Not Another Homeschool Blog

FIGURE IT OUR YOURSELF! Well not exactly. I had the opportunity to advise a woman who was strongly considering homeschooling her son. She lives in one of my old hometowns, and my Sis n law gave her my number as she is one of her clients at the Oxford learning center sis owns. Her complaints about school mirrored the problems my son had. The child is obviously gifted or at least already knows everything they are teaching. However, the school thinks it's ok for him to settle with getting the highest grades in the class and not challenging him any further. Therefore she wants to take his education into her own hands. My exact advice was to wait a little while. Since They are one semester in, I suggested she wait until holiday break while enriching him at home using Reader rabbit at an advanced level and critical thinking books and software. Meanwhile she needs to go into learning mode. Read everything about homeschooling that she can get her hands on. Find out about all of the philoso...

Free paper In exchange for Ink cartridges Saturday, May 27, 2006 at 02:17AM We go through a lot of printer paper while homeschooling. We go through quite a bit of ink too. Did you know Office Depot will give you a ream of recyclable paper in exchange for an old ink cartridge? When I cannot refill a cartridge anymore, I put it in a Ziploc bag, which I keep in my purse. The next time I pass by an office depot, I go in for my free paper… That is often all I get, unless they have a good discount in the clearance area.

When answering the post on Yahoo answers requesting 7 disadvantages of homeschooling, I had a had a hard time taking it seriously. I had to ask myself, self, why seven reasons? Why not two good reasons, why not 10 bad reasons? But I pulled myself together and gave it a shot. Here is my list of 7 disadvantages of homeschooling.. Other people treat you as if you have lost your mind Nosy stranges ask your kids why they are not in school, and try to give you lists of schools that would work for you Everyone asks you "what about socialization?" You learn to recognize the look that says "oh, you're one of THOSE people" Your relatives call you every year and ask, "when are you going to put thosse kids back in school" You have to actually spend time WITH your childen (wait, is that a disadvantage?) Finally, and most seriously, if your children do not learn, you can't blame the school system.

Today, Jordan is doing the last time4learning unit for the 4th grade social studies and then she can move onto the 5th in every subject. We have no summer homeschooling schedule, I have a review workbook for her and she can do time4learning as she pleases. She wants to finish 5th grade and 6th grade this year because her brother did it and she hates being 2 years younger and 3 grade levels behind. OH yeah!!! I'm in the Carnival... Carnival of homeschooling, that is! "The 21st Carnival of Homeschooling cordially invites you to a Progressive Dinner Party hosted at Principled Discovery . Dress is casual. Invite a friend and enjoy the food, travel and conversation as we get to know each other a little better." If you've come here to see it, it is two posts below. V V V V

I have started compiling a list of free sites that can be used for homeschooling. It should be done by the end of the summer. I will most likely use them to supplement our homeschooling program www.time4learning.com , but if you were willing to put in a bit of time, you could manage to homeschool for free using these links found at http://ahermitt0.tripod.com/homeschoolfree/ .

What does educating a child have to do with painting a room ? Picture this: You planned your room decor thoroughly. Every detail was well thought out, and you were very happy with the results when tragedy struck. A flood in the room above it ruined the wall glaze effect that you so painstakedly worked on. Your paint peeled off of a 3 by 18 inch area of the wall leaving the bare drywall shown behind. Your plans are ruined. Do you declare the room a disaster? Do you start over from scratch or do you work with what you have? I had this dilema, which turned out to be not disastrous in the end. What if this was your child? What if you planned this childs life, his future, his education. Little Timmy would be a doctor, he would lead the family to greatness, the family would shine because of Little Timmy, and you will all be so proud. But, suppose Timmy turned out to have ADHD. Timmy would never make it through math and Science with his self esteem intact. Do you declare Timmy a disaster, an...

With public school recess under attack , it seems the tables are turned and I must ask.... so when do public school kids get to socialize?... you know that oh so important little item that homeschool critics like to throw back in the face of us homeschoolers . They certainly do not get to socialize during class time... I had kids in public school and so I know for a fact that there was not talking in the class, there was no talking in the halls, there was no talking in the bathrooms, and there was no talking at lunch... there wasn't even talking allowed during the once a week physed classes... With these changes, I would have to think homeschoolers are more socialized than public school kids.

There are several approaches to keeping homeschool records. There are numerous websites, record keeping software options, binders and forms available. You can purchase these on the internet, at homeschool conventions, and from educational supply stores. Regardless of how popular a homeschool record program is, it is no good unless it is simple to use. This simple approach will keep your records in order with little effort. Read more of this article I wrote for howtodothings.com ps. If you use online curriculum like I do, all you need to do is to print the finished tests and scores at the end of the year or quarter. I actually adjust the grade because of the approach of test first, then find out what I need to know approach that my daughter takes. If I took the raw grades that resulted, her scores would be low... so I eliminate the score of the first test if she has taken it more than once.

Home schooling materials and resources are abundantly available in every area of life and academia. There are hundreds of resources with new resources becoming available everyday. Use these tips to find home schooling material and resources for yourself and your children. Read more of this article I wrote for howtodothings.com

Each State or locality has different laws when it comes to administering tests to home school students. These requirements dictate who can test the children, what kind of tests the children must take, and reporting of test scores. Is it time to give your kids assessment tests? Read more of this article I wrote for howtodothings.com (last year I prepared my daughter for her assessment tests using http://www.time4learning.com . She scored in the the 90th percentile.)

I got an email to days ago that the homeschool -school we are using for Jackson is making adjustments for next year and wants to test them on Wednesday afternoon... (today). We could not spend too much time reviewing math as he had other homework to do, but i had to problem getting a math assessment test online from saxon publishers . This will help me see if he needs to review anything at all, which can be done quickly. This test is designed to help you choose the right Saxon Math book for your child, but it will also help you to find the right math level for your child in other programs as well.