Sculley Academy
Sculley Academy (est. 1996)
“Excellence, Virtue, Relationship”
Karen spent 23 years teaching our six children at home from age 4 through high school graduation (plus two other family friends for 3 and 1 years respectively during middle school), and she is passionate about offering encouragement to others who are considering going this route with their own children.
*** this is extremely old material and “under construction” which is code for “I’ll get around to it eventually, Lord willing!” ***
What we did–basics
Please scroll to the bottom of the page for our basic subjects – I realize this looks like a lot of “basics”, but they were all essential subjects for us.
What we did–extras
These are some of the things that we have really enjoyed doing, and have from time to time been a very important part of our school. (Though in 2003-04, we phased out unit studies in the way we had done them, but continued our lower level science and social studies in unit study fashion). Upper level studies are getting too complicated to be able to devote an entire week to one topic.
Almost everything we do as a family is educational. We also borrow educational videos from our local library, and have a small collection ourselves, as well as the usual books galore you find in any home school 🙂
Sample schedule
8:00am Praise & Worship
8:20am Bible Study
8:40am Prayer
9:00am Math
9:45am Russian
10:25am Recess
10:45am Literature
11:30am Science
12:20pm LUNCH!
1:00pm Writing
1:50pm Handwriting / Thinking Skills / Grammar
2:40pm Social Studies
3:30pm Spelling / Oral Reading
4:00pm School’s out!
Of course, one of the best things about homeschooling is FLEXIBILITY! Each day differs from every other, even on our schedule. But it’s good to have a plan (“You should make plans, expecting God to direct you”).
What to do with babies / toddlers? This is a good question, and one that I am often asked. My encouragement is to be flexible, creative, and not try to emulate anyone else. You need to find what works for you and your children. Before the twins came home, I kept my babies / toddlers on my lap during school time, but that proved impossible with two! The year they were one was very difficult, when they were two and three, they played mostly happily in the “centers” I set up for them in our school area (puzzles, blocks, art). They joined in with the rest of us whenever we read, watched videos, went on field trips, did projects, etc. Cherish those morning naps!
Our philosophy
Firstly, our motto describes much of our school philosophy . . .
Excellence–in whatever we do, we want to do our very best.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)
Virtue–boldness, compassion, creativity, dependability, determination, diligence, endurance, enthusiasm, fairness, forgiveness, gratefulness, honesty, humility, initiative, patience, perseverance, responsibility, self-control, sincerity, thoroughness, tolerance, truthfulness and any others I’ve left off this list 🙂
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-25)
Relationship–with God, each other, others.
“Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
In addition, here are important components of the way we do “school” . . .
Reading, Reading, Reading (aloud, silently, together, apart, any which way, every day!)
Enjoying the Great Outdoors (it is very important for general health of body, soul, and spirit, to spend time outdoors each day in God’s beautiful creation–this goes for students and teachers!)
Moving Along (each child progresses at his or her own rate, which may be similar to or drastically different from what “the norm” is supposed to be; this preserves the joy of learning for one and all :))
Learning Together (wherever possible, we learn together, sometimes as a family, and sometimes by combining two or more children–this works especially well for Bible study, social studies, science, and foreign languages; this is not contradictory to allowing kids to progress at individual rates–though we study the same subject area, each child may have individualized materials)
Balancing Act (doing too much or too little of something isn’t beneficial–we try to find just the right amount for each child, and balance study, chores, activities, and play each day; having a written schedule helps everyone to know what to expect when and avoids misunderstandings)
Running the Distance (pace yourself; make sure you, the teacher, are well taken care of in body, soul, and spirit; avoid burnout for you and your children; schedule in fun times each day, each week, each year; make sure everyone has time for themselves each day; break from the schedule spontaneously at times; be creative!)
Planning Ahead (planning is mostly completed before the school year begins–this takes the stress off the day-to-day running of our school, and gives us a clear idea of where we’re heading in each subject area; it also frees us up to enjoy the journey more–there will always be unforeseen circumstances!)
Please click here for my collection of blog posts on home schooling.
Cool home school links
Here are some links that pertain to a range of subject areas . . .
A great site to find info about anything under the sun (with parental supervision, of course!) is wikipedia for schools
Quia quizzes and activites — many subject areas!
Interact free learning activities
FunBrain games galore
Study Guides and Strategies
James Madison High School — distance learning
Teach with Movies
Buy stamps for projects (beautiful pictures!)
Start Something (foundation that donates money to kids 8 – 17 who have a dream! Sponsored by Target and Tiger Woods)
SAT question of the day
Homeschooling organizations and support groups
My favorite education-related websites
My favorite homeschooling suppliers
Georgia homeschooling connections
Best of the best homeschooling web sites:
The Homeschool Channel
Homeschool Central
Homeschool World
Eclectic Homeschool Online
Gifted Links
Let me start this page by making it very clear that EVERY person is gifted, in that God has given each of us gifts, and each of us is a unique and brilliant creation. This page has to do with high intelligence, which is only one facet of who a child is. If you have a child who is highly or profoundly gifted in this way, you will realise that “normal” education methods don’t work, so hopefully you will find some direction or encouragement here.
Gifted Links
“gifted” ~ top 10% of intelligence
“very gifted” ~ top 3% of intelligence
Hoagie’s Gifted Education – this is the most useful, well-known gifted page – warning: you could spend hours (or days) in here 🙂
Gifted programs for Saturdays & summer
EPGY (Stanford)
Internet Resources for Homeschooling Gifted Children
Gifted Children & Homeschooling Bibliography
Georgia Association of Gifted Children
“Cheetah” article–interesting
Mensa in Georgia (top 2%)
ChallengingGiftedKids–Yahoo Group
Highly & Profoundly Gifted Links
“highly gifted” ~ top 0.1% of intelligence
“profoundly gifted” ~ top 0.01% of intelligence
There’s basically precious little support out there for “this kind of thing” (sounds like a disease, but it’s not :)), but I can point you to a couple of resources. Email me if you’d like to chat about this.
Davidson Institute
PG-Cybersource
Hollingworth Center
Precocious and Prodigious web board
