For a month after we got married, Brittany and I lived in our house without internet. Ten years ago everyone would have shrugged and said, "Eh, that's not so bad."
But we had just graduated from college where, when the T1 lines were packed during "peak hours", you could feel the stress level rise across campus because it would take ten seconds for a page to load. The horror!
Surprisingly, we still managed to function. I knew the area already so we could find a gas station, the grocery store, the library, and how to get to church (it's next door to the library). But how do you contact the phone company to setup your phone service and internet plan without a phone or internet?
I eventually figured out that I needed to go to my sister's house and use her phone.
How do you find the nearest Costco?
Reaching way back into the recesses of my mind, I remembered that there was this thing called a "Phone Book" that also included addresses. I pulled our latest edition out from where it had been buried, and started flipping through the pages.
I was lost.
Even after I found the entry, how was I supposed to figure out how to get there without being able to plug the address into Google Maps?
After that initial month of being disconnected from the world, I am very happy that today I have access to forums, reviews, and other helpful information.
But this got me thinking: I know where I go to get information about technology, but where should I go to get information about homeschooling?
So, enlighten me, please. Where do you go to get information about the various options you have in homeschooling? What sites do you trust for book recommendations (besides Sonlight.com, of course <smile>)? Where do you find the best reviews of curricula? Help me!
I feel like a newly wed without internet, and I want to get connected!
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father
Thanks for the link! I had glanced through the site before, but hadn't really looked at it. Very good stuff in there.
And, I must say, I'm thrilled you're loving Sonlight!
~Luke
homeschoolreviews.com was helpful to me!
we also do sonlight and LOVE it so far.
Thanks so much for your feedback, ladies! I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question and share your ideas.
~Luke
I have looked up various information on Amazon I read all the reviews!
When I started researching homeschooling, I hit the library and a bookstore. Our library carries the newsletter from the state's largest homeschool group, so I found out about conventions there. I found Sonlight through a Mary Pride book. Then, I learned more about homeschooling thru the Sonlight catalog!
At the bookstore, I was able to thumb thru whatever books and magazines they had at the time.
I get a lot of info on products through ads in magazines, homeschool convention and "shop talk" at co-op. We have a mom's meeting once a month and we bring our curriculum on a certain topic each month to see what everyone else uses. Still, I'm pretty loyal to SL. If they don't carry it, I probably don't need it.
Hi Luke!
Thanks so much for the comment on my blog today, and last week.
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you.
Re: your homeschooling questions...
I really find the best source to get homeschooling curricula reviews and ideas is word of mouth, either from friends, or the blog world of course. I read lots of blog (not all the time, just from time to time), and I'll see someone say they use such-and-such books, then I'll go to that website and check it out. I found out about Sonlight from my sis-in-law who has been using it for years with her kids. She has tons of friends that homeschool too, and I get great recomendations from them about what books they use.
For my own personal experience, it's been a lot of trial and error. One person recommends one thing, I check it out, it looks good so I try it out, and it works for a while. But then perhaps my kids might outgrow the material, so we move onto something else.
But after a few yrs, we're back to SL b/c it's tried and true, and I don't want to screw up my daughter's education through the high school years. :-)
Sorry to be so long-winded...
~dawn