Homeschooling High School
Virginia Vagt
Does the idea of homeschooling your high schooler sound scary and uncharted to you? Just as homeschooling is an adventure no matter what grade or age level, homeschooling for high school can sound intimidating! Please know that many, many families have successfully (and happily!) completed this chapter of education for one or more of their children. Speaking as a parent who has done this, these capstone years are do-able, really fun, easier, and more rewarding than our family imagined they’d be. What’s wonderful is that just as in the other years, you can find courses and help them prepare for their future in ways that are the best fit for each of your children.
2008-07-27
Planning Techniques
Lorraine Curry
Homeschooling will be much easier if you spend a little time in planning. First make a separate list of your most important goals. You may wish to make goal lists for each of your children. Where do you want them to be at the end of the school year.
2008-07-27
Writing Skills for Children - Better Story Starters
Jen McVeity
Great writing tips for writers of any age
2008-07-27
Savoring!!
Virginia Lawrence
As she bounced out the door for her first day of college, I cradled my warm coffee cup and smiled. Success! Who would have ever thought this day would come? Homeschooling saved her young life. Of this, I am utterly convinced.
2008-07-27
Home School Organization
Heather Gneco
When schooling multiple children, look for ways to make the best use of your time and energy. Here are five tips that I use to maximize my time and successfully educate my multi-aged family, while trying to keep my home in order and my housework done!
2008-06-20
Buying Used Home School Curriculum - Mistakes to Avoid
Heidi Johnson
Buying home school curriculum can be expensive. Many people resort to purchasing their curriculum used, which usually works out very well for the buyer and seller. Here are a few warnings to watch out for to make your purchase of used home school curriculum, just what you need.
2008-06-20
The Messy Truth About Homeschooling
Jennie Von Eggers
Let's face it, homeschooling is messy! It makes for a messy house, messy kids, and an overall messier life. Don't we all, as homeschool moms, desire for the picture perfect day like in a Norman Rockwell painting-- a cozy house filled with fresh faced, bare-footed children, diligently working away at their schoolwork while the aroma of a pumpkin candle and the sound of Mozart fills the air. While most of us would love for homeschool to look like that everyday, the truth is, those days just don't happen that often.
2008-05-07
How to choose the best home school curriculum for your family
Marianne Vanderkolk
One of the most frequently asked question by home schoolers is : "What home school curriculum should I buy?"
It definitely is a hard question and perhaps you are asking that question right now.
However, I will not be giving you a simple answer so that you can purchase the correct home school curriculum for your family. Instead I will give you the tools and questions you need to ask in order to make a good choice.
2008-03-31
When Being a Mom Isn't Enough
Amy Hollingsworth
I have to say, it took me by surprise. After all, I had ditched the feminist side of me long ago. It was tossed in the same heap where I left my fierce independence, my career ambitions, my single life. Now I had settled down into the oft-challenging, endlessly rewarding life of a wife and mother. A stay-at-home mom, a Hausfrau, a domestic queen. Okay, I never baked bread or anything like that, but I was pretty darned committed to this motherhood thing. Still am. But out of the smoldering heap where I left my feminism wafted an ember with a little spark left. And the spark whispered, Isn't there more?
2008-03-27
Winter Educational Ideas For Preschoolers
Deborah Taylor-Hough
It's always fun to use things in our children's everyday lives to spark discussion and easy educational activities. Since many of us are currently in the midst of winter, this season can be a great topic of "study" for our littlest ones.
2008-02-20
Winter Homeschooling
Helen Hegener
The holiday season has always been my very favorite time of the year. I prefer the slower pace of life in winter, with wonderful smells from the kitchen, the sounds of children and dogs playing in the snow. I like the crisp clear days, the beauty of a freshly-fallen snow, the star-bright nights. But mostly I enjoy this time of the year because that's when families gather together in thankfulness and celebration.
2008-01-30
A Project for Your Homeschooled Teen
Barbara Frank
Here’s an interesting project to try with your teenager. Look up the career field he or she is most interested in right now (yes, this is likely to change, but let’s go with the current choice). Find out how much on average that field is likely to pay your teen, and how likely it is that your teen will be able to find work in that field.
2008-01-30
Making Something Beautiful
Barbara Frank
The best quilt I ever made sits in a cupboard in our family room. I pieced it out of plaids, appliqued pine trees on it and quilted it on my sewing machine. It was a labor of love that I gave to my husband. Inside the quilt is a label with my name and the date it was made: 1995. It amazes me that I was able to make a quilt at that time. It’s not that it was hard to make; I’ve been making quilts since I was a teen. It’s that 1995 marks the end of one of the hardest times of my life.
2008-01-30
How to Avoid Homeschool Burnout
Marianne Vanderkolk
Coming to a place of "burnout" as a homeschooling parent, or as a home schooler, means that somewhere in the process, we have lost sight of our goals. One of the many reasons parents choose to homeschool is that they want to enjoy time with their children. We see homeschooling as an opportunity to spend worthwhile time with our child, exploring learning together, and walking the exciting road side by side. Opening the world to our children is a delight and we enthusiastically begin by talking, reading, walking, and sharing life. However, it isn't long before "comparison" steps in and we begin to doubt if we are giving our child the best education possible.
2008-01-16
Easy Crystal Experiments You Can Share With Your Kids
Aurora Lipper
There are crystals everywhere – in the form of salt, sugar, sand, diamonds, quartz… and more! If you add something for the crystals to cling to, like a rock or a stick, crystals can now grow.
2007-11-27
Are You Mathphobic?
Barbara Frank
Many homeschooling parents are mathphobic. They’re cool with teaching their little ones their numbers, and even simple addition and subtraction. But go much past that and the possibilities scare them silly. Long division? Who remembers it and why should we, they ask. That’s why God led someone to invent the calculator! And don’t even bring up the A word (algebra). They can’t bear to go there. Like Scarlett O’Hara, they’ll think about that tomorrow...
2007-11-10
Home School Progress Check - Parent Teacher Student Conferences
Stephenie Hovland
Aren't you glad you don't have to endure parent-teacher conferences? It's just one of the blessings for those who home school. The purpose of parent-teacher conferences is to check the progress of the student for the current school year. You may love the fact that you don't have to stand in lines, hear how others think your child is doing, or try to reason with another teacher, but you may want to consider conducting a progress check of your own.
2007-10-24
How to Train Your Child in Perseverance
Marianne Vanderkolk
Perseverance - persistence, endurance, stick-to-itiveness, staying power, dogged, diligence. What a list of great nouns found in Roget's Thesaurus. I chose to write about Perseverance not only as a goal that I can see I need to work at in my life, but one which is so extremely important for us to pass on to our children.
2007-09-26
How Many Hours?
Barbara Frank
One of my least favorite questions that I’m asked by non-homeschoolers is, “How many hours a day do you homeschool?” Let’s face it, answering this question is like tip-toeing through a minefield. Depending on the viewpoint of the questioner, you may not be doing enough, or you may be overdoing it.
2007-09-21
Enjoy It While You Have It!
Barbara Frank
Writing my book Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers four years ago helped me through a difficult time of my life: letting go of our two oldest children. Over the course of three weeks, our daughter moved to the city and our son left for college. After homeschooling them all of their lives, it was a tough transition for me.
2007-09-21
Archery's Hot!
Looking for an activity that provides exercise, improves math skills, teaches etiquette, requires focus, reduces stress, and is – oh, yeah – lots of fun? Archery is gaining in popularity all over the U.S. in schools, recreation districts, home-school associations, retirement communities, and clubs.
2007-09-21
Teaching Our Children about Financial Freedom
Barbara Frank
f you’ve ever used a deck of cards to make a house (note to Gen. X readers: it’s something we used to do to pass the time back in the days before video games and movie rentals), you know that you can spend a lot of time building a stunning house of cards, only to have the whole thing collapse when you place one card in the wrong spot. I find myself thinking about that phrase a lot lately: House of Cards.
2007-09-21
Air Pressure Experiments
Aurora Lipper
Try these ten air pressure experiments to mystify your kids using stuff from around the house.
2007-08-22
Homeschooling - Making Priorities
Marianne Vanderkolk
Homeschooling - there is so much to do and so little time! That is often how we feel. But since Time cannot be managed or altered, we need to think how we can prioritize our lives. So, how do we prioritize? What is essential in our lives? What do we consider most important and how do we prioritize these things?.
2007-08-22
Teaching Our Children about Financial Freedom
Barbara Frank
Our children are growing up in a time when many people believe it’s not just permissible but actually a good idea to buy whatever you want with borrowed money. This was not so in the past, but today things are different. If we’re not diligent in teaching them sound financial principles, our children could end up overwhelmed by debt someday.
2007-08-22
Choosing Your History Curriculum
Carol Henderson
For homeschool moms and other teachers who are able to choose their own history curriculum, selecting the book(s) that will keep you energized all year long is a crucial decision. Whether you call them spines, source books, core books, or textbooks, you can’t ignore the importance of having one all-encompassing history guide to keep you grounded and make sure you leave no obvious gaps. Knowing how important this book really is, which text do you choose.
2007-07-02
Movies: A Resource for Homeschooling Parents
James Frieden
Each year the movie industry makes some very valuable films that can be used to teach children. Over the last 70 years, these films have accumulated into a national cultural treasure.
2007-07-02
Traps to Avoid When Transitioning from Home Schooling to a Public or Private School
Stephenie Hovland
Many homeschoolers have to face that moment when their children go to a public or private school. Even though they have decided the time is right and have researched all the schools, the transition can be tough for families. Here are a few traps that some home school parents fall into after they have committed to sending their child off to school.
2007-06-15
Unschooling Flowers in the Spring
Lill Hawkins
Well, a lot of people predicted it and now it's happened. My daughter's unschooling has led her to a dead-end job at low pay. Yup, she's a hired hand on a farm. She didn't tell me that she was taking the job. I found out about it when I came across a list of her chores that she'd written out. In addition to feeding the pigs, chickens, horses and cows, she has to haul water, milk the cows and even chop wood! And for all this, she only gets room and board! Okay, so she's just pretending that she's a hired hand like Nellie, a character in one of the American Girls books that she's reading her way through.
2007-06-04
Home-School - A Family or a School?
Marianne Vanderkolk
All of life is education. Home-Education is a much more comprehensive term. We are instilling character, teaching worldview, developing life skills and growing in knowledge, enlightening the understanding and pursuing wisdom, and this is not happening between the set hours of 9.00am -3.00pm. It is all day and night, every day, through holidays, sickness, excursions...yes...through all of life!
2007-04-25
An Introduction to Waldorf Homeschooling
Donna Miller
Despite the fact that there are over 100 Waldorf schools and kindergartens in the USA (and about 1000 more in countries as diverse as Mexico, Latvia, France, Germany, Israel, India and Egypt), Waldorf education is not well known. Indeed, amongst homeschoolers, those of us who work with Waldorf are almost invisible! My hope is to address this imbalance and to help get the word out about a form of education which others might find beneficial to their children.
2007-03-19
Choosing The Right Homeschooling Teaching Material
David Dunlap
When making the decision to home school, it does take some time and experience to determine which materials are best suited to your teaching style and your children's needs. However, there are plenty of resources available that can help lead concerned parents to the appropriate teaching materials and methods that work best for their family. In this article, eight suggestions and/or rules concerning choosing the right curriculum will be presented. Use these to guide you in your homeschooling endeavor.
2007-02-27
Why Reading Aloud To Your Child Is Important
Kent Johnson
Okay, so your child loves to watch television, play video games, surf on the Internet, and listen to music. And there's nothing wrong with those activities, as long as they're used in moderation. Most parents would also love to see their kids participate in more constructive activities -- like reading children's books -- but the trick is to get your little ones to actually sit down and crack open a book a few times per week.
2007-01-10
“You Can’t Seriously be Thinking of Homeschooling!”
Jenefer Igarashi
Have you heard that question yet? When I first decided to homeschool, and friends, family, and acquaintances found out, it was amazing how often and quickly that question is posed. In many cases, before I could even try to formulate an answer, I was usually smacked with a barrage of warnings and cautions, or had my questioner simply shake their head and smile condescendingly. It was maddening!
2007-01-09
New Year's Goal Setting and Math Add Up to Higher Grades for Students!
Susan Jarema
Teaching math is one of the greatest ways to instill valuable goal-setting skills while ensuring academic success. Math provides the perfect opportunity for goal-setting lessons: its aims are realistic, obtainable, measurable and can be broken down into smaller goals or tasks. Developing goal-setting skills will help students learn how to manage their time, make better decisions and take ownership of their own academic progress.
2007-01-09
Homeschooling And Efficient House Cleaning
Joyce Jackson
Homeschooling is a full-time job, but so is keeping your home and family clean and organized. Homeschooling families have a wonderful opportunity to involve children in the daily cleaning routine. It takes a lot of work to run a household, and it usually takes a family working together to make it run smoothly. (And when I say "family", I mean "Mom telling everyone else what to do"!). From a young age, children are capable of helping around the house. After all, they make most of the messes, so shouldn't they be part of cleaning them up? The trick is to find jobs that are compatible with your child's age and ability, teaching them the correct way to do it (and you sometimes have to teach them several times), and setting up a regular routine with clear expectations.
2006-10-30
Cultivating Childhood Dreams
Myklin Vinson
As I think back on that time of my life, I am reminded of how children have a very real need to show off the pictures they have drawn, songs they have made up, or books they have written... However, given the right encouragement and training, a young person can do whatever he puts his mind to. Who knows if this child could grow up to be the next Mark Twain or Michelangelo? It causes me to wonder how many opportunities adults miss every day to make a difference in the life of a child.
2006-10-18
7 Key Questions to Ask a College Admissions Officer
Susan Curtis
You've heard, endlessly, about the high level of competition for plum spots at state universities and big name colleges alike. Increasingly, being selected for admission is about standing out. How can you “shine” at those upcoming college fairs, college nights, and college interviews?
2006-10-10
Edspeak or Educationese
Mary Ann Kelley
Over time, learning activities that we once knew by simple names are given new industry-generated names that are supposed to be more descriptive of the subtle differences in what they describe. Called "edspeak" or "educationese", these words or phrases often make common activities sound more legitimate. If you are required to file some form of proof of progress to your school district, you may find some of these terms helpful in describing your child's activities.
2006-09-29
Spain and Latin American Spanish
Dave Clark
Many people have the mistaken idea that the Spanish language that is used in Spain is completely different from that spoken in Latin America. They also believe that if you speak in Latin American Spanish, they won't be able to understand you in Spain.
2006-09-04
My Clock is Ticking
Katie Kubesh
It is so hard to believe that Labor Day is almost upon us, marking the end of summer. It seems like just last week I was coming up with a topic to write about for the beginning of summer! In fact, I had a totally different topic for this newsletter, but looked at the calendar and realized summer will be officially "over" in just a few days. So here goes.my "ode to summer" article.
2006-09-02
Budget Home Schooling
Michael Russell
Home schooling can be a rewarding experience for the entire family. However, it can also be hard on your pocketbook. Frugal home schooling is becoming a popular term among most families living on limited income or for those wanting to cut back on expenses.
2006-07-31
Homebaked Bread
Unknown
Once there was a community in which most people had been raised on enriched, white, store-bought bread and saw to it that their children were fed the same. The hope was that the children would grow to be big, strong, and well-nourished so they could live productive lives and be a credit to the town. The bread was provided for the children by means of a community tax and was distributed on a regular basis to all community children irrespective of size, shape, or color. In this town there lived a woman named Matilda, who had three children. She had given the matter some thought and had done some reading and had concluded that she could provide better nourishment for her children by making her own whole-wheat or even white bread.
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The Nature of Public Education
Barb Shelton
Here you will find a few quotes of John Taylor Gatto on what I have termed "the nature of public education." This man was named "New York State Teacher of the Year" in 1992. Further down this page is a link to a site with much much more of his writing, as well as a few words from me to introduce you to Mr. Gatto's exceptionally needed message!
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Record-Keeping & Organizing: 10 Reasons to Keep Records
Barbara Edtl Shelton
Barb shares 10 reasons why homeschoolers should be prepared and organized with record-keeping.
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Testing Tips
Lynn Hogan
About this time of year, those of us that are required by law to test our children are starting to re-focus our energies on "just the facts". Not every state requires testing, but many of us test our students anyway to get a sense of satisfaction about what they have learned for this year. Sometimes we do it just to confirm what we already know (both positive and negative).
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Teaching Math At Home
Sandra Kuykendall-Lombard
As parents we read to our children but many of us neglect counting and other math concepts early on. Why? For some, math is something we think can be taught at a later age, but we are now learning that even babies are capable of learning math. So how do you teach the very young?
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I'm Bored
Lynn Hogan
I often get questions from my newer homeschooling moms asking me about things like "how am I going to deal with my clingy child EVERY day, when I am used to having her in a more traditional setting to give her socialization time and give myself some 'me' time?" This is simply a variation that I get from traditional school parents who ask - "what WILL I do all Summer/ Winter break/ Spring Break, etc.)
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Simple Science
Deborah Shelton
Help children develop a love for science, or nurture their already-growing interest, with these simple experiments.
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Moms are Glue!
Colleen Langenfeld
Do you feel sticky? If you are a mom, you do. Kids hanging on you all day. 'Mom' this and 'Mom' that. But, even more than that, you are the glue that holds your family together. Moms set the tone, the mood in their families. When Mom's doing well, all is well. When Mom is struggling...the entire family feels the pain.
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Conventions
Lynn Hogan
Most states have fairly large to huge book fairs. I have found that most new folks end up totally overwhelmed and "fried" long before the book fair is over. The more seasoned veterans of homeschooling are less likely to be so overwhelmed, but, face it, it is a long day.
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Teens Gain Valuable Experience By Job Shadowing
Silvana Clark
With summer approaching, teens have the opportunity to participate in job shadow experiences. Never heard of job shadowing? Don't worry. It simply means you spend time observing someone at their job. Many schools now require students to take part in several job shadow experiences as a graduation requirement. Spending the afternoon with a veterinarian, mechanic or graphic designer helps students gain an awareness of career possibilities.
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Do You Know What Law Enables You To Homeschool?
Deborah Stevenson
It is very important for all parents to know exactly what the law is that allows the parent to homeschool in the state in which the parent resides. Each state has its own way of doing things. Each state legislature has enacted statutes regarding education, but not all of those statutes from state to state are alike. In some states, in fact, there may be no statutes that directly address the right to homeschool. The language in the statutes may only address the rights of parents instead of addressing those rights as “homeschooling”. In still other states, the statutes are many and detailed as to how “homeschooling” must take place. Do you know in which type of state you live?
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10 Secrets of a Successful Homeschool
Sherri Chekal
Sherri points out 10 areas to watch for to make your homeschool the best it can be.
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A Real Mom's Home School
Maggie Hogan
How does one keep on track with teaching when one is organizationally challenged? I could attempt to inspire you with Biblical principals and great quotes and examples regarding planning ahead. I could set before you lofty goals. I could even try and make you feel guilty for not being better organized. (Although with my own reputation for using a shovel to clear off my desk, who would take me seriously?) But that is not my purpose.
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Time Management
Crystal Miller
My husband said to me the other day, "I wish there were 26 hours in our day, then I could get everything accomplished!"I had to laugh because I myself had those thoughts; if we just had more time we could accomplish much more or at the very least we could actually get enough sleep! Well since we have no chance to increase the hours in our day we have to evaluate the time we have and how well we are using it. We need to ask ourselves, are we being the best steward possible of our time? Are we valuing our hours as a vital resource and using them as wisely as possible?
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