Tag Archives: homeschool

A Summer of Learning

For many kids, summer is filled with swimming, swinging, sunning and very little studying.  However, if you are homeschooling year-round this is not the case.  Of course, just because you decide to keep the lessons going throughout the summer, doesn’t mean your kids will suffer from academic burnout. Some families decide to homeschool year-round for the sake of consistency.  By keeping with a set school schedule without a break during the summer months you avoid the “learning gap.”  In other words, your kids are far less apt to forget the material they’ve learned during the first half of the year … Continue reading →

Combining Working at Home With Homeschooling

Some parents choose to work from home so that they can homeschool their children. I did not initially know whether we would be homeschooling when I decided to open my home based businesses after the birth of our first son. It was always a possibility, and now that it is time for him to go to preschool, I have decided that that is what we will do, at least as far as preschool is concerned. Preschool in my local area is fairly expensive, and there are not a lot of choices. Since I am at home with our baby anyways, and … Continue reading →

Romance and the Homeschool Mom and Dad

How does your day run? Chances are if you are a homeschooling family your focus is completely on your children throughout the day. A homeschooling mom can make a lesson out of anything and usually does all day long. A homeschooling house often looks more like a classroom than a home. If you enter a homeschooler’s house, and please do not do so without ample warning, you are likely to find an array of textbooks, school supplies, art projects all nestled in with laundry, lunch dishes, and mail that has yet to be opened. What does this atmosphere say? It … Continue reading →

Gearing Up for Your First Home Schooling Year

So, you decided to make the big leap and home school your children? As significant as this decision was, you will be faced with many more as you embark on this journey. Here are some basic advice to guide you through the first questions and decisions you will face. Of course, things are not always this simple, but it’s best to keep our perspective and not get too overwhelmed. Home schooling is a learning experience for the parent as much as the child. What curriculum should I use? This is the question mainly asked by new home schooling parents. What … Continue reading →

In a Rush to Graduate Your Kids from Homeschool?

My family had a conversation last night about when we would graduate the kids from homeschool. We started talking about SAT scores for my son that we should receive on Tuesday and the fact that we couldn’t graduate him next year if he took the PSAT and qualified for the National Merit Program (he took the SAT first as a practice for the PSAT). Because the PSAT had to be taken in your Jr. year to qualify for the National Merit program, we were trying to figure out if he had to wait another year to graduate even though he … Continue reading →

Homeschool Word of the Day: Strewing

Strewing means scattering, or dispersing haphazardly. In homeschooling, to strew is to leave education books, materials, and games lying about in the child’s path. Strewing is a word used by unschoolers. While unschoolers allow their children to follow their own paths, many do manage to direct the kids a bit with strategic placement of learning materials. Sandra Dodd, who coined the term, explains this practice well on her website. She explains, “Some of our most successful items have been toys or objects for playing with (sometimes not purely a toy) like pattern blocks, castle blocks, magnets (or some new magnet … Continue reading →

A Day in the Life of a Relaxed Homeschooler with Teens

Some time back, I am my fellow homeschool bloggers all discussed what a day in the life of homeschooling looked like from our perspective. I wrote A Day in the Life of a Relaxed Homeschooler part 1 Part 2 , and Part 3 Valorie Delp Wrote A Day in the Life of a Highly Regulated Relaxed Homeschooler part 1 and part 2 Karen Edminsten gave a peek into her homeschooling life with More Charlotte Mason: An atmosphere, a discipline, a life. I highly recommend you read these posts. It has been several years since I wrote my “Day In the … Continue reading →

Homeschool Parents in Germany Still Fighting Nazi Laws

“The ‘Schulpflicht’ – the laws that require school attendance – are on the books in the German states, and have been traced back to the ‘Reichsschulpflicht Gesetz’ [federal compulsory attendance laws] which was passed in 1938. Except for the removal of references to the Nazi party, these laws are identical or substantially the same as the laws passed by Hitler’s government, criminalizing parents who keep their children home for school.” This is what the parents Juergen and Rosemarie Dudeck of Archfeld Germany have alleged in court in their fight to homeschool their children. To date they have been wholly unsuccessful … Continue reading →

Oklahoma Homeschool Bills to Add New Restrictions

Oklahoma homeschoolers are calling new proposals to homeschool laws an over reaction and an insult. The reason for these proposals is claims that homeschooling is being used as a cover when parents are dragged into court for truancy. There are also claims that homeschoolers are academically two years behind traditionally educated students. (That’s a first!) Read: School choice: Homeschool bills insulting to families Channel 8 News in OK reports the two proposals as: Senate Bill 472 would require parents or guardians who homeschool their child to notify the local school district and provide a report of academic progress to school … Continue reading →

Types of Distance Learning Education

Distance learning or distance education is sometimes also considered home schooling. And while the two can overlap, they are really two different things. Usually home schooling is considered as instruction at home with a parent or tutor(s) and not associated with a school. With distance education, there is usually an outside instructor (as part of a formal school) that gives lessons, grades assignments and tests and sometimes interacts real time with a student, depending on the type of distance learning education course. This is the teacher mediated option (TMO), although the independent study option (ISO) is also considered distance learning. … Continue reading →