Remember when you first started homeschooling? You imagined cozy moments spent reading a story together or children happily working on a science project. In your mind, your beautiful children always came to learning with enthusiasm and never balked or argued. You probably have days when all these things actually do occur. A day goes smoothly and you smile to yourself, thinking, “I’ve really got this homeschooling thing down.” And then there are the other days—the days you don’t read about in homeschooling magazines. On these days, your kids moan about getting out of bed. They
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I recently had an interesting conversation with one of my friends about the subject of homeschooling. She admitted that her son in first grade hates school and fights going every morning. When I asked her if she’d ever considered homeschooling, she quickly replied, “Oh no. I could never teach him what he needs to know. We’d do math by counting money at the grocery store instead of sitting down and learning.” Why, I wondered for the hundredth time, do we equate learning with sitting down? After all, many of the greatest minds resisted this educational
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Is setting a good example for your kids and hoping they learn by following your actions enough to bring them up with manners, values, and compassion for others? Unfortunately, it may not. Actions may indeed speak louder than words, but your children are like little sponges, soaking up information from all around them. This includes information from you and your spouse, but also things they see on television, online, while with their friends, and while out in the world in general. Especially if you are teaching your children at home with a faith-based perspective, character
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Your teenager’s itching to get his driver’s license, but you’re probably experiencing a mix of feelings. On the one hand, having another driver around to run errands is appealing. You’re looking forward to hanging up your chauffeur’s hat. On the other hand, you may also feel confusion over driver’s license laws or worry about rising insurance rates. You’ve probably also heard the dire statistics: car accidents are the number one cause of death for teens age sixteen to nineteen. In 2010, 2,700 teenagers died in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
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Imagine a typical day of homeschooling. Your son is dawdling over his assignment to make a diorama of the solar system. After all, he knows that you’re the only one who will look at it, and sooner or later, it’s going to end up in the trash. Boredom is running high, and motivation is at an all-time low. As homeschoolers, we all have these moments, when learning seems to grind to a standstill and both parents and kids alike find it hard to get motivated. February is when I seem to run aground and become
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Many people know they want to homeschool long before they ever have children. Others may be intrigued by the concept but haven’t taken the leap yet. And then for some of us, homeschooling is the furthest thing from our minds. Before my third child was born, I’d never given homeschooling a second thought. I come from a long line of public school teachers. My grandfather, my mother, and my sister are all teachers. I’d taught preschool and kindergarten for over twenty years. I certainly wasn’t blind to the limitations of public schools, but I had
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Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), all children are entitled to a “free and appropriate education” through the public school system. The problems begin, though, with the term “appropriate.” This word is subjective, open to numerous interpretations. It also leaves plenty of room for school improvement. Federal law doesn’t require schools to provide the optimal or best education for children with special needs. Appropriate simply means that children with special needs must receive similar opportunities as children without special needs. Most public schools today face serious budget shortfalls, and special education budgets are
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In John Holt’s excellent book, Teach Your Own, he discusses the merits of real learning. He suggests that the most valuable kinds of learning experiences are those based on skills or products we actually need and want, rather than silly busywork. Mary Pride calls these frivolous projects “twaddle.” If you live on a homestead, you probably have no end of “real learning experiences” for your children. Kids can gather eggs, milk cows, tend a garden, or mend fences. If you live in the city or suburbs though, you might have to search a bit for
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Perhaps you’re one of those talented few who excelled at every academic subject in school. Calculus? No problem. Honors physics? Piece of cake. But, if you’re like most homeschooling parents, sooner or later, you’re going to run into a subject that intimidates you—or even downright terrifies you. How do you teach your children a subject that you failed as a child? And what do you do when your children know more than you do? The answers are simpler than you might think and can actually enrich your homeschooling experience. Read on to learn more. Let
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When you started homeschooling, perhaps you imagined your children happily working together—reading, cooking, gardening and learning. In your mind’s eye, your children would relish the opportunity to spend more time together and your family would become a model of closeness. Inevitably, your bubble bursts. Children are children, and most siblings quarrel, at least some of the time. Some siblings quarrel more than others, depending on gender, personality, and individual circumstances. Learning to get along takes time and effort, but you can slowly nudge your children to peaceful cohabitation. Expect A Transition Time If your kids
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