Homeschooling and Scouting: An Unfair Advantage?

At the Eagle Ceremony we recently attended, I got into a discussion with another parent about the merit badges my boys are working on. One of them is Citizenship in the Nation. It’s a fairly involved badge with a lot of requirements. I’m blessed that my mom has agreed to be their merit badge counselor and is giving them a weekly class that incorporates the BSA required study. The other parent, whom I’ll call Michael, gave me a lecture on how that was unfair to the boys in the troop who were government-schooled. His main point was that to use … Continue reading →

How to Align Hobbies and Curriculum

A cool byproduct of homeschooling is the elimination of educational redundancies. What I mean by this is that if the child has a hobby or activity that fulfills a homeschool requirement, then it can serve as part of the child’s curriculum, instead of having to spend ”schooling time” repeating what they have already learned. Julie Gentry, a guest blogger on homeschooling, explains how she does this with scouting. Here is how you can align your child’s hobbies and curriculum. Step 1: Observe: Look at your children’s activities and take note of them, especially the activities they do “just for fun”. … Continue reading →

Fulfilling Homeschool Requirements through Hobbies

Today, guest homeschool blogger Julie Gentry wrote about homeschooling and scouting. She described how scouting fulfills many academic requirements. Not only can your child fulfill homeschool requirements through scouting, but also through just about any hobby. My daughter, for instance, competes in pageants and is on a step team. (Step is the dance competitions in which African American fraternities and sororities participate.) Pageant activities eliminate any question of socialization. It also forces her to develop her musical talents. She is learning how to write and recite speeches as well. (Language Arts). While all of these are not standard core curriculum, … Continue reading →

Homeschooling and Scouting: Using Scouting to Fulfill Academic Requirements

It’s Friday. That means my boys have no schoolwork. What? Let me rephrase that. They have no schoolwork from their regular textbooks. Instead, Fridays at our house have become Boy Scout days. They work on their badges and advancement. Before we got involved in Scouting, I thought Boy Scouts meant camping, tying knots, and Indian folklore. Yes, those are included, but Scouting is so much more! I was amazed at the amount of scholarly requirements. Science, reading, artwork, social studies, history, civics, home arts, language, and even math are covered to some degree. We live in Washington where the homeschool … Continue reading →

Homeschooling and Scouting: David Finds a Troop

We’d been trying to Lone Scout for two years, with some success. Part of the reason we’d chosen to go it alone was that David had superior math skills, but was struggling in reading and self-conscious about it. By the time Elisha was old enough to begin Scouting, I was firmly convinced that the benefits of being in a troop were far outweighed by the negative socialization. Then came Paula’s little note on our online homeschool list. It was just a small blurb, really. Letting people know that her son had joined a Boy Scout Troop that was homeschool-friendly and … Continue reading →

Homeschooling and Scouting: Our Story

If you’ve been following my posts, you know I can be a bit on the protective side with my children. We are careful with what they read, what they watch, and with whom they associate. It’s out of a desire to protect their innocence, and thus far it’s working. After hearing too many horror stories, we reluctantly went to check out the local Scouting troops in our area. Each of them had something that I couldn’t reconcile with our parenting and homeschooling style. Some conflicted with our faith, some were boy-led, and another simply had too many undisciplined children. It … Continue reading →

Having Problems Finding Local Classes?

Homeschool classes are abundant in both large and small communities, but they can be difficult to find. We homeschoolers are quick to point at that the YMCA, Boys Club, and even Local Dojo’s have are open to homeschoolers during the day for group lessons, however, locating and signing up for those classes are not always easy. Here are the problems with signing up for local group classes and how you can overcome them: Problem: Lack of communication within organization After being informed by other homeschoolers that the YMCA had homeschool swim lessons, I called to get the time and information … Continue reading →

Unique Educational Opportunities

As homeschooling parents it is our responsibility to supply unique educational opportunities for our children. There are several reasons why unique educational opportunities are necessary. 1. Impromptu opportunities: As a homeschooler, you have the freedom to supply varied educational opportunities and experiences. There is not reason to plan for a field trip. If you find out on Monday that the Nutcracker is showing on Tuesday, you can go. If you get an email that the local planetarium is allowing people to in at midnight to see Mars through the microscope you can jump in the car and go. This keeps … Continue reading →