am a mother of 6 that shares ADD with 3 of my children. The curriculum works great for our family.
I want to ~THANK YOU~ for creating this site, and to see if you have heard of about free audiobooks from the public domain at a site called “LibriVox”? I have found that my kids like to listen to the books (when available) while they read along. It seems to enhance interest and with some of the books we will even borrow the movie from our local library after they read the book.
Once again, Thank you!
Jeannette ~ Bemidji, MN
i am so glad that i found this site . my question is can i use this for their entire curriculum?
Do you have access to any workbooks and/or tests for your Old Fashioned Curriculum texts?
Something to prove or improve their comprehension?
Your OFE site said that you’d be done with the 12th grade schedule this past summer. Is it completed, and when will it be updated? I’ve been anxiously awaiting it. I truly appreciate the effort you’ve put into both your site and putting everything together.
Hi! I really like your site! We started the MEP arithmetic yesterday, and my son loves it! Where can I find the password for the answers? Thank you, Marilyn
Hello Marilyn R.,
I emailed CIMT requesting the password for the MEP program and they were happy to give the password.
Email them a request including your name and the name, address and type of your institution.
feedback@cimt.org.uk
In regards to tests the ‘Old Fashioned Curriculum’. Many of the texts have test or review questions that can be used for testing comprehension.
I use these questions along with a wonderful free teachers aid I found:
http://www.easytestmaker.com
You can create tests that work well for your child/children.
MEP password is CIMT4maths
Hi there. I’m so happy to have found a math program. I’m getting started on the MEP curriculum and have a couple of questions.
First, where are the answers located?
And next, I’ve downloaded the practice books and the lesson planner. Is this all there is to it? No official math book?
Thanks so much.
Miss Maggie, I didn’t know if you knew, but this is a free english grammar site for homeschoolers and the lessons are free and it even scores the work when the child is done.Here is the link
http://www.englishgrammar101.com/
Something you might look at and want to add to your curriculum.
~Tabaitha
The site you mention is really neat! I used “Grammarworks” the first year I homeschooled, but stopped because I didn’t think there were enough practice sheets. This would be a good addition. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much, Miss Maggie, for the OFE site. I am currently teaching my 5yr old and 4yr old girls with the K level, and plan to keep going with each level as we go through the years. I also have a 1yr old and almost 3yr old, both girls as well. Your sites have been a true gift to me, especially OFE because now I can give my children a quality education without worrying as much about the costs. I don’t use the math (we use Singapore math instead) or the science (I admit to using the Real Science 4 Kids books, if you go to the publisher’s web site you can see the entire text of all their textbooks, lab books, and teacher guides for free so I use those) but the history, geography, and language arts have been a godsend for me.
I just finished reading your comments and I am trying to decide on homeschooling. I have a 5 yr. ADHD, 8 yr ADHD and slighlty MR, and a 9 year old. I suffer from migraines and epilepsy and cannot work. I’ve been a teacher’s aide and worked with grades preK through 6th and have an associates in english and business. All of my boys are having trouble in school wether it be scolastic or behavioural, but I am scared that I cannot keep them focused and on task to learn, but I don’t think the public school is benefiting them at all. Is there any encouragment or advice you could give me? I also noted that you can get free educational items and curriculum, but how much do the supplies cost.
I tried to e-mail this, but it came back undelivered. So here it is again 🙂
I just wanted to thank you for your site. It is amazing and I am in awe of the effort you’ve put into it. I’ve been homeschooling for two years now, and I’ve tried to read through a lot of things to get an idea of what I could be using to provide a more literature based education, and not only is your site the best resource I’ve found, it’s free! So a sincere thank you for that. I am passing along a link to your site to other homeschooling families and those considering it.
I appreciate the choices you have for boys. I also have a very hyperactive child, I too thought it was a bunch of bunk until we adopted our son. We think he has bipolar and stays mostly on the manic side. It took us a lot of suffering before we got over our stubbornness and guilt and got him the help he needed. It’s been wonderful, but he’s still wild and needs a lot of structure, so I’m loving your site and links right now.
I browsed your blog a bit and discovered we also have PCOS in common. Fun isn’t it?
Anyhow, I was reading about your grocery budgeting, and I’m not sure what state you live in, but last year I learned how to shop with coupons, and it’s been a lifesaver. You can’t always find organic things, but at the very least you can use them for household items. We have spent less and built up some food storage in our basement which has really been a blessing to us. The site I use for shopping lists is called pinchingyourpennies.com and it’s great, but it’s Utah centric. It has subforums for other states, but they aren’t terribly active. Still, you may be able to get some help to get started there. I can’t tell you how much stuff I’ve acquired for free or nearly so. The great part is that it hasn’t only blessed us, but when others are in need or the food bank comes calling, we always have the resources to donate, which we couldn’t afford otherwise. Let me know if you have questions about how it works, it’s the least I could do to repay you for the clarity your site has given me.
Thanks again,
Chelsea Flitton
How do the students take tests? Are there test forms to download?
Also, how would they get worksheets? Just curious. My daughter is in 11th grade and wants to be homeschooled. Trying to figure out all the details.
Hi. We are moving our family of 6 to Uganda we have 9 dd, 7 ds, 5 dd, 15 month old dd. We will be bringing a 4 year old boy Francis to live with us when we get there. He is the reason for our move. We have been in the process of adopting him for 3 and a half years and have been caught in “red tape” so the only way to bring him into our family is to move to Uganda and foster to adopt in the country for 3 years.
We are extremely limited on luggage and books are heavy. Someone sent me a link to your site. It is quite a wonder! thank you. Please if you will help me in figuring how to school all of them using the same years. Is it possible or should we try to make it each one in his/her grade? Also we hope to purchase an amazon kindle before we go. will the texts be able to transfer to it? I am not sure the internet will work all of the time there. Electricity is pretty reliable but not on all of the time.
Do you have any ideas/suggestions on how to make this work for our family?
Thank you so so much.
how do we get the homeschooling books that the website talks about? Are we supposed to order them?
hi i am not home schooling my child but would lkie to teach her more than what the school is teaching her what should a kindergardner about ready to be in first grad be taught and doe joining this sit cost any thing i am with the the reach-in group at northside church tracy gave me your sit
Hi Miss Maggie,
This is my first year of homeschooling and my dd is in 1st grade.
I recently discoverd your Old Fashioned Education curriculum online and am very helped by all that you put together. Regarding the McGuffery Readers, I noticed that you assigned each reader for each grade. This is how I originally thought the readers are supposed to be used. But in my recent reading of Ruth Beechick’s Parent-teacher Guide for the Original McGuffey Readers, I realized that the whole set of McGuffey Readers is intended for K to high school. I am a little surprised at the discrepancy here.
Since English is not my first language, and we are not planning to use any boxed curriculum, I would like to have a least Ruth Beechick’s guide as my guide for my children education of LA. Can you help reconcile the difference here? Did you actually use the 6th reader for your 6th graders? My 1st grade daughter was reading the second reader in her K year, but I didn’t continue on using the readers. Now that I find the guide I would like to go back to using it. But I am really not sure how to view the set, since my dd probably can read the 3rd reader now easily, does that mean she is reading at 5th grade level now? (According to Ruth Beechick’s guide.)
Hi there!
I am so excited about finding OFE. I am trying to figure out the differences in RC, and OFE, and AO and would love to get clarification so I can decide why I like or don’t like eahc one. My real purpose here is to figure out what kind of daily schedule would be right for a K or 1st grader? My little girl is young but smart and needing a strong work load – porb somewhat add too – but just trying to figure out how much time is spent on each subject and where the priority is. Thanks in advance for your help!
Miss Maggie,
I tried using the e-mail from the OFE site but it bounced. I am needing to find the password that you have for the MEP math. My boys need to move up to the next level and I can’t open the new files without a password. Some of the lessons do not require a password, but the ones I am needing do (figures, right?!). If you happen to see this message, I would love to hear back from you.
Thanks sooooo much!
Thanks for someone posting the MEP password! That is a huge help.
For some of the moms who asked about the books for the kids….all the books are available online as e-books so there is nothing you have to buy, unless you would really want to.
Unless your state says you have to test, why do it? As you go thru the lessons with your children, you know if they understand or not. If they are struggeling then just spend extra time going over what they are having trouble with. Once they get it, then you can move on.
If you HAVE to test for your state, then you can make up your own tests, grade them, and keep them with your records.
We have found that it is east to keep track of things that we wish to keep records on with a free download from HomeschoolTracker.com You can keep track of attendance, field trips, book lists, assignments, and even grades.
We use it “just in case” our state laws change at some point and I can prove that they are learning the required subjects.
Hi,
Love all the curriculum. So well thought out. I’m going to start my son in the 8th or 9th and work him through all the way to 12th. I’ve downloaded everything I’ll need but the 12 grade 40 week curriculum pdf link isn’t working. Could you please let me know where to get this pdf file? Thank you so much for all the work you have put into this and for making it free to us. Carol
Sorry Carol, I think she’s abandoned this blog also. I don’t think there is a 12th grade pdf. I’ve been waiting for it for a loooong time.
are there answer keys to any of the work. if so i can’t find them. would you be so kind as to guide me to them?
Which work do you mean Angel? If you let us know exactly what you are looking for maybe we can help.
Hello,
I am just learning of your many wonderful sites and contributions to homeschoolers. Thank you for your time and efforts.
I wandered if you are still able to give the password for the CIMT site?
Thank you. Blessings.
Oh, just noticed Miss MAggie may not be monitoring. So, where did the MEP password go that was posted at one point?
Does anyone have any suggestions for someone just starting out with a fifth grader on a fourth grade level. She is smart, I just had a newborn and let her slide a bit.
Will I have a lot of troubles without Miss Maggie’s help? I hate to say it, but I am a step by step learner and teacher.
I appreciate anybod’s feedback. And is there a yahoo group that has started back up for this curriculum?
CIMT4maths is the MEP password I don’t know about any yahoo groups, sorry. We just kinda do it on our own at our own pace and add a few things we already have at home.
Thank you so much for the password! Blessings.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3RHomeschooling/
Try that for yahoo group…
What is the website for Real Science 4 Kids posted by Cat on Dec. 16, 2008? If anyone knows please tell! 🙂
Found it! http://gravitaspublications.com/products/
Hi Maggie, i am interested in home schooling my 14 year old and i am not sure what the requirements are and how to get started.
Thanks, Tammy
Thought this site might interest someone?
http://thatresourcesite.com/
Hi! Thank you so much for your site! It’s such a blessing to our family. Here is a free civics resource you might be interested in:
http://www.americanheritage.org/elementary.html
Blessings,
Benecia Fowler
Hello! Thank you so much for all your hard work on your website! You have been extremely helpful. I’m using the full curriculum, but on the fifth grade for science I can not find the pdf booklets on the web site you listed. Do you have any idea about this? Or am I just missing it? Thanks again!
Good evening. I found your website and am
very interested in using the information to
home school my 6th grade daughter.
I have many questions.
Is there a contact phone # for you?
If you do have a choice of surgeon or hospital, ask the surgeon the following questions: What are your qualifications? ,
I have a question, how do we do tests for the kids on each subject and how do they “graduate” from High School???
For those who are new to homeschooling, you can check out your specific state’s homeschool requirements by going to the homeschool legal defense website and clicking on your state.
If your state doesn’t require reports or testing then you do not need to keep a record of grades (thus you do not need to test). For our family we just go over everything until I know they know it and then we move on. I don’t keep grades, just a pass/fail on my own personal records and since failing is not an option we keep going over it until they get a 100%.
I ask questions over what we have studied to make sure they understand everything. I ask them to narrate back to me what I have read and that is a good indication of where they are at.
For math and spelling, tests are easier to do. You give them their spelling words to practice and write, then give a test. The ones they miss get added to the next list to work on. Most math programs have reviews built into them. I use these as tests. We go over anything they miss until they fully understand and get similar questions correct.
For H.S. students you do need to keep track of transcripts for some universities, but most times they can take an entrance exam and that is all that is needed.
Homeschooltracker.com has a free version of the record keeping program we use for our family. You can print out reports or anything else your state might require. We love the free version.
There is also a great article on how to get your homeschooled children a higher education for MUCH less than the national average here:
http://www.utmostway.com/current/college-bound-without-the-bind
I hope this is helpful.
I forgot to add something! For any of you just finding this thread, there are several good links here in these comments and the password to the MEP math is listed in there as well.
Miss Maggie may not keep up on this thread anymore, but several others of us try to answer any questions that may pop up.
Blessings!
Hello. I am thinking of pulling my children out of public school and homeschooling. I am not sure where to begin. I really want to add a bible study to the mix. The schools in my area are failing badly and drugs and gangs are taking over. Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you so much. I believe this would greatly benefit my kids.
Hi Meredith, The links here are really good. We also liked the Great big book of Bible facts that we bought from Sonlight.com and used it as we read through the Bible as part of our Bible class. We also use our AWANAS book as part of our Bible study. Missionary Stories with the Millers is also a great book to add so your children can learn what it is like for Christians in other parts of the world.
First – Ms. Maggie – God Bless you for setting all of this up and allowing us to access it for free!! Second – as I have read through so many of these comments. Thank you all that are standing in the gap now to assist those of us who are just beginning OFE. We have been doing Charlotte Mason – but I found that I needed a better handle on scheduling for my 10,9,7 yr olds. And I cam across OFE and love it – since it is was how we were headed to begin with. Thank you all for pointing us in a great direction!!
Please, contact me with about starting this program. i am interested in Language Arts.
I noticed that you haven’t had an update for a few years. i am hoping you still check this. 🙂
Laia
Laia,
She has been dealing with a lot of health issues so Miss Maggie has not been able to keep up with this thread, but ask away because several of us have been trying our best to answer questions. This is a really great free program and we would love to see more families use it.
What grade(s) are you teaching? How can we help?
I was wondering if you have anything written up that would give some hints on printing out these wonderful books from Gutenberg. I can not seem to get the images to copy in the text correctly. Either they don’t copy at all, just a box to put them in, or they are inserted but the format is all wrong. Is it possible to download it and print it with little or no format work? I was working on “The Two Little Savages.”
Thank you. I have learned a lot form your site.
May the Lord bless you richly.
Sue Lewis
Hmmm, I have not had trouble printing the ones that I have printed, though we usually just read online and save on the paper.
Which grade is this book under? I’m having truble finding it.
HI there!
after i posted this note i looked down all the way and saw recent talks! i feel like a Nub. But oh well.. i’m a mom.. which means i mess up more than the usual people. 🙂
Anyways. i’m wondering how to get into this. I read the page about the program and i want to learn how to do it! I am homeschooling my kids now for two years and i want to keep it as cheap as possible.
So if there is a way to do this and figure out what THIS is. please someone help me.
what i need to know is this.. how do i use the books, are they online books? meaning my boys read off the computer?
are there things that are sent to my home?
How do i get into this program?
I think thats all for this moment. i have to get back to homeschooling them right now actually. 😐
thanks!
Laia
LOL, That’s ok, we all understand those “Mommy moments”!
The books are all online and all you have to do is click on the underlined titles to access them.
Miss Maggie has already set up the weekly schedule of what to do for each grade and you just do what she has already taken the time to map out for us.
We use most of the things, but not all. We sometimes add other books our boys find interesting or skip storied that are not “their cup of tea.”
We really like the MEP math and if you look around here at the posts you will find the password to access the password protected pages.
If you need more help, just ask.
hello miss maggie. my name is millicent, and my son trevor is brand new to homeschooling. he wasn’t happy with the school we had to enroll him in, and frankly, neither was i. i withdrew him last monday. he has had numerous health issues which caused him to miss a number of days from school. the school prior to me withdrawing him referred him to a fins counselor at the youth service bureau in our area. i applied for permission to homeschool trevor from the state we live in (louisiana) and it was approved. i now have to find a 7th grade curriculum that the counselor will approve. we are supposed to meet with her this week, but i don’t have one for her yet. i did apply for financial aid with calvert school in maryland, but they denied our request because trevor’s dad makes too much money. i’ve looked into k12, time4learning, and k12 free homeschooling, (waiting list there). k12 said just trevor’s materials would be $440 due up front, and that’s not counting per month fees, enrollment fee, etc. i don’t have that much money to put up front. can you please help me try to find a 7th grade curriculum? could you let me know everything he would need? should i go ahead and enroll him in time4learning just so that he’s doing some sort of schoolwork? their fees are only $19.95 per month, but it’s strictly online courses. please help with any advice or info that you can. thank you.
I would go to the full curriculum here at her site and print off the 7th grade scope and sequence as well as the 7th grade lesson plans (all of them) and just jump in there. You will have the book list, the amount of work to be done daily, and you can use the MEP math (or your favorite) to print off the teachers lesson plans for the year 8 math (7th grade) and you should have all you need. I’m not sure what your states requirements are but if you go to the Homeschool Legal Defense website http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=LA you will find what you have to have to meet requirements.
Hopefully this is helpful. Miss Maggie doesn’t visit here often, but if you have other questions we will try to help.
I do have lots of questions as I have never did this before and want to make sure that I am doing right for my son.
1. Where do I go and get started?
2 How long after moving to Georgia do I have to sign my son up for school board in Georgia?
3. Do I really just teach him what I want to without a curriculum or not?
4. What happens when he turns 16 does he take the GED or wait until he is ready or does he get a high school deplomia?
5. Is homeschool right for my son?
My son is ADD, ADHD, and OCD this makes it very hard for him to learn in a classroom sitting in a desk all day. He gets bored easily and acts up. I have been fighting the school system for 10 years over the fact that he needs more one on one to learn. They dont want to help just keep saying he is fine well when he can make A and he comes in with c or D some f cause he cant finish his work on a time frame I see a problem and the schools dont. Can I get help with these questions please I feel very frusterated at this point when noone at the schools want to listen to me anymore…
Karen,
to find the specifics for the state of Georgia you should go to HSLDA and look up the rules for that state.
http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Georgia.pdf this should answer your questions about how soon you need to file paperwork.
What grade is he in?
You can just go to http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/fullcurriculum.htm and select the curriculum for the grade you feel he is ready for. Just click on the 40 week schedule and print that out for you to follow along and check off what is done. Click the grade level and it will bring up all the links to books you need (you may just simply access them online or print them out and put them in a 3 ring binder. You may only want to print out a weeks worth of lessons at a time.
It believe you can teach him very successfully and help him to graduate (or take his GED). Does he plan to go on to get a higher education? He could get a GED study guide and let that be a part of his lessons.
I hope this was helpful. If you have more questions, let us know. My children are all younger, but I’m sure there are other moms around here that could answer your questions.
I have a son who will be starting in the sixth grade. I have been looking everywhere for a home schooling program for him. We live in Louisiana and I was just wondering if your home schooling program would work for him in our state.
you would need to check with state requirements at the HSLDA website and then look up the clink to your state’s requirements to be sure.
I was trying to click on the link: Outline of US Government and the link was dead. Is this the publication that is mentioned? http://www.america.gov/publications/books/outline-us-government.html
Heather, I’m not sure, but I think this is what she was trying to link to. This one seems right, and the link you posted works.
This looks like the correct book.
Hi Maggie,
I just found your website for Old Fashioned Education and am very interested. I want to use it for as many subjects for my kids as possible, but am afraid I don’t know how to start. I have a 3rd grader, a 6th grader, 8th grader and 10th grader. The curriculum I am using now Ace has American History for this year and I would like to stick with that if possible. Would I be able to do the same for the 6th and the 8th grader or is that too much of a grader difference? Any help you can give me on how to do this would be appreciated.
Dee Shelton
How do i register?
When i went to look at what you cna do in 15 it said for me to register. But it did not have a link next to it and i cannot for the LIFE of me figure out where to do it! 🙂
Please Someone help. I want to look at the pages!
Nikole
I’m sorry, I am not seeing where you are asked to register. Where are you looking?
Hi Maggie,
This is a wonderful site for a mother preparing to homeschool her children. Since we are a christian family this seems to be the perfect fit. Is the curriculum accredited or from accredited sources? I look forward to hearing from you. God bless!
I think she just put these resources together for her own kids. Most of the materials she uses are free; either in the public domain or kindly given (MEP). If you wanted to get some of it “accredited” you could go through a program such as “Mother of Divine Grace” (I’m sure there are others, too) and they can help you design and implement a program that would be accredited through them.
Best of luck! I agree, this is a great site!
Suzanne
Hi, Maggie! Do you think you could get a hold of me about your program? My number is 219-869-1497. Thank You
Loretta,
I do not think Miss Maggie checks these posts anymore. I have not seen her answer a reply in a very long time. I believe she is kept busy with health issues.
Some of us here do use the program she has set up, and can often answer questions you may have. I suggest you go ahead and ask questions and we will see if we can help you find the answers.
Check out my website!
http://www.OldFashion.tel
Cheers
Be very careful, I think this is spam!! WOT doesn’t rate it, but I am sure that link may be unsafe!
Ok, Im totally new at this! Im taking my 7th grade 12 yr old daughter out of public school this week. I have many questions about this site, such as how do i know which cirriculum is appropriate for her age/level? Hardly anything I’ve looked at on here actaully tells you what level or age they are for! Any help would be sooo much appreciated!! Thanks!
I wish I had found this site before I started buying curriculum!
If your child is not struggling with any subjects, just look near the top for “full curriculum” and click the grade level. The MEP math is different because it’s British, but if you look through it, you’ll be able to figure out where to begin based upon where your daughter left off. You can also check your state’s Knowledge and Essential Skills webpage to find out what she should understand by the end of the year.
Good luck!
Suzanne
how do my kids get there 8th grade diploma and how do they take the test for the lessons please let me know i would like to start them asap so i can get them going on there lesson thank you
I don’t know anything about an 8th grade diploma as it’s not needed in Texas. In fact, a child no longer even needs to take the GED to be considered “graduated” from high school, but Texas is a homeschool friendly state. You could contact someone from a homeschool association in your state for answers.
As for testing on lessons, that’s the time consuming part! Some of the books have quizzes and some don’t. Edhelper.com has test type questions on some literature books. Other than that, I just make my own tests. Also, Spellingcity.com lets you upload your own words, but it takes work on your part.
Good luck!
Hello Maggie I have always homeschooled my children and last year I was low on funds so I enrolled them in k12. This year they are just hating it to death. I cannot go out and purchase loads of grade levels of curriculum and found our sight. Is it as easy as you say. I just follow your guide and download the curriculum for each grade level and just that is it? I mean if so then I have really scored. Is there any way I can get a hold of you because I would really like to get this moving off the ground if it is this simple.
Thanks again and God bless
Maggie has some health issues that have kept her away from this blog for quite awhile, but you are correct that it really is just this simple. Go to the grade you need, print out the weekly schedules she has there and follow those. There are links on each grade level that will take you to the books online that go with each subject. Just click on the link and you can open the books and read. For math, print out the lesson and that is all there is to it. It is very simple and reminds me a lot of the way Sonlight is set up, except you don’t have to purchase all the books because they are online for free.
We also use the local library to find more books along the lines of the ones she lists here on her site ( my boys get really focused one something and want to learn more so we check out other books on the same subject that peaked their interest). It is great and you can be as flexible as you want to be. The main thing is to have fun and learn as a family!
That is awesome. Now what about the laws in Nevada for homeschooling is this going to agree and be okay for the laws in nevada? I mean all I have to do is follow her cirriculum chart for each year and class and grade and this should be okay for the state requirement of nevada??
Thanks..
Sorry correction on what I said “FOUND YOUR SIGHT”
You’ll need to check Nevada’s state law on homeschooling for that answer.
Maggie has posted what she personally used for her own children so that other people can use it if they choose, but I don’t think she’s making any claims beyond that. It’s a free, informational website.
Type “nevada homeschool law” into google to find the laws of your state. You can also check to see if Nevada has a website of what children in each grade are expected to learn, and do the research to see if her links comply with your state. Then you can supplement, if necessary.
Good luck, and thanks for the review on K12…I’ve looked into it personally, but not used it as yet!
http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Nevada.pdf this is the nevada law.
Dear Maggie,
My 15 year old daughter is excited about this curriculum, but we are unsure how to acess the answer keys or obtain the password to acess the answer keys. Could you please respond at your earliest convenience?
Hi Everyone,
I love the looks of OFE and have printed out schedules to use it and downloaded books on my Kindle. Now my questions is, what books am I to read aloud and what books do I assign my children to read? I’ve used Sonlight and it’s all spelled out for me. I think I will like this curriculum even more than Sonlight… if I can figure out how to use it. I will be using OFE with a first grader, second grader and fourth grader.
Thank you for any help!
Robin
HELP! An Old-Fashioned Education website is down. Has something happened to it?
It seems to be working fine right now. Not sure what was happening when you tried. Maybe the server was down?
Thank-you for this site!!! I have used it now for two years. We are blessed to have such wonderful information!!! Jennifer in Minnesota
I am so glad to see other ladies on here; that are willing to help out and answer questions. I just found OFE and I am so excited about using this curriculum this year. Has anyone used this as their full curriculum?
Thank You,
Julie
Hi there,
I am very happy and excited I found the website too.
I am a christian and I have been homeschooling my girls 5 and 7 since they were 2 years old. But now I was out the of the country for 3 years and I homeschooled them in a different language and because of the language I had to but them in Public school to pick up the language and I plan to take them out of school next year. Any suggestions?
I want to take them out now, but is this a problem with the public school system. Does anyone know do I have to report my children to the Board of Education and tell them I am home schooling them and how do you know what level your child should be or I mean like have they learned what they needed for that particular grade to go to the next? Does someone understand what I am trying to say?
Withdrawal procedures depend upon where you live. Are you in the US now, and if so, what state?
Hi,
Thank you for respond. I am now in New Jersey.
The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is a good place to start:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=NJ
It appears as though New Jersey isn’t as strict as other states. Good luck!
Thanks,God Bless You.
i am inquiring about how to go about homeschooling my child, the cheapest way possible, and how to go about doing it.
i am inquiring about the whole process of homeschooling for my child.
I am most grateful for your generous labor of love in regards to providing such a free and thorough curriculum for our benefit.
I have taken some time off from blogging to devote more time to home schooling and research and with my husband’s other job coming to an end I have been scrambling for ways to save money on home schooling. How I wish I knew about that math curriculum that the UK offers at the beginning of the year! I can’t believe that something so thorough and comprehensive exists for free!
Thank you again for all the time you have put in to making this available for us!! May God bless your labors!
i am starting my teenagers in homeschooling this year and need to know more about it,please.will they get a highschool diploma or will they have to take GED?
I can’t seem to go to the website…. Is it going to be available again? If you’d like someone else to take over, I would love to. I have already started a facebook group and would be honored to help with the OFE web-site. Please contact me at theliederacademy@yahoo.com or call 612-964-0847
I JUST HAVE A QUESTION. I WANT TO DOWN LOAD THIS HOME SCHOOLING PROGRAM AND DO NOT SEE WHERE IT SAYS HOW TO DOWNLOAD. CAN YOU E-MAIL ME BACK AND LET ME KNOW PLEASE? THANKYOU.
Rose you’re best off going to the yahoo group for help. As far as I know there are just PDF files to download, but the yahoo group is probably the best place for help.
Hello Miss Maggie! I wanted to tell you that we use your site constantly in our homeschool. I wanted to let you know that I mentioned your site on my website for lds parenting and hopefully people will be heading your way! Your site has been such a resource to me i wanted to share it. I hope you are ok with that! http://www.ldsparenting.blogspot.com its under family reading time. Thanks again for taking time to help parents teach their children the important things in life! 🙂
THanks Jaelle, that’s very kind. I always welcome links from other homeschooling moms. God bless 🙂
Hi. i have a 16 yo daughter in 10 th grade,she has been in public school all her school life,she met some bad influences and was expelled from school in march,so i started homeschooling in april.i am in over my head !. amblesode is a bit tough for me to figure out,i found another site that has a free curriculum too as well as yours here.
my problem is DD was an A/B honor roll student,she was in the process of trying to graduate early,and this is the classes she was taking when expelled.
BIOLOGY, PHYSICAL SCIENCE, FOODS, ADVANCED FUNCTION AND MODELING(math), U.S HISTORY AMERICAN LITERATURE, WEIGHTLIFTING,and PARENTING.i have the 2 science books,they were discards from her school. but i have dont have the same teachers resources,handouts and stuff her public school did. I am using the library’s books and dvds cause i really have no idea how to teach history, literature,and especially math.FOODS(cooking i can do),i use cookbooks,and had her to watch a few dvds from the library on prepping, cooking, safety and sanitation.. Parenting,i have her watch her 2 & 5 yo brothers. help potty train,clean him up if he doesnt make it to potty in time.i use everyday life for teacing her parenting and a book or two from library.
BASICALLY,We need advice and help on what to do and if we are doing this right.(even though every book i have read on homeschooling has said”there is no right or wrong way to homeschool”, i fear i am not going to do this right.and she wont have the education she needs or the credits to graduate.i also have no to as how to grade,or use credits.i feel like i am drowning in knowledge,that its all around me and i cant seem to get a handle on the intake.maggie or whomever, please take pity and answer some,one or all of my questions.
Marla,Lincolnton,N.C.
if i use the MEP CIMT site,which one is for a tenth grade 16 year old?
basic,standard,express or special? i have no clue about which one to use! and how would i check it,is there an answer sheet i could use?
thanks for any and all help.
You can get the teacher manuals/answer sheets from the MEP site; you just tell them you’re a homeschooler and where you live and they’ll send you the password. I can’t help you with the grade level–I use mathusee. For the “lessons” you could have your daughter log into Khanacademy.org (com?) so she can get an explanation of the math concept she is on. They have everything from basic math to calculus. Have you looked into whether your state has an online charter school? I noticed that N.C. does not have a free k12.com program, but perhaps you have another one? K12 is in no way Christian based but does have AP classes that you could pay for.
Homeschooling can feel overwhelming; many prayers for you that you can accomplish your goals!
hi there maggie! how are you?
thank you for all you do!
my name is kellie and i was wondering if you have your curriculum on dvd’s…
we are searching for first grade curriculum for some missionaries who are leaving for india very shortly! God bless! i am praying but not sure if they will have access to the internet! thank you!
lovingly,
kellie
No DVD’s, sorry. You can make your own by downloading and saving the info you will need onto a dvd or cd and then using it as needed. I never even thought of making DVD’s but maybe I should.
Hi! New to this whole homeschooling thing. I have a 8 yr old son w/ Aspergers. I was looking over the OFE and was wondering what religion the bible lessons were based on and what bible ws the lessons based from. I know it can be adjusted but was wondering which bible you based it from. Thanks~
I just wanted to say thank you! Thank you for OFE!!!!Thanks for blessing me!!
Hi Sherry, I’m Southern Baptist, but the religious view of OFE is generally reformed protestant, although some of the works may have be written by Catholics or other faiths. You really have to adjust the religious stuff to suit your own view, there wasn’t a specific religious view intended except that God is real and the Bible is true.
Anonymous, glad I can be of service. 🙂
Hi Maggie!
I’m new to home schooling, and considering it for my teens,11th & 12th graders. This pass year was their first yr in public school, a real shock to their system; they did make it through. All thanks and glory to God!
We are located in Maryland, your site was the first I found offering FREE curriculum studies. My question is, is it accredited or would I have to just present it to MSDE for their approval? Not sure of which direction to take, other the the road away from Public school.
God’s blessing and continued favor,
thank you,
Eva
Hi Maggie…just a note to say your website is awesome and much needed this year. Thanks for making all of your hard work available for the rest of us.
I wondered if anyone experienced a very liberal bias in the Peter Jennings Century source that is used for 12th grade history. A couple of the reviews on Amazon confirmed that I thought his perspective might not be conservative at all…
Are there aother options like this that are more Biblically based?
Thank you!
Kimberly
Eva, I have no idea. I’m sorry.
Lauren, I’m happy to oblige.
Anonymous, you are welcome to use whichever materials you prefer. I used what I could find cheaply but I’m sure there are better choices. Why don’t you share your superior choice when you find it. You could help so many others that way.
Goodness, I was not intending to critcize. I’m sorry if it came across that way. 🙂 I really don’t know of any other options. If I find something i will be sure to pass it along. Thank you for all the work you have done here. I am very thankful for it!
God bless!
Kimberly
Don’t give it a second thought Kimberly, 🙂 I’m sure there are other choices, I just don’t know what they are. Sorry if I came off defensive, I didn’t mean to. Good luck with your search. 🙂
Blessings to you!:-)
Hi, I’m just looking over the site for the first time….I am a bit overwhelmed. I am getting a lot of pressure not to homeschool my 6 yr old son and 4 yr old daughter and I am now feeling the pressure to prove to everyone that this is a legitimate way of educating our children. I am having a hard time planning activities every day. I know I want to read aloud to my children a lot but my 4 yr old just doesn’t seem to care and my 6 yr old loves it for the most part. He hates to write though and refuses to do anything challenging for long. I find myself getting more and more frustrated. My husband keeps telling me to stick them in school so I’m not so burnt out all the time. I don’t know if it is that I am just putting too much pressure on myself and making my expectations to high or if it is that I’m not doing enough with them to push them. I just don’t want them to hate learning so my tendency is to back off if there is too much conflict. I let them have some say about what we learn about daily. I wish I could just have someone tell me what to do but I know it is not that simple. For “kindergarten” we just read a lot, practiced handwriting, did basic art projects and science experiments, did some online educational game sites, and although my 6 yr old doesn’t read by himself yet he does know how to sound out words and speaks correctly with good sentence structure. How do you know when to back off and when to push? How much time do we need to spend on “school” every day? I am in VA but do not do a religious program of study so I am having a hard time finding other parents that do the same. Our local church has a homeschool group but when I went all the children were mostly older and it just seemed like it was a gossip session for the moms.
I guess I just need to know what do you do when your child seems to want to do everything but what you have planned to do? How can I make planning easier for myself….I have a farm to run and my husband works full time and has a side business so I don’t get any help with the homeschooling. I just feel overwhelmed and am second guessing myself. It would be easy to just stick my kids in public school but is that really the right thing to do?
this sounds kinda like me and my 6 yr old and 16 yr old. my son went to public school for kindergarten, he failed. i was forced to put in even though he wasnt ready. the school threatened with ss if i didnt send him ,so i did.
he was horribly burned at age 1, two weeks after his first bday no less. he’s ok now. but he basically sut down quit talking and interacting. till he was almost 4 then he started baby talk again. when he was 5 i was forced to send him to public school,he wasnt ready,. i think he did well but they failed him because he was behind the other kids, he worked so hard to catch up to the class and when he did bam schools over and he has to repeat . so we pull him out and today was his first day of homeschool. he did ok, but has forgotten a lot of things from last year. he didnt want to write, or color or read, he wanted to play. outside inside on the computer anything as long as it wasnt school.took several hours but we finally finished. i dont do religious stuff either,not because of not beleiving, i do, but because i have a 2 yr , 6 yr, and 16 yr old all at home and a 9,12 and 15 yr in school as well and i have to cook, clean, do laundry and watch my 2 yr old all while trying to teach my 6 yr old.
i write what i want my 16 yr old to do, tell her the pages, book, and when its due. she does the work or did. she quit doing her work, ran away, was brought home and the other night totaled the family van! she is ok, scraped bruised sore but alive. she isnt able to work right now cause her hand is wrapped but i guess after being gone for a few weeks whats a few more days? she has a jammed finger thats swollen badly. i will give her a week to heal then she is gonna hit the books to make up all the lost work/time.
i am using color books for art, and letter reinforcement, like Aa,ant, captain america and noahs ark. red is the color of the week, so we will find, color and name red objects. we are using the numbers 1,2, 3 for math. count, spell and put them in order. for science, he built a simple lever from a library book,and we did one third grade math word problem. it was basically 5×8 but was worded as eight bags had five nuts in them how many were there?. so we did the work, made 40 dots. and he counted them and wrote the anwer. we did a fifth grade daily reading problem,about squirrels and answered 4 questions. he did good except the last one he didnt quite understand the question,he knew the answer though. dont feed from hand cause you could get bitten.
we read a small book,and a few other things. thats my curriculum, use what i have on hand and add a few websites like jumpstart and starfall and brain pop. he likes those better than having to write and do paperwork. but i cant let him do just fun stuff, he needs to write his abc and 123 as well as his sight words. i dont think i helped you any but i hope you dont feel any more confused than before i replied.
Help! There’s a website that has changed…I can’t find anything you listed for them! It’s in the Bible Study section of Grades 2nd and 6th I know for sure…Missionary Stories for 2nd grade. What do I do? Please update your site with an alternative source…thanks so much! Tanya
I had the same problem with another link that had changed and found what I was looking for using the “wayback machine” at http://www.archive.org . I typed http://www.oldfashionededucation.com into the box and went to one of the dates that has a blue circle. I clicked on Full Curriculum, then “Second Grade”, and clicked on the Missionary Stories and there it was! It looks like an interesting resource 🙂
Good Luck!
Suzanne
Hello!
I really need help with this…
Is it possible to purchase your book list at one time??
For all grades? It seems so hard to gather these all by myself, I can’t do computer copys because I want to teach after computers fail.
Jake, I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything like that. This is very much a homemade program. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.
Suzanne, can you email me, or give me your email so I can email you? I’m at marsmoosky@cox.net. Anytime within the next week or so is fine. Nothing big, just questions I have about needed updates and stuff. 🙂 Thanks 🙂
So this morning I started homeschool….as soon as I asked my son, 6yr old, to write his lowercase alphabet he flipped out, I flipped out, and then threatened to call the school and tell them I had made a mistake. My daughter, 4 yr old, is fine and as long as I don’t do too much for too long she’s fine. My son is killing me….I want to slam my head against a wall. I spent all weekend making a lesson plan for the week and didn’t get done half of what I wanted to do today because what should have taken him 5 minutes took him an hour after the meltdown. He CAN do the work, he just doesn’t WANT to do it. I have to keep explaining to him that he either has to do the work at home with me or he has to go to school and do it.
What am I supposed to do when he won’t do what I have planned for him. He’s very intelligent, but doesn’t want to do anything challenging. We finished Charlotte’s Web this morning and did an art project, memorized a poem, acted out a story book, practiced writing the alphabet and their names, and practiced numbers 1-10 with the 4 yr old, talked about indians for history, and then read some plant facts and looked at pictures in the book. I know that is okay but I just feel like a failure and it is only the first day.
When is it okay to stop and how much content is enough per day for a 6 yr old? How long should school take at that age. I planned on 9am to 12pm with a snack break in between. He also won’t read…he CAN he just doesn’t want to. He rolls his eyes and says…”you just read it.” So do I back off and just read everything aloud and wait for him to get it on his own…he is picking up words just by my reading to him everyday so do I just continue to do that and stop pressing him or do I just push through it and make him do it?
I seriously just want to slam my head against a wall. HELP!
sounds my 6 yr. i had drawn some shapes on paper,and had him ti write the names of the shapes under them,easy right no more than 5 minutes …. wrong took 24 hrs!,he didnt want to do it,would fall out of his chair, cry,scream,break his pencil lead,drop the paper,pencil need to use the bathroom,so i told him we can sit here all day wasting time or we can move on and finish tomorrow. we finished this morning after 20 minutes.
i hate forcing him but i know he can do it,he just wants to play.he likes the games on abcya,jumpstart,brainpop,sheppeard and fun brain but he wants to do just those,not paper work. he likes me to read the tales of fatty coon to him as well,but he needs to know his shapes and how to write his abcs,123 and read. he has read the berenstain’s bears on wheels and a saxon phonic book zip on his own this week. so i know he can write,square,circle and triangle. he is using the mep/cimt yr 1 math program, and some other math as well,some mathsheets i print off the net and ones i make up.
for english i am working on teaching him what a sentence is,verbs,nouns,adjectives and punctuation. we read whatever we have on hand,phonic book,library books,e books.i am reading the world atlas library of the states N.C. for history and some of miss maggies books . i need help with his handwriting cause it is so sloppy you cant read it then he writes so nice and small and then it is elephant sized . i have him trace and copy a lot but i cant tell if its working.
Oh goodness, it sounds like he’s got your number 🙂 I have four that I’m homeschooling, including a little guy who just turned 5 at the end of July. We had some difficulties, where he didn’t want to do the work, and thought he’d see if he could be in charge. I guess the key is having something fun planned, and saying, “I’m so disappointed, because I HAD hoped we’d be able to ride bikes/go to the park” etc. Finding the times he’s most receptive to doing work he doesn’t like and saving the things he does like till the end will help in the early years (just the opposite with older kids). But really, it’s the first day? Give it some time. The other thing that I can’t stress enough, is that our worst days are when we fail to start with prayer/bible time as a family. I got some great advice when I started. My friend said homeschooling was like a toddler’s diet–just try to make sure they get everything by the end of the week. You’re doing the right thing, Hang in there and may God bless your homeschool!
Suzanne
Thanks Suzanne, today was better…I told him that I would let him have computer time if he did all his work and that seemed to work better. I also started an hour later at 10 this morning instead of 9 and that seemed to work better too. I am finding that if I give him a choice of 2 things to do and let him pick out what we’ll do first and what we’ll do second then he gets the control he wants and still does the work. I’m trying to do quick worksheets for math and then some computer practice with some educational math games online at http://www.shepardsoftware.com He really seemed to like those and did well with them on his own. I had to fight a bit to get him to do some that were challenging but he did well. Much better today. We read for history and science and started on the Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne. We read some Rudyard Kipling yesterday out of Just So Stories and finished up Charlotte’s Web and made a web and felt spiders. I’m getting there…I just have to let myself fail every once in a while….I’ve had perfection hammered into my brain my whole life so it is hard when I fall short of my goals. I’ve decided to keep a log of everything we do every day and that way I can see what needs to be done the next day to keep us on track. It also lets my husband see what they’ve done all day cause he’s clueless.
I’m glad that today was better! You’ll all get the hang of it…
I clicked the link above and got one of those ad pages, but googled it–it’s http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ … two “p”s. Very cool site! Thanks for the link!
Suzanne
oops, sorry about that….
we started a journal and he can draw whatever he wants in it as long as he writes a sentence about it. That has helped with him writing. I also like abcya.com for some fun games to help reinforce some skills for different age levels. He loves to do stuff on the computer and these are pretty cool and keep him engaged.
I am trying to just relax. I went to my BF’s house for dinner and her daughter is 9 days younger than my son. She showed me her homework for the week and if that is what they are doing in school I have nothing to worry about. My son is right on track if not a bit ahead of her work so that made me feel better. Her mom is a teacher and I get a lot of nudging from her to put my son in school but I have to just stand my ground. I told her that I am prepared to put him in school if that is what he needs and will be good for him but for now this is working so we are sticking with it.
I’m figuring out that my son is a kinesthetic learner and right now my daughter responds to that method too. So bye bye workbooks! He was in tears the other day when I asked him to do a workbook page where he had to fill in the missing numbers. I felt horrible. No more.
Does anyone have any suggestions for curriculum for kinesthetic/tactile learners?
What is the password for CIMT mentioned in your mathematics section? Clicking on user group only directs me to a user group that no longer exists.
it is CIMT4maths
Is this site being updated still or not? I have used it on and off for years and notice that it looks like it is not fully complete. Many of the links are broken as well.
Ideally I’ll have time to work on this site eventually, but for the time being I do not. I’m sorry it’s not up to par, but until I’m able to devote the time to it that it needs, I’m doign the best I can to simply keep it online.
Maggie…just a note of extreme appreciation…my husband is without work right now and I work part time. We did not have the money to buy curriculum and this site was done so well and so meticulously that my children (all 5) are lacking nothing. The fact that you offer your labor of love for free is amazing. Rest in the fact that you are a blessing to so many who choose to homeschool our kids despite financial circumstances. Thank you for the money you spend to keep this available.
I agree!!! Thank you for providing this site. I am a single, unemployed mother and I would not be able to homeschool my son if it were not for sites like yours. Everyday I appreciate the labor and effort you put into it. God bless you!
Thanks for the kind comments 🙂 I can always use the encouragement. 🙂
I totally understand. I am using the 11th grade right now for my daughter. I totally am appreciative for it!
Ginger,
When I have found off-site links that no longer work, I’ve googled the text in quotations, and found numerous references that did work. Maybe you could email those working links to Maggie…? I’ve also found the texts I needed by using http://www.archive.org, and pasting the link in the “way back machine”.
Good luck!
Suzanne
On the 2nd grade the 40 Missionaries Stories link seems to be broken. Could you share the actual links.
Thanks
Olga
Has anyone used an e-reader for younger Children (girls ages 5, and 7) with this curriculum. My husband mentioned it and I am thinking about it. Yet the idea that my children will hold on to an electric device instead of turning the pages of a real book seems detrimental to me. Any thoughts, I would love the advice.
I too, am a bit off about the e reader thing but, I received a i pad for Christmas and my 11 year old an e reader. I only agreed because My mother also loaded it with tons of yesterday’s classics. All together she has 225 books and I have uploaded them all to my I pad. Most of the OFE books are on it. Yeah! I LOVE books and would have loved the actual books but that would have been a fortune. It is wonderful to not have to print all these books or really look for them. Most of them can be downloaded for free too. The best part is school can be taken everywhere. We were in a different state for 3 weeks last month and school was our math text, a notebook and an i pad. My kids range from 2 to 11 and all of them love it, with proper supervision of course.
I didn’t do OFE due to the printing issue but, next year this may be our full curriculum now that it’s this easy.
Hello,
I love your OFE site, and will be using it next year. As I browsed through, I realized that I have most of the books already on my Kindle. YAY! Looking throught the lessons, I found that 12th grade wasn’t broken down into weekly lessons. Do you have plans of adding them? Thanks again!
Sandy
I’ve know about OFE for a a couple of years, but my oldest wasn’t ready for that many books at first. I’m pulling everything together to use OFE next year though. We’re almost done with our current year and after a 2 week break we’ll jump into OFE.
My kids will be K & 3rd but my oldest is way behind ‘grade level’ in reading so I’m going to try the 1st grade curriculum with both of them and hopefully only have to do Math separately.
I’m hoping a literature based curriculum will increase their listening skills. Has anyone used audio books (free through librivox) with younger (prereaders) children? Of course I will read to them as well, but I was hoping to incorporate some audio books so I could get some dishes washed while they ‘do school’ to foster some independence! 😀
And to Olga, we will be using our Kindle Keyboard & Kindle Fire for most of our book reading. I do already own a few of the recommended books in paper form, so in those cases we will use both the paper and Kindle versions. I’m excited that almost all of our school (using OFE) will be very easily transported with as it’s all on the Kindle. This will also make school outside in our yard on a blanket a more common occurrence which I am excited about as well.
Hi Maggie,
Your website brings any Christian to their senses. As a preacher once said, strong families are a dying breed. I’m planning to incorporate OFE into our current homeschool system. I have a concern about the faith4living website to obtain the character posters, it brings you right to Scientology and its founder and so on. Please take a look asap. Thanks and praise God for a wholesome website.
Hi, I’m not sure if anyone has seen the CK-12 website but the do offer free texts (flex books) for math and science that can be downloaded for free. The science might not appeal to all since it does come from more of an evolution perspective; however, you can customize the texts for your own needs and use the parts that you feel are appropriate for your science curriculum. You can copy a chapter at a time and use what you need. I’m not sure but I believe that you can request the teachers edition solution keys for each text. It may be worth taking a look at, especially for the higher grades if you are struggling looking for math or science texts and you are on a budget. I personally have not used them but I came across the web site which is CK12.ORG.
Sir/Ma’am,
I am a fresh high-school graduate residing in Paranaque City. I have graduated with honors and awards. I competed against schools all over Paranaque City and won 1st place recently in STI’s Voice of the Youth Oratorical Contest. Also, I am part of various co-curricular activities such as the Student Government Organization and the Official Publication of our school.
Sadly, I’m currently in need of financial assistance.
You see, my parents are annulled. My father is retired and he has lost a large amount of his savings over an investment of his. My mother is a single-parent of three. She has no job. No business. Our only income comes from small favors from our relatives abroad.
This has brought my education to jeopardy.
I want to continue studying and so, I took the test in PUP. I have passed with flying colors. The problem is– we have a large amount of debt in my former school that my parents can not afford to pay. The school will not release my credentials until our debt has been paid. In which, it is a requirement in for admission in PUP and that they have a strict deadline for it is on a first-come-first-served basis.
I have searched for jobs, but there’s no luck at my young age. I asked help from our relatives but they too have problems regarding finance.
I don’t know what to do that is why I am seeking for your help.
It would mean the world to me.
Thank you.
we are going to start homeschooling but if we use this curriculum than will we have to somehow let the state know and will they still graduate and get a diploma after 12th grade they have been going to public school but we need to get them in a better place to learn
thank you
Hello! I’m excited to start planning my children’s history for next year using year 3 book list. As I began reading the first weeks scheduled assignments, I ran into a snag. You have a stone age book “The cave boy of the Age of stone.”
My problem is where do I put it on my timeline? I’m a young earth Christian so my timeline begins about 4000BC and when I look at references they don’t have it on there at all. So, do you suggest sticking in there at 4000BC or leaving the book out?
Thanks for any suggestions
I am taking my children out of public schools for next school year and want to home school them. How does your program work?
thank you.
First, check with your state’s law regarding homeschooling and follow it. After that, click Maggie’s link http://oldfashionededucation.com/fullcurriculum.htm
Click on the grade level you’re teaching and download and/or print the materials. She has graciously provided the links for the material as well as her syllabus for each grade. BTW, the only difficult part of homeschooling is the planning! Then, when school starts, get everyone up, make breakfast, and don’t forget to start your school day with prayer. It makes a huge difference in the kind of day you have!
Best of luck,
Suzanne B
PS if any of the links don’t work, go to http://www.archive.com and paste the link in the “way back” machine and you can usually find it. If not, just google the book name in “quotations”.
Miss Maggie,
Unfortunately, I don’t feel comfortable with sharing my name, which is why I choose this rather cheesy pen name.
I’m a 16 years old girl who is very much interested in following your Old-Fashioned Education curriculum.
Due to personal, health-related reasons, I couldn’t study at a school. My parents just didn’t have the time OR the knowledge to homeschool me. I learned bits of things, but not anything concret. I SO want to pursue my education – specially your curriculum – but how can I do it by myself, without having the most basic knowledge of Maths, History, Sciences – actually, pretty much every subject? Thing is: I’m not a six years old, either, so I get things REALLY faster, and that makes starting at the first grade kinda pointless.
Also, is it possible for me to follow it without having parents to check up? I tend to lose focus easily, as I have Asperger’s, and it doesn’t help that even though I plead them to make me go on, they won’t when I need them to.
I love learning, just missed the right timing, and learn in a different way. (Example: I taught myself English [poorly] and Japanese. I wouldn’t say or write more than one phrase if prompted, for nearly 2 months. After this, I could pass as almost fluent on both, though I still have plenty of practice that I have to do on both)
I may spend roughly 3, 4 hours a (week)day in studies and cannot afford to buy anything (notebooks and textbooks included), as we barely manage to get food on the table.
Also, where I live in Brazil there’s only one library that doesn’t have more than some Brazilian classics and children books. There ARE textbooks, but they’re old and you can’t borrow them. I can’t spend on bus to the library, and is as far as I’d have to walk one and a half hour to go and the same time to come back, which would leave me with barely one hour to study!
Is it impossible for me to ever get a good education?
Thanks in advance and God bless you and your family!
Hello Amy,
You may want to also take a look at http://www.freeworldu.org, especially for subjects that you are having a difficult time learning or for subjects that you don’t like. It may make some of your learning process move a little faster. Best of luck, and God bless!
Dear Amy,
Your life does sound interesting! You’d better get yourself into school before the authorities catch you! Did you know it’s completely illegal to homeschool in Brazil, even for expats?
Best of luck!
Thank you so much for your fast answer.
Yes, I’m aware of it. However as this is a matter of health, not just a choice, the Ministry of Education has given me certain documents that make it possible for me not to study in regular schools. I have to get medical check ups often, too.
But as homeschooling is, in fact, illegal, I can’t submit my studies to them or anything. But of course, there’s no legal impediment as for learning, it’s just that I won’t get a degree. I must wait until I’m at least 18 and then pass on certain tests in very general fields in order to have them considering my education as “complete”.
Do not worry, I’m not breaking any laws.
Sincerely,
Amy
Amy, if you need help with math, there is a nice website called http://www.KhanAcademy.org you can watch videos on the math lessons, then do the math problems that go with the lesson. They start at very basic lessons and work up to harder things. You must have a facebook page (which you can make private and no one else can see, if you want) to log on, but it is a free online school. They have many other subjects there too, like history, sciences, economics, and much more.
If you are needing accountability partners to make sure you keep studying, you might see if you can find an online study group. On KhanAcademy, you can set up someone as your “Coach” an they could have access to your study schedule and progress. This would help them hold you accountable and they could do a better job of encouraging you to keep going.
I wish you good luck
Shanan
OFE Site gone????? I have been trying to access OFE and get msgs that the server does not exist. Please say this is not the case!!! I really enjoy and appreciate OFE.
So, if anyone wants to know why I always respond, it’s because I get an email notification 😀
At any rate, you can find everything you need at the “way back machine” on http://www.archive.com .
Just type http://www.oldfashionededucation.com in the box next to way back machine and you’ll get what you need until she gets the site back up. It works for just about everything!
Best regards,
Suzanne
Suzanne, your link for the archive takes you to arabs.com. How can we access old fashioned education?
Thanks,
Catherine
I think she meant archive.org. The Way Back Machine is there but I get an error MSG when entering the OFE web address…..
Thanks, I did find the archive page but I couldnt access OFE either… I hope it isn’t down permanently!
Oops! Yes it’s .org. I left off the www and it worked:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110623193010/http://oldfashionededucation.com/
I hope you can find what you need!
Suzanne
Oh Thank You! This is PERFECT! 🙂
Oh my goodness! Thank you for replying to the above person! = ) I found OFE about a week ago and thought I’d died and gone to heaven!! It was just what I was looking for. Then Monday, I went back to start digging in even further and I couldn’t access the site! I have been on and off the computer for 4 days trying to find this site and was SO discouraged! But after much digging, I found the archive site and I immdeiately downloaded all I needed. Thanks and I’m looking forward to getting into all she has! Thanks!!
Esther A. homeschool mom to 7
So thankful to have found this thread! I have been trying to access the site for several days with no success. 😦
To Esther above, I’m a mom of 7 too! :0)
Alana
Is this link helpful? It should take you to a site that will open up all the old pages. http://web.archive.org/web/20110623193010/http://oldfashionededucation.com
Maggie, I notice the 12th grade isn’t finished. Will that be done soon? Also, do you have a blank 40 week schedule? I like the set up of your planner.
Rebecca
Hi,
I’m going to home school my son and am trying to find home school curriculum that can be sent to my home because I don’t always have access to a computer for him to use.
Is this only online, or can the curriculum be sent to my home for him to do?
Teresa,
Maggie created this plan for her own children and shares it with the world. As far as I’m aware, she doesn’t provide anything but the links to the free resources–in fact she asks that if you do print anything, that you not sell it to anyone, that you give it freely (I like that about her site). Perhaps you could copy everything you needed to a thumb-drive and look for an older computer at a garage sale or thrift shop? Otherwise maybe you could buy a friend some printer paper and a package of ink and ask them to print for you? Good luck and God Bless!
Suzanne
Thank you so much Suzanne..
God Bless!
I found the following on the OFE page “Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching Mathematics Enhancement Programme This is a UK site that essentially has a free curriculum for grades K-12. We are now an authorized institution and are able to share the password with OFE users.
Please visit the User’s Group for further details.” I clicked on the link and there is no longer a group. Is there an alternative way to share the password?
I think there’s another group, but don’t know what it is–I’m sure you could google it and find out. However, a few years ago, someone told me you could email the CIMT people, tell them who you were, where you lived and that you’re homeschooling your children–and that they’d send you the password via email. I did that and copied all of the materials to a thumbdrive. Thus, I don’t remember the password! But try sending them a request.
Best of luck,
Suzanne
Maggie, my wife and I are new to home schooling, and love it. Unfortunately, while on duty as a Patrol Sergeant, I was hit head on resulting in serious injury. I am currently on workers comp which is much less than I would normally bring home. Do you know if there are grants that may cover at least some of the books. We have two children 6, and 9. I have noticed such a positive difference in both of them as result of homeschooling that I refuse to put them back into the public system. Thank you for this wonderful site.
Respectfully,
Jim Fietsam
is there a telephone number to call?
Some of the material for certain grades are missing. Does anyone know of a similar website like this one that I can use?
Try http://www.archive.org and type the link into the “way back machine”. I’ve had a lot of success just searching by book title at archive. I’ve also had luck putting quotes around the book title in Google then typing pdf or pdf free. i.e. “Pilgrim studies” pdf . I imagine that’s how Maggie found many of the books on her site. Your book may also be available at the Baldwin site http://www.mainlesson.com– I think Maggie linked some of those books but they might have moved them.
Best of luck and God Bless–
Suzanne
How do i get ahold of you?
Hi, I am interested in getting my daughters transferred over from public school to home school. I am very interested in using your website. How do I go about it? Do I need to have their transcripts sent somewhere? For example: is it considered a transfer out? Any information is greatly appreciated.
Thank you and God Bless,
Jennifer
Dear Jennifer,
This is just an informative website with lots of links to free educational material that the creator used for her own children. The hardest part about starting homeschooling is the teacher planning, and she has let people use her hard work for free to use as much or a little of it as they wish. There is nowhere to send transcripts to. There are free public schools online if that’s what you are thinking, as well as inexpensive online parochial schools. Maggie is just a nice lady with a helpful website 🙂
Good luck and God Bless!
Suzanne
To whom it may concern,
I think the word that comes to my mind about this site is GRATEFULNESS!!! This is my 4th year homeschooling my children (I have 9, 10th on the way), and have been experimenting with different curricula, but not one satisfied me, or my children! One day, I sat down, praying, just searching for an answer, knowing that it was God’s will for me to homeschool, so I KNEW He’d provide! Then, for the billionth time, I did a Google search, and this site came up for the first time!!! I immediately yelled for my husband, and we both were astonished.
Like I said, I’m going on my 10th, and we have 7 being homeschooled now-K-7th grade. I make a syllabus for each of them for the week, and let them go work, while working one-on-one with the younger ones. Thank you immensely for the time and effort put into this site!!
May God bless you richly,
Lizzy
just started this year using ofe and i love it so far! thank you so much for all the time you have put into it so far.
i see on the 1st grade (i think) under grammer it says coming soon. i was just wondering if it would be updated or if you have stopped updating the site? i see on another section of the site you have scott foresman reading program for grammer and writing so i will be using that. im just not sure of a time schedule (how many lessons a week to balance out a full year).
its no big deal if your not updating anymore. i can get a timeline make out before i get to it.
thanks and God bless!
I am trying to find the password for the Cimt teacher’s answers. Can you tell me where to go or how to get it?
CIMT4maths
I read that they like you to write to them, telling them who you are, why you are wanting access, and your city and state. Just so they can keep statistics–and maybe to keep the website in the budget. Even though you now have the password, perhaps you could let them know the above info.
Can anyone help me get started? I want to use the curriculum on this site but i dont know how to get started getting my children out of public schools. I know i need to submit paperwork to my schools superintendant… Anyone done this and can help, im in Ohio. Thanks!!
Just follow Ohio’s regulations to the letter, and maybe join the Homeschool Legal Defense League in case you have problems. Otherwise, print out Maggie’s syllabus for each grade and follow along. If you don’t already know this, standard curriculum is based upon the “spiral” method, whereby they teach the same thing year after year, adding just a few new concepts each year. So don’t worry about the children not getting what they need the second semester. Also, it may take some time to get “school” out of them. I.E. my friend’s 7th grader asked if he could go to the restroom, LOL. Good luck and God Bless!
Suzanne
I am extremely interest in homeschooling my daughter. She has mental health issues that are stopping her from succeeding in public school. They are trying but she is just not succeeding – E’s, D’s and some C’s. Any help you could give me woudl be greatly appreciated. Lisa
Does anyone know if there are any Student Guides for the history book,
The Century For Young People/Peter Jennings & Todd Brewster?
Just purchased this great book for my seventh graders.
What about a web site where I could possibly write quizzes & tests for my students?
With thanks, please contact
Leslie
Hi,
I have been using some of OFE for a couple of years now.
Are you awere that several of the books on your Science list assume evolution to be a fact, and many of them seem to be the beginnings of the environmentalist movement.
Has anyone noticed this besides me? It is easy to be wary of the whole list…which I do not want to be.
Sara
Dear Sara,
I believe that Maggie merely posted what she used for her own children for other people to use, if they chose. Now that her children are grown, she very kindly leaves her site up and running, at her expense, for the people who have come to rely on it. I know that many people appreciate her incredible gift of sharing her work with the world. Perhaps you should just find a book or curriculum that is a better match for your philosophy?
Best of luck and God Bless,
Suzanne
I am just getting into this. i am lost. i was told this is one of the better curriculums. i have a 2nd grader and a 4th grader. becouse of medical issues we are taking them out of public schools. i have filled out papers and turned them in i have talked to 3 poeple for my children to be part of a group that do things together. what else can i do? can do you get the things a 10 year old girl needs who has great vison in one eye and well lets just say the other makes it hard for her. how do i get them started here. and does anyone have children with luner mophea or optic neritis, (if i spelled it right). And how do you help teach a 7 year old with ADHD. At the start of school they loved it. Now they fuss and fight becouse of the bullies and poeple treating them diffrent. They hate school now. I am LOST. i am getting a home computer and a printer. what else can i do to get them to love learning and reading again
alright i have a 7yr old son that i have determined is dyslexic. he failed public school kindergarten, failed homeschool kidergarten too, however 2 years in kindergarten is enough. i am doing first grade with him this year. he cannot read. he cannot spell written words,but can spell some small words aloud. yellow,yes,truck & car are a few examples. i thought it because i must be a lousy teacher at first then i thought no im not. i taught his brothers and sister to read, so it has to be him,maybe he just doesnt like to read,maybe hes lazy ? nope. he mixes letters n numbers,words he can write so nice for a minute then like a drunken one eyd chicken the next. he uses capital an lower case together as well. i couldnt figure it out. then i heard or saw something an i looked up dyslexia.!poof! these people are talking bout my son! i havent had him tested because im unsure where to take him and i looked up orton gillinham style programs but i am too poor for this. so i watched a four hour video (or there abouts) by a susan barton and im telling ya the woman seemed to know my kid,bad part is she too charges too much for her programs for me too. however she mentioned something about phonemic awareness being the key to help him read. so i spent all day yesterday n most of this morning watching videos,reading articles n numbing my backside to find out he cant understand phonics bcause he doesnt understand that words are not just one sound,they are several sounds together.so i have decided to stop what we have been doing AGAIN! and try something as simple n complex as teaching him the 45 phonemes.an tadah i have most of them taped to the kitchen wall already!I pray i get it right and that the homeschool people forgive me for yet again dropping what we were doing and starting over or trying to that is.i guess he will resume school monday,cause i have to figure this out,and make sense of it before i can make him understand it.our luck he will speak gibberish when we are done.matter of fact we still a few peices of wednsday work to finish between church and finding all this out the past 2 days i have literally been glued to the keyboard. even my eyes hurt. so now if anyone here has a bit of advice on dyslexia,phonemes ,7 yr old boys and homeschooling please reply.
I got a set of flash cards with the phonemes, but you could make your own:
http://loving2learn.com/SuperSubjects/ItsEasytoReadandWrite/FunPhonics/
43PhonemesChart.aspx
Also, there are free printable or screen readable books online at:
http://www.progressivephonics.com
I started my son on the Alphabetti books, but you could start right on the beginning phonics books. I’d elaborate but my computer is going S.L.O.W.!
God Bless!
Suzanne
thanks for the 2 sites. i used to use the phonic one but lost it and couldnt remember what it was. and he and i have been using the loving 2 learn site, doing the syllables and beginning sounds. already he caught on to the clapping syllables, but i havent started on phonemes sounds yet.thank you a lot.
I just found another great phonics site that reminds me of the Spalding method. It is http://www.lessonpathways.com … Go to the reading and phonics section. The best part is that it is free!
Hi, I have had the same issues with my dd! Try relaxing on the reading a bit and read aloud to your dd…. I found that sight reading worked better for my dd as since phonics didn’t catch her dyslexia right.*(we used dick and jane books for reading to me!) She still struggles at the age of 12 but can read quite nicely compared to first grade. (she now reads at grade level (public school standards) If you want to attempt phonics please try: learning to read in a hundred lessons…. But I would not do the writing part. I would separate the reading forst then go back and write… But I wish that I had used that first with her. My son learned to read at 4 and is well past me because of that book. I did not teach him the writing part though, as I believe that reading and writing should be taught at separate times. I hope you are hanging in there, and don’t panic, I know twelve year olds that unschooled and did not learn to read till twelve and are in college doing great now! Bless you!
Thanks,i will try an finda copy at the library or maybe free online?
Hi there everyone,
Thank-you does not seem enough for Maggie (and all you other lovely ladies) for all the information and encouragement you are providing to those of us who are just starting out! But, all the same – Thanx & God bless!!
Has anyone come up with a 40 week schedule for the 12th grade curriculum? I realize that Maggie has not been available for maintaining this site due to health concerns (prayers for healing and peace!). I was just wondering if anyone else had come up with a weekly schedule that has worked for them that follows the same basic principles that Maggie founded her original curriculum on….
Thanx in advance for any responses…
Melanie
Trying to learn more about home schooling for my step daughter. We’re on a low budget income but don’t want to cheat her out of scholarship opportunities. With the free or low income options, will she have those credits available for college? Also will she still be eligible for scholarships? Appreciate it if you can answer these questions for me. Thanks
Thank you for your Old Fashioned Homeschool website. I’m loving it. Do you have any plans to update it with a Grade 12 weekly schedule? Thank you!
Thank you for your website 🙂 and hard work I will save us so much time and $. I will be using most of the free books for our high school years.
I noticed that the link to Not Mine To Give which is suggested for the 6th Grade Civics curriculum is no longer working. If this is the same article, and I am assuming having read it that it is, here is a new link that works http://media.patriotpost.us/pdf/edition/09-39a.pdf
I have a son who should be in sixth grade and I was looking at the material and thought that 5th grade seemed a little too difficult and 4th seemed like the perfect fit. It seemed challenging enough without frustrating him. Is this okay?
Hello.
I am the coordinator of and spokesperson for The Educational Freedom Coalition (TEFC), a group of more than 3,500 concerned homeschoolers writing to all the curriculum and materials companies whose products we currently use and/or recommend in order to learn each company’s position in regards to the so-called “Common Core Standards” (CCS) currently being implemented in public schools across most of the country. Since it has recently come to our attention that several dozen homeschool-oriented companies have decided to alter their resources in order to cater to the CCS, we felt compelled to ask whether other companies will change or not as well.
We personally believe the CCS to be a very unfortunate and misguided effort, believing it threatens the freedom, academic progress, and privacy of homeschooling families. However, TEFC’s larger purpose in contacting you and other resource providers is simply to help homeschooling parents make fully informed decisions, which includes knowing whether or not the materials we choose are aligned with the CCS.
With that in mind, we hope you are willing to please thoughtfully and honestly answer the following questions about the materials you publish:
1. Have you already altered any of your materials for the express purpose of aligning with the CCS? If so, which materials? And what, specifically, have you changed?
2. Do you have future plans to alter any of your materials in any way in order to align with the CCS? If so, which materials and what specific changes are you planning to make? When will you make the changes?
3. If you have aligned or plan to align with CCS, what prompted you to make that decision?
4. If you have not aligned and do not plan to align with CCS, how strong is your commitment to remaining independent?
In fairness, we want to let you know that we will share your position with other homeschoolers because, though we completely respect each company’s right to make product decisions as it sees fit, we also feel very strongly that homeschool parents (i.e., consumers) deserve to know how each company is addressing this situation. Thus, we have been compiling lists to communicate to fellow homeschoolers about which companies have:
– actively changed (or will be changing) materials specifically to align with CCS;
– not changed any content but which advertise various ways that their materials (as written) align with CCS;
– committed to remaining independent of the CCS.
We provide the lists simply for informational purposes, allowing our peers to decide for themselves how to proceed. But we feel it’s imperative that homeschoolers have full disclosure on this issue.
Thank your for taking time to respond. I look forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.
Most sincerely,
Tina Hollenbeck
hollenbeckhomelearning@new.rr.com
The Educational Freedom Coalition
http://www.theeducationalfreedomcoalition.org
Hi Tina-
I’m a homeschool mom (son-first yr college, daughter, senior this yr) and wondering if you/your organization has voiced these same concerns to those at Chistianbook.com ?
I have used much of their home school material and plan to continue in the future.
Thanks,
Blessings,
Eva Sabree
Hi Maggie, thanks for the excellent resource. I just have a quick question about the book list. Forgive me if the answer is already out there (I might have missed it :). After grade 12, you several books listed by author or series. Do you have a recommended, appropriate grade level that pertains to each of these authors or series? My son is a voracious reader, but I need to be cautious about not introducing content that is simply too mature for him. He is almost 8 yrs old. I appreciate your help, and thanks again for the excellent resource! Blessings, Kristin Huber
Hello 🙂 I was looking to try and use your 12th Grade Curriculum but you were going to update it and it hasnt been able to be..have you finished it ? I would So Love to use it if you have it done 🙂 thank you very much.. God Bless 🙂
Hi there. I was looking into First Lessons in Geography by James Monteith. It looks like wonderful questions for my children to know the answers to. Problem is I don’t see the text/answers listed there anywhere. From where to “teach” them the answers please? This is my first time here so I’m sure I’m just not getting it yet. : )) thank you! Charlene
I looked it up at Gutenberg.org and it does look really neat (said the lady with a Geography degree)! You could make it fun by looking up the answers together on the internet…
Meanwhile, I googled Gutenberg Geography and got this gem!
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12228/12228-h/12228-h.htm
Not from the same source but a really great book!
Best or luck,
Suzanne
Just curious…found this site http://freebiblehscurriculums.webs.com/ that looks identical in content to yours but claims to be created by Mrs. Angela Trillo. Not sure if you know of this or not.
Someone posted this link in my Facebook Group today. I thought it was taken down. A few months ago it was reported, I believe and for months there was a notice on the site for the owner to contact some kind of web services. I thought she might be in trouble. When the link was posted in my group again, I was surprised to see it up and running. I can’t help but wonder, “Where is Maggie?”
Hello Maggie, The link for “Pathway to Truth for Youth” in the year 6 Bible study section is broken. I’ve been searching the internet for it, but have come up completely empty handed. Do you know if there is an alternate link to find it? Best regards, Joyce
I found a way to it! http://www.pathlights.com/Bible-Study-Course/
Thank you for posting that! I didn’t find anything when I was searching for it online. That’s a great help.
I love your site. Thank you so much. My son went to public school until now. He is in the 6th grade. I was going through the book list with him and he is going to be reading 3rd grade books. Should I try the 6th grade for everything thinh else? Or have him go through the other grades like we did for reading. This id my first year and I want him to succeed. He jas been failed enough by the schoolssystems. Thsnk you so much for your help.
I hope it’s okay for me to chime in here. It has been my experience that children should be given books to read themselves that are just at, or below, their own personal reading level. However, they can understand more advanced books that are read aloud to them. You should let your son read books within his reach to build his confidence, but there’s no reason not to stretch a bit more in what you read to him. My son is in the eighth grade this year. I started him in the 5th grade year of this program so we could begin with the beginning of American history. There’s no reason to be overly concerned about the grade numbers. Choose what works best for your son. Try to pick something that interests him and concentrate most on building his confidence in his ability to learn.
The school system has a way of labeling people. Unfortunately we grow up believing these labels and limiting ourselves by them. I was labeled as a slow learner in my school from 1st through 3rd grades. Through a series of events I began at a new school for my 4th grade year without having my old school records transferred. Since my new school had no records to go on, they tested me for class placement. I ended up being the smartest student in my class and having an IQ near genius level. I would have never known that if I hadn’t escaped my old school and started fresh. The ‘dumb kid’ label would have stuck with me my whole life. Your son’s confidence in his own ability to learn is the most important thing he needs to know.
Hi There, I’m not sure if this is the right place for what I want to write. I don’t want to reply, I have a question, but I did not find where to type my question. this is my first year in home schooling my two children, 5th and 8th graders, I have a hard time figuring out this program. I like to use the FREE “old Fashioned Education” curriculum.Thank you Else
Call me 9282433679
Email– kissmyziggy@hotmail.com
Is this site still maintained? I would like to start my children in this program but am worried about the website being shut down if no one is looking after it anymore???
@ Jade… yes!! I have been using her stuff since 2007 when my third was just a baby! It is best for take what you need as one can easily become overwhelmed! (cue my sighing!) ….my youngest will be 8!
Hi Ms. Maggie…. I remember locating you back in ’07 after my third was born. It is 20014 and I still rely on your stuff!!!
Hi Maggie,
I was looking through the 8th grade curriculum and found that some links don’t work for the Civics section:
Liberating Planet Earth
Study Guide for Liberating Planet Earth
Ruler of the Nations; Biblical Principles for Government
Do you have the right links for these books?
Thank you so much for all this great resources
Just a quick note as I have to put my little guy to bed. Try http://www.archive.org and put the links in the “way back” machine. 🙂
Hi Suzanne, Thanks for your hemp!
I tried it but still can’t read them maybe I’m not doing it right:(
I meant help!
I am just wondering as to several of the links for the classwork are not available anymore. Will you be doing an update for this or are you going to possibly just going to remove that subject all together? And how often do you update things?
I do love how this is set up and how it shows what the expectations are for certain grades. I feel that this is the amount of work that a child should learn each week. I am so glad to have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to utilize your website.
Hello my name is Denise I have a son that is going into 8th grade. I know the Lord has sent me to this site. I have never taught anyone and the prepackaged christian curriculum are so expensive and intense with memorizing. My son was held back twice and no longer wants to go to private or public school because he is bigger and it affected his grades the last 2 years. As I look at your site it looks very organized but overwhelming at the same time. When I click on a link it takes me these huge book to download and print. I guess I’m just scared that I may not use this site how its setup. any advice or encouraging thoughts would be appreciated. here is my email sd_dee2000@yahoo.com
Thank you very much, Denise
I feel that I must state my disapproval of your use of “The Women of the Arabs” by Henry Harris Jessop, copyright 1872 in your curriculum. It is horribly biased against the culture and presents Arabs and Muslims in a negative light. Perhaps the opinions expressed in the book had some basis in reality in the 19th century, but 21st century Jordan and Egypt are hardly backwards, full of “heathens.” In my 8 years of living in the Middle East, I never – EVER – encountered one victim of domestic violence, which Jessop claims is excruciatingly common. I know this is “Old Fashioned Education,” but this is reinforcing false negative stereotypes that do not have a place in the modern world. You are doing people a disservice by recommending this book.
I want to get my son started in your program He’s in 7th grade. I’m not sure how to even begin this process. Please help ASAP! Thank you and god bless. My # is 9188393126
Hi! I can’t seem to find the Charlotte Mason resources?
Blessings, Alison
Do u provide grades?
wondering if year 12 will be finished or if this site has been left unattended?
The site is unattended now. The creator of this site left this message on her personal blog back in 2011. I’m assuming she has no time to give attention to this anymore.
What steps do I take to receive the free curriculum? I would like to pull my daughter out of public schools and start homeschooling Asap.
Thank you,
Krisann Mayes
Do You Have A phone Number
I am interested in home schooling my son ,need to talk to someone concerning enrollment. do you have a phone no.
I clicked on first grade math link: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm
It says it has been changed, and doesn’t take you to the right page.
Does anyone know a curriculum that offers a teachers guide with answers as well?
Hi Maggie, I really like this homeschool curriculum, however I’m a first timer and I would like to know if there’s a teachers manual of some sort or work sheets that the children can use with this curriculum?
Hi I was wondering if you can call me I have questions on how to get this curriculum 347-571-1581 thank you Geraldine
Is it too late to enroll my 15 year old grandson, he’s experiencing difficulties in his school.
Is the an online homeschool where my child can go to all school year? And does it have a cost?
Hello, I found your site while googling Ray’s Arithmetic. On your Arithmetic page you have a link to a cd of the collected works which costs over $50. That’s not an option for me so I kept searching and found a page which links to all of the books contained on that cd, in epub format for free! Here is the link for you and anyone who is interested.
http://freehomeschoolinglibrar.blogspot.com/2007/11/rays-arithmeticgoogle-books.html
Plz plz help need info on homeschool program I have a 2 and 9 grader and going to home school how do I use you program
I just want to thank you for your site. It will take me a while to go through it, but it is so encouraging to find someone who believes in training their child Biblically
.
Hi. I just found this site. Does anyone know how I could combine all of the separate time periods she has for American History into a one year American History course for high school ? Thank you very much.
I’m interested in keeping my child home from public schools the next school year and wanting to homeschool her. I’m looking for info on how to get the supplies needed to teach her. Along with the books so she can still get her education.
Thank u
Hi Maggie, My kids are more visual learners and I was wondering if there were any links I could go to for documentaries on historical events and science experiments. This is my first time doing homeschooling my kids because I feel as if they are not getting that extra attention they need in school. Today would be my first day and I’m scared but I know I can do more in a few hours then some teachers are doing in eight.
Hi Maggie, I was looking at your site and noticed a lot of links are broken….for example…the grade 8 Economics Take Charge of Your Money link does not exist. Does the online site still exist?
Hello! I’m very interested in getting my two girls enrolled. I’ll be moving back to Florida soon to be beside my sick mother and think this option would be fitting for our situation at this time . Pease let me know the proper steps I must take to get this started . Thank you and God bless .
Cynthia cribbs
Hello! Just wondering how we get these books? Thanks!
I want to know if u send work sheets books and other curriculum by mail my 11th grade son does better with paper work sheets than online
Does the Curriculum have a mission statement? If so can you please provide? Thanks
How do I get the curriculum
Select Full Curriculum and print 40-Week Schedules: http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/
I have two children and they are both in elementary school. Do it this a free program for homeschooling children
Yes! Her curriculum is free here: http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/.
Most can be read online. You can print out the 40 Week Schedules.
Hello. I am not sure if your “American Journeys” link under American History is working properly. This is what comes up when I click on the link: http://www.findingresult.com/?pid=9PO312GO9&dn=americanjourneys.org&rpid=9POQL9235
Maggie,
I am transitioning my four girls over to home schooling and looking for some help. I have been through the site and feel like I am missing some key step. Where do I begin if I am looking to get my girls started? I know I might be asking a silly question here but I am just completely lost and have no idea where to begin.
I was wondering if there was any way to the get the schedule in pdf form that I can change and add some things of my own also??? If so could you email it to me angella_seaman.mayuga@yahoo.com
Hello..i am new to homeschooling. Is there a guide to teach this course.. I have 4 kids in different grades. Are there answer keys? Are there study books or worksheets to go along w the books. Is there somewhere i need to send “grades” etc.
This is an independent study. I use many of her books, but organize how I teach differently. I do have worksheets for ancient times here: https://www.totalhomemakeover.com/christian-study-1.html
I am going to be homeschooling my fifth and seventh grade daughters. They have been attending online trhough our local school district since March 2020 and we have received very short notice (last week) that they are ending online school and students must go back in person or be enrolled into homeschool. This appears to be mostly things that I would need to print instead of them doing the work on the computer. Is this the case? Is this work at your own pace here they can finish the school year early? It is the middle of a six week period. Would we need to start with curriculum for the beginning of the year? Is it done per our own schedule and hours or set days and times? Would they start at the beginning of their grade levels and be able to catch up per this curriculum? How do I enroll them if this is the one I decide to utilize?
She doesn’t really monitor this site anymore, as her children are grown. It’s work on your own–no enrollment needed. You should also check out
https://allinonehomeschool.com/
for less printing and more online!
Good luck!
Suzanne
Hi, I came on here trying to contact Miss Maggie regarding her Old Fashioned Education curriculum, but it looks like she doesn’t monitor this blog space any longer.
My husband and I own New West Press http://www.NewWestPress.com and we publish classic and out-of-print, public domain book titles that many homeschoolers are looking for, including many of the titles that Miss Maggie suggests in her curriculum.
We are planning to continue to add many of her suggested titles in the future so anyone who wants to follow her plans can do so with the physical books if they like. We also welcome specific book requests and suggestions through our website and Instagram @NewWestPress. Thanks!
Hello,
How do I join the online homeschool group? The site will not load on my iPad.
I wish OFE was still going. Are there any other sites like this?
Yes! https://www.oldfashionededucation.org/
Erin, I have been making an ADAPTED version of OFE for my family for several years now. I am also preserving all the old schedules and working on the original booklists linking them to livingbookpress.com.
If you need a particular grade-level, let me know.
Hope that helps! 🙂
If you are looking for the original schedules and booklists, I am preserving them for FREE at https://www.oldfashionededucation.org/
If you need a particular grade-level, let me know.
Note: click on BY GRADE to access the original curriculum. 🙂
This is wonderful! Thank you!