I started this blog with the intention of sharing everything I learned about home schooling when I started educating my daughter at home when she was in eighth grade. I've not done well at keeping up with the blog, so here's a rundown of some things I've learned:
The only regret that I have is that I didn't start home schooling sooner. I wanted to when my daughter was in second grade, but couldn't convince my husband. It took years of frustration on many levels with both public and private schools (mostly public) to convince him to try home schooling. If you believe in your heart and your mind that homeschooling is right for you, please start researching possibilities now. Don't put it off - even if you decide homeschooling isn't for you, you will learn so much about how children learn and will find great activities for your kids to pursue over summer vacation and after school.
If you do homeschool, your child will likely learn more when you tailor a curriculum that feeds their strengths and provides extra support if needed in weak subjects. Furthermore, without the distractions in today's classroom, the school day is shorter in the grade school years and you'll have time with your child, or your child can pursue free time or other activities. My daughter was able to spend more time with her horse and started working a few hours at that barn when she was 13 (legal for light farm labor). She learned to manage her money and to manage horse, and to communicate well with adults and teens.
People who stereotype homeschool children as being backward in any way are thoroughly misinformed. We participated in some activities with the local home school group like museum tours, zoo classes, plays that mirrored historical events and the like. Not only did both my child and I learn a lot from these activities, but I learned that home schooled kids have manners and respect unparalleled by the general public school student population. The home school field trips were nothing like the ones I chaperoned at the public school.
Unfortunately, I found it difficult to integrate my daughter into the homeschooling social community in my area. While the moms groups were very welcoming to me, I tried to find friends for my daughter to connect with but there seemed to be a suspicion of a child who had spent eight years in public school. However, my daughter made some friends through a writing class and a science class that she took offered at a church and another homeschool family home, but made no friends with peers in our town. That was a disappointment, but maybe it had to do with the venues of home vs. classroom outside the home. I also suspect that had my daughter been younger, setting up social time would have been easier.
There are tons of home school resources available - so much so that I recommend getting as focused as you can before you search for lessons and materials. It is amazing that so much advice and full lesson plans and materials are shared across the Internet for this subsection of education. Not only can you find "home grown" lessons and materials, but packaged solutions are easy to find, although they can be expensive. I love the concepts behind Tapestry of Grace, which uses a unit study approach to all subjects except math. My friend and colleague, Beverly Hernandez, has been offering homeschool resources and how-to's for over a decade and just started a new web site at Homeschool Journeys. She also has tons of information on About.com Homeschooling. Another terrific resource written by the delightful Robin Montoya is Stone Soup Home School Resources.
Homeschooling properly is incredibly time consuming. I knew that home schooling was a huge commitment that required a lot of time with planning, teaching and record keeping, but I had no idea it would require the time commitment that it did. I've worked from home part-time while my daughter was in school, but once she entered high school I had to make the choice to stop traditional home schooling for two reasons: I did not feel capable of adequately preparing her for college through the high school years since I'd not been homeschooling for long, and we needed my income and I couldn't commit enough time to her higher education while working. Many homeschoolers pull this off very effectively, I did not think I could. Even if I bought her a packaged plan (I tested a few), it would still be so time consuming that it was doubtful that I could work at the same time. My solution was to enroll her in an online charter school through a school district in my state, where she gets the benefits of professional higher-level teaching and the structure of homeschooling without distractions.
Anyone who says homeschooling is a cop out is clueless. One of my friends considered homeschooling, but decided against it because she said it would be a cop-out (yet she was very supportive of our venture). A retired teacher I know also equated home schooling to copping out, but once I discussed with her all I put into my daughter's home education, she changed her opinion to only some home schoolers copping out. And, I can't deny that I have met home school parents who haven't focused enough on academics (in my opinion). But that would amount to maybe 1% of all the home schoolers I've met in person and online. Most home school parents are far more invested in their children's education because they are actively providing that education. This is not to say that parents who put their children in public or private school aren't invested, but it takes a special commitment to home school a child. Home schoolers should be respected for the work they do, and the vast majority do not cop out in any way, shape or form.
5/26/2012
Online School: A Great Homeschool Option
In my post, Home Schooling Observations, I refer to my daughter's online high school. Here's the scoop:
There are many styles of home schooling and what works for one family won't for another. In many cases, what works for one child won't work for another!
Sometimes the answer is not to provide the education from the parent, and parents who make this choice should not be rejected by or cause any concern among the homeschooling community. I understand that there are many deeply religious people who home school, but not everyone home schools for religious reasons. Although I am a Christian, a prayer minister and a Bible study leader, I took my daughter out of public school purely for academic reasons. My daughter couldn't get adequate help when she needed it (unless I checked in with the teacher to remind them every other week) and the behavior and language that was allowed in the middle school was unacceptable to me. I am sure that just about any other home school parent would do the same.
My daughter's high school is an online charter school, eAchieve Academy (formerly known as IQ Academy), and I have to say that the principal there is amazing. The academic/guidance counselors have been an excellent resource for course planning and the teachers all offer extra help when needed (and my daughter takes the initiative to ask for it) and give extra kudos when children excel on assignments.
Capable public school teachers are now teaching my daughter, but the drama and inappropriate behavior she witnessed at the bricks and mortar school are all but gone (there's some dram here and there, they are teenagers after all). She has made many friends through the online school, and she sees some of those friends in person regularly and - like just about every other teen - keeps in touch by texting as I communicated with my friends on the phone "back in the day". Her friends are not only local, but from around the state. Through the online school (which is paid for by my tax dollars and provides a laptop computer and books) my daughter is receiving an A+ in an advanced placement class and she gets extra help in other subjects when needed. She does not "fall through the cracks" as she did in the regular public school.
While we're beyond satisfied with this online charter school, there are private online school options and online/homeschool education options. Start looking by Googling "online homeschool". If you specifically do not want to use a public online charter school, be on the lookout for those that misrepresent themselves as a regular homeschool option. And, some of these online schools cater to the public school sector as well as homeschoolers, but have to charge tuition to home schoolers. This is one reason why I decided to try IQ/eAchieve, which was formerly powered by K12.com (there's a new plan in place for academics starting next year with greater flexibility). Why pay for K12 when I could get those services through the public school at no fee over and above my tax dollars?
I started this post by saying that not all families or students fit into one homeschooling mold. Online education may not be for you or your child, but I had to mention it because the school my daughter attends is definitely challenging, yet I see her succeeding using this venue.
There are many styles of home schooling and what works for one family won't for another. In many cases, what works for one child won't work for another!
Sometimes the answer is not to provide the education from the parent, and parents who make this choice should not be rejected by or cause any concern among the homeschooling community. I understand that there are many deeply religious people who home school, but not everyone home schools for religious reasons. Although I am a Christian, a prayer minister and a Bible study leader, I took my daughter out of public school purely for academic reasons. My daughter couldn't get adequate help when she needed it (unless I checked in with the teacher to remind them every other week) and the behavior and language that was allowed in the middle school was unacceptable to me. I am sure that just about any other home school parent would do the same.
My daughter's high school is an online charter school, eAchieve Academy (formerly known as IQ Academy), and I have to say that the principal there is amazing. The academic/guidance counselors have been an excellent resource for course planning and the teachers all offer extra help when needed (and my daughter takes the initiative to ask for it) and give extra kudos when children excel on assignments.
Capable public school teachers are now teaching my daughter, but the drama and inappropriate behavior she witnessed at the bricks and mortar school are all but gone (there's some dram here and there, they are teenagers after all). She has made many friends through the online school, and she sees some of those friends in person regularly and - like just about every other teen - keeps in touch by texting as I communicated with my friends on the phone "back in the day". Her friends are not only local, but from around the state. Through the online school (which is paid for by my tax dollars and provides a laptop computer and books) my daughter is receiving an A+ in an advanced placement class and she gets extra help in other subjects when needed. She does not "fall through the cracks" as she did in the regular public school.
While we're beyond satisfied with this online charter school, there are private online school options and online/homeschool education options. Start looking by Googling "online homeschool". If you specifically do not want to use a public online charter school, be on the lookout for those that misrepresent themselves as a regular homeschool option. And, some of these online schools cater to the public school sector as well as homeschoolers, but have to charge tuition to home schoolers. This is one reason why I decided to try IQ/eAchieve, which was formerly powered by K12.com (there's a new plan in place for academics starting next year with greater flexibility). Why pay for K12 when I could get those services through the public school at no fee over and above my tax dollars?
I started this post by saying that not all families or students fit into one homeschooling mold. Online education may not be for you or your child, but I had to mention it because the school my daughter attends is definitely challenging, yet I see her succeeding using this venue.
9/01/2011
Computer Programming Classes Made Easy
Codeacademy starts off with a really, really basic lesson, so total newbies need not be intimidated. The site promises to put the student "on the path to building great websites, games, and apps", so if your student is more advanced, have them just go through the more rudimentary stuff to get to programming lessons that are more their cup of tea. Badges are awarded as the student completes each class.
If you have multiple students doing Codeacademy or some of your student's friends are going through the program, they can track one another's progress, which provides a social aspect.
Tip:
To use Codeacademy in your homeschool classroom, remember to set up a free account for each student so they can save their work and track their progress.
Have your kids used Codeacademy? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Thanks to LifeHacker for the heads-up on Codeacademy.
11/03/2010
SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE or LSAT Study Resource on the Web
The Wall Street Journal All Things Digital has a great review of Grockit, an online resource for studying for college entrance exams.
Grockit makes studying for the SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE or LSAT less expensive with lessons, group study and solo practice while being fun and educational, according to reviewer/reporter Katie Boehret. Grockit also has practice for English Language Arts and Math for grades 7 - 12, and can be a part of your home schooling curriculum.
Grockit makes studying for the SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE or LSAT less expensive with lessons, group study and solo practice while being fun and educational, according to reviewer/reporter Katie Boehret. Grockit also has practice for English Language Arts and Math for grades 7 - 12, and can be a part of your home schooling curriculum.
10/11/2010
When to Start a New Paragraph - Middle School Writing
Recently, my homeschool student wrote a short compare and contrast report of the book, Nim's Island
and the Nim's Island movie
. What was handed in consisted of two long paragraphs when it should have been broken down into several paragraphs, although I reviewed that a new idea or subject requires a new paragraph before the writing began. My student thought that anything written about the book was one idea and one paragraph, and anything written about the movie is another idea and paragraph.
Even though I write for a web site professionally, I wasn't effectively teaching the concept of how to know when to start a new paragraph. Worse yet, after decades of "just knowing" when to start a paragraph, I could not come up with another way to teach this.
I did some research to get help with teaching about paragraphs, and found Purdue's Online Writing Lab's On Paragraphs to be a great resource to help with explaining paragraphs. Homeschool teachers can translate this information to the appropriate grade level for their students, while older students can use it as a refresher when needed. On Paragraphs is printable, and check out the Purdue OWL resources for grades 7-12 for more writing resources and instructional material.
and the Nim's Island movie. What was handed in consisted of two long paragraphs when it should have been broken down into several paragraphs, although I reviewed that a new idea or subject requires a new paragraph before the writing began. My student thought that anything written about the book was one idea and one paragraph, and anything written about the movie is another idea and paragraph.Even though I write for a web site professionally, I wasn't effectively teaching the concept of how to know when to start a new paragraph. Worse yet, after decades of "just knowing" when to start a paragraph, I could not come up with another way to teach this.
I did some research to get help with teaching about paragraphs, and found Purdue's Online Writing Lab's On Paragraphs to be a great resource to help with explaining paragraphs. Homeschool teachers can translate this information to the appropriate grade level for their students, while older students can use it as a refresher when needed. On Paragraphs is printable, and check out the Purdue OWL resources for grades 7-12 for more writing resources and instructional material.
9/10/2010
10 Online Games That Teach Kids About Earth, Ecology & Conservation
Check out these ten online games and game websites that teach kids in a fun way about the environment and the world around them. These interactive educational websites teach that each action has an effect on the Earth. When kids learn about animals and conservation in an interactive way, the lessons learned are sure to be remembered.
Via makeuseof.com
Via makeuseof.com
9/09/2010
Lesson Planning and More: Homeschool Skedtrack
Homeschooling takes a lot of lesson planning, with reading, workbooks, online activities, field trips and other academic planning. I started planning on paper, and then created a spreadsheet to track hours, but still needed a flexible tool for daily lesson planning.
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| Homeschool Skedtrack Today Screen IRT Web Solutuions |
Homeschool Skedtrack was developed IRT Web Solutions, with the combination of over 20 years experience in Information Technology and 5 years of homeschooling. IRT Web Solutions intends to keep their online app free and guaranties, "by the grace of God, the continued availability, further development, and improvement of" Homeschool Skedtrack.
What I like about Homeschool Skedtrack:
- The printable reports are excellent for use as reference, or as documentation of planned or completed class work.
- Course activities that are not completed for the day automatically roll forward to next day the course is scheduled.
- My child/student has her own account so she can log in and get her lessons plans, and check off activities as she completes them (I approve her completions later).
- Flexibility for grading options, course dates, setting up days off from school, setting up field trips.
- There is no 'basic' or otherwise crippled version for a free trial. It's always free to try, free to use.
- Data can be exported, which I recommend doing every once in awhile to have a back up of plans.
- Drag and drop for rearranging course activities (inserting and rearranging activities could take fewer keystrokes and mouse movements, in my opinion).
- A weekly calendar view, to reduce the need to click back and forth between calendar and lesson planning tools.
- A quick data export/back up tool that allows for downloading all of the Homeschool Skedtrack database(s) created by a user at once. As a software reviewer and former network administrator, I am fussy about data backups.
Shelley Elmblad has been testing software for ages, and writes for About.com Financial Software. About.com is currently looking for a contributing writer at this site to cover mobile banking applications. Interested? Apply for the job.
8/26/2010
Homeschool Unit Studies: What is a Unit Study?
A unit study is study of one topic (mammals, ocean, Civil War) that incorporates many cross-curriculum subjects, like history, science spelling and writing. Unit study author Amanda Bennett defines a unit study as "a complete immersion into the topic so that the student will see things as a "whole" instead of bits and pieces learned throughout their education."
Some reasons that unit studies are often used by homeschoolers in place of text books and work books:
A great place to start exploring unit studies is with the Stone Soup Homeschool Network's comprehensive unit study data base, organized alphabetically.
Some reasons that unit studies are often used by homeschoolers in place of text books and work books:
- Unit studies generally engage children easily because the studies allow them to think through problems and to be creative.
- Using cross-curricular skills allow students to understand how to use math, composition and other skills practically.
- Homeschoolers often share unit studies online, complete with lesson plans and links to resources required to teach the study.
- The same unit study can be used to teach multiple child at once, regardless of grade level. Assignments are varied by the students' grade levels, but separate text books and other resources are not required.
A great place to start exploring unit studies is with the Stone Soup Homeschool Network's comprehensive unit study data base, organized alphabetically.
8/21/2010
Chronicles of Narnia Study Book 1: The Magician's Nephew
I've been learning more about C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia after my middle school daughter was looking to do some end-of-summer summer reading. I didn't realize that The Chronicles of Narnia actually consisted of seven books, and neither did my daughter. Although the books weren't written in chronological order, they can be read in this order.I found a Narnia boxed set of the books on Amazon for around $30, which brings the cost of each book down to around $4.25 a piece. My daughter loves fantasy stories, mysteries and books that reflect a character's ethical growth. After reading a few of the reviews on the Amazon page, I decided the books would be perfect for my daughter, and I was looking forward to reading them, too.
I decided to tie her reading in with some sort of a study and vocabulary words, and would use the time spent on the home work toward the 875 hours of education per year that kids are required to complete in Wisconsin. It's late in August, she has many free hours on her hands, and she is gobbling up the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, so why not "make hay while the sun shines"?
I had a difficult time finding Narnia unit studies that were age-appropriate for a middle schooler. Just about everything I found was for grades 3-5, which surprised me because although the books are a fairly quick read, there are a lot of upper level concepts in the books. So, I started putting together my own Chronicles of Narnia study for middle school by using the study questions found at love2learn.net and some of the vocabulary words list on this Narnia Unit Study. I found these pages while doing some searching off of The Old Schoolhouse Chronicles of Narnia study page, which is an excellent resource for putting together a Narnia unit study.
Here are the questions I compiled for the first book in the Narnia series, The Magician's Nephew:
I'll publish the study sheets I put together for each book in the Narnia series as I complete them.
7/15/2010
Bookswim : Convenient Homeschooling Book Rentals
Here's a great resource for renting books for home schooling students from preschool through high school, without leaving the house.
Bookswim is an online book rental service that lets you put together a queue of books to be delivered to your door. Among the classifications for children's book rentals are sections by age, literature, science and nature, animals, people and places. Adults will find tons of books covering all genres and topics as well.
To get started, go to Bookswim.com
and set up an account, choosing a pricing plan that meets your home schooler's reading schedule. Plans start off at $23.95 a month to have 3 books out at once, all the way up to $59.95 to have 11 books out at once, and there are no due dates. The monthly fee includes shipping and handling, and a convenient return envelope. When you return a book, Bookswim automatically ships the next book on your book rental list.
There are no late fees, due dates or time limits with Bookswim book rentals. Right now, you can use promo code HOMEREADS to get 3 months book rental for the price of 2
at Bookswim.
Bookswim is an online book rental service that lets you put together a queue of books to be delivered to your door. Among the classifications for children's book rentals are sections by age, literature, science and nature, animals, people and places. Adults will find tons of books covering all genres and topics as well.
To get started, go to Bookswim.com
and set up an account, choosing a pricing plan that meets your home schooler's reading schedule. Plans start off at $23.95 a month to have 3 books out at once, all the way up to $59.95 to have 11 books out at once, and there are no due dates. The monthly fee includes shipping and handling, and a convenient return envelope. When you return a book, Bookswim automatically ships the next book on your book rental list.There are no late fees, due dates or time limits with Bookswim book rentals. Right now, you can use promo code HOMEREADS to get 3 months book rental for the price of 2
at Bookswim.
6/11/2010
Book Review: The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities
As I read through The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas
, I found myself wishing I had known about this resource years ago. Even though I was not home schooling at that time, my daughter and I would have had tons of fun with the activities presented in this book. I am starting to home school my daughter in middle school, so the activities are too simplistic for her. However, the first 33 pages of this book explain how to help children of all ages learn and how effective mastery of educational subjects involves more than a prescribed curriculum. This really opened my mind to new ways too educate.
For more information, check out my full review of The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Aged 3-12 by Linda Dobson on Associated Content. This book is packed with inexpensive, fun activities for teaching children at home over summer and holiday vacations as well as in a home school.
, I found myself wishing I had known about this resource years ago. Even though I was not home schooling at that time, my daughter and I would have had tons of fun with the activities presented in this book. I am starting to home school my daughter in middle school, so the activities are too simplistic for her. However, the first 33 pages of this book explain how to help children of all ages learn and how effective mastery of educational subjects involves more than a prescribed curriculum. This really opened my mind to new ways too educate. The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Aged 3-12
For more information, check out my full review of The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Aged 3-12 by Linda Dobson on Associated Content. This book is packed with inexpensive, fun activities for teaching children at home over summer and holiday vacations as well as in a home school.
6/09/2010
4 Software Picks That Teach Kids About Money
As the financial software guide at About.com, I take personal finance education seriously, but I had fun researching online and desktop software that can be used to teach kids of all ages about money. Each of these free or low-cost educational software choices has a unique feature that may be especially appealing to your child.
Learn about software to teach kids about money at About.com, and please let me know if you have used software to teach consumer math or money management to kids (hint: you need not register at About.com, just enter a guest name).
Learn about software to teach kids about money at About.com, and please let me know if you have used software to teach consumer math or money management to kids (hint: you need not register at About.com, just enter a guest name).
Signs of Stress in Children and Family: Are Your Kids Doing Too Much?
We often hear that kids are too busy these days, yet most families continue to participate in multiple activities with little or no downtime. Home school families can be just as susceptible as other families to the lure of getting kids involved in too much, whether it's out of pressure from comparing to other home school households, insecurity about developing curriculum, or other reasons.
Keep tabs on your homeschool activities to avoid over-scheduling and burn out, and read Do Your Kids Have Too Much to Do? to determine if your kids or your family is stressed out and in need of some time relax together.
Keep tabs on your homeschool activities to avoid over-scheduling and burn out, and read Do Your Kids Have Too Much to Do? to determine if your kids or your family is stressed out and in need of some time relax together.
6/08/2010
Home Schooling in Wisconsin: Everything You Need to Know
Home Schooling in Wisconsin: At Home with Learning has been written by experienced home schoolers and is published by the Wisconsin Parents Association. This book is updated regularly, with my copy being the sixth edition, published in 2006.
I first considered home schooling my child in first grade, but felt intimidated at the prospect of doing so. Still, I remained interested in this method of education. My child is now in middle school and due to a number of factors, I decided to look into home schooling again. Had I read Home Schooling in Wisconsin: At Home with Learning seven years ago, I would have started homeschooling sooner.
Home schooling takes preparation and requires dedication to the task of teaching by the parent, but the rewards are usually worth the effort. This book explains how home schooling in Wisconsin is plausible with information and explanations for Wisconsin home school laws, how to choose a curriculum and learning resources, how to get started with home schooling, socialization concerns, home schooling through high school and other topics.
You won't find Home Schooling in Wisconsin: At Home with Learning in online or bricks and mortar bookstores. This 286-page reference book can only be ordered from the Wisconsin Parents Association. Cost with shipping is $34, or join the WPA ($30 per year) and pay $27 for the book.
The WPA is a statewide, inclusive, grassroots organization, founded in 1984 to oppose legislation that would have severely limited homeschoolers' freedoms by giving the Department of Public Instruction power and authority over homeschools in Wisconsin.
I first considered home schooling my child in first grade, but felt intimidated at the prospect of doing so. Still, I remained interested in this method of education. My child is now in middle school and due to a number of factors, I decided to look into home schooling again. Had I read Home Schooling in Wisconsin: At Home with Learning seven years ago, I would have started homeschooling sooner.
Home schooling takes preparation and requires dedication to the task of teaching by the parent, but the rewards are usually worth the effort. This book explains how home schooling in Wisconsin is plausible with information and explanations for Wisconsin home school laws, how to choose a curriculum and learning resources, how to get started with home schooling, socialization concerns, home schooling through high school and other topics.
You won't find Home Schooling in Wisconsin: At Home with Learning in online or bricks and mortar bookstores. This 286-page reference book can only be ordered from the Wisconsin Parents Association. Cost with shipping is $34, or join the WPA ($30 per year) and pay $27 for the book.
The WPA is a statewide, inclusive, grassroots organization, founded in 1984 to oppose legislation that would have severely limited homeschoolers' freedoms by giving the Department of Public Instruction power and authority over homeschools in Wisconsin.
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