Homeschool Blogging A-Z:U is for unschooling

I have always been intrigued by unschooling though I have never embraced it.  I have admired it, and have also feared it.  I have found it intriguing and misguided all at once.

My personal fears towards unschooling are my own.  I come from a highly motivated background where measurements and getting into college are of utmost importance... never mind if college is the child's actual goal... that is the benchmark as to whether I have done a good job or not.  Reasonable or unreasonable as it may seem, I have never felt that unschooling was a good road to my intended goal.

Still, I have admired the freedom from stress, from the measurements, from society's guidelines that occur with unschooling.  In many cases, unschooling has led to success beyond what can be achieved with rules and restrictions.  Other times, it can go no-where... that is my fear.  I fear that if I were to allow unschooling (past elementary years), that some serious slug-ness would occur.

That is probably my greatest fear.  




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2011-2012 Curriculum Choices

 I just updated our curriculum choices page. 

As I see it, homeschooling will be pretty laid back and also pretty hands off next year.

My daughter will be a Jr.  She will squeezing Geometry in over the Summer and into the fall, in time to take the PSAT, which she will also put some speficic effort into studying for it over the summer. She may take the College Math CLEP at the end of the school year, as it seems easy to pass after taking the SAT.

For language arts, I will count the work she does towards her PSAT & SAT studies and she will also take a fiction writing course at her homeschool program.

For science, she will take the online MIT course Kitchen Chemistry.

We are skipping history this year opting to study government during her Sr. year, an election year.

She will continue to work on Spanish (2a) and Mandarin (1b).

Then there's a slew of arts electives such as voice, drama, instruments, art...

*If she starts at a decent hour she will be done with her work by lunch and can work on her electives and independent stuff... not holding my breath.  I am considering not regulating her sleep patterns next year to see what happens.


My son will be a SR.  ACK!!

He has few requirements and has opted to take them as a dual enrollment student at the local college.  We are working on his applications now, but it looks good.  The dual enrolled classes will probably be:

• Intro to Physics (Fall)
• Personal Finance (Fall)
• Spanish 101 (Spring)

In addition to that, he is taking a Journalism class at the homeschool program, and a few arts related electives.

*My job with my son is to ask questions and perhaps guide organization.  Oh, and to make sure he gets his drivers license. 







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Homeschool Blogging A-Z:T is for Transcripts

At the end of the homeschooling journey, after the child has learned their math, to read, and to write and to think for themselves, it is important to put all of that information into a homeschool transcript.

Homeschool transcripts are used for college admissions and are essentially a substitute for a highschool transcript.  Where a college would gladly accept the word of a traditional school that a  student has completed a college prep scope and sequence, a homeschooler will use the transcript to show in detail that the same has been completed. 

I highly recommend beginning the child's transcript in grade 8 or as soon as they begin taking high school level classes such as Algebra, Geometry, Biology, and Chemistry.




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Homeschool Blogging A-Z: S is for Summer Camp

Just because it is summer, does not mean homeschooling has to end.  Summer camps should be an integral part of the homeschool plan.  By picking your child's summer camps very carefully, you can move some subjects and extra curriculars to the summer allowing your child to have an easier school year. 

Some of the cool summer camps available for homeschoolers are:

Grapic Design
Art
Theater
Computer Programming
Writing workshops
Space programs
Science Labs
Robotics
Even AP math classes can be found for older kids.

This will allow the child to concentrate on these areas of interest in the summer and perhaps give them a little break during the school year too.




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Homeschool Blogging A-Z: R is for Roles

 I have been very, very ill since Wednesday.  I suspected I was getting sick during the day as my body thermostat went haywire and my teeth kept chattering.  But around 10pm, I got hit with a fever that knocked me off my feet, followed by several days of stomach distress.  During my week of inability, and with my husband out of town, my daughter (soon to be 15) quickly stepped into the caretaker role needed to get us through the week.  The only outside help I had to call on was for grocery deliveries in a desperate attempt to ease my symptoms.

She not only assisted me, and kept my fever from getting to high, but she also checked on her brother was was also suffering, though to a lesser degree.  She made meals.  She sat nearby.  She was attentive, and I was well cared for.

Is this something I trained her for as a girl who is homeschooled.  No. Not directly.  But I believe that her numerous opportunities to watch me and other family members in action helped her step into the role she was needed for this week.  I also suspect that she has a strong maternal nature... the line between mother and daughter was very blurred this week.

I don't raise or homeschool my daughter any differently than my son, with the exception that we focus on each child's individual gifts and talents.  It was interesting however to see how my daughter will operate in a  caregiver role as an adult.

Makes me wonder if roles is something that we can teach, or something that we model, or just something ingrained in us. 



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Homeschool Blogging A-Z: Q is for Questions

As we finish our 8th grade of homeschooling and look forward to our 9th, It is interesting to reflect on all of the questions about homeschooling that have been presented to us over the year.  Like we have evolved over the years, so have the questions.  Here is a general accounting of them.

1. Why aren't the kids in school? In our early days when the kids were small children, all kind of people would sto us as we went about our day and grill me and the kids about why they were not in school.  Most seemed annoyed that children were invading their quet time at the library or supermarket at a time when they did not expect kids there.  My duaghter, who was quite tiny at the time, would pointedly say, "We don't go to school."  Then she would walk away.  Great fun!

2. What about socialization? This question came from people we knew who worried that our kids would become weird misfits.  My personal research about the subject taught me to not bother answering the question as no one would be satisfied with the answer.  So I didn't.

3.  Why don't you put the kids back in school and then volunteer at the school?  Parents of public school and private schooled kids were appalled that I would bring my kids home to educate them and give them ALL my time.  Many felt that I should be contributing to the greater good by using my strenths and knowledge in the schools and putting my kids back in classes.  I knew, however, that I only had two children and if I did not look out for their best interests first and foremost, who would?

4.  What do you use for curriculum? The tide started to turn in the mid 2000's and more and more people knew about homeschooling and were beginning to look at if favorably.  At the point people began drilling about curriculum in what seemed like and attempt to decipher if were homeschooling 'correctly'.

5. Can you homeschool my child?  When people began to realize that I did in fact know what I was doing and having positive results, I got an overwhelming amout of people asking if I would homeschool their kids while they worked.  They felt that their kids also deserved the benefits of homeschooling even if they could not or would not do it themselves.  I declined.  People were unhappy with me.

6. It's time for high school.  Shouldn't you put them back into school? As my kids began to approach high school years, we noticed that other homeschoolers were putting their kids in public schools.  We actually have some quality schools in our area.  We began to feel pressure and even got some direct demands from relatives that "enough was enough".  We'd had our homeschooling fun.  It was time for the kids to go back to school.  We polled our kids and like us, they did not agree.  We continued to homeshool.

7.  What about the prom?  By this time I was homeschooling big, strong, adult-looking homeschoolers.  People began to worry about socialization again.  Fortunately, when they asked the coded question about the prom, I was able to recite where and when all of the local homeschool proms occurred.

8.  Why did you start homeschooling in the first place? There days, people are generally curious.  This question most often comes from the parents of other homeschooling parents.  Yes, homeschooling grandparents.  It seems to me that they are trying to reconcile for themselves their own kids homeschooling journey and are looking for comparison points.

9.  How do I start homeschooling? This past year, I have been pleasantly surprised by the vast number of new homeschoolers who have approached me looking for help.  It appears that we are having a resurgence of homeschooling.  This is going to get interesting.



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Homeschool Blogging A-Z: P is for Pajamas

It's True.  Homeschoolers don't bother to get dressed until it is time to leave the house.  We literally spend the day in our pajamas... sort of.  Actually, my son prefers sweat pants.  I like yoga pants and t-shirts, and my daughter lives in scrubs.

The scrubs she wears are the same medical scrubs you find on a doctor or nurse at the hospital. They are no-muss, no-fuss, wash and wear, and they are also great for sleepovers, and tech week wear, when you have spend every single minute at drama club rehearsal getting in and out of costumes. 

I keep her closet stocked with these easy wear, easy care outfits by ordering them from stores like http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/ where they also carry the long sleeve t-shirts that I love so much. 

Homeschool Blogging A-Z: O is for Online Classes

(Has anyone figured out how much of a Dork I am yet?)  In my a to Z blog project I listed M, then N, them M again!)...  I am going to pick up now with O... forgive my scattered brain!

Homeschool blogging A-Z:  O is for Online Learning

Over the years, we have approached learning is a great mixture of ways.  We have taken classes in the community, used online programs and educational websites, and we have also studied from textbooks at home.  One option we haven't had the opportunity to explore, but is still a great option is online learning through online classes.

Online classes including online college courses are classes run by a teacher who communicates through the internet through video programs and message boards.  The teacher and student may communicate live; in real time, or they may leave messages and video instruction for the other to retrieve later. 

MIT online learning and other Open Source type classes are one form of online learning.  The student can follow the lectures and classwork given by an actual professor at a top college. 

My daughter plans to take a food chemistry class next fall using this method of learning.

Spanish for Sophie

The following guest post introduces an interesting approach to learning Spanish: 

 Authored by Leandro Delgado

I wanted to teach my daughter a second language, Spanish, so that she could communicate with my side of the family, which was from Mexico. She is only four and it definitely makes sense to teach her now while she’s so absorbent so I signed us up for clear wireless internet so we could start taking Spanish tutorials together online. She has a private tutor who speaks with her via webcam once a week and the other days she does lessons on her own, usually in some type of game or cartoon which she finds really fun and stimulating. She’s picking Spanish up so quickly, I can’t believe it, and pretty soon she&r! squo;ll be speaking it better than I do! She can already pronounce many of the vocabulary words from items in our home and she’s loving the online tutor. He’s in Mexico and we’ve all agreed to meet up the next time I go home to visit my family, which should be lots of fun. I’m glad I started her young and hopefully she’ll thank me!

Homeschool Blogging A-Z: M is for Money

Whether your child is in public school, private school, or homeschool, they will encounter Algebra, Geometry, Trig, and/or calculus.  In learning all of that math, let us not forget the most important math of all.  Money.

A child should learn how to count money, multiply and divide money, determine cost per unit, and much more.  Let's not forget to learn about banking, interest, credit, and investments too. 

I am only pointing it out because I almost neglected to teach financial math myself.  My kid had to ask for it.  Don't send them out into the world unprepared.


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Getting Ready for Homeschool Graduation

Homeschool Graduation for my kids homeschool program is this coming weekend.  No.  My kids are not graduating this year, but as the parent of a Junior who will graduate next year, (gasp) I have responsibilities in the graduation of the seniors.  I have chosen the job of decorating.  

I love decorating for events.  For this particular event, we are doing a black and white theme... very classy.  We are creating feature walls, and putting balloon bouquets on the tables. The bouquets will be personalized so that graduates can take them home as a souvenir. 

I wish I had thought about getting personalized items sooner as I would have incorporated them into the design.  I could have emblazoned the name of our homeschool program or "homeschool graduation 2011" across all kinds of items from pens to custom mugs.  But Alas, I thought of it too late.

Fortunately, I set up and decorate for lots of events.  So I will be keeping this idea in my back pocket, I can use these cool items not only for decorations, but also for souvenirs for the kids, or church members involved in whatever program I am decorating for. 


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'Unique Child' Study seeks participants

This is collecting stories from parents whose children are exceptional in any way. Please see letter below: 

We are researchers at Columbia University's Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences studying how children who are unique in some way are identified and developed. We are currently collecting stories from parents with children who have been identified as gifted, children who have unique artistic, scientific, or physical abilities, children on the autism spectrum, and children who have been identified as having attention disorders.

While all children are unique, the goal of our study is to identify how children with unique developmental abilities or trajectories develop over early childhood. Parents have different experiences and observations of their child's development and they have different personal resources with which they access services or programs. Parents also differ in the type and extent of their support networks and social relations. And finally, parents make different decisions when finding the right academic, extra-curricular, or other placements for their children. We would like to give parents the chance to tell their stories. Survey responses will help us understand the experiences of unique children as well as their development over time.

We are collecting stories of parents of unique children through an online, semi-structured survey: http://uniquechildstudy.org.

Leave a comment if you plan on participating.

Thanks. 


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Homeschool Blogging A-Z: N is for Non-Traditional

For all intents and purposes, homeschooling is non-traditional learning.  Traditional learning is learning that happens in a classroom... or is it.  Our traditional learning systems have only been part of tradition for a couple hundred years.  According to this and many other articles, religious schooling in the US began in the 1600's and formal public schooling wasn't mandatory until the 1900's.

So before "Traditional Schooling" came into vogue, most kids were homeschooled.... i.e. they were taught whatever they learned at home. Only the richest kids were formally educated. 

Regardless of the history, homeschooling is non-traditional now, but many of the great leaders of our country had non-traditional educations.



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Homeschool Blogging A-Z: M is for Math

There are lots of approaches to homeschooling and lots of ways to teach children.
But every single curriculum style seems to have a common factor that does not change much from approach to approach.  That is math.

Almost every homeschooler I know purchases a math curriculum separate from whatever else they are doing...

Getting Ready for Summer College Experiences

Both kids have been accepted to spend a week in summer programs at their prospective college choices.  They will be participating in "summer intensives" to get a taste of the colleges.  I am hoping that the experience will get them excited about ending their homeschool journey and also let them know for sure that this is the

Homeschool Blogging A-Z: L is for Labs

Ok, it is time to admit to a big honking homeschool challenge:  Science Labs

Most colleges require that homeschoolers have at least 2 lab based science classes in high school such as biology and chemistry.  The problem is that lab equipment is very,

Homeschool Blogging A-Z: K is for Kindergarten

Ok. so I realize it is an epic fail that I did not finish this A to Z challenge in the month of April, but in the spirit of finishing what I start, I will continue... so...

K is for Kindergarten.

A lot of people decide to homeschool for Kindergarten and then put their kids in the first grade.  I find it