homeschooling: February 2007

Monday, February 19, 2007

Home Schooling Parents: How To Be A Good Home School Teacher

by James Masterson

Studies show that the training or degree of parents is not an important factor in the success of homeschooled children. More essential than a degree or a college diploma is your concern, commitment and eagerness to give your child the best kind of education that he/she deserve.

The fact that almost all homeschool parents are not professional teachers, they should select a curriculum that best suits the child's learning style, capacity and needs and find ways to support that plan.

The qualities of an efficient and effective teacher vary; however, they should possess good character, display enthusiasm in teaching and have dedication to work with their students.

Here are some guidelines to help you become the best teacher for your child:

1. Choose the curriculum for your child well. Make certain that you recognize the goals defined by a certain curriculum.

Examine it to determine if the goals match those defined by your State as standard for each level, as well as if it matches your child’s learning style and capabilities.

2. Be prepared. Study the curriculum well so that you are well educated when you teach your child.

3. Determine your child’s learning style. It is only through proper determination of your child’s learning style that you can effectively teach him/her.

Note that there are children who learn well visually, so in this case, reading and videos can be a better teaching tool. Some are listeners, in such cases, music, reading to them out loud and humming for instance their mathematic tables can be a better method of teaching.

4. Be creative. Homeschool instruction doesn’t have to be a one way kind of teaching. Encourage your child to ask questions so you both can discuss the subject matter in a way that the child does not only listen and get information from you, but that your child is actively explaining and expressing his/her own opinion or views.

5. Be understanding. When you feel that your child is having difficulties on a certain subject, then give him/her time and give thorough guidance, by asking her what she finds difficult so you both can work up a plan as well as enough time to solve the problem. Understand that children are not robots who easily absorb information. Allow them to have their “shortcomings”.

6. Recognize that above all, you are a parent. Parents do what’s best for their children. Following your instinct as a mom, will make you the best teacher for your child. And it comes naturally!

It doesn’t matter if you just want to explore home schooling possibilities or have made the decision and are looking for a guide to point you in the right direction, "The Parents Guide to Home Schooling" will provide you with the information you require. www.free-online-course.com/homeschool

posted by All About Home @ 2:32 AM 0 comments

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Three Effective Tips for Planning and Managing Homeschool Lessons

by Jennifer Thieme

Tip #1

Basic Lesson Planning

If you use different books from different publishers, it can get a little confusing trying to figure out and remember how many lessons (or pages) per day (or week) you need to complete to finish each book by the end of the year.

First, take your teacher's manual and see how many lessons there are. Then, divide this by the total number of school days you have in the year. Let's say, for example, that your literature book has 122 lessons. If there are 180 days in the school year, you need to do three lessons per week to finish the book, with a few weeks needing four lessons. If your history book has 112 lessons, you will do three per week and will able to finish a little earlier than the end of the year.

Once you established this, write it down in your lesson plan book in a prominent place to serve as a reminder.

Tip #2

Calculate Percentage of Book Finished

To determine if you are "on track" to finish a book by the end of the school year, first find out how far along you are in the school calendar. For example, if you have just finished school day number 36 and you have 180 school days in the year, you have completed 20% of the school year (36 divided by 180 = 20%).

Next, determine how far you have come in each subject. To do this, take the lessons completed and divide them by the total lessons. For example, if you just finished lesson 35 in your English textbook and there are 160 lessons, you are 22% finished. If you just finished lesson six in science and there are 64 lessons, you are about 9% finished. If you've completed 20% of your school year, you are slightly ahead in English, but significantly behind in science.

Tip #3

Avoid Burnout

Tip #1 and Tip #2 are only guides. Becoming a slave to them will lead to homeschool burnout. Life will interfere with homeschool plans. This is part of what makes homeschooling so great--you will have many opportunities to turn real life into real lessons. Get creative: taking your neighbor to the hospital become a social studies lesson for your forth grader. Getting the oil changed in your car becomes a auto shop lesson for your teenage son. Grocery shopping becomes a math and home economics lesson for your junior high student. Setting the table is a sorting activity for your pre-schooler.

Think on your feet, and remember that learning occurs in many forms, a few of which are from textbooks.

About the author
Jennifer Thieme began homeschooling her three children in 1996. She's the administrator for a small, private ISP she established for herself and a few friends. Her articles have appeared in Practical Homeschooling and the Intuit ProConnection Newsletter. She operates a bookkeeping and tax service out of her home. Visit her business website: http://www.jenniferthieme.com.

posted by All About Home @ 8:35 PM 0 comments

Saturday, February 17, 2007

3 Reasons Why Homeschooling Rocks

by Bruce Dinger

1. It's not boring as all get out.

I spent the first 5 and a half years of my education in public schools. There were, of course, times when I enjoyed learning things and talking to my friends. On the flip side, though, there were long stretches of monotony and boredom. And that was just grade school! I can't even imagine what it would have gotten like in middle and high school. I vaguely remember a class I took in 6th grade before I began to be homeschooled. "Conflict resolution" they called it. It was an entire class we had to sit through for 50 minutes a day on how not to get in a fight. Instead of teaching us something useful like math, history or science, we had to sit and learn that getting in a fistfight wasn't good for anybody.

I think it goes without saying that homeschooling was far more interesting. I was either doing something and learning, or I was enjoying my free time. I never had to sit through extended periods of monotonous lectures or stare at a chalkboard while a teacher catered to the slowest student in the classroom. I was able to learn at my own pace and enjoy it.

2. No one gives you wedgies.

Unless, of course, you have an older sibling and then you might get more wedgies than you can handle. One of the fantastic things about being homeschooled is that there is no awkward social structure that you have to fit yourself into. Unless you live in a very complicated family, there are no bullies, no drug addicts and so forth.

Again, the advantage is more than what you don't have to deal with, but also in what you do get. Being homeschooled enabled me to develop much stronger relationships with my parents and my siblings, and I did find a variety of friends through our homeschool group and church and so forth. I found that when I got to college I was able to comfortably communicate with everyone from the older students (some who were even grandparents, coming back for their education) to the younger students and even the professors and staff. None of these people ever gave me a wedgy.

3. Odds are your teacher will probably like you.

I didn't personally ever have issues with a teacher that didn't seem to like me or treat me well, but I do know that those experiences are out there. The odds increase, I think, as you get into high school that you might run into a teacher that you either don't like or who doesn't like you for some reason. I wouldn't say that it's anything personal, just sometimes there are personality clashes.

On the other hand, I think you benefit from homeschooling because you're able to develop a much deeper relationship with your parents. Instead of coming home from school and simply telling them what you did (if you can even remember all the details) you live it with them.

To learn much more about homeschooling, particularly, homeschooling the high schooler, please visit homeschool to college.

posted by All About Home @ 5:18 PM 0 comments

Friday, February 16, 2007

Home Schooling ?

by Debra Slater

Every parent wants their children to get the very best education they can, but with the public school system having the problems it is currently experiencing and private schools not being financially available to all, many parents are turning back to homeschooling.

Homeschooling is not a new idea; in fact our public school system is newer than parents teaching their children at home. Our founding fathers did discuss whether or not to require children to attend school (compulsory schooling), but they decided to leave the decision up to the individual families and state and local governments. In 1850, Massachusetts was the first state to require children to attend school. There were many reasons for this law, but the main reasons were to keep children out of the workforce and teach them to be “good citizens.”

Even with laws being enacted across the United States, many parents continued to homeschool their children. Homeschooling became an underground movement, but has picked up speed. With American children falling behind in math and science and violence continuing to escalate in schools, parents feel the public system is failing. Statistics show that the top 3 reasons parents decide to homeschool are: safety for their children, being able to teach from a religious perspective and having a program tailored to their child’s learning needs.

There are many different approaches to homeschooling. Here is a small list:

* Classical Homeschooling. The people who use this approach believe that the brain develops in three stages - grammar, logic and rhetoric.

* Structured Homeschooling. This approach most resembles institutionalized schools.

* Unschooling. This approach was started in the 1960s by John Holt, a Boston educator who did not agree with how children were taught in schools. He felt children should be free to learn at their own pace, not to be dictated to by teachers.

Again, this is a small list of different approaches. Each one has its own idea of how children learn best.

There are many advatages to homeschooling, but the one disadvantage I see is the child not being able to socialize with other children. I am sure that there are programs for homeschooled children to be sociable and as this educational choice continues to grow, more opportunities will be made available.

We parents know better than anyone what is best for our children. Homeschooling may be the future for education. And maybe we should look to our past to find the future.

About The Author
Debra Slater: With over 25 years of experience in the baby related industry, http://HappyMothers.com & http://MommysLittleBaby.com has the most experienced and knowledgeable sales staff. We have provided and continue to provide exceptional service to Mothers, Fathers, Grandmothers, Grandfathers and all family and friends.

posted by All About Home @ 5:17 PM 0 comments

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The Top Ten Pros And Cons Of Homeschooling

by Steadman Issenburg

Deciding to homeschool your children is a big step for the entire family, and it should be weighed very carefully in advance. There are both benefits and disadvantages that should be considered honestly and without bias, and so here are the top 10 pros and cons of homeschooling.

Pros

1. Perhaps the biggest advantage to homeschooling your children is that you know exactly what they are learning and have complete control over when and how they learn it.

2. Another big advantage is being able to allow each child to learn at their own pace without either having to keep up with an entire classroom of faster learners, or be bored because they are way ahead of everyone else in class.

3. You are also able to impart instruction not only on academic matters but also help transfer the values and beliefs of your family to your children without interference.

4. Another great benefit of homeschooling your children is being able to protect them from negative influences that they may become exposed to in the public school or private school system. This could include intense peer pressure, bullies, drugs, and so forth.

5. Homeschooling also allows you to become more familiar with your children's natural talents and abilities so you can help steer their education toward a career that they would enjoy.

Cons

1. Perhaps one of the biggest disadvantages of homeschooling that is commonly expressed by some parents is the feeling that you never have any time to yourself, or just a break from the children.

2. Of course, the cost factor is also somewhat of a disadvantage, as you will most likely spend more money on homeschooling your children than you would on sending them to public school.

3. It's also a challenge, but not impossible, to help arrange socializing for your children with others that are their own age.

4. You may also encounter unexpected opposition and resistance from family and friends who do not understand your decision to homeschool your children.

5. You'll need to be exceptionally organized as both a parent and teacher in order to get housework and homeschooling accomplished in the same day.

As you can see, there are plenty of both pros and cons to homeschooling your children. And there is no right or wrong answer for every parent when it comes to making this kind of decision. So take your time, consider the information in this article, and make your decision based on what will be best for you and your children.

Steadman Issenburg writes on many consumer related topics including education. You can find accredited home schools and homeschool curriculums and more by visiting our education website.

posted by All About Home @ 11:16 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Getting Together With Other Homeschooling Parents

by Tuscan Brittney

Homeschooling can have many benefits for your child. It allows for particular teaching styles to be implemented that suit your child's individual needs, as well as creating a learning atmosphere that your child works best in. Homeschooling also has financial benefits as well, if you consider the costs of a private school tutelage, and for this reason it seems to becoming increasingly popular with each and every generation.

One of the drawbacks of homeschooling, however, is the concern that your child is not surrounded by peers in the same way that he or she would be in a public school system. Also, as a homeschooling parent, you are dealing with lots of pressure - the quality of your child's education rests entirely on you, after all - and are probably dealing with many questions of your own. One good way to address this is to make a point of getting together with other homeschooling parents.

By meeting on a regular basis with other homeschooling parents, you do a service to both you and your child. You will be able to trade ideas and teaching techniques with other parents. Most importantly, though, you child will get a chance to interact with some of his or her peers. Children at a young age can be very susceptible and concerned with being different. All every child usually wants to do is fit in.

It's important when homeschooling your child that you acknowledge the fact that not everybody does it. This fact can't be kept hidden from your child, and at some point he or she will realize that lots of other kids go to school. That's why meeting up with other homeschooling parents can be valuable for your child, because they will see that they are not the only ones. The child's fear of not being "normal" will be eased by seeing and interacting with the other children.

There are many different ways you can get together with other homeschooling parents. One of the best ones is to incorporate it into the children's education. Keep in regular touch with other parents, and if you find yourselves studying the same subjects at the same time, suggest an appropriate field trip - in this way you can replicate the public and private school experience of combining your children's educational and social time.

Another good idea is to suggest a group project to be conducted with another family. If another parent is also teaching a biology unit, for example, you could suggest a that the children work on planting a garden together on your property. When studying zoology, a trip to the zoo would be enjoyable and educational for both you and your children when conducted with another family.

By keeping in regular touch with other homeschooling parents you will do a service for your child's education and social development. By exchanging ideas with other homeschooling parents you can learn new teaching strategies, and at the same time your will be teaching your children that they are not alone, and not at all strange.

About The Author
Tuscan Brittney
Check out our comprehensive Home Schooling Resource site today - http://www.musthavestuff.ws/homeschooling/

posted by All About Home @ 1:04 AM 0 comments

Monday, February 12, 2007

Answers To The Most Common Homeschooling Questions

by Steadman Issenburg

Although homeschooling has become increasingly popular in recent years, there's still a lot of confusion and misunderstanding that surround it. As a result, many parents have questions about exactly what homeschooling is and how it is conducted, and this article will help answer some of the most common questions that are asked about homeschooling.

1. What is homeschooling?

Homeschooling is a process where parents take charge of the education of their own children, completely substituting the educational curriculum used by public and private schools. The reasons for choosing homeschooling as a substitute can be many including having better control over the content of their children's education, being able to better match the speed and pace of learning to each child's ability, better promotion of the parent-child bond as their children grow older, and concerns over their children's safety in the public school system.

2. What kind of people homeschool their children?

The answer to that question is that people from all walks of life with varied abilities, backgrounds, and circumstances all have been successful in homeschooling their children. This means that it doesn't matter whether you live in a city or on a farm, whether you only have one child or ten, whether it's a single or two-parent family, whether you are religious or not, there are those who have similar circumstances that are successfully homeschooling their children.

3. Is homeschooling legal?

Yes, homeschooling is legal in every state in the US, although there are laws regulating homeschooling that can vary significantly from one state to the next, so before you decide to homeschool your children, be sure to check on the requirements for homeschooling in the state where you live first.

4. What educational requirements are there for parents to homeschool their children?

In most cases, all that is required is that you be able to read, write, and perform basic math functions such as addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. You can always upgrade your own education as you go if more is needed. But be sure to check on the particular requirements of the state where you live before you begin.

5. Where can we find homeschooling books and curriculums?

There are actually lots of places to get the home school materials that you will need including books, worksheets, and so forth. The internet is a great place to find the materials you will need at the lowest cost possible. You can even find used homeschool books and materials online at eBay and Amazon. You also may be able to find some of these materials locally at small bookstores and garage sales.

Whether or not to homeschool your children is a decision that is not to be taken lightly, and hopefully some of the answers we have provided here in this article to the most commonly asked homeschooling questions will help you be able to determine if homeschooling is right for you and your children.

Steadman Issenburg writes on many consumer related topics including education. You can find homeschool worksheets and used homeschool books and more by visiting our education website.

posted by All About Home @ 8:19 PM 0 comments

Thursday, February 08, 2007

How To Write A Homeschool Unit Study

by Reverend Brenda Hoffman

Regardless of what methodology you normally use for your homeschool, unit studies can provide you with a nice break from the norm sometimes. They are especially nice whenever you're trying to teach your child(ren) to think a little more about how the different parts of life actually fit together, and they can also give you a break whenever you're faced with the doldrums.

So, how do you decide what subjects to persue whenever you're ready to do a unit study? Well, take a look at your child and see what he/she is deeply interested in. Those are the subjects to pursue with your unit studies. Another way to decide what would make a great unit study is to look through your year's studies and notice if there are any "holes" in subject matter that you think should be filled. Once you find that "hole," you can find a unit study on that topic, and take a week or two to teach it. For instance, if your child finds black holes fascinating, but your science text book covers them in just a paragraph or two, then there is the perfect opportunity to do a unit study on astronomy.

Once you've figured out what you'd like to do a unit study on, all you need is a little time and creativity, and you can create your own unit studies. Assembling your own curriculum around one topic sounds difficult, but if this wasn't the case, then educational companies such as "Teacher Created Materials" wouldn't publish and sell as many great unit studies as they do.

There are 2 main drawbacks to designing your own unit studies. First of all, it takes time. If you're a busy parent, this could be enough of a reason to take a trip to your nearest teachers' supply store with your credit card in hand. Secondly, it may require access to a couple of grade-level subject books (ie science, language arts, or math) so that you know which skills are typically covered at a particular grade level. If you have a good library with an educational books department, then you may also have the perfect excuse to spend a long Saturday with a pocket full of change at the library with a stack of books. Another idea is that if you have a good set of Internet research skills, you can spend your Saturday tucked away at home.

Now that we see the drawbacks, what are the benefits of a unit study? You can teach whatever your heart desires. Plus, if you decide to create your own unit study, you'll find that it is cheaper and more economical than tracking down a pre-made unit study. Furthermore, nobody knows your child as well as you do, and therefore nobody can prepare a unit study for your child as well as you can.

Whenever you're creating your own unit study, you need to keep in mind that your unit study needs to cover all of the subjects that you'd normally teach, unless you plan to skip a specific subject and keep working through your regular curriculum for that subject. However, to create a complete unit study, you need to include the first 2 subjects from the following list and as many of the other subjectss as you can logically fit in there too. Now for the list:

(1.) Math - You need to create math problems at your child's level. For instance, if you're working with a young child on a unit study about baseball, then you can practice addition with bats and balls, write a story problem that talks about number of pitches thrown until the team reached the final out, etc. However, older children would need something that is more on their level. For instance, you may discuss the speed of the bat, distance the ball travels, or the number of hot dogs that individual team fans eat.

(2.) Language Arts - This area includes reading, comprehension, grammar and writing skills. While you don't need to include every one of these items in every unit study that you write, you should have your child write something about the topic. A great suggestion here would be to have your child read a book about the topic then write a narrative telling you about what he/she read in the book.

(3.) Science - Sometimes a unit study lends itself quite easily to science, but other times you'll find yourself having to work a little bit harder. For instance, a unit study on bugs will let you off the hook since the entire unit study is about science. However, if you are doing a unit study about ancient Egypt then you may need to take some time to look at the creations of the Egyptian engineers, study mummification, think about ancient medicine, or consider the tools that the Egyptians used to do their work.

(4.) Social Studies or Geography - This may be your main topic, but if it isn't, then you'll need to work some information into your topic. Some questions that can help you here include: Where was your topic first seen or invented? What culture surrounded the time or event? Where did this take place? You may also want to learn more about the people of that time period and place.
(5.) Art - Take time to draw, build, act, design or create. You could design a Roman mosaic, sketch an insect's genetic makeup, build a temple from clay or LEGOs, create a tapestry to illustrate the unit that you're studying (felt shapes work for quick tapestries when needlepoint takes way too long), or paint the flowers that you're learning about.

(6.) Music - Sometimes music fits into a unit study nicely. For instance, you could always listen to some folk music while you explore the civil unrest of the 1960s. However, if you're studying something more scientific, then you may need to work a little harder to fit music into that unit study.

(7.) History - Adding history to a unit study should be relatively easy, regardless of the topic. You could simply research when an event began or an item was invented or you could talk about the events and times that affected an item's inventor.

(8.) Physical Education - Here again, you may need to be a bit creative. However, when you discover that physical education fits into your unit study, then you should definitely use it! For instance, if you're studying the ancient Greeks, then you could run footraces like they did.

If you're still not certain what to do for your very first unit study, try "following" your child(ren) around for a couple days and watch what they do. For instance, if your child spends all of his/her time engrossed in books, then think about a literature-based unit study (ie how books are made). On the other hand, your child may spend his/her time outside digging for rocks. Then why not do an archeology or rocks and minerals unit study?

Of course, there are some topics that you can use numerous times as your child(ren) grows older. These include:

(1.) Animals, horses, or mammals
(2.) Baseball, basketball, fencing, or sports in general
(3.) Cooking or catering (which may include business and economics information)
(4.) Kites
(5.) Flight
(6.) Transportation
(7.) Weather
(8.) Historical cultures (ie medieval history, ancient Egypt, etc.)

The spark of a unit study is lit whenever your child(ren) mentions an interest. Whenever they do, you need to write it down somewhere. Keep a running list of interests and you'll soon have more than you'll know what to do with. However, even if your child only shows a deep interest in one or two topics, you should take time to explore those. You may discover that you're able to create several unit studies based on the first one as new interests are developed.

About The Author
Reverend Brenda Hoffman has been delivering holistic health and wellness advice for over 7 years. As a home-based professional and mother of 1, she operates a holistic wellness and homeschooling network. Learn to enjoy a healthier lifestyle and richer relationships with your homeschooled children through the range of resources at http://www.yourhealthyfamilyhome.com/.

posted by All About Home @ 7:18 PM 0 comments

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