Using common entrance exam work for a homeschooled child

[mumagain4]

hi everyone - I'm a newby. I have homeschooled my 4 children for the past year and am looking for text books etc for my bright, but lazy 11 year old boy. He needs a definable goal for motivation. I wondered about getting the material for year 7 that would prepare for the common entrance exam, and possibly taking a mock exam in 2 years. Has anyone out there done this, or do you have any thoughts? thanks

Great idea! You'll find brilliant textbooks and all the exam papers you'll need at Galore Park. Your son may also enjoy the challenge of Mathletics and Spellodrome. My 12-year-old daughter is following this route and doing very well.

Thanks for that, LastSummer! Really helpful. I have just received a catalogue from Galore pk so its nice to know the text books are as good as they look. I'll also have a look for Mathletics and Spellodrome as I haven't come across it.

We use Galore Park books and they are very good - rigorous and academic. They also go considerably into the GCSE curriculum in some subjects! Eg The French course covers all GCSE grammar points and some extra!

This sounds like advertising to me.

I have no connection to GP at all. I'm just impressed by their books and use them with my DCs. I also teach part-time in a school with 'standard' KS3 textbooks in my own subject, so am in a position to compare the two.

Thanks for comments, Tinuviel. Re French, wonder how tough it would be for an 11 yr old to cover the 3 books "So you really want to learn French" and audio in 2 years? Would I need to get lots of other resources too? Also, do you happen to know how detailed the Science course is compared to Keystage 3?

We have been doing French once a week for an hour in a small group (8 children) for 3 years and have almost finished book 2. I do set homework but not masses and we don't meet every week because of holidays/other commitments. So I would say that it is doable in 2 years if you are spending a reasonable amount of time on it. The weak point in GP is that there aren't any 'listening exercises' as such - just all the dialogues/texts on CD. But you can make up your own activities for those. I haven't needed any extra resources particularly but I'm an MFL teacher (part-time) so can get other stuff from school if I need it. There are quite a few 'translation' exercises so we do French into English orally but write it if it's Eng - French. We would probably have got through quicker with older children but the youngest was only 4 at the start!

With regards to the Science, we don't do masses but DS1 has coped perfectly well with GP book 2. He self marks and only asks me if he's unsure about anything. He's also been working through a Lett's KS3 workbook and has found that pretty easy as far as I can tell although it was only a level 3-6 workbook. He's probably going to start an IGCSE Chemistry course in September, so I'll have to see how he gets on with that.

My daughter is just starting Book 3 of "So You Really Want to Learn French" after more than two years but she's used other resources to lighten the mix and works very methodically. It's an excellent course and is now backed by a subscription website that your son might like to use. The Cambridge Latin Course (www.cambridgescp.com/Lpage.php?p=clc%5Etop%5Ehome) is very accessible and supported by a free website. We use BBC KS3 Bitesize (www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/) extensively to reinforce our work in English and science.

Thanks Tinviel and LastSummer. I'll get the GP French asap - sounds good. I'm rubbish at French so think I will do it at nightschool in September. My son has actually done 1 year of Cambridge Latin so will carry on with that..

Re Science - presumably you din't get the ultra expensive Teachers Resource CD, Tinuviel?

Also now looking at GP History, Maths & English. Have you used these at all? With maths I need something with lots of explanation and examples; history - what is the format - is there information as well as questions, and GP English - what do you think, can they cover everything in one text book?

My daughter and I haven't used the GP history or geography books much yet but we like them. "So You Really Want to Learn English" provides a thorough grounding in grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary and is an important and excellent core course. I sometimes look elsewhere for texts that are less dense and more easily comprehensible to a 21st century child. "So You Really Want to Learn Maths," is both exhaustive and absolutely brilliant! There's a huge amount of work in each book but by the time your son has ploughed through all three he'll be an accomplished mathematician and very well prepared to tackle GCSE. I can't praise these books too highly. I've looked at other KS3 textbooks and found them disappointing. . .

No, I didn't - just the textbook and answer book. We use Maths, which is excellent; English, which is OK but I don't think it teaches writing skills very well. The grammar/punctuation/spelling is fine but it just gives a selection of writing tasks with no structure as to how to tackle them. I use a free downloadable American resource with DS2 (11), which is good and his writing is really coming on.
www.sfreading.com/resources/ghb.html

I haven't used the history - we do Story of the World (Peace Hill Press) then History Odyssey (Pandia Press), both American courses. It's based on the 'classical education' system so they do history chronologically over 4 years, then repeat it in further depth, developing different skills. (There is another 4 year stage but I don't think we'll get onto that!) I really like History Odyssey because I buy it as an e-book and DS1 sits at the computer desk and works very independently. It covers literature and essay writing/note-taking skills as well.

Thanks again Tinuviel and LastSummer - you've really helped. I feel as if I'm not "working in the dark" so much now! Hope your home ed continues well.

Could I just ask what the American grades are in relation to the English school grade system please?

American children start school about a year later than English children, so as far as age goes, Grade 3 = Year 4 etc.

Thanks very much Saracen.

For English, many HEers rave about [http://www.catherinemooneytutoring.co.uk/ Catherine Mooney's course].

Sorry, meant to say:
For English, many HEers rave about Catherine Mooney's course.

I know that you many of you posted about homeschooling several years ago, so may not check this site now. I am in the UK currently and have been homeschooling our 7 year-old son in the US and UK. He is very bright and we had a joyous time homeschooling. We sat our son for some exams at London-based schools in January to check on our progress. He received an offer from a school with a fantastic reputation and we were flattered into trying it - he has been there since April. However we have quickly realised that our standards at home were so much higher than what he gets now in almost every way - reading, maths, writing - he was a few years ahead on all counts, plus he had all the benefits of being homeschooled - he was mature, focused and relaxed because he had time to be a child because his school day was shorter but better. He did group things - piano and fencing - to a high level and was very relaxed with other children. He has not had any trouble fitting into school socially as he is a happy, mature and secure child. After just a few months at this school, we feel sucked into the system and have lost touch with the wonderful feeling we had from homeschooling - we are now a harried, stressed and sometimes grumpy family just like so many others. Our son is fine with school and is a rather obedient child, but I know he does not like so many aspects - the constant noise, the lack of time to read and relax and what he thinks is primitive teaching and boys who seem much younger than him. I am refusing to accept that this is normal and we do have a chance to end the current school in January (which only goes to 8 years anyway), but think that after more exams, he will get a place at another school which is considered even more wonderful and harder to get into by other parents. I am sure that what he will get even there will be less good than what I can provide (at least for a few more years) and not tailored to our values and certainly not our standards. I want to return to homeschooling for a few more years at least, but have lost some confidence. I know for sure that we can manage academically, but would love to talk to someone who has been through preparing for the national curriculum and who has travelled further along the road than us. Would anyone be willing to get in touch?