Yes bronxmom - take a deep breath. You can do it! Remember, education is not about content. Just think how each state has different content, how even schools in the same district have different content, and then finally how each teacher at a given school has different strengths and weaknesses and slightly different content. what you are aiming for is learning how to learn, how to think, how to be critical of information ... content is just a means to an end, not the end itself.
Start w/ the basics first ... all else is icing.
Math - what grade is he in? Try Singaporemath.com for a placement test to see what he knows.
Literature - is he an avid reader? Are there specific titles you'd like to see him read and discuss with him?
WRiting - what are you thoughts on writing? Do you want a step-by-step approach? Do you want a more holistic approach such as Bravewriter.com? Is this a strength or weakness for DC?
Then make a list of your son's passions. Does he like history? Ancients? Modern? Medieval? Does he like science? Astronomy? Earth science? Biology? Chemistry? Physics? Ask him what he wants to learn about.
does he want to play an instrument? Take TKD lessons? Swimming lessons? What can you do to keep him active?
I really liked this post from a friend regarding Charlotte Mason philosophy on HSing.
CM is not unschooling, nor is it delight-directed. To illustrate the difference, imagine that you had a son who was interested in knights and wanted to learn more about them. With unschooling, you wouldn't plan any lessons but you would let your son read all the books he could find about knights, play knights games, look up knights on the internet. Then, you'd count those hours as school time. With delight-directed, you would note his interest in knights, and ditch your plans to teach about ancient cultures and US History, and instead plan a semester of lessons about knights. With CM, you would allow your son to learn all he wanted about knights in his spare time, but during school hours, you would continue to assign readings from chronological history and literature so he'd still be learning about ancient Egypt, Rome, US History, etc. because, as Charlotte Mason said, you never know what will ignite a passion in a child, so exposure to many topics is necessary. However, you would keep school hours short to give him plenty of time (and inclination) to learn about knights after school.
I'm thinking for $9.95 I might pick up at that book "
"Homeschooling and Loving it!"
