Resources for home schooling

[buksida]

Notice we've had a fair few posts complaining about inadequacies and flaws Thai education system and local schools (most of which I agree with) so I thought I'd setup this thread for parents to post resources, websites, tips etc for supplemental home schooling.

[MrPlum]

Pete mentioned this resource previously... http://www.studyladder.com/

[buksida]

Here is another one I found in a different thread: http://www.alison.com/

[Nereus]

This one is good for younger kids. Some of it is free, some needs a subscription.

http://www.starfall.com/

[jingjoe]

http://www.ixl.com/membership/

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/new ... ramme.html
These two are worth a look,I'm seriously thinking about homeschooling my son in a year or so.
my brother and his wife are both headmasters,and have held workshops on education programmes through out queensland australia.They homeschool their son,and believe the education system is broken.They believe all you need to do is teach your child to read and the child will educate themselves with a bit of guidance and encouragement.
My nephew is very social and gets plenty of interaction with children and adullts,so at the moment is lacking nothing.He is also well ahead for a child is age.
Another point,its not all academics that he is learning,this year he fell in love with carpentry and spends is free time making go carts and cubby houses,so he is not pushed or forced in to just academic studies,he is 8 years old and life is an adventure

[jingjoe]

Here is another one I found in a different thread: http://www.alison.com/

This is a free site where you can do courses on different subjects.I completed a few on child development,its very worthwhile if you are looking for some further education without the costs.

[buksida]

Pete mentioned this resource previously... http://www.studyladder.com/

Has anyone actually tried this? Its a pay site so would like a bit of feedback before parting with my hard-earned.

[Tazwa]

Our school back in Australia has been registered with Mathletics for several years and has proven to be quite useful. This year our school will be trialling Studyladder which apparently has many similar resources. I would also recommend the Reading Eggs program which is excellent.

Does anyone think there is a demand for private tutoring (primary school level) in the Hua Hin/Pranburi area?

[GLCQuantum]

Does anyone think there is a demand for private tutoring (primary school level) in the Hua Hin/Pranburi area?

Plenty of demand from Thai parents (We live in country where a large chunk of the locals have obscene amounts of money to throw about... apart from 'oop North') . Westerners generally either can't financially or don't wan't to part with the extra 10-15,000 baht a month it would cost for a child to have sufficient monthly hours to make it worthwhile.

You also have the work permit issue. All my private work is done through the school so no problem there. My paperwork doesn't cover me for teaching outside of the school premises. As soon as someone stitches you up for doing private lessons without the right paperwork you're in trouble.

[PeteC]

Pete mentioned this resource previously... http://www.studyladder.com/

Has anyone actually tried this? Its a pay site so would like a bit of feedback before parting with my hard-earned.

Yes, my 3rd Grader uses it every weekend to brush up on things, mainly math at present. She's been using it for 2 years now, and in 2nd Grade last year it was actually part of her teacher assigned homework. It goes way up the scale depending upon age and ability. I think there is a free portion Buks where you can try it out. Something like 3 lessons a week are free then it lets you go no further unless you subscribe. I just renewed for another year at AUD88.00. Try the free portion and see how your kids like it. They'll get the hang of the layout/options/categories quickly. Pete

[MrPlum]

Yes, my 3rd Grader uses it every weekend to brush up on things, mainly math at present. She's been using it for 2 years now, and in 2nd Grade last year it was actually part of her teacher assigned homework.

I was interested in it to help our Thai youngster brush up on English. Her spoken English is now quite good but written is still poor. Would you recommend it for this?

[PeteC]

You need to go to the site and browse around. I'm sure the introduction before you join will show the below and more. The first paragraph are the categories. The second set is Literacy for ORANGE level. That's the 3rd level out of 7 available. There is enough on there to help anyone, even an English as first language student up through all of Primary. I would definitely recommend it for your daughter, but you need to familiarize yourself with the tons of choices to assure she starts in the best place for her ability. Pete

All Resources, Mathematics, Numeracy, Literacy, Science, Music, Art, Health, Safety & Citizenship Language & Culture, Financial Literacy, Set Tasks

Reading Unit -Best Friends
Vocabulary Enrichment 1
Reading Unit -Gymnastics Class
Sight Word Activities 1
Concentration Game 1
Module 1 » Spelling and Vocabulary
Final Blends nd and st
Double Consonants zz and ss
High Frequency Words 1
Word Families -ame and -ace
Word Search 1
Module 1 » Grammar
Capital Letters
Nouns
Module 1 » Handwriting
o, a, d, g, numbers 6 and 9
Module 1 » Writing
Writing a Description: Giraffes
Module 2 » Reading
Reading Unit -Take A Walk In My Town
Vocabulary Enrichment 2
Reading Unit -Pets
Sight Word Activities 2
Concentration Game 2
Module 2 » Spelling and Vocabulary
Digraphs th and wh
oo: Vowel Combinations
High Frequency Words
Word Families -ile and -ine
Word Search 2
Module 2 » Grammar
Verbs
Module 2 » Handwriting
e, a, c, q, numbers 9, 0 and 6
Module 2 » Writing
Writing a Description: Guess The Animal
Module 3 » Reading
Reading Unit -How To Make Pancakes
Vocabulary Enrichment 3
Reading Unit -I Love Soccer
Sight Word Activities 3
Reading Unit -I Like Fruit
Concentration Game 3
Module 3 » Spelling and Vocabulary
Digraphs kn and wr
Vowel Combinations ee and ea
High Frequency Words
Word Families -ope and -oke
Word Search 3
Module 3 » Handwriting
l, t, i, h, r, n, numbers 4 and 2
Module 3 » Grammar
Adjectives
Punctuation
Module 3 » Writing
Writing a Description: What Can You See?

[Tazwa]

WritingFun was a reasonable free online program however, I see it has now been bought by Spellodrome which is part of the subscription based Mathletics website.

Interesting that Studyladder is free to schools and every child can have a free account with some limited home access. In an email from them today, they explained that the website is funded by families who pay to upgrade to "full" home access.

I've always liked the excellent free resources available on the BBC website (Google: BBC students).

[buksida]

Thanks for the replies, I will definitely have a go with Studyladder (once I've built a spare computer for them!).

Here is another one a friend passed on: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil. ... th-english

[nanyang]

http://www.ixl.com/membership/

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/new ... ramme.html
These two are worth a look,

I totally agree with your recommendations.

http://www.phonicsinternational.com is excellent and saved me from a lot of heartache when I began homeschooling my daughter.

This programme is used by both the UK and Australian education systems.

It teaches children how to, correctly, pronounce the words allowing them to sound like a native speaker.